"The Miss California USA Organization, in conjunction with the Miss Universe Organization and with the blessing of its owner, Mr. Donald J. Trump, announced today the termination of Carrie Prejean as Miss California USA 2009, citing continued breach of contract issues," the Miss California Organization said in a statement to Access Hollywood.

The group kicked the controversial beauty queen from her post due to "contract violations including Ms. Prejean's unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of the Miss California USA organization," the pageant's Executive Director, Keith Lewis, said in a statement.

Last month, Trump decided that Prejean would be allowed to keep her crown despite racy photos of the 22-year-old surfacing on the Internet. But Lewis claims that in the weeks that followed, the beauty queen did not step up to the plate.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc today filed for bankruptcy protection, making it the largest casualty of the global credit crisis, and given its assets at the time of filing, Lehman surpassed WorldCom as the biggest U.S. Bankruptcy filing till date. The investment banker had close to $639 billion in assets at the time of filing, while WorldCom had about $107 billion when it did the same in 2002.

The Chapter 11 filing, however, did not include Lehman's broker-dealer operations and other units, such as asset management firm Neuberger Berman, and these will continue to operate, although Lehman is expected to liquidate them.

Lehman is among the biggest investment banks to collapse since 1990.

The Chapter 11 filing represented the end of a 158-year old company that survived world wars, the Asian financial crisis and the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, though not the global credit crunch.

Financial institutions globally have recorded more than $500 billion of write-downs and credit losses as the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has engulfed other markets.

Lehman had $600 billion of assets financed with just $30 billion of equity as of the end of August, which meant that a 5 percent decline in assets would wipe out the value of the company, which investors saw as a real risk thanks to the company's billions of dollars of mortgage securities.

The firm said that as of May 31, it owed about $110.5 billion on account of senior unsecured notes, about $12.6 billion on account of subordinated unsecured notes and about $5 billion on account of junior subordinated notes.

The company also disclosed that it owned stakes of 10 percent or more in a number of companies, including Imperial Sugar Co, Lpath Inc, Derma Services, Flagstone Reinsurance, GLG Partners, Ronco Corp, Pacific Energy Partners, Blount International, Pemstar Inc and Transmontaigne Inc.

The one time fourth-largest in the United States had expected to raise capital by selling off a stake in its investment unit, and use the amount as well as other funds to spin off some of its assets to shareholders.

But that plan did not satisfy investors, who pushed Lehman's share price to just a few dollars.

Lehman said the uncertainty, particularly among banks through which it clears securities trades, ultimately made it impossible for it to continue to operate.

The bankruptcy filing comes after plenty of heated negotiations among regulators and Wall Street firms about Lehman's fate. The U.S. government had refused to back Lehman's worst assets the way it did for Bear Stearns Cos Inc's sale to JPMorgan Chase.

Survivors mourned at New York's Ground Zero on Thursday as John McCain and Barack Obama suspended their rancorous White House campaign to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

A moment of silence began ceremonies at the side of the giant pit where the World Trade Centre towers once stood, followed by the reading of almost 3,000 victims' names.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said September 11, 2001, when al-Qaida-hijacked airliners demolished the Twin Towers and also crashed into the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, was the day the United States "broke."

The anniversary, he said, was about "New Yorkers, Americans and global citizens remembering the innocent people from 95 nations and territories that lost their lives that day."

McCain and Obama, due to visit Ground Zero, after the official ceremonies, declared a truce and suspended advertising.

"There will be no speeches," Democrat Obama's spokeswoman Linda Douglass said. "This is going to be a moment when politics are set aside."

Victims' relatives, some choking on tears, read out names of the dead. A string quartet, alternating with a classical guitar and flute, played mournfully in the background as the litany unfolded.

Survivors, who wore white ribbons pinned to their chests, often broke off to add brief tributes. One fought to control himself as he condemned the "cowardly men" who killed his loved one.

A woman managed a smile as she called to her deceased husband Chuck, saying: "Until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hands."

At the Pentagon, thousands joined President George W. Bush and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to dedicate the first September 11 memorial.

A Marine Corps bugler played taps from the roof where fire-fighters had unfurled an American flag while the building burned after the attack.

The sombre patriotism provided a rare moment of unity in a country less than two months from the end of an increasingly divisive presidential race.

But Obama set the tone, saying Wednesday that 9/11 showed "that here in America, we all have a stake in each other; I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper; and we rise and fall as one nation."

Because of continued delays in erecting the World Trade Centre's replacement and a Ground Zero memorial, the memory of the attacks remains literally an open wound.

Just this week, the first steel beams for a planned Freedom Tower were put in place at what is still a huge hole surrounded by cranes.

"I'd like to hear them say they're going to get more involved regarding... the need to protect our cities from all types of chemical and biological and radiological attacks," she said.