Checklist

Regional

• XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., the D.C. pay-radio company planning to combine with New York competitor Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., reported a wider first-quarter loss as it increased spending to attract more subscribers. The net loss expanded to $129.3 million (42 cents a share) from $122.4 million (40 cents) a year earlier. Sirius Satellite reported a narrower first-quarter loss of $104.1 million (7 cents) from $144.7 million (10 cents) a year earlier.

National

• Shares of MBIA Inc. rose nearly 10 percent after the ailing bond insurer said it will pump $900 million into its insurance unit and reported a first-quarter loss that was smaller than some estimates. MBIA reported a net loss of $2.4 billion and an operating loss of $3.01 a share.

• IndyMac Bancorp Inc. swung to a loss of $184.2 million ($2.27) in the first quarter as deteriorating credit markets forced the Pasadena, Calif., mortgage lender to lower the value of mortgage-backed securities, and it warned it would not post a profitable quarter in 2008.

• Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest U.S. phone company, was sued by its iPCS Inc. affiliate, which seeks to block a $14.5 billion WiMax venture with Clearwire Corp., contending the deal violates an agreement not to compete with iPCS in the areas in the country where iPCS offers service.

• Judges in New York and Texas delayed without explanation lawsuits against six banks over the proposed $19.5 billion buyout of Clear Channel Communications Inc., as lawyers in the case declined to comment on any settlement talks. Boston-based buyout firms Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP contend the banks wrongly backed out of an agreement to finance the deal.

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation says Microsoft Corp. executive Jeff Raikes will be its next CEO. The world’s largest charitable foundation has been looking for a new leader since chief executive Patty Stonesifer announced in February that she would be stepping down.

• General Motors Corp. said it will close a Windsor, Ontario, plant in 2010 as the company shifts to more fuel efficient six-speed transmissions from the four-speed versions the factory makes. The shutdown will affect about 1,400 employees.

• Nymex Holdings Inc. shareholders will start a proxy fight to halt the proposed sale to CME Group Inc., saying management is promising a higher price privately and supporting the current deal publicly. Nymex Chairman Richard Schaeffer agreed in March to CME Group’s $9.1 billion offer, $2 billion less than CME initially offered in January.

• GSC Acquisition Co., the company started by a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive to acquire power assets, agreed to buy Complete Energy Holdings LLC, an electricity producer that owns and operates two natural-gas-fired power plants near Los Angeles and in Mississippi, for $440 million.

• Two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the United States and India have teamed up to develop new anti-infective medications. Merck & Co. of Whitehouse Station, N.J., and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. of Gurgaon, India, signed a product development deal that could be worth more than $100 million to Ranbaxy and give Merck more products in an area where it is thin.

• An Energy Department report concludes that wind turbines can produce a fifth of the nation’s annual electricity needs within about two decades. That is about the same share of electricity produced today by nuclear power. Wind energy today accounts for only about 1 percent of the nation’s electricity.

• Yahoo Inc., the second-largest search site on the Web, agreed to buy closely held Inquisitor to add tools for searching on Apple Inc.’s Safari Web browser. Inquisitor, started by Macintosh computer developer David Watanabe, displays search results in a pop-down window as a user is typing.

• Facebook Inc., the second-most popular social networking Web site, borrowed $100 million to fund expansion efforts after users tripled in a year, narrowing the gap with larger rival MySpace Inc. Triple Point Capital, based in Menlo Park, Calif., will provide the financing, a spokesman for Facebook said.

International

• Shares of Dana Petroleum PLC of Scotland climbed to a record in London trading after discovering oil at the East Rinnes field off the British coast. Dana shares rose 5.8 percent to their highest point since the shares began trading in 1994.

• State oil companies PetroEcuador and Petroleos de Venezuela SA will build a 300,000-barrel-a-day refinery at El Aromo on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast, PetroEcuador said. Ecuador, the smallest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, lacks refining capacity, and has budgeted $3.61 billion to import gasoline and diesel this year, up 20 percent from $3.01 billion in 2007.

• Shares of Chloride Group PLC, Europe’s largest maker of backup power supplies, soared 35 percent after the company rejected a preliminary $1.3 billion takeover approach from U.S. rival Emerson Electric Co. Britain’s Chloride specializes in maintaining uninterrupted power to information-technology systems.

• The U.S.-France telecommunications equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent and Reliance Communications of India announced a joint venture to provide network services to telecommunications operators.

• Liberia banned all food exports, saying profiteers have been taking advantage of its cheap rice prices to truck the grain — already in short supply in Liberia — to neighboring countries to sell at higher prices.

• In an effort to lure the 2011 Champions League soccer final to Wembley, British officials said that any overseas teams playing in that match would receive a tax exemption. Andy Burnham, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, announced in the House of Commons that players on foreign teams will be exempt if Wembley hosts the 2011 final.

From wire dispatches and staff reports