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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has struggled for years to deal with an issue that lies at the heart of Internet services in Canada: how can it foster greater competition from independent Internet providers while also addressing telecom and cable company concerns about network congestion.

In 2009, the CRTC believed it found the right solution. It established Internet traffic management guidelines (often referred to as net neutrality rules) that created limits on how Internet providers could throttle or limit download speeds and it encouraged providers to use

The nation’s top credit card companies are seeing a boost to their bottom lines as consumers are getting better about paying their bills on time.

Five of the top six card issuers on Friday said the rates at which their customers defaulted on their accounts fell in June. Bank of America Corp. reported the biggest drop in defaults, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Discover Financial Services also showing significant improvement.

Late payments were also down. Only Capital One Financial Corp. saw an uptick in payments late by 30 days or more, and that increase was tiny.

Among the top six, only Citibank had not yet submitted its monthly regulatory filing detailing card performance for the month. Its parent, Citigroup Inc., reported second-quarter results earlier in the day, however, giving some insight into its card performance.

The latest data followed reports that show credit card users have far better payment habits than a year ago, when the industrywide charge-off rate peaked at 10.9 percent, according to Federal Reserve data. For the first three months of this year, that rate was down to 6.96 percent _ a significant improvement, but still well below the industry average of 3.82 percent before the recession, which indicates banks will benefit further as default and delinquency rates further improve.

And they should continue to do so. Banks have already written off the balances of most customers expected to default, and those individuals have a hard time getting new credit.

The impact of the improved payment habits was reflected in banks’ second-quarter financial results this week.

Citigroup said that it pulled $757 million out of the pool set aside to cover uncollectable credit card bills, adding to its $3.3 billion profit for the quarter. That followed a report from JPMorgan Chase on Thursday, which posted a $5.4 billion profit for the period, boosted by a $1 billion reduction in loss reserves cash advance no faxing.

And much of Capital One’s 50 percent profit leap reported Tuesday was due to the $579 million it released from reserves. Analyst Henry Coffey of Sterne Agee estimated 81 cents of the $1.97 per share profit, or about 41 percent, came from that reserve release.

Last month, Discover Financial Services said it released $401 million from its reserves, helping to more than triple the company’s second-quarter profit.

Also goosing bank bottom lines: Card holders are using their credit cards more. That trend is now clear, after 51 percent of the U.S. card market has reported its second-quarter results, said Morgan Stanley analyst Glenn Fodor.

Citigroup said purchase volume rose 1.5 percent.

JPMorgan Chase’s customers spent 10 percent more using their cards. Discover said sales volume on its namesake cards rose 9 percent.

Bank of America and American Express Co. are slated to report next week, and both are expected to show similar gains in spending.

The Federal Reserve said total balances on revolving credit, which is mostly cards, rose slightly in May to $793.13 billion. That’s still nearly 19 percent below the peak balances of $973.64 billion in August 2008, but reflected an uptick in spending after months of belt-tightening by consumers.

What’s less clear is if the higher spending will continue.

Borrowing is typically a sign of confidence in the economy, and the weak jobs market and higher unemployment last month may discourage further spending.

And even when the recovery gains steam, few economists say they expect consumers to pile on debt again after spending the last two years paying it down.

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A study commissioned by Samsung into cancers among six of its semiconductor workers found they were unrelated to exposure to chemicals on the job but the electronics giant is not yet releasing the full results.

U.S.-based Environ International Corp. on Thursday announced the broad findings of a study it conducted over the past year of several Samsung chip manufacturing facilities.

Samsung commissioned the investigation last July to try and allay public anxieties. The company says that 26 current or former workers in production, research and development or office work at semiconductor facilities have contracted leukemia or lymphoma since 1998, while 13 have died.

The South Korean company said it had no plans to immediately publish the study as doing so could compromise the trade secrets of Samsung and its suppliers.

The six cases covered by the study have also been the subject of an ongoing court case in South Korea. Late last month, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that two of them could be related to exposure to toxic chemicals on the job. Four of the people have died.

Samsung Electronics Co. is the world’s largest manufacturer of memory chips used in personal computers, mobile phones, digital cameras and other products.

Environ said in a statement that that Samsung’s current manufacturing operations fall “well within accepted standards” for exposure to chemicals and other substances.

