Russia sent the army on Saturday to battle wildfires that have killed at least 28 people and were threatening dozens of towns and villages. Thick smoke and ash slowed firefighting efforts and thousands of people were being evacuated.

Half of the 300 homes in the village of Maslovka, half a day's drive south of Moscow, were reduced to cinders. Stunned locals sifted through the ash for possessions to salvage and people pooled what little food they had — mainly potatoes and carrots — to ensure no one starved.

"This is a catastrophe," Maslovka resident Yevgeniya Yuzhina said as she waited in a hotel lobby in the nearby city of Voronezh filling out a form to receive cash compensation.

All 300 of the army's fire trucks have been dispatched, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said,

Many regions of the country are suffering through their hottest summer since record-keeping began 130 years ago. Officials said Friday over 214,136 acres of parched woodland and peat bog were burning in at least 14 of the country's 83 regions, mainly in western Russia. State television reported Saturday that the death had risen from the last reported figure of 25, without providing details.

"Fire and wind have no days off, so we can't take any days off," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a videoconference with emergency officials, where he announced 3 million rubles ($100,000) would be allocated for each of the 1,200 homes destroyed so far. He pledged that all would eventually be rebuilt.

Yuzhina said her house had been worth half a million rubles more than the amount Putin pledged and her husband, daughter and elderly parents now had no place to go.

Fire crews working through the night beat back flames and built containment lines around a two-day old wildfire that charred nearly 22 square miles of brush in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

The blaze was 62 percent contained Saturday morning and no structures were threatened, according to Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Sam Padilla.

Crews hoped to close the fire's south flank near Portal Ridge, Rancho Vista and Ana Verde before temperatures rise into the high 90s and dry winds whip up again as expected Saturday.

"We're getting a handle on it," Padilla said. "As soon as we contain that south end we'll be in better shape."

Padilla said there were no open flames — just smoldering embers — which has significantly slowed the fire's spread.

"The way you work embers is by using hoses on the ground, so we're relying on our foot soldiers today," County Fire Inspector Don Kunitomi said. "It's important to clean up those embers because one hot gust of wind can start a spot fire."

Some 1,300 firefighters were assigned to the blaze Saturday.

Three Kenyans have been charged with the murders of 76 people killed when bombs exploded as they watched the World Cup on TV in Kampala, Uganda.
Related stories

* Doubts over Uganda's role in Somalia
* Uganda's World Cup joy shattered by blasts
* In pictures: Uganda blasts

Hussein Hassan Agad, 27, Mohamed Adan Abdow, 25, and Idris Magondu, 42, were also charged with terrorism and 10 counts of attempted murder.

They have yet to enter pleas and will remain in custody until their next court appearance on 27 August.

Al-Shabab, a Somali Islamist group, said it carried out the attacks.

Ugandan peacekeepers are in Somalia, helping the weak, UN-backed government against al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda.

The African Union this week pledged to boost its peacekeeping force in Somalia by 4,000 troops, after a summit meeting in Kampala, which was overshadowed by the attack.

Only Uganda and Burundi have so far sent troops to the Somali capital, Mogadishu and al-Shabab had threatened to attack both countries.
'Islamic preacher'

The explosions on 11 July, which also injured about 70 people, ripped through a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant as football fans watched the last few minutes of the World Cup final.
An injured woman in hospital after Kampala bombing The blasts went off as people were watching the World Cup final, killing 76 and injuring 70

The three men, all residents of Kenya, appeared on Friday in a Kampala magistrates court.

The charge sheet identified Hussein Hassan Agad as "a preacher of Islam", while Idris Magondu was identified as an employee of a trading company in Nairobi, Kenya.

The men were charged with 89 offences. They face 61 counts of murder for those killed at the Kyadondo Rugby Club and 15 counts for those killed at the Ethiopian restaurant.

The charges also include three counts of terrorism and 10 counts of attempted murder.

The men did not speak during their court appearance.

Chief Magistrate Deo Sejjemba said the accused were not allowed to enter a plea because the court does not have jurisdiction over the crime of terrorism.
Map of Kampala

The three will reappear at the magistrates court on 27 August, but will not be permitted to plead to the charges until Uganda's Directorate of Public Prosecutions decides the case is ready to move to the High Court.

The three men were remanded in custody.

The BBC's Ignatius Bahizi, who was in court, says the men were arrested on 12 July, the day after the bombings.

There was no indication of how long they had been in Uganda prior to the attacks, he added.

He says at least 27 people have been arrested by an international team of investigators, including the FBI.

Police said they will bring more suspects to court in the coming days.

A report into Australia's worst bushfires has called for sweeping changes to the way the authorities respond to natural disasters.

Some 173 people were killed when fires tore across Victoria in early 2009.

Over 155 days a royal commission heard complaints about a lack of official information from a string of witnesses.

The report says authorities should build shelters in vulnerable areas and devise a full evacuation plan. Victoria has vowed to act swiftly on the report.
Related stories

* Audio slideshow: Fleeing the flames
* Eyewitness stories: Australia fires
* Creating the perfect firestorm

The state government says it will make a decisive response to the sharp critique of its actions.

Poor official information about the speed and direction of the fires was a major complaint among the more than 400 witnesses who gave evidence to the commission.

They said the emergency system simply fell apart under pressure.
Vulnerable communities

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was established by the federal Australian government to investigate the causes and responses to the bushfires, which swept through the state in January and February that year.

The panel, which was headed by a former Supreme Court judge, also examined the individual circumstances of each of the deaths.

One of the most significant of the 67 recommendations in the report is the call for an overhaul of the so-called "stay and defend or leave early" policy, which has been a mainstay of fire management across Australia.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

I feel the full weight of responsibility to make sure that we get our response to the commission's report right to make sure we make our state as safe as possible”

End Quote John Brumby Premier of Victoria

Many of the people who died acted on official advice that if they could save their house they could save themselves.

