National business briefs for Feb. 11

Final report on W.Va. mine disaster due Feb. 23

West Virginia mining officials will release the fourth and final report on the Upper Big Branch mine disaster Feb. 23.

Leslie Fitzwater of the state's Office of Miners Health Safety and Training said it will be presented to the victims' families at the Raleigh County Convention Center in Beckley, W.Va., before it's released publicly.

The 2010 explosion at the former Massey Energy mine in southern West Virginia killed 29 men in the deadliest U.S. mine disaster in four decades.

Reports already have been issued by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the United Mine Workers of America and an independent panel appointed by the former governor.

All concluded that Richmond-based Massey Energy, which has since been acquired by Alpha Natural, let methane and coal dust build up in the mine. Worn and broken cutting equipment created the spark it needed to explode.

U.S. probes door fires in two Toyota models

Federal safety regulators are investigating reports of fires in the driver's side doors of 2007 Toyota Camry sedans and RAV4 crossover SUVs.

The probe could affect as many as 830,000 vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday in documents posted on its website. The vehicles have not been recalled.

The fires appear to start in the power window switch on the door. Six fires have been reported to the agency, but NHTSA has no reports of anyone being hurt. The agency said it started the investigation Monday.

Toyota said in a statement that it is cooperating with NHTSA in the investigation.

Trustee says MF Global shortfall at least $1.6B

The trustee overseeing MF Global's liquidation said Friday that the shortfall between the funds under his control and the amount customers of the failed brokerage are expected to claim is at least $1.6 billion.

The gap estimated by the court-appointed trustee, James Giddens, compares with his previous estimate of $1.2 billion. Giddens said in a statement Friday that the new estimate is based on his investigation and that it could change again.

Giddens has been combing through the accounts of MF Global since it filed for bankruptcy protection Oct. 31. The collapse of MF Global, which was headed by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, was the eighth-largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Most of the $1.2 billion previously reported missing has been traced to customer accounts and banks.

Regulators are investigating whether MF Global tapped money from clients' accounts as its financial condition worsened. That would violate securities laws. Brokerages are required to keep customer money separate from the firm's money.

Elsewhere

• Regulators on Friday closed small banks in Illinois and Indiana, increasing to nine the number of U.S. bank failures this year, a slower pace than in 2011, when there were 92 bank closures. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Charter National Bank and Trust, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., with $93.9 million in assets and $89.5 million in deposits, and SCB Bank, based in Shelbyville, Ind., with $182.6 million in assets and $171.6 million in deposits.

• The owner of Hollywood's Kodak Theatre is challenging bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co.'s effort to end its sponsorship agreement and have the company's name removed from the Academy Awards venue. CIM Group of Los Angeles has filed an objection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to Kodak's request to terminate its naming rights deal for Kodak Theatre. The agreement signed in 2000 was for 20 years at a cost of $72 million, with $3.6 million due this year.

• Netflix lowered its fourth-quarter earnings by 14 percent to account for a $9 million payment that will be made as part of a legal settlement reached after the Jan. 25 release of Netflix's results for the final three months of last year. Accounting for the payment lowered Netflix's fourth-quarter earnings from a previously reported $40.7 million, or 73 cents per share, to $35.2 million, or 64 cents per share. Netflix Inc. disclosed the change in a regulatory filing late Friday. The settlement covers claims made under the Video Privacy Protection Act, a law that prohibits rental services from sharing information about what their customers have been watching.

• Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its ratings on 34 Italian banks, citing concerns over Italy's financial vulnerability and expectations for weak profits at the banks. Among the banks downgraded Friday were some of Italy's largest, including UniCredit SpA, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA. The agency also lowered its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment for Italy to "4" from "3."

• Churchill Downs Inc., the owner of the racetrack that's home to the Kentucky Derby, is hoping to cash in on the popularity of poker with its latest acquisition. The Louisville-based company said Friday that it has acquired the assets of Bluff Media, whose assets include the poker periodical Bluff Magazine and its online version. Other Bluff Media assets acquired by Churchill include an online database that tracks and ranks the performance of poker players.

• China's trade suffered its biggest decline in January since the 2008 crisis — a new sign of weak global demand and a slowing domestic economy. Exports fell 0.5 percent from a year earlier to $149.9 billion, while imports were down 15 percent at $122.7 billion, customs data showed.

From wire reports