PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - Jan 13
Jan 13 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* The suicide of the German billionaire Adolf Merckle shocked the nation as much as it angered his tiny town, where he was eulogized at a service that overflowed the church.
* New York's attorney general has ordered an overhaul of the databases health insurers use to determine how much of a bill is paid for an out-of-network doctor.
* It seemed as if Citigroup Inc (C.N) was regaining a bit of trust on Wall Street, but as the struggling giant moved toward a deal with Morgan Stanley (MS.N), all the old demons returned.
* Signs emerged that the lawyer of Bernard Madoff was actively negotiating a plea agreement that could conclude the baffling fraud case without a trial.
* The chairman of General Motors Corp GM.N said that a $13.4-billion federal aid package would be sufficient to keep the company solvent through March.
* Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T) is showing its new Insight hybrid, which looks remarkably similar to the Prius, at this week's North American International Auto Show. It is smaller and less fuel efficient than the Prius, but it is expected to sell for as little as $18,000, about $4,000 less than the Toyota Prius.
* Republican and Democratic Senate leaders signaled that they would support the release of the second half of the Treasury's $700 billion financial system bailout fund.
* China's exports and imports shrank at an accelerating rate last month, a trend likely to set off more job losses in the country's export-oriented coastal regions.
* Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement with the European Union that appeared finally to clear the way for a resumption of supplies of Russian natural gas to Europe in the midst of a bitter winter.
* Well aware of the limits of oil, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are aggressively pouring billions of dollars into green technologies.
