UNITED STATES

Microsoft Corp shares fell as much as 5 percent on Friday, a day after the software company reported a dip in its Windows operating system sales.

All eyes were on Catherine Middleton's gown and hair this Friday, but what people really wanted to see was the cake -- all 8 layers of it.

Gold surged to a record high on Friday for the third straight day, as investors kept up a buying frenzy fueled by the outlook for low U.S. interest rates that has propelled bullion to its seventh consecutive weekly rise, its longest winning streak since 2007.

Former hedge fund manager Donald Longueuil has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud charges arising from an insider trading scheme in which he obtained and traded on material, non-public information, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said.

Microsoft Corp shares fell their most in almost two years on Friday, a day after the software company reported a dip in its Windows operating system sales.

David Bart Goldstein, a Baltimore lawyer, has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography.

NASA's satellites caught the devastating tornadoes that ripped through the south.

Alchico Grant and Melinda Clayton were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama on a variety of charges stemming from an identity theft and tax fraud scheme, the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Leura G. Canary and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have announced.

A former U.S. probation officer, Mark John Walker, 52, of Eugene, Ore., has pleaded guilty to charges related to his engaging in sexual contact or aggravated sexual abuse with female offenders who were under his direct supervision as a federal probation officer from 2006 to 2009. Sentencing is scheduled for July 18, 2011 before Chief U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline, who is a visiting judge from Alaska.

According to a Gallup poll, over half of Americans belief that US economy is in Recession or Depression. More and more people are even preparing themselves and their families to become independent from the system, in order to survive a coming economic collapse, where the distribution of food and energy will break down.

U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter have sentenced Jeremy Matthew Moro, 33, and Joshua James Moro, 23 pursuant to their January 2011 guilty pleas to conspiring to violate the civil rights of an interracial couple by burning a cross near their home in Athens, La., in October 2008.

Stocks rose on Friday on strength from Caterpillar and other industrials, lifting the Dow and Nasdaq to their best monthly performance since December.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday on strength from Caterpillar and other industrials, lifting the Dow and Nasdaq to their best monthly performance since December.

Donald Trump has been accused of racism. First, it’s because of his focus on the ‘birther’ issue. Critics say no other US president has been accused of not being born in the US. Accusations against Obama, then, must stem from racism.

The U.S. economy is not fully recovered from its deep recession, with housing still weighing on growth, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday in a speech spelling out ways the U.S. central bank has studied lower income communities.

Storm clouds over Research In Motion have darkened with a dismal profit warning, and the company's shares fell sharply on Friday after the company's third jolt of bad news in a month.

U.S. consumers increased spending for a ninth straight month in March as they stretched to cover higher costs for food and gasoline, with inflation posting its biggest year-on-year gain in 10 months.

Caterpillar Inc recorded a fivefold profit surge and raised its 2011 profit forecast as customers bought new heavy equipment to replace old machines that aged during the economic downturn.

Earlier this week, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) – a powerful union in the US – filed a charge with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Boeing.

U.S. stocks got a lift on Friday from Caterpillar and other U.S. industrials' shares, putting the Dow in line for its best monthly performance since December.

Thomson Reuters Corp reached a tentative agreement for a new contract with the New York Newspaper Guild on Friday, paving the way to end a more than two-year-long battle over health benefits and wages.