National News

GOMA, Congo - M23 rebels fired two rockets into the eastern Congo city of Goma, killing one person and wounding four, officials said, in an apparent spillover from three days of fighting raging north of the city.

TORONTO - Canada is lifting a nearly 30-year-old ban on gay men giving blood, though for the time being only those who are abstinent will be allowed to donate.

LONDON - A British official says a violent attack near a London barracks is being investigated as a possible terrorist act.

BOSTON - Law enforcement officials say a man was fatally shot while he was being questioned in the Boston Marathon bombing case after he lunged at an FBI agent with a knife.

HALIFAX - The father of a seven-year-old boy whose mouth was allegedly taped closed by an after-school monitor says school officials in Halifax reacted slowly and incompletely to the incident.

HAMILTON - Hamilton police have made a second arrest in the case of Tim Bosma, a 32-year-old father who was killed after going on a test drive with two men.

TSX jumps more than 1 percent on Fed comments TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, led by gains across all major sectors, as investors cheered comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke suggesting continued monetary stimulus. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 138.73 points, or 1.09 percent, at 12,881.16 in early afternoon trade. ...

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, led by gains across all major sectors, as investors cheered comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke suggesting continued monetary stimulus. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 138.73 points, or 1.09 percent, at 12,881.16 in early afternoon trade. (Reporting by John Tilak)

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks, bonds and currencies took a wild ride on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank's massive bond-buying program would remain in place for now, even as the bank considers cutting back stimulus in coming months. Wall Street stocks jumped as much as 1 percent, before modestly paring gains after Bernanke, in testimony to Congress, said that if economic improvement continued, "We could in the next few meetings take a step down in our pace of purchases. ...

OTTAWA - Opposition leader Tom Mulcair is calling on the prime minister to release all the documents connected to a $90,000 payment to a now-disgraced senator.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A New York City woman has been sentenced to probation for stalking actress Marion Cotillard (koh-tee-YAR') on the Internet.

OTTAWA - Canada's housing market is slowing dramatically in terms of both sales and construction, dragging down economic growth and putting some 150,000 jobs at risk in coming years, a mortgage industry association warns in its spring report.

BRUSSELS - The European Union is reassessing whether to declare the Lebanese party Hezbollah's military wing a terrorist organization, a move it has long shied from despite pressure from the United States, officials said Wednesday.

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's new financial watchdog said on Wednesday it had detected six possible attempts to use the Holy See to launder money last year, citing this as proof of its commitment to transparency. The head of the Vatican's Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), presenting its first annual report, also said it would soon have stronger supervisory powers over the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank, the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), dubbed the world's most secretive bank by Forbes magazine. ...

WASHINGTON - The American political brawl over TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline is shifting into overdrive as Republicans in the House of Representatives make yet another attempt to take the decision out of U.S. President Barack Obama's hands.

(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday it will spin off its majority stake in animal health business Zoetis Inc to shareholders by allowing them to swap Pfizer stock for Zoetis shares at a 7 percent discount. Pfizer, the largest U.S. drugmaker, sold Zoetis shares in an initial public offering in February that raised $2.2 billion. Pfizer retained an 80 percent stake in Zoetis after the IPO and now plans to unwind that, starting with this offer. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clearwire Corp said its special committee and its board of directors approved Sprint Nextel Corp's sweetened offer to take over the company and advised shareholders to vote for the deal. Wireless service provider Clearwire announced its decision on Wednesday, one day after Sprint raised its offer for the almost 50 percent of the company it does not already own to $3.40 per share from $2.97. After the Clearwire statement, its shares fell 1 percent in morning trade on Nasdaq to $3.355, below the offer price. ...

MOORE, Okla. - The cost of a massive tornado that battered an Oklahoma City suburb could be more than $2 billion, according to a preliminary estimate announced Wednesday by state officials.

By Jessica Wohl (Reuters) - Target Corp cut its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday while turning in a weak first quarter with disappointing sales, as a chilly start to spring kept shoppers from buying seasonal items like clothing. Target warned in April its first-quarter results would be weaker than anticipated, and its performance was even worse than revised Wall Street expectations due to the cool weather and the impact of higher payroll taxes on spending. Shares of Target fell 3.6 percent to $68.70. First-quarter sales at stores open at least a year fell 0. ...

HAMILTON - Hundreds of people have gathered to pay tribute to Tim Bosma, the Hamilton, Ont., man found dead after he took two men on a test drive.