UNITED STATES

(Corrects in 2nd paragraph to say 15 orders were canceled, not 30)

German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said in a newspaper interview on Friday that discussions about troubled car maker Opel remained open but that a solution needed to be found fast.

Freddie Mac , the second-largest U.S. home funding company, on Friday said its mortgage investment portfolio shrank by an annualized 9.9 percent rate in May, while delinquencies on loans it guarantees accelerated.

U.S. consumer spending rose last month for the first time since February as government stimulus pushed incomes sharply higher, the Commerce Department said on Friday, supporting the view the economy was close to pulling out of recession.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.1 percent at 5:37 a.m. EDT.

KB Home, the No. 5 U.S. homebuilder, posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on Friday, but said it saw signs that negative trends in the housing market were moderating.

China on Thursday stepped up accusations that Google is spreading obscene content over the Internet, a day after U.S. officials urged Beijing to abandon plans for controversial filtering software on new computers.

Oil ticked up above $70 a barrel on Friday after Nigerian rebels said they blew up a wellhead in a Royal Dutch Shell oilfield and as equity markets rallied on perceptions the global recession was easing.

Maybe the future of climate friendly energy won't have as much to do with wind and solar energy as current booms in those technologies suggest.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced on Thursday $3.9 billion in smart grid funding aimed at making power transmission around the country more flexible.

Oil rose toward $71 a barrel on Friday after Nigerian rebels said they blew up a wellhead in a Royal Dutch Shell oilfield and as equity markets rallied on perceptions the global recession was easing.

Technology to capture carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants and store them underground will be ready by 2015 and could be in wide use in the United States by 2020, according to the top executive at American Electric Power Co Inc.

The U.S. House of Representatives is poised to vote on Friday on one of the most significant environmental bills in history -- a sprawling measure that aims to wean industry off of carbon-emitting fuels blamed for global warming.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, facing pressure to resign over an extramarital affair, said on Thursday he would repay state funds he used for an official trip to Argentina during which he met his mistress.

Swiss bank UBS unveiled plans to raise 3.8 billion Swiss francs ($3.5 billion) in a share sale and forecast a second-quarter loss, sending its stock lower on Friday as analysts said problems remained.

Oil rose above $71 a barrel on Friday after Nigerian rebels said they blew up a wellhead in a Royal Dutch Shell oilfield and as equity markets rallied on optimism the global recession was easing.

Oil rose to $71 a barrel on Friday after Nigerian rebels said they blew up a wellhead in a Royal Dutch Shell oilfield in the Delta state and as equity markets rallied on optimism the recession was easing.

Oil climbed toward $71 a barrel on Friday, extending a 2 percent gain the day before, after rebel attacks on Nigerian oil facilities disrupted supply and equity markets rallied on optimism the global recession was ebbing.

Palm Inc posted a narrower-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter loss on Thursday, and highlighted strong demand for its just-unveiled Pre smartphone.

Oil surged above $70 a barrel on Friday, extending a 2 percent gain the day before, after rebel attacks on Nigerian oil facilities disrupted supply and equity markets rallied on optimism the global recession was ebbing.

Communist Cuba may boast a doctor on every block and schools for all its children, but when it comes to telephones, computers and the Internet it lags behind other countries in the hemisphere, a government report showed on Thursday.