BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A Maine man charged in the death of a 15-year-old girl whose body was found in the woods has made his first court appearance, but he didn't have anything to say.

CANNES, France (AP) — James Franco's filmography is starting to look like a book shelf — and a very respectable one, at that.

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Following a lengthy Cabinet meeting, South Sudan's government spokesman said Wednesday that the country will continue to export oil through Sudan and that there had been only a temporary slowdown in production.

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The cost of a massive tornado that battered an Oklahoma City suburb could be more than $2 billion, according to a preliminary official estimate announced Wednesday. State authorities meanwhile said two infants were among the 24 people who perished in the twister.

LONDON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's signal that monetary policy will remain loose gave stocks another lift Wednesday, paving the way for many indexes to advance to new record highs.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Minnesota Twins placed third baseman Trevor Plouffe on the seven-day disabled list with a concussion Wednesday after he was struck in the head by Dan Uggla's shin while breaking up an attempted double play.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Below are highlights of the question and answer session of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony on the U.S. economy to the congressional Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday. BERNANKE ON WHETHER HE WOULD SERVE A THIRD TERM: "I am not prepared to answer that question now." BERNANKE ON POLICY'S IMPACT ON HIGH MARKET LEVELS: Currently high market levels "may be because the market thinks that monetary policy is creating more profits and growth." BERNANKE ON TIGHT MORTGAGE LENDING: "If you can get a mortgage ... the payments are low and affordability is high. ...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber on foot killed an anti-Taliban village elder and at least three other people in a busy marketplace Wednesday in central Afghanistan, the latest in a wave of assassinations and bombings.

SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. (AP) — An emotional funeral service has been held for a Hofstra University student who was accidentally shot by police.

CHICAGO (AP) — Star linebacker Brian Urlacher says he's retiring after spending 13 seasons with the Chicago Bears.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base on Wednesday, a month after the test flight was postponed because of tensions with North Korea.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lois Lerner of the IRS joins a diverse roll call of people who have invoked Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions at congressional hearings over the years.

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain's Interior Ministry says an Iranian drone has been found in the strategic Gulf kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal regulators said Wednesday that they are conducting a special inspection of a nuclear power plant outside North Carolina's capital city that was forced to shut down last week after operators discovered corrosion and cracking in the reactor vessel's covering.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's president received a long-awaited Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report that names the president and his deputy as being among those suspected of planning and financing Kenya's 2007-08 postelection violence in which more than 1,000 people died and 600,000 were evicted from their homes.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — China's premier signed economic agreements and praised Pakistan in glowing terms as he began a two-day visit Wednesday, underscoring the importance of the longstanding alliance to the two Asian powers.

VIENNA (AP) — The U.N.'s atomic agency says Iran is moving ahead to update a program the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons.

NEW YORK (AP) — The idea of Michael Douglas playing Liberace might seem nearly as outrageous as Liberace himself.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are moving higher Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it was too soon for the central bank to pull back on its economic stimulus programs.

By Barbara Liston and Mark Hosenball ORLANDO, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An FBI agent shot and killed a Florida man who turned violent while being questioned about the Boston Marathon bombings early on Wednesday, the bureau said. A friend of the dead man identified him as 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev of Orlando, a Chechen who had previously lived in Boston, the Orlando Sentinel and Orlando television stations reported. Two brothers named by the FBI as suspects in the April 15 bombings were also ethnic Chechens with roots in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region. ...