by Daniel Costello

General Motors announced today that it will be shutting down its Saab brand, after several efforts to sell the Swedish carmaker could not be completed.

GM had been in talks with Dutch automaker Spyker Cars but "during due diligence, certain issues arose that both parties believe could not be resolved."

GM had earlier tried to sell Saab to another sports car maker, Koenigsegg Group. GM said it's now going to wind down the operations.

 

Search giant Google is reportedly interested in pushing harder into the local advertising market by buying Yelp, the review site for local businesses, according to the New York Times.

The companies have discussed a price and are negotiating the details, but have not yet signed an agreement, the paper reported Friday.

And the number of U.S. households that had their power turned off for nonpayment rose 5% this year, despite a doubling of federal emergency-bill assistance and lower utility rates in many parts of the country.

According to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, 4.3 million U.S. households were disconnected for nonpayment in fiscal year 2009, as federal assistance more than doubled to $5.1 billion.