LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters battling a week-old wildfire raging in the mountains near Los Angeles got their first big break on Tuesday from higher humidity and cooler temperatures that helped them push towering flames away from threatened homes. More than 121,000 acres, or 190 square miles, have burned above the heavily populated foothills 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Some 6,300 homes are under evacuation orders and two firefighters have died. But the fire’s growth has slowed and fire commander Mike Dietrich said at daybreak on Tuesday he was “a lot more optimistic.” “We are still at 5 percent containment. However, with firefighting activity that occurred last night and the last several days, I expect that will increase substantially today,” Dietrich said. National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mehle, who is assigned to the fire, said the change in weather was due mostly to wind patterns pulling in more damp air from northern Mexico and the Baja region– a phenomenon called monsoonal moisture. He said there may be an indirect benefit, too, from extra moisture spun off from Hurricane Jimena, a Category 4 storm that drenched the tip of the Baja Peninsula on Tuesday. Potential downsides of the weather change, which arrived sooner than previously forecast, were the likelihood of gusty winds that had been largely absent since the fire began and the possibility of dry lightning strikes that could ignite new blazes in dense brush that has not burned in decades. Fifty-three structures have been lost out of the 12,000 at risk in the area. Mount Wilson, a hub of broadcasting towers and telecommunications, as well as home to an historic observatory, was still very much threatened, Dietrich said. Two firefighters were killed on Sunday when their position was overrun by flames and their vehicle plunged 800 feet down an embankment. Several other firefighters suffered minor injuries trying to rescue them, authorities said. At least three civilians also have been injured, two of them badly burned when they were trapped by advancing flames after disregarding evacuation orders.

EVACUATIONS CONTINUE

Police continued to evacuate neighborhoods in the upper reaches of the foothills on Tuesday, although firefighters were able to conduct controlled burns overnight to push flames back into the San Gabriel Mountains of the Angeles National Forest. More than 3,600 firefighters battled the blaze with help from water- and retardant-dropping aircraft. Despite progress in controlling the fire, Dietrich said the crews working in 100-degree Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) heat “are fighting for every foot.” So far, the cost to battle the so-called Station Fire has risen to nearly $14 million, a worrisome figure for a state battling with a ballooning deficit due to the poor economy. This fire also comes before the most difficult months for wildfires in California, from September to November, when fierce winds increase the danger of big fires. The cause of the Station Fire, the biggest of several wildfires burning throughout the state, remains under investigation.

French researcher Clotilde Reiss, 24, sits in a Tehran courtroom where she is being tried on charges of plotting to overthrow the Islamic Republic. In the background to the left is defendant Ahmad Zeidabadi, a prominent critic of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Fars News Agency)

  PARIS —After a mediation by Syria , The French academic who is part of a mass trial in Iran has been freed from prison on bail and turned over to the French embassy in good health, French leaders said Sunday, urging that charges against her be dropped.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said “that nothing can justify” the case against Clotilde Reiss, 24, and an embassy employee, who are accused of fanning a revolt aimed at bringing down Iran’s Islamic rulers.

The president spoke with Reiss as soon as she left Tehran’s Evin prison and reported that she was in good health and spirits, his office said in a statement.

Sarkozy “noted the dignity and courage with which Clotilde Reiss has faced this challenge,” the statement said.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner later said on the iTele TV station that bail was paid but that the sum was “not enormous.”

While she stays at the embasssy, Reiss will prepare her defense “to make her innocence known,” Kouchner said in a statement. Like Sarkozy, he reiterated that the charges against her and the French-Iranian embassy employee, Nazak Afshar, are “unfounded.”

Reiss was arrested July 1 and jailed after attending a postelection demonstration at the end of a five-month teaching job in the city of Isfahan. Reiss and Afshar went on trial Aug. 8 alongside more than 100 others. All were charged with fomenting revolt following Iran’s disputed presidential elections.

Sarkozy credited the European Union and Syria for helping obtain Reiss’ release, echoing language he used when Afshar was let out of prison on Aug. 11. She also still faces charges.

