IBT Staff Reporter

Wall Street stocks fell sharply on Wednesday on fears over possible trouble in the French banking sector that has large exposure to shaky peripheral European debt.

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for sexually assaulting an underage follower he married in a "spiritual marriage," will probably continue to lead his church while he is in prison. Jeffs, the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also received a 20-year sentence for sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl.

Groupon Inc's second-quarter loss more than doubled as it hired more than 1,000 new employees, even though the Internet daily deals company trimmed back its marketing costs.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez have joined the catalog of controversial and just plain strange sculptors by artist, Daniel Edwards. He is known for depicting pop culture through his art in symbolic and unconventional ways. He has made headlines for his Paris Hilton sculptor, which featured the heiress dead and awaiting an autopsy. Her live dog climbs over her. Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, was also targeted by the artist. He made a piece that featured Suri's first poop...

Samsung and Nvidia have teamed up for the latest Galaxy Android smartphone and it officially debuted Wednesday. This is the first Samsung Galaxy smartphone to feature Nvidia's Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

Checkpoint Systems Inc, maker of merchandise protection products for retailers, is expected to receive a letter from activist investor MMI Investments LP on Wednesday, requesting the company seek a strategic review, according to the contents of the letter obtained by Reuters.

Boy or Girl? A controversial new blood test, not yet available in the U.S. could determine a fetus' sex as early as seven weeks for soon-to-be parents.

President Barack Obama is getting hammered on all sides for a stumbling U.S. economy and his uneven response to it, raising pressure on him to take steps to create jobs or risk being ousted in next year's election.

The 17 year-old singer shot up to fame and fortune extremely fast. His attitude and behavior is the outcome of being spoiled by all the people and fans around him. Everyone loves him, follows his every move, pays attention to his every thought on Twitter and sells out his concerts in minutes. Who wouldn't have a big head at that point? But hope is still alive for Bieber to readjust his behavior.

Prosecutors asked a federal judge to sentence Raj Rajaratnam to as much as 24-1/2 years in prison, calling the Galleon Group hedge fund founder arguably the most egregious violator of insider trading laws ever to be caught.

Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week as interest rates fell to their lowest level this year, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Toshiba Corp, the world's No.2 maker of flash memory, on Wednesday warned that profits in its chip business could fall short of expectations, citing weak PC sales, faltering U.S. and European economies and a higher yen.

Have you thought about wrapping your newborn up with an Angry Birds blanket? Now that is about to come true. Rovio, the developer of the smash hit casual game Angry Birds, has signed a new licensing deal with SwaddleDesigns, which specializes in the manufacturing of baby products. This move comes after Rovio's foray into toys paid off.

Reports suggest that hacker group Anonymous announced to take down Facebook in November, pointing to a two-week old YouTube video which went viral this week. To make the situation more interesting, the news of the politically motivated hackers to kill Facebook is deemed fake by security experts.

Wal-Mart has joined Amazon in skirting Apple's revenue sharing rules by offering Vudu for the iPad on the browser, rather than an app.

Oil led a rebound among commodities on Wednesday as investors went bargain hunting for riskier assets after the U.S. Federal Reserve promised to extend near-zero interest rates for two more years.

So much for the vaunted Federal Reserve consensus.

Most stunning pictures of Emma Watson

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday following the previous session's rally, with futures for the S&P 500 down 1.0 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.9 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.9 percent at 4:33 a.m. EDT.

Andy Murray's preparations for the US Open were dealt a huge blow by South African Kevin Anderson at the Montreal Masters.

Standard & Poor's, whose unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt triggered a worldwide stocks sell-off, is pushing back against a U.S. government proposal that would require credit raters to disclose significant errors in how they calculate their ratings.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after a sharp snap-back rally in the last session and as investor fears about the economy and high levels of public debt looked set to generate more volatile trading.

Such is Chelsea's desire to sign Luka Modric that they're prepared to offer Yossi Benayoun to Tottenham - the only Chelsea player who has shown chemistry with the yet-to-impress striker Fernando Torres.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after a sharp snap-back rally in the last session as investor fears about the economy and high levels of public debt looked set to generate more volatile trading.

Facebook has come up with a new instant messaging service for mobile phones. It was announced on Tuesday on the company's blog. This application for iPhones and Android devices allows the users to contact their individual Facebook friends or group of people. As of now it is only available in the United States but soon it will be rolled out in other countries.

Samsung's Galaxy S2, with its impressive specifications and ultra-thin design, has left customers salivating. But while U.S. customers are still gearing up for the phone's arrival, a new report suggests that an LTE model is also under wraps.

The world's biggest food group Nestle raised its full-year outlook on Wednesday after strong demand for its Maggi and Nescafe brands in emerging markets helped it post a forecast-beating 7.5 percent rise in underlying first-half sales.

The Swiss National Bank launched new measures on Wednesday to fight a surge in the franc that is strangling the export-dependent economy but will probably have to resort to more drastic steps as investors seek a safe haven from global woes.

Arsenal are close to selling Samir Nasri to Manchester City, but have risked naming both Nasri and Cesc Fabregas in their Champions League squad for the qualifier against Udinese.