NATION

NATION
CSG is buyingsome Lucent assets
MURRAY HILL, N.J. -- CSG Systems International Inc. is buying the billing and customer care assets of Lucent Technologies for $300 million in cash.
Denver-based CSG also agreed to provide the struggling telecommunications giant with billing and customer care software for its networking solutions.
Lucent spokesman Bill Price said Saturday the Murray Hill-based company has decided to focus on its backbone -- network infrastructure -- instead of back office services such as billing.
About 1,300 Lucent employees will be affected by the transaction.
Gas prices hita 3-year low
CAMARILLO, Calif. -- Gasoline prices fell an average of 3 cents a gallon nationwide during the past two weeks to their lowest level in nearly three years.
But motorists shouldn't expect the trend to last much longer.
Pump prices could bottom out as early as January, as retailers try to halt sliding profits, oil prices continue to rise, and the major oil producing nations implement an expected production cut, said Trilby Lundberg, an industry analyst, in a report issued Sunday.
Prices have fallen for the past 15 weeks, tumbling a total of 44.61 cents a gallon since Sept. 7, when the national average weighted price for all three grades was $1.56 a gallon. On Dec. 21 the weighted average was $1.12, according to the national Lundberg Survey.
Associated Press