Sunday, August 16, 2009 CALIFORNIA: Wildfires raged Saturday in California, where efforts to control the week-old blazes are being hampered by high winds and difficult terrain, state fire prevention agency Calfire said.One blaze in Santa Cruz county, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco, has forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 people, destroyed two buildings and is threatening 250 homes in the communities of Swanton and Bonny Doon.California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had been out of state at the funeral for his mother-in-law Eunice Kennedy Shriver toured the affected areas Saturday, local media reported.The governor's office said that the blaze, which began Wednesday, has already destroyed more than 2,700 hectares (6,672 acres) of land and is only 30 percent under control, despite the efforts of 1,600 firefighters.Calfire said their main concerns are high temperatures and difficult terrain, which has forced firefighters to tackle the blazes mostly from the air.California is frequently hit by wildfires and in 2007 suffered the worst blazes in its history, which forced the evacuation of 640,000 residents and destroyed around 2,000 homes in southern California.
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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