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.

AP - As a ferocious Hurricane Ike ripped across Cuba, a tropical storm warning was issued for the Florida Keys early Monday.

AP - U.S. stock futures pointed to a huge rally Monday as investors rushed to lay bets on a broad economic recovery following the weekend announcement that the U.S. government plans to bail out mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. stock futures jumped more than 2 percent.

AP - Uncle Sam has just become the 800 pound gorilla in the U.S. mortgage market. The Bush administration's 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."