Business news briefs | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Oracle to buy

Acme Packet in

$2.1 billion deal

Oracle will buy Acme Packet Inc., which makes equipment for telecommunications companies, for $2.1 billion. Acme's gear is used by more than 1,900 service providers and enterprises around the world. Its technology is expected to complement Oracle's offerings for telecoms providers.

S&P expects

U.S. lawsuit over

mortgage ratings

The U.S. government is expected to file civil charges against Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, alleging that it improperly gave high ratings to mortgage debt that later plunged in value and helped fuel the 2008 financial crisis. The civil charges would mark the first enforcement action the government has taken against a major rating agency involving the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

KFC parent Yum

warns chicken scare

will hit profits

Yum Brands warned Monday that it expects its profit for the year to decline as the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell continues to reel from a controversy over its chicken suppliers in China. A drop in 2013 would snap an 11-year streak of double-digit profit growth.

Effort building

to change U.S.

laws on pot

An effort is building in Congress to change U.S. marijuana laws, including moves to legalize the industrial production of hemp and establish a hefty federal pot tax. Although passage this year could be a longshot, lawmakers from both parties have been quietly working on several bills, the first of which Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jared Polis of Colorado plan to introduce Tuesday,