SURVEY SUGGESTS UNEMPLOYMENT MAY HAVE HIT ITS PEAK The peak in unemployment in the United States has probably passed, according to one economic indicator that has proved reliable in all 10 previous recessions since World War II: The monthly survey by the Institute for Supply Management, in which manufacturing companies are asked if their business is getting better or worse: For the fourth consecutive month, more companies thought business was getting better than it was getting worse. The survey also showed more companies hiring than firing in both October and November. DAYS AFTER SHAKE-UP, GM NAMES NEW ROSTER Edward E. Whitacre Jr. shook up the management ranks of General Motors on Friday, just three days after he took over as chief executive, promoting a cadre of young executives to carry out his mandate for change. On Tuesday, GM's board forced Fritz Henderson to resign as chief executive and replaced him with Whitacre, the board's chairman. Whitacre said GM was starting a search for a permanent chief executive. GM's DEALS IN CHINA ARE EXPECTED TO RAISE $400 MILLION General Motors' sale on Friday of a 1 percent stake in its main venture in China, coupled with a new India venture with its Chinese partner, should provide the automaker with about $400 million for overseas operations. GM said that it would sell the 1 percent to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., for $85 million, giving SAIC a 51 percent stake. It also said it would put its wholly owned India operations into a 50-50 venture with SAIC, which will contribute $300 million to $350 million. QUESTIONING A CANCER DRUG COSTING $30,000 A MONTH A newly approved chemotherapy drug, Folotyn, will cost about $30,000 a month, at least triple that of other drugs that critics have said are too expensive for the benefits they offer to patients. Critics, including many oncologists, say that patients and the health system cannot afford to pay huge prices for drugs that, on average, provide only a few extra months of life at best. And Folotyn has not even been shown to prolong lives -- only to shrink tumors. MICROSOFT MOVES CLOSER TO SETTLING EU CASE Microsoft has agreed to reconfigure its Windows operating system in Europe to address two main complaints from rival Internet browser makers, a concession that could lead to the settlement of its latest antitrust case before the European Commission. Microsoft reportedly agreed to change the display that EU consumers would use to download an Internet browser for their Windows-based computers, so that no browser would have an advantage over others. EUROPEAN PUBLIC BROADCASTERS SUPPORT THEIR PEERS European public broadcasters said on Friday that they planned special assistance for public television and radio networks in Eastern and Southern Europe facing budget cuts and waning political support. The European Broadcasting Union, which represents public service broadcasters, plans donations of 500 hours of programming from wealthy countries like Germany and Italy to poorly financed counterparts in countries like Hungary, Cyprus and Malta and across much of the former Yugoslavia. 