Belarus introduced tough new Internet restrictions on Friday that imposes fines on providers for failing to monitor their clients and allow the authorities to block sites deemed "extremist".

The new rules also require local Internet vendors to register in the ex-Soviet nation and impose fines on companies selling goods in Belarus through foreign websites.

Ultra-thin laptops will take center-stage alongside new software and smartphones at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a gadget extravaganza that officially opens on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The more than 2,700 exhibitors filling an excess of 1.8 million square feet - approximately 33 U.S. football fields - will range from car, computer and chip makers to technology startups and iPhone accessory sellers.

China's two biggest video websites are fighting a court battle over accusations they are misusing each other's programming as rivalry heats up in an industry that is luring viewers away from bland state TV.

The conflict between Youku.com Inc. and Tudou Inc. is part of a struggle for dominance in an online market with nearly 400 million viewers and dozens of privately owned outlets that might represent the future of China's video watching and a lucrative advertising stream.

An uncomfortable suspicion that an icon of American business may have no future pushed investors to dump stock in Eastman Kodak Co. Wednesday.

The ailing photography pioneer's shares fell to a new all-time low after the Wall Street Journal reported that Kodak is preparing for a bankruptcy filing "in the coming weeks" should it fail to sell a trove of 1,100 digital-imaging patents.

Barnes & Noble said Thursday it is reviewing its options for its Nook e-book and e-book catalog business and might separate it from its core bookstore business.

The company also lowered its yearly guidance. The news sent shares down 30 percent in morning trading.

Yahoo's previous turnaround attempts have flopped under three different leaders with dramatically different backgrounds — former movie mogul Terry Semel, beloved Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and profanity-spewing Silicon Valley veteran Carol Bartz.

Now, the struggling Internet company is making yet another unorthodox choice with Wednesday's announcement that it has lured Scott Thompson away from a lower-profile job running eBay's thriving PayPal service to step into the pressure-packed position as Yahoo's fourth CEO in less than five years.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro is "laughing" off rumors about his death that went viral on Twitter, an official Cuban blogger said Tuesday.

"Fidel Castro studied, analyzed and is laughing at the rumors on Twitter," wrote Yohandry Bloquera on his blog (www.yohandry.com). "The CIA tried to kill him more than 700 times and Twitter is going down that road."

Research In Motion vowed Tuesday to defend the legal privacy rights of BlackBerry users after a judicial commission in Pakistan ordered copies of smartphone communications in a scandal probe.

The Canadian firm reacted to news that a Pakistani commission was seeking records for a probe into an unsigned memo purported to ask for Washington's help to rein in Pakistan's military.

Six Nigerian nationals have been arrested in the Indian city of Mumbai on suspicion of defrauding hundreds of people through text message and spam email scams, police said.

The group was picked up from three properties in a north Mumbai suburb on New Year's Eve, officers said late Monday. All six have been remanded in custody until January 12 pending further investigations.

Nintendo on Tuesday announced that it sold more than four million of its sophisticated 3DS handheld videogame gadgets in the United States by end of 2011.

Consumers also snapped up versions of beloved "Mario" franchise videogames tailored for the handsets, which feature 3-D graphics without need of special glasses.