Reuters - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama faces a challenge this week healing a party rift, confronting Republican rival John McCain more aggressively and fleshing out his rosy oratory with detailed policy.

AP - With help from British star power, China concluded its debut as Olympic host Sunday after 16 days of near-flawless logistics and superlative athletic achievement — coexisting awkwardly with the government's wariness of dissent and free speech.

AP - Environmentalists say flooding caused by a new border security fence in southwestern Arizona shows the structure is being built too quickly and without regard for the environment.

AP - Tropical Storm Fay may be gone but the rain remains.

AP - Militants used rockets and a bomb to attack the family home of a lawmaker in Pakistan's volatile northwest early Monday, killing eight people including the politician's brother, police said.

AP - The pilot of a small plane carrying humanitarian workers called in engine trouble about 45 minutes before crashing in a field in eastern Guatemala, killing 10 people, including five Americans.

AP - Roll back the clock to 1961: John F. Kennedy was inaugurated president. The Peace Corps was founded. The Dow Jones industrials hit 734. Gasoline reached 31 cents a gallon.

AP - A Russian general suggested that U.S. ships in the Black Sea loaded with humanitarian aid would worsen tensions already driven to a post-Cold War high by a short but intense war between Russia and Georgia.

AP - A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyz high school sports team, crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday near the Kyrgyz capital, killing 65, government officials said.

AP - The Democratic National Convention opens Monday, a choreographed show of unity more important this year after the rough-and-tumble primary contest that put Barack Obama days away from making history as the first black presidential nominee of a major political party.

AFP - A passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off from the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek on Sunday, claiming the lives of 71 people onboard, the health ministry said.

AFP - The Beijing Olympics, played out against a background of political intrigue and featuring 16 days of compelling and controversial action, drew to a spectacular close on Sunday.

Reuters - Israel will be targeted by thousands of rockets if it attacks Iran, a senior official in the Tehran-backed group Hezbollah said on Sunday.

Reuters - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that expanded oil drilling in federal waters could be included in a broader energy bill if advocates can prove its viability as a solution to America's energy problems.