As of 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, the blaze had already consumed over 13,500 acres, and officials warn that only 10 percent of the fire has been contained.

"This fire will not be out until Mother Nature puts it out with a really good rainstorm. There is a good possibility of some thunderstorm activity this afternoon, but as of this point we can't really tell you if we'll get rain or not," Forest Fire Service Chief Maris Gabliks said during a Wednesday morning news conference.

New Jersey State Police Lt. Col. Drew Lieb said 2,500 homes were evacuated from the surrounding area on Tuesday. About 700 of those people were being sheltered at a nearby high school and middle school. Three nursing homes were also evacuated and sent to the high school for shelter.

Bert Plante, a division fire warden with the Forest Fire Service, said there were no reports of deaths or injuries. About 100 firefighters from the forest fire service as well as 200 emergency responders from Ocean, Burlington and Atlantic counties would battle the blaze overnight, he said. Plante believes the fire will rival some of the area's biggest forest fires in history. In 1995, a fire there burned about 20,000 acres of land, and in 2001 another fire consumed about 12,000 acres, according to Plante.

A spokesperson for Hong Kong's Television and Entertainment Licensing authority (TELA) said it had received 838 complaints about the Bible by noon Wednesday. The complaints follow the launch of an anonymous Web site -- www.truthbible.net -- which said the holy book "made one tremble" given its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest.

The Web site said the Bible's sexual content "far exceeds" that of a recent sex column published in the Chinese University's "Student Press" magazine, which had asked readers whether they'd ever fantasized about incest or bestiality. That column was later deemed "indecent" by the Obscene Articles Tribunal, sparking a storm of debate about social morality and freedom of speech. Student editors of the journal defended it, saying open sexual debate was a basic right.

If the Bible is similarly classified as "indecent" by authorities, only those over 18 could buy the holy book and it would need to be sealed in a wrapper with a statutory warning notice. TELA said it was still undecided on whether the Bible had violated Hong Kong's obscene and indecent articles laws. But a local protestant minister shrugged off this possibility.

John Bolton, who still has close links to the Bush administration, told The Daily Telegraph that the European Union had to "get more serious" about Iran and recognise that its diplomatic attempts to halt Iran's enrichment programme had failed.Iran has "clearly mastered the enrichment technology now they're not stopping, they're making progress and our time is limited", he said. Economic sanctions "with pain" had to be the next step, followed by attempting to overthrow the theocratic regime and, ultimately, military action to destroy nuclear sites.

Mr Bolton's stark warning appeared to be borne out yesterday by leaks about an inspection by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of Iran's main nuclear installation at Natanz on Sunday.The experts found that Iran's scientists were operating 1,312 centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium. If Iran can install 3,000, it will need about one year to produce enough weapons grade uranium for one nuclear bomb.

The Bush administration has moved some distance away from the hawkish views of Mr Bolton and Mr Cheney, which were dominant in the president's first term, towards the more traditional diplomatic approach favoured by the State Department.But his is still a highly influential voice and Mr Bush remains adamant that he will not allow Iran to become armed with nuclear weapons.

The Pentagon has drawn up contingency plans for military action and some senior White House officials share Mr Bolton's thinking.

"We are Palestinian, we are women and we are gay," is the slogan coined by Aswat, the association campaigning for lesbian Arabs to be accepted in Israeli and Palestinian society, and whose name in English means "voices".

"A lot of lesbians and Arab homosexuals have double lives, marry and lead a secret existence. People say it is forbidden by religion," says Rauda Morcos, Aswat coordinator, at its headquarters in Israel's northern city of Haifa. "Society is hypocritical. But we are against this issue remaining secret. We want it dealt with as a political and social issue."

If, with the passing months, Aswat is becoming more visible and widely recognised in Israel, it is also attracting the wrath of the Islamic Movement, which has become an incontrovertible fixture in the Arab Israeli community.
"Under Islamic law, homosexuality is unlawful, a kind of illness that needs to be treated," said Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur, an MP in the Israeli Parliament and a member of the movement. "Our Arab society cannot tolerate this phenomenon, to allow it to become an overt part of our daily life."

She knows that the path is still long and paved with stones for gay people, particularly in the Palestinian territories. "We don't have any illusions. We know, for example, there will be no Gay Pride in Gaza. But quietly and surely we will change things." Aswat is starting to snowball. An association, even if for the moment it remains a secret, was set up in Ramallah in March by four gay students.