Environ officials, including CEO Steve Washburn, appeared at a press conference held at Samsung’s Giheung semiconductor plant in the city of Yongin, south of Seoul.

“The study further concluded that the scientific evidence does not support a link between workplace exposure and the diagnosed cancers in six cases that underwent specific review,” the company said.

It said that in four of the six cancer cases it studied “there was no evidence” of exposure to an agent that would have caused the illnesses, while in the other two “exposures to cancer-causing agents were substantially below levels of exposure associated with an increased risk of cancer.” Those agents included formaldehyde and ionizing radiation.

Samsung, which has long said its facilities are safe, welcomed the results. Still, Kwon Oh-hyun, the Samsung executive in charge of semiconductors, said the company would not immediately release the Environ study.

“We will consider disclosing the report,” he said, after discussing the issue internally and with suppliers free credit score.

That stance disappointed activists supporting plaintiffs in the court case.

Kong Jeong-ok, an occupational health physician and a member of a support group, called for Samsung to act fast.

“First, disclose the full report,” Kong said after the presentation, which she attended. She also urged Samsung to consult with civil groups, experts and the government before doing so to ensure “transparency and reliability.”

Paul Harper, the Environ official who oversaw the study, said that releasing the report was up to Samsung. He also declined to disclose how much Samsung paid his company to carry out the probe, citing client confidentiality.

He also said that Environ focused on the six specific cancer cases at Samsung’s request.

Kwon denied that Samsung commissioned the study so it could be used as evidence in the ongoing court case.

The Seoul Administrative Court last month ordered the government’s Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service to compensate the families of two dead women. It ruled that while the exact cause of their deaths has not been determined, it could be presumed that they were exposed to toxic chemicals and radiation on the job.

It upheld the service’s findings, however, that the cancer cases of three other workers, two of whom are alive, were unrelated to their work at Samsung, though their attorneys are appealing the ruling.

Five of the six original cases are currently being contested in court as the family of another worker who died last year dropped out.

Samsung is not a defendant in the case, but has cooperated with the welfare service. Yonhap news agency reported that the agency has filed an appeal in the two rulings it lost.

Environ said it carried out the study with Samsung’s full cooperation. It also said the study’s design and implementation were reviewed by an independent advisory panel which included academic experts from institutions such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Yale, but that they were not asked to endorse the conclusions.

Separately, Samsung said Thursday that it plans to expand investments in a research institute it runs devoted to semiconductor health and safety and would also upgrade health programs for employees.

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Moody’s Investors Service on Friday downgraded Ireland’s government debt ratings to junk status, saying it believes Ireland will need further rounds of financing when the current European Union and the International Monetary Fund support ends in 2013.

The ratings agency cut Ireland’s bond ratings to “Ba1″ from “Baa3,” and said the outlook on the ratings remains negative.

Moody’s credits Ireland with a strong commitment to fiscal consolidation, but notes that implementation risks remain significant with its weak economy.

The analysts say the EU may require private sector creditor participation as a precondition for such additional support, a negative for holders of distressed government debt.

Ireland’s short-term issuer rating also was lowered by one notch to “Non-prime” from “Prime-3.”

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Leaders in four area counties announced on Thursday a regional anti-meth drive

President Barack Obama says back-channel talks with congressional leaders last weekend have produced new progress in advance of a White House session Thursday on deficit reduction.

The president is siding with House Speaker John Boehner in insisting that negotiators resist the temptation to “kick the can down the road” and settle for a makeshift, short-term solution to stave off a first-ever U.S. default next month.

At issue is the need to raise the government’s so-called debt limit to avoid a default on its obligations to bondholders and Social Security beneficiaries. Republicans want deficit cuts in the range of at least $2.4 trillion over 10 years to offset the amount of new government borrowing needed simply to avoid another vote before 2013.

Obama met with Boehner on Sunday, the first session since Republicans last month abandoned negotiations being led by Vice President Joe Biden.

The Biden talks had produced a series of tentative understandings on potential spending cuts totaling at least $1.6 trillion under administration math and $2 trillion or more under GOP math. But negotiators say a true agreement on those cuts _ to day-to-day agency operating budgets, defense, federal pensions and farm subsidies, among other things _ would require further sacrifice in the political priorities of Democrats and Republicans alike.

The administration says that if the government’s borrowing authority is not increased by Aug. 2, the U.S. will face its first default ever, potentially throwing financial markets into turmoil.

