National / International News

The administrators of HMV announce that nine of the music and DVD retailer's stores will close across Northern Ireland with the loss of more than 100 jobs.

Health Minister Lesley Griffiths promises that lessons will be learnt in Wales from the inquiry into "appalling" neglect at Stafford Hospital.

The Olympic Park will be the starting point for a two-day cycling festival, which London Mayor Boris Johnson has called a "feast of velocipedes".

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that American Airlines and US Airways are in the final stages of a putting together a merger which could be announced as soon as next week. The combined airline would be the largest in the world.

The government reported this morning that worker productivity fell at the end of last year at the fastest pace in two years -- about 2 percent. Analysts say companies are hiring more and therefore don't have to lean so hard on their current workers.

A new report from the United Nations finds corruption is on the rise in Afghanistan and it's costing the country billions of dollars. The report says fully half of all Afghans are paying bribes.

The world's largest online retailer, Amazon.com, announced this week it will make its own virtual currency: Amazon coins.

And finally, to a job opening in Scotland. They're looking for someone to live on an uninhabited island for six months of the year according to the Daily Mail. They'll pay you about $35,000. Although the only store on the island is a gift shop...so bring your own food and drinking water. The internet connection is also said to be spotty.

The gunman is believed to be a former officer who is angry about his dismissal from the city's force. He allegedly killed two people last weekend and shot three police officers today. One of those officers has died.

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Chris Huhne's ex-wife Vicky Pryce was "a very hurt woman" and felt he "did not deserve to be in the position of responsibility" as an MP, a Sunday Times journalist tells a jury.

Glitches in Dead Space 3 are allowing gamers to avoid paying in-game charges, undermining publisher EA's attempt to extend the use of micro-transactions.

Life-like robotic patients are being used in central Scotland by doctors and nurses who want to practise their clinical skills.

The use of banned drugs in Australian professional sport is "widespread", a year-long investigation has found.

The future governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, does not rule out changes to the way the bank runs monetary policy.

Two Russian fighter jets have violated Japanese airspace, prompting Tokyo to scramble its own aircraft, Japanese reports say.

The pace of claims for unemployment insurance changed little. That could be a sign that employers are hiring and firing at about the same rate as they did in 2012.

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Rory Cellan-Jones on reaction from music and TV industries

A former Surrey police officer is to be charged with two offences of misconduct in public office over allegations he sold information to the Sun newspaper, the Crown Prosecution Service says.

An app that transforms adult newspapers into child-friendly text and animations has been launched in Japan.

In northeastern Minnesota, moose are dying at an alarming rate. State officials are having difficulty determining why. And though hunters are not part of the problem, the state announced Wednesday that there will be no moose hunting season this coming fall. Disease? Predators? Climate change?

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For the first time since the 1960s, there are more people in England renting from private landlords than from councils or housing associations.

A woman tells a court how she thought she was going to die during a "brutal" rape when she was 14.

The US space agency's Curiosity Mars rover rotates its drill mechanism for the first time, as it builds towards taking a sample from inside a rock.

Amazon is known for selling just about everything, from unicorn meat to uranium ore. This week, the retailing giant said it will soon offer its own currency, called the Amazon Coin. Customers can buy the coins and then use them to purchase apps for the Kindle Fire.

“I think there’s a potential for a win-win-win here,” says University of South Carolina retailing professor Karen Edwards.

App developers win because Amazon Coins can be spent within apps, offering them a new revenue stream. Amazon wins because it stands to attract the most talented app developers. And consumers win because Amazon is giving away tens of millions of dollars worth of the currency.

Amazon might be the biggest online company to toy with the idea of virtual money, but it’s not the only one. Facebook developed its own coinage to pay for online games, but saw limited success. Last year, Facebook axed the idea.

Analysts say Amazon is in a better position, because there’s a huge market for the Kindle Fire, Amazon’s mobile device. If Amazon Coins are successful, there’s a potential snowball effect -- that’s what happened for BitPay. Business boomed after a giant blogging portal began taking its virtual money.

“Once WordPress decided to accept BitCoins, a lot of companies came on board following their lead,” says Tony Gillippi, the company’s founder.

Expect to see the Amazon Coin released this May.