Kevin West

Orders to U.S. factories for costly goods rose a bigger-than-expected 2 percent in December, suggesting better days may be ahead for the nation's battered manufacturing sector.

More than a dozen small earthquakes, all believed to be aftershocks of the deadly 1994 Northridge quake, rattled a wide section of Southern California but caused no injuries, authorities said.

The executive in charge of General Motors Corp.'s electronic commerce and Internet activities will oversee future vehicle development for the automaker, according to a published report.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will recall 38,626 trucks and buses for several defects that could weaken the vehicles' brakes and produce too much polluting gases.

Timber giant Weyerhaeuser Co. has signed a definitive agreement to buy Willamette Industries Inc. for $6.1 billion.

The collapse of Enron Corp. shows that government oversight of competitive power markets is still needed, says a Democratic senator whose energy legislation will be taken up by the Senate in coming weeks.

Floyd College said Monday it had accidentally made the Social Security numbers of more than 100 students available on its Web site for weeks.

House conservatives want congressional Republicans to write a balanced budget this year, fearing that a round of big spending boosts will alienate voters the party needs this November.

Cellular carrier AT&T Wireless reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.23 billion on Tuesday, blaming much of the loss on a $1.3 billion writedown related to the phasing out of its fixed wireless business. The results were worse than analysts expected.

The widows of missionaries Mark Rich, Dave Mankins and Rick Tenenoff, filed suit late last year state Circuit Court in Sanford, Florida to obtain the death certificates.