On a strip of California’s Mojave Desert, two dozen rare tortoises could stand in the way of a sprawling solar-energy complex in a case that highlights mounting tensions between wilderness conservation and the nation’s quest for cleaner power.

Soon after she became the nation’s labor secretary, Hilda Solis warned corporate America there was “a new sheriff in town.”

Taking into account inflation, home prices are actually lower than they were 10 years ago, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors released Wednesday.

Grenada’s prime minister expects the Caribbean island’s economy to shrink 1.8 percent in 2010 before returning to growth in 2011.

Internet search giant Google is based in Silicon Valley, yet it runs its community affairs operation out of a former bread factory in an old New England railroad town, hard by the confluence of the White and Connecticut rivers.

Restaurant chains and beef processors defended their products’ safety Thursday after a report that an ammonia treatment thought to kill harmful germs in meat isn’t as effective as the industry and regulators believed.

An index of China’s manufacturing rose in December, expanding at its fastest rate in 20 months amid heavy government economic stimulus, an industry group reported Friday.

U.S. stocks closed out 2009 with the best performance in six years, but monthly employment figures in the first week of the new year will keep investors focused on what is likely to be 2010′s reality — the economy’s struggle to recover.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose popularity has tumbled in recent weeks, vowed Friday to dedicate 2010 to fighting deflation and rebuilding the world’s second biggest economy.

Get out your calculators. Homebuying will require more research to find the best deals this year.