DENVER (AP) — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.

LONDON (AP) — Two men accused of butchering a British soldier had been investigated previously by security services, a British official said Thursday, as investigators searched several locations and tried to determine whether the men were part of a wider plot to instill terror on the streets of London.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in early trading, extending a sell-off that began Wednesday afternoon, after Chinese manufacturing unexpectedly contracted and on concern that the Federal Reserve may ease back on its stimulus program.