SANTA BARBARA: As many as 23,000 more people faced possible evacuation Saturday as firefighters struggled to get a grip on an out-of-control wildfire raging in southern California.California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency to help release resources to fight the blaze. At least 75 homes have been destroyed and 30,500 people evacuated from the up market town of Santa Barbara following a wind-whipped blaze that has forced firefighters onto the defensive.Authorities widened the scope of possible evacuation areas to include an additional 23,000 people, despite a lull in winds and increased humidity that gave a boost to the firefighting effort later Friday. The rapidly spreading wildfire left vast clouds of smoke across the region following a dramatic escalation overnight that had sent the flames roaring toward the center of the city.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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