BRIEFCASE.

Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Settlement OK'd in Sony lawsuits

NEW YORK -- A judge approved a settlement of lawsuits against the world's second-largest music label that gives millions of consumers free song downloads to compensate them for flawed anti-piracy software on compact discs.

With the settlement, the label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, will stop manufacturing CD software that can leave computers vulnerable to hackers.

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald on Monday gave the final approval at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan. The deal was tentatively approved in January.

The settlement pertained to lawsuits alleging that the vulnerabilities were created by MediaMax software or XCP software.

T-bill rates drop to 3-week low

WASHINGTON -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction to the lowest levels in three weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $15 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.705 percent, down from 4.740 percent last week. An additional $14 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.810 percent, down from 4.820 percent last week.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, the most popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, edged down to 4.98 percent last week from 5.01 percent the previous week.

Google to handle online video ads

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. will begin distributing online video ads for the first time later this week, continuing the Internet search engine leader's effort to diversify beyond the static written messages that generate most of its profits.

The video expansion, announced late Monday, will affect thousands of Web sites that rely on Google to post ads related to the surrounding material on a page. For instance, a news story about housing might prompt Google to display an ad for real estate agents.

Google isn't allowing the video ads to appear on its own Web site -- a heavily trafficked destination that produced 58 percent of its $2.25 billion in revenue during the first three months of this year.

Lowe's profit up, but stock slides

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Lowe's Cos., the nation's second-largest home-improvement chain, said Monday that its first-quarter profit rose 44 percent as the company continued to expand offerings.

The results beat Wall Street estimates but its shares tumbled more than 4 percent as it slightly reduced its guidance for revenue and earnings in the second quarter. Chairman and CEO Robert Niblock said the price decline reflected confusion over a calendar shift that boosted the latest revenue totals.

In a conference call with analysts, Niblock said the company is gaining market share in appliance sales and continues to expand sales of installed products, special orders and commercial sales.

The company also predicts that the real-estate bubble that prompted so much worry in 2005 is going to resolve in a soft landing. Home sales and turnover are essential to retail sales at Lowe's and competitors like Home Depot Inc.

Wal-Mart selling S. Korean stores

SEOUL, South Korea -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Monday that it was withdrawing from the highly competitive South Korean retail market, agreeing to sell its 16 stores to the country's top discount chain.

The world's largest retailer said Shinsegae Co. would buy Wal-Mart Korea for 825 billion won ($882 million), pending approval by South Korean regulators. Wal-Mart said the decision to withdraw was part of its global strategy.

Wal-Mart Korea, established in 1998, is a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of the U.S. retailer.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart's performance in South Korea has been lackluster, with Wal-Mart Korea ranked at the bottom among five major discount store operators.

Wal-Mart had sales in 2005 in South Korea of about 750 billion won ($787 million), company spokesman Beth Keck said. The company had a loss of 9.9 billion won ($10 million) last year, according to figures released at a press conference in Seoul.