"Officially we do social work against the occupation or the wall. But in private we are trying to help gays," said one of its founders on condition of anonymity, who has infiltrated Tel Aviv illegally for the drag-queen night.

That translates into millions of deaths from heart disease alone. Yet hypertension doesn't command the attention of, say, bird flu, which so far has killed fewer than 200 people. "Hypertension has gone a bit out of fashion," says Dr. Jan Ostergren of Sweden's Karolinska University Hospital, who co-authored a first-of-its-kind analysis of the global impact of high blood pressure.

The idea: to rev up world governments to fight bad blood pressure just as countries have banded together in the past to fight infectious diseases. That translates into millions of deaths from heart disease alone. Yet hypertension doesn't command the attention of, say, bird flu, which so far has killed fewer than 200 people.
"Hypertension has gone a bit out of fashion," says Dr. Jan Ostergren of Sweden's Karolinska University Hospital, who co-authored a first-of-its-kind analysis of the global impact of high blood pressure.

Normal blood pressure is measured at less than 120 over 80. Anyone can get high blood pressure, a level of 140 over 90 or more. But being overweight and inactive, and eating too much salt, all increase the risk. So does getting older.

The world's population is aging and fattening, fueling a continued increase in blood pressure problems. Remarkably, the report cites worse hypertension rates in much of Western Europe than in the US, despite cultural similarities: 38 percent in England, Sweden and Italy; 45 percent in Spain; 55 percent in Germany.

But the biggest jump is expected in developing countries and nations rapidly moving to more Western-style economies, the report warns. In parts of India, studies suggest one in three urban adults has high blood pressure, while it's still rare in rural areas with more traditional lifestyles. More than a quarter of adults in China have hypertension. So do one in four in Ghana and South Africa.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first visit to the United Arab Emirates came just days after Vice President Dick Cheney called on Gulf nations to blunt Iran's efforts at regional dominance. It also came as the United States and Iran agreed to talk in Baghdad about Iraq's deteriorating security. Although seen as a political turnabout, potential for real progress is low as tensions - and sharp words - continue to escalate.

In stark contrast to Cheney's low-key visit, Ahmadinejad was greeted at the airport Sunday with a red carpet and the top leaders of the Emirates. But no Emirati leaders joined Ahmadinejad at his public events, and there appeared to be an effort to give the Iranian leader a warm welcome but keep a distance from his statements.
In three separate addresses here, the fiery Iranian leader called for American troops to "pack their bags" and leave US bases in the Gulf. He also was defiant about his country's disputed nuclear program, days after Cheney's tough talk from the deck of US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. The US accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons - a claim that Iran denies.

"The superpowers cannot prevent us from owning this" nuclear technology, Ahmadinejad told reporters in the opulent Emirates Palace hotel. "If they want to strike us militarily, I say their use of these practices will be gone forever. The Iranian people can protect themselves and retaliate." But it did not appear that Ahmadinejad's visit was any indication that the UAE was shifting its ties with America, which remain closer than Iran's. The Emirates' foreign minister left Monday for a visit to Washington. US Navy ships use three ports in the Emirates and the US Air Force operates from at least three airports, including flying U-2 and Global Hawk spy planes from al-Dhafra Air Base just outside Abu Dhabi.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, also stressed that relations with the Emirates had taken a "quantum leap," and the two countries agreed to create a joint committee headed by their foreign ministers to boost cooperation in tourism, trade, energy and development. "There's a willingness on both sides to upgrade relations,"

Ahmadinejad said. "Relations between Iran and the UAE can be a model for all the countries of the region." He also called for the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Egypt that were broken in 1979. The Iranian delegation has similar plans in Oman, a sparsely populated oil-producing state. Iran and Oman share the territory that forms the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which two-fifths of the world's oil shipments pass. Iran's state news agency, IRNA, reported Monday that Ahmadinejad hopes to establish government trade offices in Oman's capital of Muscat and the port city of Khasab, which sits near the strait, just across from Iran. Khasab is also the site of an airport that has been used as a base by the US military.

The plant in the Tianjin Binhai New Area, the first for Airbus outside Europe, is expected to start operating in August next year and have an annual capacity of 44 aircraft in 2011, sources with the project said. The project includes assembly workshops, power stations, hangars and outdoor facilities. The main body of the assembly workshop will be completed at the end of this year.

