Wildfire scorches 8,600 acres in Southern California

A wildfire that has engulfed dozens of homes and displaced thousands of people kept roaring in Southern California late Friday, scorching about 8,600 acres, fire officials said. “We have a lot of resources on the line — our folks are working their hearts out,” Joe Waterman of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told reporters.

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13,000 flee as California mansions go up in flames

A wind-fanned wildfire spread across 500 acres in Santa Barbara County, California, early Thursday, forcing 13,000 residents to evacuate and destroying at least 20 homes. The fire, strengthened by high temperatures and low humidity, engulfed mansions in the coastal community’s foothills

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12 injured, 1 critically, in Dallas Cowboys practice arena collapse

An air-supported roof over the Dallas Cowboys’ practice field collapsed during a heavy thunderstorm Saturday afternoon, leaving 12 people injured, one critically, authorities said. About 70 people, including more than two dozen of the team’s rookies, were in the facility when it was blown down shortly before 3:30 p.m

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Thousands of Civilians Escape as Sri Lanka Corners the Tamil Tigers

Sri Lankan military authorities predicted a swift end to the country’s 25-year civil war after tens of thousands of civilians who had been trapped in a narrow combat zone in the country’s north for over two months escaped the iron grip of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on April 20. But more fighting is in store before that end can be reached. It will take weeks, if not longer, to capture or kill the over 500 hardcore Tigers — including leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who is holed up deep inside the zone — ready to fight to the death

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Test your news knowledge

The fires had engulfed so many miles of turf, and flying embers had sparked in so many different places, that hours after the first blazes were reported Thursday morning, safety officials still weren’t sure how many fires they were facing. In Texas, the 100-person town of Stoneburg was “burned over,” by a 25,000-acre fire said Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Misty Wilburn. The town, northwest of Dallas near the Oklahoma state line, had been evacuated, she said

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4 dead in New York group home fire

Four people were killed early Saturday after a fire broke out at a state-run group home for mentally disabled residents in upstate New York, the governor’s office said. The fire started at about 5:30 a.m. at the facility in Wells, New York, about 70 miles north of the state capital of Albany, where nine residents lived, and two staffers were on duty at the time of the fire.

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