Coal mining companies from Appalachia to Missouri are seeing plenty of rebounding demand, just not here at home.

European venture capitalists may be wary of startup technology companies even after an economic recovery, according to the investment arm of Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), the world's biggest computer-chip maker.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) is cutting its price for running customers' e-mail systems as clients say the world’s largest software maker has been offering discounts to keep them from switching to Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG).

Oil prices rose Tuesday as the Federal Reserve began a two-day policy meeting on interest rates.

The state of Florida is suing online travel reservation companies over hotel taxes, the latest in a string of lawsuits nationwide claiming the sites owe local authorities millions of dollars.

Gold jumped to a record Tuesday after India’s central bank bought 200 metric tons of the metal from the International Monetary Fund, heightening speculation that there may be more official purchases.

Orders placed with U.S. factories rose in September for the fifth time in six months, reinforcing signs that manufacturing will drive the economic recovery.

Bernard Madoff's longtime auditor pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges Tuesday, saying he failed to do his job to verify the disgraced money manager's financial records but did not know Madoff was running history's biggest Ponzi scheme.

Whether in the halls of academia or broad swaths of America's news media, a watchword of liberal faith is that Democrats have the corner on smarts.

Bayer CropScience AG is responsible for financial damage sustained by Missouri farmers when their rice crops were contaminated by genetically-modified seed, a federal court jury in St. Louis was told by the growers' lawyer.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Nissan North America Inc. said Tuesday its October auto sales rose 5.6 percent, driven by a jump in Nissan models sales, offset falling sales in Infiniti models.

TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) -- Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. said Tuesday its October sales declined 3.5 percent from the year-earlier level as stronger luxury and hybrid volumes offset weaker light truck sales.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- The star prosecution witness in the fraud trial of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters wept Tuesday as she explained her decision to go to federal investigators.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Some of fashion's best-known names are playing musical chairs.

NEW YORK (AP) -- MasterCard Inc. said Tuesday its third-quarter profit was bolstered by continued cost-cutting measures and an increase in the number of transactions it processed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's top budget official promised Tuesday that the administration will try next year to wrestle the skyrocketing budget deficit under control to avoid higher interest rates and putting the health of the economy in jeopardy.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Medco Health Solutions Inc., the largest U.S. pharmacy benefits manager, said Tuesday its profit rose 13.5 percent as the company gained new clients and benefited from price inflation of brand-name drugs.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is promising help for homeless veterans.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Arkansas finance officials said Tuesday that the state collected $17.8 million less than expected last month, as state agencies prepared to detail their plans for cutting budgets.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday its October sales rose 3 percent as the popular F-Series pickup truck helped the company boost its estimated market share to more than 15 percent.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- European leaders pressed Congress and the White House on Tuesday to unite on a plan to combat global warming, even as a Republican boycott forced a delay of votes in a key Senate committee, demonstrating the deep partisan rift.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Freight forwarder and logistics company Expeditors International of Washington Inc. said on Tuesday that its third-quarter profit dropped 33 percent as freight haulers raised prices even amid weak demand.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Donald Sterling, owner of the National Basketball Associationís Los Angeles Clippers, agreed to pay $2.73 million to settle a U.S. government lawsuit accusing him of housing discrimination.

In the musical comedy “Little Shop of Horrors,” a dangerous and gluttonous plant dubbed “Audrey II” signals its insatiable appetite for human blood with a baritone demand, “feed me.”

NEW YORK (AP) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Tuesday agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., making a $34 billion bet on the future of the U.S. economy.

The U.K. government needs to start thinking about what it will do with all the banks it now owns. The answer is simple: Hand them to the people.

Following the money often gets you to the bottom of a story. Following the economic experience of women may offer more insights.

DETROIT (AP) -- After months of roller coaster-like sales, the auto industry offered signs of recovery from its yearlong slump on Tuesday, as most automakers reported higher levels of U.S. sales in October.

A surprising number of otherwise smart people find themselves remarking on the phone that they hope the line isn't tapped.

LONDON (AP) -- World stock markets mostly fell Tuesday amid renewed concerns about the banking sector after Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland got more government help and Switzerland's UBS AG booked another massive charge.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors sidestepped some of their doubts about the economy and bought energy and industrial stocks as commodity prices rose.

