The latest news on the Financial Crisis, Presidential Campaign Debate, Main Street Crisis, Immigration Raid, Biofuel and Food, Canadian Election, Iraq-U.S. Agreement, Darfur, Russia-Georgia, Zimbabwe, Russian Arms Sales, and Select Op-eds.

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Financial crisis. Fed cuts lending rate, and U.S. stocks fluctuate "Amid another swoon on global stock markets, the Federal Reserve early Wednesday announced a half-point cut to its benchmark lending rate. Five other central banks moved in tandem in a coordinated effort to bring calm to panicky markets everywhere." Shock rate cuts across the world "Central bankers around the world took emergency action to end the market meltdown today with coordinated interest rate cuts designed to give the global economy a lift in the face of recession." Bank of Canada joins global rate cut "In the wake of rapidly deteriorating credit conditions across the globe, the Bank of Canada joined the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and three other central banks Wednesday in cutting interest rates by 50 basis points." U.S. Markets Plunge Despite Hint of Rate Cut "The promise of lower interest rates and new federal efforts to stem the financial crisis failed to dispel the fear gripping Wall Street."

Presidential campaign debate. Economic Crisis Dominates Debate "On a day when the stock market took another sharp plunge, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama clashed repeatedly over the causes of the economic meltdown that has shaken the country and offered sharply contrasting prescriptions for how to restore stability." Debate II: McCain struggles to derail Obama "John McCain came here hoping the second presidential debate would help him jar loose a campaign that for the past three weeks has been about the economy, the economy and the economy." In debate, McCain and Obama battle mostly to a draw "The second presidential debate provides a stark contrast between the candidates and little evidence that McCain succeeded in reversing a recent shift in the polls toward Obama." McCain vs. Obama, Round Two: Many punches but no knockdowns "John McCain and Barack Obama punched and counter-punched on issue after issue throughout their second debate, but neither man knocked the other one down."

Main Street crisis. Housing Pain Gauge: Nearly 1 in 6 Owners 'Under Water' "The relentless slide in home prices has left nearly one in six U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than the home is worth, raising the possibility of a rise in defaults -- the very misfortune that touched off the credit crisis last year." Nest eggs fall victim to financial crisis "Congress' top budget analyst estimated that Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the last 15 months - about 20 percent of their value." As L.A. County faces fiscal tightening, more people are seeking aid "A newly passed state budget will send at least $128 million less to the county than officials expected -- money that would have gone to pay for such things as child protective services, health programs for the poor and disabled and the processing of rising applications for food stamps and Medi-Cal." Winter heating costs likely to rise "Heating U.S. homes with oil this winter will cost a painful $450 more than a year ago, another slap to families already reeling from high gasoline and food costs and fearful of losing their heat because of unpaid bills."

Immigration raid. 300 suspected illegal immigrants caught in SC raid "Federal agents swept through a chicken processing plant Tuesday, detaining more than 300 suspected illegal immigrants, sending panicked workers running and screaming through the hallways." More than 300 arrested in immigration sweep "More than 300 suspected illegal immigrants were arrested at a chicken processing plant near Greenville, S.C. -- the latest in a stepped-up federal enforcement effort that has resulted in the deportation of thousands of illegal workers in recent months."

Biofuel and food. U.N. Says Biofuel Subsidies Raise Food Bill and Hunger "A United Nations food agency called for a review of biofuel subsidies and policies, noting that they had contributed significantly to rising food prices and the hunger in poor countries."

Canadian election. PM tries to right ship" Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended his 'prudent leadership' during the deepening economic slowdown, and released his party platform with a week left in the election campaign as polls continued to show the Conservatives slipping in popular support." Can Harper turn it around? "In what was the pivotal day of the campaign for Mr. Harper, the Conservative Party Leader threw away the pullover and chose to tell Canadians hard-headed truths yesterday about the economic situation."

Iraq-U.S. agreement. Iraq, U.S. near deal on military future "Iraq and the United States are 'very close' to reaching a security agreement on the future American military presence in the country but have not resolved the question of granting U.S. troops immunity from prosecution." Negroponte Calls Security Deal on Iraq 'Close' "Winding up a visit to Iraq that has taken him to six provinces, Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte said that American and Iraqi negotiators were close to resolving issues that have stood in the way of a security agreement governing the continued presence of American troops in the country." New U.S. intelligence report warns 'victory' not certain in Iraq "A nearly completed high-level U.S. intelligence analysis warns that unresolved ethnic and sectarian tensions in Iraq could unleash a new wave of violence, potentially reversing the major security and political gains achieved over the last year."

Darfur. Darfur ambush kills peacekeeper "A peacekeeper has been killed in an ambush by dozens of armed bandits in the Sudanese region of Darfur, a U.N. official has said." Darfur Conflict Claims Another Nigerian Soldier "Civil conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan resurged and killed another Nigerian soldier, who was on the peace-keeping mission in the conflict-ridden country until his demise."

Russia-Georgia. Russia 'completes' Georgia pullout "Russian troops have completed a pullout from buffer zones next to breakaway Georgian regions that it had established during a war between the two countries in August." Russians 'leave Georgian areas' "Georgia says Russian troops have left 'buffer zones' inside its territory adjacent to its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe: MDC Quits Unity Talks Over Deadlock "Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal is teetering on the brink of collapse after Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) negotiators walked out of a critical meeting with Zanu (PF) yesterday as a dispute over ministerial posts intensified." Zimbabwe Cabinet Talks Stalled, Opposition Says "Talks on the structure of Zimbabwe's unity government are deadlocked more than three weeks after the signing of a historic power-sharing deal, the country's main opposition party said Tuesday." Zimbabwe chaos wipes out education "The class of 2008 will not receive an education. Since the school year began in January, Zimbabwe's 4.5 million pupils have had a total of 23 days uninterrupted in the classroom, teaching unions say -- a sorry state for a country that once had the highest standard of education in Africa."

Russian arms sales. Moscow makes no promises on arms sales to Syria, Iran "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday he received assurances that Russia would not allow Israel's security to be threatened, but offered no indication he won the concrete promises he sought on Russian arms sales or sanctions on Iran."

Commentary. Catholics divided over abortion (again) (Cal Thomas, Washington Times) "As the pro-choice, non-Catholic Barack Obama makes a play for evangelical voters, conservative Catholics are asking their fellow believers to take seriously the church's teaching on abortion and not cast their vote for Mr. Obama and Catholic Joe Biden."