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McCain, Obama clash on cause, cure for econ crisis

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, speaks as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., listens during a townhall-style presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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AP - 13 minutes ago

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Barack Obama and John McCain clashed repeatedly over the causes and cures for the worst economic crisis in 80 years Tuesday night in a debate in which Republican McCain called for sweeping action by the government to directly shield many homeowners from mortgage foreclosure.

  • This artist's rendering released by NASA shows the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory on the surface of Mars. Will NASA's flagship mission to Mars fly next year? The space agency could decide as early as Friday whether to cancel, delay or proceed with plans to launch a nuclear-powered, SUV-size rover to the red planet. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)
    Future of flagship Mars mission up in the air AP - 2 hours, 19 minutes ago

    LOS ANGELES - Will NASA's flagship mission to Mars fly next year? The space agency could decide as early as Friday whether to cancel, delay or proceed with plans to launch a nuclear-powered, SUV-size rover to the red planet.

  • Jose Luis Garza, 47, lies in his bed in his home in Monterrey, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 3, 2008. Garza is getting diet advice from Manuel Uribe, a fellow Mexican who has been fighting to lose his title as the world's heaviest man. Both men live around the Monterrey area and are bed-ridden. (AP Photo/Monica Rueda)
    Half-ton Mexican man dies after pleading for help AP - 28 minutes ago

    JUAREZ, Mexico - A 450-kilogram (990-pound), bedridden man who had appealed on Mexican television for help tackling his weight problem died Tuesday of heart failure, his family said.

  • In this image released by ABC, Misty May-Treanor and her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy perform Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 on 'Dancing With The Stars,' in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/ABC, Kelsey McNeal)
    Chef DiSpirito keeps 'Dancing with the Stars' AP - 2 hours, 3 minutes ago

    LOS ANGELES - Rocco DiSpirito will serve seconds on "Dancing with the Stars."

  • Authorities say man skipped jury duty to drink AP - 2 hours, 59 minutes ago

    JACKSON, Mo. - Curtis Lemons was supposed to report for jury duty in a drunk driving case. Instead, according to authorities, the 50-year-old Cape Girardeau man skipped the jury duty so he could drink himself.

  • In this Oct. 2, 2008 file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers' Manny Ramirez hits a home run off Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano during the fifth inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League division series in Chicago. Ramirez and the Dodgers open the best-of-seven NL championship series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Pool, Kelvin Ma, File)
    Bosox-Rays renew rivalry, Manny in middle of NLCS AP - 2 hours, 51 minutes ago

    Exactly why the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays tangle so much is hard to tell. Blame it on a high-and-tight pitch here, a hard slide there. Whatever, this much is true: The teams playing in the AL championship series sure get into a lot of scraps. "There's no hatred," injured Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling insisted Tuesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

  • US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) (L) shakes hands with US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) at the end of their second presidential debate with at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee October 7, 2008. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
    Obama, McCain battle in tense debate Reuters - 19 minutes ago

    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama battled over taxes and the best way to help struggling American workers on Tuesday during a sometimes tense presidential debate that highlighted a wide gap in their economic approaches.

  • Negative numbers are seen at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City. World stock markets stabilised despite further banking woes across Europe, as Asia pulled back from the brink on hopes of cuts to global interest rates.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Mario Tama)
    Asia stocks drop for 5th day on unending crisis Reuters - 1 hour, 9 minutes ago

    HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell about 4 percent, down for a fifth consecutive day, and government bond prices rose on Wednesday as fears of a looming global recession grew with no sign of a coordinated response or an end to the worsening financial meltdown.

  • Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks to the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) about the current state of the economy in Washington, October 7, 2008. (Mitch Dumke/Reuters)
    Fed steps in but stocks dive; UK to rescue banks Reuters - 2 hours, 29 minutes ago

    NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve stepped forward as a commercial lender of last resort and signaled a readiness to cut interest rates as stocks spun lower for a fifth straight day and pressure mounted for a coordinated, international response to the most dangerous financial shock since the Great Depression.

  • Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks to the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) about the current state of the economy in Washington, October 7, 2008. (Mitch Dumke/Reuters)
    Bernanke signals readiness to cut rates Reuters - Tue Oct 7, 7:39 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday signaled a readiness to lower U.S. interest rates in a dramatic shift to support an economy battered by a financial crisis of "historic dimension."

  • North Korea fires missiles into sea: report Reuters - 1 hour, 24 minutes ago

    SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has fired two short-range missiles into the Yellow Sea, a news report said on Wednesday, in a move likely aimed at dialing up tension as global powers try to have it abide by a nuclear disarmament deal.

  • U.S. General David Petraeus addresses journalists after a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street in London September 29, 2008. (Andrew Winning/Reuters)
    Petraeus sees increasingly durable gains in Iraq Reuters - Tue Oct 7, 7:25 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said on Tuesday that security gains in Iraq are increasingly durable but warned that that methods which helped reduce violence there may not work in Afghanistan.

