IBT Staff Reporter

The risk that the United States will lose its AAA credit rating in the next three months has risen considerably, even if lawmakers reach an agreement to raise the country's debt ceiling later this month, an S&P official said on Thursday.

When Citigroup Inc reports second-quarter results on Friday, investors will scrutinize its loan book for signs that the bank is on a sustainable path to profit growth.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has warned there is a one-in-two chance it could cut the United States' prized AAA credit rating if a deal on raising the government's debt ceiling is not agreed soon.

Google Maps now has come up with live traffic info in 13 additional European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.

With the bombardment of tablets and smartphones, the overall PC market has grown only by 2.3 percent year-over year. However Apple has seen considerable growth compared to other PC vendors.

Google's Chromebook went on sale online one month ago, and although the giant internet company hasn't released an official sales figure, there is reason to believe it isn't doing so bad.

Humans are slaughtering large predators-- everything from sharks to lions, provoking an extinction of the animals that are balancing the equilibrium of the Earth's ecosystem.

Mining and oil company BHP Billiton unveiled a $12.1 billion agreed takeover of U.S. gas producer Petrohawk Energy Corp on Friday, marking the Anglo-Australian firm's biggest step into the booming shale-gas industry.

Face.com, a face detection and recognition service that equipped Facebook with the facial recognition technology, has announced an API release of a new set of facial analysis attributes, namely, mood estimation and facial expressions.

Casey Anthony, the young woman accused of murdering her young child using duct tape and chloroform. Anthony was acquitted July 5 on homicide charges and will be released July 17.

Rumors of Hugh Hefner's death proved yesterday that 2011 is the year of the hoax. Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner's Twitter account was hacked into yesterday, with pranksters reporting that he had died of a heart attack.

Starting at midnight Friday, July 15th, 10 miles of the San Diego Interstate 405 Freeway will be closed. Rightfully named Carmageddon, the phenomenon will cloud Southern California with the closure of a portion of the most clogged freeway system in the city, all the way from the Hollywood Hills to the 10 Santa Monica Freeway.

Carmageddon countdown started for South Californians, who have been well informed of this pending phenomenon over the past couple of weeks via social media and the internet.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has warned there is a one-in-two chance it could cut the United States' prized triple-A rating if a deal on raising the government's debt ceiling is not agreed soon.

Groupon Inc, the largest online daily deals company, has added 11 new underwriters for its upcoming initial public offering.

Zareh Manjikian, who is suspected of killing a North Hollywood teen after a text message dispute, has been arrested in Van Nuys.

Killer Levi Aron was formally charged in a New York court today after he killed a lost Brooklyn boy walking home from day camp. Levi Aron pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping and is being held without bail. Police said that Aron drove Leiby Kletzky to a Rockland County catering hall and that the boy waited in the car.

Rumors of Hugh Hefner's death proved yesterday that 2011 is the year of the hoax. Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner's Twitter account was hacked into yesterday, with pranksters reporting that he had died of a heart attack.

Leiby Kletzky's murderer Levi Aron made a chilling confession that has taken the Internet by storm, since it was obtained from police and published by NBC New York.

Leiby Kletzky's murderer Levi Aron made a shocking confession that has taken the Internet by storm, since it was obtained from police and published by NBC New York.

But more importantly, the launch of Apple's highly anticipated new operating system OS X Lion has yet to be released. Apple would not release the new Macbook Air unless the operation system is first released, since it will come pre-installed with OS X Lion.

The Defense Department unveiled a new strategy for protecting military computer networks from hackers on Thursday, designating cyberspace as an operational domain U.S. forces will be trained to defend.

A Canadian HIV researcher said today that treatment as prevention, or should be used worldwide in order to derail the AIDS epidemic. Two HIV studies in Africa revealed July 13 that antiretroviral drugs used in combination with anti-retroviral therapy helps treat HIV and prevents transmission through decreasing contagiousness.

Large predators are dying off -- everything from sharks to lions. These are the animals that are holding the equilibrium of the Earth's ecosystem in place. And humans are behind the devastating massacre, scientists are saying.

A foreign intelligence service stole 24,000 files from a U.S. defense contractor earlier this year, a dramatic illustration of the threat confronting the Pentagon as it works to bolster military computer security, a top defense official said on Thursday.

Humans are killing off large predators-- everything from sharks to lions, provoking an extinction of the animals that are holding the equilibrium of the Earth's ecosystem in place.

A colorful toad that has not been seen in 87 years was rediscovered in the jungles of Southeast Asia today. The toxic toad, ranked one of Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Amphibian Specialist Group's ten most wanted amphibians, has historically never been photographed.

UBS AG won review by a Manhattan federal judge of $2.6 billion of lawsuits brought by the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's firm, at least the fourth time a bank has obtained access to that court.

Google Inc's results soundly trounced Wall Street's most bullish expectations, sending its shares up 12 percent and easing concerns that its battle with Facebook and Twitter is costing too much and hindering growth.