PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - Jan 30

Jan 30 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* With clients watching costs, law firms are rethinking the billable hour, with some firms adopting flat fees instead.

* President Obama branded Wall Street bankers "shameful" for giving themselves nearly $20 billion in bonuses as the economy was deteriorating and the government was spending billions to bail out some of the nation's most prominent financial institutions.

* Few people attending the World Economic Forum question the need to kick-start America's economy, the world's largest, with a package that could reach $1 trillion over two years. But the long-term fallout from increased borrowing by the United Stated government, and its potential to drive up inflation and interest rates around the world, seems to getting more attention here than in Washington.

* Two senior senators introduced legislation to impose government oversight of hedge funds. The legislation by Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, and Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, was filed as the Obama administration was preparing a broader legislative overhaul of the regulatory system, including an effort to more tightly regulate hedge funds.

* Because of the financial crisis, banks are retrenching and refocusing on their home markets, all but abandoning ambitions of banking on a Continental scale -- or bigger.

* Thursday brought a hat-trick of grim economic news: New-home sales fell to their slowest pace on record, businesses cut their orders and jobless claims continued to rise.

* Wall Street turned cautious as weak earnings reports and record unemployment claims offered the latest evidence that the economy continues to struggle.

* The British government outlined plans to bring broadband to every home in Britain by 2012 and crack down on online piracy.

* Continental Airlines Inc CAL.N, JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O) and US Airways Group Inc (LCC.N) each reported deeper fourth-quarter losses amid pessimism over the near-term outlook for air travel.