EU commissioner Joaquin Almunia announces Microsoft fine

Microsoft has been fined 561 million euros ($731m; £484m) for failing to promote a range of web browsers, rather than just its Internet Explorer program, to users in the European Union.

It introduced a browser choice screen pop-up in March 2010 as part of a settlement following an earlier EU competition investigation - but it later dropped the feature in a Windows 7 update.

Joaquin Almunia, vice-president of the European Commission and the commissioner responsible for competition, announced the fine in Brussels