Obama isn’t calling for increases in tax rates. On Tuesday, the president urged Republicans to agree to eliminate “certain tax breaks and deductions for the wealthiest of Americans.” The White House is pressing for the repeal of tax breaks enjoyed by the oil and natural gas industry and limits on deductions claimed by people in the 35 percent tax bracket.

On Tuesday, Boehner attacked the latter proposal as an assault on small businesses but was subdued on questions like oil and gas subsidies or a much-publicized tax provision that gives favorable treatment to companies that buy corporate jets business cards.

“We’re not dealing just with talking points about corporate jets or other `loopholes,’” Boehner, R-Ohio, said. “The legislation the president has asked for, which would increase taxes on small businesses and destroy more American jobs, cannot pass the House, as I have stated repeatedly.”

In his remarks Tuesday, Obama said he strongly opposes a stopgap, short-term debt-limit increase, as suggested by some lawmakers.

“We’ve made progress, and I believe that greater progress is within sight, but I don’t want to fool anybody. We still have to work through some real differences,” the president said.

Obama’s tone was less partisan than at a news conference last week, as were the responses from Capitol Hill Republicans.

“I’m pleased the president stated today that we need to address the big, long-term challenges facing our country,” Boehner said in a statement.

Obama said Republican and Democratic leaders from the House and Senate were invited to meet on the issue Thursday at the White House. That would bring the top eight lawmakers together with Obama, Biden and top administration financial officials.

“It’s my hope that everybody’s going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we’ll all leave our political rhetoric at the door,” Obama said.

In the Senate on Tuesday, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., postponed a test vote on a Libya resolution amid increasing opposition from Republican lawmakers who insisted they should be working on financial security, not national security. Several Republican senators had indicated they would oppose using the week to debate the Libya measure.

Reid replaced the Libya measure with a nonbinding resolution calling on millionaires to pay a bigger share of the sacrifices needed to wrestle the deficit under control _ hardly a move that would eclipse any progress made at the White House.

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The U.S. ambassador here says the Obama administration remains open to the idea of keeping thousands of American troops in Iraq next year, if asked, despite a spike of deathly attacks on soldiers by Shiite militias.

Ambassador James F. Jeffrey emphasized Saturday that no decision has been made by Washington. Baghdad’s Shiite-led government has not asked to extend the U.S. troop presence, though it is widely expected to do so.

Jeffrey says U.S. troops appear to be the militias’ top target now, but that attacks will continue against Iraqis if the American military leaves.

Fifteen U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in June, nearly all of them killed by Shiite militiamen. It was the bloodiest month for Americans troops in two years.

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The United States and other nations that depend on oil imports will release and sell 60 million barrels of crude from emergency stocks in an effort to ease the strain of high oil prices on the global economy.

The release by the International Energy Agency, a group of more than two dozen countries, covers only what the world uses roughly every 16 hours. But it was enough to send oil prices lower, at least for the moment.

In addition to helping the struggling economies of the U.S. and Europe, analysts said the move was meant as a rebuke to OPEC, which has refused to increase oil production to bring down prices.

It will be the largest sale of crude ever from world strategic reserves and only the third since the IEA was formed in 1974 after the Arab oil embargo. The IEA released oil in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and in 1990 and 1991 after Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Half the oil will come from reserves in the U.S. Refiners who turn crude into gasoline will be able to bid on the extra oil and have it shipped to them from the salt caverns along the Gulf Coast where it is stored.

The IEA said high oil demand and shortfalls of oil production caused by unrest in the Middle East and North Africa threatened to “undermine the fragile global economic recovery.”

The uprising in Libya has taken 1.5 million barrels of oil per day off of the market _ half a million barrels less than will be released each day by the IEA for 30 days.

The price of oil rose to nearly $114 per barrel in at the end of April, the highest since the summer of 2008, has fallen 20 percent since then to about $91 a barrel on Thursday. Analysts questioned how much relief the move would provide the economy, and for how long.

One analyst, Andrew Lipow, said the timing of the announcement, a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered a negative outlook on the economy, suggests that industrialized countries are grasping for solutions. He said Americans should expect the price of gasoline to fall, but not dramatically, in coming weeks.

“Fifteen or 20 cents a gallon of relief is not enough to make people feel good about their job prospects or losses on the stock market or our general economic slowdown,” he said.

