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A Milan court ended a corruption trial against Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday, ruling that the statute of limitations had run out on the case and essentially handing Italy’s former premier another victory in a long string of judicial woes he has faced.

The billionaire media mogul wasn’t in court when the three judges read out their verdict after about two hours of deliberation. Defendants in Italy aren’t required to attend their trials.

Berlusconi had denied any wrongdoing. He was accused of paying a British lawyer David Mills $600,000 to lie during two 1990s trials to shield the politician and his Fininvest holding company from charges related to his business dealings.

Berlusconi’s lawyers successfully argued that the case should be thrown out because the statute of limitation had run out.

It is “useless to comment,” prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale told reporters as he left the courtroom. Prosecutors had demanded conviction and a five-year sentence.

One of Berlusconi’s lawyers, Piero Longo, indicated that the defense team was less than elated with the decision because it would have preferred a verdict of acquittal, Sky TG24 TV said.

The three-judge panel began its deliberations on Saturday after Berlusconi’s defense made its closing statements, arguing that Berlusconi should be cleared of corruption.

Berlusconi, 75, stepped down as premier in November after failing to come up with convincing reforms to help Italy exit from the sovereign debt crisis. He had issued a statement Friday railing against magistrates for the “many trials” against him, and saying that he doesn’t remember having met Mills.

“Mills was one of many lawyers abroad that occasionally worked for the Fininvest group. I don’t recall ever having met him,” Berlusconi said in that statement. He added that Mills had received the $600,000 from an Italian arms dealer for some legal work and had made up the story that the money had been a gift from Fininvest employee, who had since died, to avoid paying a 50 percent tax on earnings.

By prosecutors’ calculations, the statute of limitations on Berlusconi’s case should have expired by July. Evidently the court didn’t agree. But even the prosecutors’ time frame would not have allowed for the two levels of appeal required to finalize any verdict.

The trial was suspended many times due to Berlusconi’s obligations as premier and during a period when parliament had granted him immunity, complicating the calculation. In Italy, the clock on the statute of limitations continues to tick even after a trial begins.

Mills was convicted in 2009 on bribery charges, but his conviction was overturned by Italy’s highest court after the statute of limitations expired.

The corruption trial is one of several Berlusconi is currently facing in Milan, including charges that he paid an underage Moroccan teenager to have sex with him, then used his influence to cover it up. Both he and the young woman have denied the charges.

The charge of using his influence to cover up a crime could bring an additional penalty that would bar Berlusconi from again seeking public office, but that would only occur if a guilty verdict is confirmed on the final appeal.

Berlusconi has faced dozens of trials in Milan, mostly for his business dealings. He has either been acquitted or seen the charges expire under the statute of limitations.

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Holland Construction Services Inc. completed construction of an $820,000 indoor softball practice structure at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Finished on a condensed schedule, the indoor facility is keeping the SIUE Cougars softball team out of inclement weather during practices. The building provides 11,664 square feet for practice, athletic camps and other activities.

The facility has a full synthetic turf infield and bases, two batting cages, pitching areas, suspended nets and three practice mounds online payday loan lenders.

Oates Associates of Collinsville was the architect on the project.

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Honda is recalling 46,000 Odyssey minivans because their power tailgates, when open, can drop unexpectedly, potentially injuring anyone standing underneath.

Due to a manufacturing error by the part supplier, the gas-filled struts that hold the tailgates open can leak, reducing their ability to hold up the heavy tailgate.

If the struts leak, the tailgate can suddenly drop several inches, a Honda spokesman said. At that point, the electric motor that powers the tailgate into the open position will slow the tailgate’s fall quick pay day loan.

Honda () is aware of two minor injuries resulting from falling tailgates.

The recall involves model year 2008 and 2009 vans equipped with power rear liftgates. Recall letters will be sent to owners beginning in mid-March. Owners with affected vehicles will be asked to go to a dealership to have the struts inspected and possibly replaced. 

