The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar this morning on mild demand from investors, a dealer said.
The ringgit strengthened against the US dollar to 3.1830/1860 from 3.1850/1880 on Wednesday.
The dealer said investors' appetite shifted towards the local currency as investors await potential market-moving events, including the June US non-farm payrolls data on Friday.
Meanwhile, the local currency was mostly lower against other major currencies.
It was little changed against the Singapore dollar at 2.5020/5047 from 2.5028/5055 yesterday but was sharply higher against the yen at 3.1855/1892 from 3.1962/1998.
The local unit depreciated against the British pound to 4.8592/8647 from 4.8539/8595 yesterday and weakened against the euro to 4.1395/1437 from 4.1258/1304 on Wednesday.-- Bernama
Share prices opened higher today, tracking the overnight performance of US equity markets, dealers said.
At 9.21am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.90 points better at 1,774.11 after opening 0.39 of a point higher at 1,769.21.
Dealers said the key FBM KLCI may continue to gyrate with a marginal negative bias ahead with the benchmark index likely to remain above the immediate support line of 1,750 points.
They said US equities showed resilience last night. Leading barometers on Wall Street were up at the closing bell as sentiment improved on the back of better labour market data.
"This could calm investors around the region today following the intense sell yesterday," they added.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index gained 28.33 points to 16,979.08, the Industrial Index rose 9.69 points to 3,008.14, the Plantation Index gained 42.73 points to 8,417.74 while the FBM Ace Index added 23.1 points to 4,656.62.
Gainers led losers 162 to 57, while 1,362 counters were unchanged, volume stood at 91.53 million shares worth RM57.18 million.
Among actives, Eti Tech and DVM both added half-a-sen each to 5.0 sen and 8.5 sen, respectively, while Ingenco declined half-a-sen to 8.5 sen.
As for heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM10.48, CIMB Group rose four sen to RM8.29 but Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.49 sen.-- Bernama
About two dozen people are reported dead in clashes between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Huge protests are filling the streets, while the Egyptian military says if Morsi doesn't solve the crisis, it will. (July 3)
CAIRO — President Mohammed Morsi refused to step down Wednesday in the face of demands by the military Wednand called on the military not to "take sides" even as the army chief of staff met with opposition figures and religious leaders to discuss its "road map" for dramatic political reform.
Morsi called instead for the formation of an interim coalition government, led by a prime minister approved by the major political parties.
In the last minute statement before an afternoon deadline imposed by the military, Morsi again rejected army intervention, saying abiding by his electoral legitimacy was the only way to prevent violence. He criticized the military for "taking only one side."
"One mistake that cannot be accepted, and I say this as president of all Egyptians, is to take sides," he said in the statement issued by his office. "Justice dictates that the voice of the masses from all squares should be heard."
Morsi's spokesman denied a report on Al Hayat local TV that Morsi had been placed under house arrest, but AFP reported that the security forces had placed a travel ban on Morsi and top Islamists.
The military had called on Morsi 48 hours ago to yield to the mass protests or step aside to defuse the political deadlock that had sent millions of protesters into the street.
As the deadline approached, crowds swelled Cairo's Tahrir Square where, according to the state news agency MENA, police were handing out juice and water to anti-Morsi protesters.
State media reported that the "road map" would include a new interim leadership, installed by the military, and a suspension of the Islamist-backed constitution and the Islamist-dominated parliament.
The BBC reported that the army asked all but essential staff to leave the state TV building ahead of the deadline, which expired around 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET.).
At least 39 people have died since the protests began on Sunday. Many of the latest deaths occurred after gunfire erupted outside Cairo University in Giza, where pro-Morsi demonstrators gathered to show support for the president, who comes from the 85-year-old Muslim Brotherhood, the Associated Press reported.
The meeting between opposition groups and army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was announced by opposition spokesman Khaled Dwoud in a live telephone interview with state television.
It included Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt's leading democracy advocate, who represents the opposition National Salvation Front coalition and the youth groups leading anti-Morsi protesters. Also in attendance to discuss the proposed political "road map" were Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar mosque, and Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.
