As troubles in the US housing market ripple across the global economy, the health of banks has become one of the biggest financial uncertainties for 2008.
The measure, which will allow some former officials from the Baath Party to apply for government positions, is the first of the so-called political benchmark measures to pass after months of U.S. pressure for progress.
AP - Facing another decision about U.S. troop numbers in Iraq by spring, President Bush said Saturday it is "fine with me" if generals recommend no more cuts than those planned to drop the force level to about 130,000.
AP - Iraq's parliament voted Saturday to allow some former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government jobs and said others could receive pensions but could not return to work. President Bush said the legislation was "an important step toward reconciliation."
AP - Authorities detailed gruesome evidence of a pregnant Marine's death Saturday as they excavated human remains from a fire pit where they believe a comrade she accused of rape burned and buried her body.
Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party, which supports closer ties with mainland China, overwhelmingly won the country's parliamentary election today in a major upset to the current government.
In a case that the sheriff predicted would have a "bizarre ending," authorities today resumed work at the site where the remains of a pregnant Marine are thought to have been buried.