AP - President Barack Obama's much-challenged health care overhaul gained traction Wednesday as a liberal lawmaker became the first to switch his opposition and Catholic nuns declared their support in an unusual public break with the bishops.

AP - Companies that hire unemployed workers will get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill that easily won congressional approval Wednesday in what Democrats hope is just the first of several election-year measures aimed at boosting hiring.

AP - A Pakistani court charged five young Americans on Wednesday with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country and conspiring to wage war against nations allied with Pakistan, their defense lawyer said.

AP - Anti-government demonstrators vowed Wednesday to extend their protest in the Thai capital indefinitely, after taking their attention-grabbing tactic of pouring bottles of their own blood to the prime minister's home.

AP - Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print.

AP - Prices at the wholesale level plunged in February by the largest amount in seven months as a big drop in energy prices offset higher food costs.

AP - All the world from the Sydney Opera House to the Empire State Building turned Irish, or at least Irish for the day, as revelers marked St. Patrick's Day with bagpipes, dancing, emerald lights and green body paint in a flurry of celebration.

AP - A state-run TV channel is stirring controversy with a documentary about a fake game show in which credulous participants obey orders to deliver increasingly powerful electric shocks to a man, who is really an actor, until he appears to die.

AP - Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine last season, SI.com reported Wednesday.