Checklist

Regional

• W.R. Grace & Co., the Columbia, Md., chemical maker forced into bankruptcy seven years ago by more than 135,000 asbestos injury claims, agreed to settle the remainder of those cases by paying as much as $1.8 billion. The accord would eliminate the last major hurdle to Grace’s reorganization if approved by a bankruptcy judge in Pittsburgh.

• Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, the world’s largest defense company, agreed to pay $773,000 to settle an age-discrimination lawsuit filed in 2005 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lockheed violated federal law when it fired eight COMSAT Mobile Communications employees, aged 47 to 65, during layoffs in 2000, according to the complaint.

National

• Consumers, battered by a credit crunch and prolonged housing slump, significantly slowed their pace of borrowing in February. The Federal Reserve reported that consumer borrowing rose at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in February, just half of the 4.9 percent increase in January, reflecting much weaker demand for auto loans and other types of non-revolving credit.

• The Securities and Exchange Commission sued five former San Diego officials for their roles in the city’s failure to disclose a pension-fund shortfall to bond investors in 2002 and 2003. The officials knew the city had been intentionally underfunding pension obligations and failed to disclose the information to credit raters and investors, the SEC said.

• Brushing aside the threat of a disruptive takeover battle that could batter its shaky stock, Internet pioneer Yahoo Inc. reiterated its refusal to sell to Microsoft Corp. for less than $45 billion. Microsoft is thought to hold the upper hand over Yahoo, which is mired in a two-year slump and has not found an alternative deal that would trump Microsoft’s original offer of $44.6 billion.

• Motorola Inc. made peace with Carl Icahn, heading off a proxy battle with the billionaire investor by agreeing to seat four of his nominees on its board of directors. While the mobile-phone maker remains in steep descent, the move avoids a second annual meeting showdown with Mr. Icahn and silences — for now — his attacks in the media and in court on its managers and their decisions.

• Switzerland’s Novartis AG said it will spend about $39 billion in a two-step bid for Nestle SA’s majority stake in U.S. eye-care company Alcon Inc. The deal for Alcon, which makes Opti-Free contact lens solution and has 14,500 employees worldwide, would be one of the largest in Swiss history.

• Rep. Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is questioning the Federal Reserve’s unilateral decision to let giant BlackRock Inc. manage $30 billion in assets as part of the government-orchestrated rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. In a letter, Mr. Waxman criticized the noncompetitive award to BlackRock.

• Bear Stearns Cos. was sued for $1 billion by the liquidators of two hedge funds that collapsed last year. The suit was filed in Manhattan, N.Y., federal court by the liquidators of Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies (Overseas) Ltd. and a second fund.

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it began an investigation into unexplained acceleration of Tacoma pickup trucks, the U.S. agency said. Thirty-three of the Toyota truck owners have complained the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own. Eight of the complaints involved crashes, the Detroit Free Press reported.

• Nissan Motor Co. said it will build and sell light commercial vehicles in the United States, using its existing work force and factories. The Japanese automaker said it will invest more than $118 million in infrastructure to enter the U.S. market with three vehicles starting in the first half of 2010, all built at its plant in Canton, Miss.

• Computer-chip maker Advanced Micro Devices said it will cut 10 percent of its global work force, or about 1,650 jobs, in the face of sagging revenue. AMD said it will cut approximately 1,650 jobs beginning this month. Electronics industry sales are historically slow in the first three months of a year.

• 84 Lumber Co. said it is closing 30 stores across the country, citing the slumping housing market. Frank Cicero, the privately held company’s executive vice president of store operations, said the move will help 84 Lumber weather the housing market decline. About 230 employees will be affected, a spokesman said.

• Almost 10,000 workers at United Parcel Service Inc.’s freight-hauling division ratified a five-year contract that makes them members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. The contract covers wages, benefits and working conditions for the freight unit’s dock workers and truck drivers in 33 states, the Teamsters said.

• The Federal Aviation Administration proposed new safety procedures to ensure that jet engines don’t stop in midair during icy weather. The FAA said it had received reports of a dozen or more instances in which one or more engines aboard airliners shut down in ice-crystal conditions during descent. In all cases, crews were able to restart the engines.

• The Federal Aviation Administration re-assigned a manager who oversaw flawed maintenance by Southwest Airlines Co. as the agency seeks to blunt criticism that it has grown too cozy with the carriers it regulates. The manager, Thomas Stuckey, was the FAA’s chief safety officer in the southwestern U.S.

• Boston Beer Co., the Massachusetts-based brewing company, recalled some 12-ounce bottles of Samuel Adams beer because they may contain small bits of glass. No injuries have been reported, Boston Beer said. The recall came after the brewer discovered defects that may cause bits of glass to break off and fall into the bottles.

• Google Inc., owner of the second most popular U.S. Web site, will add a feature on its Google Earth program so users can catch up on news from their favorite places. Users of the program sort by cities such as London or Paris and read New York Times articles about them, with headlines updated in real time, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said.

International

• Venezuela said that it will take control of three foreign-owned cement businesses, but will let the current owners keep minority shares. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez made the announcement after talks with representatives of Mexico’s Cemex SAB, France’s Lafarge SA and Switzerland’s Holcim Ltd.

• Google Inc. will buy technology firms and invest in Latin America, its fastest-growing region, Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said.

• The International Monetary Fund proposed the sale of 403.3 tons of gold, for about $11 billion, as part of a wide-ranging financial overhaul, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

• Louis Gallois, chief executive officer of European aerospace giant EADS, parent of Airbus, said the company would look to U.S. acquisitions and other opportunities throughout the Americas. “Pushed by the [weak] dollar, we are going to increase our purchases in the dollar zone — in the United States but also in other countries such as Mexico,” Mr. Gallois said.

• Air France-KLM gave Alitalia’s unions a chance to reconsider its withdrawn takeover bid, an offer that may be the ailing Italian carrier’s best opportunity to escape bankruptcy. The bid is “the only one that would enable Alitalia to return to profitable growth within a rapid time frame,” the company said.

From wire dispatches and staff reports