Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Nations such as Germany, Japan and India should unite with the US in Iraq by providing services such as border patrols or security training because the country has become central to preventing future terrorist attacks, Abraham Sofaer, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, said.
- ASML Holding NV, Europe’s largest maker of equipment used to make semiconductors, said second-quarter profit increased 72% as it sold more expensive machines used to make chips for mobile phones and consumer electronics.
- Tropical Storm Emily today moved toward the Windward Islands in the Caribbean Sea with maximum sustained winds of almost 60 mph and may intensify to hurricane strength.
- The US dollar rose against the euro, snapping a six-day losing streak, after a government report showed the US trade deficit in May unexpectedly narrowed.
- Former WorldCom Chairman Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison for orchestrating the largest accounting fraud in US history, an $11 billion scheme that drove his company into bankruptcy.
- Crude oil is falling after a US government report showed stockpiles of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose more than analysts predicted.
- The Bush administration cut its estimate for this year’s budget deficit to $333 billion form a forecast of $427 billion in February because job and income growth is boosting tax receipts faster than expected.

Wall Street Journal:
- The US economy will grow 3.4% this year, inflation will remain low, and employment will increase at its current rate, citing a forecast by Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan’s likely replacement.

NY Times:
- Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell is joining Kleiner Perkins Caufield, the venture capital firm that financed Amazon.com, as a part-time partner.
- Publicly financed and privately run charter schools have spread across the US, with nearly 1 million students in 40 states enrolled in 3,300 schools.

NY Post:
- Sirius Satellite Radio may bid for Walt Disney’s radio station and network unit.

Star Ledger:
- New Jersey towns in districts controlled by Democrats received 93% of the state’s Homeland Security equipment grants over the past three years.

Reuters:
- Global oil demand in 2005 is proving slower than expected because of lower-than-forecast demand growth rates in China and the US, the International Energy Agency said.

Financial Times Deutschland:
- Hedge funds may adopt a set of rules for self-regulation, pre-empting possible tighter controls by governments concerned at their investment practices, citing the AIMA fund association.