U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper said on Thursday that China was the top suspect in the massive hacking of a U.S. government agency that compromised the personnel records of millions of Americans. The comments from Clapper, the director of National Intelligence (DNI), were first reported in The Wall Street Journal and marked the first time the Obama administration has publicly accused Beijing of the hacking attacks on the Office of Personnel Management. “You have to kind of salute the Chinese for what they did,” given the difficulty of the intrusion, the Journal quoted Clapper as saying at a Washington intelligence conference.

(Reuters) – Apple Inc has removed several civil war games featuring Confederate flags from its App Store, some game developers said. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Monday called on lawmakers to take down the Confederate battle flag at the state capitol grounds. Retailers such as Wal Mart Stores Inc and Sears Holdings Corp have stopped selling the flag.

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – [GETTY.UL] has become the latest company to take its grievances with Google to EU antitrust regulators as it accused the world's most popular Internet search engine of favoring its own images service at the expense of rivals. The complaint comes as the European Commission waits for Google to respond to charges of abusing its market power in a dozen EU countries since 2007 by distorting search results to favor its shopping service. The renowned photojournalism archive said its troubles with Google started in early 2013.

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Google Inc will have to defend claims that its Street View mapping software violates patents held by Vederi LLC after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the company's appeal. The high court's decision not to hear the case leaves intact a March 2014 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which threw out a district judge's finding that Google had not infringed on four different patents. Vederi sued Google in 2010.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc is at the initial stage of reviewing whether to split itself in two or spin off a business, seeking to reverse its fortunes and take on rival Intel Corp, according to three people familiar with the matter. The review highlights Chief Executive Lisa Su's determination to consider every possible option to turn the company around. Su, however, who took over as CEO last October, judged that there is merit for the company to at least consider such a possibility again, the people added.

By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) – Dick Costolo's decision to step down as Twitter Inc's chief executive last week failed to stem the weeks-long slide in the company's shares, but options traders appear to be betting on a near-term rebound. The stock has shed more than a third of its value since Twitter reported first-quarter results in April. On June 11, Costolo said he would resign as CEO under pressure from investors frustrated by the microblogging company's slow growth, but the move failed to prop up Twitter's shares.

By Arshad Mohammed and Joseph Menn WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When a retired 51-year-old military man disclosed in a U.S. security clearance application that he had a 20-year affair with his former college roommate's wife, it was supposed to remain a secret between him and the government. The disclosure last week that hackers had penetrated a database containing such intimate and possibly damaging facts about millions of government and private employees has shaken Washington. The hacking of the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) could provide a treasure trove for foreign spies.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd will launch an online video streaming service in China in about two months, hoping to emulate the U.S.'s Netflix Inc and HBO, the firm's head of digital entertainment said on Sunday. The service will be called 'TBO', or Tmall Box Office, with content bought from China and other countries, as well as in-house productions, Alibaba's Patrick Liu told reporters in Shanghai.