In Brief

WASHINGTON

Google scraps Net ad partnership with Yahoo

Google Inc. has scrapped its Internet advertising partnership with struggling rival Yahoo Inc., abandoning attempts to overcome the objections of antitrust regulators and customers who believed the alliance would give Google too much power over online commerce.

The retreat announced Wednesday represented another setback for Yahoo, which had been counting on the Google deal to boost its finances and placate shareholders still incensed by management's decision to reject a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp. six months ago.

Without Google's help, Yahoo now might feel more pressure to renew talks with Microsoft and ultimately sell itself for much less than the $33 per share that Microsoft offered in May.

Ambac may have to pay on monorail bonds

Ambac Financial Group Inc., which on Thursday reported a $2.43 billion net loss, may be forced to make payments on bonds sold to build the Las Vegas Monorail, Wells Fargo & Co. said in a notice to investors.

Ambac may start making payments on the debt as soon as July 1, debt trustee Wells Fargo said in the Oct. 30 notice. Monorail operators have sufficient funds for principal and interest payments due investors on Jan. 1, according to the notice.

The borrower failed to set aside enough money "to pay interest and principal on the bonds as they come due," according to the notice.

The Nevada Department of Business and Industry sold the bonds and lent the money to the Las Vegas Monorail Co. The operator uses revenue to repay investors and is solely responsible for debt payments.

Heartbreak hotel: Elvis project seemingly dead

Plans for building an Elvis-themed hotel on the Strip have apparently gone from unlikely to nearly dead in the wake of cancellation of a third-party acquisition.

In a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York-based FX Real Estate and Entertainment said an agreement to acquire an 85 percent interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises was canceled when a go-private deal for CKX Inc., which licenses the rights to the singer, fell through on Monday.

FX Real Estate, which owns 18 acres on the Strip, announced in September a plan to develop an Elvis-themed hotel-casino was unlikely due to the "dislocation and turbulence in the capital markets."

ATLANTA

Delta Air Lines will impose bag-check fee

Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest carrier, said Wednesday it will impose a $15 fee to check a first bag, becoming the last of the six legacy airlines to impose such a fee.

The carrier also said it is cutting certain other fees as it aligns its policies with those of Northwest Airlines, which it acquired last week.

Atlanta-based Delta said that effective immediately, for traffic on or after Dec. 5, customers flying within the U.S. will be charged $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second checked bag when traveling domestically, consistent with Northwest's existing policies.

Customers who bought Delta tickets on or before Wednesday, and who are traveling on or after Dec. 5, will be charged $50 for a second bag, but will be permitted to check their first bag for free based on Delta's previous policy.

HOUSTON

As eyes shift back to economy, oil prices dip

Oil prices slid below $66 a barrel Wednesday as investor sentiment seemed to shift to the growing global economic malaise and its potential impact on energy demand. Gasoline prices continued to tumble.

A day after oil staged an Election Day rally, even indications that OPEC was acting on an earlier pledge to pull 1.5 million barrels of crude a day from the market failed to support prices.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $5.23 to settle at $65.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Lehman Bros. Holdings chief to be 'terminated'

Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld, who received $34.4 million in pay in 2007, will be "terminated" by the bankrupt company without any bonus, said a lawyer for Lehman.

"His employment will end at the end of the year," Harvey Miller, Lehman's lead bankruptcy lawyer, of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, said Wednesday at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan. "He is being terminated. He will receive no severance or bonuses."

Fuld, 62, has stayed on as CEO while lawyers and other professionals disperse Lehman's assets to pay creditors after the fourth-largest investment bank filed the biggest U.S. bankruptcy Sept. 15 in New York.

Ten-year Treasury prices slide as stocks plunge

Prices for 10-year Treasurys slid Thursday as stock indexes plunged.

The 10-year note slipped 0.69 points to 1.81 and yielded 3.68 percent, down from 3.73 Tuesday.