By Poornima Gupta and Padraic Halpin SAN FRANCISCO/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Apple has operated almost tax-free in Ireland since 1980, welcomed by a government keen to bring jobs to what was then one of Europe's poorest countries, former company executives and Irish officials have said. Chief Executive Tim Cook faced criticism from a Senate subcommittee in Washington on Tuesday over the iPad and iPhone maker's tax practices, which had been shrouded from full view behind secretive tax-exempt Irish-based corporate entities.

Struggling wireless carrier Mobilicity has taken the first step in the process of being acquired by Telus in a $380-million deal that will ultimately need federal government approval. Debtholders of Mobilicity approved a plan on Thursday to sell the company to Telus Corp., which will go to court for approval of the deal early next week. An acquisition by Telus would provide continuing service for Mobilicity's 250,000 cellphone customers and jobs for its 150 employees, said Mobilicity president and chief operating officer Stewart Lyons.

Japanese office equipment and digital camera maker Ricoh will cut 338 jobs in France, some 13 percent of its workforce in the country, union officials said Thursday. "The management told us it intends to cut 338 posts among the 2,500 the company has in France," said CGT union representative Thang Doan following a meeting with company officials. Hit hard by the 2008-09 global financial crisis and stiff competition, Ricoh announced two years ago that it planned to shed 10,000 jobs, a tenth of its global workforce, with the first major wave of cuts to take place in 2014.

New Delhi, May 23 (EFE).- The commission investigating the building collapse that left 1,127 dead and more than 2,400 others hurt urged the Bangladeshi government to pursue homicide charges against the owners of the structure and of the five textile factories operating there, an official told Efe Thursday. The worst industrial disaster in the history of the South Asian nation was due to poor construction and the use of "extremely poor quality" materials, according to the panel's 400-page report on the April 24 tragedy.