-- Microsoft Corp. said it worked with investigators from the Bulgarian National Service for Combating Organized Crime in an investigation that culminated last week with the arrest of eight people for allegedly stealing financial information by using a variety of fake Web pages carrying Microsoft logos. The thefts netted the group at least $50,000 U.S., according to Microsoft.

-- Hynix Semiconductor Inc. in Kyoungki-Do, South Korea, will be hit by the Japanese government with countervailing duties of about 27 percent on its dynamic RAM chips. Japan alleges that low-cost loans from state-controlled Korean banks have amounted to unfair subsidies for the chip maker. The U.S. and the European Union have imposed similar duties on Hynix, which denies receiving illegal subsidies.

-- Yahoo Inc. last week disclosed plans to open research facilities in Santiago, Chile, and Barcelona, Spain, to tap into engineering resources in Latin America and Europe. The offshore operations will research the relevance of search-engine results, text mining and categorization of documents.

-- Asianux, a consortium of Linux vendors, will set up a joint-venture company this year to promote and further develop its version of the open-source operating system, according to an executive familiar with the plans. The three members of the group -- Red Flag Software Co. in Beijing, Haansoft Inc. in Seoul, South Korea, and Miracle Linux Corp. in Tokyo -- hope that the Beijing-based venture will attract more customers for the Asianux software.

-- Swisscom AG said CEO Jens Alder has resigned, citing government opposition to his expansion strategy for the Bern, Switzerland-based telecommunications carrier. Carsten Schloter, who was previously in charge of Swisscom 's mobile phone division, was named to replace Alder. In November, the Swiss Finance Ministry forced Swisscom to halt efforts to acquire foreign firms.