The Walt Disney Co. has agreed to sell its Miramax Films to an investor group for about $660 million, ending a 17-year association with the studio and a six-month bidding process.

Honda's quarterly profit ballooned to a record 272.4 billion yen and the carmaker raised its full year earnings forecast as sales grew in North America, Japan and the rest of Asia.

Samsung's quarterly profit surged to a record high as sales of semiconductors, flat panels and TVs climbed, but the electronics giant warned that intensifying competition in areas like mobile phones could dent earnings in coming quarters.

World markets fell Friday, overlooking strong earnings in Asia and Europe as Japanese shares tumbled on a strong yen and dour economic figures ahead of a key U.S. growth report.

President Barack Obama is going to the heart of the U.S. auto industry to push an important election-year claim: his administration's unpopular auto industry bailout has turned into an economic good-news story.

BP gas station owners across the country are divided over whether the oil giant stained by its handling of the Gulf spill should rebrand U.S. outlets as Amoco or another name as part of its effort to repair the company's badly damaged reputation.

EADS NV, the parent company of plane-maker Airbus, on Friday raised its outlook for 2010 -- despite a 61 percent drop in second quarter earnings -- as a resurgence in commercial aviation boosted hopes that a painful two-year downturn is over.

Alcatel-Lucent SA said Friday its net loss in the second quarter was a wider-than-expected euro184 million but that it remains on track for a targeted improvement in profitability this year.

Far-reaching aviation safety legislation developed in response to a deadly commuter airline crash in western New York last year was approved by the House late Thursday.

The already fragile economic recovery may be getting weaker. Economists expect the government to report Friday that economic growth slowed in the April-to-June quarter as consumers bought less, builders pulled back further, and cash-hungry state and local governments cut spending.

The already fragile economic recovery may be getting weaker. Economists expect the government to report Friday that economic growth slowed in the April-to-June quarter as consumers bought less, builders pulled back further, and cash-hungry state and local governments cut spending.

Researchers have uncovered new ways that criminals can spy on Internet users even if they're using secure connections to banks, online retailers or other sensitive Web sites.

Japan received a sobering reminder Friday of its fragile recovery: The jobless rate rose, deflation deepened, and factories made fewer cars and mobile phones.

The court-appointed trustee seeking to recover billions of dollars lost by jailed financier Bernard Madoff sued three entities Thursday to get back more than $30 million that he said the Madoff family had invested, mostly in oil and gas properties and technology companies.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he had opened a fraud investigation into how life insurers pay out benefits after policyholders die.

Kia Motors announced Friday that net profit rose 61 percent in the second quarter amid an increase in sales. Kia earned 557.8 billion won in the three months ended June 30, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Asian markets fell Friday, overlooking strong earnings from some of the region's biggest companies as Japanese shares tumbled on dour economic figures and a strong yen.

Google Inc. triggered a false alarm Thursday by posting a notice that its search engine and several other services had been cut off from mainland China -- a key market where the company has been locked in a high-profile battle over online censorship.

Google says its search engine and several other services are working normally in mainland China after previously reporting the service had been completely blocked.

Banking titan Citigroup Inc. is paying $75 million to settle civil charges that it misled investors about its potential losses from subprime mortgages as the housing bust hit in 2007.