News In Brief

Tentative agreement between United Airlines and the union representing its 10,000 pilots was reached late Saturday, both sides said. The deal with the Air Line Pilots Association followed two days of round-the-clock bargaining to end a dispute that began in April over pay and job security and resulted in thousands of canceled or late flights. Details of the proposed settlement, which will be voted on by the pilots next month, were not disclosed. At the height of the dispute, United took out newspaper ads and produced a TV commercial apologizing to the public for the breakdowns in service.

A $1.2 billion hostile takeover bid is expected to be made directly to shareholders in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) by Sweden's OM Group, the company that owns and operates the Stockholm bourse, according to news reports. The London Sunday Telegraph said the move would threaten the LSE's plans to merge with the bourse in Frankfurt, Germany, creating iX, a Europe-wide share-trading giant. LSE stockholders are due to vote on that merger Sept. 14, and observers say the necessary 75 percent support for ratification is far from certain.

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