Also

* Royal Dutch/Shell Group cut oil and gas reserves for the fourth time, seeking to conclude revisions that led to the ouster of senior executives and the loss of its top credit rating.

* Westcorp Inc., which operates bank branches in Southern California, agreed to buy the 16% of auto loan maker WFS Financial Inc. it doesn’t already own for about $344.6 million in stock.

* Alcoa Fastening Systems will hire 250 new people at its Los Angeles area plants to meet the demand for nuts, bolts and other fasteners used in Airbus’ new A380 “superjumbo” airliner, Alcoa said.

* Troubled retailer Spiegel Inc. said it was selling its 99-year-old catalog business to Pangea Holdings Ltd., the private investment firm that is buying its Newport News unit. The acquisition price is about $31 million, including the assumption of certain liabilities.

* VeriSign Inc., the main operator of the Internet’s address database, said it had agreed to buy Jamba, a Berlin developer of ring tones for cellphones, for $273 million in cash and stock.

* DirecTV Group Inc., the El Segundo-based owner of the nation’s largest satellite TV service, will open a call center in Tulsa, Okla., employing 1,300 workers.