He thanked them for “the solidarity and support they have brought us and will continue to bring until our two compatriots have recovered their full freedom.”

Since taking office in 2007, Sarkozy has worked to bolster ties with Damascus, which is a strong ally of Tehran and is trying to emerge from its diplomatic isolation in the West.

Sarkozy has backed a go-between role for Damascus to bring across Western demands on Tehran. He met with President Bashar Assad in January as part of an international bid at the time to stop an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, and Assad was a guest of honor at France’s July 2008 Bastille Day parade.

The weekend edition of the French daily Le Monde, quoting Syrian sources, said that Assad could travel shortly to Tehran to meet the Iranian president but would use the visit to use his influence to help gain full freedom for the French women.

Obtaining freedom for Reiss has become a cause celebre in France, and authorities have worked hard to obtain her release.

Reiss and Afshar both apologized before the court for attending at least one demonstration, saying she did so because she was curious. She has been charged with acting against national security by joining protests, gathering information, taking photos and sending them abroad during postelection unrest in Iran.

AP and Aleppous

ZURICH – AFP— Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey on Sunday defended Switzerland’s decision to meet with a Hamas delegation, saying the militant Palestinian group is “an important player” in the Middle East.

“Hamas is an important player in the Middle East conflict that cannot be ignored,” said Calmy-Rey in an interview with NZZ am Sonntag, a Sunday newspaper in Zurich.

She added that a research institute conference in Geneva last month — where Swiss diplomats met a Hamas contingent that included hardline leader Mahmud Zahar — had achieved “great progress” regarding an unofficial peace plan.

Israel’s foreign ministry voiced anger at the meeting, recalling on Wednesday that Hamas is seen as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, which Switzerland is not a part of.

“By officially receiving a Hamas delegation, Switzerland is not placing itself among those who support moderation,” foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

The unofficial peace plan, launched in Geneva in 2003 under Swiss auspices, aims to resolve the Middle East stalemate. Calmy-Rey said a 400-page report on the initiative will be going out to “different players” in the conflict.

AP
Jill Lawless

Two British Sunday newspapers said LaToya Jackson believes her brother Michael Jackson was murdered by a group of conspirators trying to get hold of his fortune.

LaToya Jackson said she knows who is responsible for her brother’s death and is determined to see them brought to justice, the News of the World reported.

According to the published interviews with The News of the World and The Mail on Sunday, she did not name any of the people she believes were involved and did not offer any evidence to support her claim that foul play was involved in the singer’s sudden death on June 25.

“I feel it was all about money,” she was quoted as saying by the News of the World. “Michael was worth well over a billion in music publishing assets and somebody killed him for that. He was worth more dead than alive.”

She reportedly said the conspirators used powerful prescription drugs to keep Michael Jackson submissive and under control and also kept him away from his family.

She also claimed, the newspapers reported, that roughly $2 million (1.23 million pounds) worth of cash and jewelry was taken from Michael Jackson’s rented mansion and has not been accounted for.

LaToya Jackson also was quoted as saying her brother did not want to perform the 50 London shows he had agreed to, but was pressured into that agreement.

The shows, to mark Michael Jackson’s return to concert performing, had been scheduled to begin Monday at London’s 02 Arena.

Officials are waiting for the return of toxicology reports before determining the cause of Michael Jackson’s death.

WASHINGTON, Jul 10 (IPS) – Despite a bill passed by Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council on Wednesday, a prominent New York-based human rights group is asking for more protection for the estimated 1.5 million domestic workers in the country.

In a release Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) asked for that the bill be revised to fill gaps in protection for domestic workers to meet international standards. The bill is going from the Shura Council, an appointed consultative body, to the cabinet, which can still make changes on the bill, before it becomes a law.

This bill has been in development for a number of years and “would require employers to give domestic workers at least nine hours of rest every day, suitable accommodation and rest breaks,” according to the press release.

However, according to HRW, the bill also contains a number of “vague provisions” that could leave workers open to more abuses that would force them to obey all of their employers’ orders and provide a “legitimate reason” to ever leave their workplace. As the language now stands some international groups like HRW are concerned that this will allow employers to basically enslave their employees.

