Opinions

AP - Deadly Hurricane Ike roared across Cuba on Monday, blowing buildings to rubble and sending waves surging over homes. Some 900,000 Cubans evacuated from its path, which forecasters said could take it to Louisiana or Texas later this week.

AP - Most storm-hardened residents of the Florida Keys stayed put Monday despite day-old instructions to evacuate as a ferocious Hurricane Ike ripped across Cuba and stayed on track to swipe the low-lying island chain.

AP - Stocks surged early Monday as investors rushed to lay bets on a broad economic recovery following the weekend announcement that the U.S. government will bail out mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The major indexes jumped, with the Dow Jones industrials gaining more than 300 points.

AP - Uncle Sam has just become the 800 pound gorilla in the U.S. mortgage market. The Bush administration announced Sunday it was seizing troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a bid to help reverse a prolonged housing and credit crisis.

AP - Nearly a year after O.J. Simpson walked into a casino hotel room intent on reclaiming some sports memorobilia, lawyers in his robbery-kidnapping trial are finally set to begin picking a jury.

AP - LOS ANGELES — No Madonna kiss. No Michael Jackson cameo. No flying Howard Stern. Not even a Kanye tantrum. MTV has set a high standard for the unexpected at its Video Music Awards, but on the show's 25th anniversary, the network instead settled for throwing its full support behind Britney Spears' comeback. Spears won a leading three awards, including video of the year for "Piece of Me."

AP - Should this world ever cease to exist, Stephen Colbert will live on. The comedian's DNA will be digitized and sent to the International Space Station, Comedy Central was to announce Monday. In October, video game designer Richard Garriott will travel to the station and deposit Colbert's genes for an "Immortality Drive."

AP - Green polar bears are drawing questions from puzzled visitors at a Japanese zoo. Three normally white polar bears at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in central Japan changed their color in July after swimming in a pond with an overgrowth of algae.

AP - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the NFL's reigning MVP and one of the most consistent starters in league history, is scheduled for an MRI on Monday amid reports that he sustained a season-ending injury to his left knee.

Reuters - Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's stocks took a dive while their debt soared on Monday, as investors bet the U.S. government's takeover of the mortgage finance firms would wipe out shareholders but fully guarantee their bonds.

Reuters - Hurricane Ike weakened on Monday as it raged through Cuba, where it blew off roofs, toppled trees and flattened sugar cane fields like a giant lawn mower on a path toward the U.S. oil hub in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reuters - Missiles fired by U.S. drones killed 16 people, including Pakistani and Afghan Taliban fighters, on Monday in a strike targeting a religious school founded by an old friend of Osama bin Laden, intelligence officials and Pakistani villagers said.

Reuters - Republican John McCain heads into the final stretch of the U.S. presidential campaign with a 4-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama, a USA Today/Gallup poll released on Sunday showed.

Reuters - Aerospace groups dusted off contingency plans on Monday for a potentially lengthy strike at Boeing, whose workers halted production for a third day, while shares in the parent of European rival Airbus got a sharp boost.

Reuters - Russia will send a nuclear-powered battleship to the Caribbean for a joint naval exercise with Venezuela, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Reuters - Hungry villagers pleaded with authorities to rescue them from flooded homes in eastern India on Monday, as devastating floods continued to haunt millions in South Asia.

AFP - European and Asian stock markets surged Monday after the US government grabbed control of ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, easing fears of a world financial crisis, dealers said.

AFP - Hurricane Ike raged across Cuba on Monday with torrential rain and winds as Haiti struggled with a growing humanitarian crisis after four hurricanes in four weeks.