Technology Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) , Monsanto reported Wednesday that its income increased 22 percent in the agriculture products company's second quarter on strong sales of biotech seeds, particularly in Brazil and other emerging markets. The company boosted its full-year earnings guidance, citing its strong performance in the first half of the year. Its shares edged higher in morning trading.

HELSINKI (AP) , Mobile game developer Rovio Entertainment Ltd. says the popular Angry Birds franchise helped it double revenue in 2012, with net profit surging more than 55 percent to 55.5 million euros ($71.2 million). The Finnish company says that sales last year were 152.2 million euros, up from 75.6 million euro a year earlier. Net profit in 2011 was 35.4 million euros.

WASHINGTON (AP) , The parading of U.S. air and naval power within view of the Korean peninsula , first a few long-range bombers, then stealth fighters, then ships , is as much about psychological war as real war. The U.S. wants to discourage North Korea's young leader from starting a fight that could escalate to renewed war with South Korea.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) , Philippine authorities have arrested 16 Taiwanese in connection with an online scam that mostly targeted retirees living in China and Taiwan, an official said Wednesday. ...

NEW YORK (AP) , To see what Facebook has become, look no further than the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer. Sometime last year, people began sharing tongue-in-cheek online reviews of the banana-shaped piece of yellow plastic with their Facebook friends. Then those friends shared with their friends.

PARIS (AP) , Google's new privacy policy is under legal attack from regulators in its largest European markets, who want the company to overhaul practices they say let it create a data goldmine at the expense of unwitting users.

Google Inc. faces investigation and possible prosecution by six European national data privacy agencies after the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet search giant declined to rewrite its privacy policy, as European Union officials recommended last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) , President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed an effort to map the brain's activity in unprecedented detail, as a step toward finding better ways to treat such conditions as Alzheimer's, autism, stroke and traumatic brain injuries.

WASHINGTON (AP) , There may one day soon be another way to fight those annoying prerecorded phone pitches known as robocalls. The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced winners for its national contest to develop a blocking technology for illegal sales calls.

GENEVA (AP) , FIFA opted for GoalControl on Tuesday as its goal-line technology system for the Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The German camera-based, ball-tracking system was the last of four contenders to win a FIFA contract that starts with the Confederations Cup in June.

WASHINGTON (AP) , The Homeland Security Department expects applications for high-skilled immigration visas to outpace the available supply in a matter of days, one of the fastest runs on the much-sought-after work permits in years and a sign of continued economic recovery amid new hiring by U.S. technology companies.

One of the most critically acclaimed video-game franchises returns with a less macabre but still violent adventure in Bioshock Infinite (Take 2 Games and Irrational Games, Rated Mature, reviewed for Xbox 360, $59.99). A single player finds himself turned into a gruff but lovable scoundrel visiting a city in the clouds while on a mission to rescue a fair damsel in distress locked in a tower.

BEIJING (AP) , Apple issued an apology to Chinese consumers Monday after government media attacked its repair policies for two weeks in a campaign that reeked of economic nationalism. A statement...

NEW YORK (AP) , An Internet company offering inexpensive live broadcast television online doesn't violate U.S. copyright law, a divided federal appeals court ruled Monday. The 2-to-1 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for Aereo Inc.'s expansion of a service that had been limited to New York City until this year.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said Monday it will boost its own cyberwar forces and work and train more closely with U.S. forces on cyber issues, following the massive cyberattacks on major broadcasters and banks in Seoul on March 20.