Firefighters gaining on Station Fire
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Firefighters reported Thursday making overnight progress on the Station Fire north of Los Angeles, but said the blaze continued its push both east and west.
The fire was 38 percent contained after burning more than 144,000 acres, but was moving to the southeast to the mountains overlooking Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Monrovia, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The fire's western push toward Pacoima Canyon prompted the evacuation of 11 homes, officials said.
By Wednesday night, the fire had claimed 64 homes, three commercial buildings and 49 outbuildings, and cost more than $27 million to fight, officials said. Officials also blamed the fire for the deaths of two firefighters.
Evacuations in several communities have been lifted, officials said.
Fire investigators, meanwhile, said they were trying to determine what sparked the largest fire in Los Angeles County history.
Authorities treated the wildfire's suspected ignition site as a crime scene, cordoning off the area and blocking the highway near Mile Marker 29 on the Angeles Crest Highway, the Times said.
"We believe it is the point of origin," Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mike McCormick said. "They are doing a finely detailed, serious, serious search and investigation."
Crews also worked in rugged terrain to try to protect popular campgrounds, trails, recreation areas and the Stony Ridge Observatory, officials.
"The area that's of the most concern is the southeast corner of the fire," said Capt. Mike Dietrich, an incident commander with the U.S. Forest Service. "That's our No. 1 priority for the next several days, keeping the fire up and away from the communities."
The threat to the historic Mount Wilson observatory and communications complex has lessened, fire officials said. Two blazes that threatened Oak Glen and Yucaipa in San Bernardino County also were reaching full containment.
FAA orders Airbus part be replaced
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The Federal Aviation Administration Thursday ordered U.S. airlines to replace the part that came under suspicion following the Air France Flight 447 crash.
Airlines have 120 days to replace the device that could be giving false airspeed indications in two Airbus aircraft, CNN reported. Northwest and US Airways are the only U.S. carriers that fly the affected planes.
All 228 people aboard the Air France Flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were killed June 1 when the plane went down in the Atlantic.
FAA officials said they could expedite the process because of the limited number of planes involved -- 43 in the United States -- and because swapping out the parts as quickly as possible was prudent.
The devices to be replaced are the Thales Avionics pitot tubes used in some Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft, CNN said. They measure "ram air pressure," the pressure exerted on the plane as it flies through the air, and are part of a system used to determine air speed.
No U.S. airlines use the Airbus A340, the FAA said.
The FAA says the order was to "prevent airspeed discrepancies, which could lead to disconnect of the autopilot and/or auto-thrust functions and consequent increased pilot workload."
Obama's speech to students divides parents
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Parents say they're divided about U.S. President Obama's address to the nation's students, with some calling it propaganda and others saying it's educational.
Obama is expected to discuss the importance of studying and staying in school during the speech Tuesday that will be broadcast on C-SPAN and on the Web. The Education Department sent a letter about the speech to school principals and a lesson plan for post-speech discussions.
Denver-area school officials said they've been fielding e-mails and phone calls from parents wanting more information or venting displeasure, the Denver Post reported Thursday.
"We've received about 50 phone calls (Wednesday), the vast majority of them opposed to the speech," said Susan Meek, a spokeswoman for Douglas County Schools. "Some parents are worried they won't be able to be there, or won't have been able to view the speech ahead of time."
One Jefferson County parent said the speech was "political recruiting," the Post reported.
However, another parent said watching a president give a speech is part of growing up.
"I would expect my kids to listen to any president," the woman wrote. "My gut reaction is that there are a whole lot of people out there who don't want to listen to a black president."
Conservative groups and talk show hosts also jumped on address, Politico said.
Conservative talk show host Tammy Bruce wrote on her Twitter page, "Make September 8 Parentally Approved Skip Day. You are your child's moral tutor, not that shady lawyer from Chicago."
Zelaya planning for his return to Honduras
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, visiting Washington, says he's plotting to retake the office after seeing little progress in U.S.-backed negotiations.
Zelaya didn't say when he would return to Honduras, except to say it would be before December, which would be the end of his term, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
He was in Washington to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to seek stronger sanctions against Honduras's government.
"When diplomatic action runs out, when the United States indicates it can't do any more, I am not going to simply sit around with my arms crossed," Zelaya told the Post.
He said he was developing "fighting strategies" to return to Honduras if the negotiations fail and would "seek actions on my return that kick the coup plotters out of power."
Zelaya was pushed out in a June 28 military coup, which Western hemisphere countries, including the United States, denounced as a violation of democratic order. The de facto Honduran government has rebuffed international pressure, refusing a negotiated solution that would allow Zelaya to finish his term with fewer powers.
U.S. officials said Zelaya's remarks weren't helping and echoed threats he made recently in public and private, the Post said.
"We continue to call on all actors on both sides to avoid statements that increase division and polarization in Honduras, and needlessly place persons at risk for harm," State Department spokesman Charles Luoma-Overstreet said.
Lockerbie bomber dying, brother says
EDINBURGH, Scotland, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The brother of the Libyan national convicted of the deadly bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 says his brother is dying of prostate cancer.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's brother, Mohammed, said the convicted Lockerbie bomber's health has worsened since his August release by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds, The (Glasgow) Herald said Thursday.
"He's in a bad situation. The last check-up was very, very bad. He's dying," Mohammed al-Megrahi said.
European cancer specialists have been flown to the Libyan capital of Tripoli to treat al-Megrahi, the Herald reported.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday he respects Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to release the ailing terrorist.
"I respect the right of Scottish ministers to make the decision -- and the decision," Brown said.
The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, resulted in the deaths of 270 people on board the airplane and on the ground.
Putin extols Poland's World War II bravery
SOPOT, Poland, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin marked World War II's 70th anniversary in Poland by praising Polish soldiers and citizens for their wartime bravery.
"Russia has always respected the bravery and heroism of the Polish people, soldiers and officers, who stood up first against Nazism in 1939," Putin said during a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the Baltic Sea resort town of Sopot.
Tusk said Putin's visit reflected a growing spirit of cooperation despite remaining differences.
"We are making another step toward strengthening confidence in the past so that we can build our future on it," Tusk said.
U.S. President Barack Obama did not attend the memorial ceremonies, attended by some 20 European leaders, but was represented by his national security adviser, retired Gen. Jim Jones.
Many Poles saw Obama's absence as a snub, The New York Times said.
Putin offered to open Russia's national archives on the Katyn massacre, where Russian soldiers in 1940 killed 21,768 Polish officers and intellectuals being held as prisoners of war, EUobserver reported.
He also signed an agreement giving Polish ships passage through a Russian-controlled gap in a Baltic Sea promontory to Poland's freshwater Vistula Lagoon, near Gdansk Bay.