The advice was only withdrawn after "Black Saturday" on 7 February 2009, when hundreds of fires started north of Melbourne as temperatures soared to 48C and strong winds blew in from the interior.

Rather than abandoning the "stay or go" policy, the commission recommends adopting a hybrid model that includes strengthening public warnings, providing designated community refuges and bushfire shelters in areas of high risk, and developing plans for emergency evacuations.

The report also says that leadership during the crisis was "wanting", and recommends appointing a fire commissioner in each state.

Victoria's former police chief commissioner, Christine Nixon, was criticised for going out to dinner on Black Saturday and being out of touch for three hours despite being charged with co-ordinating the emergency response. She resigned as head of the Bushfire Recovery Committee earlier in July.

The commission says Ms Nixon, as well as former Country Fire Authority head Russell Rees and the department of the environment's chief fire officer, Ewan Waller, "did not demonstrate effective leadership in crucial areas" by ensuring that "prompt and accurate warnings were issued to communities in the path of the fires".
Burnt-out houses and cars in Kinglake (8 February 2009) Many who survived Black Saturday are too afraid to return to the fire-zone

The commission also wants the state government to roughly quadruple the amount of controlled burning it undertakes, and develop a voluntary scheme to acquire land in areas of unacceptably high bushfire risk. It also recommends that ageing power lines be replaced with underground cables.

Jean Howard, a resident of Kinglake, one of the communities worst-affected by the bushfires, told the BBC before the report's publication that she hoped the report would offer constructive advice rather than simply condemning those in authority.

"I know people are going to be blamed for it but... I don't think anybody can be to blame because it was a day that nobody had ever lived through or seen before, and nobody could have prepared for a day that that was."

Victoria Premier John Brumby said the state government would undertake a community consultation process on the report before responding.

"As premier I feel the full weight of responsibility to make sure that we get our response to the commission's report right to make sure we make our state as safe as possible," he told reporters.

"The people of our state want the opportunity to have some input."

The BBC's Phil Mercer, in Sydney, says many Australians who survived Black Saturday have been too afraid to return to the fire zone, while those who have come back to start again believe that more needs to be done to protect their vulnerable communities from nature's fury.

Germany has held an emotional memorial service for 21 people killed at the Love Parade dance festival last weekend.

At the service, a top state official vowed that authorities would do everything to find out who was responsible for the tragedy.

More than 500 people were injured during a mass panic at the event in the western city of Duisburg.

As a mark of respect, flags across Germany flew at half-mast.
'Dance of death'

Visibly shaken, the state governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft, said the authorities owed it to the relatives of the victims as well as to the injured and rescue workers to thoroughly investigate what led to the mass panic in a tunnel leading to the festival site.
Related stories

* In pictures: Love Parade memorial
* Grief matched by anger
* Eyewitness: 'It was hell'

Chancellor Angela Merkel had broken off her summer holiday to attend the memorial service at the Salvator Church in Duisburg, along with friends and relatives of those killed at the Love Parade festival.

"The Love Parade was like a dance of death," the head of the regional Lutheran church, Nikolaus Schneider, said in his sermon.

"In the middle of a celebration of the lust for life, death showed its ugly face to all of us."

Rescue workers who had helped to look after the victims at the Love Parade site lit a candle for each person who died.

Hundreds of mourners marched from the city's train station towards the tunnel to pay their respects.

The service at the Salvator Church was broadcast live on German television, and hundreds were watching it on big television screens at other churches and a football stadium in the city.
Love Parade tragedy
Continue reading the main story
map

* Originated in peace event in Berlin staged four months before fall of Berlin Wall
* On 24 July, 21 people killed and more than 500 injured when panic breaks out in a tunnel leading to festival site
* Dead aged between 18 and 38
* Dead include 14 Germans, others from Spain, China, Australia, the Netherlands, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy

Angelika Schick, who visited the Love Parade with her two daughters, watched the service in the stadium of local team MSV Duisburg.

"I hope this service will help me to find peace," she told German public broadcaster ARD.

Before the service, church bells across Duisburg and neighbouring cities rang in memory of those who died.

All week long people have been laying flowers and lighting candles at the exit to the tunnel where the deadly stampede took place.

Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation to determine whether negligent manslaughter was involved in the deaths of so many young people.

Police investigators have accused the Love Parade organisers of failing to control the huge crowds which led to a bottleneck at the tunnel, the only entrance to the festival grounds.

Feelings have been running high and angry residents have staged rallies demanding the resignation of Duisburg's mayor, who has been blamed for ignoring safety warnings in the run-up to the festival, BBC correspondent Tristana Moore in Berlin says.

The mayor, Adolf Sauerland, did not attend the memorial service.

Mr Sauerland said he feared his presence would hurt the feelings of victims' relatives.

He has been placed under police protection after receiving a number of death threats.

The festival organisers have said that they will discontinue the Love Parade.

Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group, the Farc, says it is willing to talk to the new Colombian government.

The Farc leader known as Alfonso Cano said the Marxist rebel group was willing to search for a political solution to the 46-year-old conflict.

President-elect Juan Manuel Santos has in the past ruled out any dialogue unless the Farc released scores of hostages they are holding.

The message comes eight days before Mr Santos takes over as president.
Common ground?

Alfonso Cano, whose real name is Guillermo Leon Saenz, appeared in a videotaped message broadcast by the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera and posted on a Farc website.

In the 36-minute recording, Alfonso Cano said the Marxist group was looking for a political way out of the armed conflict.

"Between all of us, we have to find common ground and, with the input of a majority of Colombians, we have to identify the difficulties, the problems and contradictions, and create perspectives and a way out of the armed conflict," he said.

