Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Office vacancies in US cities dropped to a four-year low of 12.5% in the fourth quarter as companies added space for workers they’re hiring, real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield said.
- France will maintain and develop its nuclear forces to counter states that might resort “to terrorist means” by using weapons of mass destruction, President Chirac said.
- Lehman Brothers Holdings(LEH) increased its annual dividend by 20% and said it may buy back as much as a fifth of its own shares this year.
- A man identified as al-Qaeda lead Osama Bin Laden warned of more attacks against the US, in an audiotape aired today on al-Jazeera television.
- US Treasures are falling as a government report showed new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest since April 2000, a sign job creation may accelerate.
- Manufacturing in the Philly area expanded less than economists forecast this month amid elevated energy costs and concerns about consumer spending.

CNBC:
- Nasdaq Stock Market(NDAQ) has held discussions to purchase the London Stock Exchange.

Wall Street Journal:
- Taiwan’s Q-ware Systems is spending $93 million to set up the world’s first citywide wireless Internet network in Taipei and give the city a competitive edge in communications.
- Walt Disney(DIS) is talking seriously to Pixar Animation(PIXR) studios about an acquisition for slightly more than the company’s current $6.7 billion market value.
- Amazon.com(AMZN) said it will start broadcasting a weekly show on the Web featuring left-wing comedian Bill Maher.

NY Times:
- RJ Reynolds Tobacco will today open a new upscale, luxury tobacco lounge in Chicago, where a smoking ban took effect this week.
- Officials from President Bill Clinton’s administration hampered an investigation into allegations that former US Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros evaded income tax.
- Cingular Wireless’s new wireless broadband service, known as BroadbandConnect, is fast and reliable, Walter Mossberg wrote.
- The NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority received four bids for free installation of a cellular network in underground subway stations.

USA Today:
- A US missile strike in Pakistan last week may have killed at least three top al-Qaeda operatives, including an explosives expert on America’s “Most Wanted” list and a relative of second-in-command al-Zawahiri.

NY Post:
- Starbucks Corp.(SBUX) plans to give away $10 gift cards to people who register on Yahoo’s(YHOO) Internet dating service to help generate business before Valentine’s Day.

al-Hayat:
- The US and Oman will today sign a free trade agreement that covers the exchange of goods and services.