Washington - A former top cargo executive of Scandinavian airline SAS has agreed to plead guilty and serve six months in prison for a price-fixing scandal that involved nine airlines around the world, the US Justice Department announced Monday.

Timothy Pfeil, who was SAS Cargo Group's top official in the United States, is the second executive to plead guilty in the multi- year price-fixing scheme.

Airlines have agreed to more than 1 billion dollars in total fines after it emerged that the companies held meetings and agreed to charge specific rates on cargo flights to and from the United States between January 2005 and February 2006.

Washington  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Chinese counterpart, Jiechi Yang, on Monday ahead of next month's Olympics in Beijing.

The two diplomats were expected to discuss President George W Bush's attendance of the Opening Ceremonies on August 8 and a host of bilateral issues.

Bush decided to participate in the event despite calls from human rights groups for a boycott because of China's crackdown against Tibetan monks earlier this year.

Washington  - Home from a week-long trip to Europe and the Middle East, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama turned his attention back to the struggling US economy and met Monday with a collection of top economic officials.

Republican rival John McCain spoke of his own plans to combat surging energy prices at a townhall meeting Monday, after a week of sharply criticizing Obama on the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues.

Washington  - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Monday said his dermatologist had removed skin from his cheek in a routine check for skin cancer.

Questions have been circulating about McCain's health, in particular his apparent risk for skin cancer, since he secured the Republican party nomination for president.

Washington  - The United States' budget deficit will climb to a record of nearly 490 billion dollars in 2009, the White House said in a revised forecast Monday, blaming the rise on a slowing US economy.

The figure of 482 billion dollars for the fiscal year of 2009, which begins in October, is well above the 407 billion dollars forecast by President George W Bush back in February.

For 2008, the government deficit is projected at 389 billion dollars, down from an earlier estimate of 410 billion dollars.

Washington  - A heavy new forest fire in the US state of California near an entrance to Yosemite National Park has destroyed at least 12 homes and at least 200 others have been evacuated.

Thousands of further homes are threatened by the flames, reported the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday in their online edition.

Some 1,900 firefighters are being supported by airplanes and helicopters dropping water and fire retardant.