IBT Staff Reporter

Homebuilder sentiment perked up in October to its highest level in a year and a half, though ongoing challenges still kept confidence historically low, the National Association of Home Builders said on Tuesday.

Moody's decision to review France's triple-A credit rating cast new doubt on Tuesday on Europe's hopes of drawing a line under its sovereign debt crisis, five days before a crucial EU summit.

Could malaria be the new smallpox? The World Health Organization said on Monday that nearly a third of the countries where malaria is endemic could eradicate the disease within 10 years.

BofA Merrill Lynch raised its price target on shares of IBM following the company's third-quarter beat, and said it expected the blue chip to cut costs further, given the slowdown in IT spending.

China's economic expansion slowed in the third quarter to its weakest pace in more than two years as euro-debt strains and a sluggish U.S. economy took a toll, but healthy domestic drivers suggest little room to relax monetary policy near term.

Contentious legislation in the United States aimed at pressuring China to raise the value of the yuan reflects broader American frustrations with its trade partner, a senior U.S. trade official said on Tuesday.

Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. bank by assets, reported a $5.9 billion third-quarter profit after selling shares of China Construction Bank and recording two accounting gains.

S&P 500 stock index futures eased modestly on Tuesday after a Moody's warning on France's credit rating and a slowdown in China's growth revived concerns over a worsening debt crisis in Europe and a hard landing for Asian economies.

Rising global temperatures are responsible for a reduction in the size of plants and animals all over the world, say conservation biologists. What's more, the disparity in shrinking across species could pose a threat to the natural balance of established ecosystems.

As tributes to Dan Wheldon flow in from all over, the motorsport fraternity, who were left stunned by the Brit driver's death in the circuit after a 15-car crash, are already looking at measures to improve driver safety.

Google Inc. said it will do away with Buzz service, a social messaging platform, within a few weeks to focus on Google+.

Equity index futures pointed to a flat opening on Tuesday after Moody's said it would review France's credit rating and investors grappled with less-than-stellar earnings from some big corporations.

In just a mere three days after its release, Apple's newest iPhone 4S has already sold over four million units.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc posted a wider-than-forecast loss of $428 million for the third quarter, only its second quarterly loss as a public company, hurt by sharp declines in the value of investment securities and customer trading assets.

Apple iPhone 4S went on sales on Friday. Maybe you have already got one in your hands. But do you want to find out what it looks like inside? Luckily, we live in an era which doesn't lack fanaticism for digital products. Even one day before the launch of iPhone 4S, someone had already posted a video of teardown of iPhone 4S, so you don't need to take your shiny new toy apart in case you're one of those who are wondering what lies beneath the shiny hood.

The iPhone 4S is here. Stores stocked them on Friday and Apple said that over the debut weekend it had sold 4 million units of the latest smartphone.

Linguists believe all forms of language today derived from East Africa 50,000 years ago. Research now shows that the original human language probably sounded a lot like the green jedi master Yoda from Star Wars.

Space fans saddened by the retiring of the space shuttle Endeavor will be excited to learn that NASA has contracted a private spacecraft for at least one chartered flight into near space. The U.S. space agency has confirmed a deal with Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's private-sector space initiative, for one suborbital flight on the company's spacecraft SpaceShip Two, with the option of two additional flights.

Bank of America Corp asked a judge to disqualify the law firm representing AIG in the insurance company's $10 billion mortgage-fraud lawsuit against the bank, alleging a conflict of interest by one of the firm's partners.

The CLASS Act, which would have guaranteed working adults $50 a day if they became disabled and needed long-term care, was scrapped on Friday after the Obama administration concluded it was financially unsustainable.

We compare Apple's iPhone 4S to Android's powerhouse phones.

Research show a huge tail made the Carnotaurus one of the fastest dinosaurs of its time.

BlackBerry maker RIM announced Monday that it would be offering a one-month extension as well as more than $100 worth of premium apps to its customers for free - an apology of sorts to its millions of disgruntled customers, who suffered global outages last week. The free downloads and service extension come appended to the most recent of a series of apologies issued by RIM for outages that spanned parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Canada and the U.S. Mike Lazaridis, co-C.E.O. of RI...

A YouTube video dubbed Quantum Levitation has gone viral, leaving the world wondering what causes the quantum trapping as the narrator in the video calls it.

Skylanders uses physical toys to control virtual characters in what Activision hopes will be this holiday seasons must-have product.

Ever get your cellphone bill in the mail only to find tons of surcharges? Well, on Monday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) managed to make wireless carriers to agree to give customers an alert when they are approaching their plan limits.

Rumors say production of the iPad 3 may already be under way.

Sunday, Oct. 16, was officially declared to be Steve Jobs Day by California Governor Jerry Brown. The governor tweeted an update on Saturday commending the Apple genius's brilliance in shaping powerful technologies today.

French food group Danone SA gave a confident outlook for 2012 and said its water business was still strategic, playing down a report it was in talks on a disposal.