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UAE fighter jets arrive in Italy for Libya operations

Six F-16 fighter jets from the United Arab Emirates, a key US ally, landed at an Italian base on Sunday ahead of their deployment to help enforce the no-fly zone over Libya.

The six planes could be seen landing at the Decimomannu base on the island of Sardinia after a logistics plane also arrived at the base.

The UAE said Thursday it had committed six F-16 and six Mirage fighters.

"The UAE air force has committed six F-16 and six Mirage aircraft to participate in the patrols that will enforce the no-fly zone now established over Libya," Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said then.

A former UAE air force commander said last week that his country had delayed its military deployment because of disagreements with the West over the unrest in Bahrain, where there is a Shiite-led revolt against the Sunni royal family.

Two Mirage fighter planes carried out Qatar's first mission over Libya accompanied by two French jets, the French military said Friday.

U.S. senators set March 9 date for Latam trade plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk faced pressure on Monday to come up with a plan to win approval for long-delayed free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia by the time he testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on March 9.

"We expect that you will come prepared to (1) identify specifically any additional steps that the administration believes Panama or Colombia should take; and (2) provide a clear and expeditious timetable for moving both agreements through the U.S. Congress," Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, and Senator Orrin Hatch, the panel's top Republican, said in a letter to Kirk.

Their demand came as a USTR team heads to Colombia for meetings with the government on worker rights and violence concerns that have blocked approval of a free trade pact for more than four years.

"We understand that USTR will meet with Panama in the near future as well. We will be eager to learn the results of these meetings as soon as possible," Baucus and Hatch said.

U.S. farm and business groups on Monday said they were stepping up efforts to win congressional approval of the two trade deals in the next five to six months.

Bill Lane, Washington director of governmental relations for Caterpillar, told reporters he was increasingly optimistic the White House would work with Congress to approve the two deals, despite the strong opposition of U.S. labor groups to the Colombia pact.

Obama already plans to send a trade pact with South Korea to Congress in coming weeks.

"It think all three will be done before the summer recess, will be enacted," Lane said at a briefing on a trip a U.S. business delegation is making to Panama and Colombia this week to highlight business opportunities of the pacts.

The delegation also includes representatives from Citibank, General Electric, IBM, Wal-Mart and the National Pork Producers Council.

Kirk told the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee last week Obama had directed him to intensify talks to resolve problems with the Colombia and Panama pacts, which were signed in November 2006 and June 2007, respectively.

In the case of Colombia, that requires addressing deep concerns, especially among House Democrats, about killings of Colombian labor leaders and the failure of the Colombian government to prosecute those responsible for the crimes.

Colombia says its overall murder rate fell 45 percent between 2002 and 2009 as the government regained control of territory previously controlled by illegally armed groups and criminal organizations.

Killings of union members also fell from 196 in 2002 to 28 in 2009, the Colombian government says.

A coalition of U.S. farm and food organizations on Monday urged Obama to finalize the Colombia and Panama agreements.

"Four years of trade benefits for U.S. farmers, ranchers and food processors have now been forfeited by our inaction on these agreements, and competitor countries have taken advantage of this lapse to grab U.S. market shares," the coalition said in a letter. "It is time to bring this situation to an end."

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Eric Walsh)

B of A to pay $410 million to settle overdraft lawsuit

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) has agreed to pay $410 million to settle lawsuits accusing it of charging customers with excessive overdraft fees, court documents show.

The largest U.S. bank by assets is among the more than two dozen U.S., Canadian and European lenders named as defendants in the class-action litigation, which in 2009 consolidated lawsuits filed across the country.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) are among the other defendants named in the case, court records show.

Bank of America spokeswoman Anne Pace in an email said the bank has already changed its overdraft practices, eliminating fees for debit transactions and significantly lowering fees for customers who overdraw excessively.

She also said the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender has "fully accrued funds" to cover the settlement.

Notice of the January 27 accord with Bank of America was filed on Friday with the U.S. district court in Miami. The settlement requires court approval.

Many banks let customers overdraw their accounts in exchange for fees, typically $25 or $35. Critics say the fees disproportionately burden lower-income customers and others who often maintain low account balances.

