Top lawmakers pledged to snip 10 percent from the budget for the Legislature yesterday while Governor Deval Patrick vowed to trim his office budget by 7 percent, politically significant but relatively small gestures that served as a harbinger of far greater cuts.

The Legislature's budget will be reduced by $9.1 million, and the governor's office budget will shrink by just $600,000 - minor trims compared to the "hundreds of millions" of dollars in layoffs and budget chopping that Patrick said yesterday he expects to impose before Oct. 15.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/10/03/lawmakers_governor_to_slice_own_budgets/

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The US House of Representatives is debating a $700bn plan to rescue the US financial sector and is expected to vote within a few hours.

Party leaders are hoping the House, which stunned global markets by rejecting the initial plan, will follow the Senate and back a new version.

The Senate bill added about $100bn in new tax breaks in the hope of gaining more support from House Republicans.

The package is aimed at buying up the bad debts of failing institutions.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7649822.stm

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Iraq's presidential council on Friday officially approved a law that paves the way for U.S.-backed provincial elections to be held by the end of January, officials said.

The move will allow preparations to go ahead for the first provincial elections in four years. But it came only after Iraqi lawmakers agreed to set aside the divisive issues of power-sharing in an oil-rich northern region and the representation of minorities.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081003/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq;_ylt=AgwMBQ0aRDZnFGc4pfjyN2Os0NUE