But he was also critical of the new government of Juan Manuel Santos, elected last month with a convincing majority.

"The success of Juan Manuel Santos this past 20 June guarantees political and strategic continuity for the Colombian oligarchy," he said referring to Mr Santos's long-standing political connections.

The president-elect, who served as defence minister under the current president, Alvaro Uribe, comes from an influential Colombian family.

His great-uncle, Eduardo Santos, was president from 1938 to 1942, and his cousin, Francisco Santos, is the current vice-president.

As defence minister, Mr Santos was instrumental in carrying out the so-called "democratic security policy", aimed at increasing the presence of the security forces throughout the country and driving back the Farc.

In the video, Alfonso Cano does not mention any of the setbacks the Farc have recently suffered.

Last month, the Colombian military rescued four members of the security forces who had been held by the rebel group for almost 12 years.

During the past eight years, Farc numbers have dwindled and many of their top leaders have died or been killed, prompting the Colombian military to say they have reached "the end of the end game".

Alfonso Cano himself only took over the Farc leadership after the death of Manuel Marulanda in 2008.

Mr Cano said the Farc did not enjoy war and asked the Colombian government to stop "forcing us to take up arms".

"We want to create an egalitarian society through political means," he added.
Diplomatic impasse

But he also warned that if the Colombian government continued its military offensive, the Farc would have "no other option but to continue the armed struggle" until their objectives had been met.

During the past eight years, there has been no dialogue with the rebels, as President Alvaro Uribe ruled out talks unless the guerrillas agreed to lay down their arms.

During his presidential campaign, Mr Santos, too, said he would not enter into any talks unless the rebels agreed to release all the hostages they were holding and stopped kidnappings altogether.

The Farc video comes amid a diplomatic crisis between Colombia and Venezuela following charges that some 1,500 Farc guerrillas are using Venezuelan territory as a haven.

The BBC's Jim Muir: "A lot of Lebanese will be looking to these meetings to defuse tensions"

The Syrian and Saudi leaders have called on Lebanon's rival factions to avoid turning to violence amid mounting political tensions in the country.

The call came after unprecedented talks in Beirut between Saudi King Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.

They urged Lebanese to resolve issues through "legal institutions".

The trip marks progress in relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria - two of the region's most influential powers.
Related stories

* Historic Beirut visit shows depth of Arab concern
* Syria warns of Mid-East conflict

Lebanon and Syria only exchanged embassies for the first time last year, and entente between them is seen as crucial to stability in Lebanon.

"The leaders stressed the importance of stability... the commitment (of the Lebanese) not to resort to violence and the need to place the country's interests above all sectarian interests," said a statement issued by the Lebanese presidency after talks between the three leaders.
Conflict looming?

The day-long visit was Mr Assad's first to Lebanon since Syria was forced to withdraw its troops after a 29-year military presence following the 2005 killing of former PM Rafik Hariri.
Analysis
Continue reading the main story
Jim Muir BBC News, Beirut

There was a flurry of last-minute preparations at the Lebanese presidential palace for what was an unprecedented event here.

For the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia to arrive here together and carrying the same message is a sign of the concern they seem to share that Lebanon must not be allowed to explode again into sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shias as happened two years ago on the streets of Beirut.

It was not clear exactly how they would try to defuse the tensions over the possible indictment of Hezbollah members by the UN tribunal looking into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

But their message was clear, that whatever transpires it must not be allowed to destabilise the country.

That message has certainly been delivered and many Lebanese are optimistic it will be taken on board.

The Syrian president gave reporters a thumbs-up as he left the talks at the presidential palace outside Beirut, saying simply: "It was an excellent summit."

Both he and the Saudi leader are worried conflict could break out if, as rumoured, a UN tribunal indicts members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement over the Hariri killing.

Mr Assad and King Abdullah pledged to work together to help stabilise Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah - who rarely appears in public - was not at the meeting, although Hezbollah cabinet ministers took part in talks between the Syrian and Saudi delegations and Lebanese MPs after the leaders' meeting.

Hezbollah is Syria's main ally in Lebanon, while the Saudis have strong ties with the country's Sunni community and the current Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the murdered ex-prime minister.

Mr Assad and King Abdullah are thought to have been instrumental in ending the five months of deadlock which preceded the formation of Lebanon's unity government - which includes Hezbollah - last November.

The Saudis and Syrians backed opposing factions when sectarian tensions spilled into raging street battles in Beirut two years ago.

Now they have mended their own fences, analysts say, they are urging their respective allies in Lebanon to put the country's stability above any other consideration.
'Major stability'

Lebanon's relations with Syria have been complicated since the Hariri assassination, the huge anti-Syrian demonstrations that followed, and Syria's military withdrawal in 2005.
Continue reading the main story
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (left) shakes hands with Syria's President Bashar Assad (right) as Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman (centre) smiles at his presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut, 30 July, 2010

* Your views: Will leaders' visit defuse tensions?

But things have improved since then, analysts say. Saad Hariri has visited Damascus twice as prime minister for talks with Mr Assad, setting aside earlier accusations that Syria was behind his father's death.

Mr Assad's visit to Beirut takes that normalisation a step further.

Tensions have risen in the past week, however, with the Hezbollah leader reacting angrily to persistent reports that the Hariri tribunal may indict several members of his Islamist group.

He made clear that he would not accept such a scenario, accusing the tribunal of being politicised and part of an "Israeli project".

US economic growth slowed between April and June, with GDP growing by an annualised rate of 2.4%, the US Commerce Department has said.

This compares with an annual rate of 3.7% in the previous quarter.

The second quarter figure is a first estimate, and could be revised either up or down in the coming months.

