COMPANIES

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay the U.S. government $2 million to settle charges that it acted with others in knowingly violating the False Claims Act by rigging a contract at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

A federal judge in California has allowed a committee of Hewlett-Packard's directors to begin a probe into the circumstances culminating in Mark Hurd's departure from the company.

BigLaw layoffs have slowed considerably in 2010 compared to the previous year, according to a blog that tracks layoffs at major law firms.

Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch unit has agreed to pay $10 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that has accused it of fraudulently misusing customer orders so it could trade for its own benefit.

U.S. generic drug maker Mylan Inc has settled two U.S. patent disputes with global pharma giant Pfizer Inc, which will enable the former to sell the generic versions of cholesterol drug Lipitor and combination blood pressure and cholesterol treatment Caduet.

Sara Lee Corp plans to split into two separate public companies focusing on North American meats and international coffee after takeover bids it received were not enough to entice it to sell the company.

Nasdaq did not publish quotes for its main indexes after the market opened on Friday due to a data outage, but individual stock quotes were unaffected.

In the Android camp at CES 2011, it was Motorola Xoom which stole the show; however there were a few tablets in the Windows camp too, which sported super-heavy specifications that are capable of taking the might of Xoom and one such contender is ASUS Eee Slate EP121.

Taco Bell is introducing an advertising campaign to defend itself against accusations of a lawsuit which alleges that the fast-food chain doesn’t fill its tacos with real beef.

Eric Schmidt, Goggle’s outgoing Chief Executive has expressed his intention to expand the firm’s business in china, said a report by BBC

Susquehanna Financial upgraded graphics chip maker Nvidia to neutral from negative and raised the price target to $23 from $9.

Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, who is accused of running a massive $7-billion Ponzi scheme, is incompetent to stand trial and must go to a rehabilitation center for addiction to pain medication, a U.S. judge in Houston has ruled. The following are key facts about the disgraced business magnate and a timeline of his legal battle:

British police arrested five young men on Thursday as they and U.S. authorities conducted searches as part of a probe into Internet activists who carried out cyber attacks against groups they viewed as enemies of the WikiLeaks website.

A study from DNS-resolution service OpenDNS, 2010 Report on Web Content Filtering and Phishing details the sites companies were most likely to be blocked last year, be it social networking websites or sites that have a reputation for fostering procrastination.

Automobile major General Motors Thursday said that it plans to bring iconic budget friendly sports car Camaro to India.

LinkedIn Corp announced plans to go public this year in what could be a test of investor appetite for social networking websites ahead of a highly anticipated Facebook offering.

Borders Group Inc received a financing commitment from GE Capital, providing a potential lifeline to the troubled bookseller, but said it would also explore options, including an in-court restructuring.

LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals, has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in preparation to for an initial public offering (IPO).

Hulu, the privately owned internet company that provides free, ad-supported television archive, is considering becoming the first web-based cable operator.

A small but increasing flow of cocoa beans is being smuggled out of Ivory Coast as exporters halt shipments from the top grower due to a political crisis, sending global prices to one-year highs.

Goldman Sachs allegedly received $2.9 billion in bailout money from American International Group, which in turn received it from the Federal government as part of the 2008 bailout package.

An American diplomat has shot and killed two Pakistani men riding on a motorcycle in the city of Lahore, apparently in self-defense, according to local police.

Apple became the third largest PC vendor in the fourth quarter of 2010, helped by strong sales of iPad and Mac as well as fast growth in the Asia Pacific region, according to the latest report from Canalys.

Amazon.com announced the launch of Kindle Singles digital books that are longer than a magazine article but shorter than a typical book. Priced between $0.99 and $4.99, each Kindle Single is intended to allow a single killer idea - well researched, well argued and well illustrated - to be expressed at its natural length.

Deceased actress Brittany Murphy's home in the Hills above the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, CA has invited foreclosure and has been slapped with a Notice of Sale with an opening bid of $4,035,666, according to the reports.

Queen Latifah, rapper/record producer/actress, has rented the Hollywood royal Jane Fonda's Atlanta condominium for a short-term period. Fonda recently decided to move back to Los Angeles and bought a one-bedroom in the Sierra Towers, according to the Aol Real Estate.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has announced slashing World Service program resulting in loss of 650 jobs and listeners to the tune of 30 million.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on Thursday said there was no possibility of providing India access to corporate emails on BlackBerry devices.

The Silicon Valley giant will invest $100 million to support research in US universities over the next 5 years to drive innovation in computing and communications.