The IEA and the White House said they were acting to increase the supply of oil available during the peak summer driving season.

“We are taking this action in response to the ongoing loss of crude oil due to supply disruptions in Libya and other countries and their impact on the global economic recovery,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.

Gas prices have already fallen for 20 days in a row. They were down another penny Wednesday, to a nationwide average of $3.61 per gallon, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That’s about 21 cents lower than a month ago. Gas prices peaked this year at a national average of $3.98 per gallon in early May.

The timing of the release brought criticism from business groups and Republican lawmakers, who accused President Barack Obama of playing politics with the country’s oil reserves, which are intended to address emergencies.

The amount of oil to be released, 2 million barrels per day, represents 2.2 percent of daily global oil demand. The 60 million barrels to be released over the span of a month is less than one day’s demand, about 89 million barrels.

The IEA left open the possibility that it could continue the program after a month.

The IEA’s move comes two weeks after OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, decided during a tense meeting not to increase oil production to meet rising demand. OPEC is made up primarily of Middle Eastern and North African nations.

OPEC countries are divided over whether to increase supply. Iran and Venezuela want to keep production stable in hopes of keeping prices _ and revenue _ high. Saudi Arabia wants to increase production, fearing that high oil prices will hurt the global economy and reduce oil demand over the long term.

The head of the IEA, Nobuo Tanaka, expressed disappointment about OPEC’s decision after that meeting No teletrack payday loans. At a news conference Thursday in Paris, he said the IEA’s action would “contribute to ensuring that adequate supplies are available to the global market.”

Kevin Book, an analyst at Clearview Energy Partners, said the move was the first time the IEA has used its reserves as an offensive weapon “to send an unforgettable message to OPEC.”

The reserves, he said, have always acted as a shield. “Now we are using it to bludgeon prices globally. This is the first time we’ve used our shield as a club.”

In addition, Book said, it sends a signal to oil investors that governments will go to great lengths to fight high oil prices. These oil investors, including banks, mutual funds and pension funds, buy contracts for oil in hopes the price will go up, but they don’t actually use the oil. Critics have said these investors, derided as speculators, have helped push oil prices far higher than they would otherwise be.

“Part of the reason to do this is to make anyone on the other side of oil consumers, whether it is speculators or oil cartels, worried that it will happen again,” Book said.

Oil finished trading at $95.41 on Wednesday just before Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy may be in bigger trouble than previously thought. Prices dropped to about $94 overnight and then fell as low as $89 per barrel after the IEA announcement. Oil finished trading Thursday at $91.02.

Worldwide oil demand is at record levels because the recovering economies of the West and the surging economies of Asia are burning more gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

The unrest in the Middle East this spring cut into supply. Those two factors drove prices higher, raising costs for shippers, travelers and commuters and leaving people less money to spend on clothes, entertainment and travel.

The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, down from 3.1 percent in the previous quarter, in part as a result of high gasoline prices.

Oil prices fell later in the spring, though, as the U.S. economy appeared to slow and Greece’s financial crisis threatened to spread to the rest of Europe. Reports that Saudi Arabia would increase production in defiance of OPEC helped send prices lower in recent days. It’s unclear whether Saudi Arabia has begun to do so, or still might.

Also, oil supplies in the U.S. are among their highest levels ever, a result in part of rising North American production and less consumption.

Analysts also said that while the IEA move will lower oil prices in the short term, it also reveals major concerns about the ability of oil producers to meet growing world demand in the future. If they can’t, oil prices will rise dramatically.

Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, said oil would have to drop below $80 a barrel to have much economic impact on the economy. He said he doesn’t think the 60 million barrels is enough to do that.

“The argument is, if we can lower oil prices that would be a major tax cut,” Baumohl said. “The logic is fine. Whether it can successfully be carried out is the question. And I don’t think it can.”

IEA members are required to hold in reserve the equivalent of what they would import in 90 days, though countries collectively now hold 146 days’ supply.

The U.S. stocks, called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, hold 727 million barrels. The reserve has never been fuller. It held 707 million barrels before the U.S. last tapped the reserve in 2008 in response to supply disruptions caused by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

The IEA decision will free about 30 million barrels in the United States. Europe will release 18 million barrels and industrialized countries in Asia 12 million.

