UNITED STATES

CHICAGO - The U.S. economy, stuck in one of the worst recessions in decades, can start to recover this year, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday.

Merrill Lynch discovered a trading irregularity during a recent investigation of the troubled investment bank's London trading positions, the company said on Friday.

South Korea told the North on Friday to immediately withdraw a threat it made against the South's commercial airliners, which has forced them to stop flying near the airspace of the reclusive communist state.

Iran's investigation of Iranian-American freelance journalist Roxana Saberi has been completed and she will be freed soon, a official from the prosecutor's office said on Friday.

Pakistani authorities said on Friday they were making progress in the investigation of this week's attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team as suspicion settled on home-grown militants.

When Palestinian Sharif Attoun asked bulldozer driver Ziad Dabash to flatten his home in Arab East Jerusalem, his friend was heartbroken.

Thousands of people protested in Khartoum on Friday after preachers condemned an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of war crimes in Darfur.

Stocks rose on Friday as a climb in commodity prices sent shares of natural resource companies higher and a dividend cut at Wells Fargo lifted banks, offsetting more bleak news about the labor market.

General Electric Co shares rose 5 percent on Friday after analysts at Merrill Lynch and BernsteinResearch said they did not see the U.S. conglomerate sharply marking down assets in its hefty finance arm in the near future.

Stocks rose at the open on Friday as a climb in commodity prices sent shares of natural resource companies higher, offsetting more bleak news about the labor market.

Citigroup plans to sell its 26 percent stake in Japanese online broker Monex Group Inc as part of the struggling U.S. bank's efforts to raise cash, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday.

Stocks headed for a slightly higher open on Friday, with shares of natural resource companies set to lead the charge as commodity prices rose, offsetting more bleak news about the labor market.

U.S. employers axed 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest in 25 years, as companies buckled under the strain of a recession that is showing no signs of ending, according to a government report.

H&R Block Inc posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as it charged more to prepare tax returns heading into the critical U.S. tax filing season.

Switzerland's bank secrecy remains secure, but the government wants to improve international cooperation on tax offenses, the finance ministry said on Friday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience on Friday never waste a good crisis, as she highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy intensive model.

Royal Bank of Scotland is retrenching to its core businesses and plans to exit up to 36 countries, but unpicking a decade of deals in the eye of a financial storm will be a long slog.

U.S. employers axed 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest in 25 years, as companies buckled under the strain of a recession that is showing no signs of ending, according to a government report.

U.S. hedge fund Citadel Investment Group LLC plans to roll out several new funds, including one with lower fees that will aim to make money on currencies, interest rates and other trades based on broad economic trends, the Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama is repeating George W. Bush's worst market mistakes, Forbes Inc Chief Executive Steve Forbes wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

With about three months to go, U.S. regulators say some consumers are still unprepared for the television industry switch to digital broadcasting, which will affect Americans who do not receive their signals through cable or satellite.