In a development which many believe is a signal of Apple's expansion of its already massive music strategy, the company has acquired the online music platform Lala Media Inc. Financial details and other terms of the deal have not been disclosed yet.

In November, for the sixth consecutive time in around seven months, orders placed in factories across America recorded a rise, with non-durable products leading the sector. Gains made by these products managed to off-set the spending which factories had to undertake for new equipment.

Microsoft and Yahoo have joined hands to enter the search engine market together with the aim to pose a tough challenge to the current giant of the sector, Google. A development taking the companies closer to the target was announced on Friday, wherein the terms of a preliminary agreement, which was announced in July, were sealed.

After months on end of discussions and negotiations, Comcast and GE have finally announced the NBC Universal joint venture, with Comcast as the majority stake holder, which has valued NBC at about $30 Million. The deal will result in a TV and movie giant of a magnitude rarely seen before, but now the companies involved have to make it work, with so much at stake.

In the month of November, budget airlines of America recorded a substantial traffic increase, as opposed to major carrier which still seems to be struggling with declining passenger numbers as the industry tries to recover from a fall in demand over the past year.

The country's total bank closures number hit a whopping 130 on Friday, as regulators seized and shuttered one major bank in Ohio, Illinois, Virginia each, and 3 small banks across Georgia. AmTrust Bank in Cleveland was the largest bank to have been shut.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, doctors and hospitals should stop using a device from Steris Corp. to sterilize surgical tools after receiving several reports of malfunction.

The SS1 sterilizer device has not been cleared as safe and effective after being modified by the company.

The U. S. Food and Drug Administration medical reviewers said that Friday the agency should conduct an additional review of antipsychotic drugs to check the impact of weight gain in children, which is a common side-effect of the drugs.

All cans of the slim-fast ready-to-eat canned products are being recalled since there could be a possibility of a contamination with Bacillus cereus, a bacterium which may lead to diarrhea and possible nausea or vomiting.

Unilever United States, Inc. has ordered the voluntary recall in corporation with the FDA.

Figures shared by the Toronto Real Estate Board have revealed that for the month of November, house sales across the Greater Toronto Area more than doubled as compared to the number of sales recorded for the same month last year.