IBT Staff Reporter

China will invest about 1.27 trillion yuan ($199 billion) to build subways and light rail lines during the current five-year plan ending in 2015 to ease traffic congestion and spur urban development, the official China Securities Journal reported on Friday.

Scientists and Neanderthals mated, scientists said. Scientists have long has long thought that Neanderthal genes that have been instilled in human DNA are not functional.

New Yorkers living in coastal areas are being warned to prepare for evacuation as Hurricane Irene seemingly heads straight for them. The exact path of the storm remains unclear, but meteorologists are increasingly predicting nothing short of a catastrophe for New York City.

The WikiLeaks organization said Thursday it was releasing tens of thousands of previously unpublished U.S. diplomatic cables, some of which are still classified.

Spot gold steadied on Friday after rebounding in the previous session, as investors awaited a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke later in the day.

When Bank of America Corp agreed to sell $5 billion of preferred shares to Warren Buffett, it gave the Oracle of Omaha a $3 billion gift with the deal.

When the Federal Reserve chairman steps up to speak in the mountains of Wyoming on Friday, he faces giant expectations to deliver a plan to steer the developed world away from another damaging recession.

Stocks fell on Thursday as investors raised cash ahead of a critical speech from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, hoping he will give them a clearer picture of the Fed's plans for the struggling economy.

The resignation of Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs opens the door for rivals Samsung Electronics and HTC to battle for smartphone supremacy in salesrooms and courtrooms globally.

Category 3 Hurricane Irene is gaining momentum and seemingly heading right for the city that never sleeps, and the potential exists -- in addition to risks to human life -- for major damage to New York's dwellings/infrastructure and economy.

AOL Inc shares rose more than 7 percent on Thursday after Adweek reported that the Internet company had hired an investment banker and a law firm.

Verizon Communications said on Thursday that it had bought privately held software developer CloudSwitch to boost its business services division.

While looking for pulsars, a team of scientists discovered an exotic planet orbiting the fast-spinning pulsar. While the planet was stripped of most of its mass, it was discovered to be crystallized, worthy to be identified as genuine diamond.

Warren Buffett will invest $5 billion in Bank of America Corp, stepping in to shore up the largest U.S. bank in the same way he helped prop up Goldman Sachs and General Electric during the financial crisis.

Facing pressure to keep money printing in check, U.S. central bankers are mulling a modest approach to stimulus that would give the struggling economy only a tiny boost -- if it helps at all.

Striking workers at Verizon Communications pushed up new U.S. jobless claims last week, but there was little evidence the recent stock market turmoil had spooked businesses enough for them to cut workers.

AOL Inc shares rose nearly 9 percent on Thursday as the Internet company -- long seen as a merger candidate -- confirmed it has an investment banker and a law firm on retainer.

Here is a collection of Steve Jobs' greatest quotes.

Facebook topped one trillion page hits in the month of June, Time Magazine's Techland blog reports.

As Hurricane Irene batters the northern Bahamas on as it heads toward the East Coast on Thursday, train services were canceled and workers scrambled to protect power lines in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C.

Irene is expected to make landfall in New Jersey on Sunday morning as a Category 2 hurricane, with sustained winds between 96 and 110 miles per hour. Experts say it could be the worst storm ever to hit New Jersey.

Hurricane Irene is not the first hurricane with that name. Here's a look of a few of the past Irenes.

The 115 mph Category 3 storm is expected to hit North Carolina's Outer Banks Saturday afternoon. The hurricane will then creepy up the Eastern Seaboard.

Gold fell for a third consecutive session on Thursday, as funds liquidated positions due to CME Group's second margin hike this month, technical weakness and jitters on the eve of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech to central bankers.

There is a growing group of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, believing that vaccines increase the risk of autism, diabetes, asthma and other ailments. But a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies concludes that adverse effects are extremely rare.

Texas Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry was endorsed Thursday by Kinky Friedman, who garnered media buzz when he ran as an independent against Perry in 2006.

Gold rose on Thursday after two days of sharp declines, as tumbling European and U.S. equity markets on talk that Germany might enact a short-selling ban prompted investors to buy bullion as a safe haven.

Congress is tantalizingly close to passing patent reform that President Barack Obama has hailed as an economic booster, but the legislation is expected to do little to divert money away from patent litigation and toward innovation.

Hurricane Irene has already led New Yorkers to head to the supermarkets and prepare for a wild weather weekend.