UNITED STATES

Stocks rose slightly on Thursday as investors focused on stronger-than-expected sales by key retailers in August, offsetting weak labor-market data.

New applications for jobless benefits in the United States fell last week, while activity in the services sector was at its strongest in nearly a year in August, suggesting a modest recovery from recession had started.

Sprint Nextel Corp plans to sell HTC Corp's Hero cell phone based on Google Inc's Android operating system, intensifying competition in the crowded U.S. smartphone market dominated by Apple Inc's iPhone.

Sony's Walkman digital music player outsold the Apple iPod in Japan last week - the first that has happened in more than four years, according to Bloomberg, citing data from Tokyo-based research firm BCN.

World Trade Organization judges will rule on Friday for the first time on whether the European Union handed out illegal subsidies to Airbus in a verdict that could affect planemakers worldwide.

European Union antitrust regulators launched an in-depth probe on Thursday into Oracle's $7 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems on concerns the deal could dent competition in the database market.

Author Cormac McCarthy's haunting vision of a desolate, post-apocalyptic world in

The Obama administration will spend an additional $2.7 billion to buy swine flu drugs and vaccines, just days after White House science advisers called the pandemic

The U.S. services sector shrank again in August, but an index measuring activity was at its highest in nearly a year, according to an industry report released on Thursday.

U.S. antitrust officials on Thursday approved plans by General Motors Co GM.UL to acquire certain assets of bankrupt Delphi Corp (DPHIQ.PK).

U.S. network equipment maker Ciena Corp reported a quarterly loss on Thursday on weaker technology spending by phone companies, but the results were better than expected and its shares rose 5.7 percent.

Stocks edged higher on Thursday as better than-expected-sales from key retailers in August offset continued weakness in the labor market.

New York's Empire State Building is doing it, Chicago's Willis Tower is about to start and many more landlords and companies are expected to undertake building retrofits to reduce energy costs.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, but the prior period's figure was revised up, according to a government report on Thursday that highlighted the fragility of the labor market.

NEW YORK - The U.S. commercial paper market expanded for a third straight week in another sign that the economy may be growing again as a two-year credit crunch eases, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

The global recession is coming to an end faster than thought a few months ago and may already be over, but recovery will rely on massive government spending and low interest rates for some time, the OECD said on Thursday.

Ford Motor Co's (F.N) Canadian subsidiary, seeking to maintain sales momentum, said on Wednesday it will offer up to C$3,000 ($2,700) toward the purchase of a new Ford to customers who turn in a vehicle 15 years or older.

Thermal coal oversupply in the Atlantic market and logistics costs have led to very poor performance at Brazilian miner Vale's Colombian coal mines, a Vale official said on Wednesday.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed on Thursday any threat of new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, a day after world powers pressed Tehran to meet them this month for talks on the nuclear dispute.

Costco Wholesale Corp on Thursday reported a smaller-than-expected 2 percent fall in August same-store sales, in a sign that the impact of the financial crisis is waning on U.S. consumer spending.

Family Dollar Stores Inc's fourth-quarter sales growth fell short of expectations, leading its shares to fall 9 percent in premarket trading even though the retailer stood by its fourth-quarter profit forecast.