Merkel hits back after bitter local election losses...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday brushed aside calls from within her own party to pull off the gloves in her battle for re-election in four weeks after strong setbacks in state polls.

Merkel hit back at critics who said her above-the-fray campaign style bore part of the blame for the conservatives' losses in three regional elections held Sunday, which saw them lose control of two state houses.
She said the races had no bearing on the September 27 poll, insisting that voters saw her conservatives and their favoured coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, as best-placed to lead Germany out of a steep economic downturn.

"We all agree that in light of the crisis, the issues are economic growth and jobs," she told reporters after talks with leaders of her Christian Democrats (CDU) when asked about the internal criticism.

"It is clear that there is no reason to change anything at all about our strategy. We are absolutely on the right course."

Merkel's CDU enjoys a double-digit lead in the polls over the rival Social Democrats (SPD), junior partners in her unwieldy "grand coalition". Most pollsters say she is virtually assured of a second term.

But her chances of ditching the SPD after the general election in favour of the Free Democrats appeared to narrow with Sunday's results.

Although the SPD failed to make major gains, a jubilant Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Merkel's SPD challenger, saw her poor showing as a sign the centre-left still had a shot of snatching the chancellery from her.

"One thing is sure -- this country does not want black-yellow," he said, referring to the party colours for the CDU and the Free Democrats.

The poll reversals so close to the election spooked many conservatives.

Philipp Missfelder, a member of the CDU's board, urged Merkel to abandon her cool campaign style and show a bit more "passion".

"After an until-now sober and unpolitical election campaign, it is time for some more emotion," he said, adding his voice to a chorus of complaints.

Although the Free Democrats boosted their score in Sunday's polls, their general secretary Dirk Niebel also appeared nervous that the centre-right camp's strong lead would fizzle.

"If the Union (Merkel's conservative bloc) does not start making clear what it would like to achieve then there is a great danger that they will blow it again because voters will think they want to continue with the grand coalition," he told public radio.

In the 2005 general election, the CDU squandered a sizeable lead to finish just ahead of the SPD, which forced it to form the current awkward left-right government.

And in the previous election in 2002, the CDU unexpectedly lost outright to the SPD, allowing it to continue its coalition with the Greens.

Those defeats haunt the conservatives, making even Merkel's most ardent supporters skittish.

Political scientist Juergen Falter of the University of Mainz in western Germany said the regional elections pointed to doubts about Merkel's preferred centre-right alliance.

"This option was always in danger and still is in danger," he told the daily Thueringer Allgemeine, predicting a close national race.

As pollsters expected, the CDU held on to power in the eastern state of Saxony but will need to link up with the Free Democrats to form a ruling majority.

And in what the mass-market daily Bild called a "debacle" for the CDU, it appeared to lose control of the legislatures of both neighbouring Thuringia and Saarland on the French border.

However smaller parties profited from the conservatives' losses far more than the SPD, which posted slight gains in Thuringia and Saxony and a steep drop in support in Saarland.

But in Thuringia and Saarland, the SPD will likely be able to form ruling coalitions with the Greens and the far-left Die Linke, a relatively new party made up of disaffected Social Democrats and former East German communists.

Mobile towers threatening honey bees in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 31 (PTI) Mobile towers are posing a threat to honey bees in Kerala withe electromagnetic radiation from mobile towers and cell phones having the potential to kill worker bees that go out to collect nectar from flowers, says a study.

A plunge in beehive population has been reported from different parts of Kerala and if measures are not taken to check mushrooming of mobile powers, bees could be wiped out from Kerala within a decade, environmentalist and Reader in Zoology, Dr Sainudeen Pattazhy says in his study.

In one of his experiments he found that when a mobile phone was kept near a beehive it resulted in collapse of the colony in five to 10 days, with the worker bees failing to return home, leaving the hives with just queens, eggs and hive-bound immature bees.

GM to form China venture, invest $293 million

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - General Motors said on Sunday it has agreed to set up a light commercial vehicle production venture with major Chinese automaker FAW Group, with total investment of 2 billion yuan ($293 million).

The 50-50 joint venture, based in the northeast China city of Changchun in Jilin province, will make light-duty trucks and vans, GM said in a statement.

"For us in China, this is an important complement to the rest of our portfolio," Kevin Wale, president and managing director for GM's China operations, told reporters in a conference call.

"We are well established in passenger vehicles and mini commercial vehicles and we haven't had a presence in the truck segment. Adding a truck portfolio rounds that out."

The venture will use two existing FAW plants in Changchun and the city of Harbin, also in the northeast, with combined annual capacity of roughly 90,000 vehicles, Wale said.

A greenfield plant, currently under construction in Harbin, will add 100,000 units of capacity by the end of next year, he said.

Vehicles made at the venture will carry the FAW brand and will focus on supplying the China market, but they could be exported under a GM brand through the Detroit automaker's global network in the future, Wale said.

GM is making Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac models at its flagship China venture with SAIC Motor Corp. It also makes minivans, pickup trucks and the Spark compact car in a three-way tie-up with SAIC and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile.

SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 87,925 vehicles in July, up 90.7 percent from a year earlier, helped by Beijing's stimulus initiatives to support the industry, including subsidies for buyers in rural areas.

GM, which now holds 34 percent of SAIC-GM-Wuling, has been seeking to raise its stake in the venture.

Domestic media reported earlier this month that GM had secured an initial deal to take over Liuzhou Wuling Auto's 15.9 percent stake for roughly 300 million yuan ($43.9 million).

Wale reiterated the U.S. automaker's interest in raising its stake in the venture but made no further comment on the issue.

($1=6.830 Yuan)

Princess Diana's Death Offers Lessons for Health Care Debate, 12 Years Later

The Mercedes 600 carrying Princess Diana and her companion Dodi Fayed was traveling more than 85 miles per hour when it hit a concrete pillar head-on in the Place D'Alma underpass, crumbling like an accordion.
Both were killed, as well as the driver, Henri Paul -- later proven to have been under the influence of alcohol.

The Paris accident -- just before 12:30 a.m. local time 12 years ago today -- ended the life of one of Britain's most celebrated royals, unleashing a torrent of emotion in that historically stoic culture and catapulting Diana to near sainthood status.

In the days that followed, she was memorialized as the "People's Princess," as those devastated by her loss turned on the nation's out-of-touch monarchy, whom they blamed for her tragedy.

Conspiracy theories, all unsubstantiated, abounded. Had she been assassinated by the royal family so her estranged husband, Prince Charles, could marry his longtime love Camilla Parker-Bowles? Did the British Secret Intelligence Service bump her off because she was pregnant with Egyptian Fayed's Muslim child?

Prisoners have a better diet than Health Service hospital patients, scientists warn

Patients in Health Service hospitals are far more likely to go hungry than criminals in jail, scientists warned yesterday.

They say frail and elderly patients do not get the help they need with meals, and nobody checks whether they get enough to eat.

Despite years of Government promises to tackle poor hospital nutrition, food still arrives cold, and patients often miss out because meal times clash with tests and operations.

Meanwhile, prisoners are enjoying carbohydrate-rich, low-fat foods which in many cases are better than they would have been eating on the outside.

The Daily Mail has been highlighting the scandal of old people not being fed properly in hospital as part of its Dignity for the Elderly campaign.

Hospital meals are often taken away untouched, because they are either unappetising or are placed out of patients' reach.

The latest figures show 242 patients died of malnutrition in NHS hospitals in 2007 - the highest toll in a decade. More than 8,000 left hospital under-nourished - double the figure when Labour came to power.

