AP - With the world's financial markets on a stomach-churning ride, the Bush administration is scrambling to get a $700 billion rescue effort for the U.S. banking system up and running. And Europe's central banks began to take unified actions Monday aimed at easing the credit crisis.

AP - European markets opened strongly Monday following Asia's lead in response to the widespread government efforts over the weekend to shore up the world's troubled financial system.

AP - The British government is making a major cash infusion into three of the nation's largest banks — a move that will leave the taxpayers as their largest shareholders.

AP - Five years ago, retired Air Force intelligence officer Kirk von Ackermann became the first of 39 Americans to be kidnapped in Iraq. He's still missing, his wife fearing she'll never see him again.

AP - A wildfire that had burned more than 2,000 acres and forced more than 1,000 people from their homes north of Los Angeles was only smoldering early Monday, but worries were rampant as several hours of severe winds were expected to hit the region later in the day.

AP - South Korea is considering expanding cross-border projects with North Korea following major progress in an international standoff over the communist country's nuclear program, an official said Monday.

AP - The nation's leading pediatricians group says children from newborns to teens should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases.

AP - An adorable talking dog remained just the sort of escapist movie hero audiences wanted after a week of awful economic news. Disney's family comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," with Drew Barrymore providing the voice of the pooch, was the No. 1 flick for the second-straight weekend with $17.5 million, raising its 10-day total to $52.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

AP - Tired of getting brushed back in the NL championship series, Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers came out ready to fight their way back against Philadelphia.

AP - Ryan Longwell made a field goal with nine seconds left to give Minnesota a comeback win over Detroit.

Reuters - Governments across the world moved on Monday to shore up tottering global banks with multi-billion dollar bailouts and Britain called for a new Bretton Woods agreement to reshape the world financial system.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama has a 4-point lead over his Republican rival John McCain in the U.S. presidential race, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby tracking poll released on Monday.

Reuters - Britain waded in with 37 billion pounds ($64 billion) of taxpayers' cash to bail out three major banks on Monday, in a move that could make it their main shareholder.

Reuters - Spain's Santander said it was in talks to acquire Sovereign Bancorp Inc on Monday, as the euro zone's largest bank hunted for bargains in a sector that has been hit by the global financial crisis.

Reuters - South Korea has not seen signs of North Korea restarting work to take apart its nuclear plant as Pyongyang pledged to do at the weekend, a government official said on Monday, but Seoul could send aid once that work begins.

Reuters - What's good for General Motors Corp is good for the country.

Reuters - U.S. economist Paul Krugman, a critic of the Bush administration for policies that he argues led to the current financial crisis, won the 2008 Nobel prize for economics, the prize committee said on Monday.

Reuters - The Federal Reserve on Sunday gave its stamp of approval to the takeover of Wachovia Corp by Wells Fargo & Co of San Francisco, which had battled New York-based Citigroup for ownership of the wounded bank.

AFP - Global stock markets soared on Monday, with Frankfurt up six percent and Hong Kong 10 percent higher as governments pumped billions of extra dollars into banks crippled by the credit crunch.

AFP - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe swore in his two vice presidents Monday, a senior government official said, despite an ongoing dispute with the opposition over a power-sharing deal.