By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Merck & Co's experimental insomnia drug moved a step closer to U.S. approval on Wednesday after a panel of medical experts said it is effective and safe at lower doses. The advisory panel was convened to help the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decide whether to approve the drug, suvorexant, which would be the first in a new class of sedatives that block chemicals in the brain called orexins that help keep people awake. The drugs are designed to help people fall asleep and stay asleep. …

Read more here: Merck's insomnia drug moves a step closer to U.S. approval

By Karen Jacobs (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines is letting a wave of orders for the newest planes on the market roll by, giving the jets time to prove themselves before buying, its chief executive told Reuters on Wednesday. While other airlines have ordered more than 3,000 of the next generation narrow-body models, the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo, Delta says it is playing it safe. …

Read more here: Delta will wait for new planes to mature: CEO

Earlier this year we learned about a patent holding firm that came up with a novel way of making money by threatening to sue small businesses that allegedly infringed upon its scanner technology patents by using scanners in their offices. Yes, you read that correctly: An entity called “Project Paperless LLC” really has been sending out letters to small and medium-sized businesses demanding licensing fees for using office scanners capable of sending PDFs via email. Ars Technica has now provided us with an update to this story and has found that Project Paperless is just one of roughly 40 shell entities owned by a company called MPHJ Technologies that’s been sending threatening letters out to small businesses demanding that they pay

Read more here: Vermont puts foot down on patent troll that targeted charities

LONDON (AP) — Two men with butcher knives hacked another to death Wednesday near a London military barracks and one then went on video to explain the crime — shouting political statements, gesturing with bloodied hands and waving a meat cleaver. Soon after, arriving police shot and wounded the unidentified assailants and took them into custody.

Read more here: Brutal attack in London blamed on radical Islam

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Wednesday with the S&P 500 posting its biggest decline in three weeks, after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed some officials were open to tapering large-scale asset purchases as early as at the June meeting. Trading was volatile – the Dow and the S&P indexes both rose more than 1 percent during the morning, but fell more than 1 percent in the afternoon. …

Read more here: Wall Street falters in volatile session on Fed worries

By Mark Hosenball and David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government formally acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed four Americans, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan. Attorney General Eric Holder named the dead U.S. citizens in a letter to members of Congress a day before President Barack Obama is expected to promise more transparency on national security issues in a speech on counterterrorism. …

Read more here: U.S. acknowledges killing four Americans in drone strikes

Jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial said Wednesday they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or death.

Read more here: Arias jury adjourns for day after impasse

A 37-year-old man arrested Wednesday has pleaded not guilty to mailing a threatening communication, after a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin were discovered in Washington state last week.

Read more here: FBI make arrest in Wash. ricin letter scare

(Reuters) – General Motors Co is recalling worldwide more than 27,000 Cadillac crossover vehicles whose wheels could fall off due to potentially loose wheel nuts. GM said on Wednesday it knows of no crashes or injuries due to the issue and that no wheels have separated from the sport utility vehicles built on car-based platforms. The recall by the largest U.S. automaker affects certain 2013 Cadillac SRX models equipped with 18-inch wheels. About 18,871 of the affected vehicles are in the United States, 913 are in Canada, and 7,397 have been exported beyond North America, a GM spokesman said. …

Read more here: GM recalls more than 27,000 Cadillac crossovers with wheel issue

By Ros Krasny WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives approved a bill as expected on Wednesday declaring that a presidential permit was not needed to approve the Canada-to-Nebraska leg of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a move that would take a decision on the project away from the Obama administration. The Republican-controlled House voted 241-175 with support from some Democrats. The bill faces an uphill battle because it would have to pass the Senate with enough votes to overcome a promised veto from President Barack Obama. …

Read more here: U.S. House votes to force approval of Keystone pipeline