Global business

Exxon Mobil, which last month sealed an agreement with Rosneft of Russia to develop assets in the Black Sea, made a profit of $30.5 billion in 2010, up by 57 percent from 2009, on revenue of $383.2 billion.

Nippon Steel, Japan's biggest steelmaker, and Sumitomo Metals, a smaller rival, said they were planning to merge next year. The pair already work together; a merger would make them the world's second-largest steel firm, far behind ArcelorMittal.

Alpha Natural Resources and Massey Energy announced a merger in an $8.5 billion deal that creates the world's third-biggest supplier of metallurgical coal to steelmakers.

Trading was poised to restart in Europe's carbon market after a two-week shutdown prompted by hackers stealing electronic carbon permits from accounts in the Czech Republic and elsewhere.

Chrysler reported a loss of $652 million for 2010, its first full year of operations since leaving bankruptcy protection and forming a partnership with Fiat. The carmaker would have made a profit in the fourth quarter but for interest it paid on government loans; it insists it is on the road to profitability this year. Earlier, Ford posted net profit of $6.6 billion for 2010, its biggest in 11 years.

Google's Android operating system was the most popular platform for smart phones at the end of 2010, according to a report from Canalys, a tech consultancy. Based on shipments, Android was used in 33 percent of smart phones, vaulting it ahead of Nokia's Symbian (31 percent), Apple's iOS (16 percent) and the BlackBerry platform (15 percent). Apple will probably get a boost this year from Verizon Wireless' new iPhone service in America.

Pfizer's decision to close its leading research center in Britain clouded the future for British commercial science. The center, in Kent, employs 2,400 people and had developed some of Pfizer's best-known drugs, including Viagra. With demand for some of its products expected to decline in the face of stiff competition from generic rivals, Pfizer is trimming its research and development worldwide.

Concerns that the instability in Egypt could affect shipping in the Suez Canal and disrupt oil supplies from the Middle East caused oil prices to rise further, with Brent crude topping $100 a barrel in London for the first time since 2008. Oil traded at a lower price on the New York Mercantile Exchange, partly because of a buildup in oil inventories at a big storage facility in Cushing, Okla.

Official results of a referendum last month in South Sudan put those voting to secede from the rest of Sudan at nearly 99 percent. The new country is expected to come into formal existence on July 9.

Spain's government concluded a social pact with employers and unions that includes changes in wage bargaining and a rise in the pension age to 67 by 2027. The euro crisis has increased the pressure on Spain to make reforms.

Assets worth $5.7 million belonging to Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, a former dictator of Haiti, were frozen after Switzerland implemented a new law making it easier to confiscate the wealth of foreign politicians. Duvalier returned to his country last month after 25 years in exile and faces criminal charges there.