Week in Review

WAR POWERS: Former Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christopher led a bipartisan group that studied how the United States decides to go to war. They released their report Wednesday, including a recommendation that presidents be required to consult more with Congress before declaring war.

TAXES & BUDGETS: During Monday's town hall meeting in Denver, John McCain presented some of his ideas for fixing the economy. Meanwhile, Barack Obama spoke in St. Louis about his economic ideas, having missed his scheduled appearance in North Carolina because of aircraft problems.

WITHDRAWAL TIMETABLE? For the first time, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki suggested a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. The Bush administration downplayed Maliki's statement.

FOOD SHORTAGE: Representatives of the G8 nations met in Japan on Monday for their annual three-day summit. Leaders from eight African countries joined Monday's discussion to emphasize their economic plight.

DIET DIARY: A recent study showed that keeping an honest, accurate record of food and drink doubled dieters' success rate. Losing even a small amount of weight—as little as five pounds in some cases—can substantially reduce the risk of developing hypertension.

AGE & FERTILITY: It is well-known that women have a harder time getting pregnant and face a higher risk of miscarriage as they age. A new study shows men 35 or older also face problems becoming parents.

BEAR MARKET: Mortgage-backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffered a severe blow to their value this week—both stocks are at their lowest prices in 17 years. This pushed Wall Street into a bear market, or falling stock prices expected for an extended period of time.

SURVEILLANCE ACT: On Wednesday, the Senate approved the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, rewriting the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The measure replaces a temporary law President Bush enacted after Sept. 11, and provides immunity for telecommunications companies that shared customer phone records with the government.

LIGHTNING & HUMAN: Lightning sparked more than 1,700 wildfires in California over the last two weeks. Of those, 300 are still burning, including the Gap Fire near Goleta and the Basin Complex fire outside of Big Sur—both on the Central Coast.