QUITO, Ecuador -- As the sun descends, street lamps take over, illuminating grandiose colonial plazas, antiquated historic buildings and romantic balconies that line the major streets of capital city Quito's "Centro Historico" district in Ecuador.
The streets buzz with activity. Indigenous women in colorful dress bustle around. Young hombres whiz by on motorcycles. Mustached men sell warm peanuts and pastries. Restaurant patios crowd with hungry patrons. And all those in the central square, Plaza Grande, jostle about to the musical backdrop of an impromptu jam session from curbside guitarists and accordion players.

It's a scene in stark contrast to the Centro Historico's past. An evening stroll down these parts eight years ago was a stroll into a world of crime, ghettos and dilapidated buildings. But it's amazing what $200 million and a vision to attract tourists can do for a capital city. In 2000, under the direction of Mayor Paco Moncayo, the city embarked on an extensive project to rid its streets of crime and restore its decaying historic center, deemed a world UNESCO site in 1978.

The plan is not quite completed -- and street crime remains a problem -- but architects and restoration crews have finished more than 200 rehabilitation projects including the city's cathedral; three historic theaters; plazas; monasteries; churches; entire blocks of colonial homes and buildings; and the narrow picture-perfect street known as La Ronda.

Four historical buildings have been converted into luxury boutique hotels, and several restaurants specializing in gourmet Ecuadorean fare have recently opened. This rebirth has transformed Quito from a mere transit point en route to the Amazon and Galapagos into a veritable destination in its own right.

"Before, tourist operators wouldn't bring travelers into the Old Town and tourists wouldn't come here on their own either," says Andrea Swigilsky, general manager of the upscale boutique hotel Patio Andaluz. "Only the brave stayed the night in the Old Town. But now everyone wants to come here, the locals, tourists, and even new businesses, local and foreign, are vying to get into this part of Quito."

It's not hard to see why tourists now want to come to Quito's Centro Historico.

More police are now stationed throughout the district and formerly dark and dreary streets, some newly pedestrianized, glow under lampposts. Cobblestone pathways have been scrubbed and swept.

Recently painted facades of peppermint green, cotton-candy pink and powder blue make you feel as though you've walked into an Easter egg wonderland. Mansions that had been sectioned into small apartments over the years have been restored to their former glory. And, in a hotly contested move, the throngs of street-side vendors that crowded the district with their neon signs and tacky cumbersome stalls, which made navigating the sidewalks challenging, have been relocated to indoor shopping centers.

"Viva la ciudad!" calls out a jovial shopkeeper in the Centro Commercial Granada to passers-by.

Long live the city indeed -- a city bursting with new culture and life. For example, the former Naval Archives is now the Centro Cultural Metropolitano, a bustling museum housed in a 400-year-old complex that today contains several extensive public libraries, a museum and performance spaces. The San Juan de Dios Hospital has become the innovative Museo de la Ciudad (City Museum), which documents Quito's past with displays recreating daily life from prehistory to the 19th century with wax figures and sound effects.

The Neoclassical Teatro Sucre has been restored to its former glory, along with its nearby cousin, the Variety Theatre. Fronting the northeast side of the main square, Plaza Independencia, the two-story, colonnaded Palazio de Arzobispal (Archbishop's palace) now houses two excellent restaurants, Internet cafes, public restrooms and a tourist information office.

The new Hotel Plaza Grande, which faces the Old Town's eponymous central plaza, caters to the indulgent traveler. Luxurious rooms in the restored Spanish colonial mansion go for $500-$1500 per night. Six blocks away, the charming and far less imposing Villa Colonna opened its doors two years ago, offering six classy rooms and B&B hospitality.

Despite all the recent additions, however, the center has not forgotten its past, which the district has brought back to life through its renovation initiatives. Today, the Old Town's 15th-18th century buildings shine anew, notably, the monochrome Church of San Francisco, a hybrid of Spanish, Mudejar and Incan architecture built in the Plaza San Francisco in 1536 shortly after the founding of Quito.

Next door is the Monastery of San Francisco, the country's largest colonial structure, which has shed its makeshift corrugated tin roof and now, with its newly whitewashed walls, includes a renovated museum with paintings from the Quito School of Art, a renowned body of gothic Catholic religious art produced by indigenous sculptors and painters during the 17th and 18th centuries.

