| By Matt Beer | Sunday, February 10th 2013, 09:42 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier's Rally Sweden lead was eroded by Sebastien Loeb on the final morning, but the Volkswagen driver was confident he would not come under threat
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| By Matt Beer | Sunday, February 10th 2013, 13:01 GMT |
Three-time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon believes the new-for-2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup technical package will demand more driver skill in close racing
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Matt Beer | Sunday, February 10th 2013, 13:44 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier clinched the Volkswagen Polo R's first World Rally Championship victory as he broke Sebastien Loeb's challenge on the final day in Sweden
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| Saturday, February 9th 2013, 11:14 GMT |
Nelson Piquet Jr will continue his progress through the NASCAR ranks in 2013 after sealing a full-time Nationwide Series deal
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Matt Beer | Saturday, February 9th 2013, 15:43 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier edged away from Sebastien Loeb once again as day two of Rally Sweden came to an end
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| By David Evans | Saturday, February 9th 2013, 17:55 GMT |
Qatar M-Sport driver Mads Ostberg says he will launch an all-out attack on the two Frenchmen ahead of him when Rally Sweden moves into his native Norway for its final day on Sunday
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Hugh Grant was among those who received "substantial damages" in Friday's settlements.
LONDON (CNNMoney)
News International, owned by News Corp (NWS), settled 144 cases Friday, officials at the High Court in London said.
The vast majority of claimants sought privacy but lawyers for Grant -- star of "Notting Hill" and a series of romantic comedy movies -- and Eccleston, who played "Doctor Who" in the British television series, confirmed they had received "substantial damages."
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and psychic Uri Geller were among those who received public apologies and undisclosed damages.
"[News International] has taken a range of measures across the board to identify what went wrong at the company, to compensate victims with minimal delay and distress and to ensure the same mistakes never happen again," the company said in a statement.
"We are pleased to have made further progress today."
Grant has been one of the most outspoken of the phone-hacking victims and has campaigned for tougher regulation of the media.
Friday's settlements were the second group of suits to be settled by News International after a widespread scandal around the hacking of celebrities, politicians, victims of crime and others by people working for Murdoch tabloids.
Seven cases were not settled and will go to trial in June. Around 20 other cases are still being discussed.
The affair prompted the closure of Sunday tabloid The News of the World, a public inquiry into press regulation and the relationship between journalists, politicians and the police, and forced Murdoch to drop plans for complete ownership of U.K. pay TV operator BSkyB.
Related: Liberty Global to buy Virgin Media
It also led to criminal charges against former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who later served as spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, and former head of News International Rebekah Brooks.
Clive Goodman, who was royal correspondent at The News of the World, and John Kay, former chief reporter at The Sun, have also been charged.
News Corp announced last year that it was planning to split into two operations, one housing its newspapers and book publishing business, the other its television and film properties. Murdoch, the company's largest shareholder, will remain chairman of both companies.
First Published: February 8, 2013: 9:19 AM ET
Boeing has started to warn airlines which have ordered the 787 Dreamliners that there will be delays in deliveries.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Boeing has not been able to deliver the Dreamliners to customers since the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the plane grounded on Jan. 16 as safety investigators probed two fires in its lithium batteries. It continues to build the plane at its previously set schedule in hopes that a fix will be found soon, and that the airlines can resume flying the 50 jets in service before the grounding.
But while progress is being made in the safety probe, investigators have yet to determine the primary cause of the short-circuit in the battery that sparked the fires. Therefore, they have not been able to give time frame when the planes will be flying again.
Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) would not give details about how many customers have been notified about possible delays in deliveries.
"We have informed our customers expecting 787 deliveries in the near term that those aircraft either have been or are at risk of being delayed." Boeing said in a statement released Friday. "Boeing deeply regrets the impact that recent events have had on the schedules of our customers and their passengers."
Related: ANA: Dreamliner trouble costs reach $15 million
Norwegian Air said Friday that the U.S. aircraft maker has alerted it to a possible delay in the delivery of Norwegian's first 787 Dreamliner, due to be delivered in April, and said that a second jet, set for June delivery, could also be delayed.
