Paris - Police believe that the "excessive speed" of a tourist riverboat led to the sinking of a private launch on the Seine river in the heart of Paris in which two people died, French media repor

Paris - The schedule of deliveries of the Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft to its customers will have to be revised for a fifth time, the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche reported on Sunday.

Citing an Airbus source close to the A380 programme, the newspaper said that only 10 A380 planes will be delivered this year, instead of the 12 announced previously.

In 2009, the discrepancy could be even greater, with only 15 aircraft delivered instead of the planned 21, the report said.

Lourdes, France - More than 150,000 people gathered in the southern French pilgrimage site of Lourdes on Sunday as Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a Mass to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a young peasant girl.

The open-air Mass was the symbolic high point of the 81-year-old pontiff's four-day visit to France, his first since he was elected to succeed the popular John Paul II in April 
2005.

Paris - Two people have died after a private yacht sank in the Seine River in the heart of Paris, French radio reported Sunday.

The boat was carrying 12 people, six of them children, when it began taking water and sank late Saturday near the Archeveche Bridge, not far from the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Rescue workers were able to pluck 10 of the passengers out of the water, but two people, a 45-year-old man and a boy of six, were trapped in the boat. They were taken to hospital in critical condition, and died early Sunday.

Nice, France - The European Union's finance ministers Saturday piled pressure on banks and insurance companies to provide greater transparency in the wake of the global financial turmoil.

At an informal meeting in the French seaside city of Nice, ministers said "measures designed to restore confidence through transparency and the responsibility of the actors will be put in place without delay."

The EU's internal market commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, is due to unveil a set of proposals aimed at improving the transparency of financial market operators in October.

Though details are as yet unclear, the proposals are expected to include a set of requirements for credit rating agencies wishing to operate in the EU.

Nice, France - EU finance ministers failed Saturday to agree on a proposal on reduced VAT rates in labour-intensive sectors such as catering or cleaning, saying its impact on jobs and on public accounts required further study.

At an informal meeting in the French seaside city of Nice, Germany headed a pack of countries which oppose the European Commission's plans.

Its finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, told reporters that about eight of the EU's 27 member states had sided with the German position.