There are growing fears about the strength of the US economic recovery, particularly concerning the country's high unemployment rate of 9.5%.

Despite the slower rate of growth, economic adviser to the White House Christine Romer said: "This solid rate of growth indicates that the process of steady recovery from the recession continues.

"Nevertheless, faster growth is needed to bring about substantial reductions in unemployment."
Upward revision
Mardell's America
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

About 200 people come through the doors of Philadelphia's City Hall every day and Judge Annette Rizzo says it is like a petri dish where the development of the city's economy can be examined in minute detail”

End Quote
Mark Mardell BBC North America editor

* Read Mark's thoughts in full

A large increase in imports and a fall in sales of goods such as cars partly explain the slowdown in GDP growth, while personal consumption grew at a slower rate than in the first quarter.

These factors more than offset an increase in spending on property construction, as Americans looked to take advantage of tax credits for home buyers that expired during the quarter.

The Commerce Department also revised its previous estimate for growth in the first three months of the year up sharply, from 2.7% to 3.7%.

"The economy entered the second quarter with plenty of momentum, but exited with very little," said Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight.

The US economy has now grown for four straight quarters.
'Weakening environment'

The second quarter GDP growth figure was slightly lower than analysts' expectations.
US GDP

As a result, the main Dow Jones index fell more than 100 points in early trading, before swiftly recovering to 10,427.57, 40 points down on the day.

"This number will cast a pall on today's trading," said Jack Ablin at Harris Private Bank.

He also expressed commonly-held fears that growth could slow further as government stimulus measures are withdrawn.

"My sense is that we're operating in a weakening environment without the help of a lot of stimulus. If the stimulus package was a box of doughnuts dumped on the economy, we only have one or two doughnuts left in the box."

The US pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy during the downturn to try to stimulate demand.

Earlier on Friday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the US might have to increase its stimulus spending to support the recovery.

It said the US "economic recovery has been slow by historical standards" and warned that "the outlook remains uncertain".

"Thanks to a massive policy response to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the US economy is recovering, but further decisive policy action will be needed to address the policy challenges stemming from the crisis," the IMF warned.

Germany's Sebastian Vettel secured his seventh pole position of the season after qualifying fastest for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring.

Vettel pipped his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber by just 0.4 seconds as the manufacturer once again showed they will be the team to beat this weekend.

The rejuvenated Ferrari's of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who secured a controversial win in Germany last weekend, maintained that form by taking the second row of the grid -- although they were almost a second slower than the Red Bull's.

Current world championship leader Lewis Hamilton will start the race from fifth position but McLaren teammate and defending world champion Jenson Button is only 11th ater struggling throughout the day before eventually failing to make Q1.
We found the problem from last week that made the start so bad.
--Sebastian Vettel
RELATED TOPICS

* Formula One World Championship
* Sebastian Vettel
* Mark Webber
* Fernando Alonso
* Felipe Massa

"That was tough, but we were never going to be on the front two rows here," Button told reporters.

The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg again outqualified Michael Schumacher -- who will start a lowly 14th -- while Russian Vitaly Petrov is seventh after going quicker than Renault teammate Robert Kubica for the first time this season, with the Pole eighth.

Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa and Nico Hulkenberg of Williams will complete the top 10 on the grid.

Vettel topped qualifying at Hockenheim last weekend but finished third after a poor start and the 23-year-old told the BBC: "We found the problem from last week that made the start so bad so hopefully we can have a normal start on Sunday."

You'll only need a single shot of influenza vaccine this year to protect against three strains of the flu, including the H1N1 virus that sparked the 2009 pandemic.

The federal Food and Drug Administration today approved vaccines for the 2010-2011 flu season, and they include drugs to protect against H1N1, another strain of influenza A, Perth, and a strain of influenza B, Brisbane.

The news comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have announced expanded recommendations that urge everyone older than six months get a seasonal flu shot.

Manufacturers expect to produce about 170 million doses of the new seasonal vaccine, which is higher than the 100 million doses offered in a typical flu season, but lower than the nearly 200 million doses of H1N1 vaccine ordered by the government last year, said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vaccine came too late
Last year, the onset of the H1N1 outbreak started too late to include with production of regular seasonal vaccine, so people needed two separate doses to be protected. This year, just one shot is required. It typically takes six months for flu shots to become available.

"The best way to protect yourself and your family against influenza is to get vaccinated every year," said Dr. Karen Midthun, acting director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "The availability of a new seasonal flu vaccine each year is an important tool in the prevention of influenza-related illnesses and death."

Matching flu vaccines to expected illnesses can be tricky, FDA officials said. There's always a chance that the actual viruses will be different than the ones targeted by the vaccines. Even if they don't match exactly, the vaccine can reduce the chance and the severity of illness, officials noted.

Last year, the government ordered nearly 200 million doses of vaccine to prevent H1N1, also dubbed swine flu, but had to destroy about 40 million doses that expired after demand waned.
Cost of the incinerated vaccine was about $260 million, according to the Associated Press.

"It was just a matter of circumstance that resulted in flu activity peaking before vaccine was widely available," said Skinner, of the CDC.

Between 5 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population comes down with flu in a typical year, leading to more than 200,000 hospitalizations and about 36,000 deaths. Swine flu turned out to be less deadly than first feared, with about 12,000 deaths.

"Mad Men" may be named for the guys, but the women rule the roost.

Take Christina Hendricks' savvy office manager Joan Harris (nee Holloway), a glamour girl who choreographs her every move with the precision of a five-star general drawing up battle plans. Or how about January Jones' frustrated housewife Betty Draper, whose icy veneer masks a woman constantly on the verge of coming undone? And of course, there's up-and-comer Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), a gifted copywriter finding her voice during the upheaval of the series' 1960s-era setting.

