AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, March 19, 2009:

House sets up vote on taxing AIG bonuses

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Venting their outrage, lawmakers are preparing to slap heavy taxes on employee bonuses at insurance giant AIG and at other companies that have received large bailout packages from the government. The House was scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill that would levy a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.

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Asia markets mixed after Fed’s $1.2 trillion plan

HONG KONG (AP) _ Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday as investors digested the U.S. Federal Reserve’s massive $1.2 trillion spending plan to revive growth in the world’s largest economy. Japanese exporters got whacked as the dollar tumbled against the yen. Most of the region’s other markets posted small gains, buoyed after Wall Street gained for a sixth time in seven days on optimism over the Fed’s announcement. Banks in several markets helped lead the way, while commodity firms rose on stronger prices for crude and metals.

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Microsoft adds shortcuts, security to new browser

SEATTLE (AP) _ Microsoft Corp. will release a new version of Internet Explorer Thursday, adding features meant to speed up common Web surfing tasks and bringing the browser’s security measures in line with those of major competitors. The number of browsers has grown to a dizzying array, from Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox, the two most popular, to Apple Inc.’s Safari, Google Inc.’s Chrome, the Norwegian entrant Opera and others. Each is using speed, security enhancements and new features to fight for a share of Web surfers’ growing time online. Microsoft remains the dominant player, but Firefox’s influence is growing.

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Sony e-book reader gets 500,000 books from Google

NEW YORK (AP) _ Google Inc. is making half a million books, unprotected by copyright, available for free on Sony Corp.’s electronic book-reading device, the companies were set to announce Thursday. It’s the first time Google has made its vast trove of scanned public-domain books available to an e-book device, and vaults the Sony Reader past Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle as the device with the largest available library, at about 600,000 books.

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Oracle manages 3Q feat: healthy contract signings

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Oracle Corp.’s sales force pulled off a big feat in the business software maker’s latest quarter, sustaining a healthy clip of contract signings amid a dreary time for technology spending. The efforts helped push Oracle’s sales and profit above Wall Street’s forecasts. Oracle also surprised investors by declaring its first dividend, a rare sign of confidence that comes as other bellwethers are cutting or suspending their dividends to save money.

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