The NHS throws away 11million meals every year, and many nurses say they are too busy to help the frail eat.

Earlier this year the Mail revealed that some hospitals spend less on meals than the average prison.

Ten hospitals spent less on breakfast, lunch and an evening meal than the £2.12 a day allocated for food by the prison service. One spent just £1.

Although most hospitals do spend more than £2.12, prisoners end up better nourished than patients, say experts from Bournemouth University. After studying the food offered to inmates and across the NHS, they found patients face more barriers in getting good nutrition.

Professor John Edwards said around 40 per cent of patients were already malnourished when they were admitted to hospital, but their condition did not tend to improve while they were there.

'If you are in prison then the diet you get is extremely good in terms of nutritional content,' he said.

'The food that is provided is actually better than most civilians have.

'There's a focus on carbohydrates, then there's the way they prepare the food, it's very healthy. They don't add salt and there's relatively little frying of food - if you have a burger then it goes in the oven. Hospital patients don't consume enough.

'And from the work we've done we know that people who sit round a table eat a lot more, but this doesn't happen in hospitals.'

His colleague, Dr Heather Hartwell, said fruit and vegetables were given out in hospitals 'but this doesn't mean it's eaten'.

While patients suffer due to a loss of appetite as a result of their illness, they often go hungry because there is no one to help them eat.

Dr Hartwell said once food was prepared, it generally hangs around waiting for porters to transport it to patients. Then it may be left on wards until it goes cold.

'Ward staff also don't actually know how much patients are eating because it is domestics who clear the trays away,' she said. 'This is an example of fragmentation in hospitals that does not necessarily happen in prisons.'

The research found temperature and texture are among the most important factors in patients' satisfaction with food.

It concluded lack of appetite due to a medical problem is probably the main reason for under-nutrition, but said hospitals can make improvements.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'It's incredible that so many hospitals are failing to serve healthy meals. If prisons can serve good food then so can hospitals.'

The Department of Health said: 'The majority of patients are satisfied with the food they receive in hospitals, and we are working to improve services further.

'The Nutrition Action Plan, Improving Nutritional Care, outlines how nutritional care and hydration can be improved and highlights five key priority areas for NHS and social care staff to work with.

'We have also introduced the concept of "protected mealtimes" where all non-urgent activity on the ward stops, so that patients can enjoy their meals.

Clinton, Gore speak on health care, energy to Tennessee Democrats

NASHVILLE – Former president Bill Clinton and former vice president Al Gore rallied Tennessee Democrats on Saturday night for health care reform and green energy, saying both are good for the economy, the country and the party.

Clinton said the anger that arose this summer against health care was fueled by fear generated by opponents of reform, which he said is hard to win because health care is complicated, personal and the interests that benefit financially from the current system don’t want to give it up.
“I don’t think all these people are coming to these town meetings raising cain with your congressman in bad faith. I think they’ve had the daylights scared out of them. And I get it,” Clinton said.

Clinton and Gore, the former Tennessee senator, were the keynote speakers at the Tennessee Democratic Party’s annual Jackson Day Dinner, a fundraising event that generated a record $600,000 for the party’s war chest heading into the pivotal 2010 elections, according to party chairman Chip Forrester of Nashville.

Both Gore and Clinton urged the party faithful to back their congressmen to get health care reform passed this year.

“We need to pass a bill this year. Doing nothing is not only the worst thing we can do for the economy, it’s the worst thing we can do for the country. It’s also the worst thing we can do for the Democrats,” Clinton said, because Americans expect Democrats to deliver when they elect them.

“Democrats, you stay in there with your congressmen and you get this done,” he said.

Gore also emphasized health care reform.

“We have a lot of talk about liberal and conservative, and left and right, but when there are tens of millions of people in our country who can’t get access to health care, we need to pass health care reform this year. Build support for it. Let's give President Obama the victory our country needs,” he said to a standing ovation.

Clinton said health care costs Americans 16½ percent of income, compared to the 10½ percent residents of other advanced nations pay, and the difference means Americans pay between $800 billion to $900 billion more per year.

“That 800 to 900 billion is going somewhere. And the ‘somewhere’ doesn’t want to give it up,” he said.

He also said reform is difficult to pass because it’s complicated and “anything complicated can be misrepresented. Number two, it’s personal. It’s personal to all of us. Anything personal can be used to inspire fear.”

Both men also spoke in favor of efforts to curb greenhouse emissions and global warming, saying clean energy would create millions of jobs.

Memphis lawyer George T. “Buck” Lewis, who was party chairman from 1988 to 1991, said the attendance was “bigger or better than I’ve seen. We certainly never had one this big when I was party chair.

"Lot of young people you haven’t seen before and a lot of people I would not have expected to see at a dinner like this. I won’t name them but I’ll just say people I haven’t ever seen before – businessmen and moderates.”

Lewis said he believes grass-roots Democrats are aware of the importance of next year’s elections “but as much as anything right now, I think they’re really focused on this health care issue. I think Sen. Kennedy’s death has highlighted that but it was already front burner before Sen. Kennedy’s death. And President Clinton communicates in a way that very few leaders do – so that you can understand it at your kitchen table.”

Earlier Saturday, more of the party’s state luminaries warmed up the crowd at the Nashville Convention Center, including former Memphis congressman Harold Ford Jr. and Gov. Phil Bredesen. Virtually every speaker delivered a tribute to the late senator Edward Kennedy, who was buried Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery following a funeral Mass in Boston.

Forrester said the party’s goals in next year’s elections are to retake the majority of the state House lost to Republicans last November and to keep the governor’s office.

“The Tennessee Democratic party is strong, vibrant and ready to go,” he said. “It’s no secret that we took a punch last November but they didn’t know us down and they didn’t knock us out. Across the state, Democrats have rallied and are excited to take back the House and elect a Democratic governor.”

Earlier in the day, Tennessee Republican Party chairman Chris Devaney issued a statement saying that, "As Democrats gather in Nashville tonight to pat themselves on the back, the honest truth is their party, led by an ever increasingly failing president, stands for policies and principles that do not represent the views of most Tennesseans. Republicans look forward to continuing the debate of how best to move our state and country forward. We believe it is through our core principles of less government, individual freedom, and free enterprise that our nation advances. Standing by our principles brought Republicans great success last year in Tennessee and that is why we are planning on big success in 2010."

Fortune helped fuel Kennedy family legacy, agenda

BOSTON – Sen. Edward Kennedy's family fortune not only fueled his brothers' presidential campaigns and his eight terms in the U.S. Senate, it also helped drive the family's liberal legacy and forge Kennedy's lifelong crusade for universal health care.

Just how wealthy was Kennedy when he died Tuesday at the age of 77 after a yearlong battle with brain cancer?

Untangling a family fortune that reaches back to the early days of the past century is murky business, but the annual federal financial disclosure reports Kennedy was required to file provide at least a' partial glimpse into his personal capital.

As a U.S. senator, Kennedy earned a base salary of $165,200 a year, but that just skimmed the surface of his net worth.

On the most recent report in 2008, which includes his own assets and those of his wife and any dependents, Kennedy listed a string of publicly and non-publicly traded trusts and assets. Under the filing rules, Kennedy was only required to place the value of those assets within a range, rather than give an exact dollar amount.

The report placed the net worth of his publicly traded assets somewhere between a low of $15 million and high of $72.6 million.

Just a year earlier, Kennedy reported somewhat rosier totals that placed his publicly traded assets somewhere between a low of $46.9 million and a high of $157 million.