As the critically acclaimed AMC series begins its fourth season, the Emmy-nominated trio chatted about auditioning, typecasting, and being women in a world of "Men."

What was your 'Mad Men' audition process like?

Christina Hendricks: It was pilot season. It's that crazy time of year when we all go nuts. I had already auditioned for a bunch of stuff, and I was feeling depleted. I had gotten the script, and I was super excited and went to work on the audition with my best friend. I remember breaking down and crying because I was so tired. I was like, "I'm not doing anything with this role; I don't know what I'm doing." She helped me so much, so I had every word down and went in and enjoyed myself and had a really good audition. They brought me back to read the Midge role: the bohemian lover of Don Draper. At the time, they hadn't decided which characters were going to be regulars on the show and which were going to be guest stars. I said, "I'll take whatever one stays!" The women's roles were so beautiful.

January Jones: I went in for the role of Peggy twice. Ultimately, I wasn't right for it. ("Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner) said, "There is this other role." He wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, and there weren't any real lines for Betty at the time. He wrote a couple scenes overnight — really amazing scenes, actually — and I came in and read for him, and that was it. I just wanted to be involved in the show in any way; I think we all felt that. It was such a unique project, and it was the best thing I'd read in a long time.

Elisabeth Moss: I auditioned twice. I did two scenes both times, and it felt like a really good fit for the part. I loved playing Peggy; I just really felt at home playing that character. I knew who she was, and I knew why she was doing what she was doing. And the person that I thought she was the person Matt wrote.
"Mad Men" may be named for the guys, but the women rule the roost.

Take Christina Hendricks' savvy office manager Joan Harris (nee Holloway), a glamour girl who choreographs her every move with the precision of a five-star general drawing up battle plans. Or how about January Jones' frustrated housewife Betty Draper, whose icy veneer masks a woman constantly on the verge of coming undone? And of course, there's up-and-comer Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), a gifted copywriter finding her voice during the upheaval of the series' 1960s-era setting.

As the critically acclaimed AMC series begins its fourth season, the Emmy-nominated trio chatted about auditioning, typecasting, and being women in a world of "Men."

What was your 'Mad Men' audition process like?

Christina Hendricks: It was pilot season. It's that crazy time of year when we all go nuts. I had already auditioned for a bunch of stuff, and I was feeling depleted. I had gotten the script, and I was super excited and went to work on the audition with my best friend. I remember breaking down and crying because I was so tired. I was like, "I'm not doing anything with this role; I don't know what I'm doing." She helped me so much, so I had every word down and went in and enjoyed myself and had a really good audition. They brought me back to read the Midge role: the bohemian lover of Don Draper. At the time, they hadn't decided which characters were going to be regulars on the show and which were going to be guest stars. I said, "I'll take whatever one stays!" The women's roles were so beautiful.

January Jones: I went in for the role of Peggy twice. Ultimately, I wasn't right for it. ("Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner) said, "There is this other role." He wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, and there weren't any real lines for Betty at the time. He wrote a couple scenes overnight — really amazing scenes, actually — and I came in and read for him, and that was it. I just wanted to be involved in the show in any way; I think we all felt that. It was such a unique project, and it was the best thing I'd read in a long time.

Elisabeth Moss: I auditioned twice. I did two scenes both times, and it felt like a really good fit for the part. I loved playing Peggy; I just really felt at home playing that character. I knew who she was, and I knew why she was doing what she was doing. And the person that I thought she was the person Matt wrote.

Mobile phone users are being encouraged to find out if operators are doing enough to keep their calls secret.

Security researchers have released tools that, they say, make it easy to see what security systems operators use to stop eavesdropping.

The researchers want to expose those operators that have not updated security systems to prevent others listening in.

The tools are based on an attack first demonstrated in late 2009.

"We do want people to go out and study how secure these networks are and to put pressure on the operators to improve," said Dr Karsten Nohl, the lead security researcher behind the project.

Dr Nohl gave a presentation about the tools, called Airprobe, and how to use them at the Black Hat hacker conference held in Las Vegas from 28-29 July.

"We've built tools that interface with cellular telephone communications," he said.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

The practical risk to customers is very low and spreading fear and panic amongst mobile users is inappropriate and regrettable”

End Quote GSM Association

Most mobile calls are protected with an encryption system that uses a huge number of keys to stop eavesdropping. The vast amount of time it would take to try all the keys just to get at the contents of one call makes it effectively impossible to eavesdrop.

Dr Nohl said he, his colleagues and a few dozen others have found a way to shrink the amount of storage needed to hold a complete list of the keys and speed up the way to find the one that unscrambles a conversation.

Without these innovations the call cracking project would have got nowhere, said Dr Nohl.

"Just generating the key table would have taken 100,000 computer years and storing it would have taken 100 petabytes," he said.

Dr Nohl and his colleagues have squeezed the table into a format only two terabytes in size and produced algorithms that can look through it and find the right key in minutes.

Defeating such an attack would be easy for operators, if they have installed an appropriate software update, said Dr Nohl.

"We want to enable users to test whether their operator has installed the patch," he said. "If not they should call them up or send a letter."
Little evidence

The tools being shown off at Black Hat build on work done in late 2009 to generate the table of keys.

"What we are seeing is mobile phone hacking moving from an obscure sub-culture into a mainstream hacking movement," said Nigel Stanley, a mobile security analyst from Bloor Research.
Black Hat logo, Black Hat The Black Hat conference is all about practical attacks on secure systems

"When GSM security was originally designed call fraud was the issue, as was a concern that network suppliers would steal each other's customers," said Mr Stanley. "The thought that amateur hackers could break the code would have been laughable back then. Now it's a reality."

Commenting on the work, mobile phone industry body the GSM Association said: "Since 2007 reports of an imminent GSM eavesdropping capability by hacking groups have been common and operators have been monitoring this for some time."

