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The U.S. government has pledged to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to boost confidence in the nation's largest mortgage finance companies. Business Week's Atlanta bureau chief and a business columnist for The New York Times talk about what it means for the housing market.

Customers are lining up to withdraw their money from IndyMac, the failed bank taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation late Friday. It reopened Monday as IndyMac Federal Bank. The FDIC says depositors have nothing to worry about.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson spent Thursday on an apology tour after making crude remarks about Sen. Barack Obama's approach to faith-based initiatives and the black community. Veteran pollster Ron Lester and Laura Washington, of The Chicago Sun-Times, discuss the issues behind Jackson's comments and the fallout.

The nation's two largest mortgage finance companies are in major trouble. With housing prices down and foreclosures up, they've lost about $11 billion in recent months, and all indications are that they will continue to lose much more. Joe Nocera, columnist for the New York Times, explains.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday in his first hearing with lawmakers since the Fed and the Treasury announced the plan to prop up mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He talked about problems facing the economy, and said the slowdown isn't expected to end anytime soon.

A U.S. government plan to restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would temporarily raise the Treasury Department's credit line to the two mortgage financiers. The idea is to shore up the companies' finances and keep money flowing to the mortgage market. What does this mean for mortgage holders and taxpayers?

Homeowners might think of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as just the big dogs of the mortgage business, but in Washington, D.C., they're known as big players in lobbying. The two companies managed to stave off government regulation for years by lobbying hard — and spending generously.

Videotape of the interrogation of Guntanamo detainee Omar Khadr has been released by his lawyers. Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was 16 at the time he was questioned in 2003. He is accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a hand grenade in 2002.

Mystery writer Julie Smith offers a tour of the hauntingly Gothic city she calls home. New Orleans, says Smith, is a great place to write mysteries — not because of the city's crime, but because of its secrets.

Two proponents of the plan to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — testify before Congress on Tuesday to compel Congress to take action. Meantime, despite government assurances, stocks are plunging in the finance sector.