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President Barack Obama's home mortgage relief program is even bigger than the administration had been suggesting. The cost is $75 billion. The plan aims to prevent as many as 9 million homeowners from being evicted and to stabilize housing markets.

President Obama says his plan to help stem the tide of foreclosures will help up to 9 million homeowners. As he unveiled the plan in Phoenix Wednesday, the president said the collapse of the housing market is reverberating across the financial markets, and threatening the entire U.S. economy. David Wessel, of The Wall Street Journal talks with Steve Inskeep about the president's plan that is estimated to cost $75 billion.

There are growing calls for new Illinois Sen. Roland Burris to resign. A county prosecutor in Illinois is looking into whether Burris perjured himself in testimony to Illinois lawmakers about how he got appointed to the Senate. The Democrat has acknowledged trying to raise money for ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich before being appointed to the Senate.

General Motors and Chrysler still need billions more in government aid. Both firms presented their restructuring plans to the Treasury Department on Tuesday. Including the money they've already received, both automakers are requesting a total of $39 billion. The firms also plan to slash a total of 50,000 jobs.

In his new book, The Other Side of Desire, Daniel Bergner explores erotic drives that fall outside the normal zones. For the New York Times Magazine writer, that meant he had to set aside his own judgments and moral codes to try to understand the "erotic vision."

As Valentine's Day approaches, one person who doesn't get mushy about it is food writer Nigella Lawson. Still, she jumps at the chance to make her own cupcakes. "I think that adults have some sort of yearning for childish things, childish foods," Lawson notes. "And I don't mean that disparagingly."

Congressional Democrats and three Republicans have struck a deal that hands President Obama an early political victory. They agreed on a compromise bill for the gigantic economic stimulus package that the president requested. Their measure will be put to a vote as early as Thursday in the House and Senate, and it's expected to pass in both chambers.

Senators announced a compromise between House and Senate negotiators on the economic stimulus package. Some House Democrats are upset that money for states and schools had been removed from the measure, but backed the deal.

Israel held elections Tuesday and preliminary results show both Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu and Kadima's Tzipi Livni claiming victory. The results are a sign of the difficult coalition government talks to come.

The Newsweek journalist writes that the NYPD has become one of the world's best intelligence-gathering operations; his book Securing the City explores New York City's creation of an elite counter-terror force.