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A U.S. government plan to restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would temporarily raise the Treasury Department's credit line to the two mortgage financiers. The idea is to shore up the companies' finances and keep money flowing to the mortgage market. What does this mean for mortgage holders and taxpayers?

The Federal Reserve Bank moved Wednesday morning to ease a global credit crisis, announcing a plans to offer $40 billion in emergency funds to banks through an auction process. The move was coordinated with other major central banks and is designed to increase liquidity around the globe.

Coordinated car bombings in the southern Iraqi city left at least 40 dead and more than 100 wounded. Earlier this year, British forces handed over security duties in the province to Iraqi government troops. A similar handover in neighboring Basra is set for next week, raising fears of more violence in the largely Shiite region.

CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies today before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the videotaping of the agency's interrogations of detainees. Those tapes were subsequently destroyed, and members of Congress from both parties hope to use the closed door session to find out why.

After marathon talks in Bali, Indonesia, the U.N. climate conference agreed Saturday on a roadmap for negotiations for a new treaty to combat global warming. The conference nearly broke down, but in a last-minute compromise, the U.S. signed the pact.

A poll of likely caucus voters in Iowa indicates Republican Mike Huckabee has opened up a lead over Mitt Romney. On the Democratic side, the poll gives Barack Obama a slight edge over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, but that race is still very close.

President Bush in a speech in Charleston, S.C., defended the Iraq war, saying that it's linked to the broader battle against al-Qaida. The President cited newly declassified intelligence in his response to criticism of the war.

One of the medical workers released in Bulgaria on Tuesday after eight years in a Libyan prison said she had tried to kill herself after being tortured with electrical shocks. She spoke at a news conference in the Sofia, Bulgaria. Other members of the group were too ill to attend.

This week, U.S. intelligence agencies produced a new assessment of the violence in Iraq and the chances for political reconciliation there. The last National Intelligence Estimate in February said the security situation in Iraq was dire and getting worse. The latest report says it could "continue to improve modestly."

The Justice Department has made some evidence public in the case of scientist Bruce Ivins, the government's suspect in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people. A U.S. attorney said he is confident that the evidence would have been enough to make the case in court. Ivins committed suicide last week.