IBT Staff Reporter

Ben Bernanke used his second-ever news conference on Wednesday to teach the world's financial markets a lot more about the thinking at the Federal Reserve than they could glean from its usual statements.

Official photos from the movie Hobbit have been released and by the look of them, the prequel to Lord of the Rings does justice to the masterpiece trilogy.

Google, Inc. faces the real threat of an anti trust probe by the Federal Trade Commission, which is still pending, but likely to be launched soon according to reports, letting the company step into the shoes of software giant Microsoft in the 1990's.

U.S. sales of sweet crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will have a base price of $112.79 a barrel, a spokeswoman for the SPR said on Thursday.

Olympic rowing twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are pushing ahead with another suit against Facebook, a day after they decided not to appeal a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding their $65 million settlement with Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg.

According to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, a startling picture of California is unveiled. The number of hetero married couples raising kids has been declined 10% over the last ten years while currently it is at 23%. Over a quarter of heterosexual married households are without a child and yet nearly a quarter of same-sex couples have kids in their households!

A private memorial service to honor 'Jackass' star Ryan Dunn was held Wednesday and attended by Dunn's family members and friends, including 'Jackass' co-star Bam Margera, Johnny Knoxville and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney.

The brothers are seemingly making one last appeal, asking a Massachusetts judge to investigate whether or not Facebook inadvertently hid evidence from them.

Google Inc is about to receive the civil equivalent of a subpoena from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as part of a probe into the giant Web company's Internet search business, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Hundreds of teenage girls skipped a breath in Midtown this afternoon after a scuffle between an undercover police officer and a bodyguard left Justin Bieber jolted.

The Golden State Warriors are actively discussing a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Oracle Corp reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, but that failed to calm investor fears that spending on technology software and hardware could be in jeopardy.

Jackass star Ryan Dunn died in a fatal car crash on Monday but many people believe that the prankster is pulling his most elaborate prank ever, possibly to promote his next movie 'Living Will'.

Ryan Dunn, best known for his involvement in the 'Jackass' series, was killed in a car crash early Monday as he sped along a Pennsylvania highway and had exceeded the legal blood alcohol limit.

Wielding a plastic toll road pass during a recent speech in a Manhattan restaurant, Xerox Chief Executive Ursula Burns was on a mission to prove her company is not just about copy machines anymore.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has begun the massive construction of a clock that will run for 10,000 years.

Justin Bieber was attacked Thursday during a promotional event at Macy's in New York City, where a throng of Beliebers had camped out for an opportunity to meet the teen superstar.

NATO said Thursday one of its websites was the subject of a probable data breach, but it did not contain any classified data.

Discover Financial Services said quarterly profit more than doubled, beating expectations, as customers spent more on their credit cards and the company started to reap the benefits of its expansion beyond credit card lending.

A brace of sweetened offers has failed to sway shareholders in the race to buy the operator of Canada's biggest stock exchange, and time is running out ahead of a June 30 shareholder vote.

European Union leaders promised more money to help Greece stave off looming bankruptcy, provided its parliament enacts an austerity plan finalized in fraught last-minute talks with international lenders.

NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse AG agreed to pay roughly $900 million of dividends to settle U.S. shareholder lawsuits challenging their roughly $10 billion merger to create the world's largest exchange operator.

A computer hacker pleaded guilty to helping write malicious code that allowed him to breach AT&T Inc servers and steal personal data belonging to 120,000 Apple Inc iPad subscribers, U.S. prosecutors said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc and its foundation said on Thursday that it had committed $25 million to help provide food, education and jobs for children during school summer break, but opponents of the retailer's urban expansion plans questioned its motives.

Stocks closed way off session lows on Thursday on news Greece agreed to a five-year austerity plan, but lingering economic uncertainty ultimately drove indexes mostly lower, keeping the downward trend intact.

On Wednesday, Anthony's lawyer Mark Lippman provided a shocking message that the media frenzied over: Casey Anthony's parents do not believe their daughter is innocent, but they want her to avoid the death penalty.

Both companies get into the mobile wallet/payment game with their own service.

Jessica Ciaramella, the blogger of thelastmuggle.com, returns to the International Business Times Books section to give her take on Pottermore.

Trade rumors surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers and specifically Lamar Odom are continuing.