AP - Republicans hurried to turn the opening day of their national convention into a fundraising drive for hurricane victims, with presidential candidate John McCain's wife and first lady Laura Bush appealing for Gulf Coast help. McCain visited a disaster relief center in Ohio.

AP - A weakened Hurricane Gustav slammed into the heart of Louisiana's fishing and oil industry with 110 mph winds Monday, delivering only a glancing blow to New Orleans that raised hopes the city would escape the kind of catastrophic flooding brought by Katrina three years ago.

AFP - European Union leaders will put the bloc's relations with Moscow under scrutiny at an emergency summit on Monday, although sanctions against Russia are not in the cards.

AFP - Torrential rain and winds from Hurricane Gustav lashed the US Gulf coast early Monday after nearly two million people fled the killer storm.

Reuters - A small bomb exploded in a Bangkok police booth in the small hours of Monday as a stand-off between the Prime Minister and protesters occupying his office entered its seventh day with no sign of either side backing down.

Reuters - The Dalai Lama left hospital in Mumbai on Monday morning after being treated for abdominal pain, smiling and waving to waiting photographers.

Reuters - Hundreds of protesters blocked a road in Kabul on Monday accusing U.S.-led troops of killing three members of a family, including two children, in a raid in the city, residents and witnesses said.

Reuters - U.S. energy companies shut nearly all offshore Gulf oil and gas production and raced to bring down flood-prone Louisiana refineries on Sunday ahead of Hurricane Gustav, which threatens to rival the wrath of 2005's Katrina.

Reuters - Commerzbank plans to cut almost 2 billion euros ($3 billion) in costs by slashing 9,000 jobs and shrinking investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort after buying Dresdner Bank, but investors appeared unconvinced by the deal.

Reuters - EU leaders meet in an extraordinary session on Monday to try to unite behind a strong response to Russia's actions in Georgia, but Moscow warned it would hit back at any threat to its interests at home or abroad.

Reuters - Republicans open their convention on Monday to nominate presidential candidate John McCain with no pomp and little politics, shelving the usual celebration out of deference to the approaching threat of Hurricane Gustav.

Reuters - Nearly two million people fled the Louisiana coast on Sunday as Hurricane Gustav moved within hours of striking land, possibly with a weaker punch than 2005's devastating Hurricane Katrina.

AP - A raid by foreign and Afghan forces in Kabul killed a man and his two children early Monday, a police official and witnesses said.

AP - Rescuers appealed for temporary housing and tents Monday after a weekend earthquake in southwest China killed at least 33 people, injured hundreds and left tens of thousands of homes in ruins.

AP - Barack Obama seems to have only one problem with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president: She holds the same positions as John McCain, the GOP presidential candidate who tapped her.