(NECN/ABC: Gilo) - In Gilo Wednesday, it was building as usual. And plenty more to come, according to the Israeli government, which Tuesday gave the green light for another 900 new homes here.

That did not go down well in Washington, Because the United States, the Palestinians and many others said this is occupied land -- and so Gilo is a settlement.

"We are working to re-launch negotiations and we believe that these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

(NECN/WFTS: Venice, Fla.) - At least six hostages were bound by gunmen at a TJ Maxx store late Tuesday night, but were safe after managing to free themselves with the help of a SWAT unit.

Witnesses told authorities that two masked gunmen stormed the store.

A crowd of about 100 people, some who had relatives inside the store, gathered in the parking lot to watch.

SWAT members pulled the victims out of the store, with only one person suffering reported minor injuries. The suspects had fled the store before the SWAT team entered.

(NECN: Washington, D.C.) - Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder explained the U.S. Prosecution strategy against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of being the mastermind behind the Sept. 11th attacks.

Holder elected to put Mohammed on trial in the U.S. Civilian legal system, sending the case to Federal Court in lower Manhattan. Four other detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will also be put on trial there.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's foreign minister has ruled out sending enriched uranium out of the country, rejecting the U.N.'s plan to resolve the crisis.

The U.N. offered a deal last month to Iran to take its enriched uranium out of the country and return it as refined fuel rods to solve the impasse over its nuclear program.

"We will definitely not send our 5.3-percent enriched uranium out of the country," Manochehr Mottaki told the semiofficial ISNA news agency Wednesday.

He offered instead a simultaneous swap of uranium for fuel inside Iran.

(NECN/ABC) - The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new H1N1 swine flu vaccine to ease the nationwide shortage. Seven-and-a-half million doses have been ordered and are expected to be delivered next month.

"The good news is the vaccine is an excellent match with the virus that's still circulating," Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control said.

This announcement comes ahead of a hearing on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are expected to grill members of the Obama Administration, and vaccine manufacturers, for the way they've handled vaccine distribution.

(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Bedford, Mass.) - Army Specialist Benjamin Sherman, 21, is being remembered as a hero.

It's a somber homecoming for the man who just graduated from Plymouth South High School back in 2006 and married his high school sweetheart.

He and his wife Patricia are due to have their first child in March.

But Sherman died two weeks ago in Afghanistan after his family says he went into a river to try to save a fellow soldier.

(NECN: Nairobi, Kenya) - The anti-piracy force of the European Union reports that Somali pirates again attacked the Maersk Alabama, the cargo ship that was attacked last spring and led to a hostage situation involving Captain Richard Phillips.

The E.U. Naval Force said the pirates fired automatic weapons at the ship, but that guards on board returned fire to thwart Tuesday's attack.

In the original attack in April, pirates took Captain Phillips of Underhill, Vermont hostage, holding him at gunpoint for on a lifeboat. The hostage situation lasted five days.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president on Wednesday vetoed part of a key election law, throwing national polls slated for January and a planned U.S. troop drawdown into question.

Tariq al-Hashemi announced he is sending part of the law back to parliament to be amended. He wants more seats allocated for Iraqis living abroad, most of whom are Sunni Arabs.

Al-Hashemi said all other provisions in the law are satisfactory, and stressed that only the article related to the number of seats for voters abroad will be open for discussion.

HYDE PARK, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont jury has acquitted a police officer charged with animal cruelty for fatally shooting a neighbor's dog.

The verdict followed more than 5 hours of deliberations.

The jury in Vermont District Court in Hyde Park began deliberating Tuesday afternoon after Michael Wootton described the April 30 dog fight that preceded the shooting.

Wootton testified that he shot the dog to save the life of his own dog.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Wootton said he believed

(NECN: Scot Yount, Plymouth, Mass.) - One week after Plymouth Rock Studio's proposed financing unraveled, there are questions about the whole deal.

Now the Massachusetts Secretary of State is taking a closer look.

The expectation has been huge.

Plymouth Rock Studios convinced local and state leaders that Hollywood East, as it was being called would bring as many as 2000 jobs and untold millions of dollars in revenues to help heal an aching economy.