Freedom and Justice party members say they refused an invitation to take part in the meeting.
Mohamed Abou El Ghar, president of the Egyptian Social Democratic party, tells USA TODAY that the opposition is demanding that Morsi must go, and that there should be a "civilian, temporary, honorary president, preferably from the higher constitutional court and a civilian prime minister with a small cabinet to run the country in the coming period."
"The military and the police should only guard the borders and the security inside the country," he said. "So, it should be clear in the minds of the West that this is not a coup. This is not a military coup."
Moving forward, he added, the opposition does not want to isolate the Muslim Brotherhood. "We want the Muslim Brothers to share in the future elections and the future parliament," he said.
As the deadline loomed, Morsi showed little interest in compromise, however, going on national TV Tuesday night to reject calls for his ouster.
A spokesman for Morsi, Ayman Ali, told Reuters that that president believes it is better "to die standing like a tree" than turn back history.
"It is better for a president, who would otherwise be returning Egypt to the days of dictatorship, from which God and the will of the people has saved us, to die standing like a tree," Ali tells the news agency."Rather than be condemned by history and future generations for throwing away the hopes of Egyptians for establishing a democratic life."
In an emotional 46-minute speech, Morsi warned the military against removing him, saying such action will "backfire on its perpetrators."
Morsi, who took office almost exactly one year ago, pledged to protect his "constitutional legitimacy" with his life.
He accused loyalists of his ousted autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak of exploiting the wave of protests to topple his regime and thwart democracy.
"There is no substitute for legitimacy," said Morsi, who at times angrily raised his voice, thrust his fist in the air and pounded the podium. He warned that electoral and constitutional legitimacy "is the only guarantee against violence."
Morsi said he is prepared to sacrifice his blood for the sake of the homeland, and he accused former regime loyalists of battling democracy.
Although Morsi has only been in office a year, his opponents have grown increasingly angry over a deteriorating economic and political situation, as well as what they see as attempts by the Brotherhood to monopolize power.
As the crisis continued, there has been no official protection for protesters, and police even failed to intervene when Cairo's Muslim Brotherhood headquarters was attacked then ransacked this week.
Some estimates put the total number of people killed in clashes nationwide over the past several days at more than 40.
Violence also permeates Tahrir Square, where 91 women have been sexually assaulted and in some cases raped over the past four days, Human Rights Watch said. One woman needed surgery after she was raped with a "sharp object," volunteers working to prevent sexual assault told the human rights group. Others were beaten with sticks, metal chains and chairs. In some cases, they were assaulted for up to 45 minutes.
Anti-Morsi protesters are largely hoping the military will interfere to resolve the current crisis — a shift from when many sought to push the establishment aside and make way for a democratic state and civilian rule after generals governed the country for more than 16 months in the nation's post-revolution period.
But in locations across Cairo on Tuesday night, Morsi supporters demanded that Morsi remain in his post as the county is no closer to mending deep political divisions.
The 20th Granite Mountain Hotshot firefighter Brendan McDonough survived the Yarnell Hill Fire and those grieving the loss of their loved ones say they wouldn't want it any other way.
Weather conditions were changing. The wind was pushing the fire in another direction. McDonough had reached a preset trigger based on those conditions, and he needed to move. He radioed the news to his crew, the 19 other members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who were fighting the fire farther down the hill.
As he hiked out of the area, he spoke by radio to another crew, according to a Prescott Fire Department spokesman who recounted the events.
When he turned back, he realized the fire had engulfed the lookout point he'd just left. He never heard back from his crew mates, who died when the shifting flames swept across their fire line.
The identity of McDonough, the much-discussed 20th member of the hotshot crew, emerged Tuesday through social media, reporters' inquiries and, finally, an official announcement.
Then just as quickly, the 21-year-old firefighter pleaded for privacy, a message relayed by authorities who asked the media and the public to give McDonough time to deal with what happened.
