Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slumped to an eight-year low on concern that the second phase of the government’s plan to cut its shareholdings will result in a flood of poor-quality stock.
- US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez called on China to crack down harder on copyright piracy and open its markets further to US products or risk a protectionist backlash that would hurt both economies.
- Sun Microsystems agreed to buy Storage Technology for $4.1 billion.
- US retailer from Target to Neiman Marcus posted better-than-expected sales gains in May as bigger paychecks overcame the effect of cold weather on spending.
- Motorola had its credit rating raised by Moody’s for the first time in 17 years, reflecting greater-than-expected gains in sales and profit.
- The US dollar fell the most in six weeks against the euro as strategists said a three-week decline in US Treasury yields made US debt less attractive to international investors.

Wall Street Journal:
- A European Union antitrust investigation into US-based Johnson & Johnson’s proposed $25.4 billion takeover of Guidant is focused on whether the merger would damage smaller competitors and keep prices high for cardiovascular devices.
- China’s government is trying to control the spread of Christianity that has increased the number of Catholics and Protestants to 45 million from six million 25 years ago.
- SBC Communications and other providers are regaining customers who want landline service because of lower pricing and better transmission than on cell phones.
- US homeowners are increasingly finding that installing solar-powered electricity generators can pay off, as states including California, NY and Texas now offer loans, rebates and other programs.
- The link between Viagra and vision defects is far from certain, citing ophthalmologists.
- Orlando, Florida, travelers may speed through airport security as early as next month with the help of a $79.95 identity card.
- Psychemedics Corp., PharmChem’s Phamatech and Q3 Innovations may benefit from increasing demand for their in-home drug-testing kits as parents watch for drug use in their children.
- Merck will begin television, radio and print advertisements this week in the first corporate brand campaign in the drugmaker’s 144-year history.
Cnet Networks is offering plot summaries, photographs and video clips of television shows from the 1940s to the present on a Web site called TV.com.

NY Times:
- The rejection of the European Union’s proposed constitution by French and Dutch voters this week reflected growing dissatisfaction with the continent’s leaders.
- Yahoo! plans to revive the live concert television show “PepsiSmash” on its Internet site through a collection of short video segments available on demand.
- Richard Braddock, the former president of Citicorp and former chairman of Priceline.com, has been named chairman of FreshDirect, a NY-based Internet grocer, signaling a possible move toward an IPO.

Boston Globe:
- Biogen Idec has told the FDA that a fourth patient may have developed a rare neurological disorder after being treated with the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.

Washington Post:
- A US rule that took effect yesterday requires all companies and individuals to destroy private consumer information obtained from credit bureaus and other information providers.

San Francisco Chronicle:
- A California bill aimed at permitting doctor-assisted suicide was rescued from likely defeat in the Sate Assembly when the authors used a parliamentary move to shift the bill to the Senate.

AP:
- South Korean cloning science specialist Hwang Woo Suk said he wants to open a stem-cell bank this year to help speed the search to grow replacement tissue.

AFP:
- Boeing may book more aircraft orders this year than Airbus SAS.

Financial Times:
- Western observers are underestimating problems in the Chinese economy, even as Chinese entrepreneurs step up their criticisms of internal barriers to doing business in the country, said Yasheng Huang, an associate professor in the MIT’s Sloan School.

Moscow Times:
- Starbucks opened its first store in Moscow amid a trademark dispute with an eponymous Russian company.

Globe and Mail:
- Lowe’s is preparing to expand into Canada.
- E*Trade Financial may revive merger discussions with TD Waterhouse after Ameritrade Holding said it’s in talks to buy Waterhouse after Ameritrade Holding said it’s in talks to buy Waterhouse’s US assets.