For U.S. refiners, bidding for the oil now held in reserve will mean having to import less from abroad. The 1 million barrels per day to be released is about 20 percent of what Gulf Coast refiners import.

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Internet minders voted Monday to allow virtually unlimited new domain names based on themes as varied as company brands, entertainment and political causes, in the system’s biggest shake-up since it started 26 years ago.

Groups able to pay the $185,000 application can petition next year for new updates to “.com” and “.net” with website suffixes using nearly any word in any language, including in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided at a meeting in Singapore.

“This is the start of a whole new phase for the Internet,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of ICANN’s board of directors. “Unless there is a good reason to restrain it, innovation should be allowed to run free.”

ICANN’s decision culminates six years of negotiations and is the biggest change to the system since “.com” made its debut in 1984. The expansion plan had been delayed largely because of concerns that new suffixes could infringe on trademarks and copyrights.

High-profile entertainment, consumer goods and financial services companies will likely be among the first to apply for their own domain name in a bid to protect their brands, experts said.

“It will allow corporations to better take control of their brands,” said Theo Hnarakis, chief executive of Melbourne IT, which manages online brands for clients such as Volvo, LEGO and GlaxoSmithKline. “For example, .apple or .ipad would take customers right to those products.”

The surge in domains should help alleviate some of the overlap of names in the most popular suffixes, especially “.com”, which has 94 million sites registered.

More than 300 suffixes are available today, the bulk of them country-specific codes, such as “.jp” for Japan and “.fr” for France. Those are typically restricted to groups or individuals with a presence in the countries. Only a handful are open for general use worldwide.

In March, ICANN approved “.xxx” for pornography, but some porn sites have declined to adopt the suffix, fearing it will make it easier for governments to ban them loan for people with bad credit. Conservative groups opposed the “.xxx” name too, arguing it could attract children to adult sites.

Analysts said they expect between 500 to 1,000 new domain names, mostly companies and products, but also cities and generic names such as “.bank” or “.hotel.” Groups have formed to back “.sport” for sporting sites, and two conservationist groups separately are seeking the right to operate an “.eco” suffix.

ICANN plans to auction off domains if multiple parties have legitimate claims. However, it expects companies will likely strike deals among themselves to avoid a public auction.

“I think we’ll see much more of that going on than see auctions generating circuses,” Dengate Thrush said. “But there is that prospect that there will be a couple of identical applicants and applications.”

The application process is arduous _ the fee is $185,000 and the guidebook is 360 pages _ and meant to prevent scammers from grabbing valuable domain names. ICANN will receive applications for new domains for 90 days beginning Jan. 12.

“It’s a significant undertaking. We’re calling it the Olympic bid,” said Adrian Kinderis, chief executive of AusRegistry International, which helps companies to register domains and manages names such as “.au” for Australia.

“But it’s worth it for corporations that have suffered from things like trademark infringement, and can now carve out a niche on the internet,” Kinderis said.

ICANN said it has set aside up to $2 million to assist applicants from developing countries.

“The board’s very enthusiastic about providing support for applicants from developing areas where the evaluation fee or access to technical expertise might be somewhat of a bar,” ICANN senior vice president Kurt Pritz told reporters after the meeting.

ICANN said in a statement that it will mount a global publicity campaign to raise awareness of the opportunities of new domain names.

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LM Ericsson AB has signed a deal to buy U.S.-based software development firm Telcordia for $1.15 billion, the Swedish wireless equipment company said Tuesday.

Ericsson said it will buy 100 percent of the shares in Telcordia from private equity firms Providence Equity Partners LLC and Warburg Pincus and expects to complete the acquisition in the fourth quarter 2011.

Telcordia, based in Piscataway, New Jersey, develops mobile, broadband and enterprise communications software and services. It reported revenues of $739 million during the fiscal year, ending January 31 and employs 2,600 people who will now be transferred to Ericsson.

The Swedish company said Telcordia has a leading market position within the operations and business support system field _ producing computer systems that are used by telecommunications operators to handle the growth in mobile and fixed broadband traffic easy payday loans.

“The importance of operations and business support systems will continue to grow as more and more devices are connected, services become mobile and new business models for mobile broadband are introduced,” Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals.

Shares in Ericsson rose by 1.8 percent to 88.80 Swedish kronor ($13.99) in Stockholm.

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