AFP - Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy Monday and Merrill Lynch announced a rescue sale in a series of dramas in the US financial system which hit European stocks as soon as trading began.

Reuters - Ten of the world's biggest banks on Sunday committed to establish a $70 billion borrowing facility to bolster worldwide liquidity and reduce volatility in what they called an "extraordinary market environment."

Reuters - Insurer American International Group Inc , working to stave off rating downgrades and shore up the capital of its holding company, has made an unprecedented approach to the Federal Reserve seeking $40 billion in short-term financing, the New York Times said.

Reuters - Iran urged the U.N. nuclear watchdog not to be swayed by U.S. pressure in its report on the disputed Iranian atomic program due to be released on Monday.

Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew into Baghdad on Monday, preparing to hand command of the war in Iraq to a new general charged with maintaining better security while U.S. troop numbers fall.

Reuters - Presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama both vowed to press China on trade and to work with it on climate change if elected, and Obama said he would make shifting Beijing's currency policies a priority.

Reuters - Bank of America Corp said it agreed to buy Merrill Lynch & Co Inc in an all-stock deal worth $50 billion, snagging the world's largest retail brokerage after one of the worst-ever weekends on Wall Street.

Reuters - A huge relief effort was accelerating in storm-struck Texas on Monday as the big oil center of Houston struggled to get back to business after it was battered by Hurricane Ike.

Reuters - Global financial markets were shaken to their core on Monday after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch agreed to be taken over as a deepening crisis took new, bigger victims.

AP - All the elements were in Carlos Zambrano's favor. Zambrano pitched the first no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs in 36 years, returning from a sore rotator cuff to shut down the Houston Astros 5-0 Sunday night in a game relocated because of Hurricane Ike. "I guess I'm back!" Zambrano woofed.

AP - Cries of adulation — and hunger — followed Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean and actor Matt Damon as they toured flood-ravaged Gonaives on Sunday to call attention to widespread suffering in the marooned city.

AP - Asian and European stock markets were down sharply Monday amid growing alarm over the world's financial system after a seismic shake-up on Wall Street, with Lehman Brothers saying it would file bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch being sold to Bank of America.

AP - Americans strongly oppose giving the president more power at the expense of Congress or the courts, even to enhance national security or the economy, according to a new poll.

AP - Federal investigators said Sunday that audio recordings from a commuter train are missing required verbal safety checks between the engineer and the conductor in the seconds before the train collided with a freight engine, killing 25 people.