Capitol Hill appearance by NYSE canceled

NYSE Euronext Chief Operating Officer Larry Leibowitz did not appear before a U.S. House antitrust panel on Friday, just a few hours after Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange made a rival bid to acquire the exchange.


The proposed $11.3 billion joint takeover of NYSE by Nasdaq and ICE would be a 19 percent premium to the offer made by German competitor Deutsche Boerse.


Leibowitz had planned in prepared remarks to tout the proposed merger between NYSE and Deutsche Boerse. But lawmakers said the competing offer complicated the hearing, and they hope to hold a hearing in the future when all the companies can attend.


"At this point it would not be appropriate to take testimony only from the New York Stock Exchange without hearing the other companies," said Bob Goodlatte, the Republican who chairs the panel.


Ranking subcommittee member Melvin Watt said he agreed it was appropriate to cancel the appearance by Leibowitz for now. But he voiced some concerns that any hearings ahead of the two possible deals might be premature.


"I have some reservations about whether it is this committee's or the government's role to start to access competing merger proposals or takeover proposals before there is a final agreement," Watt said.

Afghanistan: United Nations workers beheaded in attack on compound

Two of the dead were beheaded by attackers who also burned parts of the compound and climbed up blast walls to topple a guard tower, said Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a police spokesman for the northern region.


It is believed to be the deadliest ever attack on the UN in Afghanistan.


Over a thousand protesters had flooded into the streets of the normally peaceful city after Friday prayers to denounce the burning of Islam's holy book, the Koran, by a US pastor, and after two or three hours violence broke out.


Police fired into the air in an unsuccessful bid to control the crowd.


A United Nations spokesman confirmed employees had been killed but declined to comment on numbers of dead or their nationalities, saying reports from the scene were confusing.


Staffan De Mistura, the top UN diplomat in Afghanistan, has flown to Mazar-i-Sharif to handle the situation personally.


A police source, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said protesters had stormed into the compound where they attacked the victims.

Japan's PM vows to win battle against nuke plant

Japan's prime minister sounded a resolute note Friday, promising to win the battle against an overheating nuclear plant even as atomic safety officials raised questions about the accuracy of radiation measurements at the complex.

Naoto Kan was grave a week ago when he addressed this nation rattled by fears of radiation that has contaminated food, milk and tap water. But three weeks after a massive tsunami disabled a nuclear power plant's cooling systems, Kan vowed that Japan would create the safest system anywhere.

Japan will "do whatever it takes to win the battle" at Fukushima Dai-ichi, Kan said in a televised news conference. And when the crisis ends: "We will establish a system that could respond to any situation based on an assumption that anything could happen."

While a massive earthquake and tsunami set off a series of events that disabled the plant, the accident has been exacerbated by several missteps along the way. Apparently spotting another mistake Friday, the nuclear safety agency ordered the Tokyo Electric Power Co. to review its recent radiation figures, saying they seemed suspiciously high.

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TEPCO has repeatedly been forced to retract such figures, fueling fears over health risks and eroding confidence in the company's ability to respond effectively to the crisis.

Ruling brings United Continental union vote closer

A ruling from a federal labor board moves flight attendants at United and Continental airlines closer to an election to choose a single union.


United and Continental merged last year but their flight attendants are in different unions. On Friday, the National Mediation Board said the two airlines are acting as one for purposes of setting an election date to choose one union to represent the combined group. Right now, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA represents 15,000 workers at United, while the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers currently represents more than 9,000 flight attendants at Continental.


United Continental Holdings Inc. runs both airlines. Spokeswoman Julie King said the airline is pleased with the ruling. Eventually, both airlines will be merged into one called United Airlines.

Safety warning issued over 'walking water balls'

The US government is warning people to stay out of giant, see-through inflatable spheres known as "water walking balls", because of the risk of suffocation or drowning.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) said that it "does not know of any safe way" to use the products, which are popular at amusement parks, resorts, malls and carnivals. They resemble hamster balls but are large enough for humans. People climb into the plastic, airtight balls and roll or try to walk on water in pools, lakes or rivers.

"We want to tell the public how dangerous these products are before someone is killed," said CSPC chairman, Inez Tenenbaum. "Our investigation into water walking balls will not stop with today's warning."

The commission is worried about too little oxygen in the balls, as well as the buildup of carbon dioxide. Another concern is the fact that the product has no emergency exit and can be opened only by a person outside of the ball – a serious problem if a person inside experiences distress.

The commission said it is aware of two incidents in which people were hurt. In the first, a five-year-old girl in Kingston, Massachusetts, passed out last year while inside a ball for a brief time. In the other, a young boy suffered a broken arm when the ball he was in fell out of a shallow above-ground pool onto hard ground.