  • The front gate of Camp Delta is shown at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba September 4, 2007. (Joe Skipper/Reuters)
    Judge orders Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo freed Reuters - Tue Oct 7, 6:17 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday, in a rebuke to the Bush administration, ordered the prompt release in the United States of 17 Chinese Muslims held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

  • Pedestrians walk past a Royal Bank of Scotland branch in central London October 7, 2008. (Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters)
    Britain to unveil major bank rescue package Reuters - Tue Oct 7, 6:23 PM ET

    LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister Alistair Darling will announce a rescue package for the banking system on Wednesday, a move likely to include a major injection of capital into banks, a government source said.

  • A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock exchange. US and European authorities launched fresh initiatives Tuesday to break the grip of a global credit crunch, but the moves failed to boost market confidence as Wall Street and other stock markets sank to new lows.(AFP/Getty Images/Spencer Platt)
    Markets in fresh turmoil, economic fears intensify AFP - Tue Oct 7, 5:10 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - US and European authorities launched fresh initiatives Tuesday to break the grip of a global credit crunch, but the moves failed to boost market confidence as Wall Street and other stock markets sank to new lows.

  • US map showing latest voting trends in the eight battleground states. Republican John McCain faced fierce pressure in Tuesday's second presidential debate to grab a lifeline for his sliding campaign in the increasingly nasty White House duel with Barack Obama.(AFP)
    Obama, McCain turn on empathy as second debate opens AFP - 1 hour, 7 minutes ago

    NASHVILLE, Tennessee, (AFP) - John McCain and Barack Obama clashed repeatedly over the financial crisis Tuesday but strove to show voters they cared about their economic fears in their second presidential debate.

  • Map locating the Thai parliament where police have fired tear gas at protesters in Bangkok. Troops are patrolling the city's streets and police are guarding the prime minister's residence a day after violent clashes rocked the Thai capital, leaving two people dead and hundreds injured.(AFP Graphic)
    Troops patrol Thai streets after deadly protests AFP - 18 minutes ago

    BANGKOK (AFP) - Troops patrolled Bangkok's streets Wednesday and police guarded the prime minister's residence a day after violent clashes rocked the Thai capital, leaving two people dead and hundreds injured.

  • Circumcision, which has been found to reduce by about one-half the transmission of HIV between heterosexuals, appears to offer far less protection for men engaging in homosexual intercourse, according to a new study.(AFP/File/Ryan Anson)
    Little HIV protection from circumcision for gay sex: study AFP - 44 minutes ago

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - Circumcision, which has been found to reduce by about one-half the transmission of HIV between heterosexuals, appears to offer far less protection for men engaging in homosexual intercourse, according to a new study.

  • The Nobel Assembly announces the winners of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for Physics in Stockholm. Japan's Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa, and Yoichiro Nambu of the United States have won the prize for groundbreaking theoretical work in fundamental particles.(AFP/Olivier Morin)
    Japanese duo, US scientist win Nobel for particle physics AFP - Tue Oct 7, 10:34 AM ET

    STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan and Yoichiro Nambu of the United States won the 2008 Nobel Physics Prize Tuesday for groundbreaking theoretical work in fundamental particles.

  • A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock exchange. US stocks plunged Tuesday for a second straight day with a vicious downward spiral reinforced by fears of a deeper credit crunch leading to severe recession.(AFP/Getty Images/Spencer Platt)
    Wall Street slips to five-year low as global markets stay tense AFP - Tue Oct 7, 5:42 PM ET

    NEW YORK (AFP) - Stocks plunged for a second day running on Wall Street on Tuesday, while those in Europe were mixed, on persistent anxiety over the health of the banking sector -- and despite central bank initiatives to shore up confidence.

  • The US government's budget deficit ballooned in fiscal 2008 to 438 billion dollars, or 3.1 percent of GDP, as the economic downturn began to bite, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said on Tuesday. The estimate compares to the 162 billion dollar shortfall that represented 1.2 percent of GDP in fiscal 2007, according to the CBO.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Melissa Golden)
    US budget deficit soars to 438 bln dlrs: congressional agency AFP - 50 minutes ago

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government's budget deficit has ballooned in fiscal 2008 to 438 billion dollars (322 billion euros), or 3.1 percent of GDP, as the economic downturn began to bite, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

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  • A simulation of age-related macular degeneration in an image coutesy of the U.S. Department of Health. (Handout/Reuters)
    Gene discovery may help hunt for blindness cure Reuters - Tue Oct 7, 3:27 AM ET

    LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered a gene mutation linked to the most common cause of blindness in the developed world, holding out the prospect of better treatments and perhaps eventually a cure.

  • A copy of 'The Obama Nation' by author Jerome Corsi is displayed on a book store shelf in New York August 15, 2008. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
    Kenya to deport U.S. author of critical Obama book Reuters - Tue Oct 7, 9:04 AM ET

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  • Fed steps in but stocks dive; UK to rescue banks Reuters - 2 hours, 29 minutes ago

    NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve stepped forward as a commercial lender of last resort and signaled a readiness to cut interest rates as stocks spun lower for a fifth straight day and pressure mounted for a coordinated, international response to the most dangerous financial shock since the Great Depression.