Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Archer Daniels Midland(ADM) appointed former Chevron Corp.(CVX) executive Patricia Woertz as its new president and chief executive officer as it expands its fuel-making business.
- Vonage Holdings, a pioneer of Internet phone calling, plans to raise as much as $563.4 million in an IPO to help fund its expansion.
- Pinnacle Entertainment increased its bid for Aztar Corp.(AZR) to $1.85 billion, stepping up the competition to win the owner of the Tropicana casinos.
- The US dollar reached the weakest since May 2005 versus the euro and approached its lowest this year against the yen on anticipation interest rates will rise faster in Europe and Japan than the US.
- President Bush urged Congress to extend tax cuts to keep the economy growing and called on oil companies to help lower gasoline prices by reinvesting profits to expand productions.
- President Bush said diplomatic options to halt Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program “are just beginning” and a report today by nuclear inspectors is helping to forge international unity on the issue.
- The UN nuclear agency today told the UN Security Council that Iran enriched uranium and is stonewalling inspectors’ efforts to determine whether the program is intended for the production of nuclear weapons.

Wall Street Journal:
- Mexico’s smaller families may strengthen the Latin American nation’s middle class and reduce the flow of migrants to the US.
- An Iraqi official predicted that a large number of US troops will leave the country this year and the remainder will be pulled out within two years.
- Time Warner’s(TWX) AOL Internet service will start a set of Web logs devoted to individual stocks such as General Electric(GE), Wal-Mart Stores(WMT) and Microsoft(MSFT).

AP:
- Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, backed a plan by the incoming prime minister to disband militias.

NY Times:
- Suffolk County, on NY’s Long Island, is planning the largest government-sponsored wireless network, providing free Internet access to its 1.5 million residents.

Washington Post:
- A Spanish-language version of the US national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” hit the airwaves today, its release timed to coincide with the debate in Congress over immigration reform.

LA Times:
- As many as 1 million people may join two immigrant rights demonstrations Monday in LA.

China Iron and Steel Association:
- China’s first-quarter crude steel output rose 18% from a year ago to 92.2 million metric tons.

MSNBC:
- A special tax on the “windfall profits” of oil companies hasn’t worked in the past and would curtail exploration and production by energy companies, US Energy Secretary Bodman said.