Reuters: Top News

• Judge strikes down law mandating sale of contraception
  TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) - A federal judge declared on Wednesday that a Washington state rule requiring pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives against their religious beliefs is unconstitutional.
  
  
  
  
• Analysis: Can U.S. economy withstand gasoline price curse?
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Could history repeat itself? That is a question uppermost in the minds of many Americans as they warily watch gasoline prices at the pump rise week after week.
  
  
  
  
• Santorum takes heavy fire in Arizona Republican debate
  MESA, Arizona (Reuters) - Rivals piled criticism on U.S. presidential candidate Rick Santorum at a testy debate on Wednesday, attempting to blunt his surprise surge at a pivotal period in the Republican race.
  
  
  
  
• Obama urges corporate tax cut, closing loopholes
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama made an opening offer in what could be a long negotiation with corporate America on Wednesday, putting forward his first detailed plan to cut the corporate tax rate.
  
  
  
  
• U.S. advisers back experimental obesity pill
  SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - Experimental obesity drug Qnexa won the backing of U.S. health advisors on Wednesday, raising hopes for approval of the first prescription weight-loss pill in 13 years.
  
  
  
  
• Assad forces renew barrage on Syria's Homs
  AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighborhoods of the city of Homs, reducing buildings to rubble and killing more than 80 people, including two Western journalists.
  
  
  
  
• Congress members threatened with biological attack
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several members of the Congress received mail threatening a biological attack and containing a suspicious powder later found to be harmless as law enforcement officials warned on Wednesday that more letters could be on their way.
  
  
  
  
• Iran defiant as U.N. nuclear talks fail
  VIENNA/TEHRAN (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.
  
  
  
  
• Home resales at 1-1/2 year-high, supply falls
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.
  
  
  
  
• Fitch downgrades Greece on debt swap plan
  ATHENS (Reuters) - Fitch cut Greece's long-term ratings on Wednesday to its lowest rating above a default, becoming the first ratings agency to make the widely expected downgrade after the country announced a bond exchange plan to ease its massive debt burden.