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.
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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