Nasdaq, ICE seek support for bid for NYSE

Nasdaq and IntercontinentalExchange reached out directly to the shareholders of the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange in its unsolicited bid to acquire the exchange owner.

On Monday, Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) issued a letter to NYSE Euronext shareholders saying that the NYSE board is rushing them to a vote without exploring better alternatives. The two exchanges hope that shareholders will put pressure on NYSE's board to consider Nasdaq and Intercontinental's bid for NYSE Euronext which is worth about $11 billion.

Automatic budget cuts have spotty record

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress and President Barack Obama are proposing ways to automatically trigger budget savings if they can't rein in deficits the old-fashioned way, by enacting laws to cut spending or raise taxes. Similar efforts in the past have a spotty record.

The last quarter-century has seen plenty of missed deficit and spending targets and inventive evasions of budget curbs. This is because the same legislators who put in place those budget constraints can pass laws to ignore them.

That history has convinced analysts that automatic triggers work best when lawmakers already have approved spending cuts, taxes increases or both. They're least effective when used as an incentive to force legislators into such agreements in the first place.

Analysis: Reimagining Obama after gutsy raid

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was just a firehouse chat with the guys of Engine 54 in lower Manhattan. But President Barack Obama delivered a message he hopes will also hit home with every American in this week of national catharsis: "You're always going to have a president and an administration who's got your back."

In the denouement to the daring raid that brought down Osama bin Laden, the president has in effect been reintroduced to the nation.

While taking care to strike the right tone - trying to savor the success of the dramatic covert operation without appearing to gloat - Obama has offered himself as a decisive leader willing to take bold risks.

Migrants risk lives to reach, escape Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) -- Many risked their lives to get here. Now they're putting their lives on the line to get out.

Thousands of migrant workers, from an array of African countries, have been caught in the cross hairs of Libya's revolution. Their plight highlights the perils many confront in often-desperate quests for decent-paying work and the hope of a better life.

Bright Ighodero said only God and luck saved him when a rocket from Moammar Gadhafi's forces exploded into a Nigerian family he was chatting with as roughly 1,000 migrant workers waited to be evacuated this week from the besieged rebel port of Misrata in western Libya.

Cisco narrows focus with new business structure

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Cisco will undergo a number of structural changes following several challenging quarters as the networking behemoth attempts to become more efficient in bringing products to market.

Cisco Systems Inc., which last month killed off its Flip Video camcorder business, has tried to narrow its focus as competition intensifies. It said Thursday that it now wants to focus on five priorities: core routing, switching and services; collaboration; data center virtualization; architectures and video.

Insurer Cigna's 1Q profit soars 52 percent

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Cigna Corp.'s first-quarter net income jumped 52 percent as medical claims fell, the international business grew again, and it raised its 2011 profit forecast like other big health insurers that also beat expectations for the quarter.

The Philadelphia company said Thursday earnings in health care, its largest segment, climbed 47 percent, and premiums and fees from its international business rose 32 percent, fueled in part by the purchase of the Belgian company Vanbreda International last year.

Cigna earned $429 million, or $1.57 per share, in the three months that ended March 31. That's up from the $283 million, or $1.02 per share, last year. Revenue climbed 4 percent to $5.41 billion from $5.21 billion.

Doctored bin Laden corpse photos go viral, global

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The images are bloody, grotesque and convincing: Osama bin Laden lies dead, the left side of his head blasted away. But the pictures are fakes.

Doctored photos purporting to show bin Laden's corpse rocketed around the world on television, online via social media and in print almost as soon as his death was announced.

The pictures have spread without regard for their origin or whether the images are real. Meanwhile, scammers have piggybacked on the popularity of the images and spiked supposed online links with computer viruses.

Glencore pricing values firm at about $61 billion

GENEVA (AP) -- Commodities giant Glencore International PLC said Wednesday that its partial share float later this month could value the company at $61 billion, making it one of the biggest initial public offerings in recent years.

The Swiss-based company aims to sell part of its shares for between 4.80-5.80 pounds ($8-$9.67) on the London Stock Exchange starting May 24, catapulting it straight into the FTSE 100 on the first day of trading. A secondary floatation is planned in Hong Kong on May 25.

Glencore would raise about $10 billion from the IPO. The money will be used to fund its expansion, such as buying mines and farmland, and increasing its stake in Kazakh zinc producer JSC Kazzinc.

Amid the rubble, survivors find sentimental items

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- When Lois Sayer's three daughters returned to their tornado-wrecked childhood home, they mourned the loss of their 88-year-old mother and discovered a few of the irreplaceable keepsakes that will tell the story of their parents' lives.

Across the twister-ravaged South, residents and family members continued picking through the ruins, collecting whatever family treasure or piece of their cherished past they could.

Volunteers used sledgehammers to knock down walls and break concrete so Sayer's daughters could retrieve their father's World War II uniform, complete with his Bronze Star. They found their mother's prized necklace, the one with a shell casing on it that reminded her of the factory where she worked during the war. It was that job that helped their parents build an $8,000 house, which was demolished in the epic Tuscaloosa storm.