PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - Jan 22

Jan 22 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The New York Times business pages on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* The tougher approach to financial regulation that U.S. President Barack Obama outlined on Thursday reflected a changed political climate, the rebound in big banks' fortunes after their taxpayer bailout and a shift in power within the administration away from those who had been seen as most sympathetic to Wall Street.

* Conan O'Brien is expected to receive about $32 million and be able to return to television by September, though General Electric Co's (GE.N) NBC is claiming to own some of the show's comedy bits.

* The Obama administration plans next week to revamp its $75 billion program aimed at sparing homeowners from foreclosure, streamlining the documents required of borrowers seeking lowered payments, according to financial industry executives and others who have met in recent days with Treasury officials.

* Goldman Sachs (GS.N) reported strong earnings on Thursday, but the bank reduced the share of revenue going to bonuses

* Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) issued its second large recall in two months on Thursday to fix a problem with accelerator pedals that can get stuck, causing vehicles to speed up unintentionally.

* Federal prosecutors on Thursday unveiled grand jury indictments against seven people in the wide-ranging insider-trading case involving the Galleon Group and numerous other hedge fund traders, lawyers and corporate executives.

* In the clearest sign that Google Inc (GOOG.O) is now seeing the recession in the rear-view mirror, the company said Thursday that its net income in the fourth quarter jumped more than fivefold from a year earlier and that its sales grew 17 percent, their fastest pace in a year.

* Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N), which makes computer microprocessors, said on Thursday that it posted its first quarterly profit in three years because it received $1.25 billion in a legal settlement with the Intel Corp (INTC.O).

* Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) said Thursday that it had signed a new deal with Scripps Networks Interactive Inc (SNI.N), restoring two popular cable channels, the Food Network and HGTV, to the television lineups of about three million homes in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

* General Motors [GM.UL], taking the first step in overhauling its European operations, announced on Thursday that it would close its Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium.

* Two former partners of the accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP [ERNY.UL] each have been sentenced in New York to more than two years in prison after they were convicted of tax shelter charges.

* Nokia (NOK1V.HE) began giving away professional GPS navigation software on 10 of its smartphones on Thursday, matching a competitive move by Google (GOOG.O). The move deals a blow to the leaders in the market for specialized navigation devices, Garmin (GRMN.O) and TomTom (TOM2.AS).

* The European Commission said Thursday that it had approved Oracle Corp'S (ORCL.O) $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems JAVA.O after concluding that it would not significantly affect competition in the European Union.

* Air America, the long-suffering progressive talk radio network, abruptly shut down on Thursday, bowing to what it called a "very difficult economic environment."

* DeCode Genetics, the gene-hunting company in Iceland, said Thursday that it had emerged from bankruptcy and would continue its genetics research and its gene-based diagnostics as a private company. It will abandon its efforts to develop drugs from its discoveries.