"He is very distraught, as you might think," said Wade Ward, a Fire Department spokesman. "He is very emotional. He's got all the questions, the why and the why not. He's concerned for the families mostly. I can tell you Brendan has no desire to speak to anybody at this point."
At a community meeting Tuesday, Ward acknowledged the intense interest in McDonough, whose existence was revealed in some of the earliest reports about the deaths of the firefighters.
There were questions about his role in the crew and why he wasn't with the other members when fire struck.
On Tuesday, officials explained his duties and said that they wanted people to understand that McDonough followed procedures and prepared to move to a new location in advance of his crew, as his assignment required.
"He did his job," Ward said.
McDonough appeared briefly Tuesday night at an emotional vigil in Prescott, surrounded by firefighters as the crowd cheered. But he has given no interviews and, on his Facebook page, he asked friends and family not to speak with the news media if they were approached.
But a sketchy portrait of McDonough came together through social media, public records and statements by fire department officials.
On his Facebook page, McDonough said he had lived previously in Oceanside, Calif., a beach city between San Diego and Orange County.
As a teenager, he moved to Prescott and attended Prescott High School, where he was involved with the Air Force Junior ROTC. He graduated in 2009 and later enrolled at Yavapai College, where he studied fire science.
He joined the Granite Mountain Hotshots in 2011, "my dream job," he wrote in an April 2011 Facebook post, "full of excitement and an adrenaline rush I can't explain. (I) work with the best people I could."
Just weeks earlier, he had become a father. In March 2011, the Prescott Daily Courier published a baby announcement that said McDonough and Natalie Nesvig, also of Prescott, had welcomed a baby girl, Michaela Rose McDonough. Nesvig had posted photos of herself and McDonough together in various settings, including in two of her online profile pictures.
McDonough was in his third season with the hotshots when the Yarnell Hill Fire erupted last week. On Sunday afternoon, he was working as a lookout.
Fire experts say the lookout is critical for firefighters, who need a set of eyes focused on the weather and the movement of the flames.
Ward said McDonough's job Sunday was to watch the situation and decide when the various elements reached the "trigger points" that would signal a change in position.
When McDonough determined he needed to move, he radioed the supervisor of his hotshot crew. Officials said he radioed that the weather was changing and that the fire was shifting in a new direction. He told his crew members that if they needed anything to contact him. Then, he left with the superintendent of another hotshot crew.
Bob Orrill, a member of the Southwest Incident Command team, met with McDonough early Tuesday and brought a message to the community meeting.
"Brendan would like to express his appreciation and that of his fallen brothers for the outpouring of support towards this organization and the firefighting community in general," Orrill said.
An emotional crowd at the community meeting applauded and cheered as Ward and Orrill relayed McDonough's story.
Some of the loudest cheers came as Ward asked the news media to respect McDonough's privacy.
On social-media sites, McDonough's family and friends offered support. His father, Scott McDonough, who is in Boston, posted a picture of his son in firefighting gear and said: "Good work in Arizona, son. Proud and glad you're safe!"
In Prescott, Juliann Ashcraft, wife of Andrew Ashcraft, one of the fallen firefighters, talked about McDonough on Tuesday.
"I hope that he knows we love him," she said.
Contributing: Arizona Republic reporters Ken Alltucker, Saba Hamedy, Scott Craven, Rebekah L. Sanders, and KPNX-TV reporter Lissette Martinez.
Share prices opened marginally higher today bolstered by selected bluechips, dealers said.
At 9.01am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.65 points better at 1,773.540 after opening 0.53 of a point higher to 1,772.42.
Dealers said the Malaysian bourse would likely swing sideways with a slight negative bias today in the absence of fresh market leads.
Nevertheless, the immediate downside risk for the key FBM KLCI remained relatively limited, with the benchmark index probably still treading above the first support level of 1,750 ahead, they said.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index dipped 1.09 points to 16,900.65, the Industrial Index rose 4.34 points to 3,017.12, the Plantation Index gained 7.06 points to 8,374.81 while the FBM Ace Index added 3.29 points to 4,615.31.
