Fire containment increases 20 percent

Fire containment increases 20 percent

GROVELAND, Calif.

Unnaturally long intervals between wildfires and years of drought primed the Sierra Nevada for the explosive conflagration chewing up the rugged landscape on the edge of Yosemite National Park, forestry experts say.

The fire had ravaged 282 square miles by Tuesday, the biggest in the Sierra’s recorded history and one of the largest on record in California.

Containment increased to 20 percent, but the number of destroyed structures rose to 101 and some 4,500 structures remained threatened. The types of lost buildings were not specified. Firefighters were making stands at Tuolumne City and other mountain communities.

Hasan rests case in penalty phase

FORT HOOD, Texas

The Army psychiatrist who fatally shot 13 people at Fort Hood decided not to present any evidence during his trial’s penalty phase Tuesday even though jurors are deciding whether to sentence him to death.

Maj. Nidal Hasan rested his case without calling witnesses or testifying to counter the emotional testimony from victims’ relatives, who talked of eerily quiet homes, lost futures, alcoholism and the unmatched fear of hearing a knock on their front door.

Prosecutors hope the testimony helps convince jurors to hand down a rare military death sentence against Hasan, who was convicted last week for the 2009 attack that also wounded more than 30 people at the Texas military base.

Gadhafi’s son, spy chief to stand trial

TRIPOLI, Libya

Late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s son and his spy chief were charged Tuesday with murder in relation to the country’s 2011 civil war and are set to stand trial, said Libya’s general prosecutor.

Abdel-Qader Radwan told reporters that the trial will start Sept. 19 on alleged crimes committed during Gadhafi’s 42-year rule and during the eight-month-long civil war that deposed him.

The defendants are former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi and Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the heir apparent and only son of the former dictator who is in custody. A total of 28 former regime members will face trial that day on various charges ranging from murder, forming armed groups in violation of the law, inciting rape and kidnappings.

hLung recipient returns home

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.

A Pennsylvania girl whose need for new lungs sparked a national debate on how transplant recipients are prioritized returned home to her family Tuesday after six months in the hospital.

Sarah Murnaghan, who turned 11 this month, left The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and was carried into her family’s Newtown Square home, which was festooned with balloons and signs that welcomed her home and thanked the donors whose lungs she received after her parents sued to change national transplant policy.

Associated Press