Another UK travel operator goes bust

Britain's aviation regulator says tour operator K&S Holidays has gone bust.

It is the second British travel firm to go under this week. On Friday, tens of thousands of travelers were stranded when the country's third-largest tour operator XL Leisure Group collapsed.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) press officer James Hotson says K&S ceased trading Saturday.
However, he says 150 passengers overseas with the group can continue their vacations as normal because their flights will be covered by a bond.
Hotson says some 400 people with forward bookings will have their vacations canceled and receive full refunds.
XL Leisure Group went into administration Friday saying it had been unable to secure more funding.
The CAA, which took on the task of getting XL's passengers home, estimated there were 50,000 customers abroad who had booked through an XL tour operator, including 10,000 on holiday with XL Airways and 25,000 with other tour operators who shared the XL flights.

Palin never in Iraq, campaign now says

Sarah Palin did not visit troops in Iraq, a spokesperson for the Republican vice presidential nominee confirmed Saturday, as new details emerged about the extent of the Alaska governor's foreign travel.
In July of last year, Palin left North America for the first time to visit Alaskan troops stationed in Kuwait. Palin officials originally said her itinerary included U.S. military installations or outposts in Germany and Kuwait, and that she had visited Ireland.
A Palin aide in Alaska had said Iraq was also one of the military stops on that trip.
The Boston Globe, however, reported Saturday that in response to questions about the trip, Alaska National Guard officials and campaign aides said Palin did not go past the Kuwait-Iraq border.
In addition, campaign aides also confirmed reports to CNN Saturday that Palin's time in Ireland on that trip had actually been a refueling stop.

Two die after Paris pleasure boat sinks

Police investigating the possibility that a collision led to the deaths of two people after a small boat sank in central Paris, detained the pilot and co-pilot of one of the large tourist boats that carry sightseers along the Seine river, officials said Sunday.

The smaller boat was carrying 12 people when it sank Saturday night in the heart of Paris near Notre Dame Cathedral.
Ten of those aboard were rescued immediately, but a 6-year-old child and an adult in the bottom of the boat were trapped underwater for several minutes before divers pulled them out.
The two, who French news reports said were a boy and his father, were hospitalized and then died overnight, police said.
The circumstances of the accident remained unclear.
Investigators say a collision between the two boats appeared the most likely cause of the accident, according to judicial officials. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into manslaughter and involuntary injury, the officials said.
The judicial officials were not authorized to be named because the investigation is under way.

Obama aide: McCain campaign 'sleaziest' in modern history

Sen. Barack Obama's spokesman on Saturday accused Sen. John McCain of "cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history."

Obama, speaking to a crowd Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire, said, "John McCain wants to have a debate about national security; let's have that debate. I warned that going into Iraq would distract us from Afghanistan. John McCain cheerleaded for it. John McCain was wrong, and I was right."
"The McCain-[Sarah] Palin ticket, they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we've just seen. And they know it," the Democratic presidential nominee said. "As a consequence, what they're going to spend the next seven, eight weeks doing is trying to distract you.
"They're going to talk about pigs, and they're going to talk about lipstick; they're going to talk about Paris Hilton, they're going to talk about Britney Spears. They will try to distort my record, and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats intend to do."

No survivors in Russian jetliner crash

A jet carrying 88 people crashed early Sunday morning in western Russia, killing everyone on board, an airline spokesman said.
Twenty-one foreigners were on the flight, including passport-holders from Azerbaijan, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and Ukraine, said Lev Koshlyakov, spokesman for flight operator Aeroflot Nord.
Authorities are trying to confirm the presence of an American on board, Koshlyakov said. The person was listed as an American in the passenger list, but has a Russian last name, he said. Authorities intend to check with the U.S. embassy for a final determination.
The Boeing 737 was en route to Perm from Moscow when the pilots lost communication with air traffic control just before landing about 3:10 a.m. (2110 GMT), Koshlyakov said. He described the weather at the time as "mediocre."

North Korea prepares for 60th anniversary

North Korea is preparing to stage a military parade to mark the communist state's 60th anniversary this week, an official said Monday amid heightening tensions over its nuclear programs.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters that the parade was expected to occur in Pyongyang on Tuesday, but did not elaborate on its size or other details.
"We know that the North has been preparing hard for tomorrow's event despite various internal difficulties," he said.
North Korea has relied on foreign assistance to help feed its 23 million people since its state-controlled economy collapsed due to mismanagement and natural disasters in the mid-1990s. The World Food Program says its food shortage has worsened this year after devastating floods in 2007.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Monday that the parade would be North Korea's largest-ever in terms of number of troops and military hardware displayed, quoting a government official it did not identify.
The official cited by Yonhap said weapons such as 240 mm multiple rocket launch systems and 105 mm howitzers have been observed at an air force base on the outskirts of Pyongyang where preparations for the parade were being made. The parade was to be held in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, named after the country's founder, the official said.

