Sens. John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be in Washington on Wednesday to vote on the $700 billion bank rescue plan. The vote, scheduled to happen at sundown Wednesday evening, comes two days after the House failed to pass the controversial economic recovery plan.

"If there's a vote tomorrow night, I will be there," Obama told CNN Tuesday night.

The bill adds provisions -- include raising the FDIC insurance cap from $100,000 to $250,000 -- and will be attached to an existing revenue bill that the House also rejected Monday, according to several Democratic leadership aides.

The legislation also includes a "Mental Health Parity" provision, which would require health insurance companies to cover mental illness at parity with physical illness.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, announced the plan Tuesday.

He said he hoped that the changes made to the bailout plan would be approved by senators on both sides of the aisle. "I believe that this legislative package will ensure that the needs of Main Street are not forgotten," said Reid.

McCain spoke earlier Tuesday at an economic roundtable in Des Moines, Iowa. "We didn't do a good enough job. We'll go at it. I'm glad to stay at it. That's what my job is as an American, not as a candidate for president," he said. "But if I think I can do some good, I'll do it. I may fail a first or second or third time, but we have to get this job done for America."

McCain said now is the time for bipartisanship in order to push through the $700 billion proposal, which failed in the House of Representatives Monday.

"To state the obvious, we are in the greatest financial crisis of our lifetimes. Congressional inaction has put every American and the entire economy at the gravest risk. Yesterday, the country and the world looked to Washington for leadership, and Congress once again came up empty-handed," he said.

"Bipartisanship is a tough thing; never more so when you're trying to take necessary but publicly unpopular action. But inaction is not an option."

Obama, speaking at a rally in Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday, issued a tough message to fellow lawmakers.

"To the Democrats and Republicans who opposed this plan yesterday, I say step up to the plate and do what's right for this country," he said. "And to all Americans, I say this: If and when I am president of the United States, this rescue plan will not be the end of what we do to strengthen this economy, it will only be the beginning.

"It is not a time for politics. It is not a time for partisanship. It is not a time to figure out how to take credit or where to lay blame. It is not a time for politicians to concern themselves with the next election. ... It is a time for all of us to concern ourselves with the future of the country we love. This is a time for action," he said.

Earlier Tuesday on CNN's American Morning, McCain said the rescue plan failed because people don't think it will do anything for them.

"We haven't convinced people that this is a rescue effort not just for Wall Street but for Main Street America," McCain said. "... We didn't do a good enough job."

McCain said the proposal needs modifications, including an increase in federal deposit insurance for private bank accounts.

"FDIC insurance should be increased to $250,000 from $100,000," McCain said.

Obama made the same proposal on Tuesday morning as a way to persuade lawmakers who voted against the proposed $700 billion bailout to change their minds.

Obama made the same proposal on Tuesday morning as a way to persuade lawmakers who voted against the proposed $700 billion bailout to change their minds.

McCain said the Treasury Department should also use its power to purchase up to $1 trillion of mortgages.

Obama also spoke with Bush on Tuesday morning.

"Both calls [from McCain and Obama] were very constructive, and the president appreciated hearing from them," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "The senators offered ideas and reaffirmed what they have said publicly -- that this is a critical issue that needs to be addressed.

"We're not going to comment on specific ideas, but we appreciate hearing them and will continue to work with congressional leaders on ideas that will help the economy," Fratto said.

Obama blasted Congress Monday for not passing the rescue package, while McCain's campaign accused Obama and Democrats of putting "politics ahead of country."

The U.S. House rejected the plan Monday, putting a roadblock in front of what would be the largest government intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression.

The bill failed by a vote of 228-205, with 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans voting in favor and 95 Democrats joining 133 Republicans against.

"This is a moment of national crisis, and today's inaction in Congress as well as the angry and hyper-partisan statement released by the McCain campaign are exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington," the Obama-Biden campaign said in a statement released shortly after the vote.

The statement went on to say that every American "should be outraged that an era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington has led us to this point."

Also after the vote, McCain touted his role in last week's negotiations on the bailout bill.

"I laid out principles" including "responsible oversight, transparency and a cap on so-called golden parachutes, those big bonuses Wall Street CEOs would receive despite their involvement in the economic crisis," he said. "I worked hard to play a constructive role."

Alton Desiree, of Loubiere, was a crew member of Survivor, the relity TV show. Alton Desiree has been reported as drowned in Brazil.

The newspaper reported a woman crew of Survivor telephoned Mrs. Alton Desiree to inform her that her hsuband had died. Alton Desiree had been instructed to go underwater to fix something ofr the show. Desiree did not surface. Someone from ethe Survivor crew went down in the water to search for Alton Desiree. Desiree was found drowned. The news report on Desiree was not available in full as there was a download error.

