AP - Search teams combing a rugged part of eastern California for any sign of Steve Fossett, the adventurer who vanished on a solo flight more than a year ago, have spotted what appeared to be wreckage Wednesday, authorities said.

AP - Washington's top nuclear envoy extended his stay in North Korea and held more talks Thursday in a bid to break an impasse over the communist country's nuclear program, officials said.

AP - Asian stock markets retreated Thursday as broader concerns about a global economic slowdown outweighed any relief over the U.S. Senate's passage of the bailout package to rescue the U.S. financial system.

AP - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin enters her debate Thursday with Joe Biden needing to make a strong positive impression on voters, many of whom are expressing serious doubts about her readiness.

AP - Heading into the final weekend of the 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry was feeling good about his chances of winning the White House.

AP - Now for the big do-over. House members get another chance to vote on a bill that many would like to avoid: a massive financial rescue plan that has infuriated millions of voters but is described by President Bush and congressional leaders as vital to keeping the economy from sliding into a deep recession.

AFP - The United States is working on a compromise deal to break the North Korean nuclear deadlock by letting Pyongyang provide verification of its disarmament efforts to ally China rather than sharing with a broader set of nations, State Department officials said Wednesday.

AFP - European observers kicked off a mission in Georgia Wednesday to monitor a ceasefire and oversee a Russian troop pull-back after the brief August war that deeply shook this Caucasus state.

Reuters - U.S. factory activity shrank in September to its lowest since the 2001 recession, and private employers shed jobs for the third time in four months as the financial crisis tightened its grip on the world's largest economy.

Reuters - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is seeking temporary unlimited borrowing authority from the Treasury Department, according to a copy of the final Senate bailout legislation on Wednesday.

Reuters - Leaders in the U.S. Congress have deployed their best weapon for winning passage of a $700 billion financial industry bailout just weeks before the elections, attaching tax cuts to an otherwise bitter pill.

Reuters - Stocks fell in choppy trading on Wednesday as tight credit markets and U.S. jobs weakness kept investors on edge before a Senate vote on a revamped rescue plan for the financial sector.

Reuters - A revised $700 billion U.S. financial bailout plan is significantly more likely to pass Congress, the White House said Wednesday, as European leaders scrambled to agree on their own bank rescue package.