UNITED STATES

The state of Vermont became on Wednesday the first in the United States to ban the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

The National Coalition For Men argues the true victims of domestic violence will be better served by the House Republican bill.

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) rocked the automotive and advertising worlds with its announcement Tuesday that it will stop buying advertisements on Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), a value of roughly $10 million a year, on the eve of social networking site's monster IPO. The rest of the automotive industry's major players are not following suit, though, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), banking on the strength of the network effect, is actually upping its investment.

John Waters was hitchhiking through Ohio when indie rock band Here We Go Magic picked up the Hairspray director - and the Brooklyn-based band acted like it was no big deal.

Federal Reserve policymakers seemed more likely Wednesday to recommend further monetary easing than just a month ago, as minutes of a Fed rate-setting panel detailed shaky faith in recent indicators of economic recovery.

As Google rolls out more new changes to their search engine, the Menlo Park, Calif. based company has released the details to their latest search innovation -- Knowledge Graph. The new Google search feature will reportedly work with its users to fully understand what they mean by their search entry, according to Mashable.

Islamabad has ordered government officials to end a supply route blockade against NATO forces, said Pakistan Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira on Wednesday.

Greece continued to weigh heavily on confidence Wednesday as bank customers there began sending cash out of the country or hiding it under their beds -- this despite hints from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that a stimulus would be forthcoming if the country stuck to its austerity commitments.

Moonrise Kingdom hits U.S. theaters May 25.

Here are five other sports figures that have caused controversy because of gay slurs or statements about same-sex marriage.

James Abdnor, the former U.S. senator from South Dakota most known for ousting former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern from the senate seat, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 89.

A day before Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social network holds its initial public offering, its 33 underwriters boosted the number of shares for sale by 25 percent, potentially valuing the deal as high as $19 billion.

Picking up where Newt Gingrich left off, Vice President Joe Biden cast Mitt Romney's investment firm, Bain Capital, as an example of predatory capitalism that exploits workers.

While the Obama administration rejected to several section's of the House's proposed NDAA bill, a controversial indefinite detention provision for terrorism suspects was not among them.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave a rare television interview on Wednesday, appearing on Russia's official Rossia-24 news channel to tout the success of the May 7 parliamentary elections.

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers kept the door open to a fresh round of monetary stimulus, citing downside risks to a moderately expanding economy, according to minutes for the central bank's April meeting.

Shares of Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU), the only U.S. maker of memory chips, jumped as much as 9 percent Thursday on a report that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, had placed a huge order in Japan.

The Obama administration has joined Democratic lawmakers in denouncing a Republican-sponsored measure to renew the Violence Against Women Act, saying the bill rolls back needed safeguards against domestic violence.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) said it would buy two mining equipment companies as it seeks to expand in the $61 billion global mining supplier industry.

U.S. investors bought shares of industrials, airlines, gold mining companies and agricultural assets Wednesday as robust economic data offset fears stoked by the likelihood of Greece leaving the euro zone.

Lucky customers, who have pre-ordered their Galaxy S3 from certain Samsung stores in the U.K, will get their hands on the device the eve before the official May 30 release date.