The technical challenges of eavesdropping remained "considerable", said the GSMA.

"We have seen very little evidence that the hackers are able to overcome them," it added. It said that operators could quite easily change the way that calls were set up and handled in their networks to thwart eavesdropping.

It concluded: "GSMA remains convinced that the practical risk to customers is very low and spreading fear and panic amongst mobile users is inappropriate and regrettable."

I wake up with the light, just before 6 a.m., and reach for my vitamin pills hanging above my hammock. I get out of bed and peer through the gloom to see if Cho is up yet and has started the fire. If so, I will probably go to the river and check the fishing net to see if we have a catch.

The water is cold at this time of the morning and a river more than waist deep is a rude awakening to the day.

We cook our staple of farinha (made from cassava root) in a little oil and garlic and wash the dry substance down with sweet coffee. Then we decamp, pack our bags and are on the trail by about 7.30 a.m. -- except there are no trails, of course.

Cho and I take turns up front with the machete. We walk 50 minutes of every hour and rest 10 minutes, so we do 25-minute shifts. It's enough when you have to carry a 35 to 45 kg pack (the weight depends on the quantity of food and duration of the leg.)

When we break for a rest and slump onto our packs we stare at the floor and try and regain the composure to speak to each other. Sometimes this never comes and we don't speak all day. Nothing sinister -- it's just complete exhaustion. We don't lunch; we just keep grazing on farinha and salt.
Video: Walking with the 'Amazon man'
Video: Walking the Amazon

At 3 p.m. we look for a stream or river that might yield fish. A nice deep slow-moving pool is what we are after. Oxbow lakes are great too, packed with piranhas that have loads of succulent white flesh on them.

Occasionally we don't arrive at a river: It's exploratory trekking after all and we don't know what's ahead. The maps we had were useless -- they're intended for plane navigation -- so we now use Google Earth printouts instead.

If we have no water we can't wash, rehydrate or cook properly. It's a grimy night of broken sleep in your hammock. Not pleasant. If we have water, no matter how small the puddle might be, we can make a reservoir from our rucksack liners and bail water into them using our Tupperware boxes.

We wash whenever we can -- every night if possible -- including all the clothes we wore during the day too. If we didn't, we would degrade very quickly. Bacteria are rife and humidity doesn't let cuts heal very quickly. Hygiene is vital.

Watch Ed Stafford dealing with medical problems along the way Video

We then put on a pot of coffee, eat some more farinha (and hopefully fish broth), and sit chatting about our dreams for after the expedition when life starts again. Then we climb into our hammocks. I designed them and had them made up in Colombia. They have mosquito nets and tarps that fit snugly.

I'll answer my emails and upload the footage I've shot in the day. Thursday is blog day, and so I diarize our week for those following us.

My most memorable moment to date would be back in April 2008, when I made the summit of Nevado Mismi in Peru and looked out across the Amazon basin with the knowledge that I'd be walking along it for the next two years. It was both overwhelming and exciting.

My favorite moment was actually far less spectacular. Cho and I had been walking through an area of Peru where everyone was suspicious, scared or aggressive towards us: Myths of organ traffickers were rife and education was limited.

As the sun started to set we were approaching a small jungle town and a little old lady joined me on the path with her granddaughter. They started chatting and the little girl held my hand -- she must have been about five-years old. They walked with us happily until we reached the town, even though by then it was dark.
Oxbow lakes are great too, packed with piranhas that have loads of succulent white flesh on them
--Ed Stafford
RELATED TOPICS

* Amazon Rain Forest
* Brazil
* Peru

Cynically, I thought that they were going to ask for money or food but when we arrived they smiled, shook our hands, and wished us good luck before returning to their house, some kilometers back, in the pitch black. They had walked with us out of pure good will. And at that time, when good will had been somewhat lacking, it brought me close to tears.

There have been other moments when I've been close to tears and moments of laughter: For example, last night at 10 p.m. Cho hit the ground with a thud when the pole his hammock was tied to broke in two.

At first I thought he'd injured himself as he couldn't respond, but he was coping with the combination of trying to force himself awake and being quite badly winded! He laughed too, eventually!

As we near the end, the day-to-day business of getting up and putting on wet clothes is tough. The endurance, both mental and physical, has been the thing that's been the most wearing. I've been quite humbled by how much I've had to rely on other people and I've benefited greatly from the generosity of the people I've met along the way.

For the last 840 odd days I've lived and breathed the Amazon, the most amazing place on our planet.

I'll never forget my two-and-a-half years walking along the banks of this spectacular river. Granted, there have been dangers. Cho and I have experienced more drama in two-and-a-half years than most people do in a lifetime.

However, the abiding memories I'll take home to the UK will be my close friendship with Cho -- we're brothers now -- the people we've met, and the life we've lived.

The world's third most wanted Nazi suspect was involved in the entire process of killing Jews at the Belzec death camp: from taking victims from trains to pushing them into gas chambers to throwing corpses into mass graves, a German court said Thursday.

Samuel Kunz, an 88-year-old who has lived undisturbed for decades, was indicted last week on charges of involvement in the killing of 430,000 Jews — after a career as an employee in a government ministry and obscurity in a quiet village just outside the former West German capital of Bonn.

On Thursday the court in Bonn that indicted him revealed more details of the charges against him, describing in gruesome detail some of the crimes the suspected former death camp guard allegedly committed in occupied Poland from January 1942 to July 1943.

"The accused was deployed in all areas of the camp," Bonn court spokesman Matthias Nordmeyer told The Associated Press.

Kunz's case only came to the attention recently of prosecutors and the world's major Nazi-hunting organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, when prosecutors were poring through World War II-era documents as they built their case against retired autoworker John Demjanjuk, now being tried in a high-profile case in Munich.

