IBT Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON - A U.S. court struck down a rule limiting a cable company to no more than 30 percent of the pay television market, a victory for companies like Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) that could spark a wave of industry mergers.

NEW YORK - The number of rigs drilling for natural gas in the United Stases rose four this week to 699, the sixth straight weekly gain after sinking in mid-July to the lowest level in more than seven years, according to a report on Friday by Baker Hughes in Houston.

CHICAGO - Ample supplies of U.S. soft red winter wheat and lackluster demand for the grain will promote big first-day deliveries against the September Chicago Board of wheat contract on Monday, traders and analysts said.

DETROIT - U.S. government incentives likely pushed U.S. auto sales to a 20-month high in August, leaving analysts and the industry guessing how hard a landing to expect with the Cash for Clunkers program now exhausted.

LOS ANGELES - Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years, Whitney Houston sings on what is, in fact, her latest comeback album.

LOS ANGELES - Wildfires near Los Angeles are close enough for Southern California Edison workers to keep a watchful eye on high-voltage powerlines, but through Friday morning only about 1,000 customers were without power, a spokesman for the utility said.

The U.S. climate bill would cost Valero, the country's largest oil refiner, more annually than it has ever made in a year, forcing it to warn consumers at filling stations that fuel prices will rise, the company's top government affairs official said.

NEW YORK - A U.S. government agency has sued United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N), the world's largest package delivery company, for allegedly violating federal law by limiting workers' ability to take medical leave.

U.S. Steel is restarting the blast furnace at its Hamilton, Ontario, mill after a nine-month shutdown, a company said on Friday, saying that demand for the metal was picking up.

NEW YORK - U.S. copper futures surged to prices unseen in 11-months after robust U.S. consumer spending data suggested demand for the metal might increase, then closed off that peak at still-lofty levels as many players squared their books at month's end, analysts said.

WASHINGTON - U.S. regulators will examine a controversial practice that allows trading firms to shave valuable microseconds off trading times, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday.

WASHINGTON - A U.S. court struck down a rule limiting a cable company to no more than 30 percent of the pay television market, a victory for companies like Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) that could spark a wave of industry mergers.

NEW YORK/MEXICO CITY - A U.S. federal judge is expected to decide on Monday whether Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) or India's Sterlite Industries (STRL.BO) will control Asarco LLC, bringing the U.S. copper miner a step closer to leaving bankruptcy after four years.

A U.S. appeals court on Friday threw out a regulation that has limited cable companies to serving up to 30 percent of the country's subscription television market, a big victory for operators like Comcast Corp and Cablevision Corp.

The owners of the New York Mets will be forced to sell the pro baseball team due to huge losses suffered in the Bernard Madoff swindle, the author of a book about the disgraced money manager said on Friday.

Oil prices slipped below $72 on Friday as losses on Wall Street and gains in the U.S. dollar dragged on commodities markets.

A weekly measure of future U.S. economic growth slipped in the latest week, though its yearly growth rate surged to a 38-year high that suggests chances of a double-dip recession are slim.

Tiffany & Co posted higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on cost cuts and slightly recovering demand for jewelry, and raised its full-year outlook, sending its shares up 8.7 percent.

Jaycee Lee Dugard,29, reunited with her mother, sister and another relative on Thursday after her family had struggled 18 years without knowing if they would see her alive again.

Phillip Garrido, the man who kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard, had a blog called 'Voices revealed' which rather reveals his distorted mind.

The Great California Garage Sale is happening Friday August 28 and Saturday August 29, an effort from California's government to sell surplus and unclaimed property at a warehouse in Sacramento.

Pastor Steven Anderson's sermon titled Why I hate Barack Obama posted online on his church's website, has caused controversy because he says on it he would like to see Obama, the President of the U.S. melt like a snail.

Jaycee Lee Dugard, 29 could have been rescued earlier by various law enforcement agencies including one which responded to a 911 call from a neighbor in 2006 to report that two girls and a woman were living in Phillip Garrido's -the captor- backyard.

A shocking number of pictures from the property where Jaycee Lee Dugard was held kidnapped for 18 years, have emerged lately revealing the miserable conditions in which she lived before her rescue this week.

Ted Kennedy Jr. shared a touching testimony of his father Sen. Edward Ted Kennedy during a funeral service at a Roman Catholic Basilica in Boston Saturday following his death last Tuesday at age 77 following a battle with cancer.

Gabriel Gonzaga astonished the audience when he fought violently Chris Tuchscherer at the UFC 102 event Saturday night at Rose Garden.

Jon Gosselin's first interview after the split from Kate Gosselin will air sometime next week in Good Morning America, according to EOnline.

Walt Disney Co. announced on Monday it will acquire Marvel Entertainment Inc. and its portfolio of more than 5,000 characters including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Fantastic Four and the X-Men.

Republicans and Democrats came together on Friday to honor Senator Edward Kennedy, the standard-bearer for liberal Democrats and patriarch of America's fabled political dynasty, at a private memorial service.