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Last week, as federal regulators seized Washington Mutual in the largest U.S. banking failure, Congress was grappling with whether to spend $700 billion of public money to fix the financial industry's troubles.

Lawmakers' initial reaction to the Treasury Department's staggering request: shock. That sum amounts to about a quarter of the U.S. government's annual spending. It's more than the Pentagon's annual budget, more than the nation pays out each year in Social Security benefits and more than the federal government's cost for Medicare and Medicaid.

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 27, 2008; A12

KABUL -- NATO alliance troops facing ever more aggressive Taliban insurgents are planning a winter "development surge" of civil works projects in eastern Afghanistan designed to win over tribes in regions near the Pakistan border and to prevent their sons from joining the Taliban's ranks, according to military officials here.

At the same time, troops will keep up armed pressure with a winter offensive that seeks to get a head start on blunting the Taliban's traditional spring fighting season.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration and Congress closed in on a new compromise aimed at stabilizing U.S. financial markets, a move designed to assuage conservatives who one day earlier had staged a revolt against the controversial $700 billion project.

The potential compromise isn't yet final, and details could change. But as of Friday night it appears that the plan's central elements, as originally envisioned by the Treasury Department, remain intact.

Illusionist David Blaine has survived his latest feat of endurance with no lasting side effects it appears, after hanging upside down above Central Park’s Wollman ice rink for nearly three days.

There is a caveat though: the 35-year-old adrenaline/attention-hungry illusionist initially planned to spend the whole of 60 hours hanging upside down from a metal frame, 50 feet above the skating rink.

Financial turmoil may not just boost government's role in markets. It could undermine a push in recent years by conservatives, including John McCain, to inject more market forces into government-run and heavily regulated programs.

On the presidential campaign trail, Democrat Barack Obama is seizing on the recent turbulence to lambast proposals by Sen. McCain on Social Security and health care, two areas on which the Republican presidential nominee has embraced market-oriented solutions.

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 21, 2008; A07

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 20 -- An article about health care published in an obscure journal led to a new skirmish Saturday between the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain over who should be trusted with the ailing economy.

The article, which appeared under Sen. McCain's name, included a favorable reference to banking deregulation that, in light of this week's near-meltdown in the financial industry, provided an irresistible target for Sen. Obama's campaign and once again put McCain on the defensive. McCain's campaign accused Obama of manufacturing an attack by deliberately misreading the Republican's words.

The federal bailout of money-market funds seems to have stanched the outflow of investments that bedeviled the industry this past week -- and ended the economy-threatening reluctance of the funds to buy vital commercial paper.

As news broke that the government will insure fund assets and the Federal Reserve will lend to funds, the fear that had gripped the $3.4 trillion money-fund realm abated. Larry Fink, chief executive of asset manager BlackRock Inc., which sponsors nine money funds, said the situation "is stabilizing." The investor rush out of money funds appeared to end, and the commercial-paper market came back to life.

BEIJING -- Starbucks Corp.'s China operation has decided to stop using milk from supplier Mengniu Dairy Co., one of China's largest dairy companies, until further notice in the wake of widening poisoned milk scandal, Starbucks said in a statement early Friday.

The decision comes as authorities discovered in recent days that the industrial chemical melamine was added to a broader range of products than baby formula, which has been linked to an unusual spate of kidney stones in thousands of babies. A Starbucks spokeswoman in Shanghai said that customers in their stores have been asking about the safety of the milk used in their products.

The first mobile device powered by Google Inc.'s "Android" mobile phone software is expected to sell for $199 and will showcase the Google brand, people familiar with the matter say, a departure from the standard practice of listing only the manufacturer and wireless carrier on handsets.

The phone, which is being manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corp., will require a service contract with T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, which plans to announce the phone Sept. 23. The carrier plans to unveil new data plans in conjunction with the device that will be "aggressively priced," the people said.

LOS ANGELES -- Three days after a commuter train crash killed 26 people, the spokeswoman for rail agency Metrolink resigned after being criticized for public statements she made over the weekend indicating that the agency was responsible for the accident.

The move comes hours after Metrolink's board held an emergency meeting, after which it tried to distance itself from spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell's statements. In a statement after the meeting, the board characterized Ms. Tyrrell's early statements concerning the crash as "premature" and agreed to defer to the National Transportation Safety Board, going forward.