White House rivals John McCain and Barack Obama combined televised attack ads with statesmanlike appeals for bipartisanship on Tuesday as they vied for political gain in the shadow of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

In the state that may again determine the presidency, voters started casting ballots Tuesday as Barack Obama struggles to thwart a John McCain victory in Ohio four years after it tipped the election to President Bush.

Mayor Richard M. Daley will eliminate 3,000 vacant positions and lay off 1,000 city employees -- 735 of them union members -- to solve Chicago's worst budget crisis in a generation, union leaders were told Monday.

Wanted: An even dozen lawmakers, willing to make a really big commitment. Party affiliation no concern.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will reportedly seek a third term next year. The plan comes amid a Wall Street crisis that has dealt a serious blowto the city's economy, and another term would allow the billionaireformer CEO to deal

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama proposed Tuesday that the government insure consumers' bank deposits up to $250,000 by raising the $100,000 federal limit as each sought to navigate the unpredictable politics of the financial crisis. Federal Deposit Insurance

As they gear up for the one and only vice presidential debate onThursday night in St. Louis, candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin spentpart of today prepping - separately, of course. Before the debatepreps, CBS News anchor Katie Couric spent

The agency that protects U.S. bank deposits is asking Congress for temporary authority to boost the $100,000 deposit insurance limit as the government works to contain the financial crisis.

Oil prices topped $100 a barrel Tuesday, recovering from the previousday's plunge as edgy investors trickled back into the market on hopesthat Congress would resurrect a failed U.S. financial bailout plan.

Wall Street roared back Tuesday on a bet that Congress would find a wayto save its massive financial rescue package, but the credit market --the day-to-day borrowing that keeps the gears of the economy turning --remained rusted over.

Congressional leaders, President Bush and the two rivals to succeed him rummaged through ideas new and old Tuesday, desperately seeking to change a dozen House members' votes and pass a multibillion-dollar economic rescue plan. At the top of the list:

Senate leaders have scheduled a vote for Wednesday on the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan rejected by the House.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - Attempts to review World War II results and point a finger at new culprits for unleashing it have become "good form" in the past few years in many East European countries. In

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Oleg Mityaev) - Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on September 25 that it is time for Russia to start working on world oil prices. Russia is the world's second largest oil producing country. But

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin) - After the shocking failure of the financial stabilization package proposed by the U.S. administration in Congress on September 29, the American financial crisis has started spreading like a tsunami. The first to