Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

NEW YORK - Stocks pointed to a sharply higher open Monday as details emerged from the government's plan to help banks remove as much as $1 trillion in bad assets from their books.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Bouquets of flowers from grieving residents were piled up at a growing memorial in front of the Oakland police department after its worst single day death toll.

LOS ANGELES - Bruce Willis has tied the knot for the second time.

BOISE, Idaho - When the stakes were highest, Kim English was perfect at the line.

LOS ANGELES - Japan will play South Korea in the final of the World Baseball Classic tonight. America's national pastime took a major hit Sunday night. On home turf, no less. Daisuke Matsuzaka remained undefeated in the World Baseball Classic and defending champion Japan beat the United States 9-4 in the semifinals at Dodger Stadium.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States offered on Monday financing for private investors to help cleanse banks of up to $1 trillion in toxic assets which are blocking lending and worsening a deep U.S. recession.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A single-engine plane, reported to be carrying children on a ski vacation to the Rocky Mountains, crashed on approach to an airport in western Montana on Sunday, killing 17 people, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States met NATO allies on Monday to outline its policy review for Afghanistan after President Barack Obama said it would contain an exit strategy and greater emphasis on economic development.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The world is in a dire economic crisis, but no recovery is possible until the financial sector is cleaned up, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Sometimes breaking into laughter, the man accused of being the lone surviving gunman in last year's Mumbai attacks told an Indian court on Monday that he was from Pakistan and wanted legal assistance, officials said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - President Asif Ali Zardari called for national reconciliation in a Pakistan Day message on Monday, as he sought to mend fences with the opposition after defusing a political crisis by restoring the country's top judge.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - There is a gaping hole where one of the world's tallest buildings is supposed to go up.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu opened coalition talks with the center-left Labor Party on Monday, seeking an alternative to a right-wing government that could lead to friction with Washington over Middle East peace.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - US investigators searched for clues Monday after a small plane taking children to a ski trip crashed in a cemetery in the state of Montana, killing 14 people on board, officials said.

TOKYO (AFP) - A FedEx cargo plane en route from China crashed in high winds and exploded in a ball of flames Monday at Tokyo's Narita International Airport, killing both pilots, officials said.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - President Abdullah Gul arrived in Iraq on Monday on the first visit by a Turkish head of state in three decades for talks set to focus on the thorny issue of Kurdish rebels.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South Africa has denied the Dalai Lama a visa to meet here with other Nobel laureates because his visit would distract attention from the country's hosting of the 2010 World Cup, a spokesman said Monday.

MUMBAI (AFP) - Tata Motors is on Monday set to launch the Nano, the world's cheapest car, in the hope of revolutionising travel for millions of Indians and buck a slump in auto sales caused by the global economic crisis.

MANILA (AFP) - World health chiefs stressed on Monday the urgent need for countries to strengthen their health systems to tackle the spread of tuberculosis amid the growing threat of drug-resistant TB.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday revealed a 500-billion-dollar government-backed program to relieve bank balance sheets of troubled assets that he said "are now clogging" the financial system.