The latest news on the Financial Crisis, Presidential Campaign, Foreclosure and Voting, Federal Budget, Immigration, Prison Education, Dialogue With Ahmadinejad, Clergy and Candidates, Aid for Food Crisis, Nuclear Weapons, Iran, North Korea, Darfur, Middl

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Financial crisis. Bush Calls Bailout Vital to Economy, Will Meet With McCain and Obama "President Bush said that the credit crisis that has seized world markets could devastate the U.S. economy unless Congress acts quickly to approve a $700 billion bailout plan for the nation's financial system, a message aimed at reluctant lawmakers as much as a deeply skeptical public." In prime-time speech, Bush calls for bipartisan solution "President Bush told the nation that 'there is much agreement' among Washington lawmakers on key principles for a massive financial rescue plan as he prepared for White House talks on the crisis with John McCain, Barack Obama, and congressional leaders." President Issues Warning to Americans "President Bush appealed to the nation to support a $700 billion plan to avert a widespread financial meltdown, and signaled that he is willing to accept tougher controls over how the money is spent." Bush strives to save $700bn rescue plan "Despite vocal opposition by both Republicans and Democrats during two days of testimony on Capitol Hill by Henry Paulson, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, a consensus was emerging last night that some sort of deal had to be reached soon to avert a financial meltdown." New regulations sure to accompany bailout "Once the smoke clears from the conflagration in the financial markets, Congress and the next administration will face a new challenge: how to keep the next fire from burning down the house."

Presidential campaign. Candidates bicker: Debate or wait? "Sen. John McCain, whose campaign has struggled to deal with the financial meltdown, sought to recapture the political momentum with a pledge to suspend campaigning and a call to delay Friday's presidential debate with Sen. Barack Obama." First Debate's Fate Unclear As Obama Resists McCain's Call to Postpone "Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama will abandon the campaign trail today for a bipartisan meeting at the White House, as the financial crisis gripping the nation roils the presidential race and leaves the first debate between the nominees in limbo."

Foreclosure and voting. As Homes Are Lost, Fears That Votes Will Be, Too "More than a million people have lost their homes through foreclosure in the last two years, and many of them are still registered to vote at the address of the home they lost. Now election officials and voting rights groups are struggling to prevent thousands of them from losing their vote when they go to the polls in November."

Federal budget. House Passes Spending Bill "The House overwhelmingly approved a resolution to continue funding the federal government until March 6, a stopgap measure needed to avert a government shutdown because Congress has not approved the 12 appropriations bills pending on Capitol Hill." House Passes Stopgap Spending Bill, Delaying Major Decisions "Unwilling to risk one last fiscal standoff with President Bush, the House pushed critical spending and energy decisions off until 2009 and into the hands of the next president." Wellstone's Legacy Nears Fruition "Six years after his father died in a plane crash, David Wellstone is on the cusp of seeing passage of an initiative that would be the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's legacy. The House and Senate each passed versions of the Wellstone-Domenici legislation, which would require private insurers to provide the same level of benefits for treatment of mental illness as they do for physical maladies."

Immigration. Immigration polarizes small-town America "It's a sense of unrest familiar in small towns and suburbs across America. Immigrants have flooded the country in great numbers in the past. What's different now is where they're settling - far from the border states and big cities that long absorbed the huddled masses." Plan to secure U.S. borders still 'ambiguous' "A multiyear, multibillion-dollar Homeland Security plan to better secure the nation's borders by giving front-line agents updated surveillance systems, enhanced communications and improved intelligence technologies remains 'ambiguous and in a continued state of flux.'"

Prison education. Incarcerated getting educated "Some of the spark for the growth in prison education programs comes from the passage of federal Second Chance Act, signed by President Bush this year, which provides $165 million a year for programs ranging from employment services to substance-abuse treatment."

Dialogue with Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad to dinner? Furor ensues over religious groups' event. "To talk or not to talk. That's the debate roiling diplomats regarding U.S. relations with Iran. Now that debate has spilled, with all its fervor, into the arena of interfaith dialogue."

Clergy and candidates. Pastors plan to defy IRS ban on political speech "Setting the stage for a collision of religion and politics, Christian ministers from California and 21 other states will use their pulpits Sunday to deliver political sermons or endorse presidential candidates -- defying a federal ban on campaigning by nonprofit groups."

Aid for food crisis. Aid Plan Aims to Help Poor Farmers Reach Markets "In an ambitious move to combat the global food crisis, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday unveiled an experimental public-private initiative that could transform rural agriculture in undernourished parts of Africa and Latin America by helping small farmers sell their surplus crops at competitive prices."

Nuclear weapons. U.S. efforts to curb nuclear weapons falter in Iran, N. Korea "The deepest freeze in U.S.-Russia relations since the Cold War has brought diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions to a halt just as Western governments and U.N. inspectors are warning that Tehran could be gaining the ability to build a nuclear weapon."

Iran. Iran moves closer to nukes capability "Opinions differ on how close Iran may be to developing a nuclear weapon, but concerned governments and experts agree the time to stop Tehran is growing short -- and the options are limited." Moscow quits sanction talks about Iran "Russia pulled out of talks on tighter sanctions against Iran despite warnings yesterday that Tehran was racing towards producing a nuclear bomb. The apparent failure of the diplomatic initiative leaves the West without a strategy to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions." Russian Diplomat Says Snub Over Iran Meeting Was Aimed at U.S. "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that his government had refused to attend a high-level meeting scheduled for Thursday to discuss Iran's nuclear ambitions in retaliation for Washington's refusal to hold a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group of Eight."

North Korea. North Koreans Bar Inspectors at Nuclear Site "North Korea's move to resume the reprocessing of plutonium, perhaps as soon as next week, left the country on the verge of restarting a nuclear weapons program whose shutdown had been portrayed by the White House as a significant diplomatic achievement." North Korea ousts U.N. nuclear inspectors "North Korea kicked out U.N. weapons inspectors from a plant that previously produced weapons-grade plutonium and notified the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would restart operations as early as next week." White House disappointed in North Korea's nuclear reactor plans; urges it to reconsider "The Bush administration warned Wednesday that North Korea would isolate itself from the world community if it backtracks and reactivates the plant that once provided plutonium for an atomic test explosion."

Darfur. Some see a time bomb ticking in Darfur camps "