CALIFORNIA

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest U.S. retailer, said Wednesday it plans to nearly double the amount of solar power generated from rooftop panels on its California stores.

Amazon has always been very secretive on anything related to cost and sales figures surrounding its Kindle 2 e-reader, however, a new report by market research firm iSuppli may answer speculation.

A social experiment started seven years ago by an entrepreneur Jonathan Abrams in Mountain View, Calif. is now packed with a 3D scenes allowing user to express creativity in multidimensional environments.

Apple Inc. reported better-than-expected quarterly results on strong iPhone and iPod sales, while Mac computer sales were slightly down.

Wells Fargo & Co posted a record first-quarter profit of $3.05 billion as a surge in mortgage refinancings helped it displace Bank of America Corp as the nation's largest home lender.

Gilead Sciences Inc said on Tuesday first-quarter profit rose 21 percent, topping analysts' expectations, on increased sales of its drugs to treat the virus that causes AIDS.

Yahoo Inc., owner of the second- most popular U.S. search engine, said Tuesday it will cut hundreds of people from its work force after reporting a 78 percent drop in first quarter profit.

The United States is pushing the use of plug-in hybrids but these cars, which sip gasoline and are low in greenhouse gas emissions, face cost and infrastructure hurdles that will keep them out of the mainstream for years.

New York City's pension funds are probing whether private equity fund Quadrangle intentionally misled it about placement agents used to win pension fund business, a spokesman for the city's comptroller said Tuesday.

Yahoo Inc said it would cut 5 percent of its global workforce and reported quarterly results that showed progress toward controlling costs, sending shares higher in an after-hours relief rally.

After one false start, weeks of speculation and roller-coaster swings in its share price, the company once synonymous with the rise of the Internet has finally landed an attractive-looking buyer.

U.S. Bancorp , one of the 10 largest U.S. banks, reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday on record revenue from mortgages, sending its shares up almost 21 percent.

Yahoo Inc said it would cut 5 percent of its workforce worldwide after reporting quarterly profit that met Wall Street expectations.

Solar stocks have skyrocketed since March on optimism about government efforts to stimulate demand for the clean energy source, but analysts warn that with earnings season beginning, investors in the high-flying sector are in for a strong dose of reality.

Oracle Corp plans to enter the computer hardware market by buying Sun Microsystems Inc for more than $7 billion, swooping in after Sun's talks with IBM fell apart.

Regulators closed banks on Friday in Missouri and Nevada, bringing the total of U.S. bank failures this year to 25 and matching the number that failed throughout all of 2008, as the struggling economy and falling home prices take their toll on financial institutions.

California has a record unemployment rate of 11.2 percent following a rise in March rising from 10.6 percent a month earlier.

The Obama administration opened the way to regulating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions on Friday by declaring climate-warming pollution a danger to human health and welfare, in a sharp policy shift from the Bush administration.

President Obama unveiled a plan Thursday on a system of high-speed railway service, hoping to stimulate the economy and help the environment.

Southern California Edison signed an agreement to buy 90 megawatts of power from a wind farm developed by Seattle-based Ridgeline Energy and BP Wind Energy.

President Barack Obama outlined his plan for long overdue high-speed rail on Thursday that would rival air travel, create jobs and help curb the U.S. transportation system's appetite for oil.