UNITED STATES

Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said on Friday he will resign, effective immediately, from the unit of the Walt Disney Co to pursue new adventures.

One of the best-known auto industry executives in the world has fallen on hard times.

The United States and Air Canada appeared on Friday to have settled a spat over charter flights, which had threatened to disrupt the upcoming National Hockey League season.

A fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats who was charged last month with defrauding Citigroup Inc is being sued by HSBC for deceiving it into lending him $100 million.

President Barack Obama's media blitz on U.S. healthcare reform has prompted charges that he is risking overexposure, but the very public offensive could be a perfect prescription for his top domestic priority.

Microsoft Corp's board on Friday approved a proposal to allow shareholders to vote on its executives' compensation, as U.S. corporations' pay policies come under scrutiny in the wake of the financial crisis.

Four well-targeted films hit domestic multiplexes Friday, but the weekend forecast suggests prospects are sunniest for the 3D animated feature Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

A U.S. federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed three Parmalat SpA fraud lawsuits against Bank of America Corp and the auditing firm Grant Thornton LLP over their roles in the Italian dairy company's 2003 collapse.

After seeing Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith's earnest, smart documentary about Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers controversy, viewers not old enough when it unfolded might wonder why the story has played such a minor role in popular histories of the era. This informative account deserves more than the very limited theatrical release it's likely to get. The Most Dangerous Man in America: ...

New York's fee increases for cigarette-selling shops were temporarily blocked by a state judge, a retail association said on Friday, leaving the current $100-a-year charge in effect for now.

The top U.S. communications regulator plans to unveil proposals Monday for ensuring Web traffic is not slowed or blocked based on its content, sources familiar with the contents of the speech said on Friday.

Investors in U.S. mortgage bonds backed by the Federal Housing Administration own one of the safest bets on Wall Street, yet mounting defaults on the underlying collateral are seen posing risks.

The U.S. soap opera Guiding Light -- the world's longest-running TV drama -- aired its final episode on Friday, ending a 72 year run.

World leaders will probably agree next week to work together when the time comes to end their massive economic stimulus programs and they were also moving on Friday toward a stiffer line on bankers' pay.

EU regulators should look into the book settlement that Google Inc reached with a group of U.S. writers and publishers last October because the deal will create a de facto monopoly, European opponents to the book deal said on Friday.

The dollar rebounded from a one-year low against the euro on Friday as waning risk appetite cut demand for higher-yielding currencies and boosted safe-haven demand for the greenback. Sterling declined across the board, hitting a near five-month low euro on renewed concerns about the UK banking sector.

President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said on Friday that China's massive holdings of U.S. government bonds are a source of mutual benefit to both countries.

Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi launched a website on Friday with the aim of proving his innocence in the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Scotland in which 270 people died.

Google Inc unveiled a new advertising exchange that draws on its search prowess to challenge Yahoo Inc's grip on the market for online display ads.

U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell did not win any breakthroughs in shuttle diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians this week but the process will continue, the State Department said on Friday.

Next week is slated to be the biggest for initial public offerings in the United States in nearly two years -- and some say the resurgence could be sustainable.