Bush pulls out of U.S.-Russia civilian nuke deal

WASHINGTON -- 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."

U.K. jury finds 3 men guilty in bombing plot

LONDON -- Three British Muslims with ties to Pakistan were found guilty Monday of conspiracy to murder in a terrorist bombing campaign but jurors failed to reach a verdict on whether they plotted to blow up multiple trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks.

The failure to get convictions on the more serious charges was a major setback to the British government, which has struggled to put suspected terrorists behind bars with intelligence from multiple countries.

Last month, government prosecutors failed to convict three other men of helping to plan the deadly London transit bombings of 2005 -- the worst attack on Britain's capital since World War II.

In Monday's decision, Abdulla Ahmed Ali and co-conspirators Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were convicted of trying to make a bomb out of hydrogen peroxide.

But the jury struggled to find enough evidence to support prosecutors' claims that the men planned suicide attacks targeting passenger jets flying from London to major North American cities. The three will be sentenced at a later date.

The men were arrested on Aug. 10, 2006 -- a date that would go down in history as the day when air travel changed dramatically.

Airports in the United States and Europe ground to a halt with hundreds of flights canceled over security concerns. Planes were stuck on runways for hours. Tempers flared as passengers lined up to surrender carry-on items under new security precautions that severely restricted the quantity of liquids in their luggage -- limits that remain in place today.

Cooking show lands Thai P.M. in hot water

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's prime minister, who has survived two weeks of militant street protests demanding his resignation, could be booted out of office for a handful of appearances on a cooking show where he whipped up dishes like "salmon coconut soup."

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, a well-known foodie and TV chef, defended himself in the Constitutional Court on Monday against accusations that he broke a prohibition on private employment while in office by hosting a television cooking show.

The court's verdict is expected Tuesday. If found guilty, he would have to resign, an outcome that would allow him to exit without succumbing to pressure from protesters who have occupied the grounds of his office complex since Aug. 26, demanding he step down.

They accuse him of doing the bidding of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in 2006 by a military coup after demonstrations denouncing him for alleged corruption and abuse of power. The same protest coalition, the People's Alliance for Democracy, has led both the current protests and the ones in 2006.

"By making a quick decision, the court will help a lot in resolving the political crisis," said Suwat Apaipakdi, a lawyer for a group of senators who filed the petition against Samak in the case. "If the court rules that Prime Minister Samak is disqualified from holding office, then the political crisis will automatically cease."

Videos show dead Afghan children after US raid

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The bodies of at least 10 children and many more adults covered in blankets and white shrouds appear in videos obtained by The Associated Press on Monday, lending weight to Afghan and U.N. allegations that a U.S.-led raid last month killed more civilians than the U.S. reported.

The sounds of wailing women mixed with the voices of men shouting inside a white-walled mosque in the western village of Azizabad, where an Afghan government commission and U.N. report said some 90 civilians -- including 60 children and 15 women -- were killed.

The two grainy videos, apparently taken by cell phones, showed bodies lying side-by-side on the mosque floor, covered by floral-patterned blankets and black-and-white checkered shawls. One young boy lay curled in a fetal position; others looked as though they were asleep. One child had half its head blown off.

Turbaned men walked around, gently lifting the blankets covering the faces of the dead. At least two elderly men were among the dead. There appeared to be several dozen bodies lying on the mosque floor, though a precise count was difficult because of the poor quality of the images.

The videos do not provide proof that 60 children died in the operation, but the images do appear to contradict a U.S. military investigation that found only seven civilians were killed in Azizabad, along with up to 35 militants.

The U.S. said Sunday it would reopen the investigation because of emerging new evidence. On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said new "imagery evidence" came to the attention over the weekend of Gen. David D. McKiernan, the American commander of the NATO-led force here.

Blasts kill 9 in Pakistan militant stronghold

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Missiles fired from U.S. drone aircraft hit a seminary and houses associated with a Taliban commander, killing at least nine people, including both militants and civilians, officials and witnesses say.

With violence spiraling in Afghanistan, Washington is becoming more aggressive about insurgent havens abutting the Afghan border, despite the strain it places on relations with Pakistan just as its new president takes office.

Monday's incident occurred in a village in North Waziristan, a militant stronghold in Pakistan's tribal belt and a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

Residents told of seeing two Predator drones in the sky shortly before multiple explosions hit a seminary and several nearby houses in the village of Dande Darba Khel.

A Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his job, said three suspected foreign militants and two children were among the dead.

1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the U.S. military coalition in Afghanistan, said he had no information that he could release on the matter. He did not deny coalition involvement.

The targets were associated with Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the fight against Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s who American commanders now count among their most dangerous foes.

In rain-soaked Haiti, no identifying the dead

GONAIVES, Haiti -- The sun came out in Haiti on Monday as waters from Hurricane Ike receded and a U.S. Navy hospital ship equipped with helicopters and amphibious boats was arriving in the capital to deliver food and water to cities still marooned by flooding.

But Haiti -- and the world -- still lacks a complete picture of the destruction, and desperation was setting in among people who have spent days in the floodwaters and mud.

Most roads remain impassible, with bridges torn away by overflowing rivers and gaping holes preventing aid from moving by land. Hard-hit Gonaives, north of the capital, remained cut off by land. A Red Cross truck trying to reach Les Cayes on Haiti's southern coast had to turn back, one of many international aid efforts still struggling to leave the capital.

The death toll -- which government officials said stood at 312 people in four tropical storms in less than a month -- is sure to rise as more bodies surface in the mud.

Two more bodies were found Monday in coastal Cabaret, where 60 people died as mudslides and floods unleashed by a swollen river crushed homes in the middle of the night. Sixteen other people -- mostly children reported missing by their parents -- were being searched for in the wreckage, Cabaret civil defense director Henri Louis Praviel said.