A few blocks away is La Compania de Jesus, arguably Ecuador's finest church. Built by Jesuits between 1605 and 1765, it boasts a newly scrubbed Baroque facade of carved volcanic stone and twisted columns, sacred hearts, angels and saints. The opulent interior, renovated after a fire in 1996, showcases a downpour of gold leaf, reputedly seven tones that covers alters, galleries and the Moorish tracery and pulpit.

Take a few steps east to the Plaza de la Independencia, also known as the Plaza Grande, which still preserves its dimensions from when it was first laid out with a string and ruler in 1534. The square houses the glistening white Cathedral, built in 1678, and the dazzling two-story Neoclassical Palacio Arzobispal. The white-stuccoed Palacio de Gobierno, built in the 17th century, is still the seat of the government and presidential palace today, and is often the chosen spot of weekly protests and rallies by passionate Quinteros.

In fact, a stroll down any of the Old Town's colonial plazas takes you on a journey of the capital city's rich and renewed history, with an optimistic sense of where the district's future is headed.

If you go ...

Getting there: Quito's Centro Historico is about a $15 (Ecuador's main currency is the U.S. dollar) cab ride from Quito's airport. Ask the driver for the Plaza de la Independencia (also known as Plaza Grande) but agree upon the price before stepping into the cab or ensure that the driver puts on the meter. Once in the Old Town, you can access all major plazas by foot.

Centro Historico: The tourist office is located in the Palacio Municipal (City Hall) on Plaza Grande, on Venezuela and Espejo; http://www.quito.com.ec (English language option in upper right corner) or 011-593-2586-591. The office conducts two-three hour walking tours of the district led by fabulously informed multilingual guides from the municipal police -- your very own tourist body guard! Tuesday-Sunday, 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., $10. Two nighttime tours at 7 p.m. showcase a beautiful floodlit Old Town, Tuesday-Sunday, $5.

Lodging: Patio Andaluz, Av. Garcia Moreno N6-52 at Olmedo y Mejia, http://www.hotelpatioandaluz.com or 011-593-2228-08-30, $200-$250.
What you should know: An umbrella and sweater will be your best friend -- take them with you always. You also might want to carry a few aspirins to prevent altitude sickness since Quito is 9,252 feet above sea level, almost twice as high as Denver, Colorado.

VIRGINIA BEACH — Eight years ago, Senator John McCain outraged religious conservatives with a speech here in which he called the evangelical leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance,” and described them as exerting an “evil influence” on the Republican Party. This year, as Mr. McCain seeks the presidency as the Republican nominee, memories of that speech threatened to undermine his appeal in Hampton Roads, as this politically pivotal corner of southeastern Virginia is known, despite his strength among veterans and members of the military who make up a large voting bloc here.

But all that changed when Mr. McCain, of Arizona, selected Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, an evangelical Christian, as his running mate.

“The campus was ecstatic,” said Joseph Calandra, 26, an Air Force veteran and a senior majoring in religious studies at Regent University, which is run here by Mr. Robertson. “His comments were unfortunate back then, but no one has brought them up in the past week or so because everyone is too excited about Palin.”

No Democratic presidential candidate has won Virginia since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and Republican Party leaders say the selection of Ms. Palin has improved Mr. McCain’s chances of carrying the state. Even so, advances by Democrats over the last few years, including the elections of two successive governors and a United States senator, and demographic shifts favoring Democrats have led both parties to agree that the state is up for grabs in November.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic presidential nominee, still clearly sees an opportunity here. He has opened more than 41 offices in the state, compared with Mr. McCain’s 9. ( More ... )

NEW YORK -- Seven months have passed since the disappearance and slaying of college student Brianna Denison.

Brianna Denison, 19, disappeared when she was visiting friends at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The 19-year-old undergraduate from Santa Barbara, California, disappeared while visiting friends at the University of Nevada, Reno.

She was last seen sleeping on the living room sofa near an unlocked glass door of a friend's off-campus apartment after a night of partying.

Her friends awoke the next morning to find Denison missing, a small blood stain on her pillow. Her shoes, purse and cell phone were left behind.

Three weeks later, her body was found partially covered in snow in a nearby field. She'd been sexually assaulted and strangled.

But the killer left an unusual "calling card." According to authorities, he has a fetish for women's lingerie and makes it a habit to take the panties of his victims, leaving behind the previous victim's.

Along with Denison's remains, a pair of black thong panties was found. The panties did not belong to the victim and contained DNA from another, unidentified female.

Police are asking any woman who has lost a pair of black thong panties, size small, with a Pink Panther cartoon and heart design, to come forward.
Police have also been able to connect DNA found at the crime scene to a prior sexual assault that occurred December 16 and involved another university student. She managed to escape her attacker and described him in more detail to authorities.
Additionally, both crimes bear striking similarity to several other sexual assaults in the area, leading police to conclude that Denison's killer is a serial rapist who most likely lives or works in the area. The attacks all took place in close proximity to each other, during similar times of day and used similar methods.
In one of the earlier attacks, a university student was walking across a parking lot to her car when a man approached her from behind and put her in a choke hold. He pushed her to the ground and groped her. She fought him off and screamed. He kicked her in the head and then ran, dropping a couple of unopened condom packets.
In another incident, a student was attacked as she was parking her car outside her home. The assailant tried to choke her and force her inside his vehicle. He then drove her a few minutes away to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her, then beat her and drove her back to her residence.

He threatened that "he'd be back" if she told anyone. Victims describe the assailant as a white male, 28 to 40 years old, square chin, brown hair, about 5-foot-6, strong but not muscular, a small pot belly and short beard.

The vehicle associated with him is a small truck with an extended cab, automatic transmission and front bucket style seats with velour upholstery. One witness also describes seeing a baby shoe lying on the floorboard in the front passenger side of the truck.
Police and family are asking for the public's help in bringing Brianna Denison's killer to justice.
Please call the the Reno Police Hot Line at 775-745-3521 or the Secret Witness Line at 775-322-4900. Secret Witness is offering a $2,500 reward for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest and prosecution.

Government response reaches dramatic new level: U.S. will take 80% stake in nation's largest insurer to prevent global financial chaos.
NEW YORK -- In an unprecedented move, the Federal Reserve Board is lending as much as $85 billion to rescue crumbling insurer American International Group, officials announced Tuesday evening.

The Fed authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) the funds. In return, the federal government will receive a 79.9% stake in the company.

Officials decided they had to act lest the nation's largest insurer file bankruptcy. Such a move would roil world markets since AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) has $1.1 trillion in assets and 74 million clients in 130 countries.

An eventual liquidation of the company is most likely, senior Fed officials said. But with the government loan, the company won't have to go through a tumultuous fire sale.

"[A] disorderly failure of AIG could add to already significant levels of financial market fragility and lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance," the Fed said in a statement.

The bailout marks the most dramatic turn yet in an expanding crisis that started more than a year ago with the mortgage meltdown. The resulting credit crunch is now toppling not only mainstay Wall Street players, but others in the wider financial industry.

The line of credit to AIG, which is available for two years, is designed to help the company meet its obligations, the Fed said. Interest will accrue at a steep rate of 3-month Libor plus 8.5%, which totals 11.31% at today's rates.

AIG will sell certain of its businesses with "the least possible disruption to the overall economy." The government will have veto power over the asset sales and the payment of dividends to shareholders.

The company's management will be replaced, though Fed staffers did not name the new executives. The board will remain. For customers, it will be business as usual, officials said.

Taxpayers will be protected, the Fed said, because the loan is backed by the assets of AIG and its subsidiaries. The loan is expected to be repaid from the proceeds of the asset sales.

The government had resisted throwing a lifeline to AIG, hoping to entice investment firms to set up a $75 billion rescue fund. Officials opted not to bail out Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday. But by Tuesday night, it became clearer that the private sector would not step in to help AIG, which has a greater reach into other financial companies and markets than Lehman does.

"We are working closely with the Federal Reserve, the SEC and other regulators to enhance the stability and orderliness of our financial markets and minimize the disruption to our economy," said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. "I support the steps taken by the Federal Reserve tonight to assist AIG in continuing to meet its obligations, mitigate broader disruptions and at the same time protect the taxpayers."
Dramatic end, high stakes

The firm's options grew more limited as the day wore on. Its already-battered share price fell another 21% with more than 1 billion shares trading hands, and plummeted another 46% in after-hours trading.

At one point Tuesday morning, shares fell more than 70% - a day after losing 61% of their value.

In a statement late Tuesday night the company said, "AIG is a solid company with over $1 trillion in assets and substantial equity, but it has been recently experiencing serious liquidity issues. We believe the loan, which is backed by profitable, well-capitalized operating subsidiaries with substantial value, will protect all AIG policyholders, address rating agency concerns and give AIG the time necessary to conduct asset sales on an orderly basis."

The company also commended the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department for "taking action to address AIG's liquidity needs and broader financial market concerns."

Furthermore, the firm expressed its gratitude to New York Governor Paterson, and other NY State as well as Federal officials.

New York State officials, who regulate the insurance titan, had urged the federal government to rescue AIG. The state attempted to help AIG on Monday by allowing it to tap into $20 billion in assets from its subsidiaries if the company could comes up with a comprehensive plan to get the much-needed capital, said a state Insurance Department spokesman.

Pleased with the federal government's response, New York Gov. David Paterson said Tuesday night: "Policy holders will be protected. Jobs will be saved. Business will continue."

The funding became ever more crucial as the insurer was hit Monday night by a series of credit rating downgrades. The cuts meant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) could be forced to post more than $13 billion in additional collateral.

Late Monday night, Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services each said they had lowered their ratings. A few hours earlier, Fitch Rating had also downgraded AIG, saying the company's ability to raise cash is "extremely limited" because of its plummeting stock price, widening yields on its debt, and difficult capital market conditions.

The downgrade could force AIG to post $13.3 billion of collateral, Fitch said in a statement. Also, the moves would make it more expensive for AIG to issue debt and harder for it to regain the confidence of investors.

All the while, analysts urged the company to unveil its restructuring plan.

"Management needs to address investor concerns now before the market sell-off becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy," Rob Haines, analyst at CreditSights, said Tuesday.
Global ripples

The failure of AIG could have caused unprecedented global ripple effects, said Robert Bolton, managing director at Mendon Capital Advisors Corp. AIG is a major player in the market for credit default swaps, which are insurance-like contracts that guarantee against a company defaulting on its debt. Also, it is a huge provider of life insurance, property and casualty insurance and annuities.

"If AIG fails and can't make good on its obligations, forget it," Bolton said. "It's as big a wave as you're going to see."

AIG has had a very tough year.

Rocked by the subprime crisis, the company has lost more than $18 billion in the past nine months and has seen its stock price fall more than 91% so far this year. It already raised $20 billion in fresh capital earlier this year.

Its troubles stem from its sales of credit default swaps and from its subprime mortgage-backed securities holdings.

AIG has written down the value of the credit default swaps by $14.7 billion, pretax, in the first two quarters of this year, and has had to write down the value of its mortgage-backed securities as the housing market soured.

The insurer could be forced to immediately come up with $18 billion to support its credit swap business if its ratings fall by as little as one notch, wrote John Hall, an analyst at Wachovia, on Monday.

This year's results have also included $12.2 billion in pretax writedowns, primarily because of "severe, rapid declines" in certain mortgage-backed securities and other investments.

The company brought in new management to try to turn the company around. In June, the company tossed out its chief executive, Martin Sullivan, and named AIG chairman Robert Willumstad, who joined AIG in 2006 after serving as president and chief operating officer of Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), in his place.

HOUSTON, Texas -- Federal supplies of food and water will be available to those affected by Hurricane Ike in Houston by Monday evening, officials said Sunday after Houston's mayor voiced concern about the aid.
Some city officials, a day after Ike lashed Texas' Gulf Coast, suggested the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been slow to deliver aid.

"We expect FEMA to deliver these supplies and we will hold them accountable," Houston Mayor Bill White said.

But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said 80 trucks carrying food and water were heading for Houston's Reliant Stadium, and that the items would be taken to 24 distribution points selected by city and county officials.

Also Sunday, a state official said nearly 2,000 people who did not evacuate for Ike have been rescued in southeastern Texas, and rescue crews were still searching areas "door by door" for anyone needing help.
"There's an effort to knock on every door, get into every place ... and see if anyone's trapped and to rescue them and, unfortunately in some cases, maybe recover them," said Steve McCraw, director of Texas Homeland Security.

Ike was blamed for at least 13 U.S. deaths by Sunday evening, including at least three in hard-hit Galveston County, Texas.

In Houston, widespread debris, power outages and flooded streets prompted the city to enact a weeklong curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Though the mayor said there is no sign of contamination in the city's water, he urged residents to drink bottled water or boil any tap water they intend to drink.

