UNITED STATES

U.S. mortgage rates fell below 5 percent for the first time in three weeks, a key level that may boost home loan demand and help the hard-hit housing market recover, a closely watched mortgage survey showed Thursday.

The enormous, stately Citadel, the former palace of several emperors of the Nguyen

A U.S. diplomat said on Thursday that Washington was fully committed to its alliance with Japan, as the two governments prepared for a visit by President Barack Obama that has been clouded by a feud over a U.S. Marine base.

U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday after a rise in business productivity and a drop in jobless claims lifted investor confidence in the economy, while strong results from Cisco bolstered tech stocks.

More than half of U.S. retail chains posted October sales that fell short of Wall Street's heightened expectations, raising doubts about a widespread recovery for the holiday season.

President Barack Obama told Native American leaders on Thursday, You will not be forgotten and promised to end U.S. government neglect and broken promises toward Indian tribes.

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company's search engine partnership with Yahoo would not be limited to the U.S. but would be introduced around the world, once it gets regulatory approval.

Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives hustled on Thursday to count votes and round up support for a sweeping healthcare overhaul that was headed to a close floor vote on Saturday.

U.S. mortgage rates fell below 5 percent for the first time in three weeks, a key level that may boost home loan demand and help the hard-hit housing market recover, a closely watched mortgage survey showed Thursday.

More than half of U.S. retail chains posted October sales that fell short of Wall Street's heightened expectations, raising doubts about a widespread recovery for the holiday season.

For many, many people, travel has a special lure, attraction, enchantment that calls to them, beckoning from far off lands. It's idealized by the image of a lone backpacker traversing Europe, Asia or South America, sleeping in hostels and hitchhiking if necessary.

U.S. stocks gained sharply on Thursday after an expansion in business productivity and a fall in jobless claims boosted investor confidence about the economy, while Cisco led gains in tech shares.

U.S. stocks gained sharply on Thursday after an expansion in business productivity and a fall in jobless claims boosted investor confidence about the economy, while Cisco led gains in tech shares.

Pakistani soldiers secured a fort captured from militants in the northwest of the country on Thursday and consolidated their positions on peaks around another insurgent base, the military said.

A controversial climate change bill cleared its first hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, allowing President Barack Obama to tout progress in the run-up to next month's global warming talks in Copenhagen.

Censorship of the Internet is open to challenge at the World Trade Organisation as it can restrict trade in services delivered online, a forthcoming study says.

Four former dealers at UBS plundered customer accounts to trade and dumped the resulting losses on them, Britain's financial regulator said, further denting the battered Swiss bank's reputation.

Deutsche Post DHL raised its 2009 outlook when posting third-quarter earnings that beat forecasts, saying on Thursday cost cuts were helping offset stubbornly weak volumes.

Fiat SpA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne on Wednesday delivered a long-awaited plan intended to turn around Chrysler over the next five years.

U.S. business productivity grew at its fastest clip in six years in the third quarter and new claims for jobless aid fell to a 10-month low last week, suggesting the labor market may be starting to bottom out.

Oil hovered above $80 a barrel after a steep decline in U.S. crude inventories sent prices up 1 percent the previous day, as doubts about the pace of economic recovery in the world's largest fuel consumer tempered the rally.