The News

ap.google.com — Workers in the Mariana Islands will receive the protection of U.S. labor law under a bill signed by President Bush. Debate over whether to extend federal labor and immigration law to the Marianas, in the northwestern Pacific, had been sullied by reports of sweatshop labor and past associations with the lobbying scandal surrounding Jack Abramoff, whose firm was hired by the islands to oppose the changes. The measure creates a federally run guest-worker program in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

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reuters.com — U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said that President George W. Bush will veto the farm bill agreement reached by law makers in Congress. The administration said the farm bill was too costly and failed to deliver the reforms that the administration was seeking. House and Senate negotiators agreed on a $285 billion farm bill that puts more money into public feeding programs and denies one crop subsidy program to the wealthiest Americans.

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washingtonpost.com — Bucking a White House veto threat, 39 Republicans joined Democrats in supporting an ambitious plan to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure. The measure aims to unfreeze mortgage markets by expanding the Federal Housing Administration's reach and strengthening mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It also would create a $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers to try to boost sales and slow plummeting home prices.

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msnbc.msn.com — Steve Bailey, chief executive for loan administration at Countrywide Financial Corp., told a Senate panel that the company's employees have made mistakes "from time to time." But he disputed accusations, made by hundreds of borrowers, that the company has sought to collect inflated fees and other payments by filing inaccurate bankruptcy documents. The Justice Department is currently investigating the accusations.

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— Senate Democrats have called for a temporary windfall profits tax on oil companies and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package. The proposal also would impose federal penalties on energy price gouging and calls for stopping oil deliveries into the government's emergency reserve.

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ft.com — According to Hank Paulson, the U.S. Treasury secretary, the credit crisis is entering its later stages, but the process of deleveraging in the financial system still has further to go.

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