MONTECITO: Firefighters were battling a wind-driven wildfire on Friday that ripped through an exclusive California enclave, forcing celebrities, millionaires and thousands of residents to flee. At least 100 homes in the hillside community of Montecito, 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Angeles, had been gutted by the blaze which was raging in the rugged hills and canyons of the picturesque seaside town. Montecito, ranked by Forbes magazine in 2006 as the seventh most expensive neighborhood in the United States with an average home price of 2.9 million dollars, is a popular retreat for the rich and famous. Celebrities such as talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey and Hollywood actors Michael Douglas, Jeff Bridges and Rob Lowe all own property in the area. The firestorm erupted after flames driven by wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour, known locally as "sundowners", overwhelmed firefighters on Thursday. There have been no reported fatalities but 13 injuries, including three suffering from burns and 10 suffering from smoke inhalation according to figures from Santa Barbara County.Fire officials told reporters Friday that control of the blaze, which had burned more than 2,000 acres (800 hectares) was "not even in sight" and suggested the number of homes destroyed may have been greater. Santa Barbara County fire official Kevin Wallace said bluntly: "Mother Nature is in control and we aren't." Some 4,500 people have received mandatory evacuation orders while a further 4,500 have been advised to leave their homes, as an army of 1,200 firefighters, including a DC-10 retardant-dropping super-tanker, tackles the flames.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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