Our condolences to Mrs. Desiree. Prayers and thoughts to the Desiree family, the crew and cast of Survivor.

Alton Desiree, RIP.

Magician David Blaine performed a dramatic ‘Dive of Death’ in Central Park earlier tonight, and lived. Read about it below and see photos and a video.

David Blaine is as much a showman as a magician, but I believe he bills himself as a magician. He’s kind of Harry Houdini Lite. Very lite. He’s stunts usually consist of public spectacles in public places.

In 2003, he stayed in a transparent box suspended over the Thames River in London for 44 days. In 2002, he stood on top of a 27 metre pillar behind the New York Public Library for 35 hours. In 2006, he lived in an acrylic sphere underwater for a week in front of the Lincoln Center. In 2000, he sat inside a block of ice in Times Square for 61 hours.

Every time I hear about one of his stunts, I always wonder where he goes to the bathroom. I’m sure they have something worked out for that.

His exhibitions all seem to be endurance tests as much as anything else and this latest one was no exception. Today he ended his latest stunt. He hung upside down in Central Park for 60 hours.

Yeah, it was not real interesting to watch. However, he always ends them with a grand finale and this was no different. He ended his upside down hanging with a two-hour television special. You might wonder how he could draw standing upright out for two hours. Well, the special was interspersed with pre-recorded footage of Blaine doing other things, like talking to people.

Then, finally, right at the end was the spectacular coup de gras. He plunged 13.4 metres in what has been billed as the ‘Dive of Death’. Following the dive, dangling from the cable he was attached to, he started ascending and disappeared into the night sky above Central Park’s Wollman Rink. Ta-Da!

And he lived to tell about it …. and do another stunt on another day.

In the years prior to 9/11, if you lived in New Jersey as I do and drove into New York there was a sweeping curve of roadway leading into the Lincoln Tunnel that provides a view across the Hudson River of downtown Manhattan. One could see the Twin Towers from that vantage point and it always bespoke the financial power of the nation, the greatness of our economic system, and our role in the world.


Little wonder it was targeted, along with the Pentagon, for destruction by al Qaeda, the evil spawn of a seventh century religion whose name translates as “submission.”

Though preceded by a number of violent attacks that included U.S. embassies and other manifestations of the Islamic mandate to make war until the entire world accepts Islam, it was 9/11 that demonstrated the demonic forces it has let loose in the world. There are more than a billion Muslims worldwide and most desire peace no less than the vast majority of mankind. Too many, however, are driven by their worst instincts, their sense of victimization, their romanticized view of Middle Eastern culture and history.

It is instructive, therefore, to see how active leaders throughout the Middle East have become in their effort to hunt down and destroy al Qaeda. Awash in oil billions, the monarchies that control the region understand the threat to their suzerainty. In the meantime, the West continues its own largely secretive war.

It is the reason President George W. Bush sent the CIA, followed by U.S. military into Afghanistan to chase out the Taliban and al Qaeda following 9/11.

It is the reason President Bush decided to rid Iraq of its dictator and establish a U.S. military presence there. Too many other nations were too eager to do “business as usual” with Saddam Hussein and to continue likewise with Syria’s dictator and others who threaten the peace of the world.

It is the reason the U.S. military can be found in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Yemen. It is the reason we can be found in places large and small around the world. We are the guarantor of peace and the safety of the world’s sea lanes.

It is the reason the U.S. Secretary of State recently sat down with the dictator of Libya, granting him a measure of forgiveness after he abandoned the pursuit of nuclear weapons and made payments for the losses inflicted by the bombing of a Pan Am flight.

And these are the reasons, in part, why the United States of America has not been attacked by al Qaeda since 9/11.

I am mindful of these things as my mind goes back to dining at the doomed Windows on the World, a restaurant at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center from 1972 until the horror of 9/11. One could walk the perimeter of the restaurant and enjoy magnificent vistas of Manhattan, look out to New Jersey and Brooklyn, and see the Statue of Liberty, still welcoming those seeking freedom in the New World.

My mind goes back to 9/11 and the willful destruction of both buildings by men who believed they had a place waiting for them in Paradise and that Islam justified killing thousands of innocents trapped in airliners and in the great structures that stood for a new age of world trade and worldwide prosperity.

A religion that celebrates such barbarity has no place in the modern world.

It is not a religion of love and forgiveness of sin, the central theme of Christianity. It is not a religion that has produced countless scientists, artists, and others devoted to advancing knowledge and the welfare of mankind as Judaism has. It is not a religion that seeks harmony with the world as does Buddhism. It is not Hinduism devoted to a single divine principle, nor any of the other faiths that offer prayers for peace and tolerance.

