SEC files fraud charges against 2 Chinese execs (AP)

AP - Federal regulators have filed civil fraud charges against the chairman and the former CEO of a Chinese company, accusing them of duping people to invest in a coal company that actually was an empty shell.

Estonians held on allegations of spying for Russia (AP)

AP - A longtime security official and his wife have been detained in Estonia on suspicion of passing classified information and state secrets to Russia, prosecutors said Wednesday in a case likely to add to long-standing tensions between the two countries.

S&P fails to break key level (Reuters)

Reuters - Stocks fell on Wednesday with the S&P 500 stalled near a 10-month-old high after weak data on Europe's business activity raised concerns about a recession.

Newark mayor: NYPD misled city on Muslim spying (AP)

AP - Newark Mayor Cory Booker and his top police official say the city was misled by the New York Police Department and never would have authorized such wholesale spying on Muslims if they had known about it.

Verdict in trial of Egypt's Mubarak set for June 2 (AP)

AP - An Egyptian judge on Wednesday set June 2 as the date for the verdict and sentencing in the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, which could put the man who spent nearly 30 years as one of the Arab world's key strongmen on death row.

Obama sings the blues with Jagger, B.B King (Reuters)

Reuters - Bill Clinton had his saxophone, but President Barack Obama can sing the blues.

Past foreclosure means waiting years for new loan (AP)

AP - Next to filing for bankruptcy protection, nothing wrecks your chances of qualifying for a home loan like a foreclosure.

Romney proposes 28 percent top income tax rate (Reuters)

Reuters - Republican Mitt Romney, looking for a boost in his presidential campaign, proposed an overhaul of the tax system on Wednesday that he said would cut Americans' tax rates by 20 percent and limit deductions for the wealthy.

MGM Resorts 4th-quarter loss narrows, revenue up (AP)

AP - MGM Resorts International said Wednesday that high costs kept it in the red in the fourth quarter, but it lost less than a year earlier as more people stayed at its Las Vegas Strip casinos and visitors spent more on the food, gambling, entertainment and shopping it offers.

GM in alliance talks with Peugeot in Europe (AP)

AP - General Motors Co. is in talks about a possible alliance with France's leading car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen, a deal that could dwarf PSA's partnerships with BMW, Mitsubishi Motors and Toyota.

Ark. man pleads not guilty in death of teen (AP)

AP - A convicted rapist accused of killing a 16-year-old girl he met online pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday, several days after authorities found the girl's body in a blue, plastic barrel in western Arkansas.

Assad forces try to bomb Homs into submission (Reuters)

Reuters - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighborhoods of the city of Homs on Wednesday, reducing buildings to rubble and killing more than 80 people, including two Western journalists.

How low can you go? Whitney Houstonâs lifeless body covers National Enquirer (Daily Caller)

Daily Caller - Running an image of Whitney Houston’s lifeless body on the cover is pretty par for the course for The National Enquirer, but it’s still a bit much.

Iran defiant as U.N. nuclear talks fail (Reuters)

Reuters - The U.N. nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran's suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.

AP Exclusive: National meth lab busts up in 2011 (AP)

AP - Methamphetamine lab seizures rose nationally again in 2011, further evidence the powerfully addictive and dangerous drug is maintaining a tight grip on the nation's heartland, according to an Associated Press survey of the nation's top meth-producing states.

Obama seeks corporate tax rate cut, loophole limit (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a lower corporate tax rate and an end to dozens of loopholes he said helps companies move jobs and profits overseas. "It's not right and it needs to change," he said.

Obama seeks corporate tax rate cut, loophole limit (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a lower corporate tax rate and an end to dozens of loopholes he said helps companies move jobs and profits overseas. "It's not right and it needs to change," he said.

NH jury chosen in Rwanda genocide case (AP)

AP - A federal jury of eight men and four women is set to begin hearing graphic testimony in the case of a New Hampshire woman charged with lying about her role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

High court torn over law banning lie about medals (AP)

AP - The Supreme Court appeared sharply divided Wednesday over a law that makes it a crime to lie about having been awarded top military honors.

Rising sales point to better year for housing (AP)

AP - The housing market is flashing signs of health ahead of the spring-buying season.

