AFP - A train collision in east China that killed at least 66 people early Monday was caused by human error, state media reported citing preliminary investigations.

Reuters - Israeli fire hit a house in the Gaza Strip
on Monday while a family was eating breakfast inside, killing
four Palestinian children and critically wounding their mother,
residents and medical officials said.

AP - Assured of a trip free of anti-Chinese protests, the Olympic torch made its first-ever relay run Monday in authoritarian North Korea.

AP - A high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in eastern China on Monday, killing at least 66 people and injuring hundreds. Authorities were quoted as saying human error was to blame.

AP - American and Iraqi troops killed 38 militants in the fiercest clashes in weeks in Baghdad, including 22 who attacked a military checkpoint in a Shiite militia stronghold, the U.S. military said Monday.

Reuters - Nineteen people were killed on Monday
when the Ukrainian helicopter they were on board crashed in the
Black Sea, Russias Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ukraines
Naftogaz state energy firm as saying.

AP - Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say.

AP - Firefighters gained ground Sunday against an early season wildfire that slowly chewed its way through dense brush near Los Angeles, forcing more than 1,000 people from homes in the foothills.

AFP - Chinas close ally North Korea staged an elaborate welcome Monday for the Beijing Olympic torch, mobilising tens of thousands of cheering citizens and criticising protests elsewhere in the world.

Reuters - The U.S. military said on Monday it had
killed 38 fighters in a day of battles in northeastern Baghdad
as militants took advantage of dust storms to launch apparently
coordinated assaults.