The joint venture contract for the Airbus A320 final assembly line project had undergone 17 rounds of business talks and was expected to be signed in May, according to earlier reports quoting Zhang Jinwei, vice-director of the Tianjin Bonded Zone Administration.

Total investment in the project is estimated at eight billion to ten billion yuan (1.04 billion to 1.3 billion US dollars).

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may invite Jordanian King Abdullah II to address the Knesset when the two meet at the king's palace in Aqaba on Tuesday.

Senior diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said Monday night that Olmert was considering extending an invitation to the king, who has taken a very high profile in pushing forward the Arab Peace Initiative. Olmert will take part in a conference for Nobel laureates that the king is hosting in Petra in the morning, and then meet with him at his palace in Aqaba at noon.

Nabil Amr, a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper Monday saying that Abdullah planned to address the Knesset. Last month, the king hosted Knesset Speaker and Acting President Dalia Itzik and a Knesset delegation to try to drum up Israeli support for the initiative.

The Olmert-Abdullah meeting will be their first "formal" meeting since they met in June at the previous Petra Nobel laureate conference, although they met "informally" in the fall when Olmert held talks in Amman with a Saudi representative. Sources close to Olmert said the two leaders were expected to discuss the Arab Peace Initiative, the situation in the PA and bilateral ties.

Abdullah, meanwhile, is sending one of his private helicopters to pick up Vice Premier and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres. Peres will meet separately with Abdullah in discussions expected to focus on progress on the joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian project called the "Peace Valley" that Peres has been pushing for years. The idea behind the project is to increase regional stability through economic development.
Peres will be the keynote speaker at the conference's luncheon.

Olmert later told a conference involving Nobel Laureates and Israeli and Arab youth on ways to solve conflicts in the Mideast that his country was "ready to sit down and talk about it carefully" and was willing to listen to Arab views.
"We heard about the Arab peace initiative and we say come and present it to us. You want to talk to us about it, we are ready to sit down and talk about it carefully," he told the conference in the ancient city. Describing the plan as "very interesting," Olmert said "we are ready to cooperate to find the appropriate manner to implement it. If the Arab countries want to present their peace initiative, we will be more than happy to sit down and listen carefully."

Olmert invited the "22 leaders of the Arab nations that are ready to make that kind of peace with Israel, to come to Israel, wherever they want and to sit down with us and start talk and present their ideas." He added that if they were willing to invite him somewhere for talks, then "I'm ready to come." Olmert went on to say that "if Hamas agrees to abide by the Quartet's conditions we will agree to sit with them around the negotiating table,", adding, however, that Hamas was "an obstacle to peace since it refuses to recognize Israel."

The conference in Petra, a city carved into rose-red stone and built by the Nabataean culture some 2,000 years ago, was hosted jointly by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development and the New York-based Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

Ridiculous examples include the case of a Cheshire man who was cautioned for being "found in possession of an egg with intent to throw". In Kent, a child was arrested for throwing a slice of cucumber from a tuna sandwich at another youngster, while a was boy arrested for throwing a cream bun on a school bus.

North Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom wanted his traffic officers to arrest at least eight motorists a month or face an investigation. One inspector serving in the North of England said: "Blogging is the only way many of us can make our views known about the state of policing in the UK, where officers are encouraged to meet targets via the most trivial of incidents." And a blog from "Another Constable" noted: "My favourite type of arrest is a drink-driver. However, the statisticians would much rather I give out a £30 fixed penalty to a ten-year-old for drawing on a wall, or carving their initials into a tree."

"Officers are saying-they are forced to make arrests or cautions for this lunacy because the Government believes they should be judged by what can be counted." Federation chairman Jan Berry said: "We have police officers who are considering leaving the service over this because it is not the job they signed up to do.
"These examples we have compiled are ludicrous but when people are being pushed to show results they will use anything they can to demonstrate they are doing a good job."

Veterinarians said the birds have very sensitive lungs and the toxins in the smoke are poison to them, Local 6 reported Monday. Video showed birds slamming head-first into buildings and glass in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.Officials said smoke from the wildfires in Florida disorients the birds and causes them to fly into windows, according to a WSVN report. The birds are dying from either the impact of the crash or suffering from head and neck injuries.

