U.S., EU clear Google’s Motorola bid

GOOGLE’S US$12.5 billion bid to buy mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility has won approvals from U.S. and European antitrust regulators Tuesday, moving Google a major step closer to completing the biggest deal in its 13-year history.

Google prizes Motorola Mobility’s more than 17,000 patents — a crucial weapon in an intellectual arms race with Apple, Microsoft and other rivals maneuvering to gain more control over smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices. Airlines to buy US$3.5 trillion of new jets

GLOBAL airlines will need US$3.5 trillion of new planes through 2030, with more than a third of that demand coming from Asia, Airbus’s chief executive said yesterday.

The aviation industry will require 27,800 new planes of 100-plus seating capacity between 2010 and 2030 while Asia will likely take delivery of about 9,370 of those planes worth US$1.3 trillion, CEO Tom Enders said.

India inflation hits 26-month low

INDIA’S inflation slowed last month to its weakest level in 26 months, government data showed Tuesday. But the central bank may wait for more evidence that prices are on a sustained downtrend before it begins slashing interest rates.

The wholesale price index rose 6.55 percent last month from a year earlier as food prices fell.

Inflation has eased noticeably since December, when it slipped below the 9 percent mark for the first time in 13 months.