NEW YORK (Reuters) – A study funded by Toyota Motor Co supports the automaker's assertion there is no evidence of problems in the electronics of Toyota and Lexus cars, the Wall Street Journal said on Sunday.

The newspaper said it had obtained a copy of the study being carried out by the Menlo Park, California-based engineering firm, Expondent.

"Exponent has so far been unable to induce, through electrical disturbances to the system, either unintended acceleration or behavior that might be a precursor to such an event, despite concerted efforts toward this goal," the Journal quoted the February 4 preliminary report as saying.

ROME (Reuters) – The fragility of the euro zone economy and public finances underline the need to extend and strengthen euro-wide economic management, European Central Bank Governing Council Member Mario Draghi said on Saturday.

"The euro is solid," Draghi told a gathering of market operators in Naples," but he called on the EU to extend and reform its economic structures "with the same vigor it devoted over the years to consolidating government budgets."

Draghi said investors will buy new securities issued by Greece, whose debt crisis has roiled markets in recent weeks, so long as the government "adjusts its budget with determination, with careful monitoring by the European Commission and the ECB."

NAJAF, Iraq – Najaf's airport was meant to be a symbol of Iraq getting back to business, and in many ways it's been a success, creating jobs and spurring a construction craze in the Shiite shrine city.

But an increasingly bitter dispute between local authorities and the Kuwaiti contractor brought in to run the facility is casting a cloud over one of Iraq's proudest postwar accomplishments and prompting accusations of political meddling.

The standoff serves as a warning to other companies considering answering Baghdad's calls to snap up investment opportunities and pump needed development money into the country. It highlights how risks go beyond bombings to widespread corruption, uncertain legal protections and inadequate government oversight.

FREMONT, Calif (Reuters) – The United Auto Workers union, fighting to stop Toyota Motor Corp from closing a California plant and leaving 4,500 people jobless, said on Friday the automaker had forgotten the focus that brought it success.

Toyota, UAW Vice President Bob King said in a rally near the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc plant popularly known as NUMMI, needs to "get back to basics."

"What we have known for a while, the global public is waking up to," King told workers amid banners that depicted a skull inside the oval Toyota logo. "Toyota Corporation has lost its way. Toyota Corporation has forgotten what built its success."

TOKYO – Assembly lines that run like clockwork. Supplies that arrive just in time. Dedicated workers trained to spot defects, churning out quality cars in the millions. Such are the trademarks of 'Toyota Way' manufacturing.

That's why the automaker's recent bungling over a spate of global recalls appears so out of character.

Those very principles of efficiency and flawlessness that earned Toyota Motor Corp. a near-perfect reputation couldn't prevent problems cropping up in areas outside the factory, areas just as crucial these days in the industry — design development, crisis management and software programming.

BARCELONA, Spain – Samsung Electronics Co., the largest maker of cell phones for the U.S. market, on Sunday revealed the first phone running Samsung's own 'smart' software system, bada.

With bada, Korea-based Samsung is taking the TouchWiz system used on its touch-screen non-smart phones and making it the basis of a smart phone platform to take on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry. Samsung also makes phones based on other competing smart phone systems: Android, created by Google Inc., and Symbian, of which Nokia Corp. is a major backer.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) will launch a new small car for its Mercury brand in early 2011, based on the automaker's new global compact car platform, Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields said on Sunday.

The new Mercury is one of the 10 vehicles Ford is planning for its global small car architecture, that also underpins the upcoming 2012 Ford Focus, and would expand the lineup of the mid-level premium brand long devoid of new products.

The launch also underscores the No. 2 U.S. automaker's support for the brand despite uncertainty in some analysts' views over whether Ford will keep the brand in the long term.

WASHINGTON – What recession?

Health care and business interests led the way as clients spent a record $3.5 billion on lobbying last year, prompted by Obama administration drives to reshape federal policy for the medical, financial and energy industries.

Amid a stagnant national economy and the worst unemployment in nearly three decades, lobbying expenditures grew by 5 percent from the $3.3 billion spent in 2008, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The growth also came despite efforts by President Barack Obama to curb lobbyists' influence.

NEW YORK (AFP) – Shares of Berkshire Hathaway rose Friday as billionaire Warren Buffett's holding company was integrated into the Standard & Poor's 500 index and was set to finalize its big rail acquisition.

Shares in Berkshire rose 0.56 percent in early trade to 77.12 dollars.

The holding company controlled by Buffett, one of the world's richest men, was set to finalize its 26.3 billion dollar deal to take over the remaining shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the largest rail operators in North America.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) is considering increased incentives and an extended warranty program to combat consumer concerns about a deepening product safety crisis, a source briefed on still-developing plans said on Sunday.

Toyota, reeling from its largest recall in history, is discussing a range of options with its U.S. dealers to support sales, including $1,000 in addition to the current $1,000 in cash incentives to returning Toyota customers, the source told Reuters.

Toyota's current $1,000 in "loyalty" bonus matches incentives offered by General Motors Co (GM.UL), Ford Motor Co (F.N), Chrysler and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) to lure Toyota customers.