Top News Roundup

President Bush asks Congress for an additional $46 billion to fund the Iraq war, and he wants it by the end of the year. If Congress approves his request (something Democrats are saying won't happen), the bill for counter-terrorism operations will total $800 billion since September 11.

The State Department has given itself a poor security rating, faulting its own department for "poor coordination, communication, oversight and accountability" involving private contractors in Iraq, the New York Times says. There is some good news for Iraq, though. According to the Iraq Interior Ministry, violence has dropped by 70 percent since June.

College costs are rising faster than the rate of inflation. According to the College Board, the cost for public universities has risen 6.6 percent since last year, and the cost of a private institution has risen 6.3 percent.

Barack Obama signed up a gospel singer to help him reach black evangelicals, but now Donnie McClurkin is creating a problem because he thinks homosexuality can be cured through prayer. E.J. Dionne describes Mitt Romney's political-religious struggles and offers sympathy: "Mormons are now facing prejudices similar to those that Catholics and Jews have confronted, and it is, if I may use the term, anti-American to have religious tests of any kind for public office."

A recent study states that carbon dioxide emissions have risen 35% faster than expected since 2000. Four states are suing the EPA for the right to make tougher emission laws.