WaMu says it has settlement with JPMorgan, FDIC (AP)
AP - Washington Mutual Inc. says it has resolved disputes with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over some $4 billion at issue in the bank holding company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Kazakh court jails nuclear executive for 14 years (AP)
AP - The lawyer for a former head of Kazkahstan's state nuclear energy company says his client has been sentenced to 14 years in jail on charges of embezzlement and corruption.

AF447: French famililes want equal compensation (AP)
AP - A French support group said Friday that it will seek equal compensation for the families of French victims of the crash of Air France Flight 447 after a Brazilian judge awarded more than $1 million for a Brazilian who died in the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris last year.

UBS says IRS has 20 Swiss banks in its sights (AP)

AP - Embattled UBS AG has warned that Switzerland's financial industry is at risk unless lawmakers approve a tax treaty with the U.S., and that other Swiss banks may be next to face pressure from American regulators.

SEC head prods Congress on derivatives rules (Reuters)
Reuters - The top U.S. securities regulator said market watchdogs need to supervise credit default swaps, securities blamed for exacerbating 2008's market meltdown and more recently the Greek debt crisis.

Cheap cigars, politics and the Volcker Rule (Reuters)
Reuters - In mid-January, a who's who of Wall Street gathered to hear Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman whose role in the White House seemed at best unclear.

Earnings schedule for week of 03/15/10 (AP)
AP - Major companies tentatively scheduled to report quarterly earnings next week:

EU ministers to map out Greek rescue plan (AFP)

AFP - Detailed options for concrete European-level financial support to help Greece out of its debt crisis will be presented to eurozone finance ministers next week, sources said Friday.

Gov't mortgage plan aids 16 percent of borrowers (AP)
AP - The Obama administration's mortgage relief plan has helped only about 16 percent of borrowers who signed up since its launch last year, while hundreds of thousands of homeowners remain in limbo.

India invests $10 bln in IMF notes (AFP)

AFP - India's central bank announced Friday it had agreed to buy 10 billion dollars of bonds issued by the International Monetary Fund as part of efforts to strengthen the Washington-based lender.

APNewsBreak: L.L. Bean sales down in 2009 (AP)
AP - Outdoors clothing retailer L.L. Bean says sales dipped again in 2009, but the company managed to beat its own projections. The company also said online sales beat catalog orders for the first time.

Wells Fargo, Baltimore in talks after mortgage suit (Reuters)
Reuters - Wells Fargo & Co said on Friday it is in talks with Baltimore officials that could avert further litigation by that city over the bank's mortgage lending practices.

US rig count increases by 11 (AP)
AP - The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 11 this week to 1,407.

Orange County prosecutor sues Toyota over defects (AP)

AP - The Orange County district attorney has filed a lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp., accusing the automaker of knowingly selling hundreds of thousands of vehicles with acceleration defects.

Why MBAs are Going East (BusinessWeek)
BusinessWeek - James Tsai is the sort of MBA corporate recruiters covet. He went to a good prep school, earned a degree with honors from Middlebury College, and made vice-president in Bank of America's (bac.) international wealth management group at the age of 26. Today, Tsai is about to graduate, straight A's in hand, from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, a top-rated program in America. And he's hustling to land his first post-MBA job -- in China.