LONDON (AP) -- The George Lucas empire has struck back against a British prop designer who sold replicas of the iconic Stormtrooper uniforms from the "Star Wars" movies.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- The U.S. Army is financing a new research center at the University of Illinois to develop technology for computer networks used on battlefields and in other similarly difficult environments.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's (MAY'-dawfs) longtime auditor has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina poultry plant raided by immigration agents last year has agreed to change its hiring practices to avoid federal charges of knowingly employing illegal immigrants, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it will cut up to about 8,000 jobs and streamline its operations in an effort to cut costs as it braces for changes in the health care industry.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's biggest banks face a February deadline for submitting employee compensation plans to the Federal Reserve, according to people with knowledge of the process.

NEW YORK (AP) -- G.I. Joe and the Transformers came to Viacom Inc.'s rescue in the third quarter, helping boost the company's earnings 15 percent with strong box office returns.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Orders to U.S. factories rebounded in September, helped by strength in autos, heavy machinery and military aircraft.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- A top Wyoming official says various federal agencies gave the state conflicting instructions about how to calculate the number of jobs the federal economic stimulus program has created in the state.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Ford Motor Co., which surprised the market by posting a third-quarter profit, said Tuesday that two of its senior executives are retiring.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Italy will appeal a European court ruling that crucifixes in state-run schools violate Europeís human-rights rules.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- E.Digital Corp. sued Canon Inc., Nokia Oyj, Pentax Corp. and 16 other companies for improperly using its patented flash-memory technology in digital cameras, voice recorders and mobile phones.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.ís Chinese partner sold 5,000 iPhones in the country since last week’s debut, raising concern the handset’s price is undermining the U.S. company’s ability to gain customers in the world’s biggest phone market.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorneys for sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad plan to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to stop next week's execution.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A California debt collection company has agreed to a $2.55 million judgment to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of Pennsylvanians who claim they were wrongly led to believe they had to pay costly fees to avoid criminal charges for bouncing checks.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a blow to the White House, the Senate's top Democrat signaled Tuesday that Congress may fail to meet a year-end deadline for passing health care legislation, leaving the measure's fate to the uncertainties of the 2010 election season.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) -- Sprint Nextel Corp. says it plans to trim jobs "in the dozens" from its wholesale division amid slowing business.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Billionaire Warren Buffett likes to compare his company to a masterpiece that he's been painting for nearly five decades, and the deal he announced Tuesday will permanently alter the color of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s portrait.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Tool makers Stanley Works and Black & Decker Corp. are betting that together they can wring out more profit and better position themselves for a housing market recovery than they could apart.

DETROIT (AP) -- GM reported its first monthly gain in U.S. sales in almost two years while Toyota and Ford also improved, a sign the auto industry it starting to crawl back from a yearlong slump.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Leap Wireless International Inc., a cell phone company offering flat-rate and prepaid plans, on Tuesday said it has appointed three new directors to its board.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wary of China's rapid advancements in space programs over the last decade, military commanders said Tuesday that the U.S. needs to improve its satellite presence in the Southern Hemisphere to better track launches from Asia, even as officials work to improve relations with Beijing.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Sara Lee Corp. reports earnings for its fiscal first quarter on Thursday before the market opens. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations by the government that he refused to rent apartments to Hispanics, blacks and to families with children, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) -- Netflix Inc. on Tuesday priced a senior notes offering.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Homebuilder Pulte Homes Inc. reports earnings for the third quarter on Wednesday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst commentary related to the period:

NEW YORK (AP) -- It was a weird day in the book price wars.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Most U.S. stocks rose after Warren Buffett agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and Stanley Works said it will take over Black & Decker Corp., while technology shares fell on an analyst downgrade of chipmakers.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tax relief for thousands of small, indirect investors in Bernard Madoff's swindle and other fraudulent schemes appears close to Senate adoption as part of a broader bill to extend unemployment benefits.

LONDON -- The British government moved to break up the country's two biggest retail banks, imposing a major shakeup on the financial sector as it exacts payback for last year's massive state bailout at the height of the financial crisis.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The World Series gave the Fox network world-class ratings last week as the New York Yankees squared off against the Philadelphia Phillies in four much-watched games.