Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US cancer deaths fell in 2003, the first annual decline since record-keeping began in 1930.
- Consumers who flocked to auto dealers and shopping malls after the holidays helped the US economy grow 4% this quarter, snapping back from a slowdown during the fourth quarter, a Bloomberg survey shows.
- Google(GOOG) is offering a new version of its desktop software that lets users seek files on several personal computers and share Web content.
- Research In Motion(RIMM) has started testing new software that would run its BlackBerry e-mail devices without using contested patents, allowing the service to keep running if the company loses a legal battle.
- Best Buy(BBY) raised its fourth-quarter and annual earnings forecasts after strong holiday sales of flat-panel televisions and iPods extended into January.
- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he will ask President Bush to contribute troops and equipment to a planned UN peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan when they meet at the White House on Feb. 13.
- President Bush said in the months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks the US disrupted a plot to hijack a commercial jet and fly it into a skyscraper in LA.
- Oprah Winfrey signed a $55 million contract to start a channel on XM Satellite Radio(XMSR).
- US 30-year Treasuries surged after bidders including pension funds flocked to the government’s first sale of the securities since 2001.
- Microsoft(MSFT) plans a $1 billion expansion to its main campus, adding 14 new buildings in Redmond, Washington.
- Crude oil in NY was unchanged, close to a five-week low, amid higher US gasoline inventories and reduced refinery operating rates.

Wall Street Journal:
- Univision(UVN), which has put itself up for sale, is likely to seek a price of more than $40 a share.

NY Times:
- NYU plans to build a $200 million pediatric mental health center to treat thousands of children and train thousands of doctors.

Hollywood Reporter:
- Sony Corp.(SNE) said new movie DVDs using the Blu-ray format will sell for $23.45, as much as 20% more expensive that the first generation of DVDs when they were introduced.

AP:
- About 2,000 Muslims rallied today in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and burned a Danish flag.

Washington Post:
- Cell phones and Internet Web logs helped turn cartoons published in Denmark into a uniting cause for Islamic protesters worldwide in days or even hours.