Wall Street extended its October rally Monday as investors grew more optimistic about upcoming earnings reports and Wal-Mart said it will cut capital spending to drive overall returns. The Dow Jones industrials shot up more than 120 points and crossed 12,100 for the first time.\nWhite House spokesman Tony Snow discounted a newspaper report saying the head of the U.S.-led Multinational Forces in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador were working on a plan that -- for the first time -- would set a specific timetable for disarming militias and meeting other political and economic goals.
A coal mine explosion killed a Pennsylvania miner Monday, but four others were able to escape, authorities said. The blast happened at the R&D Coal Co. anthracite mine in Schuylkill County, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
The two men accused of plotting with a secretary at Coca-Cola Co. to steal trade secrets from the world's biggest soft drink maker and trying to sell them to arch rival PepsiCo Inc. Each pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy. The two could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.\nConstruction at the World Trade Center site won't stop, despite the recent discovery of more than 100 pieces of bone and human remains believed to belong to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.
Israeli troops killed seven Palestinians on Monday, including the leader of a militant group's rocket-launching unit, in one of the deadliest days of fighting in Israel's four-month-old offensive in the Gaza Strip. Fourteen others were wounded in the shoot out.
\nIran is expanding its uranium enrichment program even as the U.N. Security Council focuses on possible sanctions for its defiance of a demand to give up the activity and ease fears it seeks nuclear weapons, diplomats said Monday.
