CALIFORNIA

"The X Factor" premiered its second season Wednesday evening, and one group of singers really stood out above the rest. L.A. Reid, Simon Cowell, Britney Spears and Demi Lovato were all in awe after one performance, and its definitely a group you'll want to keep an eye out for. So, who had the crowd standing up and dancing and all four judges saying 'yes?' Emblem3!

A Coptic Christian from California with a record of financial crimes says he helped produce the anti-Muslim film that sparked deadly attacks on U.S. diplomats in Libya and Egypt, the Associated Press reported Wednesday evening.

Tropical Storm Nadine is expected to become a hurricane later Wednesday night or early Thursday morning as it churns in the Caribbean, according to the National Weather Service.

A radical Islamic group could be behind the Tuesday attack against the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Few, but well armed, the militants can wreak serious havoc in Libya's chaotic new democracy.

Is there really a Sam Bacile, and does his movie, "Innocence of Muslims," even exist? So far only scant details have emerged about a filmmaker whose low-budget movie sparked deadly in Egypt and Libya that left four Americans dead.

McDonald's customers across the U.S. will know how many calories they're shoving down their gullet every time they order a Big Mac, as the fast food giant announced starting Monday it will post calorie counts alongside all items listed on its menu.

The new phone is about to be unveiled.

In August, Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin barred media from reporting on team strategy and injuries seen in practice.

Sam Bacile's poorly-made YouTube trailer for the movie "Innocence of Muslims" has gone viral in the Middle East, resulting in protests that killed four Americans in Libya on Tuesday. While it is not directly responsible for those deaths, it is a provocative, tasteless effort.

The Global Business Travel Association, or GBTA, has released its 2012 report on the best and worst travel taxes in the top 50 U.S. destinations.

During the 2011 uprising against Colonel Gaddafi he became the chief liaison between the U.S. and the Transitional National Council (TNC), acting as a vital go-between for the rebels.

U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other embassy staff were killed in an attack Tuesday on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, Reuters reported citing a Libyan official.

A congressionally mandated report to assess the feasibility, practicality and affordability of the U.S. missile defense and its efficiency in countering nuclear or conventional missile attacks from Iran or North Korea has found that the nation's defense strategy suffers from major flaws.

Investigators from Southern California's South Coast Air Quality Management District received nearly 200 complaints about a "rotten egg smell" and began searching for the stench Tuesday morning. The odor is thought to be coming from the Salton Sea.

Google Inc. and Boingo Wireless Inc., made another bold move Tuesday to position themselves as a prominent resource for wireless services by establishing another 4,000 mobile hotspots across the United States. As a promotional event to advertise the new expanded partnership with the companies are also making Wi-Fi free in all the new locations "through the end of September," Boingo said in a statement.

A California jury awarded Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn $20 million in his slander case against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis.

Yosemite National Park authorities have doubled the estimate of those likely infected in a recent outbreak of the hantavirus, a deadly pulmonary disease commonly carried by mice and other rodents.

From Charlie Sheen's public unraveling to Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comment, the most recognizable pop-culture trends in recent years have come from the real-life folly of the public sphere. That's a far shift, media experts say, from the days when a one-size-fits-all monoculture was produced on Hollywood sound stages and back lots.

Alfonso Ribeiro is not dead, as the actor best known for playing Carlton Banks on the hit television show "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" reassured his fans via Twitter Saturday. Ribeiro is just the latest actor said to be dead in what is beginning to seem like an unending number of celebrity death hoaxes that gain traction online through social media.

San Francisco State University biologists have tagged bees infected with parasitic fly larvae using tiny radio trackers.

Two black men from California filed a discrimination suit against In-N-Out Burger, alleging the restaurant chain refused to hire them because of their race and age.