AP - LOS ANGELES — No Madonna kiss. No Michael Jackson cameo. No flying Howard Stern. Not even a Kanye tantrum.   [ Full Story ]

Reuters - China and Japan, the biggest buyers of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds, praised Washington for its rescue of the ailing mortgage giants, but investors harbored no illusions the bailout would end the global credit market misery.   [ Full Story ]

AP - Hurricane Ike's winds and massive storm surge ripped apart houses and toppled trees Monday as the deadly storm roared across Cuba toward Havana and its historic but decaying old buildings.   [ Full Story ]

AP - As a ferocious Hurricane Ike ripped across Cuba, residents from Key West to the Gulf Coast watched the storm's unpredictable path, worrying it could hit anywhere in the U.S. from Texas to Florida.   [ Full Story ]

AP - When reports circulated over the weekend of a last-minute deal to keep Coney Island's historic Astroland amusement park open for another year, owner Carol Hill Albert was not amused.   [ Full Story ]

AP - The government's historic bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday will be good news to homebuyers and some homeowners hoping to refinance if it leads to lower mortgage rates, as experts expect.   [ Full Story ]

Reuters - China and Japan, the biggest buyers of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds, praised Washington for its rescue of the ailing mortgage giants, but investors harbored no illusions the bailout would end the global credit market misery.   [ Full Story ]

Reuters - Cigarette maker Altria Group Inc has agreed to buy Skoal and Copenhagen smokeless tobacco maker UST Inc for about $10.3 billion in cash, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.   [ Full Story ]

Reuters - Boeing Co's 27,000 machinists prepared for a third day of strike action, halting production at the plane maker's Seattle-area plants in protest at Boeing's contract offer and what they see as plans to shift more jobs to non-union and foreign companies.   [ Full Story ]