New York, Oct 2: Democrat vice presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden Jr. is getting advice from a woman who has been an intimate since he was a grade school student with a stutter and a paper route, to take on his rival Sarah Palin in Thursday night’s debate.

“He’s been my best friend all my life. I opened my eyes and he was there and he said, ‘Let’s go.’ I was his sidekick,” said Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens.

As Biden Owens, 62, spoke, she summoned the ghost of her younger self, a kid sister trailing awestruck behind her big brother, Joey, the New York Times reported.

New York - After a topsy-turvy start to the week, US stocks fell only slightly Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of a Senate vote on the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan.

Stocks were driven down by reports that car sales and manufacturing fell sharply in the last month - signs that the availability of credit was tightening across the country.

The Senate was to vote late Wednesday on an amended version of the massive financial rescue package, which failed to pass the lower House of Representatives on Monday. Congressional leaders voiced confidence the new bill would be approved.

New York - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a successful politician after a life as a financier, plans to seek a reversal a local law limiting mayors to two terms of four years each so he can run again, news reports said Wednesday.

Bloomberg, who founded the financial data services bearing his name before entering politics, planned to announce his candidacy for a third term on Thursday and to propose a revision of the 15-year-old term limits law.

New York  - US banking giant Citigroup Inc will buy the bulk of the operations of fourth-largest bank Wachovia Corp for about 2.16 billion dollars, the latest consolidation move under government watch in the ongoing credit crisis.

Citigroup will buy the banking business of Wachovia and get government help in absorbing some of the losses related to the subprime-mortgage market, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said in a statement Monday.

New York  - UN Secreta

New York  - Myanmar put on a good face on Monday before the UN General Assembly, promising far-reaching democratic reforms and use of its rich natural resources to help other countries hit by high food and energy costs.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win, whose government has been lambasted for shutting down political opposition and rejecting relief aid in May when hit by the devastating Cyclone Nargis, said peace and stability now prevail in the country.