UNITED STATES

Pilots of a Comair jet that crashed in Kentucky, killing 49 people, failed to recognize obvious signs they were on the wrong runway -- one that was too short for safe takeoff, U.S. investigators said on Thursday.

Sony Corp. currently has no plans for a further price cut to its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console following a $100 cut in the U.S., the electronics conglomerate's president said on Friday.

The yen hit a three-month high against the dollar and a six-week high versus the euro on Friday as a sell-off in credit and stock markets forced investors to cut back on risky carry trades.

Mexico will use $206 million confiscated in what officials call the world's biggest drug cash seizure to fund programs for addicts and strengthen the justice system, the government said on Thursday.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 20-1 on Thursday to give the U.S. government new tools to press China to raise the value of its currency, but the Bush administration said it opposed the bill.

Gap Inc. on Thursday named Glenn Murphy as its new chief executive and chairman, giving a respected former Canadian drug chain chief with no significant fashion industry experience the mandate to turn around the world's largest apparel retailer.

A patient who became ill following two experimental gene therapy injections for arthritis has died and U.S. health regulators are investigating the cause, officials said on Thursday.

Google Inc. has made its biggest move yet on the U.S. mobile Web market by signing a deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. that positions the Internet company to build services to run on Sprint's planned WiMAX high-speed wireless network.

Fourteen major shipping lines reached a tentative contract deal on Thursday with clerical workers for cargo terminals at Los Angeles and Long Beach, averting a threatened strike at the two busiest U.S. seaports.

Sales of new U.S. homes dropped more than expected in June, while orders for long-lasting U.S.-made goods were weaker than analysts forecast, according to reports on Thursday that raised fresh concerns about the economy.

Global wind power capacity rose by nearly 26 percent last year, generating electricity equivalent to nearly 33 million passenger cars, Worldwatch Institute reported.

The bottom fell out from the U.S. stock market on Thursday with major indexes down about 2 percent on worries about the housing market and corporate credit.

Chrysler Group said on Thursday it would begin offering a lifetime powertrain warranty on almost all of its new vehicles to increase sales and address a longtime concern of dealers.

U.S. telecoms and Internet search leader Google are in an all-out air battle to shape the future of wireless communications on a soon to be available piece of airwaves real estate once television departs to go digital in 2009.

Oil fell more than $1 on Thursday, erasing an earlier rally as a drop in U.S. stock markets raised concerns about demand growth in the world's top consumer.

Moscow has delayed the start-up of Iran's first nuclear power station to 2008 because Tehran has fallen behind with payments for the Bushehr plant, a top Russian official said on Thursday.

Democrat John Edwards said on Thursday if elected president he will try to rewrite the U.S. tax code, repealing tax breaks for wealthier Americans and funneling some of the money to low-income families.

Agricultural scientists unveiled a cheap kit on Thursday to let African farmers test crops for a deadly poison that makes them unfit to eat and costs the continent millions of dollars in lost exports.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects to drill in the Arctic off the north coast of Alaska this year, despite legal challenges from environmentalists and native groups, its chief executive said on Thursday.

The dollar fell on Thursday, dropping to nearly three-month lows against the yen, after June U.S. new home sales came in below expectations, adding to widespread fears about credit market problems.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. on Thursday reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit, citing cost controls, price increases in North America and the European launch of Coke Zero, and the bottler raised its full-year outlook.