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Macy’s Inc. says its fiscal fourth-quarter net income climbed 12 percent thanks to strong holiday spending and surging online sales.

The department store chain has also been reaping the benefits of tailoring merchandise to local markets.

Macy’s earned $745 million, or $1.74 per share, for the period ended Jan 28. A year ago it earned $667 million, or $1.55 per share.

Excluding gains tied to the sale of some leases, earnings were $1.70 per share.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $8.72 billion.

The results topped expectations for earnings of $1.65 per share on revenue of $8.7 billion.

Macy’s stock added 75 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $37 in Tuesday premarket trading.

The company expects fiscal 2012 earnings of $3.25 to $3.30 per share. Wall Street predicts $3.27 per share.

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Euro-area governments closed in on a deal to unlock a 130 billion-euro ($171 billion) aid package for Greece, seeking to avert the region

Jobless claims plunged last week to a nearly four-year low, in the latest bit of good news for the U.S. economy.

Initial unemployment claims totaled 348,000 in the week ended Feb. 11, said the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s 13,000 less than the week before.

It’s also significantly less than the forecast of 365,000 claims, based on a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.

The total number of people filing for their second week of unemployment benefits or more also dipped, falling to 3,426,00, a decrease of 100,000 from the prior week.

John Lonski, chief economist for Moody’s Capital Markets Group, said signs that the job market is strengthening could be the beginning of a trend.

"The labor market could be going through an important turning point that would lend respectability to the current economic recovery," he said.

Earlier this month, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate had dipped to 8.3% in January, as the national economy gained 243,000 jobs.

But Lonski noted that the recovery is still threatened by turmoil overseas — specifically the European fiscal crisis and unrest in the oil-producing Middle East.

"Unfortunately, the menacing situation in Europe and the world’s major exporting region does not want to go away," he said. "If the situation outside the U.S. could stabilize, you would be looking at even bigger gains in employment." 

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The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week, the latest signal that the job market is steadily improving.

The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000. It was the fourth drop in five weeks and the fewest number of claims since March 2008.

The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations in the weekly data, fell for the fifth straight week to 365,250. The average has fallen nearly 13 percent in the past year.

The consistent decline indicates that companies are laying off fewer workers, and hiring is likely picking up further. When applications drop consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

In January, the economy added a net 243,000 jobs, the most in nine months. And the unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent. The economy has added an average of 201,000 jobs per month for the past three months.

Faster economic growth is spurring the additional hiring. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year _ a full percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.

Most economists expect growth to slow in the current quarter, because companies won’t need to rebuild their stockpiles of goods as much as they did last winter.

But there are signs that the economy is still expanding at a healthy rate. Factory output got off to a robust start this year, and it ended 2011 with the fastest growth in five years, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Factories are adding jobs to keep up with higher demand. Manufacturers added 50,000 jobs last month, the most in a year.

In addition, retail sales rebounded last month after a sluggish holiday season. The gain suggests that the recent job growth is supporting more consumer spending.

Still, the job market has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the damage of the Great Recession. Nearly 13 million people remain unemployed. And 8.3 percent unemployment is still painfully high.

One reason the unemployment rate has fallen for five straight months is that many people have stopped looking for work. The government counts people as unemployed only if they are actively looking for a job.

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Yahoo’s hopes for a fresh start under a new CEO faded Tuesday as its closely watched discussions to sell most of its Asian holdings unraveled and a frustrated shareholder announced that he will try to seize four seats on the struggling Internet company’s board.

The developments, which unfolded within a few hours of each other, mean Yahoo’s recently hired CEO Scott Thompson will have to deal with more uncertainty and potential upheaval than he probably would have liked as he tries to end a strategic and financial malaise that has depressed the company’s stock price for years.

“The honeymoon is already over,” said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. “Yahoo is probably looking at another year of turmoil.”

Yahoo Inc. has been trying to appease shareholders by entering negotiations to sell two of its most valuable assets _ its stakes in China’s Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan _ in a complicated deal that could have generated billions of dollars for dividends and possible acquisitions. The company, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., had sought to avoid a confrontation with one of its largest shareholders, New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, by purging its board of four longtime directors, including Chairman Roy Bostock.