In a November 2009 complaint filed with the Miami court, customers said Bank of America routinely processed debit transactions from largest to smallest rather than in chronological order, causing account balances to fall faster and boosting potential overdraft fees.

They said the bank also did not clearly tell customers they could decline overdraft protection, and typically charged the fees to debit card users rather than decline transactions.

Bank of America customers would often rack up hundreds of dollars of overdraft fees, even when they may have been overdrawn by only a few dollars, the complaint said.

Overdraft fees industry wide totaled about $23.7 billion in 2008, up from $10.3 billion just four years earlier, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

Last year the Federal Reserve imposed a rule that prohibits banks from charging overdraft fees on electronic and debit card transactions without advance customer approval.

In August, a federal judge ordered Wells Fargo to pay $203 million to California customers who complained about overdraft fees.

The bank is appealing.

The case is In re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, No. 09-md-02036.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Google Adds Priority Inbox to Gmail Web App

Google on Monday added Priority Inbox to its Gmail mobile Web app.

Priority Inboxto place the most important messages up top, followed by starred e-mails, and then everything else underneath. Priority Inbox can be customized, however, to display the categories of your choice.

Until now, it was only available on the desktop and Android devices. Google has now extended the feature to its Web app.

"Now, once you set up Priority Inbox in the desktop version of Gmail, you'll see Priority Inbox sections when you visit gmail.com from your phone's browser and click on the 'Menu' screen," Google said in a . "You'll also see importance markers in your inbox, so you can quickly identify which messages are important."

Google said the feature is available for most mobile browsers that support HTML5, like Android 1.5 and iOS 3 and higher.

In December,to include a way for users to see exactly why an e-mail gets prioritized and tweak accordingly.

For more see,and the slideshow below.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at .

J&J sales lag after recalls; 2011 view disappoints

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson reported disappointing quarterly revenue due to plunging U.S. sales of consumer products that continue to be recalled for quality-control lapses, and the diversified healthcare company forecast 2011 earnings below Wall Street expectations.

"The fourth quarter was another disappointing quarter for Johnson & Johnson," said Morgan Stanley analyst David Lewis, who questioned whether the company can recover this year from factory problems that have sparked recalls of Tylenol, Motrin and other over-the-counter medicines over the past 12 months.

J&J, whose shares were down more than 2 percent, said on Tuesday that fourth-quarter earnings fell to $1.9 billion, or 70 cents per share, from $2.2 billion, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, J&J (JNJ.N) earned $1.03 per share. That matched the consensus Wall Street forecast, largely because of unexpectedly low taxes.

Global sales fell 5.5 percent to $15.6 billion, compared with Wall Street expectations of $16 billion.

Worldwide consumer product sales dragged down results, as they did in the prior quarter, falling 15 percent to $3.61 billion. U.S. sales of J&J's many consumer brands plunged 29 percent to $1.22 billion, reflecting a continuing train of recalls that have tarnished the company's reputation and taken scores of products off the market.

J&J has recalled more than 300 million packages of Tylenol and other consumer medicines in the past year after regulators cited grime, faulty procedures and other quality-control lapses at a plant in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and other factories.

In its latest big action, J&J recalled 50 million bottles and packages of Tylenol, Benadryl, Rolaids and other products two weeks ago because of lax cleaning procedures and other problems at the Pennsylvania plant, which was closed in April for a major overhaul.

Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen said J&J had managed to meet quarterly profit forecasts because its tax rate was five percentage points below expectations in the period, masking weak sales of consumer brands and prescription drugs.

Global pharmaceutical sales fell 4.7 percent to $5.71 billion, while medical device sales edged up 0.2 percent to $6.32 billion.

J&J forecast 2011 earnings, excluding special items, of $4.80 to $4.90 per share, below Wall Street expectations of $4.97. The company's outlook would represent a profit increase of 1 percent to 3 percent over 2010 results, compared with analysts' prior hopes of 5 percent growth.

Shares of J&J were down 2.3 percent at $60.78 in early trading.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson, editing by Maureen Bavdek and Matthew Lewis)