Wildfires started about a month ago in southeast Georgia and have spread into Florida. More than 300,000 acres have burned in both states.The wildfire that raced through the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia and into Florida was started by lightning more than a week ago.

By Sunday night, it had burned 102,500 acres in Florida and was 30 percent contained. Georgia reported 41 wildfires in the state covering 267,136 acres.

The wildfire that raced through the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia and into Florida was started by lightning more than a week ago. By Sunday night, it had burned 102,500 acres in Florida and was 30 percent contained.

Off the coast of Southern California, continued cool weather Sunday helped firefighters on Santa Catalina Island maintain control of a blaze that had threatened the resort community of Avalon.The 4,200-acre or 6.5-square-mile fire was 76 percent contained Sunday and was expected to be encircled by Tuesday evening. One home and six businesses burned Thursday but no one was seriously injured.

Elsewhere, a blaze feeding on drought-stricken forest in northern Minnesota was only 15 percent contained as of Sunday. The fire had burned a combined 93 square miles in Minnesota and Canada. Meteorologists said there was a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms Sunday night. The storms weren't expected to bring enough rain to counterbalance the danger from high winds and lightning.

The fire had closed about half of the 57-mile-long Gunflint Trail, a key route from Grand Marais into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness that is dotted with resorts and lake homes.Officials said the fire had destroyed 133 buildings, including 61 residences. They estimated the value of buildings lost at $3.7 million.
Georgia officials on Sunday also were working a new area of flames in the northern part of the state. The fire covered approximately 200 acres in Gilmer County and Murray County, according to Georgia Forestry Commission spokesman Devon Dartnell. It was believed to have been caused by lightning Saturday night, Dartnell said.

Fires and the smoke from them plagued area residents all weekend. Authorities closed approximately 75 miles of Interstate 75 and 10 on Saturday and were only able to reopen stretches periodically Sunday. Haze from the fires has traveled as far south as the Miami area, about 340 miles away.

The move marks a victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has made revising the constitution one of his top priorities, correspondents say. The current constitution has not been changed since 1947. Drawn up by the US occupation authorities after WWII, it bans military force in settling international disputes and prohibits maintaining a military for warfare.

But Mr Abe wants Japan to be more assertive on the world stage, with a military able to take part in peacekeeping missions abroad. Critics of the proposed changes say the pacifist constitution has kept Japan out of war since the 1940s and allowed the country to focus on economic growth instead. The move may also meet concern from South Korea and China, which remain suspicious of Japan because of its wartime aggressions.

Japan's constitution has been stretched in recent years to allow the country to have a self-defence force. Under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, this was pushed still further, to allow troops to join peacekeeping missions in Iraq.

Gen. Ronald Keys, who leads the Air Combat Command, points to cracked wings on A-10 attack planes and frayed electrical cables on U-2 spy planes.Compared to 1996, the Air Force now spends 87% more on maintenance for a warplane fleet that is less ready to fly, Air Force records show.

They also show that as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, Air Force and other military aircraft are flying more missions in harsh environments.The average Air Force warplane is 23.5 years old compared with 8.5 years in 1967. In 2001, the average plane was 22 years old.

The Air Force says it wants to buy new planes to lower the average age of its fleet to 15 years over the next two decades. That will cost an estimated $400 billion.

Professor Mike Hulme, of the UK's Tyndall Centre, has been conducting research on people's attitudes to media portrayals of a catastrophic future. He says strong messages designed to prompt people to change behaviour only seem to generate apathy.

His initial findings will be shown to a meeting run by the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
"There has been over-claiming or exaggeration, or at the very least casual use of language by scientists, some of whom are quite prominent," Professor Hulme told BBC News. His concern is that these exaggerations have given the green light to the media to use the language of fear, terror and disaster when covering scientific reports - even when those reports are much more constrained in their description of the course of likely future events.

He says extravagated claims simply generate a feeling of helplessness in the public. "My argument is about the dangers of science over-claiming its knowledge about the future and in particular presenting tentative predictions about climate change using words of 'disaster', 'apocalypse' and 'catastrophe'," he said.

These were subsequently echoed by two leading Royal Meteorological Society figures - Professors Paul Hardaker and Chris Collier - in March this year. They said reports of catastrophe and the "Hollywoodisation" of weather and climate were creating confusion in the public's mind.

All three men hold the view that human activity lies behind the recent rise in Earth's global average temperature.