Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the U.S. economy remains in recession, disputing this week's assessment by a leading arbiter of economic activity that the downturn ended more than a year ago.

"We're still in a recession," Buffett told CNBC television in an interview broadcast on Thursday. "We're not gonna be out of it for a while, but we will get out."

On Monday, the National Bureau of Economic Research said the world's largest economy ended an 18-month recession in June 2009, but cautioned that its assessment did not mean normal activity had resumed.

Buffett said he defines a recession differently from the NBER, saying it ends when real per capita gross domestic product returns to its pre-downturn level.

President Barack Obama said on Monday that economic weakness is "still very real" for the millions of Americans who are out of work, have seen the value of their homes fall, or are mired in debt.

North Dakota's Supreme Court said a bank acted reasonably when it charged a customer almost $12,000 in overdraft fees. Lynette Cavett of Enderlin said the fees were "unconscionable." But a judge ruled the Quality Bank of Fingal disclosed the fees and Cavett paid them for four years without complaining. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling Tuesday.

Court records said Cavett challenged the fees when the bank sued her in November 2008 to foreclose on her hog farming operation and collect a $76,000 debt.

Court records said from January 2004 until June 2008, Cavett was charged 842 overdraft fees. They varied according to the overdraft amount. The bank charged $100 a day for carrying an overdraft greater than $10,000.

Regulators on Friday shut down three Georgia banks and one each in New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin, boosting to 125 the number of U.S. bank failures this year amid the tough economic climate and growing loan defaults.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday took over the Georgia banks: Bank of Ellijay, in Ellijay, with $168.8 million in assets; First Commerce Community Bank of Douglasville, with $248.2 million in assets; and Peoples Bank, based in Winder, with $447.2 million in assets.

The FDIC also seized ISN Bank in Cherry Hill, N.J., with $81.6 million in assets; Bramble Savings Bank of Milford, Ohio, with $47.5 million in assets; and Maritime Savings Bank, based in West Allis, Wis., with assets of $350.5 million.

Community & Southern Bank, based in Carrollton, Ga., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of Bank of Ellijay, First Commerce Community Bank and Peoples Bank. In addition, the FDIC and Community & Southern Bank agreed to share losses on $602.5 million of the three failed banks' loans and other assets.

Georgia, where the meltdown in the real estate market brought an avalanche of soured mortgage loans, has been one of the hardest hit states for bank collapses. The failures of the three banks Friday brought to 14 the number of Georgia banks that have fallen this year. Also high on the list of failure-heavy states are California, Florida and Illinois.

A mixed picture of U.S. banks emerged Tuesday as the industry posted its highest quarterly earnings in nearly three years while the number of troubled institutions grew by more than 50.

Banks overall made $21.6 billion in net income in the April-to-June quarter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. It was the highest quarterly level since 2007 and was led by the largest institutions. The industry lost $4.4 billion in the second quarter of 2009.

But the number of banks on the FDIC's confidential "problem" list increased by 54 in the quarter -- growing to 829 from 775 in the first quarter. Most of the banks that have failed this year have been smaller or regional banks.

The decline in bank lending stemming from the financial crisis showed signs of leveling off, the data show. Total lending declined by $107.5 billion, or 1.4 percent from the first quarter. It posted the steepest drop since World War II -- 7.5 percent -- in 2009 from the year before.

An appeals court upheld federal government auctions of about $33 billion of wireless spectrum, saying it would be "imprudent and unfair" to undo them even though some rules governing them were invalid.

Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia allows Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile unit and others to keep billions of dollars of licenses they had won in the auctions, which took place between 2006 and 2008.

The auction process had been challenged by Council Tree Communications Inc, Bethel Native Corp and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, which contended that Federal Communications Commission rules for the auctions were unfair to smaller service providers.

Stocks fell Thursday after the Labor Department said claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week, renewing concerns about the pace of the economic recovery.

The disappointing news about the jobs market came minutes after news that Intel Corp. was acquiring McAfee Inc. The deal, valued at $7.68 billion, helped to cushion the blow from the jump in unemployment benefit claims.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29 in early morning trading. Broader indexes also fell.

The two announcements are the latest to provide a conflicting picture of the recovery. Economic reports have regularly shown the pace of a rebound is slowing and companies are skittish about adding new workers. That has hurt stocks on some days in recent weeks. It has also stoked fears about the economy falling back into recession.

At the same time, corporate announcements, including earnings reports for the past six weeks, have largely showed companies are doing well. Mergers and acquisitions activity is often considered a positive sign because it means companies are willing to spend money to grow their businesses and are confident that prospects are improving.