AUTOMOTIVE

Mazda2 named World Car of Year

New York —- The Mazda2 has been named World Car of the Year by a panel of international journalists. The compact, two-door model isn't sold in the United States. Ford Motor Co., which owns a third of Mazda Motor Corp., is basing its new Fiesta subcompact on the Mazda2 platform. The Fiesta goes on sale in the United States in 2010.

DEALS

Bain pulls plug on buying 3Com

Washington —- Bain Capital Partners LLC on Thursday said national security concerns ultimately stood in the way of its offer, with a Chinese partner, to buy network equipment maker 3Com Corp. The Boston-based private equity firm said it had offered 3Com several ways the $2.2 billion deal could be restructured to satisfy the U.S. government, but that no arrangement could be worked out.

DEVELOPMENT

Downtown-related meeting moved

Because of tornado damage to the Georgia World Congress Center, the annual meeting of Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District has been moved to the grand ballroom of the Hilton Atlanta Hotel, 255 Courtland St. The meeting will still be Wednesday. Networking begins at 7 a.m. and the meeting an hour later.

FINANCIAL

Earnings fall 9% at Barnes & Noble

New York —- Barnes & Noble Inc. reported a 9 percent decline in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings Thursday amid a challenging retail environment, but the nation's largest book seller boosted its dividend and surprised Wall Street with predictions of a profitable first quarter. Barnes & Noble said it earned $115.04 million, or $1.79 per share, in the three-month period ended Feb. 2, compared with $126.73 million, or $1.83 per share, in the year-ago period.

Credit Suisse revises earnings

Zurich, Switzerland —- Credit Suisse Group on Thursday slashed previously released 2007 profit figures because of an internal investigation into securities valuations and said it doesn't expect to post a profit for the first quarter. Credit Suisse said it has determined that the pricing errors "were, in part, the result of intentional misconduct by a small number of traders." The bank, Switzerland's second-largest, said it revised its fourth-quarter net profit downward to 540 million Swiss francs ($541 million) from the previously stated 1.33 billion francs.

Palm posts third consecutive loss

Palm Inc., maker of the Treo e-mail phone, posted its third straight quarterly loss Thursday as customers defected to Apple's iPhone and the new BlackBerrys made by Research In Motion. Palm's third-quarter loss was $31.5 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with a profit of $11.8 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 24 percent to $312.1 million in the period ended in February. Palm slashed jobs and closed its retail stores last quarter to curb costs as sales fell for a second consecutive period.

LEGAL

Plaintiffs' attorney pleads guilty

Los Angeles —- Prominent attorney Melvyn Weiss has agreed to plead guilty in a lucrative kickback scheme involving payments to plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits against some of the largest corporations, his defense attorney said Thursday. Weiss will plead guilty to "limited participation in a criminal conspiracy" involving payments to plaintiffs, attorney Benjamin Brafman said in a statement. The plea deal calls for Weiss to receive a prison sentence of 18 to 33 months, with the court able to substitute home confinement or community service.

Atlantan sentenced on Ponzi charge

A former Southeastern Conference basketball official was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release on Thursday for his guilty plea to a charge of wire fraud related to a Ponzi scheme. Travis E. Correll, 31, of Atlanta also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Orinda D. Evans to pay $29 million in restitution. Correll pleaded guilty Nov. 30. According to prosecutors, from late 2001 to December 2005, Correll operated an investment program known as "Horizon Establishment," which offered high monthly rates of return to investors.

MEDIA

Newspapers join online sales effort

New York —- Several newspaper publishers have joined an industry-backed online advertising sales effort. The announcement adds 26 newspaper companies to an ad sales network launched last month by Gannett Co., Tribune Co., Hearst Corp. and New York Times Co. New members of QuadrantOne include McClatchy Co., the No. 3 U.S. publisher by circulation; A.H. Belo Corp., owner of the Dallas Morning News; and Media General Inc.

REAL ESTATE

Average 30-year rate below 6%

Washington —- Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped below 6 percent this week for the first time in more than a month. Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 5.87 percent this week. That was down from 6.13 percent last week. Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 5.27 percent this week, from 5.60 percent last week. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages were the only category to show an increase, edging up to 5.15 percent from 5.14 percent.

S&P forecast: 20% price decline

The decline in U.S. home prices likely will be close to 20 percent by the end of this year from their peak in 2006 as the housing slump lasts longer than had been forecast, Standard & Poor's said.

RETAILING

Kids chain wants out of Disney deal

Newark, N.J. —- Children's Place Retail Stores Inc. is ready to let Walt Disney Co. take back control of about two-thirds of the 335 stores in the Disney Store chain. About 115 remaining stores are expected to close. Disney handed ownership of the chain to Children's Place in November 2004 in a deal for royalties.

TECHNOLOGY

EBay to eliminate handful of workers

EBay Inc. said Thursday that it is cutting 125 jobs in Europe and North America, including 70 positions at the online auctioneer's headquarters in San Jose, Calif. The cuts amount to less than 1 percent of the company's global head count of 15,500.

TELECOM

Verizon, AT&T win new airwaves

Washington —- The nation's cellphone companies won big in a government airways auction, the Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday. AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, the nation's two biggest cellphone carriers, bid a combined $16 billion of $19.6 billion pledged in the auction, according to an Associated Press analysis. Verizon bid $9.4 billion, AT&T $6.6 billion.

TRADE

Metro delegation on way to China

Members of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce will leave today on a two-week economic development trip to China. The delegation will visit Beijing, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wuhan, Nanchang, Wenzhou, Changsha and Xian. Members will touch base with companies that already have a presence in metro Atlanta and meet with prospects. "We are standing on the shoulders of the dozens of Atlanta companies that have been successfully operating in China for decades," said Hans Gant, the chamber's senior vice president of economic development. "UPS alone has invested more than $600 million in China over the past five years." The chamber's mission coincides with Delta's inaugural flight to Shanghai on March 30 and Gov. Sonny Perdue's upcoming trip to China.

TRANSPORTATION

United grounds seven planes

United Airlines grounded seven Boeing 747s when it discovered that a maintenance contractor, Korean Air Lines, had checked the altimeters using an instrument that was not properly calibrated. A spokeswoman said late Thursday that the disruption to flight schedules was "minimal" but that some of the suspect planes had not yet been cleared to return to flight.