Orbital Sciences Corp, a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp, has been awarded a $1.1 billion contract by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Pentagon said on Friday. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

By Gabriella Borter, Fabrizio Bensch and Patpicha Tanakasempipat

Japan's SoftBank Group is evaluating around 40 Brazilian companies with high growth potential for possible investments, the group's head in Brazil, André Maciel, said on Friday.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrapped up three days of discussions with Washington movers and shakers on Friday, with few if any indications he had won new "friends" to help the top social media company deal with multiple probes by Congress, state attorneys general and federal regulators.

Two major Democratic presidential candidates plan to visit striking General Motors workers in Detroit in the coming days as a five-day-old labor dispute threatens to enter its second week.

* China agriculture delegation scraps U.S. farm visit to Montana

Uber Technologies Inc sued New York City on Friday, seeking to void a new rule limiting how much time its drivers can spend cruising streets in busy areas of Manhattan without passengers, saying it threatens to undermine the company's ride-sharing model.

Speculators boosted their net long bets on the U.S. dollar in the latest week to a five-week high, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net long dollar position was $15.29 billion in the week ended Sept. 17. The net long dollar position had stood at $13.33 billion last week. To be long a currency means traders believe it will

* Indexes end: Dow -0.59%, S&P 500 -0.49%, Nasdaq -0.80% (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments to close)

* Geopolitical tensions rise as Saudi coalition attacks Yemen