“The Shura Council finally ended its paralysis on these desperately needed protections,” said Nisha Varia, deputy director of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch in the press release.

“Now the king and the cabinet need to remove the flawed provisions and make sure the final law can stand up to international scrutiny,” she said.

There are an estimated 1.5 million women employed as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia – from countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, many of whom have been trafficked into the country.

According to the U.S. Department of State’s annual Human Rights Report, a large number of men and women have been trafficked into the country to serve as domestic workers, and there are major concerns about the number of women who are trafficked into the country as sex workers.

There is currently no law in Saudi Arabia that prohibits trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The country’s current labour laws do not apply to domestic workers, which has allowed for a large number of abuses and even enslavements by employers.

“There have been some cases of assault against foreign workers resulting in physical injuries or death and reports of widespread worker abuse,” the 2008 U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report on Saudi Arabia says.

“The government reported no criminal investigations, prosecutions, convictions, or sentences for trafficking offenses, and there were no penalties prescribed for particular offences.”

These laws also deny them rights that are given to other workers in the country, including rights to “a weekly day of rest, limits to hours of work and overtime pay” according to the HRW release.

HRW previously released a report on this issue in 2008, entitled “‘As If I Am Not Human’: Abuses Against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia.” The report documented the plight of domestic workers, including the multiple occurrences of working 18 hours a day for seven days a week. It also discussed how the workers had little to no power to collect their wages when labour disputes occurred.

Complaints about these kinds of abuses against domestic workers are rampant, and received by both Saudi authorities and the missions in the country, according to HRW. The complaints ranged from labour exploitation and abuse to excessive workloads and unpaid wages for anywhere from a few months to 10 years.

“In addition, Human Rights Watch research found that many domestic workers are restricted to their workplaces, sometimes locked in and forbidden to leave,” said the release.

Until the latest bill, there had been no help for domestic workers. But even the new bill does not completely protect them from the wide range of abuses that they have been suffering from, HRW says.

“This bill is a step forward, but Saudi Arabia needs to strengthen the protections and make sure they are enforced,” said Varia.

“Comprehensive reforms in immigration policies and police response to violence against domestic workers are also necessary,” she added.

HRW also said that there is a high chance that there could be more cases of abuses that are unreported, “given domestic workers’ isolation in private homes, employers’ ability to have workers summarily deported, and migrants’ lack of information about their rights.”

Another problem facing the domestic workers, according to HRW, is Saudi Arabia’s ‘kafala,’ or sponsorship system, under which these workers’ visas are tied to their employers, giving them complete control over their employees.

“Employers can deny workers the ability to change jobs or to leave the country,” the release said.

“HRW interviewed dozens of domestic workers who said their employers had forced them to work against their will for months or years,” added HRW. “Other domestic workers were subjected to physical and sexual abuse.”

There are also examples of workers being arrested after filing complaints against employers for these abuses on charges that vary from theft to witchcraft. However there is not much chance for them to appeal these charges due to their status as migrant workers.

HRW has been pushing for a change in the labour law for years. In their report last year, the group asked that the Saudi government extend its current laws to domestic workers so that they can be protected against this slavery and abuse.

Beirut, (SANA) – Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said on Monday that Lebanese-Syrian relations are witnessing mutual trust bolstered by carrying out the steps that were included in the joint statement issued after the Syrian-Lebanese Summit which was held in Damascus in August 2008.

President Suleiman stressed that the higher interests of the two countries govern the carrying out of the articles of the joint statement.

He pointed out that any Arab or international efforts for achieving just and comprehensive peace must be based on agreement with Syria and bolstering Arab solidarity on the basis of the reconciliations that were made during the last Arab Summit, calling on for expanding the reconciliations and uniting Arab stances to confront challenges and pressures.

President Suleiman noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense Ehud Barak continue to launch threats at Lebanon and are working to undermine its internal stability through espionage and violations of its skies and sea.

He stressed that Israel uses threats and tension in order to escape from the international pressure placed on it to stop the building of settlements and adhere to the requirements of just and comprehensive peace