Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Israeli Prime Minister Sharon was in “critical but stable” condition after a brain scan today following surgery showed “significant” improvement, the hospital said.
- A federal appeals court upheld the obstruction-of-justice conviction of Martha Stewart, the homemaking entrepreneur who went to jail for lying to federal authorities probing her stock sale.
- Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO) CEO Semel today will outline a plan to create software that lets consumers access the company’s services from televisions and cell phones to lure users to spend more time on its Web sites.
- Intel(INTC) wants to surf a “wave of creativity” into consumer electronics.
- The unemployment rate in the dozen nations sharing the euro remained at 8.3% in November, 66% higher than that of the United States.
- Best Buy(BBY), the No. 1 US consumer electronics company, said December same-store sales rose 5.8%, while Circuit City(CC) said sales rose 11%.
- EMC Corp.(EMC), the world’s biggest maker of data-storage computers and programs, said fourth-quarter sales rose more than it had predicted.
- Pfizer Inc.(PFE) said it is adding radio-frequency identification tags to all US shipments of its impotence drug Viagra as an anti-counterfeiting measure.
- Crude oil is climbing more than a dollar in NY, heading for a second straight weekly gain, on fears of destabilization of the Middle East.

Wall Street Journal:
- Citigroup(C), HJ Heinz(HNZ) and Pfizer(PFE) are among US stocks that currently have a higher after-tax dividend yield than 10-year US Treasury bonds, a trend that makes such stocks appealing to bond investors.
- Gap Inc.(GPS) is redesigning its stores to make them friendlier and more approachable, including brown leather couches and reading material in a style that evokes Starbucks(SBUX) coffee outlets.
- BellSouth Corp.(BLS), AT&T Inc.(T) and other telephone companies want to charge fees to guarantee fast Internet access for music, movies and other electronically delivered services.
- The US office market vacancy rate improved for the seventh straight quarter in the last period of 2005, as office markets in NY and parts of California benefited from job growth.
- Actively managed US stock mutual funds beat market indexes in five out of nine categories defined by Morningstar in 2005.

NY Post:
- Burlington Coat Factory(BCF) may be sold by month’s end to a private equity firm after posting better-than-expected sales results.

NY Times:
- US charities stand to benefit from the largesse of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud, as both Democrats and Republicans donate tens of thousands of dollars they received in political contributions from him.

Washington Post:
- The US and its European allies have enough votes to bring Iran before the UN Security Council for possible censure over its nuclear program, citing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

AP:
- Boston Scientific(BSX) may reach an agreement as soon as next week to acquire cardiac device maker Guidant, citing Boston Scientific spokesman Paul Donovan.
- NYC recorded its lowest death rate ever in 2004 due in part to a 14% drop in fatal heart attacks, citing the health dept.
- A campaign fund-raising group for US Senator Hillary Clinton has agreed to a $35,000 fine for underreporting hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on a Hollywood fund-raiser in 2000.

Reuters:
- EchoStar Communications’(DISH) CEO Ergen said on Thursday he does not expect to reach a settlement with TiVo(TIVO) before their legal battle over patent rights reaches the courts.

Detroit News:
- GM(GM) plans to cut the retail price of its vehicles to attract buyers and rely less on rebates and other promotions.

Rzeczpospolita:
- The Polish government will keep troops in Iraq into 2007.

Euro am Sonntag:
- Samsung Electronics, whose shares are traded in Seoul, London and Luxembourg, plans to have the stock listed in the US if conditions are “favorable.”

AFP:
- Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called on President Bush to admit defeat in Iraq, and said withdrawal of American troops from the Middle Eastern nation would be a victory for Islam.