The discovery prompted the Wiesenthal center to list Kunz in April as the world's No. 3 most wanted Nazi due to the fact that he was allegedly involved personally in the killings and to the "enormous scope" of the killings, said the center's chief Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff.

The court also announced Thursday that Kunz has been charged in a German youth court because he was a minor at the time — meaning he could be brought to trial as an adolescent and face a more lenient sentence.

The showdown over Arizona's immigration law played out in court and on Phoenix's sun-splashed streets on Thursday, as the state sought to reinstate key parts of the measure and angry protesters chanted that they refused to "live in fear." Dozens were arrested.

A federal judge's decision a day earlier to block the strict law's most controversial elements didn't dampen the raging immigration debate.

The judge has been threatened. Protesters rallied in cities from Los Angeles to New York. The sheriff of the state's most populous county vowed to continue targeting illegal immigrants. Lawmakers or candidates in as many as 18 states say they still want to push similar measures.

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, life continued as before, with officials sending back people who were captured while attempting to cross.

In Phoenix, hundreds of the law's opponents massed at a downtown jail, beating on the metal door and forcing sheriff's deputies to call for backup. Officers arrested at least 32 people, and dozens more were detained elsewhere throughout the day.

Activists focused their rage at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the 78-year-old ex-federal drug agent known for his immigration sweeps.

'We will not live in fear'
Outside his downtown office, marchers chanted "Sheriff Joe, we are here. We will not live in fear." One was dressed in a papier-mâche "Sheriff Joe" head and prison garb. Arpaio said he'd continue with a Thursday sweep.

Up to 140 people are feared dead after a boat carrying passengers and goods capsized on a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say.

The accident happened on the Kasai river - a tributary of the Congo River - in the western province of Bandundu.

Information Minister Lambert Mende told the BBC the boat had been overloaded and 80 people had been confirmed dead.
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* River Congo: Nation's lifeline
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After decades of conflict, DR Congo has few roads or rail links and many people travel on often overloaded vessels.

The latest accident occurred on Wednesday.

Mr Mende told the BBC the river level had been low and the accident occurred when the overcrowded boat hit a mud bank.

It was travelling to the capital Kinshasa from Mushie, about 30km (20 miles) from the town of Bandundu, AFP news agency reports.

Last November at least 73 people died when a boat sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe, also in Bandundu province.

DR Congo - a country the size of western Europe - has only a few hundred kilometres of paved roads outside the cities.

Rescue teams in north-east China are working to retrieve 3,000 barrels of chemicals washed into a major river, state media say.

Severe floods washed the barrels, from two chemical storage facilities, into the Songhua river in Jilin city.

Around 400 barrels have been recovered so far by workers at eight stations on the river.

Water quality was being checked and no chemicals had yet been found in the water, state media said.

Several parts of China have been hit by flooding in recent weeks, amid the worst seasonal rains in a decade.

Elsewhere in Jilin, 30,000 people in the town of Kouqian were said to be trapped by floodwaters after a reservoir and two rivers burst its banks.
Panic-buying

The Songhua River is the largest tributary of the Heilongjiang river, also known as the Amur river in Russia, on the China-Russia border.
Map

Xinhua news agency said that a total of 7,000 barrels from the storage facilities of two chemical plants had been washed into the river.

Four thousands of the barrels were empty, the agency said. The remaining 3,000 contained flammable chemicals, it said.

Water supplies in the city of 4.5 million people were briefly suspended and panic-buying reported as residents stocked up on bottled water.

But by Thursday morning water supplies had been mostly restored, reports said.

Water quality in the river was being monitored at seven stations, Xinhua news agency said.

"Some residents are worried, but we have yet to find any leaks in the barrels of chemicals, so they should not be worried about their water quality," an official with the Jilin Water Bureau, who did not want to be identified, told AP news agency.

Russian authorities were also checking the water in the Heilongjiang river (the Amur river), a report on Russian television said.

Five years ago a chemical spill in the Songhua river left the city of Harbin and its 3.8 million residents without water for five days.

A woman in northern France has admitted killing her eight newborn babies but said her husband knew nothing about it, the prosecutor in the case has said.

Dominique Cottrez has been placed under investigation over the deaths, which happened between 1989 and 2006. Her husband has been freed without charge.

Mr Cottrez had initially faced investigation for allegedly concealing the bodies and not reporting crimes.
Related stories

* What is known about the case

Mrs Cottrez, 47, faces charges of the voluntary homicide of the babies.

Being placed under investigation is the first stage of criminal proceedings that can lead to charges.

The prosecutor had requested the charges of failing to report the killings and hiding the bodies against Mr Cottrez, but the prosecutor said the investigating magistrate in the case had ruled against this.
Wrapped in plastic

The remains were found in the village of Villers-au-Tertre, near the northern city of Lille, on Wednesday.
At the scene
Continue reading the main story
Christian Fraser
Christian Fraser BBC News, Villers-au-Tertre

Dominique Cottrez was house proud. Her garden is a picture: there are no clues here - save for the police tape on the windows - to the macabre secret she was hiding in the garage of her tiny cottage.

The prosecutor says she is now facing eight counts of murder and a possible life sentence.

Mrs Cottrez was an active member of the community, a familiar figure known to all as the doting grandmother.

But she had smothered the first of these eight children in 1989, the last in 2006.

She never wanted any more children, she told police and, even though she is a care assistant, she claims she was too fearful of doctors to ever request contraception.

Police with sniffer dogs searched two houses in the quiet commuter village after the new owners of a house called them following the discovery of remains in the garden.

The house belonged to the parents of the arrested woman.

Police then conducted searches in another house in the village - that of the arrested couple - where the bodies of more babies were found.

