(Reuters) - Walmart has started to limit sales of ammunition to three boxes per customer per day due to limited supplies, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Sales of guns and ammunition have risen across the United States since the December 14 shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school. Walmart U.S., is the largest unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc the world's largest retailer and the largest U.S. gun seller. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer had said that it works to strike the right balance between serving hunters and sportsmen and ensuring that it sells firearms responsibly. ...

PONTIAC, Michigan (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said on Wednesday that a review process on Detroit and a decision on whether the city's shaky financial condition warrants a state-appointed manager could be completed in as soon as three weeks. The Republican governor said he expects to receive a report from a review team he appointed on December 18 in two to four weeks and that his analysis of the report would take another one to two weeks. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State-designate John Kerry is saying farewell to the Senate.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Representative Stephen Lynch plans to launch a run for the Senate on Thursday, challenging fellow Democratic congressman Edward Markey in a bid to succeed John Kerry, according to a source with knowledge of Lynch's plans. A former ironworker who represents Boston and the surrounding area, Lynch has scheduled a series of appearances across the state, beginning in Springfield and Worcester - Massachusetts' third- and second-most-populous cities - and moving on to a rally at his own union hall. The source declined to be identified ahead of Thursday's official announcement. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chuck Hagel has told Congress that if confirmed as the next defense secretary he would ensure America's military is prepared to strike Iran if necessary but stressed the need to be "cautious and certain" when contemplating the use of force. Hagel's views were detailed in 112 pages of written responses to wide-ranging questions by lawmakers submitted ahead of his confirmation hearing on Thursday. In them, he also voiced support for a steady U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Robert Menendez's office says he traveled on a plane owned by a Florida physician who is a friend and political donor, but denied that the senator had engaged with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After more than a year's delay, American schools will soon see new U.S. government rules targeting the kinds of snacks sold to students, a move nutritionists say could play an important role in fighting childhood obesity. Anxious schools have waited more than a year to find out how sales of potato chips, candy bars, sodas and similar treats to students will be restricted. These rules on food sold outside traditional cafeteria meals are a key part of the first major overhaul on school food in more than three decades. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chuck Hagel says his experience fighting in Vietnam alongside his younger brother will shape any decision he makes to unleash military force if the Senate confirms him to be President Barack Obama's defense secretary.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - For a gruff, no-nonsense technocrat known for intimidating even her closest aides, the tears rolling down President Dilma Rousseff's face were especially striking. After receiving a phone call at 7 a.m. on Sunday notifying her of a nightclub fire that killed 235 people in southern Brazil, Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile and was on the scene by midday. One photo showed her in a Santa Maria gym that had been turned into a makeshift morgue, cradling the head of a victim's mother with both hands as the two women cried. ...

SIENA, Italy (Reuters) - The secret document at the heart of the Monte dei Paschi banking scandal lay for months in a concealed safe in a 14th century Tuscan palace. Chief Executive Fabrizio Viola said he learnt about the safe's contents only last October, a full 10 months after he had been called in to sort out Italy's third biggest bank. The 2009 document revealing derivatives deals that have run up huge losses for Banca Monte dei Paschi came to light in the office of Viola's predecessor at the bank's headquarters in Siena. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The intensifying gun-control debate has given rise to sloppy claims on both sides.