UNITED STATES

Asian stocks rose on Friday and the yen slipped, after upbeat results from JPMorgan and Google kept a revival of risk taking alive, with Asian shares outside Japan on track for a sixth week of gains.

Volkswagen AG may have passed Toyota Motor Corp as the world's top selling automaker in the first quarter, helped by robust demand in its main markets, while its Japanese rival suffered sharp declines, partial company data suggests.

Volkswagen AG may have passed Toyota Motor Corp as the world's top selling automaker in the first quarter, helped by robust demand in its main markets, while its Japanese rival suffered sharp declines, partial company data suggests.

The rebuilding of New York's World Trade Center site may take up to three decades to complete because the demand for office space has shrunk with Wall Street's falling fortunes.

A bankrupt General Motors Corp could be reorganized in as little as a month, a top bankruptcy attorney said on Thursday, and if the case lingered then a tremendous sinkhole could open in the U.S. economy, a Delaware bankruptcy judge said.

Two top Federal Reserve policy-makers took divergent views on the U.S. economy on Thursday, with the head of the Atlanta Fed seeing a return to growth later this year, while the head of the San Francisco Fed saw the potential for an even deeper contraction.

Top executives of credit card companies will meet Obama administration officials next Thursday at the White House, as the industry faces the possibility of legislation aimed at curbing deceptive practices, sources familiar with the plans said.

Tentative signs of improvement in recent economic data do not mean the U.S. economy is out of the woods, Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, said on Thursday.

US Treasuries pulled back for a second session after economic data releases for Thursday demonstrated signs that the US economy may be finding points of stability.

Royal Bank of Canada, Canada's largest bank, said it will take a charge of roughly $850 million (C$1.03 billion) because the value of its international businesses has declined, reducing second-quarter earnings by an equivalent amount.

Overall U.S. video game sales fell 17 percent in March to $1.43 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, a revealing figure for an industry that had so far shown resilience in the economic downturn.

U.S. Vice President Biden detailed on Thursday the Department of Energy's plan to develop the smart-grid by distributing about $4 billion to utility companies and other groups involved into the task.

Senator John Kerry said after talks with senior Sudanese officials on Thursday Khartoum would allow some foreign aid to be restored in its western Darfur region but that it was not sufficient.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon will collaborate in the US-Mexico Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change, a new association to promote renewable energy and lower carbon output, the White House announced Thursday night.

The Federal Reserve and other regulators will release the results of bank stress-test on the 19 biggest U.S. banks on May 4, a central bank official said.

President Barack Obama opened the door on Thursday to more changes in U.S.-Cuba policy, but based them on Cuban reciprocation that analysts said may be difficult to get.

Americans are growing less pessimistic about the recession-hit U.S. economy's prospects, but they remain worried about job security, a Gallup survey showed on Thursday.

The number of Americans claiming jobless aid hit a record in early April and groundbreaking for new homes slumped last month, but a top Federal Reserve official voiced hope the recession was ending.

Investment funds are battling with large banks over the fine print of a U.S. housing rescue plan that will determine many of the final winners and losers in the recent housing bust.

General Growth Properties Inc, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, declared bankruptcy on Thursday in the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history.

Overall U.S. video game sales fell 17 percent in March to $1.43 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, a revealing figure for an industry that had so far shown resilience in the economic downturn.