Chevron Corporation is acquiring Texaco for $35 billion, creating the world’s fourth-largest oil company. The combined company will be called ChevronTexaco and joins the ranks of other industry powerhouses formed by similar merges, like ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP Amoco. Chevron has yet to resolve the lawsuit against it involving its involvement with the murder of two Nigerian activists protesting against Chevron oil spills and lack of compensation in Nigeria. Some 4,000 jobs will be eliminated as a result of the Chevron-Texaco deal.

A group that assists death row prisoners has described the Texas criminal defense process as “riddled by prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective defense attorneys, racial discrimination in sentencing, and a weak appellate process.” The Texas Defender Service, in analysis of hundreds of death penalty cases, said that in many appeals defense attorneys raised no new claims or conducted investigations.

In Los Angeles, after one month of the city’s transit strike, the Rev. Jesse Jackson is prepared to continue shuttling between the two sides to end the conflict. After hours of negotiation over the weekend, representatives of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the United Transportation Union said they had made progress but remained divided on work rules dealing with overtime and part-time employees.

The Million Family March has opened with a prayer in Washington. Members of the Nation of Islam marked the event this morning with traditional Muslim prayers on Washington’s National Mall. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is the driving force behind the march.

Women from around the world marched and shouted “Shame” at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund buildings yesterday in a protest against world poverty and the mistreatment of women. Several thousand marchers from Africa, Asia and the Americas chanted, in a variety of languages, their support for equal rights for women and their opposition to domestic violence.