U.S. officials consider giving CIT Group Inc a temporary loan as part of an aid package to help the lender avoid collapse; U.S. asset manager Franklin Resources Inc (BEN.N) drops out of a consortium negotiating to buy American International Group Inc’s (AIG.N) asset management unit; and The New York Times Co agrees to sell its New York City classical music radio station for $45 million, to help pay off debt. For these stories and all the other latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

And here’s what’s in the newspapers and online (some links may require subscriptions):

* Belgium’s Solvay (SOLB.BR) has narrowed the list of bidders for its pharmaceuticals business to Swiss company Nycomed and Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) of the United States, FT.com reported on its website.

* The board of Australian conglomerate CSR Ltd (CSR.AX) still favours a stock market float of its $955 million-valued sugar business, though four overseas trading houses are eyeing bids if a trade sale goes ahead, Australia’s Age paper reported.

* Two companies controlled by Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho have sold a combined 1.25 percent stake in financially troubled Air Macau to a unit of China flagship carrier Air China (601111.SS), the South China Morning Post reported, citing sources.

* South Korea’s Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) plans to invest about 500 billion won ($389 million) in the biotech medicine business, a local internet news provider said on Wednesday, quoting a top policymaker.

* Administrators for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s (LEHMQ.PK) main European unit have finalized a plan to return about $13 billion in client funds that have been held up in legal proceedings since the investment bank collapsed last year, the Wall Street Journal said.

* Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) is mounting a campaign to rehire several of the more than three dozen senior Merrill Lynch & Co investment bankers who quit after the firms merged, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the efforts.

* Commodities trading company Glencore International AG has been talking to bankers about selling a small stake in the business to raise $1.5 billion, Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.