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With the reopening of international airports across Europe, full service for international mail has resumed, and the temporary restriction imposed by the U.S. Postal Service since April 21 on the acceptance of perishable items for delivery to the continent has been lifted. Effective immediately, the service guarantees for Express Mail International and Global Express Guaranteed to all destinations have resumed.

The FTC informed Ann Taylor that, following an investigation, it has decided not to take action against the women's retailer over an event held earlier this year. The retailer had invited bloggers to preview the Loft division's summer 2010 collection, offering a "special gift," and promising that those posting coverage from the event would be entered into a "mystery gift-card drawing," where they could win between $50 and $500. The event and the unusual request for posts to be submitted for a prize received media scrutiny and caught the eye of the FTC. "We were concerned that bloggers who attended a preview on January 26, 2010 failed to disclose that they received gifts for posting blog content about that event," Mary Engle, the FTC's associate director-advertising practices, wrote in a letter dated April 20 to Ann Taylor's legal representation.

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that thousands of female Wal-Mart employees can sue the world's largest retailer as a single class over allegations that it paid them less than men and gave them fewer promotions. The 6 to 5 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco is the latest step in a nearly decade-long battle to bring the case to trial. Wal-Mart said that it now plans to request that the Supreme Court review the ruling. But attorneys for the women said they hope the case will go to trial by the end of the year. The appeals court did not rule on whether discrimination occurred at Wal-Mart but on whether female employees could sue the company collectively. The original class covered women who have worked at Wal-Mart's sprawling fleet of about 3,400 stores since 1998, initially estimated to number about 1.6 million, which would have made it the nation's largest sex discrimination case.

Long-troubled RadioShack, aka “The Shack,” posted higher than expected profits for the past quarter. It attributed the success to a new focus on mobile phones, but RadioShack will need to do a lot more to sustain those profits.

The best consumer confidence reading since September 2008's financial meltdown and bullish earnings reports this week from companies ranging from Whirlpool to UPS show increasing demand and a rebound gathering steam. Americans are even feeling a bit better about the job market. The Consumer Confidence Index rose in April to 57.9, according to The Conference Board, a private research group based in New York. That's up from a revised 52.3 in March. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 53.5. The April reading is the highest since September 2008's 61.4, before the index headed into freefall following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and ensuing cascade of financial collapse. Still, the reading is well below the 90 that's considered healthy.

InfoTrends and North American Publishing Company (NAPCO), organizers of the InterACT! Conference, announced today that Pitney Bowes has signed as a Platinum Sponsor. InterACT! is an educational forum for marketers, brand owners and service providers on cross-media direct marketing opportunities and strategies. The event is scheduled for August 10-11, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare in Rosemont, IL.

A new study from tag/pixel solution TagMan, shows that traffic is lost for every second a page doesn't load. But, while many marketers or content publishers assume the content is slowing load time, the TagMan study says slow page-loads can actually be caused by third-party tracking tags - the code used to track online campaign performance. The TagMan study indicates that conversion pages may have as many as 20 tags; at least one website had 40 tags in place.

Retailers are asking the Senate to address credit card swipe fees in financial services reform legislation expected to be on the floor this week. The National Retail Federation and the NRF’s Council of Chain Restaurants were among 55 associations that signed a letter to senators calling for “simple, common-sense reforms.” The groups asked that the FTC or another federal agency be given power to “examine and reform the restrictive rules and regulations associated with electronic transactions,” including giving merchants the right to set minimum and maximum credit card purchase amounts and to steer customers toward cheaper forms of payment such as cash, check or PIN debit rather than credit cards.

If internet retailers commence collecting sales tax on products sold to North Carolina state residents the state will, in turn, forgive taxes, penalties and interest for periods before September, and it won't seek information about customers who bought from them. North Carolina Revenue Secretary Kenneth Lay, believes the deal is a win-win situation for all parties concerned and that many of the 350 or so identified internet retailers that owed taxes would take the state up on its deal.

China, expected to top the world in luxury-goods spending in as little as five years, will be Calvin Klein's fast-growing market this year, CEO Tom Murry said in an interview. Sales growth will be 20 percent to 30 percent, led by jeans and men's underwear, Murry said. The company expects to open 15 freestanding stores in China this year, adding to the 100 it already has.