PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - June 29

June 29 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Agents trying to persuade mortgage companies to lower payments for homeowners who can no longer afford their loans are becoming increasingly frustrated at the futility of their pursuit.

* As Bernard Madoff prepares to be sentenced, his victims are warring over who should get how much from the government-chartered agency that insures customers of failed brokerage firms.

* Google Inc (GOOG.O) is on a mission to persuade the world - and federal regulators - that even given its size, it remains vulnerable to competition.

* The management consulting firms Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby and Watson Wyatt Worldwide WW.N said on Sunday that they would merge in an all-stock deal valued at $3.5 billion.

* Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N) and Algenol Biofuels, a start-up company, are set to announce Monday that they will build a demonstration plant that, if successful, would use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol as a vehicle fuel or an ingredient in plastics.

* The Russian government is shutting down every legal casino and slot-machine parlor in the country on Wednesday, throwing hundreds of thousands of people out of work.

* Even as viewership of online video climbs, the average viewer's behavior has changed sharply, accordingly to Nielsen Online. People who watched online video in May spent 49 percent more time on each clip than they had a year before.

* Horrid reviews couldn't dent "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," which demonstrated once again the power of sequels by selling an estimated $201.2 million in tickets at North American theaters over its first five days.