Calmer winds help Ariz. firefighters
SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz., June 9 (UPI) -- Arizona fire officials said Thursday calmer winds allowed firefighters to build containment lines along a wide area of the Wallow fire.
The fire, which has burned 386,000 acres, was 5 percent contained by late Thursday, The Arizona Republic reported. Officials estimated it would take at least three weeks to contain the Wallow fire, which has destroyed 22 homes and damaged five others, and has burned at least 24 other structures.
Containment lines and burnouts helped limit property damage in the vacation town of Greer and kept the fire from spreading to Eagar and Springerville in the White Mountain area, Kelly Wood, a spokesman for the Pinetop Fire Department, told the newspaper.
The fire, the second largest in Arizona's history, forced the complete evacuation of Eagar and Springerville when embers flew past the defensive line firefighters were working to establish in a canyon south of Greer.
If firefighters can keep flames from spreading further, evacuated residents of Eager and Springerville could be permitted to return to their homes Saturday, officials told the newspaper.
Jim Whittington, spokesman at the Southwest Incident Command Center, said late Thursday Greer was "not out of danger."
The Apache County communities of Greens Peak, Hidden Meadow and nearby areas have been put on pre-evacuation notice, as has Luna, N.M., officials said.
Law enforcement officials previously had gone door-to-door in several Arizona towns, alerting residents to get out of the path of the fire.
About 6,500 residents were force to flee Wednesday as the uncontained fire threatened to jump containment lines meant to protect Greer and forced firefighters to retreat temporarily, the Republic reported Thursday.
The National Weather Service said wind speeds were expected to decrease further Friday in areas affected by the Wallow fire.
Gang of 5 hints at budget plan progress
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate's "Gang of Six" -- minus one -- Thursday offered their colleagues "elements" of their plan to reduce the country's long-term debt.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said the group -- minus Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who abandoned them last month -- is "close to reaching a conclusion" on a debt-reduction plan, Politico reported.
"We've reached a natural point at which it seemed like the next step, the next natural step, would be to share what we've been doing with other members and get their reaction," Conrad said.
"I worked very closely with five wonderful senators who were incredibly honest as we tried to work out an agreement," Coburn said after presenting the plan to 20 other senators. "I have every intention to try to do that if I can, if I think we can come to an agreement that tactually fixes the problem. But what it takes for us to really get out of trouble, it takes $9.7 trillion over the next 10 years.
"My purpose is to make certain that as many senators who urged us on … have a chance to find out where we are and give a sense of the package as it has developed," Conrad said.
"It's not completed, but how far we've gone and what the elements are," Conrad said.
In a sign of just how incomplete the talks are, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., another member of the remaining gang of five, said, "I can neither, confirm, deny or retract anything about the meeting."
White House talks led by Vice President Joe Biden are expected to intensify with three sessions scheduled for next week, Politico reported. Thursday's session focused in part on revenues, even though Republicans have preferred to concentrate on spending cuts, the Capitol Hill publication said.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said there was "a commitment for next week that we will be engaging, once again, in a robust series of meetings to see if we can achieve a result."
"We believe that many of the problems surrounding the lack of job creation and growth in this country have to do with the fact that there isn't a credible plan to manage down the debt and deficit in this country," Cantor said. "That's what we're trying to produce here and we had much substantive discussion today and look forward to more next week."
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner took part in Thursday's talks on revenues, Politico said.
Blagojevich case goes to jury
CHICAGO, June 9 (UPI) -- Closing arguments were completed Thursday and the jury is set to begin deliberation in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel gave the jury instructions at the close of Thursday's session and the jury is to begin deliberation Friday morning, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar told the jury Thursday Blagojevich "lies over and over again when he thinks it's in his best interest to do so," and said if jurors are to accept the former governor's defense, they have to conclude that several witnesses against him committed perjury.
In his first trial last year, Blagojevich was convicted of one count -- lying to the FBI.
"Your verdict will speak the truth," Schar said. "And the truth is he is guilty."
Blagojevich's attorney said Thursday his client "didn't get a dime" and is not guilty of corruption.
"Rod didn't get a dime," Aaron Goldstein said in closing remarks at Blagojevich's retrial, the Tribune reported. "I told you (that) you would hear the sound and the fury. In the end you would get nothing. … The man didn't intend to do anything they're saying. And that is what this case is about."
Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008 on bribery charges for allegedly attempting to profit from his authority to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by then President-elect Barack Obama.
Prosecutor Carrie Hamilton likened Blagojevich's alleged solicitations to a traffic officer's attempt to extort money from a stopped motorist, but Goldstein said the analogy was inappropriate.
"They want to give you a hypothetical that's nowhere near reality. … Not ever does a police officer have the right to ask for money. A politician has the right to ask for campaign contributions," Goldstein said, characterizing the wiretaps presented by the prosecution as evidence of conspiracy as just a man who thinks out loud.
"He likes to talk," Goldstein said. "That's all you heard. (Prosecutors) want you to believe this talk is a crime. It's not. He floated ideas and that's all it is."
Guilty verdicts in Mumbai attack trial
CHICAGO, June 9 (UPI) -- A federal jury Thursday convicted a Chicago businessman for his role in the deadly November 2008 attack in Mumbai and a plot to bomb a Danish newspaper.
The jury convicted Tahawwur Rana on one count of conspiracy to provide material support in the newspaper bomb plot -- which was never carried out -- and one count of providing material support to the terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba, which carried out the attack that left 170 people dead in Mumbai.
The jury found Rana not guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terrorist attack.
WLS-TV, Chicago, reported Rana showed no reaction when the verdicts were read.
Rana, 50, a Canadian citizen, was convicted following an eight-day trial and two days of deliberation.
Rana was accused of helping childhood friend David Coleman Headley scout locations for the attack and the Danish newspaper plot. Headley, 50, who worked with Pakistani intelligence and LeT, testified Rana allowed him to use his immigration business as cover for travel in planning the attacks.
"The message should be clear to all those who help terrorists -- we will bring to justice all those who seek to facilitate violence," Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said.
Rana is the second defendant -- among eight co-defendants indicted in the case since 2009 -- to have been convicted. Headley pleaded guilty in March 2010 to all 12 counts against him, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six American victims in Mumbai.
Headley, who has cooperated with prosecutors since his October 2009 arrest, faces the possibility of a life prison sentence.
The other six people charged in the case are thought to be in Pakistan, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Weiner says he's getting back to work
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said Thursday he has no plans to resign amid a flap over lewd photos and vowed to get back to serving his constituents.
Weiner told the New York Post he planned to "get back to work as best I can."
"I betrayed a lot of people and I know it," Weiner said. "I'm trying to get back to work now and try to make amends to my constituents and of course to my family of course."
Weiner was trying to put the scandal behind him despite ongoing calls for his resignation. At least nine Democratic leaders have joined an army of Republicans urging him to step down over the images he sent to various women via Twitter.
"Having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress," said Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa. The New York Times said Schwartz was overseeing the recruitment of Democratic candidates for the 2012 election cycle.
Weiner told the Post he had been completely forthcoming in his public statements about the scandal, but he declined to provide details on how it was affecting his marriage of less than a year to Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Conversations between my wife and me are private, but you know, she's bearing up well and she's back at work and she's doing a great job," he said.
An NY1-Marist poll released Thursday indicated 56 percent of registered voters in Weiner's district think he should not resign, while 33 percent say he should and 12 percent had no opinion. If Weiner runs for re-election in 2012, 31 percent say they would definitely voted against him, while 30 percent said they would definitely vote for him and 38 percent said they were not sure.
