UNITED STATES

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in about 17 months, suggesting the economy might be on the cusp of creating jobs.

About 13 million Time Warner Cable Inc subscribers were to lose most Fox programing at midnight on Thursday unless the cable service provider reached a last-minute deal to pay fees to News Corp to broadcast the shows.

U.S. stocks ended 2009 on Thursday with their best gains since 2003, with optimism about the economy's recovery pushing the benchmark Standard & Poor's index up 23.5 percent for the year.

U.S. auto sales are expected to end 2009 on a slight upswing in December, capping a year that saw General Motors and Chrysler collapse into bankruptcy and China overtake the United States as the biggest car market.

U.S. stocks closed out 2009 on Thursday with their first annual advance in two years, underpinned by strength in technology and natural resource shares on bets that the recovery will brighten the profit outlook.

Iranian hardline authorities accused opposition leaders on Thursday of links to foreign enemies and warned they would be shown no mercy unless they changed course.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed an Egyptian-hosted summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a possible way to resume stalled peace talks, Israeli officials said on Thursday.

Oil finished the year above $79 a barrel on Thursday, climbing a whopping 78 percent in 2009 and notching the biggest annual gain in a decade.

The United Nations will withdraw some of its staff from Pakistan because of safety concerns, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Thursday, highlighting security threats posed by increasingly brazen Taliban militants.

A Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet on Christmas Day began his journey in Ghana and spent less than 30 minutes in Nigeria's Lagos airport, the Nigerian government said on Thursday.

Wells Fargo & Co said on Thursday it gave Chief Executive John Stumpf and three other top executives stock payouts worth a total of about $25 million, but it said none of these executives will receive a cash bonus for 2009.

If you recently tweeted about how you were chillaxin for the holiday, take note: Fifteen particularly over- or mis-used words and phrases have been declared shovel-ready to be unfriended by a U.S. university's annual list of terms that deserve to be banned.

U.S. trucking giant YRC Worldwide said it averted bankruptcy by finally negotiating a critical debt-for-equity exchange that wipes out $470 million in debt and gives the struggling company access to needed credit as it restructures.

U2 may have suffered disappointing sales for their new album, but the Irish rockers were easily the most popular draw on the North American concert circuit this year, according to data issued on Wednesday.

Bankrupt shopping mall owner General Growth Properties Inc, which is seeking to surface from bankruptcy protection next year, posted a narrower net loss in November from the month before, according to a monthly regulatory filing.

Oil rose toward $80 a barrel in thin holiday trade on Thursday, poised for the biggest annual climb in a decade, a year after posting huge falls as the global economic crisis sapped demand.

Stocks fell on Thursday, extending earlier losses after a reading on Midwest business growth was revised downward, though it remained in expansionary territory.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, extending earlier losses after a reading on Midwest business growth was revised downward, though it remained in expansionary territory.

Bankrupt shopping mall owner General Growth Properties Inc , which is seeking to surface from bankruptcy protection next year, posted a narrower net loss in November from the month before, according to a monthly regulatory filing.

The U.S. commercial paper market expanded for the second week in a row in the latest week, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

U.S. mortgage rates rose in the latest week for a fourth straight week and hit the highest level since August, a closely watched mortgage survey showed on Thursday.