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The Federal Reserve will announce on Wednesday what officials expect to do with the rates it controls for next couple of years. The Fed will join central banks in Sweden, Norway and New Zealand in relaying information about expectations for short-term interest rates. Renee Montagne talks to David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal about why the Fed is doing this, and the impact it will have.

President Obama gave his State of the Union address Tuesday night. The speech was one part blueprint for economic cooperation, and one part political warning shot — as Obama prepares for a tough re-election campaign.

The company earned $13.1 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, a record. Sales of iPads were also up — soaring 111 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.

The Japanese government has announced that the country's trade balance has gone negative. It's the first time since 1980 that Japan's export-based economy has recorded a trade deficit. Economists say the strength of the yen and weak global demand have hit Japanese exports hard.

It was year ago Wednesday that Egyptians first rose against then President Hosni Mubarak in a tour de force that drove him from power. A lot has changed for Egyptians this past year. They elected their first free parliament in six decades. And Islamists, long banned by Mubarak, are now the country's main political force.

The raid, authorized by President Obama on Monday, was reminiscent of the one that killed Osama bin Laden. The American rescued was on her way home.

The biggest solar storm in years has lit up the skies with the spectacular show known as the Northern Lights. The Aurora Borealis offers a spectacle of green and blue over Canada and Northern Europe. The big storm is treating stargazers as far south as England — and may well make up for the disruptions it could bring to the electrical grid and GPS signals.

The central bank also says it likely won't be switching gears and nudging interest rates higher until at least 2014. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke concedes its longer-term forecasts are "a best guess."

The space agency's latest composite image of Earth offers a detailed view of North and Central America. It's one in a long line of "Blue Marble" shots since the original was taken by the Apollo 17 crew in 1972.

Florida's GOP primary has become a battleground for the four remaining Republican hopefuls in the 2012 presidential race. The state's size and population are much larger than other primary states', and TV advertising is expected to play its largest role yet in the campaign.