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Are House Republicans still seeking Democratic concessions on the Affordable Care Act? Or have they switched their sights to even bigger targets: federal spending on entitlements like Medicare and Social Security?

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the nation's one hundred nuclear reactors, has announced it is furloughing staff on Wednesday evening, due to the government shutdown. Safety operations will not be affected.

In these divisive times, CEO Howard Shultz is urging people to talk to one another. Starbucks is offering free coffee if you buy someone else a coffee. Think of it as subsidized conversation.

The novel Shaman, by science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson is a coming of age novel set in the ice age. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says it is the latest to take up the question of what it was like to live 30,000 years ago on the cusp of change from Neanderthal to Cro-Magnon dominance of the human world.

Whatever happens to a the global economy, one thing is clear: If the U.S. defaults, people all over the world who have loaned the government money won't get paid on time.

The partial government shutdown has forced the Pentagon to delay payments to the families of troops killed while serving in the U.S. military. Normally these families would receive a $100,000 payment three days after the death of member of the Armed Forces. More than 20 have died since the shutdown began. A private, non-profit group called the Fisher House Foundation will pay the death benefits during the shutdown.

Laura and John Arnold of Houston have pledged up to $10 million to keep the Head Start program running in six states. The preschool program for children from low-income families abruptly closed in some areas last Friday because of a lack of funding.

Fidelity Investments has sold all of its short-term U.S. government debt. That limits losses for the country's largest manager of money market mutual funds should the U.S. Treasury run out of money on Oct. 17.

The Obama administration is holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt until that country gets back on a path toward democracy. Egypt has been a major recipient of U.S. aid for decades, and officials say these are not permanent changes.

The Libya State News Agency has announced Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been freed. Earlier it was reported that gunmen kidnapped him from a hotel in Tripoli where he resides. The abduction came amid anger among Libya's powerful Islamic militant groups over the U.S. special forces raid that seized a Libyan al-Qaida suspect.