9/11 occurred because of a religion that literally divides the world into Dar al Islam and Dar al harb, the world of war.

9/11 was an act of war, not just against the United States, but against the West in particular and the whole of the rest of the world that resists Islam, a religion that has been at war with the world from its inception.

We need to be mindful of that on 9/11/08. We need to stir the embers of our memory of 9/11/01 when we hear calls to withdraw from that war and to yield to its terrorism and threats of war.

TOKYO (AFP) — Powerful earthquakes hit Japan and Indonesia on Thursday, setting off warnings of tsunami waves but causing no injuries or damage, officials said.

The Asian nations are among the most earthquake-prone in the world and both have fresh memories of killer tremors in recent years.

A 7.0 magnitude quake struck in the Pacific Ocean off the Tokachi region in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, some 700 kilometres (435 miles) north of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

"We ask people in strongly-shaken areas to be on full alert as chances of housing collapses or landslides may have increased," Takashi Yokota, the agency's quake and tsunami division chief, told reporters.

The agency warned that tsunami waves as high as 50 centimetres (20 inches) could hit the eastern coast of Hokkaido as well as Pacific shores of the main island of Honshu. The quake hit at 9:21 am (0021 GMT).

The warning led the city of Ofunato in northern Honshu to advise 10,650 residents to evacuate briefly. At least 146 residents fled their homes, according to a city official.

The agency lifted the warning for all regions after waves that were only some 10 centimetres high struck the coast.

Yukihiro Yamada, a municipal official in the Hokkaido town of Urahoro, told public broadcaster NHK: "The town office has not received any reports of broken window glass or injuries."

The area was hit by aftershocks above magnitude five, but they were not frequent, the meteorological agency said.

The Tokachi region was hit by an 8.0-magnitude quake in September 2003, which triggered a major tsunami and killed several people.

A separate major earthquake struck Indonesia on Thursday morning. The local agency put the magnitude at 7.6, while the US Geological Survey measured it at 6.6.

Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert but lifted the warning less than one hour later.

The quake happened at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) some 122 kilometres northwest of Ternate city in North Maluku province, the meteorology and geophysics bureau said.

"I felt the shaking but it wasn't really strong," said Ojihan Washab, a hospital worker in Ternate, who was not planning to move to safety.

Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004 that killed 168,000 people in the country's westernmost Aceh province.

The Indonesian and Japanese archipelagos lie on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet, causing seismic and volcanic activity.

As physicists get set to recreate the Big Bang, German chemistry professor Otto Rossler predicts that their experiment will actually create a mini black hole that will suck all life and light into it and lead to the end of the world. On Wednesday, somewhere below the French-Swiss border, scientists at CERN (a European organisation for nuclear research) are getting ready to drive two beams of particles into each other at close to the speed of light in a machine called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

This will recreate the Big Bang and answer questions about the origins of life, the universe and everything. Black hole creation Though no one really knows what 'will' happen, all sorts of theories of sudden annihilation abound.

CERN's strongest opponent Otto R and #246;ssler, a German chemistry professor, argues that just as with the Big Bang, this experiment too will create a mini-black-hole, an intense gravitational field that will keep sucking in matter until the entire world, and all its light, is gone. To counter the bad press, a rap video on CERN is doing the rounds on YouTube.

Presumably made by the young scientists of the organisation, the video explains everything related to the project in a fun, literally off-beat way. The hugely popular video reiterates a statement made by CERN Director General Robert Aymar: "The LHC will enable us to study in detail what nature is doing all around us.

The LHC is safe, and any suggestion that it might present a risk is pure fiction." If Thursday comes And in case you wake up Thursday morning and wonder why doomsday didn't arrive, the Mayans might have an answer for you.

Hold on for 21-12-2012, which is when the Mayan Calendar comes to an end, because of a presumably catastrophic change. One theory even ties in the R and #246;ssler black hole theory with the end of the Mayan calendar -according to it, the black hole will suck in everything on earth over four-and-a-half years, which is 21-12-2012.

Many websites are dedicated to the Mayan theory, including one called Doomsdayguide.org where a countdown declares 1564 days to go.

If you're scared stiff, don't hesitate to check out Survive2012.com.

Asif Ali Zardari, the new president of Pakistan, will visit China next week to negotiate a nuclear deal similar to the one between India and the US, an official said on Monday.

"Pakistan is already in touch with China for the nuclear deal to meet its energy crisis and the talks would start during Zardari's visit," an official said.

Zardari, who was elected president on Saturday, will be sworn in on Tuesday and has already announced that his first foreign visit will be to China.

The official said that under the proposed deal, China will supply nuclear material to Pakistan to meet its energy crisis.

"This has nothing to do with the US-India deal but that has certainly provided us a way out to meet our energy crisis," he said.

