AP - The search by the booming North American population of Amish for affordable, fertile farmland has produced settlements in 28 states and Ontario — and has even led parties to scout recently for suitable properties in Alaska and Mexico.

AP - Bangkok city officials say they are humbled and inspired after receiving Travel + Leisure magazine's "Top City" award, despite recent street riots that sent tourists packing.

AP - States that had been watching Arizona's immigration law in hopes of copying it received a rude awakening when a judge put most of the measure on hold and agreed with the Obama administration's core argument that immigration enforcement is the role of the federal government.

AP - The U.S. economic recovery will remain slow deep into next year, held back by shoppers reluctant to spend and employers hesitant to hire, according to an Associated Press survey of leading economists.

Politico - The Oval Office is nearly as familiar an image as the president himself.

AP - One of every 15 New Yorkers battled bedbugs last year, officials said Wednesday as they announced a plan to fight the spreading infestation, including a public-awareness campaign and a top entomologist to head the effort.

AP - Lawmakers in the region of Catalonia thrust a sword deep into Spain's centuries-old tradition of bullfighting, banning the blood-soaked pageant that has fascinated artists and writers from Goya to Hemingway.

AP - A shooting during an undercover drug operation in Phoenix has left three people dead, including one police officer and two suspects, authorities said.

AP - A board of military officers plans to investigate a plane crash that witnesses say sent a fireball rising hundreds of feet over an Air Force base near downtown Anchorage.

AP - More bystanders are willing to attempt CPR if an emergency dispatcher gives them firm and direct instructions — especially if they can just press on the chest and skip the mouth-to-mouth, according to new research.

AP - Canadian archeologists have found a ship abandoned more than 150 years ago in the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage and which was lost in the search for the doomed expedition of Sir John Franklin, the head of the team said Wednesday.

AP - Think of it as one more reason not to write checks.

AP - Federal officials now estimate that more than 1 million gallons of oil may have spilled into a major river in southern Michigan, and the governor is sharply criticizing clean-up efforts as "wholly inadequate."

Reuters - Japan's Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it would recall 412,000 high-end passenger cars in the United States to fix steering problems.

AP - FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Wednesday that he does not know how many of his agents cheated on an important exam on the bureau's policies, discussing an embarrassing investigation that raises questions about whether the FBI knows its own rules for conducting surveillance on Americans.

AP - A hacker has discovered a way to force ATMs to disgorge their cash by hijacking the computers inside them.

AP - Every year for the past two decades, legions of young Americans have descended upon Japan to teach English. This government-sponsored charm offensive was launched to counter anti-Japan sentiment in the United States and has since grown into one of the country's most successful displays of soft power.

AP - More than 10 years have passed since she gave up her pursuit of a degree in computer science, but Yajahira Deaza still has regrets. She says she feels incomplete.