Also

* Nevada gambling regulators recommended approval for MGM Mirage Inc.’s plan to buy rival Mandalay Resort Group and create one of the world’s largest gambling companies.

* Occidental Petroleum Corp. of Los Angeles said reserves rose 2.8% last year as projects in the Middle East and Ecuador added to its holdings.

* Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, said it was shifting a gain to the first quarter, reducing net income for 2004 by 5.2%. The Calabasas firm will recognize a gain of about 20 cents a share.

* Tenet Healthcare Corp., the hospital chain seeking to resolve allegations of overbilling and paying kickbacks to doctors, hired Exelon Corp.’s Robert Shapard as chief financial officer.

* Federal regulators proposed requiring mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to promptly report mortgage fraud to the government and to establish internal controls to detect it.

* The U.S. Supreme Court refused to revive a class-action lawsuit that accused automaker Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. of systematically denying promotions to black workers.

* Federal appeals court judges said Federal Communications Commission regulators overstepped their authority by imposing a rule designed to limit copying of digital TV programs.