AP - With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to increase its energy production. Democrats quickly rejected the idea.

Reuters - The Senate will begin debate on a major housing market rescue bill on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Wednesday, spurning calls for delay by Republicans who cited concerns about a controversy involving two Democrats and a mortgage lender.

AP - Obama says any prosecution of bin Laden could not make him a martyr ... McCain proposes building 45 new nuclear reactors to help reduce reliance on foreign oil ... Texas GOP cuts off vendor of racist campaign button, will donate proceeds to flood victims ... Muslim woman said she was denied seating behind Obama at rally because of head scarf ... Polls: Obama leads McCain in Pa., Fla. and Ohio

AP - Democratic and GOP leaders in the House announced agreement Wednesday on a long-overdue war funding bill they said President Bush would be willing to sign.

Reuters - Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives struck a deal on Wednesday on legislation to provide $162 billion in new funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ending a long standoff with the White House.

AP - With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to increase its energy production. Democrats quickly rejected the idea.

AFP - For the first time, White House hopeful Barack Obama leads his Republican rival John McCain in three of the biggest battlegrounds of November's election, according to a new poll Wednesday.

AP - A defiant Barack Obama said Tuesday he would take no lectures from Republicans on which candidate would keep the U.S. safer, a sharp rebuke to John McCain's aides who said the Democrat had a naive, Sept. 10 mind-set toward terrorism.

AP - For a quarter-century, drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills.