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Transport
Teacher injured in bus rollover

WHISTLER, B.C. - A teacher is in a Vancouver hospital with head and spinal injuries after the bus she was riding in with 11 other people rolled down a 10-metre embankment near Whistler. Whistler RCMP say the tour bus left an access road Sunday afternoon, rolled once and landed upright on another road below. Three students aged 14-18 from Asia were taken to the Whistler medical centre to be examined for cuts and bruises and later released. The driver, two staff members, and a couple from Vancouver also had minor injuries.

Social

Teen abandoned at Omaha hospital

OMAHA, Neb. - A Michigan parent apparently flew to Nebraska just to abandon a teenage boy under Nebraska's safe-haven law. A Nebraska health and human services spokeswoman says the 13-year-old was left at Creighton University Medical Center on Monday morning between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. He has been placed in an emergency shelter. The boy is the 18th child abandoned under Nebraska's safe-haven law since July - and the second from outside Nebraska. The Nebraska law allows children as old as 18 to be left at state-licensed hospitals without fear of prosecution.

Politics

Palin's confused at Virginia rally

RICHMOND, Va. - Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin mistook some of her own supporters for hecklers Monday at a rally that drew thousands. A massive crowd of at least 20,000 spread across the parking lot of Richmond International Raceway, and scores of people on the outer periphery more than 100 metres from the stage could not hear. "Louder! Louder!" they began chanting, and the cry spread across the crowd to Palin's left. Some pointed skyward, urging that the volume be increased. Palin stopped her remarks briefly and looked toward the commotion. "I hope those protesters have the courage and honour to give veterans thanks for their right to protest," she said.

Politics

Obama offers new proposals

TOLEDO, Ohio - Democrat Barack Obama proposed more immediate steps Monday to heal the America's ailing economy, including a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures at some banks and a two-year tax break for businesses that create new jobs. With the economic turmoil weighing down his Republican presidential rival, Obama also proposed allowing people to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without any penalty this year and next. The candidate said his proposals, with a price tag of $60 billion over two years, can be enacted quickly, either through the government's regulatory powers or legislation that Congress could pass in a special session after the election.

Somalia

Kidnappers threaten to kill journalists

TEHRAN - Somali kidnappers are threatening to kill Canadian journalist, Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer, Nigel Brennan if a $2.5 million ransom is not paid in 15 days. Tehran-based Press TV reported Monday that one of the kidnappers issued the warning to the station's correspondent in Mogadishu. Brennan and Lindhout, a freelance television and print reporter from Sylvan Lake in central Alberta, were kidnapped on Aug 23 near Mogadishu. A Somali journalist accompanying them was also abducted. Lindhout, 27, filed stories from Iraq on behalf of Press TV, Iran's 24-hour English-language news channel.

Health

S. Africa strikes new tone on AIDS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - South Africa's new health minister broke dramatically Monday from a decade of discredited government policies on AIDS, declaring that the disease was unquestionably caused by HIV and must be treated with conventional medicine. Health Minister Barbara Hogan's pronouncement marked the official end to 10 years of denial about the link between HIV and AIDS by former president Thabo Mbeki and his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Activists also accused Tshabalala-Msimang of spreading confusion about AIDS through her public mistrust of antiretroviral medicines.