A roundup of today's other world news in brief:
US celebrity enclave hit by wildfire
MONTECITO- Thousands of residents fled the celebrity hideaway of Montecito, near Santa Barbara in southern California yesterday, as an explosive wildfire tore through the community.
The blaze, dubbed the Tea fire, broke out about 6pm on Thursday in the wealthy Cold Springs area of Montecito, and quickly overwhelmed firefighters with its speed.
US daytime TV queen Oprah Winfrey hosted a €2 million fundraiser for Barack Obama at her 42-acre estate in the area in September last year. Other famous property owners include actors Rob Lowe and Michael Douglas.
Publicists for both Winfrey and Lowe said their homes had not been destroyed.
At least 13 people were injured, and more than 100 homes destroyed, as the fire spread to about 2,500 acres, US authorities said.
About 5,400 homes in Montecito, which has about 14,000 residents, have been evacuated and more people could be forced to flee if the fire spreads. Nicole Koon, a spokeswoman with the Santa Barbara county executive office, said: "We believe 100-plus homes have been destroyed." About 200 people spent the night at an evacuation centre at a school in nearby Goleta.
- (PA)
Air France hit by pilots' strike
PARIS- Air France cut two-fifths of long-haul flights and half its other services, causing severe airport disruption yesterday as pilots began a four-day strike in a protest against proposed retirement-age reforms.
The carrier said it would be able to operate 65-70 per cent of long-haul flights and around half of its planned short and medium-haul flights at the weekend.
The strike was called over proposals to allow pilots to retire at 65 rather than the current final retirement age of 60, a measure being discussed in parliament as part of wider social security reforms.
- (Reuters)
Nigeria pardons condemned man
LAGOS- Nigerian president Umaru Yar'Adua yesterday pardoned a man who spent more than two decades on death row for armed robbery and requested amnesty for a 90-year-old man sentenced to death.
The pardons come three weeks after Amnesty International said the Nigerian justice system was so flawed that it was sentencing people to death who may be innocent and that many suspects were waiting years to be tried.
- (Reuters)
Advance sparks fears in Somalia
MOGADISHU- Islamist rebels moved yesterday into a small town on the outskirts of Somalia's capital near a checkpoint manned by Ethiopian troops, sparking fears among residents of renewed fighting.
This week's advance by al Shabaab militants towards the capital Mogadishu has raised the stakes in a two-year insurgency and is a setback for a fledgling UN-brokered peace process to end 17 years of conflict in the Horn of Africa nation.
Al Shabaab fighters, who are on Washington's list of foreign terrorist groups, moved into Elasha town overnight, 2km from Sinkadheer, where Ethiopian troops are based.
Sinkadheer is 15km southwest of Mogadishu.
- (Reuters)