R&B singer Chris Brown was praised by a Los Angeles judge on Thursday for making "extremely favorable" progress following his sentence for assaulting ex-girlfriend Rihanna.

Air Canada starts trial use of in-flight Internet access on Toronto-LA, Montreal-LA routes. Air Canada said Thursday it has begun trial offers of Internet service onboard some flights between Los Angeles and the cities of Toronto and Montreal.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If AOL's announcement on Thursday of another 2,500 job cuts is anything to go by, the painful layoffs that have ravaged the media industry over the past year are nowhere near over.

Los Angeles man who claimed disability spotted on TV show, sentenced for tax, insurance fraud. California tax officials say an interior designer's false disability claim was uncovered when he was spotted on a home improvement television show.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - Moviergoers who tuck into a medium popcorn and a soft drink could be eating the equivalent of three McDonald's quarter-pounder burgers topped with a dozen scoops of butter, according to a U.S. study.

Oprah Winfrey's production company says she'll announce Friday that her show will end in 2011. "The Oprah Winfrey Show," an iconic broadcast that grew from a local Chicago talk show into the foundation of a multibillion dollar media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air, Winfrey's production company said Thursday night.

MANILA (Reuters) - Seven-time world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao returned to a hero's welcome in the Philippines on Friday, with his next fight likely to be in the political ring as he prepares to run for Congress in next May's elections.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The moon may be new, and the director may be different (Chris Weitz takes over the reins from Catherine Hardwicke), but otherwise, the second installment of the "Twilight" saga remains, for better or worse, exceptionally faithful to its 2008 beginnings.

AP answers your questions on the news, from space shuttle complexity to a credit union agency. A space shuttle is no tinker toy. But is it the most complex machine ever built?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Florida jury on Thursday ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Florida jury on Thursday ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema.

Indian tribe sues Interior Dept., county to stop resort project on California ranch. An Indian tribe has filed a lawsuit to stop the development of a 5,000-acre gated resort community on a sprawling ranch some 60 miles north of Los Angeles that it claims as tribal land.

Air Canada starts trial use of in-flight Internet access on Toronto-LA, Montreal-LA routes. Air Canada has begun trial offers of Internet service onboard some flights between Los Angeles and the cities of Toronto and Montreal.

Customs agents seize 316,000 bongs disguised as Christmas ornaments in LA. Customs officials say they got a surprise when they found 316,000 glass bongs disguised as Christmas ornaments at the Los Angeles harbor.

Forget singles bars and the mad dash through the speed-dating circuit: Americans in search of love now can find that special someone across a Scrabble or Monopoly board.

AP IMPACT: As military academies seek diversity, urban lawmakers often make fewest nominations. As the nation's military academies try to recruit more minorities, they aren't getting much help from members of Congress from big-city districts with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and Asians.

Birth control for bison aims to reduce size of herd on Santa Catalina Island off LA coast. Birth control for bison?

PARIS (Reuters) - Roman Polanski will not agree voluntarily to being extradited to the United States over a 1970s child sex case, the film director's lawyer said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro published on Friday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Oprah Winfrey said on Friday that she will end her popular TV show in 2011 because it "feels right in her bones" after 25 years, and urged viewers not to believe rumors of why she's quitting.

Forget singles bars and the mad dash through the speed-dating circuit: Americans in search of love now can find that special someone across a Scrabble or Monopoly board.