AP - Oil prices tumbled to a seven-month low Monday as the demise of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch fed expectations of another big liquidation of commodities holdings.

AP - Federal officials investigating a commuter rail collision that killed 25 people said they want to review cell phone records to determine if an engineer blamed for running a stop signal before the crash may have been text messaging at the time.

AP - President Robert Mugabe relaxed his iron hold on Zimbabwe for the first time in nearly three decades of one-man rule, forced by escalating economic chaos into signing a power-sharing deal Monday with his bitter political rivals.

AP - Rescuers flew into a hard-to-reach area of the swamped Gulf Coast Monday and uncovered a devastated landscape: Hurricane Ike had obliterated entire subdivisons, and emergency crews feared they would find more victims than survivors.

AP - A stunning reshaping of the Wall Street landscape sent stocks tumbling Monday, but the pullback appeared relatively orderly — perhaps because investors were unsurprised by the demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and relieved by a takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co.

AP - In a stunning reshaping of America's financial landscape, two venerable Wall Street firms fell from the shock waves of a credit crisis that has plunged the financial system into turmoil, as stocks tumbled across the globe Monday.

AFP - NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer headed Monday to Georgia in a show of support criticised by Russia's foreign minister, who took his own tour of rebel regions at the centre of last month's conflict.

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.