Business News - AP

NEW YORK - Washington Mutual Inc., ravaged by losses from sour mortgages, replaced Kerry Killinger as chief executive of the nation's largest savings and loan on Monday, adding him to the growing list of banking bosses ousted by their boards. Its shares fell almost 12 percent.

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

NEW YORK - After failing to grab much consumer attention for its own smokeless tobacco products, Altria Group said Monday it would buy the maker of Skoal and Copenhagen for about $10.3 billion.

NEW YORK - Oil prices slipped Monday as Hurricane Ike weakened over Cuba and the U.S. dollar strengthened.

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's financial regulator urged state-owned Korea Development Bank on Monday to be cautious over any investment in Lehman Brothers.

VIENNA, Austria - There is too much crude on global oil markets, senior oil officials from Iran and Libya said Monday, as the price of oil continued a two-month slide.

BEIJING - Coca-Cola Co. will have to submit its bid to buy a Chinese juice producer for review under China's new anti-monopoly law, state television reported, setting up the first major test of the legislation.

SYDNEY, Australia - St. George Bank Ltd., Australia's fifth-largest bank, agreed to a revised 17.3 billion Australian dollar ($14.4 billion) takeover proposal by larger rival Westpac Banking Corp. on Monday, in what would be the biggest banking acquisition in Australian history.

NEW YORK - Efforts to bring oil and gas production back online in the Gulf of Mexico slowed Sunday as Hurricane Ike barreled toward the nation's energy complex, likely to be the second hurricane to slam into the Gulf in as many weeks.

LONDON - World stock markets soared Monday after Washington announced a bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — a move that could help bolster a shaky U.S. housing market and renew global investor confidence.

LONDON - The Nationwide Building Society, a British mortgage lender, said Monday it is taking over two smaller rivals.

SAN FRANCISCO - A group representing big-spending national advertisers said Sunday it sent a letter to the Justice Department asserting an online ad partnership between Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. will stifle competition and likely raise prices.

MILWAUKEE - Foodmakers may be worried about higher costs for key ingredients, pushing through price increases and still maintaining their profits. But for big names like Sara Lee, Kraft and others, these slim times don't mean doing away with their advertising budgets.

NEW YORK - 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.

NEW YORK - Wall Street finally got what it's been angling for: a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could aid a recovery of the broken U.S. housing market and arrest a slide in stock and credit markets worldwide.

NEW YORK - The stock market has lurched back near its July lows — but Wall Street's concerns are a bit different now than they were then.

WASHINGTON - Auto industry allies hope to secure up to $50 billion in government loans this month that would pay to modernize plants and help struggling car makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Olympian Michael Phelps' record-setting performance in Beijing has led to multimillion-dollar endorsement deals, but his road to marketing gold was paved years before he swam a lap in China.

PORTLAND, Maine - When the 1,020-foot Explorer of the Seas cruises through North Atlantic waters next year, it'll spend more time off the coast of New England and less time near Canadian shores, and it's not because of better vistas.