NEW YORK – Stocks ended lower Wednesday, extending Wall Street’s slump into a third session, as renewed concerns about inflation and technology shares were hurt by Xilinx’s (XLNX) reduced revenue outlook. The Dow Jones industrial average (search) lost 32.95 points, or 0.31 percent, to 10,597.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index (search) …

WASHINGTON – Republican leaders are considering a change in House ethics rules that could make it harder to discipline lawmakers. The proposal being circulated among House Republicans would end a general rule against any behavior that might bring “discredit” on the chamber, according to House Republican and Democratic leadership aides. …

Scientists are one step closer to predicting which women will reap the greatest benefit from tamoxifen (search). The answer may lie in the women’s genes — and in their medicine chests. Tamoxifen has been used for more than 20 years to treat breast cancer. It’s also prescribed to help prevent …

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – His recovery was slowed because of an infection, but a man who once weighed half a ton may soon leave a hospital after losing more than 450 pounds. Patrick Deuel (search), 42, is scheduled to go home to Valentine, Neb., on Jan. 22. He is still …

GENEVA – The number of worldwide polio cases last year rose dramatically after a vaccine boycott in Nigeria spawned a resurgence of the disease across Africa, the World Health Organization (search) said Wednesday. The number of cases worldwide in 2004 reached 1,185, compared with 784 in 2003, the United Nations …

He was king of the world after “Titanic,” but now director James Cameron (search) is, you might say, sinking to new lows. Cameron is going down with the ship again, as his passion for underwater exploration is brought to the giant 3-D IMAX (search) screen in his second high-tech, deep-sea …

WASHINGTON – Three dozen voters challenging the presidential election results in the Ohio Supreme Court (search) asked to drop their lawsuit Tuesday, saying it is moot with last week’s certification of the electoral vote and the upcoming inauguration. Citing fraud, lawyers representing 37 voters on Nov. 2 had asked the …

SPOKANE, Wash. – Gay activists in this staid Washington city are planning to create a neighborhood of gay-oriented homes, businesses and nightlife — a development religious conservatives contend would clash with Spokane’s family-centered culture. “A gay mecca is not what we’d like to see Spokane marketed as,” said Penny Lancaster, …

WASHINGTON – U.S. construction spending (search) fell unexpectedly by 0.4 percent in November, as a cooling in residential construction overpowered a small rise in public spending, a government report showed on Monday. Construction put in place in November decreased to a $1.013 trillion annual rate, compared with an upwardly revised …

TRENTON, N.J. – Aerospace and high-tech manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. (HON) said Wednesday it will trim 2,000 jobs from its aerospace division, as it reported adjusted second-quarter profit grew 29 percent on surging sales even as a one-time charge for repatriating foreign earnings depressed net income. Honeywell Chief Financial Officer …