MARKETS / FINANCE

The Iranian regime has good reason to restrict young people's access to education, regardless of gender.

The good news for investors in Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, is that the shares didn’t set a new, post-initial public offering low on Wednesday. But they have come close, trading as low as $18.96 before recovering to $19.40, up 24 cents in late trading.

Traffic on the Mississippi River halted again Wednesday due to a grounded barge near Greenville, Miss., as the nation's main waterway falls toward a record low level because of the worst U.S. drought in over a half century.

Apple’s iPhone 5 release is said to be the biggest handset launch in history—and for mobile subscribers in the U.K. the smartphone may represent a crucial first. If rumors hold up to be true, the iPhone 5 will support the first 4G LTE network in the U.K.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), the world’s biggest computer company, has nowhere to go but up. Scheduled to report third-quarter financials after the market close Wednesday, investors and technologists will be watching for signs that its restructuring and massive write-offs are over.

Meles Zenawi's death has great implications not only for Ethiopia, but for Western diplomacy across the African continent.

Gold on Wednesday hovered near a 3-1/2 month high hit in the previous session, as investors remained hopeful the European Central Bank would soon take action to contain the region's debt crisis.

Fisker Automotive Inc. is in a bad place right now, running out of money, recalling its hybrid-electric Karma luxury cars because they burst into flames and shuffling around executives faster than a losing team substitutes pitchers; it's hard to find a bright patch for the company that isn't on fire.

Dell is scheduled to report second-quarter results Tuesday below last year?s. For the first time, the company founded by Chairman Michael S. Dell nearly 30 years ago in a dorm room will be ranked No. 3 in PC sales, having lost its No. 2 ranking last quarter to China?s Lenovo Group.

Don?t say technology companies aren?t enormously profitable. An IBTimes review of the cash and investment holdings of 11 of the top technology leaders shows they are sitting atop nearly $375 billion in cash and investments ? or about 24 percent more since the last survey nine months ago.

Microsoft?s next line of Windows Phone 8 devices are expected for a fall release date alongside its new Windows 8 operating system. Rumors of these Microsoft-branded smartphones from manufacturer Samsung have been circulating for some time now, and a recent leak has revealed the names of these devices.

Exchange operator CME Group Inc. (Nasdaq:CME) is opening a hot new table in the global financial casino, pushed to set up a derivatives exchange in London by clients who can't be bothered to comply with U.S. law.

The verdict is out. The wife of disgraced Chinese political heavyweight Bo Xilai gets death (but not really) for the murder of Neil Heywood

In a phone interview with the International Business Times, the evangelical author David Barton said he was approached by four publishers, among them conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck's imprint, to distribute "The Jefferson Lies" after publisher Thomas Nelson halted shipments because of claims that it contains numerous mistakes. This incident raises again the question of why publishers are unable or unwilling to ensure the accuracy of the books they print.

France, Germany, Spain, China and Japan, among other nations, have moved by leaps and bounds ahead of the U.S. in cutting-edge rail transportation (and in rail line profitability), while Amtrak struggles to survive on budgetary scraps from Congress. Many rail experts believe that only investments from the private sector and sovereign wealth funds can save Amtrak.

Hungary's best and brightest are feeling pinched by an increasingly demanding government.

Meat-protein producers are already feeling the bite from the estimated complete loss of at least 15 percent of the national corn crop and poor yields for most of the surviving plants.

Netanyahu is paying a visit to the U.N. General Assembly in New York next month where he will likely bump into U.S. President Barack Obama, or at least expect him to issue strong rebukes against Iran in his speech to the world.

India is under a mass panic over the ongoing ethnic violence in its northeastern state of Assam, triggered when four men from the Bodo community were killed in Kokrajhar district July 20 allegedly by the Muslims who were seeking revenge for the attack on two student leaders from the community.

Sony Corp. is doing its best to maintain Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita performance in the lead-up to next year's anticipated launch of its next-generation console by cutting costs and introducing a wide range of new intellectual property for the rapidly aging devices.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has plans to invest heavily in the country's future Olympians -- even though most of the population still lives in poverty.

Trading in U.S. stocks has been going on at a snail's pace recently, a fact market-watchers are blaming on policy uncertainty, but could also be the result of investors fed up with the fragmented, unpredictable nature of the market.

Israel may be closer than ever to launching a unilateral missile attack against Iranian nuclear facilities, and debates over this explosive issue has reached a fever pitch in Tel Aviv.

China may have lost out in its mad dash to get the most gold at the London Olympics this summer, but the country is seemingly still running the race for gold where it counts, as it is currently in the process of bidding for a major African gold miner.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX), the fourth-largest media conglomerate by market capitalization, and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.(NYSE:WWE) are hoping an unlikely brand collaboration will create a hit.

The upcoming Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran, quite ironically, has become a stage to gauge the member nations' stand on certain international issues, though the world's largest single political coalition doesn't promise support to any major power bloc.

In Botswana, diamonds have been key to the country’s successful economy -- proof that a valuable resource is only as good as the entities that handle it.

Thursday frees holders of as many as 271 million shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, to sell them for the first time since the first-day trading fiasco on May 18, when shares that had been priced at $38 first traded at $42.05, then didn’t trade for 30 minutes and closed at $38.23.

Expect a popular backlash if the government raises diesel prices to halt the subsidy drain on its finances - not only from the millions of poor who need cheap fuel but from increasing numbers of the well-off and businesses who don't.