A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, shattering buildings and bridges, killing at least 78 people and setting off a tsunami that threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean — roughly a quarter of the globe.

President Barack Obama said Saturday he is ready to compromise with Republicans on health care if they are serious about it, but that an overhaul must go forward. “Let’s get this done,” he said. loadposition in-article Obama’s comments in his weekly Internet and radio address, two days after an all-day bipartisan summit across from the White House, were the latest sign that Democrats are getting set to try to pass health care legislation without any Republicans on board. Success will require colossal efforts on the part of Obama and Democratic leaders to round up votes after a year of corrosive debate and a Senate special-election upset that threw the overhaul effort into limbo last month. But Obama and the Democrats reject the piecemeal approach sought by Republicans and have no intention of scrapping their 10-year, $1 trillion bill and starting over, as the GOP demands. “I…

The recovery is losing steam. The U.S. economy is now likely expanding at just half the brisk 5.9 percent pace at which the government on Friday estimated it grew last quarter. Business spending will make up for some of a slowdown in consumer spending — but not likely enough to reduce the jobless rate much. loadposition in-article All that adds up to a long slog ahead for an economy trying to get back on firm footing after the worst recession since the 1930s. The economy continues to grow. But it won’t feel like much of a recovery this year amid high unemployment, record-high home foreclosures and tight credit. Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, called the year-end growth spurt “a one-hit wonder.” In a fresh reading on the nation’s economic standing, the Commerce Department bumped up its growth estimate for the final quarter …

Warren Buffett ’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said fourth-quarter profit jumped on the recovery of derivative bets tied to the world’s stock markets. Net income rose to $3.06 billion, or $1,969 a share, from $117 million, or $76, in the same period a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said today in its annual report . loadposition in-article The profit increase, Berkshire’s third straight, helps rebuild a cash pile that diminished since 2007 as Buffett invested in financial firms bruised by the recession. Companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that turned to Buffett for funding are now paying Berkshire interest of 10 percent or more. The shopping spree culminated with the November agreement to buy railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $27 billion. “We’ve put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years,” Buffett said in his annual letter to shareholders today. “It’s been…