The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Bush acknowledges ‘unsettling times’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Bush, at a news conference Thursday, was confronted by questions about whether the country was headed toward recession. Bush acknowledged “some unsettling times” in the troubled housing and credit markets, but said he believed the economy was still on solid ground.

Also on the hot seat, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was pumped for answers at a congressional hearing about what regulators could do to help struggling homeowners.

The housing slump, the worst in 16 years, is likely to drag on well into 2008, when the nation will be voting for a new president and Congress. Home foreclosures. now at record highs, and delinquencies are likely to get worse, Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee.

The Fed and other banking regulators, the Bush administration and Capitol Hill are scrambling to provide relief.

Proposals in Congress would expand federal backing of mortgages. The House on Tuesday passed legislation that would give more leeway to the Depression-era Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages for low- and middle-income borrowers. The Senate has its own bill. The administration, meanwhile, is working with the FHA to help squeezed homeowners.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who also appeared at the House hearing, signaled that the administration would consider letting the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac temporarily buy, bundle and sell as securities any loans exceeding $417,000, known as “jumbo” loans. The idea, which represents a policy change for the administration, is portrayed as an important way to pump cash into the jumbo loan market, which has been hard hit by the credit crunch.

US dollar reaches parity with Canadian dollar
NEW YORK —The U.S. dollar reached 1-to-1 parity against the Canadian dollar Thursday for the first time since November 1976. That means one Canadian dollar now buys one U.S. dollar, so a bottle of maple syrup could cost an American as much in Toronto as it does in New York.

The U.S. dollar’s recent decline against the Canadian dollar, the euro, and even the Indian rupee, means Americans will pay more for imports and trips to Paris, Rome, Bangalore and Toronto. It also may drive overseas demand for U.S. goods and help raise profits at U.S. multinational corporations.

Scientists say velociraptor had feathers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Velociraptor, the terrifying predator made famous in the movie “Jurassic Park,” appears to have had feathers in real life.

A close study of a velociraptor forearm found in Mongolia shows the presence of quill knobs, bumps on the bone where the feathers anchor, researchers report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.

Dinosaurs are believed to be ancestors to modern birds. Evidence of feathered dinosaurs has been found in recent years, and now velociraptor can be added to that list.

“Finding quill knobs on velociraptor ... means that it definitely had feathers. This is something we’d long suspected, but no one had been able to prove,” Alan Turner, lead author on the study and a graduate student of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and at Columbia University in New York, said in a statement.

Johanns resigns as agriculture secretary
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Bush announced the resignation Thursday of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and immediately offered support for his anticipated campaign for a Senate seat from Nebraska.

Several state officials said Johanns, a former Republican governor of Nebraska, is expected to seek the Senate seat being vacated at the end of next year by Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel

Archbishop of Canterbury, Episcopal bishops meet
NEW ORLEANS — Episcopal bishops met privately for seven hours Thursday with the archbishop of Canterbury, trying to preserve the church’s role in the Anglican family despite Episcopal support for gays.

The denomination is the Anglican body in the U.S. and has a more liberal view of Scripture than most Anglicans overseas. Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, has been struggling to keep the 77 million-member Anglican Communion from breaking apart—an effort he has called “exhausting.” Unlike a pope, Williams doesn’t have direct authority to force a resolution.

Anglican leaders have set a Sept. 30 deadline for the Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for gay couples. If Episcopal leaders say no, they could lose their full membership in the Anglican Communion.