NATION

MySpace to let users decide on news items

The popular online hangout MySpace is entering the news business with a feature that lets its users determine what items other members see.

MySpace News brings to a much larger audience the user-recommendation capabilities already available through Digg and Time Warner Inc.'s Netscape. It also marks the site's further inroads into becoming an Internet portal akin to Yahoo Inc. and others.

Unlike Digg and Netscape, which rely heavily on user submissions, MySpace will also scan thousands of Web journals and news sites and group results by categories such as sports and politics. MySpace will go further than Google Inc.'s news offering by letting users vote on items, helping to determine what makes the front or section pages.

As part of the service, MySpace will pull and display headlines from the outside news sites. The feature is expected to debut today as a "beta" test.

TurboTax e-filers won't face penalties for delays

Taxpayers who couldn't electronically file eleventh-hour returns using Intuit Inc.'s TurboTax, ProSeries and other software won't be penalized for delays caused by the company's overtaxed servers, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.

"If people couldn't e-file last night, we encourage them to file as soon as they can," said IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland.

A record number of returns from individual taxpayers and accountants on Tuesday choked the Mountain View-based company's computers, leading to delays in customers receiving confirmation that their returns had been submitted successfully, Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller said.

As the midnight filing deadline approached, the problem got worse.

Usually, it takes only a few minutes after hitting the submit button for TurboTax users to get a confirmation. By Tuesday evening, it was taking hours.

Clear Channel accepts higher bid from group

Clear Channel Communications Inc. agreed Wednesday to a private equity group's $19.35 billion offer an almost 4 percent increase from the group's previous bid that had met with strong shareholder opposition.

The offer of $39 per share plus the assumption of $8 billion in debt raises the price for the billboard and radio company by about $690 million. It came the day before a scheduled vote on a lower offer that was facing strong resistance from several large shareholders.

The new offer now faces a shareholder vote on May 8.

Some of the company's largest shareholders, including Fidelity Management & Research, Highfields Capital Management LP and the California Public Employees Retirement System, said they would vote against the original offer of $37.60 per share.

Personal finance

More than 2,000 tips for saving time and money are included in a new paperback, "Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things," by the editors of Reader's Digest.