CALIFORNIA

Factory activity accelerated rapidly in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region in December, a survey showed on Thursday, hitting its highest in 4-1/2 years and assuaging some worries the industrial recovery is slowing.

Television polygamy drama Big Love returns for a fourth season in January with a gay storyline that is likely to stir up controversy in Mormon circles where homosexual relations are prohibited.

While Avatar will be released later this week to thousands of movie theaters, with many of those showcasing the 3D technology made especially for the film, a small subset of movie aficionados seeking a more unique movie-going experience will be heading to Hollywood, California.

Four times last year, Nabors Industries' corporate board descended on the luxurious Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel in Bermuda for three days of round-the-clock meetings.

American Honda Motor Co. is sponsoring one of the floats in the 2010 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year's Day with the theme Ship of Dreams.

The nephew of Walt Disney, Roy Disney, died Wednesday morning following a year-long battle against cancer, CNN reported citing a Walt Disney Co. spokesman.

General Electric Co expects to record flat profit across its big industrial units next year, as a sluggish global economy crimps sales for jet engines, electric turbines and other heavy equipment.

Terreno Realty Corp on Monday filed for an initial public offering in a move that would let it profit from the economic recession and tight credit.

The Dow and S&P 500 were slightly lower on Tuesday, slipping from 14-month highs, as a jump in producer prices ignited fears of inflationary pressures.

NEW YORK - Advertisements for junk food may be cluttering many of the Web sites most popular with children, a new study suggests.

Privately held smart grid networking company Silver Spring Networks said on Tuesday it had raised $100 million in its latest round of financing and was in no hurry to test the public markets.

Chipmaker ON Semiconductor Corp said it will buy California Micro Devices Corp for about $108 million in cash, to strengthen its handset portfolio.

The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether privacy rights covered a worker's personal text message on employer-owned equipment, hearing a case about a police officer who sent sexually explicit messages from his department-issued pager.

NASA WISE, which stands for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope, launched Monday morning at 9:09 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Privately-held real estate company Fairfield Residential LLC filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, saying that the collapse of the U.S. real estate and capital markets has made it difficult to continue without restructuring.

Privately-held real estate company Fairfield Residential LLC filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, saying that the collapse of the U.S. real estate and capital markets has made it difficult to continue without restructuring.

Warehouses holding everything from beer kegs to frozen chickens crowd the roadside along Highway 146 south of Houston, and a ferocious building boom is adding acres more, thanks to an even bigger project 1,800 miles away in Panama.

Angelina Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt were very affectionate to each other hugging and caressing at the UNICEF Ball in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday.

Lawyers for Roman Polanski battled prosecutors in a California court on Thursday, arguing again for dismissal of the film director's 1977 guilty plea for having sex with an underage girl, citing judicial misconduct.

Post-menopausal women who have three to four alcoholic beverages a week of any sort have a significantly higher risk that their breast cancer will come back, U.S. researchers said Thursday.

Stocks gained on Thursday as a surprise narrowing in October's U.S. trade deficit suggested the economy was on a steady growth path.