Since April, Apple and Samsung have been locked in an acrimonious legal battle in 10 countries involving smartphones and tablet computers as they jostle for the top spot in the fast-growing markets. Apple is also Samsung’s biggest customer, buying mainly chips and displays.Samsung’s latest salvo came after the South Korean electronics giant suffered a series of setbacks in its ongoing legal battles with Apple.Apple has scored preliminary injunctions against some Samsung products in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands, and further seeks to block sales of Samsung models in the United States, the key smartphone battleground.Samsung saw its request for a sales ban against some Apple products rejected by a Dutch court on Friday.Samsung said on Monday that it had appealed the Australian court’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1.”We do respect Apple as our biggest client but we won’t stand idly by, letting them infringe on our interest,” Samsung Electronics CEO Choi Gee-sung was quoted as saying by a spokesperson last week.The president and chief operating officer of Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-yong, left for the United States on Sunday to attend Apple’s private memorial service for Steve Jobs, a spokeswoman for Samsung Group said.Local media speculated that Lee may have a separate meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook and discuss ways to resolve the intensifying legal row, but the spokeswoman denied the reports.


Lewis, who sprang to prominence by sharing the first-round lead at the British Open in July while still an amateur, produced a scintillating reply to two opening bogeys by rattling in 10 birdies in 14 holes on a day of outstanding scoring.The 20-year-old Englishman’s stunning run left him on 10-under 134, three strokes behind leader Simon Khan of Britain (66) at the Victoria course on the Algarve.”I thought I was on my way home after the first two holes and I was pretty angry with myself,” Lewis told reporters. “Then my putt on the 12th hole (his third) went in when it looked as though it was going 12 feet past.”From there I just kept making birdie after birdie and my sad face turned into a smiley face.”Lewis, who turned pro after helping Britain and Ireland regain the Walker Cup from the U.S. last month, is trying to earn a 2012 European Tour card from seven tournament invitations, this being his third.”I don’t really want to go to tour school so I’m hoping a good finish this week will increase my chances,” he said.Second place would earn him his playing rights in much the same way as world number three and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy gained his card soon after turning professional in 2007.EIGHT BIRDIESKhan, winner of the tour’s flagship PGA Championship last season, collected eight birdies to lead fellow Briton Rhys Davies (67), James Kingston (68) of South Africa and Chilean Felipe Aguilar (66) by a stroke.”I can’t remember the last time I was leading,” said Englishman Khan. “But I enjoy being up there.”You have to embrace the pressure really and if you want to be on the fringes on this tour, then go and do something else. It’s only the shadow of your ambitions, the pressure, and you have just got to enjoy that.”On a day when six-birdie runs were commonplace, Swede John Edfors claimed three eagles in a 67 as he finished in a group two strokes off the pace.Tournament favorite and world number six Martin Kaymer, who shares the course record of 61, was left rueing two careless bogeys at the fourth and ninth as he returned a 68 for 135.”Nine-under looks good but really the par for the course is more like 69 than 72,” he told Reuters. “I would expect to be closer to the lead but dropped two strokes where I should have been picking them up.”I ran up four shots from only 45 yards on the fourth. Tiredness can creep in at this time of the year but I can’t blame that because I feel pretty fit.”With the cut being made at a joint 2011 record five-under, triple major champion Padraig Harrington just crept in on 138.


