PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - Nov 26

Nov 26 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* The Federal Reserve and the Treasury announced $800 billion in new lending programs on Tuesday, sending a message that they would print as much money as needed to revive the nation's crippled banking system.

* Three former officials of UBS (UBSN.VX), the troubled Swiss financial giant, said that they would forgo more than $27 million in compensation.

* Some of the nation's universities are trying to sell chunks of their portfolios privately as their endowments swoon with the markets.

* President-elect Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to scour wasteful spending from the federal budget to help offset an investment in a huge recovery plan to jump-start the ailing economy, a pledge that he called part of his "mandate to move the country in a new direction."

* Radio advertising was down 10 percent last month from October 2007, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau, the 18th consecutive month of declines.

* The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had discovered the toxic chemical melamine in infant formula made by an American manufacturer, raising the possibility that the problem was more extensive in the United States than previously thought.

* Car dealers, parts makers, union leaders and others hoping to convince lawmakers that the industry is an indispensable piece of the economy are planning a caravan to Washington in early December. The 525-mile drive will occur as auto executives make a second plea for federal assistance.

* The first operational audit of the $700 billion financial rescue plan, to be delivered to Congress next Tuesday, is expected to be critical of the Treasury Department's failure to set up ways to track how its bailout money is being used in the marketplace, according to people briefed on a draft of the report.

* The credit crisis is battering the two largest publicly traded operators of housing for the elderly. One of them, Sunrise Senior Living Inc (SRZ.N), is trying to stave off bankruptcy. The other, Brookdale Senior Living Inc (BKD.N), is considered likely to resolve its short-term problems, but it faces a mountain of debt in the next few years.

* Democrats are actively trying to retire the word "stimulus" as the descriptor for the multibillion-dollar economic initiative to be considered early next year.

* A lawyer for the billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, Terry Christensen, was sentenced to three years in prison for hiring a private investigator to wiretap the phone of Kerkorian's ex-wife during a child-support dispute.

* Consumer confidence rose in November amid receding gas prices, but Americans' views on the economy remained the gloomiest in decades as they grappled with layoffs, slumping home prices and dwindling retirement funds.

* European Union telecommunications ministers are set to endorse on Thursday proposed price limits on cross-border text messaging and mobile Web surfing, according to a copy of the plan obtained by The International Herald Tribune.

* The home builder D. R. Horton (DHI.N) said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter loss widened as it took more than $1 billion in write-downs tied to declining land values and as sales fell by almost half.

* Borders Group Inc (BGP.N) said Tuesday that falling sales widened the company's loss in the third quarter and that the company was no longer considering selling its core business.

* Hormel Foods Corp (HRL.N) posted a sharply lower quarterly profit as rising costs at the Jennie-O turkey business more than offset demand for its Spam lunch meat.

* BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L), the world's largest mining company, abandoned its hostile bid to acquire Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) on Tuesday, saying turmoil in financial markets, uncertainty about the global economic outlook and regulatory concerns in Europe meant the deal was no longer in its shareholders' best interest.

* Developed economies face a protracted recession and a sharp increase in unemployment, the OECD warned Tuesday, and it called for aggressive economic stimulus measures.

* The women's clothing retailer Talbots Inc (TLB.N) posted a quarterly loss and a 14 percent decline in sales on Tuesday, but said it had reached a new credit agreement with banks, setting off a sharp rally in its share price.

* TiVo Inc (TIVO.O) , the maker of digital video recorders, posted a profit in the third quarter, helped by a payment it received in a patent suit even as revenue declined, the company said Tuesday.

* Parkcentral Capital Management, an investment firm that manages money for the family of Ross Perot, is liquidating a fixed-income hedge fund because it is "no longer viable."