UNITED STATES

Democrats in the House of Representatives won a key test vote on Friday 217-205 to pass the climate bill, the Associated Press reports today.

Signs that home prices may have bottomed have stirred hope on Wall Street that the economy is on the mend, yet tight credit and a new foreclosure wave cast doubt on any looming housing revival.

General Electric Co plans to open a research center in the economically ailing U.S. state of Michigan, where it will develop new manufacturing technologies.

The end of the decline in real estate is nowhere near, and yet U.S. banks may feel it shrewd to hold onto troubled loans in the sector rather than sell them or take losses.

Less than a week before a deadline for PC makers to install censorship software on all computers sold in China, some say they are prepared to implement it even as they quietly continue to lobby against it.

Countries at the World Trade Organisation complained on Friday about China's proposed Internet filter rules which the United States deemed draconian and the European Union urged it to scrap.

The U.S. House of Representatives' vote on a major climate bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act is streaming live in online video Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday his hopes for a direct dialogue with Iran had been affected by what he described as the brutality of Tehran's outrageous crackdown on protesters in the aftermath of its disputed election.

General Electric Co Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said on Friday the United States needs to refocus its economy on manufacturing and exporting if it wishes to recover from a brutal recession.

AIG's American Life Insurance Company will restructure its western European businesses in order to generate cost savings, according to an internal document obtained by Reuters.

A U.S. recovery is likely to begin this autumn, the worst of the crisis has passed and it is reasonable to be optimistic for 2010, internet search giant Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday.

Following the tragic death of Michael Jackson on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, Jackson's biographer and family friend said a custody battle for his three children began between Michael's mother and the children's nanny, according to reports.

Allen Stanford, who faces criminal charges related to a massive Ponzi scheme, was back in a Texas courthouse on Friday waiting to find out whether he can be released on $500,000 bail as the government fights for continued detention of the accused swindler.

Boeing Co , the world's No.2 plane-maker, suffered another heavy blow to its Dreamliner project on Friday when a major customer, Australia's Qantas Airways , scrapped and deferred orders for 30 new planes.

Michael Jackson’s older brother, Jermaine, spoke on Thursday evening to the press about the sudden death of the King of pop.

IBM accused its former mergers and acquisitions chief of misusing resources, as part of a lawsuit that seeks to remove him from his new job at rival Dell Inc.

U.S. consumer spending in May rose for the first time since February as government stimulus measures boosted income, while a consumer sentiment index in June edged higher, bolstering the view that the economy was close to emerging from recession.

U.S. consumer spending in May rose for the first time since February as government stimulus measures boosted income, while a consumer sentiment index in June edged higher, bolstering the view that the economy was close to emerging from recession.

The U.S. House of Representatives could pass a major climate bill called the American Clean Energy and Security Act on Friday afternoon, a measure that will boost the development of clean energy sources in the country and increase commitment from the United States in the fight against global warming.

U.S. stocks faltered on Friday as weak oil futures pressured energy shares and a jump in the savings rate raised worries the economic recovery will not make much headway if consumers continue to be frugal.

The new bosses at Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline are playing a cautious acquisition game, 13 and seven months respectively after taking control of the two big European drugmakers.