* 5-yr yield seen falling to around 5.25 pct from 5.6 pct* First long-term debt sale after Fitch, Moody’s downgradesBy Valentina ZaMILAN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Italy is set to pay lower yields when it sells up to 6.5 billion euros of bonds on Thursday, with growing optimism that European leaders are responding more effectively to the euro zone debt crisis outweighing two rating downgrades in less than a week.Moody’s and Fitch cut Italy’s credit-ratings last week after the euro zone’s third-largest economy took centre stage in the crisis this summer due to its towering debt pile and ailing growth rates.Expectations that a deal will be reached to expand the euro zone’s rescue fund and that European leaders will hammer out a recapitalisation plan for the region’s banks has won Italy some respite on the markets this month after its bond yields soared to near unsustainable levels.Italian bonds have also been helped by purchases from the European Central Bank, which started in August, although even that has failed to keep a lasting lid on yields.The average rate on the five-year BTP bond on sale on Thursday is seen falling to around 5.25 percent from 5.60 percent a month ago — broadly in line with secondary market levels on Wednesday. The bond has weakened ahead of the sale.Despite the fall, yields remain far from levels seen as comfortable over the long term for the sustainability of Italy’s 1.9 trillion euro debt. In mid-June, before the start of a market sell-off of Italian assets, the auction yield on the five-year BTP was 3.9 percent.”For now Italy will continue to pay high yields. This is sustainable for some time, and offers the country some wiggle room to tackle its structural problems,” said Matteo Regesta, a strategist at BNP Paribas in London.Complicating the situation for Italy is its high political uncertainty, with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expected to face a confidence vote this week after his centre-right government lost a key vote in parliament.Analysts said the government was unlikely to fall immediately but its ability to take action would be constantly hampered by internal disputes.They added at present the European agenda took precedence over domestic developments — though these may stoke volatility.”What’s driving markets higher are European authorities’ plans for banks’ recapitalisations,” said Intesa Sanpaolo fixed-income analyst Chiara Manenti. “It would be dangerous if what’s been promised failed to materialise.”France and Germany have said they will unveil a comprehensive crisis package at a summit delayed until Oct. 23.On Thursday, Italy will offer up to 3.5 billion euros of the 2016 bond and up to 3 billion euros spread over three bonds maturing in 2018, 2021 and 2025 which the Treasury has stopped selling on a regular basis.For the first time since mid-July Italy will sell a 15-year bond — a longer maturity than the five- to ten-year area that traders say has been targeted by European Central Bank’s purchases.Italy plans to issue around 75 billion euros in the last quarter of the year, roughly equally split between short-tem bills and bonds.


* 5-yr yield seen falling to around 5.25 pct from 5.6 pct* First long-term debt sale after Fitch, Moody’s downgradesBy Valentina ZaMILAN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Italy is set to pay lower yields when it sells up to 6.5 billion euros of bonds on Thursday, with growing optimism that European leaders are responding more effectively to the euro zone debt crisis outweighing two rating downgrades in less than a week.Moody’s and Fitch cut Italy’s credit-ratings last week after the euro zone’s third-largest economy took centre stage in the crisis this summer due to its towering debt pile and ailing growth rates.Expectations that a deal will be reached to expand the euro zone’s rescue fund and that European leaders will hammer out a recapitalisation plan for the region’s banks has won Italy some respite on the markets this month after its bond yields soared to near unsustainable levels.Italian bonds have also been helped by purchases from the European Central Bank, which started in August, although even that has failed to keep a lasting lid on yields.The average rate on the five-year BTP bond on sale on Thursday is seen falling to around 5.25 percent from 5.60 percent a month ago — broadly in line with secondary market levels on Wednesday. The bond has weakened ahead of the sale.Despite the fall, yields remain far from levels seen as comfortable over the long term for the sustainability of Italy’s 1.9 trillion euro debt. In mid-June, before the start of a market sell-off of Italian assets, the auction yield on the five-year BTP was 3.9 percent.”For now Italy will continue to pay high yields. This is sustainable for some time, and offers the country some wiggle room to tackle its structural problems,” said Matteo Regesta, a strategist at BNP Paribas in London.Complicating the situation for Italy is its high political uncertainty, with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expected to face a confidence vote this week after his centre-right government lost a key vote in parliament.Analysts said the government was unlikely to fall immediately but its ability to take action would be constantly hampered by internal disputes.They added at present the European agenda took precedence over domestic developments — though these may stoke volatility.”What’s driving markets higher are European authorities’ plans for banks’ recapitalisations,” said Intesa Sanpaolo fixed-income analyst Chiara Manenti. “It would be dangerous if what’s been promised failed to materialise.”France and Germany have said they will unveil a comprehensive crisis package at a summit delayed until Oct. 23.On Thursday, Italy will offer up to 3.5 billion euros of the 2016 bond and up to 3 billion euros spread over three bonds maturing in 2018, 2021 and 2025 which the Treasury has stopped selling on a regular basis.For the first time since mid-July Italy will sell a 15-year bond — a longer maturity than the five- to ten-year area that traders say has been targeted by European Central Bank’s purchases.Italy plans to issue around 75 billion euros in the last quarter of the year, roughly equally split between short-tem bills and bonds.

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