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About 800,000 "nonessential" federal employees went to work Tuesday morning for a mere four hours before heading home. Until Congress budges, that's where they'll stay.

The impasse continues. Meanwhile, parts of the federal government remain closed. Among the latest developments: President Obama has invited leaders of both parties to a Wednesday evening meeting at the White House.

The data in the ADP National Employment Report are likely to be the only clues this week about how strong the labor market was last month. The partial government shutdown means the Labor Department is unlikely to release its figures.

When young journalist Marna Shifrin decided to say so long to the animation company where she was working, she did it in a video that's now gone viral. Now, both the company she quit and others are doing their own versions — all set to some Kanye West.

Police say the man, a Jacksonville resident originally from Serbia, told investigators that a device in his luggage was "supposed to be a bomb, but it's not." The airport was closed for five hours on Tuesday. Travelers were still dealing with delays there Wednesday morning.

The best-selling writer of such military and espionage novels as The Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising and Patriot Games was 66.

The violent attack on an SUV driver who had been chased by dozens of motorcycle riders was caught on video. Police say the incident may have begun when the riders tried to block vehicles from getting on a parkway. When a driver tried to get away, his vehicle struck a rider.

As the pope begins a meeting with his Council of Cardinals, an Italian newspaper publishes a wide-ranging interview with him, in which the pontiff affirms separation of church and state and expounds on the nature of good and evil.

In addition to shutdowns of national parks (including Alcatraz and Yosemite) and the supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, the mandatory furloughs are affecting a wide range of government science and health agencies.

With a deadline of June 2014, the task of dismantling Syria's chemical weapons arsenal is in its early phases.