Kennedy has other sources of income, including $1,995,833 in royalties he received from Grand Central Publishing a division of Hachette Group Book, publishers of his memoir True Compass scheduled for release in mid-September. Part of the proceeds will go to charity, including the John F. Kennedy Library.

Separate from his personal wealth was Kennedy's federal campaign account. As of the end of June, Kennedy reported more than $4.5 million in the account.

The main source of Kennedy's wealth was his father and family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy who amassed a fortune in banking, real estate, liquor, films and Wall Street holdings that eventually grew to an estimated $500 million by the 1980s.

A significant portion of that came from Joseph P. Kennedy's decision to buy Chicago's famed Merchandise Mart in 1945 for $12.5 million. Spanning two city blocks and rising 25 stories, the sprawling limestone and terra-cotta mart is so large it has its own zip code and only lost its title as the world's largest building after the Pentagon was built in the 1940s.

The elder Kennedy helped transformed it into a national center for the home furnishings and design industries.

The family retained ownership of the building until 1998 when it was sold — along with other properties including Chicago's Apparel Center which covers about a million square feet — to Vornado Realty Trust of Saddle Brook, N.J. for $625 million in 1998 to take advantage of the then-booming real estate market.

The deal allowed Kennedy heirs to receive a stake in one of the nation's largest real estate investment trusts.

"One of my cousins reminded me of a quote from my grandfather: 'Only a fool waits for top dollar,'" Christopher Kennedy, the son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy told The Wall Street Journal at the time.

The late John F. Kennedy Jr. also joked about his family's real estate holdings when he visited Chicago in 1996 to mark the launch of George magazine.

"In the 1940s, my family bought the Merchandise Mart. In the 1970s, we bought the Apparel Center. And in the 1960 election, my family bought 20,000 votes," he said, referring to his father's narrow presidential victory.

For Sen. Kennedy, the family fortune only reinforced his determination to expand access to health care.

It was a lesson he learned through his own painful experience.

In a Newsweek column he wrote a month before his death, Kennedy recalled the grueling treatment his son Teddy Jr. had to undergo in 1973 for bone cancer that eventually required the amputation of his right leg.

The experimental clinical trial, which included massive doses of chemotherapy, was free at first, but was deemed a success before some patients had completed their treatments. That forced some families to rely on insurance or pay out of pocket to cover the rest.

While Kennedy had the needed resources, not everyone was so lucky.

"Heartbroken parents pleaded with the doctors: What chance does my child have if I can only afford half of the prescribed treatments? Or two thirds? I've sold everything. I've mortgaged as much as possible," Kennedy wrote. "No parent should suffer that torment. Not in this country."

Colombia says president has swine flu

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has contracted the H1N1 swine flu virus and is being treated by doctors while continuing to work from his residence, government spokesman Cesar Velasquez said on Sunday.

"He is working by telephone and Internet," the spokesman told Reuters.

A popular conservative and Washington's key ally in South America, Uribe attended a summit with other regional leaders on Friday in Argentina. He started suffering from fever, headaches and backaches after the meeting, Velasquez said.

The leaders who met with the 57-year-old Uribe at the summit have been advised of his infection, Velasquez added.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias was the first known head of government to have caught swine flu. He recovered earlier this month from a mild case of the virus and returned to his normal routine after working from home for about a week while being treated.

Colombia has reported 621 confirmed cases of swine flu with 34 deaths, according to its social protection ministry.

The H1N1 swine flu virus spread widely after emerging in April in Mexico and the United States. The WHO declared a pandemic in June and warned that the new strain could infect hundreds of millions of people.

New flu hit estimated 10 percent of New Yorkers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new H1N1 swine flu is estimated to have infected about 800,000 people in New York City in the spring, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday, citing a study due to be released later this week.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, who heads the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said surveys suggested the virus was widely spread around the city. Frieden was New York City's health commissioner before taking the top CDC job in June.

"In New York City where we had a lot of H1N1 this last spring the estimate is about 800,000 people, about 10 percent of New York City residents, got infected with the flu," Frieden said in an interview with C-SPAN television aired on Sunday.

"That's a lot of people."

New York City health department officials say the full study is being finished and will be released within days.

Frieden said there had been a twenty-fold variation in influenza infections around the country. "We expect that some places will have more flu. Some places will have less," he said.

Swine flu has infected well over 1 million people in the United States, and is now the CDC's No. 1 priority. Other research also shows that older children and young adults are by far the most likely to be infected with the new virus.

The World Health Organization predicts a third of the world's population will eventually be infected.

The virus is still circulating and most health experts expect a resurgence in the northern hemisphere's autumn as temperatures cool and schools, traditional breeding grounds for infection, reopen after summer holidays.

Detailed reports on outbreaks can help health officials prepare for epidemics in their communities.

Every year, seasonal flu infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of a given population and kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people globally. Because hardly anyone has immunity to the new H1N1 virus, experts believe it will infect far more people than usual, as much as a third of the population.

It also disproportionately affects younger people, unlike seasonal flu which mainly burdens the elderly, and as a result may cause more severe illness and deaths among young adults and children than seasonal flu.

Chicago health authorities said last week that the pandemic H1N1 flu infected 14 times as many children as adults over 60 there, and also disproportionately affected blacks and Hispanics.

WHO said pregnant women and people with asthma, diabetes and heart diseases are at special risk of severe complications of death from H1N1 flu.

Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 percent of patients hospitalized with the new H1N1 pandemic virus have needed intensive care, further straining already overburdened healthcare systems, WHO said on Friday.
Companies are preparing vaccines against H1N1, which will be given in addition to the regular seasonal influenza immunization.

UPDATE 2-Los Angeles wildfire forces thousands from homes

* About 2,000 homes under mandatory evacuation orders

* Governor Schwarzenegger says fire "out of control"

* Fire 5 percent contained, 10,000 homes threatened

* Fire threatens major communications facilities (Updates with quotes from residents, new numbers)

By Mary Milliken

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif., Aug 30 (Reuters) - A wildfire in the heavily populated Los Angeles foothills threatened 10,000 homes on Sunday, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger warned residents to heed evacuation orders for the "out of control" and "very dangerous" blaze.

The heat-driven fire nearly doubled in size overnight and has now burned 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares) of thick, bone-dry brush in the mountains above five towns, a 12-mile (19 km) stretch from La Crescenta to La Canada Flintridge, the California Fire Department said.

Authorities have ordered residents to evacuate about 2,000 homes threatened by the fire about 15 miles (24 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

"These fires are still totally out of control," Schwarzenegger told reporters at the firefighters' command post in Lake View Terrace, California. "This is a huge and is a very dangerous fire. The fire is moving very close to homes and to structures... this is why it's important to pay close attention to the evacuation."

In La Crescenta, the streets were deserted on Sunday afternoon except for a few residents fleeing with their suitcases and other belongings on foot.

Bob Sebesta, 47, sat watching the burning ridge from his in-laws' house, which everyone evacuated last night with pictures, paperwork and "stuff you can't replace."

"I keep thinking I should go water the backyard," Sebesta said.

Three remote homes have been destroyed so far and some 10,000 others and 2,500 other buildings are in danger, as is Mount Wilson, the nexus for key telecommunications facilities.

"That site is the nerve center for most of communication in the Los Angeles area," Station Fire Commander Mike Dietrich said. "It is not out of danger as we speak."

Fire commanders said at a news briefing that more than three homes were lost in the Big Tujunga canyon, though they did not know the exact number.

