UNITED STATES

Box office watchers expect widely-anticipated sci-fi movie Avatar to make more than $75 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters this coming weekend following its debut on Friday.

The Screen Actors Guild on Thursday unveiled nominations for its widely watched film awards, giving key nods to three films including Up in the Air and capping a busy week of honors from industry groups.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, takes her first stab at film producing with The Young Victoria, which chronicles Queen Victoria' youthful ascension to the throne and her romance with Prince Albert.

The United States plans to transfer six Yemenis held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba back to their home country in coming days, a move that could lead to repatriating dozens more, The Washington Post reported in its Friday edition.

Japan Airlines Corp is likely to choose Delta Air Lines as its overseas partner, ending its ties with American Airlines and the Oneworld alliance, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Friday.

Blackstone is planning to sell a stake in travel services provider Travelport sized at $2 billion equivalent, a source close to the deal said, part of an emerging trend of private equity sales.

The tally at the end of the afternoon on Thursday had gold prices showing a $40.40 loss with the metal quoted at $1093.80 per ounce, a price level not seen since before Thanksgiving

A suicide bomber killed up to 10 people in Pakistan on Friday, while a suspected U.S. drone killed six militants, as rising political tension threatened to distract the government from its war against the Taliban.

Upbeat results from technology bellwethers Oracle and Research In Motion lifted U.S. stocks on Friday, while rising oil prices boosted energy shares.

U.S. President Barack Obama addressed on Friday morning to delegates in Copenhagen on the final day of the UN climate conference.

World leaders tried to rescue a global climate agreement on Friday but the failure of leading greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States to come up with new proposals blocked chances of an ambitious deal.

The wife of Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren, is reportedly meeting with high profile divorce attorney, Sorrell Trope.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Friday after upbeat results from technology bellwethers Oracle and Research In Motion.

Twitter users who tried to log into their accounts on Thursday were unable to access their pages, but were instead greeted with the words Iranian Cyber Army after the popular micro-blogging site suffered a hacking attack.

The energy, finance, technology and healthcare industries are expected to be the hottest areas in a dealmaking market that in 2010 is likely to expand gradually from this year's depressed levels.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday on upbeat results from technology bellwethers Research In Motion and Oracle.

Citigroup Inc's Vikram Pandit endured a brutal capital raising episode this week in an effort to win the bank's freedom from close government oversight, but the bank's CEO may have won less than he hoped.

Climate Showdown; Ryanair Ends Boeing Talks; Biggest Holiday Shopping Weekend

The euro stabilized on Friday after this week's steep losses against the dollar and yen and rose off nine-month lows versus the Swiss franc while higher oil prices helped European stocks higher in thin year-end trade.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday as oil prices rebounded and on upbeat results from technology bellwethers Research In Motion and Oracle.

President Barack Obama met other world leaders in a last push for a new global climate deal on Friday, after negotiators failed to reach a deal on carbon cuts in all-night talks.