Thursday, September 22, 2005

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Oracle will continue making purchases as part of plans to double revenue in the next few years, CEO Ellison said.
- Former hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt says his “intuition” tells him that US stocks will rise.
- Hurricane Rita weakened to a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico, headed toward Texas, where more than a million people from Corpus Christi to Galveston fled as emergency officials, still dealing with Katrina’s devastation, readied supplies and rescue teams.
- Martha Stewart’s new Apprentice television show on NBC fell short of predictions last night, attracting half the viewers that turned in to ABC’s “Lost” in the same time slot.

Wall Street Journal:
- Defense contractor DRS Technologies will acquire Engineered Support Systems for $2 billion.
- Alltel is considering a spin-off or partial sale of its local telephone unit that may be valued at more than $10 billion.
- US investment banks are moving more of the risk of defaults on home mortgages to foreign investors, suggesting that Europe and Asia will feel pain if the US housing market struggles.
- US movie studios and department stores are cutting back on newspaper advertising, darkening prospects fro the industry this year.
- The US Federal Trade Commission is looking into complaints of high gas prices and whether companies illegally manipulated prices after Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore last month.

NY Times:
- The Vatican won’t allow homosexuals to become Roman Catholic priests, under new rules to be published soon, citing an unnamed church official.
- NATO’s 26 member countries have overcome their differences with the US over the Iraq war and are all providing training and equipment to the nation.

Jane’s Intelligence Review:
- North Korea faces a “significant” threat of a nuclear accident that could spread radioactive material from Japan to China because of inadequate resources and safety procedures.

AFP:
- A joint Iraqi-US military offensive aimed at purging insurgents from the northern town of Tal Afar has been successfully completed.

Les Echos:
- Dell has no need to make acquisitions as the industry consolidates, Kevin Rollins said.

Tehran Times:
- China is negotiating a “multibillion dollar” contract with Iran for a shipbuilding complex in the south.

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