"We have eyewitness reports that our house is gone and as many as 30 may be lost," said Beth Halaas, who lives year-round in the canyon, where most homes are for weekend use.
The fire that started on Wednesday above the exclusive community of La Canada Flintridge is only 5 percent contained and officials expected that, with hot temperatures and low humidity, it would grow larger. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

HEALTH WARNINGS

Dense smoke filled the skies over the foothills and authorities issued health warnings for the Los Angeles basin.

The flames appeared to wane on Saturday evening in the area near NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory but raged at the other end and moved through the mountains toward the inland community of Acton, where evacuations were ordered on Sunday.

A wooded neighborhood on the slopes of La Crescenta got the evacuation order in the middle of the night, but only around half the neighborhood left.

On Sunday afternoon, brothers Vince and John Bollier looked out onto the mountains in front of their parents' house, where the fire had left only gray ash on the slopes.

"Last night was an inferno," said Vince Bollier. "It was close but it wasn't life threatening, although a lot of people would have characterized it as dangerous."

Sheriff's deputies spent Sunday afternoon urging residents to leave, and it appeared that most had.

Helicopters have been flying over the neighborhood for days now, filling up with water to drop along the area where homes meet the bone dry wilderness.

The saving grace in the Station fire has been the absence of high winds, but much of the brush in the area has not burned in 60 years, terrain is difficult to access and humidity is low. Winds were picking up on Sunday afternoon.

Four firefighters have been injured and three civilians have suffered burns, including two who were badly burned on Saturday after they tried to ride out the fire by sitting in a hot tub.

More than 2,000 firefighters and other personnel are on the ground but it is the aerial assault with water and retardant that has best kept the fire from moving into homes, many of them worth millions of dollars.

The relative lack of high winds has made fighting the fires from the air difficult because thick smoke hanging over them made them hard to see, Schwarzenegger said, adding that many of the flames are up to 80 to 100 feet high (24 to 30 metres).

Utility Southern California Edison (EIX.N) said the blaze has cut power to about 250 customers.

The mayor of La Canada Flintridge, Laura Olhasso, said the situation was looking better for residents after firefighters beat back flames from backyards overnight, and evacuation orders were lifted for some residents on Sunday afternoon.

Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County last week in response to four fires in the area.

On Sunday, he said, there were eight "huge" fires burning statewide. In total, 55,000 acres (22,000 hectares) have burned, he said. (Additional reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles

Japan opposition crushes LDP in historic election

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's opposition was headed for a historic victory in an election Sunday, exit polls showed, a win that would oust the long-ruling conservative party and give the untested Democrats the job of reviving a weak economy.

Exit polls by private broadcasters showed the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) could win two thirds of seats in parliament's powerful 480-member lower house.

That matched opinion polls that had forecast a huge loss for Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). A senior LDP official acknowledged the extent of the drubbing, saying the party was headed for a "historic defeat."

"The predictions by the media were shocking. We had doubts, but now I think they are becoming a reality," said Yoshihide Suga, deputy chairman of the LDP's Election Strategy Council.

A Democratic Party win would end a half-century of almost unbroken rule by the LDP and break a deadlock in parliament, ushering in a government pledging cash for consumers, a cut in wasteful spending and less power for bureaucrats.

It would unravel a three-way partnership between the LDP, big business and bureaucrats that turned Japan into an economic juggernaut after the country's defeat in World War Two. That strategy foundered when Japan's "bubble" economy burst in the late 1980s and growth has stagnated since.

"This is about the end of the post-war political system in Japan," said Gerry Curtis, a Japanese expert at Columbia University.

"It is the only time any party other than the LDP has won a majority in the lower house of the Diet (parliament). It marks the end of one long era, and the beginning of another one about which there is a lot of uncertainty."

Financial markets have sought an end to the stalemate in parliament, where the Democrats and their allies control the less powerful upper chamber and can delay bills, but bond yields may rise if a new government increases spending.

LDP EMASCULATED

Most exit polls showed the LDP wining just over 100 seats, down from 300. Its partner, the New Komeito Party, was expected to win around 20 seats. The Democratic Party had just 115 seats in the last lower house.

"I'm happy, but at the same time I'm feeling a sense of big responsibility," Yoshihiko Noda, the Democrats' deputy secretary- general, told TBS television.

Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, 62, the wealthy grandson of a former prime minister, spoke in sweeping terms on Saturday when he said the election would change Japanese history.

He often invoked the word change during the campaign, a theme that came up time and again in interviews with voters Sunday. Many were prepared to give the Democrats a chance even if they were unsure the party would pull Japan out of its worst recession in 60 years.

"I don't like what's going on now in this country. Things have to change," said Kazuya Tsuda, a 78-year-old retired doctor in Tokyo who voted for the Democratic Party.
The Democrats have pledged to refocus spending on households with child allowances and aid for farmers while taking control of policy from bureaucrats, often blamed for Japan's failure to tackle problems such as a creaking pension system.

The party wants to forge a diplomatic stance more independent of the United States and build better ties with Asia, often strained by bitter wartime memories.

"(The Democrats) are saying that they will escape from bureaucratic dominance of politics, but they must also skillfully use bureaucrats to implement their policies," said Norihiko Narita, a professor at Surugadai University near Tokyo. "How to cooperate with bureaucrats will be a very important point."

Analysts worry spending plans by the Democrats, a mix of former LDP members, ex-Socialists and younger conservatives founded in 1998, will inflate Japan's massive public debt and push up government bond yields.

The party has vowed not to raise the 5 percent sales tax for four years while it focuses on cutting wasteful spending and tackling problems such as a shrinking and greying population.

Japan is aging more quickly than any other rich country, inflating social security costs. More than a quarter of Japanese will be 65 or older by 2015.

The economy returned to growth in the second quarter, mostly because of short-term stimulus around the world, but the jobless rate rose to a record 5.7 percent in July..

Media: Opposition wins landslide in Japan election

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's ruling conservative party suffered a crushing defeat in elections Sunday as voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of a left-of-center opposition camp that has promised to rebuild the economy and breathe new life into the country after 54 years of virtual one-party rule, media projections said.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to projections by all major Japanese TV networks.

The vote was seen as a barometer of frustrations over Japan's worst economic slump since World War II and a loss of confidence in the ruling Liberal Democrats' ability to tackle tough problems such as the rising national debt and rapidly aging population.

National broadcaster NHK, using projections based on exit polls of roughly 400,000 voters, said the Democratic Party was set to win 300 seats and the Liberal Democrats only about 100. Official results were expected early Monday.
As voting closed Sunday night, officials said turnout was high, despite an approaching typhoon, indicating the intense level of public interest the hotly contested campaigns have generated.

The loss by the Liberal Democrats would open the way for the Democratic Party of Japan, headed by Yukio Hatoyama, to oust Prime Minister Taro Aso and establish a new Cabinet, possibly within the next few weeks.

It would also smooth policy debates in parliament, which has been deadlocked since the Democrats and their allies took over the less powerful upper house in 2007.

"The ruling party has betrayed the people over the past four years, driving the economy to the edge of a cliff, building up more than 6 trillion yen ($64.1 billion) in public debt, wasting money, ruining our social security net and widening the gap between the rich and poor," the Democratic Party said in a statement as voting began Sunday.

"We will change Japan," it said.
The Democrats have also said they will make Tokyo's diplomacy less U.S.-centric. But Hatoyama, who holds a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University, insists he will not seek dramatic change in Japan's foreign policy, saying the U.S.-Japan alliance would "continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy."

