Survey: A majority want a new rescue plan

PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A majority of U.S. adults polled indicated they are in favor of a rescue package for the economy but 57 percent want a brand new plan, a survey said.

In a recent Gallup survey 14 percent of the respondents indicated they aren't in favor of any Washington rescue plan. On the flip side, 34 percent indicated they believed without a rescue effort the U.S. economy would fall into a severe recession, Gallup said.

Twenty-two percent indicated an economic depression was likely if no rescue plan was passed.

Consistent with these results, 47 percent of the respondents in the survey indicated they approved of the members of Congress who voted against the original $700 billion rescue plan -- 10 percent more than those who disapproved of those members of Congress.

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was backed by respondents with 51 percent indicating they approved of his handling of the crisis. Forty-two percent indicated they approved of Sen. John McCain's response to the financial fix, Gallup said.

The results of the survey were based on 1,021 interviews conducted Tuesday and carry a 3-percentage-point margin of error, Gallup said.

Former female governors mixed over Palin

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A survey of former U.S. female governors indicates divided support for Republican Party vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Those currently serving as governor either declined or didn't respond to multiple interview requests, Politico reported.

In interviews with the former governors who agreed to speak on the record, the subject of Palin drew mixed emotions, with opinions sharply divided along partisan lines.

Republicans defended Palin and touted her as a step forward for women. Democrats questioned whether Palin was qualified enough and whether her selection represented a cynical political gambit.

One major item is the issue of abortion, the survey said, a topic that puts a charge into the work of many politically oriented women's groups, Politico said.

As former Democratic Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts put it: "We would love to have a woman be on a ticket. But. I think for many, many women across the nation, a severely anti-choice woman is not the woman we had hoped for."

Judge considers dismissing Stevens case

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The judge hearing the case Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said he may dismiss the case because prosecutors violated a court order to give evidence to the defense.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan announced the possibility Thursday after learning Justice Department lawyers waited until just before midnight Wednesday to disclose FBI notes discussing Stevens's intent to pay for gifts that are at the core of the prosecution's case, The Hill, a Washington publication, reported.

"Why shouldn't I dismiss the indictment?" Sullivan said. "It strikes me this is probably intentional."

He ordered attorneys for both sides to submit arguments and scheduled hearing Thursday to determine whether he should dismiss the case or impose lesser sanctions, the Washington publication said. The jury was dismissed for the day.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate, has pleaded innocent to seven felony counts of failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations on Senate financial disclosure forms. He is seeking re-election in November.

The defense said the notes indicated a key prosecution witness -- Alaska oil services player Bill Allen -- believed Stevens would have paid for the renovations Allen's company made to Stevens's home if the lawmaker were given a bill. Stevens's attorneys say the senator paid every bill he was given and would have paid more if he received more bills.

EU to begin anti-piracy operation

DEAUVILLE, France, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The European Union approved setting up an anti-piracy operation off the Somali coast, with at least eight countries agreeing to participate, officials said.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin, at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Deauville, France, said the operation would begin in November, the BBC reported Thursday.

"There is very broad European willingness. Many countries want to take part," Morin said.

The decision follows pirates' seizure of a ship carrying 33 tanks and demanding a $20 million ransom for its release. The International Maritime Bureau reported three more attempts to seize ships off the African country's coast overnight Wednesday.

"There are continuing attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia," said IMB's Capt. Pottengal Mukundan. "It is a matter of great concern. We need more resources to deal with the problem."

Kenyan police arrested a maritime official who said tanks on the Ukrainian ship were headed for southern Sudan instead of Kenya, the British broadcaster said.

Andrew Mwangura, spokesman for the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program, could be charged with issuing an inflammatory statement, officials said.

The Faina, carrying T-72 tanks, rifles and heavy weapons when it was seized last week, is being held off the Somali coast near the town of Hobyo. The ship is surrounded by U.S. warships, the BBC said, and a Russian frigate was approaching the area to join the blockade.

Two suicide bombings kill 21 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Suicide bombers struck two Shiite mosques Thursday, killing at least 20 worshipers during early morning prayers in two areas of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

The attacks occurred as Muslims were marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

A suicide car bomber killed nine people and wounded 30 at a Shiite assembly hall in the Zafaraniya district, while a teenage boy detonated a device at a mosque in New Baghdad, killing 12 and wounding 26, sources told KUNA, the Kuwaiti news agency.

In Diyala province in northeastern Iraq, gunmen killed six people when they opened fire on a minivan, KUNA said.

The Eid al Fitr feast is celebrated at different times by Sunnis and Shiites at the end of Ramadan.

Last Sunday, five bomb attacks struck Baghdad, three of them aimed at civilians who were holiday shopping or otherwise outside, The New York Times reported. Security sources said at least 27 people were killed and 84 wounded.

Missing adventurer possibly found

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The possible wreckage of the plane carrying missing adventurer Steve Fossett has reportedly been found in rugged eastern California, authorities say.

Documents belonging to the record-setting billionaire, missing for more than a year, also were reported found by a hiker in the mountainous back country near Mammoth Mountain.

Authorities said aerial searchers spotted "what could be wreckage of a plane" in the area. A crew hoped to reach the site Thursday, the Los Angeles Times said.

An approaching storm that could include snow was a threat to operations, Madera County Sheriff John Anderson in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., told the newspaper.

Fossett, 63, disappeared on Sept. 3, 2007, on a solo flight from a remote ranch in Nevada. The subsequent search covered about 24,000 square miles, including the high country of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. An Illinois court declared him dead Feb. 15.

Fossett, who made millions in the securities market, was best known for the 116 records he set in gliders, powered aircraft, balloons and sailboats. In 2005, he became the first person to fly a fixed-wing aircraft around the world solo without stopping or refueling.

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