For the last many years, Pakistan has failed to meet its growing energy needs and the situation has worsened since November 2007, with the country facing massive power cuts and adopting summer time to benefit the most from daylight and save energy.

"Of course it will take time to finalise the deal after going through its details but the initial talks would start during Zardari's visit and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) may be signed for reaching an agreement," said the official.

Zardari's visit will coincide with the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games September 17.

"Zardari will participate in the closing ceremony as well," said the official.

Pakistan and China have a long history of close cooperation that started in early 50s and saw stronger ties during former prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's era.

As foreign minister in military dictator Ayub Khan's government, Bhutto played an active role in bringing Pakistan and China closer when the US was distancing itself from Pakistan in the mid 1960s.

In the last three years, there have been 10 state visits by Pakistani officials to China. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was the last top official to visit China last month. In April, former president Pervez Musharraf has also visited the country.

Al-Qaida has released a video featuring a senior commander who was rumoured to have been killed in Pakistan in July, threatening more attacks against Denmark after a suicide bombing on its Embassy in Islamabad, according to the SITE group which monitors Islamist websites.

"We have warned previously - and we warn once more - the crusader states which insult, mock and defame our Prophet and Quran in their media and occupy our lands, steal our treasure and kill our brothers that we will exact revenge at the appropriate time and place," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in the video, SITE reported on Thursday.

The Embassy in June bombing killed six Pakistanis and came amid anger in the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first printed in Danish newspapers in 2005.

There were reports that Yazid was killed in a July air strike on a hideout in a tribal region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, but the identity of the slain militant was never confirmed.

Yazid, an Egyptian Al-Qaida commander based in Afghanistan, was identified by the 9/11 Commission as the group's chief financial manager.

The US-based SITE Intelligence Group said the video, released by Al-Qaida's media arm Al-Sahab, shows the Saudi suicide bomber who carried out the attack and an "animation" of the bombing itself.

Yazid said the Embassy attack "is but the beginning. If you don't end your errant ways and aggression," SITE said in a translation of the video message, adding that the date it was recorded was not known.

Accusing Pakistan of misusing the massive American aid to fight the war on terror, Democratic nominee for the US Presidential election Barack Obama, in a sensational comment, has said Islamabad was using these funds for "preparing for a war against India".

Senator Obama vowed to hold Islamabad accountable for the massive military aid it has received from Washington if he is elected to the White House.

He said his administration will increase pressure on the Pakistan to come to terms with terrorist safe havens along its northern border with Afghanistan.

"What we can do is stay focused on Afghanistan and put more pressure on the Pakistanis," Senator Obama said in an interview with Fox News.

He noted that the US was providing Pakistan military aid "without having enough strings attached".

"So they're (Pakistan) using the military aid...Pakistan...they're preparing for a war against India,"
Senator Obama said.

Maintaining that he will follow the Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to the "gates of hell", the Democratic nominee said that this could be accomplished without resorting to sending ground troops to Pakistan.

However, he said his future administration is not going to pullout from the war on terror and allow the fundamentalists to take over Pakistan.

"What we say is, look, we're going to provide them with additional military support, targeted at terrorists, and we're going to help build their democracy.... We've wasted $10 billion with Musharraf without holding them accountable for knocking out those safe havens," Senator Obama said.

He stressed that "nobody talked about some full-blown invasion of Pakistan", but "we've got to put more pressure on Pakistan to do what they need to do".

Six persons, including three women, were killed and 20 others injured in a missile strike by unmanned US drones on a house and a seminary linked to a key Taliban commander Jalauddin Haqqani in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region on Monday.

The suspected drones operated by the US-led forces in Afghanistan fired six to seven guided missiles at the seminary in Tanda Darpakhel, two kilometres from Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan.

Four missiles hit a madrassa run by senior Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani while three hit nearby houses. A news agency quoted official sources and local residents as saying.
Three female seminary students and three labourers were among the dead, official sources said, but other sources said that among the killed were three militants.

Whether Haqqani, who is a close aide of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar was present in the area or not at the time of the strike, was not known.

The Pasthun leader of Khost in Afghanistan has not seen since the fall of the Taliban regime in Kabul in 2001.

Taliban fighters surrounded the area around the madrassa and did not allow people to approach the site. North and South Waziristan tribal regions are considered strongholds of the Pakistani Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud.

Since last week, Pakistan's tribal belt has witnessed a sharp increase in attacks by drones operated by US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. More than 40 people have died in these attacks.

Twenty people, a majority of them women and children, were killed in a raid in South Waziristan by gunship helicopters and commandos of the coalition forces on September three.

That attack marked the first time that US-led ground forces from Afghanistan had intruded into Pakistan.