U.S. stocks end the week higher - Nasdaq breaks losing streak
New York: U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on the day, wrapping up a volatile week with the Nasdaq breaking an eight-session losing streak.

All three major stock indexes ended down for the week, however, with the Dow industrials registering their worst week in four months. For the week, the Dow was down 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 was down 1.9 percent and the Nasdaq was down 2.2 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 15.77 points, or 0.14 percent, to end unofficially at 11,144.06. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 5.22 points, or 0.41 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,267.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 13.56 points, or 0.62 percent, to close unofficially at 2,193.88.
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NYSE to propose merger with Euronext
New York: The race to consolidate the world's big stock exchanges appeared to enter the final straight with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) expected to put a merger plan to Euronext anytime now.

Meanwhile, rival Nasdaq revealed it had upped its stake in the London Stock Exchange from 24.1 per cent to 25.1 per cent, consolidating its strength further. Nasdaq has now made it more difficult for rivals to make a move on the LSE.

NYSE's decision to make a final push comes with Deutsche Börse publishing its own plans for a merger with Euronext, a plan that appeared to make too few concessions. It's moves are increasingly being dictated by hedge funds, major shareholders on the Deutsche, which are keen on a merger between the two European bourses.
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BellSouth asks USA Today to retract story
Atlanta: BellSouth Corp., the third-largest telephone company in the US, took a further step to distance itself from reports that it handed over domestic phone calling records to the National Security Agency, demanding that USA Today retract parts of a story that had initially disclosed the program.

The move by BellSouth Corp, comes on the back of a series of carefully worded statements issued by major phone companies denying complicity. These statements have been trashed by privacy advocates who have said that they contain significant loopholes.
A USA Today spokesman said the paper was reviewing BellSouth's letter and would respond. On Tuesday the paper said it was confident of its coverage.

On May 11, the newspaper reported that the nation's three largest telephone companies, AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth, provided domestic calling records for tens of millions of Americans to the government under a contract with the NSA to help track suspected terrorists.
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