Firefighters battle blazes in Texas; 7 people killed

Firefighters battle blazesin Texas; 7 people killed
BORGER, Texas -- Using bulldozers and air tankers, firefighters struggled Monday to stop wind-blown wildfires that scorched more than 1,000 square miles of the drought-stricken Texas Panhandle.
The blazes were blamed for at least seven deaths, four of them in a crash on a smoke-shrouded highway over the weekend.
About 1,900 people in seven counties were evacuated.
"This has been a very deadly wildfire season, but Texas communities have shown strength, and we're going to continue fighting these fires from the ground and from the air," said Rachael Novier, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.
There was no immediate estimate of the number of homes damaged or destroyed.
Firefighters used bulldozers to plow fire breaks in the parched earth, while air tankers dropped water on the flames. Eleven fires burned across an estimated nearly 700,000 acres Monday, down from 663,000 over the weekend.
Russia, China rejectproposals on Iran
UNITED NATIONS -- Russia and China have rejected proposals from the United States and other veto-wielding members of the U.N.
Security Council for a statement demanding that Iran clear up suspicions about its nuclear program, diplomats said Monday.
The dispute raises the threat of an impasse in the Security Council and means that the United States, Britain and France may not get their wish for strong action by the powerful U.N. body.
They believe such a text could further isolate Iran and help compel it to abandon uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a civilian nuclear reactor or fissile material for an atomic bomb. But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday that Britain also wants the Security Council to go one step at a time, leaving the door open to restart negotiations with Tehran if it reverses course and expresses a willingness to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
Dust from comet providesnew mystery for scientists
SPACE CENTER, Houston -- NASA scientists have a new mystery to solve: How did materials formed by fire end up on the outermost reaches of the solar system, where temperatures are the coldest? The materials were contained in dust samples captured when the robotic Stardust spacecraft flew past the comet Wild 2 in 2004. A 100-pound capsule tied to a parachute returned the samples to Earth in January. The samples include minerals such as anorthite, which is made up of calcium, sodium, aluminum and silicate; and diopside, made of calcium magnesium and silicate. Such minerals only form in very high temperatures.
"That's a big surprise. People thought comets would just be cold stuff that formed out ... where things are very cold," said NASA curator Michael Zolensky. "It was kind of a shock to not just find one but several of these, which implies they are pretty common in the comet." The discovery raises questions about where the materials in comets form, he added.
U.S. port operations
WASHINGTON -- The Dubai-owned company that promised to surrender its U.S. port operations has no immediate plans to sell its U.S. subsidiary's interests at Miami's seaport, a senior executive wrote Monday in a private e-mail to business associates.
Even if DP World were to sell its Miami operations to quell the congressional furor over an Arab-owned company managing major U.S. ports, "that would probably take a while," wrote Robert Scavone, a vice president for DP World's U.S. subsidiary. The e-mail, obtained by The Associated Press, added to questions raised since DP World's announcement last week that it will divest U.S. port operations it acquired when it bought London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. DP World has said those operations are worth roughly $700 million.
NAACP urges blockingof New Orleans election
NEW ORLEANS -- The NAACP urged the Justice Department on Monday to block the upcoming mayoral election, claiming more must be done to reach displaced city residents, most of whom are black. The election "cannot be conducted in a way that would guarantee, or provide some level of assurance, that substantial percentages of African-Americans, substantial percentages of New Orleanians, in fact would be able to vote," said Bruce S. Gordon, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Gordon's allegations were strongly denounced by Louisiana's top election official. "This will be the most accessible race in the history of America," said Secretary of State Al Ater. A federal judge has turned back challenges to the election and pressed state officials to make sure it is held by the end of April.
Associated Press