The news at a glance

Employment: A hint of a rebound

The national unemployment rate fell in December to 9.4 percent, from 9.8 percent in November, as employers added 103,000 jobs, said Jane Von Bergen in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Job creation rose sharply from November, when payrolls expanded by a “paltry” 71,000 jobs. But the drop in the unemployment rate resulted largely from the retreat of 1.3 million people who dropped out of the labor force because they were “discouraged about their employment prospects.” To keep pace with the growth in the working-age population and make up for the jobs lost in the recession, “the nation’s payrolls would have to expand by 500,000 a month every month for the next three years.”

The jobless rate has remained above 9 percent for a record 20 consecutive months, said Christopher Rugaber in the Associated Press. The stubbornly high rate prompted a warning from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said continued joblessness could throttle the recovery. Despite taking a generally more optimistic tone than in prior months, Bernanke last week told the Senate Banking Committee that it might take four or five years for unemployment to return to “a historically normal rate of around 6 percent.”

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Energy: Spill closes Alaska oil pipeline

Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., a consortium of oil companies, has shut down its trans-Alaska oil pipeline after workers discovered a leak at a pumping station, said Christopher Eshleman in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. But the leak fell short of “the type of spill that might draw major environmental concern.” Meanwhile, an estimated

2.5 million barrels of Alaskan oil is currently in storage, easing supply concerns, but a prolonged shutdown could cause a spike in oil prices and crimp Alaska’s budget. Oil taxes and royalties account for four fifths of the state’s revenue.

Whistle-blowers: Former Toyota lawyer sanctioned

An arbitrator in California has awarded Toyota $2.6 million in a dispute with a former in-house lawyer who leaked confidential corporate documents to the press and plaintiffs’ lawyers, said Christine Tierney in The Detroit News. Dimitrios Biller, who handled car-rollover cases for Toyota from 2003 to 2007, was ordered to pay $2.5 million for 10 violations of disclosure rules, plus an additional $100,000 in punitive damages. Arbitrator Gary Taylor, a retired judge, rejected Biller’s claim to be a whistle-blower, saying he owed his client, Toyota, a duty of confidentiality.

Mergers: Largest U.S. power company spawned

Duke Energy has agreed to buy Progress Energy for $13.7 billion, creating a company that, with 7 million customers in six states, will surpass Southern Co. as the largest U.S. power company, said Jessica Resnick-Ault in Bloomberg.com. Power-company mergers in the U.S. have accelerated in recent years, as utilities add customers to spread the cost of new plants or more-stringent regulations over a wider base. The merger requires the approval of shareholders and state and federal regulators.

Chemicals: DuPont’s $6.3 billion food and energy play

DuPont this week said it would buy Danisco, a Danish maker of specialized food ingredients, for $6.3 billion, said Michael de la Merced in NYTimes.com. Danisco makes cultures and sweeteners used in a variety of food products, and also sells enzymes for food and industrial uses. DuPont and Danisco are already partners in a joint venture “focused on cellulosic ethanol,” an alternative energy source. DuPont is positioning itself to profit from rising food demand from the developing world and increased global demand for fossil-fuel substitutes.