IBT Staff Reporter

In her first interviews since her husband's suicide, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong is detailing abuse she claims she suffered from her spouse, including punches, pulled hair and death threats.

A Beatles contract for a 1965 California concert that reveals that the Fab Four refused to play before a segregated audience has sold for $23,033 -- more than four times its estimated price.

Stocks plunged late Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced it will sell $400 billion worth of short-maturity bonds and reinvest in bonds with maturities of six to 30 years in the coming year. The program has been commonly referred to as Operation Twist.

To legions of teenage girls and fans of the Twilight films, Taylor Lautner will always be known as Jacob Black, the werewolf who competes with a vampire for the love of a young woman.

Television musical comedy Glee returned to smaller audiences but warm reviews after a summer of confusion over the future of its stars, a box-office flop of a concert movie and disappointment at the Emmys.

Existing home sales rose in August to their highest in five months as lower prices and rock-bottom interest rates drew more buyers into a still moribund market.

A former securities trader was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of insider trading as part of the government's campaign against financial crimes on Wall Street.

Stocks tumbled on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said there were significant downside risks to the economy even as it took another stab at boosting growth.

Brad Pitt is seeking again to distance himself from apparently negative remarks about his marriage to Hollywood sweetheart Jennifer Aniston, calling his ex-wife a dear friend and a valuable person.

Canadian commercial lending rose in the second quarter, PayNet Inc said on Wednesday, in a report that showed smaller businesses we're expanding even as economic storm clouds gather in Europe and the United States.

Google Inc urged a federal judge to reject an Oracle Corp expert's recommendation that it pay more than $2.2 billion for infringing patents for Java technology used in the Android operating system.

With a one-in-five million odds of such a pregnancy, two babies from two separate uteruses were delivered at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater last week as result of a rare medical condition.

A Michigan man and his two sons were seriously injured by a car bomb late Tuesday, but all three are expected to survive. Police are investigating whether the attack was random or targeted at one of the victims.

Struggling car maker Saab launched a cost-cutting plan to secure its survival on Wednesday after a court gave it temporary protection from creditors while the company waits for long-term Chinese investment to come through.

Google Inc is confident that U.S. antitrust regulators will clear the search giant of any wrongdoing, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will tell a congressional panel on Wednesday.

Zooey Deschanel's show is an early hit while Glee suffers from a huge ratings decline.

A last-ditch appeal on behalf of death row inmate Troy Davis was rejected on Wednesday, making it all but certain that Davis would be executed. Davis, 42, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

U.S. firm Wyse Technology on Wednesday rolled out a new version of its PocketCloud application, enabling free sharing of music and videos between consumers' mobile devices.

Google Inc has evolved to become a dominant and potentially anti-competitive force on the Internet, senators said at congressional hearing on Wednesday.

The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, on Wednesday told the United Nations that fast-growing emerging economies can play a vital role to help stem the global economic crisis, marking the latest move by developing countries to become the equals of the world's traditional powers.

Greece said it will announce a plan on Wednesday to bring forward austerity measures agreed under its bailout program, mostly in the form of spending cuts, to secure a fresh injection of aid and save the country from an October bankruptcy.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt began testifying before a U.S. Judiciary Subcommittee Wednesday over the company's business practices, striking a conciliatory tone with skeptical lawmakers.

Hewlett-Packard Co's board is considering ousting Chief Executive Officer Leo Apotheker after less than a year on the job and replacing him temporarily with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Bloomberg cited two sources familiar with the matter as saying.

Cherrywood Business Park, on the outskirts of Dublin, is no Las Vegas.

Moody's Corp on Wednesday cut the debt ratings of Bank of America Corp , Wells Fargo & Co and Citigroup Inc , three of the largest U.S. banks, on worries the government would be less likely to support a large lender if it got into trouble.

The Federal Reserve's latest move to stimulate credit for consumers and businesses, known as Operation Twist, is likely to threaten the earnings of some of the country's largest insurers for years to come.

Moody's Corp on Wednesday downgraded Bank of America Corp's debt ratings because the government appears less likely to aid the lender if it verged on failure.

Stocks added to losses on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said the economic outlook remains grim, even as it said it would take more action to boost demand.

The Dow and the S&P 500 fell on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it would launch a new $400 billion program to aid the flagging economy.