Storm debris delays well capping
PANAMA CITY, Fla., July 30 (UPI) -- Debris from Tropical Storm Bonnie has briefly delayed the capping of the blown-out BP oil in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. officials said.
National Incident Commander Thad Allen told reporters Friday it is too early to declare victory.
"We should not be writing any obituary for this event until the well is completely sealed, until we have no more oil on the surface of the water, until we understand where all the oil has gone to, until the beaches are cleaned, until the local -- federal, state and local officials agree that the beaches are clean," he said at a news briefing at Tyndall Air Force base in Florida.
Debris was being cleared out from the relief well Friday, Allen said. He said a final casing line would be run out Saturday or Sunday, with "hydrostatic top kill" beginning 24 to 36 hours later.
"We are going to make sure this well is killed, make sure the oil on the surface is responded to, and make sure the shores are clean -- and how clean is clean is something we will develop with our local leaders and the trustees of all of the resources that are applied as we move forward," he said.
BP's incoming chief says the company will not abandon Gulf of Mexico residents once it finishes capping the leaking well that caused the oil spill disaster.
Current BP Managing Director Bob Dudley, who will take over for the departing Tony Hayward as chief executive officer, said BP has made a "long-term commitment" to the region, CNN reported Friday.
"We'll be here for years," Dudley said during a visit to Mississippi.
BP announced a $100 million fund to support unemployed oil rig workers experiencing economic hardship during the deepwater drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration. The Rig Worker Assistance Fund "fulfills the commitment" BP made to provide $100 million in assistance "as a gesture of good will for the people of the gulf region," the company said in a statement.
Death toll tops 400 in Pakistan flooding
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 30 (UPI) -- The death toll in three days of flooding in Pakistan topped 400 Friday as rains swelled rivers, inundated villages and triggered landslides, officials said.
The toll was expected to increase because many people were reported missing, Pakistan's English-language newspaper Dawn reported.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the Khyber-Pakhtunkwa Province, put the death toll at 408 in the flooding that followed two days of record rainfall, The New York Times reported.
The death toll could rise, he warned, as many towns and villages remained inaccessible and communications in the province were hampered by damaged infrastructure.
Much of the province has been cut off from the rest of the country as floodwaters inundated or damaged the majority of roads and railroad tracks.
Part of a recently constructed dam in the province's Charsadda district collapsed, submerging a reported 5,000 homes and stranding up to 400,000 people, officials said.
"A rescue operation using helicopters cannot be conducted due to the bad weather, while there are only 48 rescue boats available," Hussain said Thursday.
"This is the worst ever calamity in our history," he said at a news conference.
"We need help and we need it now," he said.
The highway linking Peshawar to Islamabad was closed after water washed away bridges, the government said.
In Pakistani-administered Kashmir, at least 22 people were confirmed dead as of Thursday, said Sardar Attique, the region's prime minister.
In the Swat Valley, residents slogged through knee-deep water in some streets, witnesses told Dawn.
Investigators said poor weather may have contributed to Wednesday's Airblue plane crash that killed 152 people in Islamabad.
Although northwestern Pakistan bore the brunt of the flooding, rains also hit the southwestern province of Balochistan and crops in Punjab province were ruined, Dawn reported.
D.A.: No charges against Gore
PORTLAND, Ore., July 30 (UPI) -- Oregon prosecutors said Friday there is not enough "credible evidence" to charge former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for allegedly groping a massage therapist.
Police in Portland reopened the investigation into Gore's 2006 encounter with Mollie Hagerty a month ago, the day the National Enquirer ran a story detailing her allegation. But Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Don Rees found Hagerty's story dubious on a number of grounds, The Portland Oregonian reported.
In a memo to the district attorney, Rees said Hagerty acknowledged she called Gore after leaving his hotel and told him "to dream of red-headed women tonight." At the same time, she said he had groped her and tried to kiss her against her will and that she was afraid of him.
There was little or no corroborating evidence. A test for semen on a garment Hagerty said might have been stained turned up nothing, and employees at the hotel told conflicting stories.
Gore has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Since losing the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, Gore has won a Nobel Peace Prize and Academy Award and, most recently, separated from his wife, Tipper.
Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for Gore, told The Washington Post the former vice president "respects and appreciates the thorough and professional work of the Portland authorities and is pleased that this matter has now been resolved."
Fire threatens So. Calif. neighborhood
LOS ANGELES, July 30 (UPI) -- Residents were racing to their cars and fleeing as a wildfire advanced toward a neighborhood in Palmdale, Calif., authorities said.
The fire, which started Thursday, has burned more than 10,000 acres and destroyed several structures, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Water-dropping helicopters were being used in the battle to keep the flames from entering the Rancho Vista subdivision as the fire jumped the California Aqueduct north of Los Angeles.
The fire threatened power lines, causing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to ask residents to reduce their energy usage wherever possible.
"We're asking people to help care for our infrastructure while this fire is burning, as we wait for the potential threat to diminish," Brooks Baker, a spokesman for the agency, said.
Smoke from several fires in the Los Angeles Basin was expected to swathe the region through the weekend, leading to health warnings, officials said. In addition, several school athletic programs canceled outdoor activities such as sports and band practices because of the dirty air, the Times reported.
Smoke from a fire that broke out Tuesday north of Azusa, Calif., and a fire that broke out Wednesday north of La Canada Flintridge, Calif., raised air pollution levels to unhealthy points in the San Gabriel Valley as well as parts of Los Angeles, officials said.
Weather experts told the Times weak winds kept the smoke from dissipating.
"The LA Basin is a big cul-de-sac. To the north and the east we're bounded by some pretty high mountains," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The basin is just filling up with this smoke."
Patzert said the smoke likely would remain until Sunday, along with a high-pressure system that brought triple-digit temperatures and red-flag fire conditions to the area.
"We're sitting in the smoke until Sunday. It's going to get hotter and smokier," Patzert said.
Firefighters used a concentrated air attack to make progress Wednesday against a wildfire burning in Angeles National Forest, authorities said.
More than 1,000 firefighters from across California were working on the fires. Investigators haven't determined the cause of any of the blazes, the Times reported.
