FTC approves Facebook privacy settlement
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Facebook must get consumers' consent before sharing their information beyond established privacy settings, the U.S. trade watchdog says.
The Federal Trade Commission Thursday accepted the consent requirement as part of the final settlement with Facebook to resolve charges the online social network giant deceived users by telling them they could keep their Facebook information private while repeatedly allowing the information to be shared and made public.
The settlement requires Facebook to take steps to make sure it lives up to its privacy promises in the future, including giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining their express consent before sharing their information beyond their privacy settings, the FTC said in a release. Facebook also must maintain comprehensive privacy program to protect consumers' information, and have biennial privacy audits conducted by an independent third party.
The commission approved the final order on a 3-1-1 vote.
U.S. stock indexes rally at close
NEW YORK, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- After spending the better part of the trading day Friday in the red, U.S. stock indexes bounced back to extend their streak of gains to six days.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 42.76 points, 0.32 percent, to 13,207.95 in late afternoon trading.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.22 points, 0.07 percent and closed at 3,020.86.
The Standard and Poor's 500 picked up 3.07 points, 0.22 percent, and finished at 1,405.87.
U.S. stock indexes had been down most of the day, reacting to weak economic news from China. The General Administration of Customs in China said the country's exports rose 1 percent for the year to $176.9 billion in July, plunging from 11.3 percent in June. Imports rose 4.7 percent to $151.8 billion for the year in July after a growth of 6.3 percent in June.
Domestically, import prices for July dipped 0.6 percent from June, the U.S. Labor Department said.
The 10-year U.S. treasury note yielded 1.659 in late afternoon trading.
On the New York Stock Exchange, the listed volume was 2.6 billion shares.
Against the euro, the dollar was $1.2290 from $1.2305 Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was 78.28 from 78.58 Thursday.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei closed at 8,891.44, off 87.16 points, or 0.97 percent.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 5,842.11, down 4.40 points, or 0.08 percent.
U.S. government ran $70B deficit in July
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. government had a $70 billion budget deficit in July and a shortfall below $1 trillion in 10 months of the fiscal year, the Treasury Department said.
July's figure was $60 billion less than the shortfall posted in the same month a year ago, MarketWatch.com reported Friday, aided by lower spending and higher receipts.
In July, the government spent $254 billion while taking in $185 billion, Treasury Department figures showed.
For the fiscal year through July 2012, the deficit was lower than the same period a year ago -- $974 billion compared with $1.1 trillion, Treasury officials reported.
The Treasury still forecasts a shortfall of more than $1 trillion for the entire 2012 fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has attacked President Obama on deficit issues and pledged to slash government spending to reduce the federal debt and deficit if he is elected in November.
Spain's 24.6 percent unemployment a record
MADRID, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The unemployment rate in financially distressed Spain rose to 24.6 percent in the second quarter, bringing the number of jobless to 5.7 million, officials said.
The National Statistics Institute said 53,500 were added to the unemployment total, Olive Press reported.
The second-quarter rate is up 0.2 percent from the previous three months, the institute said.
The unemployment rate for people below the age of 25 was 53 percent.
Olive Press said Spain's unemployment rate is the highest in the eurozone and surpasses the country's previous high of 24.5 percent in 1994.
Spain's economy is swooning and economists told the BBC they see few signs of improvement in the short run.
"Things are only going to get worse," Capital Economics' Ben May said. "With the economy unlikely to expand any time soon, and the dire position the economy is in, Spain is probably more likely to fall deeper into recession."
Earlier this week small Spanish union carried out raids on two grocery stores in one of the poorest regions of the country to try to draw attention to the problems facing the unemployed, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Hundreds of members affiliated with the Andalusian Union of Workers, representing primarily rural laborers in southern Spain, took 12 shopping carts full of food staples from one supermarket on Tuesday and pressed another grocer to donate a similar amount of food on Wednesday. Most of the items were given to local food banks.
