UNITED STATES

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as energy shares dropped on worries about weak oil demand, and banks slipped as investors took recent profits in the sector.

Plans by the United States to tackle climate change through a cap and trade scheme must learn from the mistakes of Europe if they are to avoid giving away multi-billion-dollar windfalls to industry.

General Motors Corp said Friday it will drop about 1,600 U.S. dealers as it struggles to slash billions of dollars in operating costs and debt ahead of an anticipated bankruptcy filing by the end of the month.

The U.S. economy has pulled back from the edge of the abyss but the recovery will be very slow as Americans' find an equilibrium between the often voracious consumption of past years and a new-found focus on savings, Federal Reserve policy-makers said on Friday..

The United Nations took a step toward a new climate treaty on Friday by publishing the first draft negotiating texts to help bridge a great gulf between options for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp disputed on Friday a report that said Chairman Sheila Bair believes some U.S. bank chief executives will be replaced in the next couple of months as regulators assess lenders' financial strength.

Stocks stumbled in choppy trading on Friday as energy shares dropped on worries about weak demand, offsetting stronger-than-expected economic data.

Oil refiners would be given 2 percent of greenhouse gas emission permits under a proposed climate change bill that Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are writing, according to a document describing that legislation.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp chairman Sheila Bair said some U.S. bank chief executives will be replaced in the next couple of months as regulators assess lenders' financial strength, Bloomberg News said on Friday, citing a television interview to be broadcast this weekend.

General Motors Corp said Friday it will drop about 1,600 U.S. dealers as it struggles to slash billions of dollars in operating costs and debt ahead of an anticipated bankruptcy filing by the end of the month.

Words matter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.That's why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to say two-state solution could make for a rocky start in U.S. President Barack Obama's first major foray into Middle East diplomacy.

The European Union joined international criticism of Myanmar's military rulers on Friday for pressing new charges against detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Japan's Toshiba Corp said it sued Imation Corp and several recordable DVD manufacturers and distributors, claiming they are infringing on its patents.

Shares of several life insurers, including Hartford Financial and Lincoln Financial Group , rose on Friday after the companies got a preliminary green light to participate in a U.S. funding program.

Struggling No. 1 U.S. trucking company YRC Worldwide Inc plans to seek $1 billion in bailout money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to help it cover pension obligations, a move analysts say is unlikely to succeed as the company has no financial charter.

Stocks slipped in choppy trading on Friday, as sliding crude oil prices prompted some selling in the energy sector and bank shares fell following a two-month run-up.

The video game, once considered recession-resistant, and console manufacturing sector are beginning to show signs from the economic strain.

U.S. consumer confidence rose in early May to its strongest since the September failure of Lehman Brothers, with rising expectations the economy may be in the last stages of the recession, a survey showed on Friday.

The global renewable energy sector grew in 2008 as power capacity and new investments both jumped 16 percent last year and for the first time ever, more renewable energy than conventional power capacity was added in the European Union and United States, two of the world’s major economies.

General Motors Corp plans to drop about 1,600 U.S. dealers as it struggles to slash billions of dollars in operating costs and debt ahead of an anticipated bankruptcy filing by the end of the month.

Stocks rose on Friday as unchanged consumer prices, a slower pace in the decline in industrial output and stronger-than-expected data on consumer sentiment reinforced hopes the recession is easing.