Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Nokia Oyj plans a rival to the BlackBerry to exploit the “cloud” of lawsuit.
- President Bush said the US has adapted its tactics in the country and Iraqis are making “amazing progress” toward rebuilding their economy.
- A witness today told the Baghdad trial of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein how he endured at least two years of torture.
- The US dollar is rising again on speculation the Fed next week will raise borrowing costs after recent strong economic reports.
- Crude oil in NY retreated as the government reported an unexpected increase in inventories.
- US Treasuries are falling as dealers prepared to bid on $21 billion of five- and 10-year notes.

Wall Street Journal:
- The University of Pittsburgh has initiated an inquiry into possible scientific misconduct by researchers involved in stem-cell technology.
- Time Warner’s AOL unit and Microsoft are discussing a plan under which AOL would switch from Google to Microsoft’s search engine and a joint venture would be set up to sell online advertising across both AOL and Microsoft’s MSN portal.
- New Orleans officials plan to sell rights to be the “official sponsor” of the next Mardi Gras for $2 million to help defray the cost of street cleaning, police and overtime and other expenses.
- BellSouth President Mark Feidler said yesterday that the company will offer an Internet-based television service in a market test with 1,000 consumers in Atlanta next year.
- San Francisco’s commercial real estate market has bounced back after the slowdown from 2001 to 2003 when only five top-quality downtown office buildings were sold.
- PepsiCo is close to overtaking Coca-Cola’s market capitalization for the first time.

NY Times:
- Actor Mel Gibson, whose movie “Passion of the Christ” was labeled anti-Semitic by some, is working on a non-fiction television miniseries about the Holocaust.

Detroit News:
- Ford Motor executives and the company’s board will discuss a plan to close at least 10 assembly and component plants and cut as many as 30,000 hourly jobs in North America in five years.

AP:
- Al-Qaeda’s deputy chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called for attacks on oil facilities in the Gulf and said the movement’s leader Osama bin Laden is still alive, citing a videotape posted on the Internet.