Congress started challenging a 700-billion-dollar White House plan to rescue the US financial system Monday as US stocks plunged more than 3 per cent and industrialized countries pledged action to ensure global economic stability.

On Wall Street, the last two remaining major investment banks, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, left the high-wire world of risk to become bank-holding companies with the approval of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve.

Washington - The next US president could soon be headed on a tour of Asia, if advisors to major-party candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have their way.

At a debate between foreign policy aides to the candidates, sponsored by the National Bureau of Asian Research, advisors to both the Democrat and Republican nominees said they would encourage their candidates to travel to Asia on their first international trip after the November 4 elections.

New York - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Monday at the United Nations in New York in the face of protests, amid the US presidential election fray.

Jewish-American groups held a rally Monday morning outside UN headquarters in New York and planned another major demonstration on Tuesday, when Ahmadinejad is to give his formal address to the General Assembly.

The rally was catapulted into the US political limelight last week after it emerged that Sarah Palin, vice presidential running mate of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, was scheduled to speak.

San Francisco - Software giant Microsoft on Monday announced that it planned to buy back up to 40 billion dollars in stock by 2013.

The company also raised its dividend by 18 per cent to 13 cents a share, sending its stock up some 5 per cent in early trading on Wall Street.

"These announcements illustrate our confidence in the long-term growth of the company and our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders," said Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer.

Country’s national carrier Air India has signed a financing arrangement worth $550 million with the US Exim Bank, to finance the purchase of three Boeing 777 and five Boeing 737-800 aircrafts.

Under the deal, the bank would give guarantee for the amount, which would be provided by Standard Chartered Bank to the national carrier to buy aircrafts.

New York - Not a single country in Africa is on track to meet the United Nations' poverty goals by 2015, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday while issuing a plea for more foreign aid.

Ban, opening a one-day conference on African development at UN headquarters, said about 72 billion dollars per year was needed for Africa to reach the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of poverty-reduction targets first set up eight years ago.