Norwegian said it is looking into contracting with another airline to provide both an aircraft and crew for a short-term lease in order to begin service this spring from Norway to New York and Bangkok, the airline's first long-haul flights.
But Norwegian Air spokeswoman Asa Larsson said the carrier is not considering canceling the order for the planes.
"Our company and customers have been looking forward to flying the Dreamliner," she said. "Our main priority is to ensure we can fly customers to and from New York and Bangkok."
Related: United - Customers will 'flock' back to Dreamliner
British carrier Thomson Airways said Friday it has been notified of possible delays in the delivery of the first of eight Dreamliners it has on order. The jet was due to be delivered later this month for service from the U.K. to Sanford, Fla., and Cancun, Mexico. Thomson also said it's in the process of arranging alternative aircraft to provide the service.
On Thursday, the FAA approved crew-only test flights for Dreamliner as part of the investigation. The only Dreamliner flown since the grounding order was a plane returned Thursday to the Washington State manufacturing site from a painting facility in Texas.
First Published: February 8, 2013: 10:24 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The IRS had previously announced that these returns would be delayed until mid-February as it updated the processing systems needed to accept Form 8863, which is used to claim both the American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit.
The American Opportunity Tax Credit provides up to $2,500 per student each year for up to four years of college, while the Lifetime Learning Credit gives a maximum of $2,000 annually for education expenses without a limit on the number of years it can be claimed.
Related: IRS nabs identity thieves in nationwide crackdown
The IRS also announced Friday that it will start processing returns claiming property depreciation this Sunday.
"This step clears the way for almost all taxpayers to start filing their tax returns for 2012," the IRS said in a statement.
But some taxpayers with more complex returns, including those claiming residential energy credits and general business credits, still have to wait until March. The full list of forms being accepted during the first week of March can be found on the IRS website.
For the majority of taxpayers, the filing season kicked off Jan. 30.
First Published: February 8, 2013: 1:52 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney)
The White House warned Friday that some $85 billion in budget cuts coming as a part of the "sequester" will end up carving some 9% from non-defense programs and 13% from defense programs, because the cuts take place over 7 months instead of 12.
The cuts are a part of a larger effort to trim $1.2 trillion from federal deficits over ten years.
"These are large and arbitrary cuts, and will have severe impacts across government," said Danny Werfel, federal controller of the Office of Management and Budget.
The White House budget office had been mum on how the cuts would fall. But last week, federal agencies notified hundreds of thousands of federal workers that furloughs could be around the corner, Werfel said.
The memo wasn't the official 30-day notice required by federal law, but Werfel suggested that could be coming.
Related: Calendar of fiscal crazy: Congress and the budget
President Obama this week started pushing Congress to delay the cuts by a few months, allowing time to pass a more comprehensive new budget that both cuts expenses and hikes taxes.
House Republicans say they also don't want the sequester to happen, but they note they've passed legislation that would replace it "with common sense cuts and reforms," specifically to mandatory spending programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Agencies have been providing the White House different tallies of how they'd carry out budget cuts, which the administration is using to push for what it calls a "more balanced" approach.
Other program cuts the White House budget office detailed include:
-- 70,000 children would get kicked out of early childhood intervention programs that help poorer children catch up to middle-class peers, heading into kindergarten.
-- 1,000 fewer criminals would be prosecuted due to furloughed federal prosecutors.
-- 4 million fewer "Meals on Wheels" would be delivered to the elderly.
-- 1,000 fewer research grants would be awarded, cutting research and laboratories for some 12,000 scientists and students.
If the sequester takes effect, economic growth will slow. By some estimates, up to 1 million jobs will be lost. Federal workers will be furloughed, and a bevy of programs and services across the government will be curtailed.
House Republicans want to replace the defense cuts with more nondefense cuts, something Democrats reject. Democrats want to replace the cuts with a mix of more targeted cuts and tax increases; Republicans reject the tax hikes.
"We're glad they're laying out the devastating consequences of the president's sequester, but the question remains: What are they willing to do to prevent it?" said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.
Though lawmakers agree the sequester is a terrible idea, many think it might be preferable to cutting a new deal they like even less.
Entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which fall under mandatory spending, would be largely protected from the cuts.
First Published: February 8, 2013: 2:17 PM ET
