Technology stocks fell Wednesday, dragged down by a weak earnings report from the business software maker Oracle Corp.
Broad market indexes were flat. The Dow Jones industrial average eked out a gain of 4 points after having been down most of the day.

More Chinese cities are requiring users of Twitter-like microblog services to register with their real names, state media said Thursday, in a move likely to deter many online voices.
China has more than 485 million Internet users, the most of any country in the world. Sites that are deemed politically destabilizing or pornographic are routinely blocked, but microblogs have been widely used to share information not available in the state media.

Kid Rock is teaming up with a Detroit church to give away hundreds of gift baskets and retail gift certificates to needy families in the area where he got his start and still calls home.
The musician's nonprofit organization joined Hartford Memorial Baptist Church on Wednesday to distribute 100 gift certificates for Meijer retail and grocery stores, along with more than 300 gift baskets.

You'll find a drop-waist dress when you set off on your first shopping spree of the new year, and you probably already can find a flouncy ruffle attached to a chic, trim jacket or sheath in stores. But for all the talk about fast fashion, few looks move directly from the runway to the real world without some tweaks and adjustments.
Designers, manufacturers and retailers use the months between splashy previews and on-sale dates to harness big ideas and turn them into the garments they hope people will find appealing and flattering, and motivate them to buy.

When iPods hit the scene 10 years ago, the small, white ear buds that came with the devices became the symbol for listening to music on the go.
Today, that's changing.

A court has ordered the arrest of two self-described witches on blackmail and extortion charges in a high-profile case involving a TV star and, reportedly, other public figures.
The Bucharest Appeals Court ruled Wednesday that Rada Minca and Roxana Lider should be arrested for 29 days pending trial.

A truck driver who won a Lamborghini worth about $300,000 in a convenience store contest crashed the sports car six hours after he got it, and he now plans to sell the 640-horsepower convertible because he can't afford the insurance or taxes.
"I already had offers on it. I'm going to sell it," David Dopp said Wednesday. "I have bills more important than a Lamborghini. I've got a family to support."

Who says plane travel can't be fun?
Flight attendants for a low-cost Philippine airline who gained fame by dancing through safety demonstrations are back swaying through the aisles.

A Danish zoo says a month-old polar bear cub is being raised by humans after his mother failed to produce enough milk to feed him.
Scandinavian Wildlife Park manager Frank Vigh-Larsen says Siku is doing "really fine." The cub now weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms grams) — against 3 pounds (1.8 kilograms) at birth.

Coming off a miserable season in which it won only one race, Ferrari plans to introduce its completely revised 2012 car during the "the first few days of February."
Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo announced the team's plans late Wednesday at the automaker's Christmas party.