Twenty-four hours after Ike slammed into Galveston, Texas, packing 110-mph winds, rescuers in the area began efforts early Sunday to check on people who failed to heed mandatory evacuation orders.
Among the coastal Texas residents who found themselves in trouble after Ike hit were Paul and Kathi Norton. They overslept as Ike closed in on their home, so they decided to tough it out because their evacuation route was already flooded.

Though their Crystal Beach, Texas, home, about 20 miles northeast of Galveston, was on 14-foot stilts, the couple was concerned, they told CNN affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas.

"My husband made me wear a life jacket inside our house," Kathi Norton said. "Thank God for that, or I couldn't be here."

Early Saturday, about two hours before Ike officially made landfall, high winds and rising floodwaters began battering their home. The house began collapsing, and "if the flagpole wouldn't have stopped the house, the house would've crushed us," Kathi Norton said.
"It took the floor up, buckled down and took it right off the piling. And we dove out the door and grabbed the staircase, and we floated off," Kathi Norton told KHOU on Sunday after the couple was delivered in a National Guard helicopter to an evacuation point in Texas City, Texas.
Wanda Collins also stayed home as Ike approached. Collins has lived four blocks from Galveston's seawall for 30 years, and though she's seen hurricanes hit coastal Texas before, she's never had 5 feet of water collect in the garage under her home.

"I've never seen water like this," she said after the storm surge ruined everything in her garage, including a 2002 pickup truck, two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a freezer, a washer and a dryer. iReport.com: See fire, flooding in Galveston
After weakening to a tropical depression, Ike delivered rain, high winds and flooding northward through Arkansas and the Midwest. In a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, dozens of people had to be evacuated by boat on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.

Ike's remnants were expected to continue on a northeasterly path, reaching New England by Monday morning.
The storm left Galveston without electricity, gas, water pressure and basic communications, and officials estimated those things may not be restored for a month, The Associated Press reported.
Homes and other buildings were flooded. Though much of the flooding receded by Sunday afternoon, sewage and sludge coated the streets. Officials encouraged those who were still there to leave.
Jesse Segura's Galveston home started to flood as he tried to wait out Ike early Saturday. He told the Galveston County Daily News that even though the water inside was rising, he tried to sleep on two mattresses he stacked on his kitchen table.

But when water became chest-deep, he waded to his bathroom, got on top of his sink, punched his way into his attic and waited there, the Daily News reported. Later that morning, he was able to leave his house soaked and barefooted, and rescuers picked him up.

"This was a real close call to death for me," he told the Daily News. "I'll never do it again, man. I learned my lesson."

Ike also hammered residents farther inland, who helped make up the estimated 40,000 Texans seeking refuge in 250 shelters across the state, according to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Ike, which moved through the heart of the U.S. oil industry, destroying at least 10 production platforms, federal officials said, according to the AP.

Deaths from Ike

Galveston County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Hayes said Sunday that three bodies were found in Port Bolivar, located across the narrow entrance to Galveston Bay from Galveston Island.

In Arkansas, a man was killed when a tree fell on his mobile home as the remnants of the storm swept through early Sunday, the Pointsett County sheriff said.

Four people in Louisiana -- two in Terrebonne Parish and two in Jefferson Davis Parish -- died as a result of Ike, Louisiana Chief Medical Officer Louis Cataldie said Sunday. Details about those deaths were not immediately released.

A woman died after a tree fell through her home Saturday morning in western Montgomery County, Texas, officials said. A day earlier, a 19-year-old man drowned after the storm surge swept him off a 100-foot pier near Corpus Christi, Texas.

A child died Saturday at a Houston hospital from carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of a generator running inside the family's home, according to Lindsey Klingensmith, a spokeswoman for Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center.

Also, a 10-year-old boy was killed Friday by a falling tree limb as his father cut down a dead tree to prepare for the storm in Montgomery County, and an elderly person died while being evacuated to a shelter in Bell County, Texas.
More than 2.8 million customers were without power Sunday in the states hit by Ike, including 2,471,962 in Texas, the U.S. Department of Energy said. The rest were in Louisiana and Arkansas.
Hurricane Ike proved to be a huge storm system, 900 miles across at its largest. It remained a hurricane hours after crashing ashore over Galveston at 2:10 a.m. Saturday.
The storm surge, however, was smaller than forecast. The greatest surge, of 15 feet, happened at Sabine Pass, near the Texas-Louisiana line. Authorities had predicted surges of 20 to 25 feet.