Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Tyco International’s(TYC) board will likely vote to split into three companies today, dismantling the conglomerate built by jailed former CEO Kozlowski.
- Boston Scientific(BSX) may sweeten its buyout offer for Guidant(GDT) after Johnson & Johnson added more cash to its bid for the troubled cardiac-device maker.
- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran’s decision to resume research on the nuclear fuel cycle shows “dangerous defiance of the international community.”
- President Bush said the federal government has “a major role to play” in rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, and pledged to help rebuild New Orleans levees damaged by the storm.
- Natural gas prices are falling below $9, down 44% in almost a month, after the EIA reported inventories are approaching record levels for this time of the year.

Wall Street Journal:
- Viisage Technology(VISGD), a maker of identification software, plans to buy technology company Identix(IDNX) in a deal valued at about $770 million in stock.
- The FDA may release new guidelines for the early stages of drug development as early as today.
- A court may order the shutdown next month of Research In Motion’s(RIMM) BlackBerry e-mail, prompting companies that use the device to consider alternative wireless e-mail services.
- Univ. of Texas scientists are firing noise into the flue ducts of coal-fired power plants, to try to bond smaller soot particles to larger ones and make cleaning easier.
- Starbucks(SBUX) is diversifying into movies and DVDs, citing Chairman Schultz.
- Vonage Holdings and Skype Technologies SA may gain more customers as a new line of Internet calling phones goes on sale.

AP:
- Russia, China, the US and the EU will send diplomats to London next week for consultations about Iran’s nuclear plans.

NY Times:
- Goldman Sachs(GS) pulled out of an IPO by Thomas Weisel Partners, an investment bank, leaving Keefe, Bruyette & Woods as the sole underwriter.
- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia(MSO) plans to begin publishing a magazine this year geared toward young women to be called Blueprint.
- Visa International and MasterCard International have been in talks since last year about setting credit-card data security standards that may be implemented by the middle of this year.

NY Post:
- The SEC has begun an informal investigation into allegations of inflated payments from vendors to Home Depot(HD).

Chicago Tribune:
- Apple Computer(AAPL) made four federal trademark filings last week that could be a sign the company is planning to create its own mobile phone business.

NY Daily News:
- Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless(VZ) are part of a group of US wireless service providers planning to bid on a contract to build and operate a network in 277 NYC subway stations.

AFP:
- At least 354 people died during a stampede at the Hajh pilgrimage in Mecca, citing the Saudi Arabian health minister.

LA Times:
- Demand for California wines dropped as consumers turned to vintages from Italy and Australia and grew frustrated with the high price charged by restaurants.