Hatoyama's party held 112 seats before parliament was dissolved in July. The Democratic Party would only need to win a simple majority of 241 seats in the lower house to assure that it can name the next prime minister.

"We don't know if the Democrats can really make a difference, but we want to give them a chance," Junko Shinoda, 59, a government employee, said after voting at a crowded polling center in downtown Tokyo.

With only two weeks of official campaigning that focused mainly on broadstroke appeals rather than specific policies, many analysts said the elections were not so much about issues as voters' general desire for something new after more than a half century under the Liberal Democrats.

The Democrats are proposing toll-free highways, free high schools, income support for farmers, monthly allowances for job seekers in training, a higher minimum wage and tax cuts. The estimated bill comes to 16.8 trillion yen ($179 billion) if fully implemented starting in fiscal year 2013.

Aso - whose own support ratings have sagged to a dismal 20 percent - repeatedly stressed his party led Japan's rise from the ashes of World War II into one of the world's biggest economic powers and are best equipped to get it out of its current morass.

But the current state of the economy has been a major liability for his party.

Last week, the government reported that the unemployment rate for July hit 5.7 percent - the highest in Japan's post-World War II era - while deflation intensified and families have cut spending because they are insecure about the future.

Making the situation more dire is Japan's rapidly aging demographic - which means more people are on pensions and there is a shrinking pool of taxpayers to support them and other government programs.

SoCal wildfire surges in size, threatens thousands

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A wildfire in the mountains above Los Angeles has surged in every direction, going in a single day from a modest threat to a danger to some 10,000 homes.

The blaze nearly tripled in size in triple-digit heat Saturday, leaving three people burned, destroying at least three homes and forcing the evacuation of 1,000 homes and an untold number of people.

A slight drop in temperatures and an influx of fire crews from around the state were expected to bring some relief Sunday.

Mandatory evacuations were in effect for neighborhoods in Altadena, Glendale, Pasadena, La Crescenta and Big Tujunga Canyon.
The flames crept down the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains despite mild winds blowing predominantly in the other direction.

"Today what happened is what I call the perfect storm of fuels, weather, and topography coming together," said Captain Mike Dietrich, the incident commander for the U.S. Forest Service. "Essentially the fire burned at will; it went where it wanted to when it wanted to."

Dietrich said he had never seen a fire grow so quickly without powerful Santa Ana winds to push it.

At least three homes deep in the Angeles National Forest were destroyed, and firefighters were searching for others, Dietrich said.

Evacuation centers were set up at two high schools and an elementary school in the area.
The fire was the largest and most dangerous of several burning around southern and central California and in Yosemite National Park.

The fire especially grew to the north and west, bringing new concerns for the areas near Acton and Santa Clarita.

More than 31 square miles of dry forest was scorched by the fire. It was only 5 percent contained.

At least three people were burned in the evacuation areas and airlifted to local hospitals, Dietrich said. He had no further details on their injuries.

Air crews waged a fierce battle against the southeast corner of the fire, burning dangerously close to canyon homes. Spotter planes and tankers dove well below ridge then pulled up dramatically over neighborhoods.
The fire was burning in steep wooded hills next to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in northern Pasadena.

In La Vina, a gated community of luxury homes in the Altadena area, a small group of residents stood at the end of a cul-de-sac on the lip of a canyon and watched aircraft battle flames trying to cross the ridge on the far side.

At one point, the flying circus of relatively small propellor-driven tankers gave way to the sight of a giant DC-10 jumbo jet unleashing a rain of red retardant.

"We see a drop, we give a big cheer," said Gary Blackwood, who works on telescope technology at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We've watched it now for two days hop one ridge at a time and now it's like we're the next ridge."

A major goal was to keep the fire from spreading up Mount Wilson, where many of the region's broadcast and communications antennas and the historic Mount Wilson Observatory are located, officials said.
A second fire in the Angeles National Forest was burning several miles to the east in a canyon above the city of Azusa. The 3.4-square-mile blaze, which started Tuesday afternoon, was 95 percent contained Saturday. No homes were threatened, and full containment was expected by Monday.

A wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south Los Angeles County coast was 100 percent contained Saturday afternoon, according to county fire officials.

Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, a 3 1/2-square-mile fire in a rural area of the San Bernardino National Forest was 30 percent contained as it burned in steep, rocky terrain in Beeb Canyon. No structures were threatened.

To the north, in the state's coastal midsection, a 9.4-square-mile fire threatening Pinnacles National Monument kept 100 homes under evacuation orders near the Monterey County town of Soledad. The blaze, 60 percent contained, was started by agricultural fireworks used to scare animals away from crops. The fire destroyed one home.

A state of emergency was declared Saturday for Mariposa County, where a nearly 5.5-square-mile fire burned in Yosemite National Park. The blaze was 30 percent contained, park officials said.

Park officials closed a campground and a portion of Highway 120, anticipating that the fire would spread north toward Tioga Road, the highest elevation route through the Sierra. The number of firefighters was expected to double over the weekend to 1,000.

About 100 residents from the town of El Portal were under evacuation orders, said Brad Aborn, chairman of Mariposa's Board of Supervisors. He said the remainder of the town, an estimated 75 people, were evacuated Saturday morning.

Single molecule, one million times smaller than a grain of sand, pictured for first time

It may look like a piece of honeycomb, but this lattice-shaped image is the first ever close-up view of a single molecule.

Scientists from IBM used an atomic force microscope (AFM) to reveal the chemical bonds within a molecule.

'This is the first time that all the atoms in a molecule have been imaged,' lead researcher Leo Gross said.

The researchers focused on a single molecule of pentacene, which is commonly used in solar cells. The rectangular-shaped organic molecule is made up of 22 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms.

In the image above the hexagonal shapes of the five carbon rings are clear and even the positions of the hydrogen atoms around the carbon rings can be seen.

To give some perspective, the space between the carbon rings is only 0.14 nanometers across, which is roughly one million times smaller than the diameter of a grain of sand.

'If you think about how a doctor uses an X-ray to image bones and organs inside the human body, we are using the atomic force microscope to image the atomic structures that are the backbones of individual molecules,' said IBM researcher Gerhard Meyer.

The team from IBM Research Zurich said the results could have a huge impact of the field of nanotechnology, which seeks to understand and control some of the smallest objects known to mankind.

The AFM uses a sharp metal tip that acts like a tuning fork to measure the tiny forces between the tip and the molecule. This requires great precision as the tip moves within a nanometer of the sample.

'Above the skeleton of the molecular backbone (of the pentacene) you get a different detuning than above the surface the molecule is lying on,' Mr Gross said.

This detuning is then measured and converted into an image.

To stop the tip from absorbing the pentacene molecule, the researchers replaced the metal with a single molecule of carbon monoxide. This was found to be more stable and created weaker electrostatic attractions with the pentacene, creating a higher resolution image.

The experiment was also performed inside a high vacuum at the extremely cold temperature of -268C to avoid stray gas molecules or atomic vibrations from affecting the measurements.

'Eventually we want to investigate using molecules for molecular electronics,' Mr Gross said.

'We want to use molecules as wires or logic switches or elements.'

Lockerbie bomber 'set free for oil'

The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.

Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.

The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”

Two letters dated five months apart show that Straw initially intended to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, under which British and Libyan prisoners could serve out their sentences in their home country.

In a letter dated July 26, 2007, Straw said he favoured an option to leave out Megrahi by stipulating that any prisoners convicted before a specified date would not be considered for transfer.

Downing Street had also said Megrahi would not be included under the agreement.

Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.

The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.

On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to MacAskill announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.

In a letter leaked by a Whitehall source, he wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.

“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”

Within six weeks of the government climbdown, Libya had ratified the BP deal. The prisoner transfer agreement was finalised in May this year, leading to Libya formally applying for Megrahi to be transferred to its custody.

Saif Gadaffi, the colonel’s son, has insisted that negotiation over the release of Megrahi was linked with the BP oil deal: “The fight to get the [transfer] agreement lasted a long time and was very political, but I want to make clear that we didn’t mention Mr Megrahi.

“At all times we talked about the [prisoner transfer agreement]. It was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about.

“People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and oil deals were all with the [prisoner transfer agreement].”

His account is confirmed by other sources. Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Libya and a board member of the Libyan British Business Council, said: “Nobody doubted Libya wanted BP and BP was confident its commitment would go through. But the timing of the final authority to spend real money was dependent on politics.”

Bob Monetti of New Jersey, whose son Rick was among the victims of the 1988 bombing, said: “It’s always been about business.”

BP denied that political factors were involved in the deal’s ratification or that it had stalled during negotiations over the prisoner transfer talks.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman denied there had been a U-turn, but said trade considerations had been a factor in negotiating the prisoner exchange deal. He said Straw had unsuccessfully tried to accommodate the wish of the Scottish government to exclude Megrahi from agreement.

The spokesman claimed the deal was ultimately “academic” because Megrahi had been released on compassionate grounds: “The negotiations on the [transfer agreement] were part of wider negotiations aimed at the normalisation of relations with Libya, which included a range of areas, including trade.

“The exclusion or inclusion of Megrahi would not serve any practical purpose because the Scottish executive always had a veto on whether to transfer him.”

A spokesman for Lord Mandelson said he had not changed his position that the release of Megrahi was not linked to trade deals.

U.S. Says Pakistan Made Changes to Missiles Sold for Defense

WASHINGTON — The United States has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying American-made missiles to expand its capability to strike land targets, a potential threat to India, according to senior administration and Congressional officials.

The charge, which set off a new outbreak of tensions between the United States and Pakistan, was made in an unpublicized diplomatic protest in late June to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and other top Pakistani officials.

The accusation comes at a particularly delicate time, when the administration is asking Congress to approve $7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan over the next five years, and when Washington is pressing a reluctant Pakistani military to focus its attentions on fighting the Taliban, rather than expanding its nuclear and conventional forces aimed at India.

While American officials say that the weapon in the latest dispute is a conventional one — based on the Harpoon antiship missiles that were sold to Pakistan by the Reagan administration as a defensive weapon in the cold war — the subtext of the argument is growing concern about the speed with which Pakistan is developing new generations of both conventional and nuclear weapons.

“There’s a concerted effort to get these guys to slow down,” one senior administration official said. “Their energies are misdirected.”

At issue is the detection by American intelligence agencies of a suspicious missile test on April 23 — a test never announced by the Pakistanis — that appeared to give the country a new offensive weapon.

American military and intelligence officials say they suspect that Pakistan has modified the Harpoon antiship missiles that the United States sold the country in the 1980s, a move that would be a violation of the Arms Control Export Act. Pakistan has denied the charge, saying it developed the missile itself. The United States has also accused Pakistan of modifying American-made P-3C aircraft for land-attack missions, another violation of United States law that the Obama administration has protested.

Whatever their origin, the missiles would be a significant new entry into Pakistan’s arsenal against India. They would enable Pakistan’s small navy to strike targets on land, complementing the sizable land-based missile arsenal that Pakistan has developed. That, in turn, would be likely to spur another round of an arms race with India that the United States has been trying, unsuccessfully, to halt. “The focus of our concern is that this is a potential unauthorized modification of a maritime antiship defensive capability to an offensive land-attack missile,” said another senior administration official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter involves classified information.

“The potential for proliferation and end-use violations are things we watch very closely,” the official added. “When we have concerns, we act aggressively.”

A senior Pakistani official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity because the interchanges with Washington have been both delicate and highly classified, said the American accusation was “incorrect.” The official said that the missile tested was developed by Pakistan, just as it had modified North Korean designs to build a range of land-based missiles that could strike India. He said that Pakistan had taken the unusual step of agreeing to allow American officials to inspect the country’s Harpoon inventory to prove that it had not violated the law, a step that administration officials praised.

Some experts are also skeptical of the American claims. Robert Hewson, editor of Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, a yearbook and Web-based data service, said the Harpoon missile did not have the necessary range for a land-attack missile, which would lend credibility to Pakistani claims that they are developing their own new missile. Moreover, he said, Pakistan already has more modern land-attack missiles that it developed itself or acquired from China.

“They’re beyond the need to reverse-engineer old U.S. kit,” Mr. Hewson said in a telephone interview. “They’re more sophisticated than that.” Mr. Hewson said the ship-to-shore missile that Pakistan was testing was part of a concerted effort to develop an array of conventional missiles that could be fired from the air, land or sea to address India’s much more formidable conventional missile arsenal.

The dispute highlights the level of mistrust that remains between the United States and a Pakistani military that American officials like to portray as an increasingly reliable partner in the effort to root out the forces of the Taliban and Al Qaeda on Pakistani territory. A central element of the American effort has been to get the military refocused on the internal threat facing the country, rather than on threat the country believes it still faces from India.

Pakistani officials have insisted that they are making that shift. But the evidence continues to point to heavy investments in both nuclear and conventional weapons that experts say have no utility in the battle against insurgents.

Over the years, the United States has provided a total of 165 Harpoon missiles to Pakistan, including 37 of the older-model weapons that were delivered from 1985 to 1988, said Charles Taylor, a spokesman for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

The country’s nuclear arsenal is expanding faster than any other nation’s. In May, Pakistan conducted a test firing of its Babur medium-range cruise missile, a weapon that military experts say could potentially be tipped with a nuclear warhead. The test was conducted on May 6, during a visit to Washington by President Asif Ali Zardari, but was not made public by Pakistani officials until three days after the meetings had ended to avoid upsetting the talks. While it may be technically possible to arm the Harpoons with small nuclear weapons, outside experts say it would probably not be necessary.

Before lawmakers departed for their summer recess, administration officials briefed Congress on the protest to Pakistan. The dispute has the potential to delay or possibly even derail the legislation to provide Pakistan with $7.5 billion in civilian aid over five years; lawmakers are expected to vote on the aid package when they return from their recess next month.

The legislation is sponsored by Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the top Democrat and Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as Representative Howard L. Berman, a California Democrat who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressional aides are now reconciling House and Senate versions of the legislation.

Frederick Jones, a spokesman for Mr. Kerry, declined to comment on the details of the dispute citing its classified nature but suggested that the pending multifaceted aid bill would clear Congress “in a few weeks” and would help cooperation between the two countries.

“There have been irritants in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship in the past and there will be in the future,” Mr. Jones said in a statement, noting that the pending legislation would provide President Obama “with new tools to address troubling behavior.”

7 found slain at Ga. mobile home, 2 badly hurt

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) - Seven people were found slain and two critically injured Saturday at a mobile home park built on the grounds of a historic plantation in southeastern Georgia, police said.

Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering called it the worst mass slaying in his 25 years of police work in this coastal Georgia county. He wouldn't say how the victims died.

"This is a record for us. We've never had such an incident with so many victims," Doering told reporters. "It's not a scene that I would want anybody to see."

A family member called 911 at about 8 a.m. Saturday after discovering the bodies inside a dingy mobile home shaded by large, moss-draped oaks with an old boat in the front yard.

