UNITED STATES

A day after President George W. Bush cited enough progress in Iraq to justify U.S. troop reductions, the White House told Congress on Friday that Iraqi leaders had failed to meet half of their key goals.

Flash memory makers, whose products are used in some some of the most popular consumer electronics devices - including cell phones, video cameras and digital music players - are are once again in the sights of federal prosecutors.

Barclays won shareholder support today for its €62 billion (£42 billion) bid to acquire ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, but said that it was not committed to a deal at any price.

Stocks edged up slightly on Friday as expectations of an interest rate cut off-set concerns of a weakening U.S. housing market.

Italy may soon become Europe's next frontier for solar energy as new incentives prompt investors to bet on higher returns than in Germany, which has less sun but is currently the hub of a growing global market.

Alcatel-Lucent's revenue warning is raising worries about weaker U.S. wireless network spending, which could also hurt other communication equipment makers such as Nortel Networks Corp.

Shares of Northern Rock Plc's plunged after the mortgage lender said it was unable to line up short-term loans from other financial institutions, and received emergency funding from the Bank of England.

The dollar edged up against the yen on Friday but remained near a record low against the euro as consumers braced for what is expected to be the first reduction in U.S. interest rates in four years next week.

Oil fell on Friday after supply concerns and tight inventories pushed prices to a record above $80 a barrel for the third consecutive day.

Shares of U.S. new home builder Hovnanian Enterprises rose nearly 10 percent on Friday amid an ongoing housing downturn on buzz about a weekend sale which starts today.

Deutsche Telekom has clinched an exclusive deal with Apple Inc to sell the coveted iPhone in Germany, an industry source told Reuters.

Bank of America sold 230 billion yen ($2 billion) of global bonds on Friday, sources said, joining a handful of major banks that have sought to raise cash in Japan's stable credit markets.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday that it will take time to work through the problems contributing to current financial market turmoil but expressed confidence U.S. growth will not be derailed.

Merrill Lynch & Co warned on Friday that shaky credit markets forced the world's largest brokerage to adjust the value of securities linked to risky subprime mortgages and other products, a move that could hurt third-quarter profit.

Wall Street grew anxious on Friday after news that Britain's central bank was forced to rescue mortgage lender Northern Rock, suggesting a global credit crisis was spreading.

British banks have been borrowing unusually large amounts from the European Central Bank due to the Bank of England's reluctance to make extra funds available, a German newspaper reported on Friday.

Retail sales and industrial output eked out smaller-than-expected gains in August, according to data on Friday that kept in place expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week. The reports showed signs of economic softness but the picture was not uniformly bleak. A drop in gasoline prices helped curb the sales retail gain, but helped hold a gauge of consumer confidence steady in early September.

China will work with the United States to ensure the safety of exported toys and other goods, a top Chinese official said, but Beijing still insists it is not solely to blame in recent safety scandals.

A U.S. Senate decision to block funding for a test program to let Mexico's long-haul trucks operate in the United States uses outdated safety fears to mask protectionism, Mexican truckers and the U.S. government say.

Very efficient coal-fired power plants will be able to sell carbon offsets under the Kyoto Protocol, in an expansion of project eligibility under the carbon trading scheme, U.N. official Jose Miguez said.

Major U.S. indexes started off the day slightly lower on Friday as August retail sales disappointed while the subprime crisis extended overseas as the Bank of England rescued mortgage lender Northern Rock.