Home resales at 1-1/2 year-high, supply falls (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. home resales rose to a 1-1/2 year high in January, pushing the supply of properties on the market to the lowest level in almost seven years in a hopeful sign for the housing sector.

Obamaâs tax plan steps on Romneyâs tax plan (Daily Caller)

Daily Caller - In response to free-market economists who widely panned President Barack Obama’s new campaign-trail tax proposal, his campaign officials stepped up their criticism of Gov. Mitt Romney’s tax proposal, due out today.

'Occupy' to hold national conference in Philly (AP)

AP - A group of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement plans to elect 876 "delegates" from around the country and hold a national "general assembly" in Philadelphia over the Fourth of July as part of ongoing protests over corporate excess and economic inequality.

Venezuela's Chavez says his cancer is likely back (AP)

AP - President Hugo Chavez has raised serious doubts about whether he'll have the stamina for a successful re-election bid, revealing that he needs to return to Cuba to have a lesion removed that is probably malignant.

Gas prices up for 4th straight week in W.Va. (AP)

AP - Gas prices in West Virginia are about 46 cents higher per gallon compared with a year ago.

Obama helps break ground on black history museum (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama heralded a new national black history museum as "not just a record of tragedy, but a celebration of life" as he marked Wednesday's groundbreaking of the long-sought-after museum on the National Mall.

Chavez surgery rocks Venezuela ahead of election (Reuters)

Reuters - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's imminent departure for more cancer surgery in Cuba has thrown his re-election campaign into uncertainty and once again shaken the socialist leader's passionate supporters.

Common prenatal tests become campaign issue (AP)

AP - First birth control, now prenatal testing? Once again a fact of life for many American women has become a jarring issue in the presidential race.

Court says police cannot be sued over warrant (AP)

AP - The Supreme Court said Wednesday that California police officers cannot be sued because they used a warrant that may have been defective to search a woman's house.

Strauss-Kahn freed after French police questioning (AP)

AP - The former chief of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been released from a French police station after two days of questioning over a suspected hotel prostitution ring.

Obama calls black museum symbol for all Americans (Reuters)

Reuters - Political and cultural figures joined to break ground for a new museum celebrating black Americans on Wednesday, with President Barack Obama calling it a symbol of Americans' shared history.

Supreme Court sends back California Medicaid cuts case (Reuters)

Reuters - The Supreme Court sent back to a lower court a case on whether Medicaid recipients and medical providers can sue California for cutting reimbursement rates in the healthcare program for low-income Americans.

Obama reflects on black history (Politico)

Politico - Explicitly linking his own family to the history of African-Americans and connecting with the rhetoric of the civil rights movement, President Barack Obama Wednesday kicked off the groundbreaking of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Jurors weigh murder case of ex-Va. lacrosse player (AP)

AP - Jurors in the murder trial of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player began deliberating Wednesday whether he battered his ex-girlfriend to death in a drunken, jealous rage or if his intent to talk with her spiraled out of control, leaving her bleeding and dying in her bedroom.

A $1M donor for every presidential hopeful (AP)

AP - Just two dozen ultra-wealthy donors are behind a surge of million-dollar contributions to the new breed of political committees during the presidential campaign.

High court rules for power company over Mont. dams (AP)

AP - The Supreme Court sided with a power company Wednesday in a dispute with Montana over who owns the riverbeds beneath 10 dams sitting on three Montana rivers.

Panel: All adults should get whooping cough shots (AP)

AP - A federal advisory panel wants all U.S. adults to get vaccinated against whooping cough.

Ex-mine official charged in fatal W. Virginia blast (Reuters)

Reuters - The former superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion was charged on Wednesday with felony conspiracy for impeding mine safety enforcement efforts before the blast, federal authorities said.

Karzai urges calm as six die in Afghan Koran protests (Reuters)

Reuters - Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for calm Wednesday after officials said six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, at NATO's main base in the country.

French photographer, 28, killed in Syria (AP)

AP - Remi Ochlik didn't waste any time celebrating after he won one of photojournalism's most prestigious prizes two weeks ago. Hours later, he was on a plane headed back to work in Middle East danger zones, a friend recalled.