AP - Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents joined a security pact with American forces Wednesday in what U.S. officers described as a critical step in plugging the remaining escape routes for extremists flushed from former strongholds.

AP - President Bush, capping an intense flurry of diplomacy, said Wednesday the agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume long-stalled peace talks was "a hopeful beginning."

AP - Wall Street barreled higher Wednesday for the second day in a row, giving the Dow Jones industrial average its biggest two-day point gain in five years after a Federal Reserve official hinted that the central bank may lower interest rates again.