IBT Staff Reporter

HP cuts the price of its tablet computer permanently.

Shares of Societe Generale plunged as much as 23 percent amid a whirlwind of rumors questioning its financial solidity, before closing 15 percent lower after the French bank denied all speculation about its health.

Boy or Girl? New technology can tell pregnant women whether they're having a boy or girl as early as seven weeks into a pregnancy, according to a study in the Wednesday issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.

A congresswoman on Wednesday requested more information on security company McAfee's report detailing a five-year hacking campaign that breached 72 organizations globally.

Three fugitive siblings who were on the Most Wanted List were taken into custody Wednesday, authorities said. A manhunt for the "Dougherty Gang" was initiated Aug. 2 after the siblings reportedly fired at least 20 shots at a police officer in Florida.

The Pentagon will test a super fast, unmanned aircraft that can travel at Mach 20 -twenty times faster than the speed of sound, up to 13,000 miles per hour. The Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will test the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) Thursday morning from Vandenberg Air Force in California. A Minotaur IV Lite rocket will lift off with the HTV-2, and release the aircraft after penetrating the atmosphere.

A tourist suffered a broken leg when a melting glacier collapsed in front of her boat in Alaska.

Echelon Corporation said, Tuesday, that Malin Ken Oshman has passed away at the age of 71 after a long battle with lung cancer.

Some members or supporters of hacker collective Anonymous could be planning a massive cyber attack against Facebook on November 5, known as Guy Fawkes Night.

The UK is seeing the worst civil unrest in 30 years just months before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but officials are optimistic that the riots will have no effect on the safety or planning of the games.

A reorientation of Russia to East from West could be a complete economic game-changer.

Stocks fell on Wednesday on fears about the French banking sector's exposure to shaky European debt and its possible spillover onto U.S. banks.

The Defense Research Projects Agency is testing Thursday an unmanned aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound, up to 13,000 miles per hour, and send a missile to a target within an hour. If successful, it will be fast enough to travel from coast to coast (between Los Angeles and New York) in just 12 minutes.

NASA reaches its destination, the Endeavour crater, where it will study rocks and terrains never seen by the human eye.

Ghana's annual inflation rate fell to its lowest since 1992 in July, potentially paving the way for new cuts in interest rates in the West African state.

Gloomy comments from South Africa's central bank on the impact of global financial turmoil on the country's capital formation, key to growth, were the backdrop to a fall in bond yields and a volatile day for the rand, which ended down against the dollar.

Ugandan police fired teargas on Wednesday to disperse thousands of supporters of opposition leader Kizza Besigye who had gathered in the town of Masaka in southwest Uganda where he renewed calls for protests against high food and fuel prices.

A German court has temporarily barred Samsung Electronics from selling its flagship Galaxy tablet in most of the European Union in a significant victory for market leader Apple Inc.

Wonder why some people just happen to be so smart, and it even seems to flow down from generation to generation? Now, a study is saying there is a crucial link that ties intelligence to genes, meaning that one is born with the brains.

Several Anonymous members have denied and denounced the group's plan of a cyberattack on Facebook, which was announced in a YouTube video clip weeks ago. The hacker group insists the plan is not supported by "all of Anonymous."

TBS has officially cancelled the "Lopez tonight" and will not continue with its third season. The program airs immediately after the Conan show. This all seems so familiar, as we are reminded of what happened to Conan O'brien's show with NBC and Jay Leno.

Bank of America Corp will not turn to new share offerings to boost capital, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said on Wednesday, in an effort to placate investors angry over a recent 20 percent drop in the company's shares.

The narrow U.S. escape from default and its credit downgrade have added to a perception that the United States is in decline, a view that could weaken Washington's influence abroad.

A U.S. government request that Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam spend as much as 24-1/2 years in prison -- a term associated more with murder than financial crimes -- raises the ante in the biggest individual insider trading case in a generation.

Moody's Investors Services said on Wednesday that most issuers in the U.S. municipal bond market are well insulated from shock, but added that some could be weakened during significant market volatility.

Jennifer Grey, who starred as Baby in the 1987 hit film' Dirty Dancing ,' told fans that she is "so excited" that the iconic film will be remade. "I'm so excited about this news and I think there's nobody better than my beloved Kenny Ortega who is as responsible as anyone for the success of the first one. I can't wait to see what he's going to do with it," Grey told the Wall Street Journal through her publicist.

TBS axed the third season of "Lopez Tonight" because it struggled to gain viewers in the competitive field of talk shows, according to the Hollywood Reporter. In November, Lopez was bumped back an hour to a midnight slot to accommodate Conan O'Brien's "Conan" after the comedian's exit from NBC.

Economic fears are weighing heavily on Americans, with a large majority saying the United States is on the wrong track and nearly half believing the worst is yet to come, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said Wednesday.

Four years to the week since global financial markets totally seized up, European bank funding is again in short supply.