IN BRIEF

SAN FRANCISCO

Google eliminates detour, gets OK to keep website in China

Google won permission Friday to maintain its website in China and keep its toehold in the world's most populous nation after bowing to pressure to eliminate a virtual detour around the country's online censorship requirements.

Entering search requests at Google.cn from within mainland China now requires an extra click, a change made last week to appease communist regulators. Users who click anywhere on the page are then taken to a site based in Hong Kong, which isn't subject to Beijing's censorship rules.

Since March, Google had been automatically rerouting search requests from the mainland to the Hong Kong service.

The small concession was enough to persuade China's regulators to renew Google's Internet license for at least another year, the company said. There was no immediate statement on the website of China's Internet regulator, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

It's the latest twist in a diplomatic dance that's been unfolding since Google vowed in January to end its four-year practice of omitting search results that the Chinese government considers subversive or pornographic.

Ex-Station executive named general manager at M Resort

Former Station Casinos executive Jody Lake was named general manager of the M Resort.

Lake will oversee day-to-day operations of the 16-month-old hotel-casino in Henderson.

Lake served as the assistant general manager and general manager of the company's Boulder Station, Palace Station and Texas Station resorts.

Lake began his gaming career with Las Vegas-based Ameristar Casinos as an analyst at the Reserve (now Fiesta Henderson) in 1998. Following the sale of The Reserve to Station Casinos in 2001, Lake remained with Ameristar in various corporate positions.

Lake spent several years with Ameristar properties in Missouri, Iowa, and Mississippi.

NEW YORK

Six smart-phone companies sued by patent holder NTP

The patent-holding company that won a settlement of more than $600 million from the maker of the BlackBerry said Friday it has sued six other companies in the smart phone industry.

Patent company NTP Inc. is suing Apple Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., HTC Corp., Motorola Inc. and LG Electronics Inc., claiming infringement of the same patents that were at issue in its case against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.

The lawsuit against RIM ended with a $612.5 million settlement in 2006. However, changes in court practices have reduced NTP's power to win large settlements, and if NTP prevails, it's likely to receive much less from each defendant this time.

Microsoft and Apple said they had no comment. The other targets did not respond to requests for comment. The lawsuits were filed Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va.

NAGOYA, Japan

Toyota president aims to lead carmaker past recall crisis

The president of Toyota Motor Corp. said he has spent the past year apologizing for the automaker's missteps and now hopes to lead the company past its recall crisis and restore confidence in its vehicles.

Akio Toyoda, speaking to U.S. reporters on Friday, also reiterated the company's commitment to fuel-efficient vehicles and said the automaker is testing an electric car prototype with technology from Tesla Motors Inc.

Toyoda said he has spent much of his yearlong tenure at the helm of the world's largest automaker apologizing for its mistakes. He said he now hopes to win back the confidence of customers and move past the crisis that has battered its vaunted reputation for quality.

WASHINGTON

Plane makers Boeing, EADS will again bid for Air Force pact

For the companies vying over the last decade for the Air Force's troubled $35 billion refueling plane contract, it is try, try and try again.

Rival plane makers Boeing and the European defense contractor EADS submitted bids this week, Boeing on Friday, for the chance to build the new refueling plane.

It is the latest round in a tussle that has yet to produce a winner and has forced the Air Force to keep up its fleet of planes, some of which are more than 50 years old.

The Pentagon has said it plans to award a contract in November, but the history behind the tanker project shows that there are no guarantees.

WILMINGTON, Del.

Bookseller boss says plan served to protect company

The chairman of Barnes & Noble Inc. testified Friday that the poison pill plan the bookseller adopted after billionaire Ron Burkle increased his stake was not about protecting him and his family, but the company.

Leonard Riggio disputed Burkle's allegations that the shareholder rights plan adopted last November was an effort by the book retailer's board to protect the Riggio family's interest.

"It's about the company," said Riggio, founder and ex-CEO of Barnes & Noble.

Burkle attorney Stephen Alexander played a portion of the videotaped deposition he gave in advance of a trial that began Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court.

"The pill was about me and my family," Riggio said in the deposition.

Burkle argues in his lawsuit that the plan allows Riggio to keep his ownership stake of more than 30 percent and who, with other family members and insiders, controls roughly about 38 percent of the company's shares.