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Hopes of an end to two months of political deadlock in Italy drove its financial markets higher on Monday after the re-election of 87-year-old Giorgio Napolitano suggested parties may be nearer a deal to form a government.

The federal government could save tens of billions of dollars each year by trimming duplicative programs including catfish inspections by three separate agencies and 159 contracting organizations that provide foreign-language support for the Defense Department, according to a report from Congress's auditing agency.

The House is taking its first step Wednesday to avoid a government shutdown, as Washington looks to forgo forcing a fiscal crisis this month and instead turns its attention to a more deliberate debate over long-term deficit reduction.

The rhetoric and threat of domestic terrorist plots mirror the mood observed in the six months before the Oklahoma City bombing, the Southern Poverty Law Center says. The number of militias and radical anti-government "patriot" groups operating in the USA reached an all-time high in 2012, a report Tuesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center finds.

Hackers targeted dozens of computer systems at government agencies across Europe in a series of attacks that exploited a recently discovered security flaw in Adobe Systems Inc's software, security researchers reported on Wednesday.

Lance Armstrong faces a powerful new adversary -- the United States government. The Justice Department notified a federal court Friday that it has joined one of his former racing teammates in suing him for using performance enhancing drugs during the Tour de France.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Friday asked Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, a hardliner from the main Islamist Ennahda party, to form a government within two weeks, his spokesman said.

The government says it recovered almost $8 for each dollar it spent investigating health care fraud over the past three years, including a record $4.2 billion last year.

Next year, $1.5 trillion of bank deposits will lose an unlimited government guarantee granted during the financial crisis, and boutique firms are offering new shelters for the cash.

Ireland's government is to introduce a new law and regulations to clarify that abortions are permissible when the life -- but not health -- of the mother is at risk, Minister of Health James Reilly announced Tuesday.