Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- ConocoPhillips Chairman Jim Mulva, who said a month ago that acquisitions are “not that attractive,” is paying twice as much for Burlington Resources’ reserves as his peers did in two of the year’s biggest takeovers.
- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts will begin raising a global investment fund next month that may reach $10 billion.
- European donations of food to famine-struck countries dropped by more than 50% over the past decade, the top US aid official said.
- General Dynamics agreed to buy Anteon International for about $2 billion to increase sales of system integration services to defense and intelligence agencies.
- US Treasuries are rising, pushing the 10-year note yield to the lowest this month, on speculation that tame inflation will cause the Fed to pause or stop raising interest rates.
- The US dollar is falling by the most since March 2000 against the yen after Japanese business confidence rose to the highest in a year.

Wall Street Journal:
- Walt Disney will make its first film production in China, a Chinese-language joint-venture project called “The Secret of the Magic Gourd.”
- More than 850 US mutual funds cut the management fees they charge investors last year, up from 239 in 2003, and this year the number will be about 700.
- The Chicago Merc plans to match or top General Atlantic’s $135 million offer for a 10% stake in the NYMEX as early as this week.

NY Times:
- FPL Group is in advanced discussions to buy Constellation Energy Group for more than $11 billion.
- Voter turnout in Tikrit for Iraq’s parliamentary election tomorrow is expected to be high and reflects the change in Sunni attitude toward the political process.
- Three casinos are set to reopen by New Year’s Eve in Biloxi, Mississippi, where nine of 10 floating casinos were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
- Tribune’s LA Times will stop publishing its national edition next week as the company cuts jobs.
- JPMorgan, Citigroup and Consolidated Edison are among companies in NY preparing for a possible transit strike.
- Most of the Chinese public remains unaware that police in their country killed as many as 20 people last week while suppressing a demonstration.

USA Today:
- More Americans feel it was not a mistake to liberate Iraq by a 50%-48% margin.

Finanz und Wirtschaft:
- Starbucks expects to operate at least 30,000 stores in the coming years as it expands in China and studies new markets like India, Brazil and Russia, its CEO said.

AFP:
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust is a myth and Israel should move as far away as Alaska.