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late Wednesday, according to four people close to the situation.
• The merged carrier will be the world's biggest and will keep the American Airlines name, but it will be run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker. American's CEO, Tom Horton, will serve as chairman of the new company until mid-2014, these people said. They requested anonymity because the merger negotiations were private.
• The deal has been in the works since August, when creditors pushed for merger talks so they could decide which earned them a better return: a merger or Horton's plan for an independent airline. American has been restructuring under bankruptcy protection since late 2011. AMR creditors and possibly its shareholders will own 72 percent of the stock, and US Airways Group Inc. shareholders will get the rest, three of the people said.
• A formal announcement is expected Thursday morning.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- John Boehner is pulling back. After two stressful years as Washington's most powerful Republican and a pair of failed, high-profile rounds of budget talks with President Barack Obama -- and disappointment over Obama's re-election -- the battle-scarred House speaker has adopted a you-first approach to the Democrat in the White House, his allies who control the Senate and anyone else who wants to work with them.
• Upcoming across-the-board spending cuts set to slam the economy in two weeks? Boehner says a solution is up to Obama and Senate Democrats.
• New ideas to prevent gun violence? Let's see what the Senate can pass, Boehner says, then we'll take a look.
• Immigration reform? Boehner says it's best left to bipartisan working groups in both the House and Senate.
• And the litany of new initiatives unveiled by Obama in Tuesday's State of the Union address?
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans have questioned Chuck Hagel's truthfulness and they've challenged his patriotism.

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