Tuesday, October 23 in the news.....
- Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds forced the evacuations of nearly 250,000 people Monday in San Diego County as more than a dozen wildfires engulfed Southern California. Mexico went on alert as the fires threatened to drive illegal immigrants back over the border again.
- President Bush asked Congress on Monday for another $46 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and finance other national security needs. The President said he didn't have time to wait for another rainbow to send out special forces and retrieve the pot of gold at the end of it.
- Speaking on an audiotape aired Monday, Osama bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive 'extremism'. Truck bombs will now have 'UNITY' spray painted on the side.
- The Federal Reserve will do whatever is necessary to prevent damage from the credit crunch that has gripped world financial markets and Wall Street, a Fed official said Monday. The Fed official said the standards for lending to budding refinancers was now so low that they took down the 'no shoes no shirt no service' sign out the front.
- Israel obtained a two-decade-old letter written in captivity by its most famous missing soldier as part of a recent exchange with the Hezbollah guerrilla group, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday. Some of the letter was read out, including the following: "I'm okay and they're treating me well, if it wasn't for me being a Zionist Jew who parachuted into Muslim-controlled foreign territory I think I'd be more popular."
