UNITED STATES

The chief executive of bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp , Mike Zafirovski, plans to leave the company soon after leading it through four years of tumult, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

LOS ANGELES - An expected surge in smart-phone sales could bode well for the iTunes music store's belated entry into Latin America.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc posted its best quarter in nearly two years, as recovering stock markets boosted the value of its equity investments and derivatives bets.

Better-than-expected July jobs numbers have numerous private economists heralding the end of the recession, but the Obama administration is taking a more guarded view because of a worrisome rise in long-term unemployment and a drop in labor force participation.

AIG, the giant insurer bailed out by the U.S. government, posted its first profit in seven quarters on Friday, helped by large investment gains as financial markets improved, sending its shares up 20 percent.

R&B stars Rihanna, Kanye West and Jay-Z will perform on the premiere of Jay Leno's comedy and chat show in September, in a apparent bid to grab hip, young viewers to NBC's new primetime experiment.

Sprawled on her bed in an Amsterdam hotel, Lady GaGa is channeling Lady Godiva-sans the horse.

The orbiting Kepler telescope has spotted a Jupiter-sized planet around another star -- a sighting that demonstrates it can see Earth-like planets if they are out there, scientists reported on Thursday.

At scattered events across the United States, protesters are confronting members of Congress whose summer town hall meetings aim to get a sense of how Americans feel about overhauling healthcare.

North American business groups urged leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada on Friday to rein in buy local provisions they called a threat to free trade and economic growth.

With so-called flash orders exploding into public view, investors are wondering if the rapid-fire dissemination of their investing intentions is costing them money.

Freddie Mac, the second largest provider of U.S. home mortgage funding, on Friday posted its first quarterly profit in two years as gains from hedges and a one-time accounting change offset still-lofty credit losses.

The longest U.S. recession since World War Two is exposing gaping holes in the social safety net, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of falling through.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and a champion of the rights of the mentally impaired, is hospitalized in critical but stable condition, a hospital official said on Friday.

Former Madoff chief financial officer, Frank DiPascali, will be charged by the U.S. for his participation in what is termed Wall Street's biggest investment fraud.

Currency speculators increased their bets against the dollar in the latest week, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

Senator Mel Martinez, a native Cuban and a former chairman of the Republican Party, stunned supporters on Friday by informing them that he plans to resign from Congress, party aides said.

Investors heartened, Obama's 'true recovery,' Employers cutting less jobs

Global Swiss bank UBS AG failed to settle U.S. charges of helping wealthy American customers dodge taxes, setting the stage for at least another five days of tense negotiations over a case that goes to the heart of Switzerland's famed bank secrecy laws.

Stocks rallied on Friday, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 to a 10-month high as the July jobs report was less bleak than feared and underpinned hopes the economy was on track for recovery.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell in July for the first time in 15 months as employers cut far fewer jobs than expected, giving the clearest indication yet that the economy was turning around from a deep recession.