Bermuda braces for a pounding from Tropical Storm Florence

MIAMI (AFP) - Bermuda braced for a pounding as Tropical Storm Florence looked set to strengthen into a hurricane and target the mid-Atlantic British territory over the weekend.

The sixth tropical storm to form in the Atlantic this year, Florence did not threaten the United States at this stage, according to forecasts by the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

The projections indicated Florence could strengthen and hit Bermuda on Sunday, prompting authorities on the island to warn the 67,000 residents to brace for a hurricane. "Preparations to protect life and property should be well underway," said Bermuda meteorologist Elizabeth Harris.

Florence was unusually large, with tropical storm-force winds extending 600 kilometers (375 miles) from the center.

Wildfires taxing nation's firefighting resources


Firefighters light a backburn near McLeod, Mont., Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006, as crews try to contain the Derby Mountain fire. The lightning-sparked fire had been 50% contained by Friday.


A wildfire burns in the mountains above Pyramid Lake, near Castaic, Calif., as Interstate 5 motorists, including Neil Christensen, stop to photograph and watch firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, California Division of Forestry and Los Angeles County try to control the blaze, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006. (AP Photo/Dino Vournas)

RENO, Nevada (AP) -- Nevada has called on three of the top firefighting crews in the nation to help fight its wildfires, among the most voracious in the United States.

A national command team and the three crews joined the battle Thursday against Nevada fires that have blackened 240,000 acres, or nearly 375 square miles, of rangeland and threatened ranches, mines and wildlife habitat.

Nevada's fires are among the nation's largest. Wildfires have scorched more than 1 million acres nationally, or 1,563 square miles -- slightly more land mass than the state of Rhode Island.

A fire in Lander County in central Nevada has exploded to 130,000-plus acres, or about 203 square miles, and was 20 percent contained.

Nine large fires were burning Thursday in both Washington and Oregon.

In Montana, firefighters battling a wildfire that has charred more than 195,000 acres, or 304 square miles, had planned to work through the night Thursday to take advantage of cooler weather. They hoped to allow residents who evacuated 265 homes return to their homes on Friday.

Officials were trying to keep the fire from spreading farther west into the Boulder River Valley, dotted with numerous historic ranches and vacation homes. The movie "The Horse Whisperer" was filmed there.

The blaze, sparked by lightning on August 22, was 50 percent contained on Thursday.

Lightning sparked three more fires in Idaho Thursday, bringing the total number of large blazes burning in the state to 17, the most in the nation.

In California, a fire in the Los Padres National Forest has spread rapidly after erupting Monday afternoon just northwest of Castaic. It grew from 4,200 to 7,000 acres, or nearly 11 square miles, between Wednesday and Thursday.

The fire was approaching a part of Ventura County's water supply Friday and was expected to burn through canyons and oil fields as it raged out of control for a fifth day.

10 die in northern Mexico landslides

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — A landslide triggered by heavy rains killed 10 people, mostly children, and injured three others in northern Mexico, authorities said Thursday.
The bodies of two adults and eight children were recovered after the landslide Wednesday night buried five homes in the remote indigenous village of Chalchihuitillo, some 450 miles northwest of Mexico City, Serenia Moreno, a spokeswoman for local authorities, said by telephone.

Five members of one family — including a man, his wife and three children, ages 5 to 9 — were killed after an avalanche of mud and rocks buried their home. Five children, ages 5 months to 7 years, were killed in the other four homes, she said.

Pacific Crab Invades Atlantic

There's a new face appearing on Atlantic Ocean "most wanted" posters: the Dungeness crab. Marine scientists are worried that this west coast crab could be invading east coast waters after it was unexpectedly found off the coast of Massachusetts by a fisherman on July 19.

Lou Williams, the fisherman, took the out-of-place catch to aquaculture specialists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who sent out mug shots to other scientists around the country. They positively identified the crab as an adult male Dungeness.

