SATYA NADELLA

Microsoft is infusing artificial intelligence tools into its suite of office software, including Word, Excel and Outlook emails.

Subpoenas have been sent to the chief executives of the five largest tech companies as congressional Republicans moved to investigate what they assert is widespread corporate censorship of conservative voices.

Microsoft is fusing ChatGPT-like technology into its search engine Bing, transforming an internet service that now trails far behind Google into a new way of communicating with artificial intelligence.

Microsoft is cutting 10,000 workers, almost 5% of its workforce, as it joins other tech companies in a scaling back of their pandemic-era expansions.

A top California state civil rights lawyer who was pursuing a discrimination case against video game giant Activision Blizzard has been fired, and another has quit in protest.

Thousands of people braved a morning chill on a ceremonial boulevard in India's capital to watch a display of the country's military power and cultural diversity, but the colorful annual Republic Day spectacle was curtailed amid COVID-19.

Demand for Microsoft’s cloud-computing services and work software helped boost its quarterly profits by 21% as the pandemic continued to keep many office workers at home.

Microsoft stunned the gaming industry when it announced this week it would buy game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, a deal that would immediately make it a larger video-game company than Nintendo.

Microsoft is paying nearly $70 billion for Activision Blizzard, the maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty.

Microsoft says it is opening an inquiry into how it responds to workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

Newly named Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal (PUH-rag AH-gur-wahl) has emerged from behind the scenes to take over one of Silicon Valley’s highest-profile and politically volatile jobs.

Despite damaging allegations suggesting Bill Gates pursued women who worked for him, don’t expect changes to his roles at the two iconic institutions he co-founded, Microsoft and his namesake philanthropic foundation, raising accountability concerns from critics.

Microsoft says it supports Australia's plans to make the biggest digital platforms pay for news and would help small businesses transfer their advertising to Bing if Google quits the country. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)CANBERRA – Microsoft said on Wednesday it supports Australia’s plans to make the biggest digital platforms pay for news and would help small businesses transfer their advertising to Bing if Google quits the country. Morrison this week confirmed he had spoken to Nadella about Bing replacing Google in Australia. There are no plans to make smaller search engines such as Bing pay for linking users to Australian news, but the government has not ruled that option out. AdBut Google is resisting the Australian plan because it would have less control over how much it would have to pay.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)CANBERRA – Australia's prime minister said on Monday that Microsoft is confident it can fill the void if Google carries out its threat to remove its search engine from Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he has spoken to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella about its search engine, Bing, filling the space. AdAlthough Bing is Australia’s second most popular search engine, it has only a 3.6% market share, according to web analytics service Statcounter. AdThe mandatory code of conduct proposed by the government aims to make Google and Facebook pay Australian media companies fairly for using news content the tech giants siphon from news sites. But Google is resisting the Australian plan because it would have less control over how much it would have to pay.

The logo of Microsoft is displayed outside the headquarters in Paris, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting Microsoft to earn $1.64 per share on revenue of $40.2 billion for the fiscal quarter. The coronavirus pandemic sparked a massive shift to the cloud and to Microsoft that won't likely be reversed once the crisis is over, said Daniel Elman, an analyst at Nucleus Research. “So many people are already familiar with the Microsoft user interface that it’s a comfortable option," Elman said. Its cloud computing business segment grew 23% to $14.6 billion.

“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden told reporters during a news conference Monday in Wilmington, Delaware. The Trump administration is working on its own distribution plan, while Biden’s chief of staff indicated his transition team will proceed with their own planning separately because of the obstruction. Last week, a larger group of Republicans in Congress called on the Trump administration to allow Biden to begin receiving national security briefings. Since defeating Trump, Biden has devoted most of his public remarks to encouraging Americans to wear masks and embrace social distancing measures. But on whether Biden should receive coronavirus briefings, many of Trump's allies on Capitol Hill remained dug in.

“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden told reporters during a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware. The Trump administration is working on its own distribution plan, while Biden’s chief of staff indicated his transition team will proceed with their own planning separately because of the obstruction. Last week, a larger group of Republicans in Congress called on the Trump administration to allow Biden to begin receiving national security briefings. Since defeating Trump, Biden has devoted most of his public remarks to encouraging Americans to wear masks and embrace social distancing measures. But on whether Biden should receive coronavirus briefings, many of Trump's allies on Capitol Hill remained dug in.

Trump’s Labor Department is using a 55-year-old presidential order spurred by the Civil Rights Movement to scrutinize companies like Microsoft and Wells Fargo over their public commitments to diversity. The agency has oversight over the hiring practices of thousands of federal contractors that employ roughly a quarter of all American workers. But he said it’s more likely the Trump administration is using the move as a political tactic ahead of the presidential election. “It’s a chicken-and-egg problem.”The latest actions affecting contractors align with a broader Trump administration trend on matters of race. At least one university, the University of Iowa, suspended its diversity efforts in response the order.

Microsoft says the U.S. Labor Department is scrutinizing its efforts to boost Black employment and leadership at the tech company. The Labor Department did not respond to a question about whether it has started similar inquiries into other companies with federal contracts. The Trump administration’s move contrasts with a flurry of efforts by private companies and institutions to increase racial diversity in the wake of the Black Lives Matters protests. The Labor Department said its Microsoft inquiry follows a 1965 order signed by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson banning discriminatory hiring among federal contractors. It sets up a hotline for the Labor Department to investigate workplace training session complaints.

Microsoft is back to selling smartphones for the first time since it abandoned its mobile business more than four years ago. The company began taking orders Wednesday for the Surface Duo, a new dual-screen Android device that costs $1,399 and begins shipping in September. Microsoft is pitching the Duo as a more useful tool than a conventional smartphone, since it enables users to multitask with two separate apps or web pages at a time. Adding a mobile device to its Surface line of computers is a reversal for Microsoft after its short-lived ownership of smartphone-maker Nokia and its difficulties in transitioning its Windows operating system to the mobile era. Apple and Google's Android long ago cornered the market on phone operating systems, but Microsoft's rare partnership with Google means Duo comes with a suite of Android apps.

Sydney's S&P ASX 200 jumped 2.1% to 6,049.60 and the Kospi in Seoul picked up 1.1% to 2,276.79. Overnight, the S&P 500 added another 0.7% onto its four-month winning streak, closing within 3% of the record high it set in February, at 3,294.61. Big Tech led the way higher again, and Microsoft and Apple alone accounted for most of the S&P 500s gain. The rally followed reports showing that manufacturing has improved across much of the world, including in China, Europe and the United States. Roughly two-thirds of the way into earnings season, 84% of S&P 500 companies have reported stronger results than expected, according to FactSet.