Business news in brief

Lincoln National Corp.

, a life insurer and asset manager in Radnor, said it plans to buy an Indiana savings and loan that has $7.28 million in assets. The purchase of

Newton County Loan & Savings

is part of Lincoln's effort to receive federal money under the Treasury Department's program to boost the capital base of the financial industry by buying preferred shares. To take advantage of that program, Lincoln applied last week with the Office of Thrift Supervision to become a savings-and-loan holding company.

- Harold Brubaker

Liberty Property Trust

said it would cut its dividend 24 percent to boost its available cash. Reducing the annualized dividend to $1.90 a share from $2.50 should enhance free cash flow by about $60 million a year, the Malvern real estate developer said in a statement. The money will be used mostly to reduce outstanding debt, it said.

- Roslyn Rudolph

A new coalition in Southeastern Pennsylvania will receive $150,000 a year for three years to move low-wage employees into higher-paying jobs. The money is coming from the

National Fund for Workforce Solutions

, a nonprofit effort for low-income individuals. The new coalition, the

Job Opportunity Investment Network

, comprises business, academic, government and workforce representatives. The total $450,000, in combination with other public and private money to total $2.25 million, will be given to programs that retrain low-wage workers.

- Roslyn Rudolph

Yahoo

will replace founder Jerry Yang as CEO as soon as a successor is found. The move announced yesterday will end Yang's rocky 17-month reign running the Internet company he started 14 years ago. Many Yahoo shareholders have been upset with Yang since he refused to sell the Sunnyvale-based company to

Microsoft Corp.

for $47.5 billion six months ago. Once his replacement is hired, Yang will revert to his former role of "Chief Yahoo." He also will remain on the company's board.

- AP

New York Attorney General

Andrew Cuomo

said

Citigroup

executives should forgo their bonuses this year after the company announced massive layoffs. Cuomo added that other companies should consider doing the same, including American International Group, which has received billions of federal bailout dollars. Goldman Sachs Group announced Sunday that its top executives won't get bonuses this year.

- AP

Recession is back in

Japan

after a seven-year hiatus, and fingers this time are pointing outside the country as the latest global boom quickly deteriorates into bust. Government data yesterday showed that the economy contracted at an annual pace of 0.4 percent in the July-September period after falling an annualized 3.7 percent in the second quarter. Previous downturns, including the so-called lost decade of the 1990s, were largely self-inflicted, exacerbated by ineffective fiscal and monetary policies. But now the fortunes of the world's second-largest economy rise and fall on the habits of consumers around the world.

- AP

The government says 3,800 banks will have until early December to apply for a share of the $700 billion financial system rescue program. The

Treasury Department

says a category of privately held banks will have until Dec. 8 to apply for the government to purchase shares of their stock as a way to bolster their balance sheets. The deadline for larger publicly traded banks was Nov. 14.

- AP

Las Vegas Sands Corp.

said that doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern have been removed after the completion of an offering of common stock, preferred stock and warrants provided about $2.1 billion of additional capital. The Las Vegas-based casino operator's independent accountants, PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P., said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the actions taken Friday have helped to erase worries about the company's ability to continue to operate.

- AP

The

Internal Revenue Service

warned of a scam in which people receive e-mail that appears to be from the IRS and tells recipients to respond to get their 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund. The IRS said in a statement that: The IRS never sends unsolicited e-mail about your taxes; if you get a scam e-mail, you should not access any links or attachments; and if you have filed a 2007 federal tax return with the IRS, you don't need to do anything else to get a stimulus payment. People who have accessed links or attachments should scan for viruses and spyware, and be alert for suspicious activity on financial accounts, the IRS said.

- Rhonda Dickey

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in yesterday's auction to the lowest levels on record. The

Treasury Department

auctioned $27 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.150 percent, down from 0.355 percent last week. Another $27 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.840 percent, down from 0.990 percent last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,996.21 while a six-month bill sold for $9,957.53.

- AP

The

Federal Reserve

said yesterday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages,

fell to 1.12 percent last week from 1.24 percent the previous week.

- AP

Target Corp.

said third-quarter profit fell less than analysts estimated. Net income dropped 24 percent to $369 million, or 49 cents a share, in the quarter ended Nov. 1 from $483 million, or 56 cents, a year earlier, Target said in a statement. That beat 20 analysts' average estimate by 1 cent. Target also suspended its share-buyback program

. - Bloomberg News