WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House on Tuesday passed a far-reaching anti-abortion bill that conservatives saw as a milestone in their 40-year campaign against legalized abortion and Democrats characterized as yet another example of a GOP war on women.

Michael Hastings, the journalist whose explosive 2010 Rolling Stone profile of U.S. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal ("The Runaway General") led to McChrystal's ouster, died in an early morning car accident in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the magazine said. He was 33. "Hard-charging, unabashedly opinionated, Hastings was original and at times abrasive," Rolling Stone said in [...]

ASHLAND, Ohio (AP) — A mentally disabled woman charged with shoplifting a candy bar asked to be jailed because three people "had been mean to her" — then went on to tell authorities about her time spent in unfathomably cruel servitude, along with her young daughter, at the hands of three people, authorities said Tuesday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a one-week high on Wednesday, helped by a second-straight day of gains on Wall Street as investors bet that the Federal Reserve would temper worries about an imminent roll back of its stimulus programme. The Nikkei rose 2.0 percent to 13,265.53, while the Topix gained 2.1 percent to 1,108.60. (Reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban and the U.S. said Tuesday they will hold talks on finding a political solution to ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan, as the international coalition formally handed over control of the country's security to the Afghan army and police.

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 8 million immigrants living unlawfully in the United States would gain legal status under sweeping legislation moving toward a vote in the Senate, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday, adding the bill would push federal deficits lower in each of the next two decades.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying.

By Eileen O'Grady and Anna Driver (Reuters) - Duke Energy Corp has turned to an insider, Chief Financial Officer Lynn Good, to take over as chief executive when Jim Rogers steps down as part of a regulatory settlement linked to its $18 billion takeover of Progress Energy. Good, 54, a veteran of the U.S. utility industry who is well known on Wall Street, was viewed by analysts as a leading contender for the job. Having served as CFO since July 2009, she is considered a strong manager with the experience to lead the large, complex company like Duke, the No.1 U.S. power producer. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market is closing higher as investors anticipate that the Federal Reserve will keep programs to support the U.S. economy in place.

At least two groups of American hedge funds have bought large chunks of Tim Hortons shares recently, a sign the activist investors want to push the company to make major changes to its business, or possibly give up some control over the company.