March 25 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* The Obama administration is preparing to unveil a legislative proposal to end the National Security Agency's once-secret bulk phone records program - a systematic collection of data about Americans' calling habits. If approved by Congress, phone companies would not be required to retain bulk data for any longer than they normally would. The N.S.A. could obtain specific records only with permission from a judge, using a new kind of court order.(http://link.reuters.com/xek87v)
* At a meeting on May 15, 2009, engineers at General Motors Co learned that data in the black boxes of Chevrolet Cobalts confirmed a potentially fatal defect that existed in hundreds of thousands of cars. But in the months and years that followed, as a trove of internal documents and studies mounted, GM told the families of accident victims and other customers that it did not have enough evidence of any defect in their cars, interviews, letters and legal documents show. (http://link.reuters.com/vek87v)
* A federal jury on Monday found five associates of the convicted swindler Bernard Madoff guilty of 31 counts of aiding one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. (http://link.reuters.com/wek87v)
* The Walt Disney Co acted quickly to put a new top executive in place at its ABC Television Group, naming Ben Sherwood on Monday to succeed Anne Sweeney, who announced her resignation two weeks ago. (http://link.reuters.com/zek87v)
* Herbalife Ltd said on Monday it agreed to give its biggest shareholder Carl Icahn three additional seats on the board. Icahn, one of the company's most outspoken supporters, who already had a 16.8 percent stake in the company and two board seats, requested the additional representation last week. (http://link.reuters.com/kuk87v)
* Online storage service company Box Inc expects to raise about $250 million in its initial public offering. Box was valued at $2 billion in a recent round of private funding, but would most likely be worth several times that after the IPO. Many more cloud businesses, for both business and consumers, are expected to follow this year. (http://link.reuters.com/nuk87v)
* Google Inc on Monday announced a partnership with the Luxottica Group, the largest eyeglass company in the world, to design, manufacture and distribute frames for Google Glass, the Internet-connected eyewear.(http://link.reuters.com/puk87v) (Compiled by Arnab Sen in Bangalore)