AFP - The dollar gathered strength Monday, hitting an 11-month high on the euro, as news of a US government takeover of ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac eased economic jitters.

Reuters - Four former top executives of Fannie Mae were sued on Monday, one day after the mortgage finance giant was seized by the U.S. government, in an investor lawsuit that claims the four lied about the company's financial position and artificially inflated its share price.

AP - Stocks rallied Monday as investors placed bets that a recovery in the financial and housing sectors is more likely to occur following the U.S. government's move to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Dow Jones industrials gained nearly 300 points.

AFP - The US takeover of struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offers hope for an easing of the credit and housing crunch while putting the government's finances on the line, analysts have said.

Reuters - Republican White House nominees John McCain and Sarah Palin would ensure mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were permanently restructured and downsized, the pair wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview with U.S. radio broadast on Monday that a plan to take control of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had been structured in a way to protect U.S. taxpayers.

AP - Wall Street finally got what it's been angling for: a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could aid a recovery of the broken U.S. housing market and arrest a slide in stock and credit markets worldwide.

Reuters - Both presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain said on Sunday they see the federal takeover of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as necessary.

AP - Washington Mutual Inc., ravaged by losses from sour mortgages, replaced Kerry Killinger as chief executive of the nation's largest savings and loan on Monday, adding him to the growing list of banking bosses ousted by their boards. Its shares sank almost 22 percent.

AFP - Nationwide Building Society, the second biggest lender of home loans in Britain, said Monday it had agreed to buy two smaller peers struggling to cope with the global credit crunch.

AP - World stock markets soared Monday after Washington announced a bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — a move that could help bolster a shaky U.S. housing market and renew global investor confidence.

AFP - Central banks must be on alert for risks from the global credit crisis and the US government bailout of ailing US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is welcome in this regard, the Group of 10 said on Monday.