WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. House of Representatives may take up Friday the $700 billion bailout for financial markets to which the Senate added vote-attracting incentives.

The approximately $150 billion in new tax breaks, which include incentives for using renewable energy and relief to 24 million households from the alternative minimum tax, helped senators to easily pass the measure 74-25 Wednesday.

Presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., voted for the bill. Nine Democrats and 16 Republicans voted against it. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., diagnosed in May with brain cancer in didn't vote.

In addition to the tax breaks, the Senate bill also included a temporary increase in the amount of bank deposits covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. from $100,000 to $250,000. The package was attached to a bill that would require insurers to treat mental health conditions more like general health problems, The New York Times reported.

House leaders from both parties said they were becoming more confident that the provisions added in the Senate would lure the votes necessary to pass the bill and send it to U.S. President George Bush.

U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., who voted against the bill Monday, said he was taking a second look.

The inclusion of parity, tax extenders and the FDIC increases has caused me to reconsider my position, Ramstad told the Times. All three additions have greatly improved the bill.

Democratic proponents of the bailout package told The Washington Post they didn't expect many lawmakers who supported the bailout plan Monday to switch sides Friday, despite concern among conservative Democrats about tax incentives not being offset.

BAGHDAD, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Suicide bombers struck two Shiite mosques Thursday, killing at least 20 worshipers during early morning prayers in two areas of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

The attacks occurred as Muslims were marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

A suicide car bomber killed nine people and wounded 30 at a Shiite assembly hall in the Zafaraniya district, while a teenage boy detonated a device at a mosque in New Baghdad, killing 12 and wounding 26, sources told KUNA, the Kuwaiti news agency.

In Diyala province in northeastern Iraq, gunmen killed six people when they opened fire on a minivan, KUNA said.

The Eid al Fitr feast is celebrated at different times by Sunnis and Shiites at the end of Ramadan.

Last Sunday, five bomb attacks struck Baghdad, three of them aimed at civilians who were holiday shopping or otherwise outside, The New York Times reported. Security sources said at least 27 people were killed and 84 wounded.

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Camps for both vice presidential candidates have been trying to raise expectations for the other heading into Thursday's faceoff in St. Louis.

Aides to Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska note that Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is a lion of the Senate while the Biden camp says there's a reason Palin is called barracuda, Politico reported.

Tucker Eskew, Palin's top aide, said the Alaska governor would stress her everywoman credential by positioning Biden as a capital fixture.

Or, Eskew said, it's Sarah Palin vs. Washington.

Biden's mission will be making the case for Obama -- not against Palin, one source told the Washington publication and not give even the hint of condescension or the appearance of lecturing.

David Wade, Biden's spokesman, said the debate is about two very different philosophies of where to take the country.

I think Governor Palin will do well. She's good with the proverbial knife and she can deliver a prepared one-liner and quick jab very effectively, the spokesman said. She's ... a career politician who climbed the ladder by out-debating political legends in Alaska.

Given the tight race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain for the White House, the vice presidential debate may take on a little more weight this year, one observer said.

Palin's competence, or lack thereof, and how her selection reflects on John McCain's judgment, is a more serious question than any comparable dynamic in past vice presidential debates, Gregory Magarian, a Washington University law school professor, told Politico. If Palin looks in the debate anything like she looked in (Katie) Couric's interview, that could seriously add to Barack Obama's momentum.

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The first military talks in eight months between the two Koreas Thursday at Panmunjom ended without much headway, an official told Yonhap.

The meeting on the South Korean side of the truce village, which lasted about 90 minutes, ended, but there was there was little progress made, the official, who wasn't identified, was quoted as telling the South Korean news agency.

The report also quoted Pak Rim Su, North Korea's chief delegate to the talks, that the meeting was called to discuss South Korea allegedly distributing propaganda leaflets in North Korea.

Pak also said there were little progress at the talks, accusing South Korea of not being ready to solve the problems, Yonhap reported.

It was the first such meeting between the two sides since Lee Myung-bak became the South Korean president in February.

Relations between the two countries have been strained since July when North Korean guards fatally shot a South Korean housewife at a resort in North Korea.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan says more troops are needed there because of rising threats faced by American soldiers.

Speaking Wednesday at the Pentagon U.S. military headquarters, Gen. David McKiernan said more military presence is needed as quickly as possible, CNN reported.

The general said the threat to U.S. troops, which he said has risen significantly from last year, comes from an increased number of fighters reaching Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, CNN reported.

He said additional support should include boots on the ground, helicopters, increased intelligence assets, logistics and transportation.

Last week, CNN said, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced a Marine battalion will go to Afghanistan in November, followed by an Army brigade in January. However, no more forces will be available for Afghanistan duty until spring or summer of next year, the U.S. network said.

As for Pakistan's current operations against militants in the tribal areas, McKiernan said he is cautiously optimistic.

What we're seeing is Pakistani leadership taking on a deteriorated militant sanctuary in the tribal areas that has deteriorated over last several years, he said.