CALIFORNIA

The top U.S. securities regulator has formed an advisory panel of fast-growing companies and venture capital funds as it reviews whether it needs to update rules on how private companies can access public investors.

Gumby's bandit days appear to be over.

Yahoo's board will meet on Wednesday to discuss a wide range of options facing the troubled Internet firm, including the search for a new chief executive, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

Oaktree Capital Management Funds sent a letter to Jakks Pacific (JAKK.O) on Tuesday, outlining its intention to buy the toymaker and take it private in a $670 million deal, after repeated rebuffs from the company since the offer was made in March.

U.S. solar company SunPower Corp (SPWRA.O) is actively looking at acquisitions that would complement its residential and commercial project businesses, Chief Executive Tom Werner said on Tuesday.

A recent extrasolar planet haul has identified one earth-like planet that exists only 36 light-years away from the Earth. The announcement about the discovery of this planet was made by European astronauts on Monday.

As each day passes, the anxiety to get the iPhone 5 is soaring among tech enthusiasts and Apple fans.

An 8-year-old autistic boy who disappeared on Monday morning in Southern California was found safe after more than 24 hours in the San Bernardino Mountains.

One of the few Republicans of Hollywood, Clint Eastwood, doesn't really care about who marries who, and feels that controversy surrounding gay marriage is pointless. In the October issue of GQ Magazine, Oscar winning director and charismatic actor says that everybody should be given a chance to have the life they want.

NASA has released new data from its orbiting Fermi Gamma-Ray Large Area Telescope showing 1,873 objects shining with the highest-energy form of light.

An autistic boy who disappeared on Monday in Southern California was found safe on Tuesday in a rare happy ending to a missing-child story.

Cooler weather gave firefighters a chance to begin knocking down flames of three major wildfires burning on Tuesday in Central California, and evacuation orders were lifted for most residents in the fires' path.

Ivy League schools again topped a popular ranking of the best U.S. colleges, but shared the spotlight with liberal arts schools Williams College and Amherst College, and up-and-coming University of Maryland.

U.S. prosecutors have launched a criminal probe into whether eBay Inc employees took confidential information from classified ad website Craigslist as eBay sought to build a rival service, a copy of a grand jury subpoena obtained by Reuters shows.

People with depression still find it difficult to talk about it, study shows.

Add Ciena to the list of undervalued companies that have attracted activist investors. MIPS Technologies, Openwave Systems, Yahoo, Research in Motion and maybe Motorola Solutions to the ranks of endangered companies.

Russell Moore felt it was time to strike out on his own three years ago after working more than two decades at the birthplace of new American cuisine -- Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.

Joshua Robb, 8, ran away from his school on Monday.

Star bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach and his inner circle plotted to destroy Trust Company of the West by forming a competing firm while they were still employed by TCW, a TCW attorney said in closing arguments in a trial over alleged theft of trade secrets.

Intel Capital, the in-house arm of the world’s biggest chipmaker, has seeded seven small companies in hopes they will swell into profitable ventures. The move comes a month after Intel announced its $300 million Ultrabook initiative for tablets and ultralight products.

Arctic sea ice this summer melted to a record low extent or will come a close second, two different research institutes said on Tuesday, confirming a trend which could yield an ice-free summer within a decade.