Both those efforts foundered Tuesday.

The negotiations to sell Yahoo’s stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan ruptured abruptly over price and the best way to complete the complex deal, according to a person familiar with the matter. Another person familiar with the matter said Yahoo had second thoughts about selling after agreeing to the sales price in a 300-page proposal outlining the proposed deal in late December. Both people spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations are considered confidential, despite repeated leaks during the past few months.

All Things D, a technology blog affiliated with The Wall Street Journal, reported earlier that the talks had collapsed.

Investors quickly expressed their dismay. Yahoo’s shares shed 76 cents, or 4.7 percent, to close at $15.36, below where they were trading six weeks ago when the company announced Thompson’s hiring.

Shortly after the market closed, Loeb outlined his plans for a shareholder rebellion ahead of Yahoo’s annual meeting, which usually isn’t held until June.

Loeb disclosed in a regulatory filing that he wants a seat on Yahoo’s board to protect his Third Point LLC fund’s 5.6 percent stake in the company. He plans to nominate three other candidates to replace some of Yahoo’s current board members. Loeb’s allies are former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, former MTV Networks executive Michael Wolf and turnaround specialist Harry Wilson, a former adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department who helped General Motors navigate bankruptcy after the Obama administration bailed out the auto maker in 2009.

If Loeb’s slate prevails, they would replace Alfred Amoroso and Maynard Webb Jr., two board members that Yahoo appointed last week, and Patti Hart, who is leading Yahoo’s search to find candidates for the board seats to be vacated at the annual meeting. Besides Bostock, the directors stepping down are Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern and Gary Wilson.

The shake-up wasn’t enough to assure Loeb that the board has the expertise Yahoo needs in making a series of critical decisions, including the fate of the company’s Asian holdings. In his regulatory filing, he asserted the company needs more directors with media experience, particularly in video, and more with turnaround know-how.

“Installing the hand-picked choices of the current board does nothing to allay investor fears that Yahoo is poised to repeat the errors of its past,” Loeb wrote in the regulatory filing. None of Loeb’s criticism specifically mentioned Thompson, who gained a seat on the board when he became CEO.

A representative for Loeb declined to comment Tuesday evening.

Yahoo said in a statement that it had sought suggestions for new directors from Loeb and several other shareholders.

“We have received constructive suggestions from several of our major shareholders and, therefore, it is especially disappointing that Mr. Loeb has chosen a potentially disruptive path, just as the company is moving forward under new leadership to aggressively increase the value of Yahoo,” the statement said.

This isn’t the first time Yahoo has had to wrestle with a disgruntled shareholder for control of its board. In 2008, billionaire investor Carl Icahn sought to overthrow the entire board after Yahoo squandered an opportunity to sell itself to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share. After two months of acrimony, the company wound up negotiating a truce that gave Icahn three board seats.

The impasse over the Asian assets comes as a surprise, given that Yahoo and the prospective buyers, Alibaba and Yahoo Japan shareholder Softbank Corp., all seemed motivated to seal a long-awaited deal. Yahoo was confident enough to dispatch negotiators to Hong Kong last week while Alibaba had been seeking financing to pay for its part, the person said.

But the sides couldn’t agree on the value of Yahoo’s holdings, which have been steadily rising in the past few years as Alibaba’s electronic-commerce services prospered in China’s rapidly growing Internet market. Analysts also have differed on how much Yahoo could fetch by selling its stakes, with estimates ranging from $11 billion to $18 billion.

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Firefighters doused smoldering buildings and cleanup crews swept rubble from the streets of central Athens on Monday following a night of rioting during which lawmakers approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the nation from bankruptcy.

At least 45 buildings were burned, including one of the capital’s oldest restored cinemas, while dozens of stores and cafes were smashed and looted.

