IN BRIEF

NEW YORK

Citigroup, Wells Fargo will pay back government-bailout cash

Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. said Monday they would repay their government bailout loans, freeing them from close regulatory scrutiny and marking the latest step toward recovery for the U.S. financial system.

Citigroup, whose future looked uncertain as recently as the beginning of this year, will repay $20 billion, while Wells Fargo will repay the $25 billion it received. Both banks announced significant capital raises to repay the money, and the government will also sell the one-third stake it holds in Citigroup.

The two are the last major national banks to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which the government put in place at the height of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008.

New York-based Citigroup is far larger than Wells Fargo, which is based in San Francisco, and the government took a bigger role in its oversight. Citigroup had taken $45 billion in rescue funds -- among the largest bailout packages received by any bank -- but the government converted $25 billion of that amount into the 34 percent equity stake, which it is now selling.

Allowing the banks to repay the money and exit TARP, as the bailout program is known, signals a vote of confidence from the government in the ability of both banks to stand on their own.

LONDON

British Airways cabin crew will strike over Christmas

British Airways cabin crew will strike over Christmas, their union said Monday, throwing the plans of thousands of holiday travelers into uncertainty at one of the busiest times of the year.

Strikes are to begin Dec. 22 and run until Jan. 2, said Len McCluskey, the assistant general secretary for Britain's Unite union. McCluskey said 92.5 percent of workers voted in favor of striking.

The struggling carrier has announced sweeping changes as part of its bid to cut costs, including axing 1,700 jobs, freezing pay for current staff and offering lower wages for new employees. The airline has suffered along with the rest of the industry because of lower demand for travel during the global recession.

Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh called the action "completely unjustified" and accused unions of misleading cabin crews over the necessity and fairness of the airline's new pay and work proposals.

Toyota will sell plug-in version on Prius hybrid in two years

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest seller of gasoline-electric hybrid cars, intends to begin retail sales of a plug-in version of its Prius hybrid in two years as environmental concerns spur demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.

The company aims to sell "several tens of thousands" of plug-ins a year globally, Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada told reporters in Tokyo. Toyota began leasing the cars Monday to governments and businesses and aims to sign agreements covering 600 through the first half of 2010.

The company will also start selling a short-distance pure electric car in 2012.

Toyota's plug-in, which can be recharged at household electrical outlets, initially runs solely on electricity generated by a lithium-ion battery.

After about 23.4 kilometers (14.5 miles) of driving, a gasoline engine kicks in to run with the battery on a hybrid system. The overall fuel economy is about 57 kilometers per liter (134 mpg), Uchiyamada said.

Toyota Motor shares fell 85 cents, or 1.01 percent, Monday to close at $83.49 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Icahn gets court's OK to compete for Trump company

Carl Icahn won court permission to compete with Donald Trump for the votes of creditors who will help decide the fate of the bankrupt gambling company that bears Trump's name.

The battle between the two investors will decide whether Icahn or a group of bondholders allied with Trump gains control of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. Trump would gain as much as 10 percent of the Atlantic City casino company if the bondholders win.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Wizmur on Monday agreed with Icahn's attorney, who argued that both reorganization plans should go to creditors at the same time for a vote.

After that vote is tallied, Wizmur will hold a hearing next year on the two competing reorganization proposals and make the final decision about who should own the company.

Fitch says homebuilders' decline over after four years

The four-year decline for U.S. homebuilders has ended with rising property sales and an economy emerging from recession, Fitch Ratings said.

Housing and economic data show the market reached bottom in the middle of 2009, helped by a government tax credit for first-time homebuyers, the New York-based ratings company said Monday in a statement. "Challenges remain," Fitch said.

"The recovery may appear jaw-toothed as substantial foreclosures now in the pipeline present as distressed sales, and as meaningful new foreclosures arise," Fitch said in the statement.

U.S. home prices fell 3.8 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the smallest decline since the first quarter of 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency in Washington said in a Nov. 24 report. Sales of existing homes jumped 10 percent in October to the highest level since February 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors. Unemployment was at 10 percent in November, down from 10.2 percent the previous month.

LONDON

Cadbury begins defense of hostile takeover from Kraft

Britain's Cadbury PLC started defending against Kraft Foods Inc.'s 9.8 billion pound ($16.3 billion) hostile takeover offer on Monday, urging shareholders not to let the U.S. maker of cheese, co okies and macaroni dinners "steal your company with its derisory offer."

Cadbury also confirmed that it had received rival approaches from The Hershey Co. and Italy's Ferrero International SA, but said they were too preliminary to begin proper talks and warned that it would not accept a subpar offer from any suitor.

U.S.-born Cadbury CEO Todd Stitzer injected the already heavy political atmosphere with another twist on Monday by quoting from one of U.S. Founding Father Thomas Paine's collection of articles on the American Revolution: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value."

Kraft said Monday that its offer stands and that it was reviewing Cadbury's response. Kraft could still raise the bid under British regulations.