Blizzard

A winter blizzard moved across the northeastern United States on Monday, disrupting air and rail travel and forcing motorists to deal with blowing snow and icy roads at the end of the busy Christmas weekend.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning which will be in effect from 6 a.m. Sunday, December 26 till 6 p.m. Monday, December 27.

A number of reports suggested bad weather would adversely affect today's unemployment data, however actual figures show that may have been misguided.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Monday winter blizzards were likely to distort U.S. February jobless figures, which are due to be released on Friday.

A blizzard producing heavy snow and powerful winds pummelled the U.S. mid-Atlantic on Saturday, causing at least two fatalities and paralyzing travel in the region.

Titanic director James Cameron's Avatar, a 3-D extravaganza hyped as a giant leap in cinematic prowess, ruled the worldwide box office during its first weekend even as North American sales were hit by an enormous snow storm, its distributor said on Sunday.

Vivendi said on Tuesday that Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy will also become chairman of Activision Blizzard, the world's top video games company known for its Guitar Hero franchise.

Vivendi received approval on Wednesday from the European Commission to merge its videogame unit with Activision Inc., in a deal worth $9.85 billion.

Software maker Blizzard, maker of the hugely successful Warcraft video game series, is engaged in a legal dispute with a programmer who has created a tool that automates actions inside of one of its popular games.

Activision and Vivendi teamed up to create on of the world's largest video-game maker this weekend, rivaling long-time No. 1, Electronic Arts.

Blizzard Entertainment said today that the expansion pack to its highly popular World of Warcraft online game sold nearly 2.4 million copies on the first day, becoming the fastest selling PC game ever.