At an afternoon news conference, Doering declined to say whether police believe the killer was among the dead or remained at large. No arrests had been made.

Investigators were talking to neighbors about whether they saw or heard anything unusual, but hadn't found any witnesses to the crime. Police hadn't interviewed the survivors, who remained in critical condition Saturday night.

"I assume they know something, but we have not been able to speak to them," the chief said.

All seven bodies were tentatively identified by Saturday evening. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was scheduled to perform autopsies Sunday.

Doering said families of the victims had been notified, but he would not release any names or ages before receiving the autopsy results.

"I really don't know the ages," Doering said. "There were some older-aged victims and we believe there were some in their teens."

Located a few miles north of the port city of Brunswick, the mobile home park consists of about 100 spaces and is nestled among centuries-old live oak trees near the center of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.

The 1,100 acre tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress in 1777.

Laurens obtained control of the South Altamaha river lands and named it New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.

Lisa Vizcaino, who has lived at New Hope for three years, said the management works hard to keep troublemakers out of the mobile home park and that it tends to be quiet.

"New Hope isn't rundown or trashy at all," Vizcaino said. "It's the kind of place where you can actually leave your keys in the car and not worry about anything."

Vizcaino said she didn't know the victims and heard nothing unusual when she woke up at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. After word of the slayings spread, she said, the park was quieter than usual.

"Everybody had pretty much stayed in their houses," Vizcaino said. "Normally you would see kids outside, but everybody's been pretty much on lockdown."

Evacuations in Glendale, Altadena and Big Tujunga Canyon; two people treated for burns

The Station fire was spreading rapidly to the east and west this afternoon, prompting evacuations in La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale, Altadena and Big Tujunga Canyon as temperatures reached triple digits.

Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher Melanie Flores told The Times that two people were being treated for burns at the Big Tujunga ranger station, though more details were not immediately available.

The Station fire has now burned more than 20,000 acres, according to fire officials.

The latest evacuation zone is in the remote upper reaches of Big Tujunga Canyon near the ranger station, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The city of Glendale also ordered evacuations north of Santa Carlotta Street between Pennsylvania and Lowell avenues. The city of Pasadena advised residents of the Florecita neighborhood in the far northwest of the city to evacuate their homes voluntarily.

Temperatures topping 100 degrees, single-digit humidity and the steep, rugged topography of the Angeles National Forest continue to make the fire a formidable foe despite low winds, fire officials said today.

"All of a sudden, it flared up," said Bruce Quintelier, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. Earlier this morning the flames were creeping through canyons and hillsides. The flames are beginning to approach homes in both La Cañada Flintridge near Highway 2 and the Meadows neighborhood between two canyons on the northwestern tip of Altadena.

Massive and ominous-looking smoke plumes continue to envelop the area and have made for poor air quality, falling ash and smoky odors in the nearest communities, the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles. Outside the fire command post today at the Hansen Dam Recreation Center in Lake View Terrace, the air is so choked with smoke that it resembles a London fog of decades ago.

Literally adding fuel to the fire is 20- to 30-foot-high brush that has not burned in 60 years, said Mike Dietrich, incident commander from the Forest Service.

"If there’s a silver lining, there are no Santa Ana winds expected at this time,” Dietrich said.

The latest mandatory evacuation zones include scores of homes in Altadena, including the Meadows neighborhood between El Prieto Canyon and Millard Canyon. Among the streets included are Canyon Crest, Rising Hill and Aralia roads.

In La Cañada Flintridge, evacuated areas include neighborhoods on the northern edge of the city closest to the Angeles Crest Highway, generally from La Cañada Boulevard to the La Cañada Flintridge Golf Course.

More than 2,000 homes and 52 other structures are threatened in the La Cañada Flintridge area. Fire has burned right up to homes, but no structures have been destroyed. About 750 firefighters are deployed. One suffered minor heat-related injuries and was hospitalized overnight. He is expected to be released today.

Today, the priority for firefighters is the so-called front country, the area closest to homes. Firefighters are attacking it with air tankers and shovels. Super Scooper planes are not expected until Thursday -- welcome but not essential, fire officials said.

“Super Scoopers are just another tool in the toolbox. If they’re available, we’ll take advantage of it,” said Dietrich.

Firefighters are also keeping an eye on Mt. Wilson, which is six to eight miles east of the fire. “That’s several days out. It gives us an opportunity to prepare and defend the Mt. Wilson site,” said L.A. County Fire Department Deputy Chief Jim Powers, an incident commander.

As evacuations widen, residents along foothill communities are on edge.

One leg of the fire was moving southeast toward Altadena. Another leg was moving north, and officials said they are trying to prevent it from getting to the communications centers at Mt. Wilson. A western leg was moving toward Big Tujunga Canyon.

Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for scores of homes in the area of the La Cañada Flintridge Golf Course. The orders include Starlight Crest Drive, Greenridge Drive, Forest Green Drive and Ridge Court, said Sgt. Daniel Stanley of the county Sheriff’s Department. The communities are east of the Angeles Crest Highway.

Residents were asked to assemble their families and leave the area. An evacuation center has been set up at La Cañada High School, at 4463 Oak Grove Drive, where the Red Cross will assist evacuees.

Donna Robinson, 60, has been preparing to be evacuated since Wednesday, packing up documents, clothes and baby dish mementos of her adult children. She also packed up two dogs and three cats.

“I’m not even afraid now. I think it's good we're just out of the house. Now I feel it's not under my control,” said Robinson as she sat with her husband, Paul, 57, outside the gym of La Cañada High.

This morning, residents began to slowly stream into the high school.

The worry was evident on Sonia Castellon's face as she made her way into the makeshift evacuation center.

"I was trying to keep calm, keep it together. But the moment you leave your home it's hard," the 46-year-old dentist said as she began to tear up.

Castellon said she had packed a large amount of valuables throughout the day just in case, because the fire was getting worse near her Greenridge Drive home. She packed away pictures, jewelry, cash, and discs and cards with family memories -- things that cannot be replaced.

"We had two hours from when they called, and it was already after 11 [p.m.] when we got the call. I'm scared of not having a house when we go back."

Having to evacuate was especially tough for Castellon's daughter, Carla Torres. They were in the midst of preparing for her sweet 16 birthday party. Although she hopes the party at the Castaway Restaurant and Banquet Center in Burbank offers a temporary relief, Carla said she hadn't envisioned herself waking up on her birthday at her high school.

"It's really scary right now," Carla said.

In all, nearly 10,000 acres had burned in the four major Southern California fires by Friday evening. In addition to those wildfires, two separate blazes scorched about 1,000 acres in sprawling Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. Neither fire threatened structures.

An air assault through the night helped bring the Palos Verdes Peninsula fire under 90% containment. Expensive homes in Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes had been threatened, with flames lapping at the eaves of some residences.

The blaze consumed 230 acres.

In steep terrain above Hemet, a San Bernardino National Forest wildfire was just 10% contained but was not posing an immediate threat to structures, although 2,200 acres had burned. A mandatory evacuation order in the Willowbrook Road area was lifted, but voluntary evacuation advisories remained for Bee Canyon.

The Morris fire, which started five miles north of Azusa near San Gabriel Canyon Road, blackened more than 2,000 acres and was 85% contained, officials said. The fire was burning in mostly open mountain country, but voluntary evacuations were in effect for the North Fork of the San Gabriel River.

