Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- General Motors(GM) is “moving pretty fast” with its plan to sell a controlling stake in its finance unit.
- Vice President Cheney was taken to the George Washington Hospital early today experiencing shortness of breath.
- Israeli Prime Minister Sharon began breathing without a ventilator as doctors brought him out of a coma that was medically induced after he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage on Jan.4.
- General Motors(GM) will cut 2006 losses “significantly,” said CEO Rick Wagoner.
- Texas Instruments(TXN) agreed to sell its sensors and controls business to Bain Capital LLC for $3 billion as the company focuses on the faster-growing handset market.
- Crude oil is falling from a three-month high on speculation that heating-fuel consumption will plunge as higher-than-normal temperatures linger over the US.

Wall Street Journal:
- Bank of America(BAC) and PNC Financial Services(PNC) have received approval from US regulators to develop large hotel and office properties, a ruling that could let banks become more active investors in commercial real estate.
- Toyota Motor(TM) may build an engine plant in Michigan, possibly to help ward off criticism over its growing profit in the US.
- Playing songs backward in the US has begun to attract a cult following as new electronic software and Internet sites allow music lovers to hear supposed hidden messages in the lyrics.
- The discovery of statins used to lower cholesterol has sparked a return to research for drugs derived from plants and other natural organisms.
- Brazil’s offshore oil discoveries, coupled with rising production of ethanol, may make the South American nation energy-independent this year.
- Technology companies may be poised for a comeback in the number of IPOs in the US this year, as young companies gain experience.
- Clear Channel Communications(CCU) will allow people to get free music videos from its radio-station Web site, starting today, if they watch a 15-second ad.
- Starwood Hotels(HOT) and Yahoo Inc.(YHOO) said they will begin testing Yahoo Internet lounges in two Sheraton hotels today.
- Tyco’s(TYC) board meets this week to approve a plan that could break up the company, undoing the $60 billion business built up by former CEO Kozlowski.

Chronicle of Higher Education:
- State spending for higher education in the US rose 5.3% to $66.6 billion in the 2005-06 school year, the fastest rate in five years.

NY Times:
- Duke Energy(DUK) is near an agreement to sell its North American power-generation business to LS Power Group, an investment firm, for $1.5 billion.
- About 12.5% of New Yorkers have diabetes, a proportion that exceeds that in the US as a whole by almost a third.

Advertising Age:
- The NFL, citing risqué marketing, won’t renew its $18 million sponsorship agreement with the marketers of Levitra and is distancing itself from other drugs that treat male impotence.