AP - A hiker in rugged eastern California found an ID and other items possibly belonging to Steve Fossett, the adventurer missing more than a year since going on a pleasure flight in a borrowed plane, authorities said Wednesday.

AP - The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that he needs more troops and other aid "as quickly as possible" in a counterinsurgency battle that could get worse before it gets better.

AP - Recently trailing or tied, Democrat Barack Obama now leads Republican John McCain in a trio of the most critical, vote-rich states five weeks before the election, according to presidential poll results released Wednesday.

AP - The Senate pushed toward passage Wednesday of a $700 billion financial industry bailout, and opposition to the package among House Republican conservatives appeared to be softening as well, thanks partly to a provision to increase insurance for people's deposits.

AFP - European Union observers began deploying in Georgia on Wednesday to monitor a ceasefire and oversee a Russian troop pull-back after the August war in the Caucasus state.

AFP - US Senators will vote Wednesday on a revised 700 billion dollar Wall Street rescue after the House of Representatives killed the original package, sending shockwaves around the globe.

Reuters - Brother Nikanor, a Nasdaq broker turned monk, advises former colleagues to put a jar with soil on their desks to remind them where we are all heading and what matters in life.

Reuters - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will seek a third term next year, believing the Wall Street crisis is so grave that a law barring him from running again should be altered, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Reuters - A former oil services company executive said on Tuesday at the corruption trial of U.S. Republican Senator Ted Stevens that he gave his longtime friend a good deal in a car swap and bought a generator for the lawmaker's home in Alaska.

Reuters - A senior U.S. envoy traveled to North Korea on Wednesday in a bid to rescue a faltering nuclear disarmament deal and prevent Pyongyang from rebuilding a plant that made weapons-grade plutonium.

Reuters - White House contenders Barack Obama and John McCain sought to persuade skeptical Americans on Tuesday to back a $700 billion Wall Street bailout package and planned to be in Washington on Wednesday to vote on the measure.

Reuters - The first group of EU ceasefire monitors entered the buffer zone around Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia on Tuesday, a Reuters reporter traveling with the patrol reported.

Reuters - A revamped financial rescue plan aimed at restoring market confidence faces a vote by the Senate late on Wednesday, reviving hopes that the lawmakers can turn the tide in the global banking crisis.

AP - Thanks to Jim Thome's bat and Ken Griffey Jr.'s arm, the AL Central has a winner at last: the Chicago White Sox.