The stench of tear gas still hung in the air on Monday morning, chocking passers-by. More than 120 people were hurt in the rioting which also broke out in other Greek cities. Authorities said 68 police needed medical care after being injured by gasoline bombs, rocks and other objects hurled at them, while at least 70 protesters were also hospitalized.

Police arrested at least 67 people, while in several cases they had to escort fire crews to burning buildings after protesters prevented access.

The rioting began Sunday afternoon ahead of a historic vote in Parliament on yet more austerity measures. Lawmakers approved the bill in a 199-74 vote, to the relief of investors who pushed the Athens stock index up 5 percent on Monday.

There was nevertheless strong dissent among the majority Socialists and rival Conservatives, who along with a small right-wing party make up Greece’s interim coalition government. The parties disciplined the dissenters in their ranks, with the Socialists and Conservatives expelling 22 and 21 lawmakers respectively, reducing their majority in the 300-member parliament from 236 to 193.

Sunday’s clashes erupted after more than 100,000 protesters marched to the parliament to rally against the drastic cuts, which will ax one in five civil service jobs and slash the minimum wage by more than a fifth.

The vote paves the way for Greece’s international creditors to release euro130 billion ($172 billion) in new rescue loans to prevent the country from a potentially catastrophic default next month _ bankruptcy could push Greece out of Europe’s euro currency union, drag down other troubled eurozone countries and further roil global markets instant credit report.

The deal, which has not yet been finalized, will be combined with a massive bond swap deal to write off half the country’s privately held debt, reducing Greece’s debt load by about euro100 billion.

But for both deals to materialize, Greece has to persuade its deeply skeptical creditors that it has the will to implement spending cuts and public sector reforms that will end years of fiscal profligacy and tame gaping budget deficits.

Eurozone finance ministers are to meet on Wednesday to approve the plan, after refusing to do so during a meeting last week, saying Athens had to first approve the new austerity measures.

Before signing off on the bailout, the eurozone ministers will still want Greek political leaders to commit in writing to uphold the austerity plan even after the general election in April.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos insisted the country’s economic survival hinged on the passage of the new measures.

“The question is not whether some salaries and pensions will be curtailed, but whether we will be able to pay even these reduced wages and pensions,” he said in Parliament before the vote. “When you have to choose between bad and worse, you will pick what is bad to avoid what is worse.”

The further cuts come after two years of deep spending cuts and repeated tax hikes that have sent unemployment soaring to more than 20 percent and left the country struggling through a fifth year of recession.

Those measures were taken in return for a first, euro110 billion ($145 billion) package of rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, but despite the cutbacks, Greece repeatedly failed to meet its fiscal targets in reducing its debt and deficit and increasing economic competitiveness.

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Federal safety regulators are investigating reports of fires in the driver’s side doors of 2007 Toyota Camry sedans and RAV-4 crossover SUVs.

The probe could affect as many as 830,000 vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday. The vehicles have not been recalled.

The fires appear to start in the power window switch on the door. Six fires have been reported to the agency, but NHTSA has no reports of injuries. The agency said it started the investigation on Monday.

Toyota said it is cooperating with NHTSA in the investigation. Customers with concerns should call Toyota at 800-331-4331.

Toyota’s reputation has taken a hit over the past three years due to a string of huge recalls that have ballooned to more than 14 million vehicles worldwide. Millions were recalled for acceleration problems, and Toyota replaced floor mats that can trap gas pedals and pedal assemblies that can stick and cause cars to take off by surprise. But after an exhaustive probe, U.S. safety regulators, aided by NASA engineers, found nothing wrong with Toyota’s electronic throttle controls.

Still, the latest investigation is troubling for the automaker because the Camry is consistently the top-selling car in the U.S., and the RAV-4 also is a big seller. The probe also includes the Solara, a coupe version of the Camry.

Toyota sold 473,108 Camrys and 172,752 RAV4s in 2007, according to Autodata Corp. Some 2007 models may have been sold in 2006.

In December, the 2012 Camry received a five-star safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency’s top rating.

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