The daily business briefing: March 29, 2016

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1. FBI unlocks San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, drops case against Apple
2. Chinese firm raises offer in Starwood bidding war
3. Investors cautious ahead of Yellen speech
4. Pandora brings back co-founder Tim Westergren as CEO
5. Judge throws out Puerto Rico's Walmart tax

published 29 March 2016

1. FBI unlocks San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, drops case against Apple

The Justice Department said Monday that it was dropping its court effort to force Apple to help hack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorist attackers, Syed Rizwan Farook, because it had found its own way to unlock the smartphone. The FBI has started reviewing the phone's contents, but did not immediately say whether it had found anything significant.

China's Anbang Insurance Group has increased its bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to nearly $14 billion, or $82.75 a share, Starwood said Monday. The move was the latest salvo in a bidding war that started with a takeover bid by Marriott International. Marriott last week increased its offer to around $78 a share. Starwood said it expected the U.S. hotel chain to respond with a sweeter offer, although some analysts think Marriott will balk at paying more. Starwood's board has recommended going with Marriott when shareholders vote on April 8.

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U.S. stock futures and the dollar edged tentatively higher early Tuesday as cautious investors awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen. Analysts expect Yellen to reiterate her case for slowly proceeding with the Fed plan to raise interest rates, with two rate hikes this year instead of the four projected in December. Yellen is scheduled to speak at the Economic Club of New York at 12:20 p.m.

Internet radio pioneer Pandora is bringing back co-founder Tim Westergren to be chief executive as it contends with increasingly stiff competition for streaming-music listeners from such rivals as Spotify and Apple Music. The company's shares dropped by 9 percent after the news was announced Monday. Westergren will replace Brian McAndrews, who took over in 2013. Westergren first ran the company from 2002 to 2004, and continued to play a role after stepping aside.

A federal judge on Monday struck down a controversial Puerto Rico tax that targeted Walmart. The U.S. territory last year lifted taxes on corporations shipping goods to affiliates in Puerto Rico, but hiked the island's minimum alternative corporate income tax by 325 percent, so Walmart Puerto Rico would still be taxed for goods sent by its suppliers and parent company. The judge said it was unlawful to impose a special tax on Walmart — the island's second largest employer after the government — just because it is "the biggest fish in the pond."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.