Yahoo!News reports that “European competition regulators said Tuesday that [they] have stopped the clock in their in-depth investigation into IBM’s planned $745 million takeover of Swedish software maker Telelogic. The European Commission, Europe’s top competition authority, has asked the companies for more information about the deal in order to assess whether it breaks European Union competition rules.”

Reuters writes that, according to a study by the EU statistical office published today, [a]lmost one in five European Union households has gone wireless, cutting off their landline cables to use a mobile telephone only. Eurostat said that last year 18 percent of households had mobile phone access only as subscriptions for wireless handsets soared to 95 per 100 habitants in 2005 from eight in 1996.”

According to the Guardian, “Alistair Darling today signalled that he may backtrack on his unpopular changes to capital gains tax, as critics continued to attack his decision to announce the proposal without consulting the business community first. Speaking at the CBI annual conference [today], the chancellor said he was ‘open to suggestions’ for how he should amend his plans, which were announced in the pre-budget report in October.”

CNetNews.com has an interesting article today discussing whether “broadband can provide serious competition to cable TV” and the significance of this question for policy decisions being made in Washington DC right now.

The Mercury News today has the latest numbers on online holiday shopping.

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