Biologists worry about the appearance of exotic species, or bioinvaders, because they can stake their ground in a new ecosystem and push out native species.

The MIT scientists are particularly worried in this case because they don't know how the crab ended up so far away from home, and whether any more of its clan are lurking in the coastal waters.

Dozens feared dead in India blasts

MUMBAI, India (Reuters) -- At least 25 people were feared killed in a series of explosions on Friday in a town in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, TV reports said.

Four blasts took place in Malegaon town, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Mumbai, India's financial hub, the NDTV channel said. One explosion was outside a mosque while the other was at a Muslim graveyard.

At least 25 people were killed, NDTV said. Police, however, said five people were killed in two blasts.

They said thousands had gathered at the mosque for Friday prayers.

Muslims were also marking the "Shab-e-Barat" or the "night of forgiveness or atonement," when they pray for their dead and also believe that prayers would absolve them of their own sins ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.

Al Qaeda in Iraq followers told to kill 'at least one American'

(CNN) -- The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq urged his followers to kill at least one American in the next two weeks using a sniper rifle, explosive or "whatever the battle may require," according to an audiotape that aired Thursday on Al-Jazeera.

The Arabic news network identified the man on the tape as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, however CNN was unable to independently verify his identity.

Al-Muhajer took command of the terror network's partner group in Iraq after an American airstrike killed its former leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in June, U.S. officials say.

Al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant," is the pseudonym adopted by Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian militant believed to be an expert at making car bombs, U.S. officials say.

"I invite you not to drop your weapons, and don't let your souls or your enemies rest until each one of you kills at least one American within a period that does not exceed 15 days with a sniper's gunshot or incendiary devices or Molotov cocktail or a suicide car bomb -- whatever the battle may require," the speaker says on the tape.

On the tape, al-Muhajer blasts Iraq's Sunni Muslim community for cooperating with the Shiite-led and American-backed Iraqi government. He calls for unity among Muslims, "so the word of God can be the highest, and the word of the infidels the lower."

"Our enemy has united its sides against us, and isn't it time to unite, you worshippers of God?" al-Muhajer asks.

Satellite image taken at 4:45 a.m. ET Thursday shows Florence in the Atlantic.

Tropical Storm Florence eyes Bermuda

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Tropical Storm Florence held its strength in the open Atlantic early Thursday, still far from the U.S. but large enough that forecasters warned it could create high surf and rip-currents along the East Coast within the next five days.

The storm's forecast path puts it over the Bermuda area Monday or Tuesday, forecasters said.

"The concern would be Bermuda at this point, how close the destructive force winds will move toward it," said Dave Roberts, a Navy forecaster at the National Hurricane Center.

Florence had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph Thursday and tropical storm force winds extending up to 405 miles from its center. Its sustained winds were expected to strengthen Thursday and Friday and pass the 74 mph threshold for a hurricane by the time in nears Bermuda.

Afghan attack worst since Taliban's fall

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomber struck a convoy of U.S. military vehicles Friday in downtown Kabul, killing at least 16 people, including two American soldiers, and wounding 29 others. It was the Afghan capital's deadliest suicide attack since the Taliban's 2001 ouster.

PAKISTAN: Women hit hardest in quake aftermath

MUZAFFARABAD, 8 September (IRIN) - Traditional coping systems have been stretched to breaking point following last year's massive earthquake in northern Pakistan and women are bearing the brunt.

Nearly 75,000 people died in the October quake that flattened towns and villages making some 5,500 women widows and particularly vulnerable.

In the aftermath of the quake, vulnerable groups such as women, have been hardest hit according to the government. Northern Pakistan is a largely rural area where women already struggle with gender discrimination, social exclusion, illiteracy, socio-economic difficulties and low incomes.

According to tradition, women in this strongly conservative region traditionally stayed at home raising their children while men went out to work.

Since the disaster their roles have changed drastically. Women are often the main breadwinners for the family where the male head of the household has either died or suffered from permanent physical disabilities.