Today’s P.M. News Roundup

"Stocks rallied Monday afternoon, with the Dow up 976 points during the session, as investors bet that the worst of the credit crisis is over, following a series of global initiatives announced over the last few days," CNNMoney reported.

Hong Kong's key index gained by 10 percent Monday, "regaining the 16,000 points level," according to Forbes. It closed up 1,515.29 points.

The Baltimore Business Journal quoted Treasury Department officials who said they plan to "name its prime contractor for the federal bailout job Tuesday."

"Investors are relieved that Morgan Stanley's investment from Mitsubishi Financial did not turn sour in the end, even if it means the Japanese bank managed to extract a slightly sweeter deal," Forbes Magazine said.

According to Bloomberg, "Stocks rallied worldwide, with the MSCI World Index rebounding from its worst week on record, and the euro rose the most in three weeks against the dollar after governments in Europe, the U.S. and Asia agreed to support banks."

On Sunday the Federal Reserve approved Well Fargo & Company's takeover of Wachovia Corp. According to Reuters, the unusual Sunday announcement, "appeared timed to precede the opening of shaky global financial markets."

Grocery stores in Iceland were full this weekend, Bloomberg reported, "as the collapse of the banking system threatens to cut the island off from imports." One large chain, Bonus, told Bloomberg that the warehouses have enough food for two weeks, but won't be refilled "unless it can get access to foreign currency."

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Boeing Co. and its machinists union spent the weekend at the bargaining table with the assistance of a federal mediator, their first negotiations since a strike idled the company's commercial airplane production lines in early September."

Reuters is reporting that Henry Sy, one of the Philippines' wealthiest men, is planning to buy Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company, which is part of AIG. Philamlife, as it is known, is the island nation's biggest insurance company.

"The national average price for self-serve, regular unleaded gas fell 35.03 cents to $3.3079 a gallon on October 10 from $3.6582 two weeks earlier, according to the nationwide Lundberg Survey," Reuters reported.

Tropical Storm Nana, which formed near Africa on Sunday, has turned into a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center said Monday. The season's 15th storm has formed southwest of Puerto Rico. Another system forming near the coast of Nicaragua could affect the United States, Cuba, Cayman Islands or Mexico, Reuters said.

The Angeles National Forest has killed a man, according to Agence France-Presse. Los Angeles County Coroner Ed Winter said the man appeared to be homeless and living under an interstate. Fire crews, who this morning said the fire was 20 percent contained, now say it is five percent contained.

Fires over the weekend killed seven people, four of them children, in New York City. One fire on Saturday killed five members of one family; a 10-year-old boy survived, but his condition is unknown, according to Associated Press. A Sunday fire killed a man and his nephew.

A manatee that was rescued from a Massachusetts harbor died on its way back to Florida on Sunday, according to CNN. Manatees are normally found in waters off Georgia and Florida.

"Paul Krugman of the United States won the 2008 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for 'analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity,' the Nobel jury said," according to AFP.

Pope Benedict XVI his weekend canonized India's first female saint, Sister Alphonsa, who died in 1946, the BBC reported. The Pope's actions are being described as a boost to Christians in India, where Hindu attacks have killed several people in the last few weeks.

Joerg Haider, head of the far-right Alliance for the Future of Austria, was driving a twice the speed limit when his car went off the road Saturday. Haider, who had a broken spine and severe chest, head and neck injuries, died in the crash, UPI reported.

"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 reported.

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, told the U.K. newspaper the Times that Britain's troops are no longer needed for security, the BBC reported. Some troops may be needed, the prime minster said, to help train Iraqi soldiers.

"Britain on Monday led EU nations in condemning moves by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to take control of key ministries in defiance of a power-sharing deal with opposition parties," the International Herald Tribune reported. David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretry, told the Tribune the EU would "play no part in supporting a power grab by the Mugabe regime."

According to Voice of America, "Pakistani government officials are expected to share their comprehensive anti-terror strategy with lawmakers Monday. Legislators were briefed by military and intelligence officials last week in order to develop a plan to combat militants. The results of the special session likely will be debated in parliament today."

The Homeland Union-Christian Democrat party won 17 seats, or nearly 20 percent of the vote, in Sunday's Lithuanian parliamentary elections, Bloomberg reported. The party had spent the last eight years as the opposition.

"Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain 53 percent to 43 percent, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday indicated," said UPI. The news agency, citing The Washington Post, said the results also suggested that Obama's campaign is "on an upward path, while the McCain campaign is sliding."

Louisiana held its first televised debate between senate candidates Mary Landrieu, the democratic incumbent, and John Kennedy, the republican state treasurer. Landrieu accused her opponent of trying to benefit from McCain's popularity, while Kennedy said Landrieu favored tax hikes and "opposed conservative judges, the Town Talk reported.

Reuters reports that, "Three Chinese dairy companies have publicly apologized for their involvement in a toxic milk scandal that has killed at least four children and led to Chinese-made products pulled from shelves around the world."

A new study finds that "Family physicians and internists, when confronted with patients who are stressed out and showing signs of heart problems, are more likely to chalk up the symptoms to anxiety if the sufferer is female," Bloomberg reported.

"The American League Championship Series resumes this afternoon in Boston. In the National League, game 4 of the series is tonight in Los Angeles, with the Phillies leading 2 games to 1," according to AP. The Tanpa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox series is tied at one game each.

Lisa Marie Presley, 40, reportedly gave birth to twins Oct. 7, though the news wasn't immediately released, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. No names for the girls, which are the late Elvis Presley's third and fourth grandchildren, have been announced.