Always popular among his peers, Clint Bowyer over the last two seasons has slowly become one of NASCAR's newest stars.

Seven people have been charged with smuggling bladders from an endangered fish in what authorities said Wednesday may be a growing international practice in which the bladders are sold for more than $10,000 each to be used in a highly desired soup.

The stock market finished pretty much where it started Wednesday as a mixed bag of earnings from big-name American companies left investors uninspired.

A court in Brazil orders Facebook to remove a memorial page dedicated to a deceased woman, after her mother brought a legal case.

A police spokeswoman could not confirm the cause of deaths; a suspect was fatally wounded in a police chase and exchange of gunfire with officers, authorities said.    

Despite outhitting the Astros and wracking up 15 strikeouts against them, Seattle loses to lowly Houston.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since deadly anthrax-laced letters were sent through the U.S. mail in 2001, killing five people and spreading nationwide panic, the FBI has beefed up its bioterror capabilities and created a Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate to focus on lethal threats. The branch has had some successes, such as the 2008 arrest of a Las Vegas man who was preparing ricin in his hotel room. But the recent arrest - and quick release - of Mississippi Elvis impersonator Paul Kevin Curtis, who was accused of sending poisoned letters to President Barack Obama, a U.S. ...

(Reuters) - Four children, aged 1 to 4, died in Hartsville, South Carolina, when the mobile home in which they lived with their mother caught fire on Wednesday, according to local media reports. Firefighters were quickly on the scene but too late to save the trapped children, including twin 1-year-old girls, Hartsville Public Information Officer Russell Cox told The Morning News in South Carolina. The children's mother was in the home's yard when firefighters arrived, Darlington County Sheriff Wayne Byrd told reporters. The identities of the children have not been released. ...

US car giant Ford reports results that underlined the contrasting fortunes of its North American and European businesses.

Nearly 200 inmates have won a $600,000 settlement for the way they were treated during a riot at a Colorado private prison in 2004.

Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped all charges against Connecticut center Enosch Wolf stemming from a February domestic violence arrest on campus.

Chris Carter, Ronny Cedeno and Brandon Laird homered, Lucas Harrell pitched seven innings, and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 10-3 on Wednesday.

The Wall Street meltdown of 2008 and the ensuing recession did little to help make high school seniors financially savvy and less than half of them have a solid understanding of economics, according to an Education Department report released Tuesday.

Members of the Argentine human rights group "Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo" asked Pope Francis on Wednesday for help finding still-missing children taken from political prisoners during the country's 1976-83 military dictatorship - and said the pontiff told them they could count on him.

As lawmakers head into the final days of the 105-day regular legislative session, Gov. Jay Inslee acknowledged Wednesday that the clock might run out before a budget deal is struck and agreement is reached on other bills he says are still in play.

One of two men accused of plotting with al-Qaida members in Iran to derail a train in Canada became radicalized to the point that his father reached out to a Muslim support group for help and advice, a local religious leader said Wednesday.

Zynga Inc.'s surprise profit in the first three months of the year got overshadowed by a revenue decline, a drop in the number of users and a lower-than-expected second-quarter forecast.

A Philadelphia judge is defending her decisions in the trial of the first Catholic Church official in the U.S. to be charged and convicted in the cover-up of the priest abuse scandal.

Jill Biden has visited the finish line memorial for Boston Marathon victims and left behind a pair of sneakers.