Joint Ventures

In a joint operation, the United States and Russia have shut down a Moscow-based international pornography ring that used the Internet to sell videotapes of children engaged in sexual acts, authorities said Monday. Law enforcement officials arrested nine people, including four in the United States, and issued 15 search warrants--two in Southern California--as a result of the investigation by the U.

The Happiest Place on Earth will soon know where in the world you are. Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless that will allow it to remain in wireless contact with its theme park visitors -- even when they step outside the turnstiles in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla.

It was a typical night at Porky's, a strip joint known for its Russian dancers in the seedy Miami suburb of Hialeah. The girls were grinding on the dance floor while, inside the club's inner office, cut off from the driving rhythms, owner Ludwig Fainberg was talking business.

Several media giants are teaming up to challenge Google Inc. and its YouTube video-sharing service, seeking to blunt their incursion into the entertainment business.

In a deal that will surely make activist groups froth and may have rivals looking over their shoulders, Discovery Communications Inc. and Hasbro Inc.

Anticipating a rebound in the pulp and paper industry, Fluor Daniel Inc. said Thursday that it plans to form a joint entity with Jaakko Poyry Group of Finland, a leading international designer of pulp and paper mills.