Also

* Ford Motor Co. plans to end production of its Taurus, once the bestselling car in the U.S., early next year, according to a union newsletter.

* Prosecutors rested their case against fired HealthSouth Corp. Chief Executive Richard Scrushy after 12 weeks of trial that included testimony by five former finance chiefs linking Scrushy to a $2.7-billion fraud.

* HIT Entertainment, a producer of such children’s shows as “Bob the Builder,” reiterated its support for a $917-million takeover bid from equity firm Apax Partners. HIT said it would give Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and another company it declined to name until May 13 to make a rival bid.

* Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Bechtel agreed to sell their InterGen power generation joint venture for $1.75 billion to American International Group Inc.’s Highstar Capital II fund and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

* Microsoft Corp. said people with BlackBerry e-mail pagers would be able to get Microsoft instant messages this year.