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National

A hedge fund cheat who tried to fake his own death and spent nearly a month as a fugitive told a judge Thursday that he really did try to commit suicide while on the run, saying he thought it would be better to do himself in than turn himself in. One day after surrendering at a Massachusetts police station after more than three weeks on the lam, Samuel Israel III again stood before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, who ordered him to forfeit his $500,000 bail and informed him that he faces a new charge of failing to report to prison, which carries a potential 10-year penalty.

Nebraska Beef is expanding an earlier recall to include all 5.3 million pounds of beef ground between May 16 and June 26 linked to E.coli. Kroger has recalled its Nebraska Beef from more than 20 states, including Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

General Motors Corp. is considering a new Chevrolet mini car for the United States as it reworks its product lineup to cope with a dramatic shift from trucks to cars linked to high gas prices. GM spokesman Dee Allen said bringing the Chevrolet Beat, which is about the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris, to the U.S. is among the options GM is studying.

The U.S. auto industry’s weakest player, Chrysler, might have to file for bankruptcy or sell its storied Jeep and Dodge Ram brands as early as next year, a JPMorgan analyst said. But rivals GM and Ford are likely to get through the rough patch and turn a profit in 2010. JPMorgan auto analyst Himanshu Patel said the situation at Chrysler LLC is far more perilous because it has limited assets to raise cash and is more heavily reliant on trucks and on the North American market.

United Airlines hopes to raise $1 billion annually from more expensive fees and services, including higher prices for alcohol and new charges on things including snacks and baggage. Southwest Airlines says it will resist adding fees to its airline.

Two lawyers accused of defrauding their clients in a diet-drug settlement of $65 million were sent back to jail after a jury deadlocked and a federal judge declared a mistrial. The jury had considered the case against suspended lawyers William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. for eight days.

A judge refused to let investors suing Countrywide Financial Corp. over Bank of America Corp’s $2.5 billion buyout stop a settlement of claims that the company sold the home lender cheaply. The investors said the settlement will wipe out the claims in a separate federal case that could win up to $2 billion.

Wall Street companies sharply scaled back their borrowing from the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending program over the past week while commercial banks boosted it slightly. Investment firms averaged $1.7 billion in daily borrowing for the week ended July 2 compared with $6.1 billion the previous week.

The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet’s addresses recently lost track of its own. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said it happened when an Internet registration company it oversees got fooled into transferring its domain names to someone else. The domain names hijacked were ICANN.com and IANA.com.

International

Wary of higher energy and commodity prices, the European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent, a move it hopes will help curtail rising inflation in 15 countries using the euro.

Virgin Atlantic Airways is calling for a block to the newly-announced alliance between British Airways, American Airlines and Spain’s Iberia, saying it would create a “mega-power.” Virgin Atlantic may file an antitrust application in the U.S. next week, the London Times reported.

From wire dispatches and staff reports