Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights leader the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. who took up his fight for racial equality after his assassination, has died at the age of 78.
- Iran won’t halt oil exports because of the dispute over its nuclear program, which may be referred to the UN for sanctions, the country’s oil minister said.
- “Brokeback Mountain” led Academy Award nominations with eight nods, including best picture and best director.

Wall Street Journal:
- Huntsman Corp.(HUN), the fourth largest US chemical maker, is in talks to be acquired by an unidentified buyer.
- American Electric Power(AEP) will build a $3 billion electricity line from West Virginia to New Jersey, the first big venture to use a new US law that promotes the building of projects needed to alleviate a congested power grid.
- Liberty Media(L) and EchoStar Communications(DIS) are investing in a company with a product that lets people watch television on their computers while away from home.
- Shares of Diebold(DBD) have dropped 30% in 12 months, a period that’s seen the departure of the CEO, the finance chief and the COO, but investors who stick with the company could reap rewards.
- General Motors(GM), Anheuser-Busch(AB) and Nintendo are developing ways to attach ads to video files downloaded from the Internet.

NY Times:
- Many US states have passed laws that inch toward regulation of the drug industry.
- The number of US and other foreign troops in Iraq probably will drop to below 100,000 by the end of the year and a majority could be out in two years.

USA Today:
- Indian tribes, which can make unlimited political contributions, get that status through treaties negotiated with the US in the 1700s.
- FEMA may provide displaced New Orleans residents free apartments for as long as 18 months while they recover from last year’s hurricane.

NY Post:
- Pier 1 Imports may be looking for a successor to Chairman and CEO Girouard, and has hired an executive search firm to seek candidates.
- NY’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to run a six-month program to test “smart cards” on the 4, 5 and 6 subway lines in Manhattan to speed up passenger entry.

Atlanta Business Chronicle:
- Coca-Cola has been looking into ways, over the past two years, to offer hot coffee, espresso and tea quickly in individual servings, citing patent and trademark applications.

Nihon Keizai:
- Sanyo Electric and Volkswagen AG will jointly develop rechargeable batteries for gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.

Arab News:
- Saudi Arabia urged western countries to respect the decision of the Palestinian people to elect Hamas, classified by many as a terrorist organization.

Tehran Times:
- Iran plans to invest $14 billion to expand its refining capacity by more than 50%.

Reuters:
- Google(GOOG) denied a report in today’s NY Post that the company is in talks with Napster(NAPS) to form an alliance that may lead to Google acquiring the Internet music service.