Immigration bill — Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that the House will not hold formal compromise talks on the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration bill, a fresh signal from the Republican leadership that the issue is dead for the year. The measure’s slow, relatively quiet demise came more than four months after the Senate, on a bipartisan vote, passed a far-reaching bill that would provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally and tighten border security.

Marine deaths — Four Marines were killed Wednesday during an operation to clear a range of unexploded ordnance at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, a Marine official said. The deaths occurred during a periodic sweep of explosive material to make ranges safe for future exercises, said a Marine official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. There was no live firing on the range at the time, the official said. The identities of the dead were withheld pending notification of relatives.

Iraq attacks — A series of bomb blasts and gunfire attacks swept Iraq on Wednesday, mostly targeting Shiites who were marking one of their holiest religious events. At least 27 people were killed in nine attacks that stretched to the northern cities of Tikrit and Mosul and to the regions west of Baghdad and Fallujah. The attack with the largest number of casualties was in Baquba, north of Baghdad, as a group of Shiite pilgrims began marking Ashura, the solemn religious commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Pittsburgh shooting — Three students were shot near a Pittsburgh high school minutes after dismissal Wednesday, and police officers who surrounded two nearby homes took six people into custody for questioning. None of the injuries were life-threatening, the authorities said. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said the shooting appeared to be “a targeted incident” rather than a random spree. A police spokeswoman, Diane Richard, said school security officers believed it was retaliation after a fight that led to a lockdown last month. The victims, a 15-year-old and two 17-year-old males, attend Brashear High School, the city’s largest.

Bulger hearing — A flood of emotion overwhelmed a federal courtroom Wednesday in Boston as the relatives of people who were killed by James “Whitey” Bulger told of their loves and their losses — and their utter contempt for the defendant. Bulger, 84, who was convicted in August of 11 murders when he was the overlord of the Boston underworld in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, was variously called a sociopath, a psychopath and, perhaps most searing to him, a rat. Many of those who spoke at the sentencing hearing were children at the time of their fathers’ deaths.

Stabbing in Israel — A Palestinian teenager fatally stabbed a 19-year-old Israeli soldier on a bus in northern Israel on Wednesday, according to the police, shocking Israelis who have grown unused to such killings in their cities and further clouding a peace process that was already severely strained by Israeli settlement plans in the West Bank. Infuriated by news of long-term planning for more settlement housing, the Palestinian leadership is expected to meet today to discuss the future of the U.S.-backed negotiations.

Syria conflict — Syrian government forces recaptured a suburb south of Damascus on Wednesday and continued battles to push insurgents out of long-held territory outside the northern city of Aleppo, in what appeared to be a major push to gain ground ahead of proposed internationally sponsored peace talks. State news media showed government troops entering Hujeira, the latest in a string of suburbs south of Damascus where the government has made inroads in recent days, trying to sever supply lines between rebel-held towns that form an arc around the capital.

Toronto mayor — Shortly after Toronto’s City Council voted Wednesday to ask Mayor Rob Ford to step down temporarily, a court released documents that painted a salacious picture of a combative, drunken mayor who assaulted staff members and entertained suspected prostitutes. Last week Ford admitted to having smoked crack cocaine and being drunk repeatedly to the point of losing control. But he refused to step down. The motion, which was approved by a vote of 37-5, is symbolic since the council has no legal means to force Ford from office.

— From wire reports