IBT Staff Reporter

British business software company Sage Group Plc has been picked as preferred bidder in the race to buy Australian peer MYOB Ltd, people familiar with matter said Wednesday.

New research from Global Web Index shows sharp declines among Facebook users in some of the world's biggest markets including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Tough prison sentences such as four years for trying to organize a riot via Facebook have triggered alarm in Britain that the government's crackdown over last week's unrest may be too harsh.

Hazare, whose arrest a day earlier sparked protests across the country, rejected the government's offer for his release, choosing to remain in prison until he is permitted to go on a hunger strike.

Funds of Funds in Africa are beating the market and also are posting less correlated and volatile returns.

Private rocket company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has received a November 30 launch date from NASA for a cargo delivery to the International Space Station.

Dubai is monitoring social media sites for signs of attempts to organize protests or strikes, a police official said on Wednesday, citing the large foreign laborer population as a concern.

After a scintillating first-leg, Real Madrid and Barcelona will fight out the second-leg at the Camp Nou in a bid to claim the Spanish Supercup.

Tampa law enforcement officials took a 17-year-old male into custody after they discovered that the boy was planning an attack on a local high school, Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said Wednesday. Police said that they found explosive materials and a manifesto outlining a minute-by-minute attack on Freedom High School in the teenager's room.

Two industries ? retail and consumer packaged goods ? will account for the largest shares of new ad spending this year.

Russian space firm Orbital Technologies has unveiled plans to build a hotel in space.

Indigenous Bolivians stage a protest as construction workers begin clearing the way for a third stretch of road through the Amazon Rainforest.

The Federal Reserve's recent promise to keep rates low for another two years was inappropriate policy at an inappropriate time, while its statement on the economy was excessively negative, a top Fed policymaker said on Wednesday.

Staples Inc reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on currency benefits and better sales to its business customers in North America, prompting the largest U.S. office supply chain to raise its profit outlook.

Swedish government paused the licensed hunting of wolves this winter, as a response to the EU Commission's criticism against the licensed wolf hunt.

An unannounced Android device from the Motorola camp under the moniker Droid HD just showed up alongside the Droid Bionic in leaked pictures posted by a tipster.

Cindy and George Anthony, the parents of the woman accused and subsequently acquitted of murdering her two-year-old daughter using duct tape and chloroform, have agreed to tell their story on the Dr. Phil show. It is unclear what will be discussed and what incriminating facts, if any, will emerge.

Global brewer SABMiller took its $10 billion bid for Foster's Group direct to shareholders on Wednesday just days before the Australian beer group's annual results are set to show flagging profits.

Beetel Teletech, part of India's Bharti Enterprises that controls top mobile carrier Bharti Airtel , launched a tablet computer priced at 9,999 rupees ($220) on Wednesday.

Questions of whether Black Sabbath will reunite have been trending on the Internet since Birmingham Mail reported so on Tuesday. Fans all over the world were just that curious to know if the four original members were reuniting for an album.

Target Corp reported a bigger-than-expected rise in quarterly profit and forecast a more profitable year than analysts were anticipating, as its credit card business continued to grow and sales perked up as the summer progressed.

Chinese search engine Baidu Inc may face tighter regulations after facing a barrage of criticism from state media over its business practices at a time when it is cementing its dominance of the booming Internet market.

Researchers in Singapore re-engineered a harmless strain of bacteria to fight another common, drug-resistant microbe called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which spreads in hospitals and is deadly to patients with weak immune systems, according to findings published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology on Tuesday.

The founder of OpenGate Capital, Andrew Nikou, is in talks for his own reality show.

Five tobacco companies filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the federal government, claiming that government-required graphic warning labels on cigarette packages are unconstitutional and that they violate their rights. "The primary complaint is that we think it violates the First Amendment for the government to require people who produce a lawful product to essentially urge prospective purchasers not to buy it," First Amendment case expert Floyd Abrams said.

The Latest in iPhone 5 rumors: October release date, two Apple phones and dual core processor.

A national study on child well-being was published on Wednesday, finding that 14.7 million children were poor in 2009 across the United States. The number represents 20 percent of the nation, and represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000.

After a scintillating first-leg, Real Madrid and Barcelona will fight out the second-leg at the Camp Nou in a bid to claim the Spanish Supercup.

The so-called Mother Monster was not set to unveil her latest video for "You and I" until Thursday. However, Lady Gaga's video was leaked and is trending at over 25,000 views so far. The busy video features many sides to Gaga. We see Yuri, her mermaid alter ego, Jo Calderone, her Italian persona, and an unnamed version of Gaga who plays piano in a cornfield."You must love all + every part of me, as must I, for this complex + incomprehensible force to be true," she tweeted.