Investigators: 787 battery wasn't overcharged The Japanese investigation into a battery that overheated and prompted the emergency landing of a Boeing 787 airliner last week has found no evidence that the battery was overcharged, a top aviation safety official said, casting doubts on one recent explanation put forward by Japanese investigators and clouding the U.S. aircraft maker's efforts to get its planes back in the air. Regulators around the world have grounded the advanced 787, called the Dreamliner, after a battery malfunction and smoke caused pilots aboard an All Nippon Airways flight to make an emergency landing last week, and a similar battery aboard a parked 787 operated by Japan Airlines ignited at Logan Airport in Boston on Jan. 7.

Coming soon to McDonald's: Fish McBites McDonald's used its dollar menu to help lift its profit in the latest quarter. Now the world's biggest hamburger chain is turning to a pipeline of new menu items to boost slumping sales, starting with "Fish McBites." The company is betting that it will be able to beat back intensifying competition and economic pressures with the lineup, which executives said includes new burgers, chicken entrees and breakfast offerings that are performing well in test markets. The Fish McBites, which will come in three sizes and use the same Alaskan pollock used in the Filet-O-Fish, are set to be launched as a limited-time addition in February.

Boise Cascade planning $213 million IPO Boise Cascade, a U.S. producer of wood products used in home construction, plans to raise $213 million in an initial public offering to help repay debt as the nation's housing industry recovers. Boise will sell about 11.8 million shares at a range of $16 to $18 each, the Boise, Idaho-based company said in a regulatory filing. The shares will trade as BCC on the New York Stock Exchange, according to the filing. Boise is controlled by Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, according to the filing. The firm will continue to hold a majority of Boise after the share sale.

Allergan makes deal for migraine treatment Allergan, maker of the wrinkle filler Botox, agreed to buy Map Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at $958 million to gain an experimental inhalable migraine treatment. Allergan will pay Map investors $25 a share, a 60 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price of $15.58 in New York, the companies said. The boards of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close late in the first quarter or in the second quarter. Allergan has targeted sales growth in specialty pharmaceuticals and skin care as it considers divesting its weight-loss unit, including the Lap-Band device, Chief Executive David Pyott has said.

IMF projects another down year in Europe The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts and now projects a second year of contraction in the euro region as progress in battling Europe's debt crisis fails to produce an economic recovery. The world economy will expand 3.5 percent this year, less than the 3.6 percent forecast in October, the Washington-based IMF said in an update of its World Economic Outlook report. It expects the 17-country euro area to shrink 0.2 percent in 2013, instead of growing 0.2 percent as forecast in October, as Spain leads the contraction and Germany slows.

Safeway shares rise on talk of Canadian deal Shares of Safeway Inc., the second-largest U.S. grocery-store chain, advanced the most in more than 15 months after Desjardins Securities Inc. said Metro Inc. may bid for its Canadian stores. Safeway climbed 5.4 percent to $19.85 at the close, the biggest gain since Oct. 4, 2011. The shares sank 14 percent last year. Metro, Canada's third-largest supermarket chain, may seek grocery and pharmacy acquisitions after selling almost half of its stake in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. for $479 million, Keith Howlett, an analyst at Desjardins Securities in Montreal, said in a note.

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