Shares soar on U.S. mortgage takeover

U.S. stocks mostly advanced Monday as investors putdown bets that a recovery in the financial and housing sectors is in the offing following the U.S. government's move to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Dow Jones industrials gained more than 150 points but the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index declined.
The announcement Sunday that the Treasury Department was seizing control of the companies, which own or back about half of America's mortgage debt, brushed aside investors' long-simmering worries that the pair would be felled by a spike in bad mortgage debt.
The plan touched off a global stock rally Monday.
Foreign investors holding debt of the companies were relieved as were investors simply looking for stronger growth from the U.S. economy, particularly as many economies abroad give off signs they are slowing.

Sources: Images alter course of Afghan airstrike probe

Cell phone images are providing evidence that a large number of civilians may have been mistakenly killed by U.S. troops operating in Afghanistan last month, two NATO officials said Sunday.

The Afghan government, a United Nations review and other reports from the region state that as many as 90 civilians were killed in an August 22 airstrike, but the Pentagon has adamantly disputed the death toll.
Another U.S. military official, who has seen the cell phone imagery but asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Monday there were about 30 bodies, some covered and some in blankets.
There were "several children who appear to be pulled from the rubble," he said.
The grainy cell phone video, viewed by CNN, shows rows of blankets and quilts inside a building. In the video, someone lifts the blankets to show the heads of those slain. People who appear to be mourners sit by their loved ones and wail.

U.S. cancels nuclear deal with Russia

In a pointed but mostly symbolic expression of displeasure with Moscow, President Bush on Monday canceled a once-celebrated civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Russia.

Bush had sent the agreement to Congress for approval in May, after a much-heralded signing by the two nations that capped two years of tough negotiations. On Monday, he officially pulled it back, a move announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"We make this decision with regret," said Rice, in a statement read by spokesman Sean McCormack. "Unfortunately, given the current environment, the time is not right for this agreement."
The action -- combined with a recently announced $1 billion foreign aid package for tiny, West-leaning Georgia and the time Vice President Dick Cheney spent last week railing against Russia throughout its backyard -- forms the U.S. administration's punishment of Moscow for its invasion of Georgia. The nuclear deal was highly unlikely to win approval on Capitol Hill this year anyway, but Bush decided to actively withdraw it to make a loud statement.
Moscow, though, might not be much inclined to hear it.
Newly flush with riches from sales of its vast energy resources, Russia appears to feel it no longer has as much need for the potentially billions in revenue the deal would have provided. The agreement would have let Moscow establish a lucrative business as the center for the import and storage of spent nuclear fuel from American-supplied reactors around the world.

EU leaders to discuss Georgia crisis

European Union leaders will assess the impact of their fraying relations with Moscow at a summit chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday. But they face limited options to punish Russia for invading Georgia and recognizing the independence of its Abkhazia and South Ossetia provinces.

Taking a cue from the NATO alliance, the 27 European leaders are expected to strongly support Georgia's territorial integrity, to signal that normal relations with Moscow are impossible with Russian troops violating a cease-fire agreement, and to offer more humanitarian, economic and moral support for Georgia, the embattled pro-Western Caucasus state.
EU officials said the bloc's leaders will likely opt for diplomatic pressure to isolate Russia as an unreliable partner and neighbor.
"Russia's commitment to a relationship of understanding and cooperation with the rest of Europe is in doubt," Sarkozy wrote in a pre-summit letter to the EU leaders. "It's up to Russia today to make a fundamental choice" and to engage neighbors and partners in settling disputes peacefully, he wrote.
A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

Dalai Lama due to leave hospital

The Dalai Lama will leave hospital on Monday after undergoing tests for abdominal discomfort, his spokesman said.

"He is feeling well. He will be discharged tomorrow," spokesman Tenzin Takla said Sunday.
He declined comment on the outcome of the medical tests.
The Dalai Lama, 73, flew to Mumbai, India's financial capital, on Thursday and was admitted to Lilavati Hospital with what his advisers said was exhaustion.
He canceled planned trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
He recently returned to India from an 11-day visit to France.
The Dalai Lama spends several months a year traveling the globe to highlight the struggle of Tibetans for greater freedom in China and to teach Buddhism.

Gustav prompts major changes to RNC agenda

The Republican National Convention will cut back most of its activities Monday because of Hurricane Gustav, Sen. John McCain said Sunday.

"This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans. We have to join the 300 million other Americans on behalf of our fellow citizens. It's a time for action. So, we're going to suspend most of our activities tomorrow except for those absolutely necessary," said McCain, speaking from St. Louis, Missouri.
Campaign manager Rick Davis said Republicans would meet in an abbreviated fashion, conducting only what was necessary to constitute a convention, such as calling the convention to order, receiving a report from the credentials committee and adopting the party platform.

15 dead in Chinese fireworks blast

An explosion at a fireworks plant killed 15 people and wounded six others in northern China, state media reported Sunday.
The deadly explosion occurred Saturday at a plant in Sijiazi Township in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Xinhua news agency said.
On Sunday, rescue workers found two bodies buried in the rubble, bringing the total to 15, Xinhua said.
The blast may have been set off after workers at the plant did not follow regulations while weighing and mixing ingredients to make fireworks, Xinhua reported.