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For the first time in decades, interest rates for jumbo home loans are lower than rates for a typical mortgage. And because of that, the luxury market is the fastest growing sector of home loans. In Phoenix, sales of homes that cost more than $500,000 are up 64 percent.

Determining the day on which the U.S. government might default is tricky. The Bipartisan Policy Center says the last eight days of October is a critical period because of all the payments due that week. The potential for a credit default is already causing problems for big financial firms that use U.S. Treasurys as collateral.

The possibility of an American default on its debt is huge news across the continent. Europe is barely emerging from its own debt crisis. Europe's recovery rests on demand for its exports and the U.S. is by far the European Union's largest export market.

China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt — totaling more than $1.3 trillion. Chinese media are using the American budget struggle as an implicit justification for China's system.

The man the U.S. alleges is the top al-Qaida operative who orchestrated the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania has pleaded not guilty to the charges at a federal court in Manhattan. The case has brought the High Value Interrogation Group back into the spotlight. It was created by the Obama administration to extract valuable intelligence from terrorists, but national security experts say there have been too few cases to judge its promise.

One case centers on the use of a court-ordered psychiatric exam against a defendant in a murder case. The other tests under what circumstances prosecutors can seize defendants' assets before trial.

Also: James Franco's new novel; Salvador Dali illustrates Don Quixote; the allure of unusable words.

Maybe you've seen Steve Horgan, the cop on duty as the Red Sox played the Tigers in the league championship series. Boston's David Ortiz hit a home run. Video caught Officer Horgan, arms in the air, celebrating even as Detroit's Torii Hunter flipped over the wall in a vain effort to catch the ball and tumbled near the officer's feet. In Boston, that triumphant pose is now called Horganing.

With hours left before the country tops its borrowing authority, the Senate-crafted, bipartisan measure moves to the chaotic lower chamber. Party leaders are hoping to pass it with a coalition of votes from Democrats and Republicans. The bill — which makes no major changes to the new health care law — would end the first government shutdown in 17 years and avert a default.

Collapse of Republican House efforts to avoid the nation's default has moved action to the Senate, where leaders say they're close to a deal.