The Los Angeles County Public Health Department warned people to avoid outdoor activities. Air quality deteriorated throughout the day as temperatures climbed, becoming unhealthful in western San Bernardino and Riverside counties as well as in parts of the San Fernando Valley.

Homes Lost In Big Tujunga, 3 People Injured Evacuations Expand To Glendale, La Crescenta And Altadena

Authorities say a wildfire north of Los Angeles has destroyed at least three homes and is threatening thousands more.

Captain Mike Dietrich -- the incident commander for the U.S. Forest Service -- said at a news conference Saturday night that the fire was "the perfect storm of fuels, weather and topography coming together" and called the situation "very treacherous."

He says firefighters have discovered three burned homes in remote sections of the Angeles National Forest and are looking for more that may have been destroyed.

The fire near the mountain communities of La Cañada Flintridge and Altadena had tripled in size Saturday to more than 31 square miles, sent huge billows of smoke over Los Angeles and left three people injured. Officials say they expect the Station Fire to be contained by Sept. 8.

Mandatory evacuations were extended into neighborhoods in the canyons on the northwestern edge of Altadena, Glendale, La Crescenta and Big Tujunga Canyon, Forest Service spokesman Bruce Quintelier said. It was unclear how many residents were ordered to leave.

By Saturday night, mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for areas on Vista Del Valle Road between Angeles Crest Highway and La Canada Blvd.; La Canada Blvd. north of Vista Del Valle Rd.; Big Briar Way off Haskell St.; El Vago St. between La Canada Blvd. and Alta Canyada Rd; Donna Maria Ln.; Indian Dr.; Hacienda Dr.; Alta Canyada Rd. north of El Vago St. and Linda Vista Dr.

However, new evacuation orders were issued for residences on Ocean View Blvd. north of Bristow Dr., including Bristow Dr. Derwood Dr., Manistee Dr. and Highrim Rd.; east of Palm Dr. at Ravista Ln. to Alta Canyada Road; Greenridge Dr., Forest Green Dr., Ridge Ct. and Starlight Crest Dr.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory will also be closed until at least Sunday night.

Flames crept lower down the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains, despite winds blowing predominantly in the other direction, threatening more than 2,000 homes in the La Cañada Flintridge area. At least 150 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders there.

It made a run of 6 to 8 miles to the north and west in just four hours, Dietrich said, bringing new concerns for the community of Acton and the area around Santa Clarita.

At least three people were burned and airlifted to local hospitals, Dietrich said. He had no further details on their injuries. Two of them were hurt in the Big Tujunga Canyon area, the third on the Angeles Crest Highway.

A few homes and about 25 recreational cabins have burned but exact numbers were not immediately available, Forest Service spokesman Gabriel Alvarez said.

At least two animal sanctuaries, including the Wildlife Waystation, are also threatened by the fire. More than 100 horses need to be evacuated from Osborn Stables, but the Waystation's 400 wild animals, which include bears, tigers and chimpanzees, cannot be evacuated.

The blaze has exploded to 20,000 acres and is only 5 percent contained.

Hot, dry weather was expected all day Saturday, but crews were hopeful that winds would remain light, Luna said.

Flames knocked out power to at least 164 residences in La Cañada Flintridge Saturday afternoon, according to Southern California Edison. Repair crews were ordered to stay out of the area because of fire danger.

A major goal was to keep the fire from spreading up Mount Wilson, where many of the region's broadcast and communications antennas and the historic Mount Wilson Observatory are located, officials said.

Air crews waged a fierce late afternoon battle against the southeast corner of the fire, burning dangerously close to canyon homes. Spotter planes with tankers on their tails dove well below ridge lines to lay bright orange retardant then pulled up dramatically over neighborhoods, and giant sky crane helicopters swooped in to unleash showers on the biggest flareups.

The amount of smoke was hampering air operations in some areas, officials said.

A thick layer of smoke hovered over northern Los Angeles County, and officials issued a smoke advisory for communities near the fire. Residents were urged to avoid exertion and seek air-conditioned shelter.

"It's difficult for water-dropping aircraft to get in there, but they're still trying," Forest Service spokeswoman Jessica Luna said.

A second fire in the Angeles National Forest was burning several miles to the east in a canyon above the city of Azusa. The 2,168-acre fire, which started Tuesday afternoon, was 95 percent contained Saturday. No homes were threatened, and full containment was expected by Monday.

A wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south Los Angeles County coast was 100 percent contained Saturday afternoon, according to County Fire Captain Mike Brown. As many as 1,500 people were forced to flee at the height of the fire Thursday night. Six homes received minor exterior damage, but the only structures destroyed were an outbuilding and gazebo. No injuries were reported.

Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, the 2,290-acre Cottonwood fire in a rural area of the San Bernardino National Forest was 30 percent contained. Crews aided by aircraft were working to build a line around the fire, which was burning in steep, rocky terrain in Beeb Canyon, according to Forest Service spokesperson Norma Bailey. No structures were threatened. Temperatures were expected to top 100 degrees in the region, but winds remained light.

Five heat-related injuries were reported, but no structures have been damaged or destroyed.
A 15-acre flareup caused nearby Highway 74 to remain closed until Sunday morning.

Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush to be released early

BAGHDAD – An Iraqi journalist imprisoned for hurling his shoes at former President George W. Bush will be released next month after his sentence was reduced for good behavior, his lawyer said Saturday.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi's act of protest during Bush's last visit to Iraq as president turned the 30-year-old reporter into a folk hero across the Arab world, as his case became a rallying point for critics who resented the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation.

"Al-Zeidi's shoes were a suitable farewell for Bush's deeds in Iraq," Sunni lawmaker Dhafir al-Ani said in welcoming the early release. "Al-Zeidi's act expressed the real will and feelings of the Iraqi people. His anger against Bush was the result of the suffering of his countrymen."

The journalist has been in custody since the Dec. 14 outburst, which occurred as Bush was holding a news conference with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki, who was standing next to Bush at the time, was said to have been deeply offended by the act.

Al-Zeidi was initially sentenced to three years in prison after pleading not guilty to assaulting a foreign leader. The court reduced it to one year because the journalist had no prior criminal history.

Defense attorney Karim al-Shujairi said al-Zeidi will now be released on Sept. 14, three months early.

"We have been informed officially about the court decision," al-Shujairi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "His release will be a victory for the free and honorable Iraqi media."

Judicial spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said he had no immediate information about the release because it was a weekend.

Followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who were among the leaders of many of the demonstrations demanding al-Zeidi's release, welcomed the decision to free him early.

"We believe that al-Zeidi did not commit any crime but only expressed the will of the Iraqi people in rejecting the U.S. occupation," Sadrist lawmaker Falah Shanshal said. "Al-Zeidi's image will always be a heroic one."

The bizarre act of defiance transformed the obscure reporter from a minor TV station into a national hero to many Iraqis fed up with the U.S. presence.

Thousands demonstrated for al-Zeidi's release and hailed his gesture. A sofa-sized sculpture of a shoe was erected in his honor in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, but the Iraqi government later ordered it removed.

Neither leader was injured, but Bush was forced to duck for cover as the journalist shouted in Arabic: "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

The case's investigating judge has said the journalist was struck about the face and eyes, apparently by security agents who wrestled him to the ground and dragged him away.

Al-Zeidi's family has said he was also mistreated while in custody, although the government has denied the allegation.

"We thank God that he will be released, although we still fear for his safety since he is still in the prison," his brother Dargham said. "He will be released full of pride and strength from all the love he has received from the Iraqi people and international organizations and figures who advocate freedom."