The Illinois Supreme Court has refused to review a lower court decision in favor of Chicago's acquisition of a cemetery that's in the path of a planned runway in the $15 billion O'Hare International Airport Modernization Program.

Spokesman Joseph Tybor says the court's decision means the appellate court decision stands.

Earlier this month, Chicago Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino said the city planned to resume unearthing bodies at the cemetery as soon as the Supreme Court made a decision in its favor.

Plans call for the 900 buried at St. Johannes Cemetery in Bensenville to be relocated.

Attorney Joseph Karaganis, who represents cemetery owner St. John's United Church of Christ, says Wednesday's decision is technically "not the end of the line" for the issue, but is pretty close to it.

Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.

The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.

Foster's assessment came a day after Obama in his State of the Union message told lawmakers that he's open to improvements in the law, but unwilling to rehash the health care debate of the past two years. Republicans want to repeal the landmark legislation that provides coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured, but lack the votes.

Foster was asked by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., for a simple true or false response on two of the main assertions made by supporters of the law: that it will bring down unsustainable medical costs and will let people keep their current health insurance if they like it.

A U.S. District Court judge said SAP AG owes Oracle Corp. interest on the $1.3 billion it has been ordered to pay Oracle for copyright infringement, Bloomberg reports.

Walldorf, Germany-based SAP said the interest works out to about $16.5 million according to the calculation ordered by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland.

Oracle, which has its headquarters in Redwood City, says it is owed $211.7 million in interest.

A jury in November ruled that SAP should pay Oracle $1.3 billion for allowing a now-defunct subsidiary to steal Oracle-owned software in an effort to lure Oracle customers away.

The verdict was the largest jury award of 2010, the largest ever for copyright infringement and the 23rd largest of all time for any jury verdict, according to Bloomberg data.

A $450 million class action is being launched on behalf of National Australia Bank shareholders who lost money during the global financial crisis because of NAB's exposure to toxic debt.

Legal firm Maurice Blackburn will lodge the claim in a Victorian court tomorrow.

The firm says NAB had bought $1.2 billion in collateralised debt obligations (CDO) in 2006 which had a heavy exposure to the US sub-prime housing market.

It will allege that between early January and late July that year, NAB failed to properly disclose to shareholders all material information relating to its CDO exposure.

Black farmers and American Indians who say the United States discriminated against them and took their money for decades are a step closer to winning long-awaited government settlements.

Under legislation passed by the Senate on Friday, black farmers who claim discrimination at the hands of the Agriculture Department would receive almost $1.2 billion. American Indians who say they were swindled out of royalties by the Interior Department would split $3.4 billion. Both cases have languished for more than a decade, and plaintiffs say beneficiaries are dying off.

"The Senate finally did the right thing," said John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association. "They stepped up and told the world civil rights still matter in America."

The legislation was approved in the Senate by voice vote Friday and sent to the House. The money had been held up for months in the chamber as Democrats and Republicans squabbled over how to pay for it.

President Barack Obama praised the Senate for finally passing the bill and urged the House to move forward on it. He said his administration is also working to resolve separate lawsuits filed against the department by Hispanic and female farmers.