BRIEFCASE LOCKHEED, UNION REACH NEW DEAL.

Byline: Staff and Wire Reports

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin and a union representing about 1,000 members of the aerospace giant's Palmdale work force reached a tentative agreement Friday on a new three-year contract.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers will meet Sunday, one day before a strike was to begin, to vote on the tentative pact. Union leaders are recommending approval of the agreement.

``We think it's a good, positive deal,'' said company spokeswoman Dianne Knippel. ``We feel positive about it.''

Union officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The union's Web site stated that leadership was advising approval of the proposal and that the vote was slated for Sunday morning at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

The tentative agreement includes no increase in out-of-pocket medical costs to employees and pay raises of 4 percent in the first year and 3 percent in both the second and third years of the contract.

The tentative agreement also includes a $1,000 signing bonus for each employee and annual cost-of-living payments of $600 per year for each employee.

Sun files lawsuit against Microsoft

Sun Microsystems Inc. sued rival Microsoft Corp. on Friday, claiming more than $1 billion in damages from the software giant's decision to make its Windows XP operating system incompatible with Sun's Java programming language.

Drawing on the 2000 federal court ruling that found Microsoft abused its illegal monopoly power, Sun accused its longtime antagonist of ``extensive anticompetitive conduct'' that forced other companies to distribute products that don't work with Java, effectively crippling Java and inhibiting its growth.

Microsoft spokesman Vivek Varma said he was surprised by the lawsuit because the companies settled a separate lawsuit over Java last year.

This case comes less than two months after another competitor, AOL Time Warner Inc., sued Microsoft for allegedly using its dominant position to crush the rival Netscape Navigator Web browser. Like the Java issue, the browser war was central to the government's antitrust against Microsoft.

Miller targeting Latinos in Lite ads

Miller Brewing Co., the nation's second-largest brewer, is targeting Texas, southern California and other Latino markets with new television ads for its largest brand, Miller Lite.

Miller's new Lite ads include several Spanish-language spots, some with well-known Latino celebrities: boxer Fernando Vargas and the Tejano band the Kumbia Kings.

``The idea is to create our communications, our advertising, to speak to a multicultural audience,'' said Robert Mikulay, Miller's executive vice president of sales and marketing. ``It begins with a recognition of what's going on in the U.S. population, with the explosive growth of the Hispanic population.''

Miller sold 16 million barrels of Lite in 2001, a 0.8 percent decline, according to the trade publication Beer Marketer's Insights. Lite accounted for about 40 percent of Miller's overall sales volume.

FAO Schwarz set for new location

Plans are set for FAO Schwarz's March 15 opening at the Grove at Farmers Market.

An anchor for the new retail development, situated next to the historic Farmers Market at Third Street and Fairfax Avenue, the toy store will celebrate the opening of its new 25,000-square-foot flagship with appearances by SpongeBob SquarePants, the Powerpuff Girls and other children's personalities.

Calabasas-based The Right Start owns the 140-year-old chain.

THQ stock shares split three for two

CALABASAS - THQ Inc.'s board of directors declared a three for two split of the company's common stock, the video game maker said Friday.

The stock split, which will be paid by April 9 in the form of a stock dividend, affects shareholders who invested in the company prior to March 26.

This is THQ's third stock split since 1998. Shares of the Calabasas-based company rose $1.02, or 2 percent, to $52.03 on Friday.