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Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced Wednesday that he is switching parties and is now a Democrat. The switch means that if Democrat Al Franken is declared the winner in the contested Minnesota Senate race, Democrats will have the 60 votes needed to block GOP filibusters.

The nation's 19 largest banks have gotten the final results from the government's stress tests. Some banks were told they need to raise more capital in order to be considered healthy. The results are scheduled to be released to the public Thursday.

Tax credits may soon help jump start projects in the Midwest designed to fight climate change by capturing carbon dioxide emissions. However, the cost to taxpayers remains uncertain.

In his fourth formal news conference, President Obama took questions Tuesday that focused on Iran and health care. He said he was "appalled and outraged" by Iran's violent reaction to protests following the disputed presidential election. The president also talked at length about the cost of overhauling health care and the role of a public insurance plan.

Saying he looks at his brief tenure as "what might have been," New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned Wednesday. The former state attorney general, who fought Wall Street and organized crime, was named as a client of a prostitution ring.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is visiting the United States this week. Brown will meet with President Bush and all three U.S. presidential candidates, but he has also focused his trip on the current economic downturn.

Intelligence officials told the Senate Homeland Security committee Monday that the U.S. is still at high risk of terrorist attacks. Some aspects of security have been improved, they say, but not enough to justify complacency.

Reaction is divided to a New York Times article that explored alleged ethics violations by Sen. John McCain, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

Political turmoil in Pakistan deepens as the government raised the possibility that embattled President Gen. Pervez Musharraf might impose a state of emergency. News of the possible emergency declaration came after Musharraf abruptly canceled a planned visit to Afghanistan.

Writers can be inspired by their surroundings — but Indonesian volcanoes? Researchers say Mary Shelley's Frankenstein may have been inspired by an icy, dark summer caused by Mount Tambora's eruption.