IBT Staff Reporter

The British government still hopes to make a profit from its multi-billion-pound rescue of major British banks during the financial crisis, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday.

The No. 2 executive in Japan's ruling party vowed on Saturday to stay in his post despite a funding scandal that could scupper the party's chances of winning a mid-year election and raise the risk of policy deadlock.

Tensions rose among desperate Haitians awaiting international aid and hunting for missing relatives on Saturday as aid began to trickle in four days after an earthquake that Haitian authorities say killed 200,000 people.

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia said on Saturday it would defend itself vigorously against Apple's complaint to United States International Trade Commission, filed on Friday. Nokia will study the complaint when it is received and continue to defend itself vigorously, said a company spokesman.

President Barack Obama on Saturday slammed Wall Street's audacity for fighting a bailout fee he wants to slap on financial firms and said his Republican opponents had sided with big banks.

China's largest e-commerce firm Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo Inc owns a 40 percent stake, has called the search giant's comments on Google reckless.

Japan Airlines has agreed on a tie-up with Delta Air Lines that will mean JAL joins the SkyTeam airline alliance, dropping its membership of the Oneworld alliance, a Japanese newspaper said on Saturday.

China's largest e-commerce group Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo Inc owns a 40 percent stake, has called the search giant's comments on Google reckless.

Some of Cadbury's biggest shareholders, led by Legal & General, continued to reject Kraft Foods' 10.5 billion pound ($17.2 billion) bid and will look for an increased offer over the next four days.

Yahoo Inc knew it had been a target to sophisticated Chinese cyber attacks on U.S. corporations before Google alerted the company to them, a source familiar with the matter said, but chose to remain silent after its bigger rival went public.

First-round bids for the debt-ridden MGM studio were due Friday afternoon, but most of the bids are expected to trickle in through the weekend, sources familiar with the matter said.

Verizon Wireless said Friday it was speeding up the text-message donations for victims of the Haiti earthquake, making sure the money will be transmitted as much faster than usual.

Cellphone users in the United States have contributed more than $11 million to Haitian earthquake relief through text messages in what is being hailed as an unprecedented mobile response to a natural disaster.

The two largest U.S. wireless carriers, Verizon and AT&T, cut their rates on Friday, escalating a price war that began with smaller carriers.

Despite better than expected JPMorgan earnings, the S&P 500 index dropped 12.43 points, or -1.08%, to trade at 1136.03 after weak economic data on the retail sector.

Yahoo Inc was among the companies targeted by recent Chinese cyber attacks and had conversations with Google Inc about the attacks prior to Google's announcement this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Stellar results from Intel Corp could signal brighter tech earnings results in coming weeks, but analysts warn stocks themselves may be stuck in a short-term correction.

President Barack Obama's proposal to charge big banks a fee to repay a taxpayer bailout for the financial system may create incentives that result in funding concerns for banks, according to one expert.

U.S. credit card data for December showed some signs that fewer consumers were falling seriously behind in their payments.

China sought on Friday to play down a threat by Google Inc to quit the country on hacking and censorship concerns, but the United States said it will formally express concern over the cyber attacks the Internet search giant said originated in China.

The earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday afternoon destroyed about 70 percent of the buildings in the 15 districts of the country's capital city Port-au-Prince, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva reported, according to EFE.

Germany's biodiesel industry sees rising demand in 2010 from oil companies for blending with fossil fuels, the head of Germany's bioethanol industry association said on Friday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported deep losses on mortgage and credit card loans in the fourth quarter, damping hopes that consumer credit is on the mend.

General Motors Co disclosed on Friday that director Stephen Girsky is receiving compensation worth $900,000 per year plus expenses to act as a special adviser to Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whitacre.

IBM's quarterly results should show a solid recovery in technology spending, but investors will likely want reassurance of stronger growth in 2010 before pushing its stock price much higher.

Haitian authorities estimated on Friday a death toll of 140,000 following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the country on Tuesday.

Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. said on late Thursday they support minimal internet regulation and reasonable network management over the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) proposed net neutrality rules.

Haitian authorities said on Friday they believe 140,000 people were killed in the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation and said gangs of robbers were preying on survivors desperately awaiting aid.