Mrs Cottrez said she was fully aware of her pregnancies, but that she did not want any more children and did not want to see a doctor for contraception, the prosecutor in the case said at a news conference.

"This is a case outside of the norms given the number of newborns," he added.

Mrs Cottrez said that after a first difficult birth because of her heavy weight, she did not want to see any more doctors. She was alone in her pregnancies and while giving birth, the prosecutor said.

The remains found in the first house were wrapped in plastic bags, while the other six bodies were found in the garage of the second house wrapped in hermetically sealed plastic bags, hidden under a variety of objects.

The births of the eight babies were said to have taken place between 1989 and 2006-07, the prosecutor said, although further tests will be able to determine the exact dates.

Mr Cottrez said he had never noticed his wife's pregnancies because of her heavy weight, and had no idea she had been getting rid of the babies at birth, the prosecutor said.
Daughters speak

The couple have two grown-up daughters and grandchildren.
Map of key locations in Villers au Tertre

The two unnamed daughters, aged 21 and 22, told regional newspaper La Voix du Nord that they could not understand what had happened.

The younger of the two said: "We never noticed anything. She had her moments of weariness, it's true, but she worked nearly 24 hours a day between her job as a home help and her housework."

The eldest recalled how her mother had helped at the birth of her son: "She was there at the delivery with me, she was the one who carried him and wrapped him... We both had tears in our eyes."
Multiple infanticides in France
Continue reading the main story

* 2010, Nord region: Dominique Cottrez confesses to killing eight of her babies
* 2010, Lower Normandy: Celine Lesage jailed for killing six of her babies
* 2003, Alsace: Remains of four babies found in bags in forest - at least three had same parentage; parents not found
* 1984, Limousin: Jean-Pierre Leymarie and his wife Rolande jailed for killing seven of their babies

Both daughters added that they hoped their mother would get psychological help. "She must feel relieved now that she has nothing left to hide," said one.

Mrs Cottrez is a care worker while Mr Cottrez works for a construction company and is a member of the local council.

"He's on his third term in office. He used to volunteer in the community. He's a respectable man," local mayor Patrick Mercier told reporters earlier on Thursday.

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says France has had a string of cases in recent years involving the deaths of newborn babies.

In March, a mother confessed to killing six of her newborn children and hiding them in the cellar of her house in north-west France.

In 1984 a couple in Correze, central France, were jailed for killing seven of their newborn infants over a period of seven years.

In Germany in 2006, Sabine Hilschenz was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the manslaughter of eight of her newborn babies. A ninth baby also died, but too long ago to allow a prosecution

Prominent Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas, who recently ended his four-month hunger strike, has been released from hospital.

Mr Farinas, 48, began his protest in February to demand the release of imprisoned opposition activists in poor health.

He called off his hunger strike earlier this month following the decision by the Cuban government to free 52 dissidents.

Doctors said he had been near death.

Mr Farinas, a journalist and psychologist, said his goal now was to continue writing articles.

He told the EFE news agency it felt strange to be back home, but that he was adapting and felt happy to be able to hug his daughter and sister.
'Slow recovery'

He began his fast after dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo died following an 85-day hunger strike in February.

Mr Farinas, whose health had seriously deteriorated during his hunger strike, will have to use a wheelchair until doctors allow him to start physiotherapy so he can slowly start walking again.

He started eating again on 8 July, after the Cuban government agreed to free 52 dissidents under a deal with the Catholic Church and Spain.

The 52 are part of a group of 75 opposition activists who were arrested in 2003 and sentenced to jail terms of between six and 28 years.

While their supporters have welcomed plans of the release, they have pointed to the 115 activists who they say are still jailed.

Cuban officials earlier this month said they were prepared to free more dissidents but did not release any further details.

The Arab League has endorsed direct Palestinian peace talks with the Israelis, but has left the timing to the Palestinians, officials said.

The US has been pushing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restart the direct talks, suspended since 2008.

Mr Abbas has demanded a settlement freeze and a return to 1967 borders as a precondition of direct talks.
Israel and the Palestinians

* Back to business in Gaza?
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* Guide: Eased Gaza blockade
* Israel-Obama rocky friendship From our own correspondent

Correspondents say the move by the Arab League makes it likely the talks will resume in the coming months.

The Palestinian president is now expected to return to Ramallah and seek endorsement for the direct talks from a meeting of Palestinian factions, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly stated he wants direct talks to start as soon as possible.

In response to the Arab League decision, his office released a statement saying he was "ready to start, already in the next few days, direct and frank talks with the Palestinian Authority".
Thorny issues

The Arab League agreed in principle to direct talks with Israel provided the Palestinians saw fit, said Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who chaired a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

When I receive assurances about the 1967 border and halting settlements, I will go immediately to the direct talks”

End Quote Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian leader

"Of course, there is agreement, but agreement over the principles of what will be discussed and the manner of the direct negotiations," he said.

But the timing of the direct talks was "a matter for the Palestinian side to decide", he said.

Mr Netanyahu has said he is ready to discuss all the core issues of the decades-old conflict, and has accused the Palestinians of avoiding direct talks.

Mr Abbas wants Israel to agree to a complete halt in settlement construction and to accept a Palestinian state in territories seized in the 1967 Middle East war - the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

"When I receive written assurances [about] accepting the 1967 border and halting the settlement [building], I will go immediately to the direct talks," Mr Abbas was quoted as saying by Egypt's state-owned news agency before the meeting.

Mr Netanyahu has accepted the idea of Palestinian statehood with conditions, but has ruled out giving up control of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.

Israel also acceded to US pressure to temporarily limit settlement building in the West Bank, but its 10-month moratorium expires in September.

Mr Abbas suspended negotiations after Israel carried out an offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December 2008 in response to rocket fire