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WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder has announced a $1.2 billion settlement with Toyota. Under the agreement, Holder says the Japanese automaker will admit that it misled U.S. consumers by making deceptive statements about two safety issues affecting its vehicles. The settlement follows a four-year investigation that focused on whether Toyota was forthright in reporting problems related to unintended acceleration troubles that led to massive recalls.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden has wrapped up a two-day trip to Lithuania and Poland, where he sought to reassure NATO allies in the region that the U.S. will defend them against any Russian aggression. Biden told a pair of Baltic leaders in Lithuania that "We're in this with you, together." He spoke after Russia's president declared Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula part of Russia and militiamen took over the Ukrainian navy's headquarters in Crimea.
SEVASTOPOL, Crimea (AP) — A Russian news agency reports that authorities in Crimea have denied entry to Ukraine's defense minister and another official as the two tried to travel to the region to defuse tensions. In a separate development, Russia's ITAR (EE'-tahr)-Tass news agency says the commander of the Ukrainian navy has been detained for questioning.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's defense minister says investigators are trying to restore files that were deleted last month from the personal flight simulator of the pilot aboard the missing Malaysian plane. Investigators want to check those files for any signs of unusual flight paths that could help explain where the plane went. It's not whether they think deleting the files was unusual.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Commerce Department says big gains in exports and overseas investment income narrowed the U.S. current account deficit to the lowest level in 14 years in the October-December quarter. The imbalance fell to $81.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $96.4 billion in the previous quarter. That's the smallest gap since the third quarter of 1999. The current account is the country's broadest measure of trade, covering not only goods and services but also investment flows.
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