UNITED STATES

Oil prices fell 5 percent on Friday, extending a 10 percent crash on Thursday as fears about global economic recovery pushed investors to unwind commodities positions.

China, wielding its huge dollar holdings, on Friday pressed Washington to tackle its huge fiscal deficit and said it would raise the issue of discrimination against Chinese investors at high-level talks next week.

A new diplomatic fight has broken out between the U.S. and Pakistan over the custody of Amal al Sadah, one of Bin Laden's wives who was with him when the terror mastermind was killed.

Oil prices fell 5 percent on Friday, after a 10 percent crash on Thursday, as fears about global economic recovery pushed investors to further unwind commodities positions.

Brent crude dipped toward $107 a barrel on Friday and U.S. crude fell below $97, extending losses from a record rout in the previous session that wiped as much as 10 percent from the price.

Telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent stuck to its annual targets after posting in-line sales in the first quarter, helped by booming demand in North America and strong sales of wireless equipment.

A record-setting rout in commodity prices overnight showed signs of fizzling out on Friday, led by a small pullback in silver, while Asian equities consolidated near the day's lows as market players squared positions before U.S. payrolls data.

The CIA maintained a safe house in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad for a small team of spies who conducted extensive surveillance over a period of months on the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special Operations forces this week, according to a report in the Washington Post.

Brent crude rose 1.3 percent to more than $111 a barrel on Friday and U.S. crude climbed back above $100 as oil rebounded from a record rout in the previous session that wiped as much as 10 percent from the price.

China staked out areas of contention with the United States on Friday ahead of strategic talks in Washington next week, including the pace of yuan reform and concerns about U.S. debt levels, but Beijing also stressed the two sides' co-dependency.

A sharp overnight selloff in commodities petered out on Friday, led by a small pullback in silver, while Asian equities clawed back up from the day's lows as market players squared positions before U.S. payrolls data.

Slain terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden was plotting massive attacks on America when he was killed in his hideout in Pakistan, it has emerged. Sensitive information seized from Laden's residence by the US. Nay SEALs show that he had made elaborate plans for attacking U.S. cities like New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles on important days like July 4 and Christmas.

The early raid on Monday morning that killed world’s most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden carried out by US navy Seals has put them in a spotlight.

China reiterated on Friday that it is not deliberately seeking a trade surplus with the United States, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said, days before talks with the United States.

Oil prices rose by 1.3 percent on Friday as a weakened dollar sparked a rebound, but economic data expected during the US market hours could force the commodity south.

Brent crude rose by 1.3 percent to over $112 a barrel on Friday as a weaker dollar sparked a rebound from an overnight rout, but prices could head south again on mounting economic concerns.

Bank of America Corp made money in trading every day of the first quarter, and posted more than $25 million in trading-related revenue for practically all of those days, the company said on Thursday.

Credit Suisse was subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week for documents related to securitized home loans, according to court documents filed on Thursday by a bond insurer suing Credit Suisse.

Cisco Systems Inc CEO John Chambers, cutting back a bloated management bureaucracy he helped build, has kicked off a sweeping overhaul to revive the networking equipment maker's flagging fortunes.

Kraft Foods Inc reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by price increases, and said it likely will raise some prices even more this year.

New Yorkers and tourists alike gathered in the streets of Manhattan with the aim of catching a glimpse of President Barack Obama, who was visiting Ground Zero for the first time to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site just days after he announced that U.S. forces had killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.