Gainers led losers 84 to 52, while 1,447 counters were unchanged, volume stood at 14.5 million shares worth RM17.5 million.
Among actives, Iris and Eti Tech were both flat at 19 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, while Ewein Bhd-WA added two sen to 19.5 sen.
As for heavyweights, Maybank was unchanged at RM10.40, CIMB Group rose one sen to RM8.24 but Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.49 sen.-- Bernama
Malaysia's benchmark stock index rose in early trade, with the country's fifth-largest lender, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, and oil and gas firm Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd leading the gains.
The index, which climbed 0.06 per cent, outperformed both MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan, that fell 0.59 per cent, and Tokyo's Nikkei share average, which declined 0.34 per cent.
"Immediate downside risk for the key index remains relatively limited, with the benchmark index probably still treading above the first support level of 1,750 ahead," HwangDBS Vickers Research said in a note to clients on Wednesday.
HwangDBS also said investors would watch Ewein Bhd, after local media reported that the metal fabricator company was close to securing a sizeable contract, worth around RM1 billion, related to the construction of a mega undersea tunnel project in Penang.
The index was up 0.08 per cent at 1,772.88.-- Reuters
Military helicopters fly above Tahrir Square while protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi shout slogans against him and Brotherhood members during a protest in Cairo July 1, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
By Yasmine Saleh and Asma Alsharif
CAIRO | Tue Jul 2, 2013 12:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - Egypt's armed forces would suspend the constitution and dissolve an Islamist-dominated parliament under a draft political roadmap to be pursued if Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and his opponents fail to reach a power-sharing agreement by Wednesday, military sources said.
The sources told Reuters the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was still discussing details of the plan, intended to resolve a political crisis that has brought millions of protesters into the streets. The roadmap could be changed based on political developments and consultations.
Chief-of-staff General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called in a statement on Monday for Mursi to agree within 48 hours on power-sharing with other political forces, saying the military would otherwise set out its own roadmap for the country's future.
The president rebuffed the ultimatum and the main liberal and leftist opposition alliance has refused to talk to him, demanding along with youth activists that he resign.
The sources said the military intended to install an interim council, composed mainly of civilians from different political groups and experienced technocrats, to run the country until an amended constitution was drafted within months.
That would be followed by a new presidential election, but parliamentary polls would be delayed until strict conditions for selecting candidates were in force, they said.
The armed forces planned to open talks with the main opposition National Salvation Front and other political, religious and youth organizations once a deadline set for Mursi to reach a power-sharing agreement expires on Wednesday.
The sources would not say how the military intended to deal with Mursi if he refused to go quietly.
The emerging roadmap could be amended as a result of those consultations, they said. Among figures being considered as an interim head of state was the new president of the constitutional court, Adli Mansour.
The emerging army blueprint closely resembles proposals for a democratic transition put forward by the NSF, which appointed former U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday to negotiate with the military on the way forward.
The military sources said the new transition arrangements would be entirely different from the military rule that followed the overthrow of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak in a 2011 popular uprising.
Then, the armed forces' council held effective power but was widely criticized by liberal and left-wing politicians for failing to enact vital economic and political reforms, and siding with the Muslim Brotherhood.
(Writing by Paul Taylor, editing by Peter Millership)
Ecuador's president Rafael Correa said Snowden 'must be on Ecuadorean territory' to make an asylum request. Photograph: Martin Mejia/AP
Ecuador is not considering Edward Snowden's asylum request and never intended to facilitate his flight from Hong Kong, president Rafael Correa said as the whistleblower made a personal plea to Quito for his case to be heard.
Snowden was Russia's responsibility and would have to reach Ecuadorean territory before the country would consider any asylum request, the president said in an interview on Monday.
"Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It's not logical. The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia."
The president, speaking to the Guardian at the presidential palace in Quito, said his government did not intentionally help Snowden travel from Hong Kong to Moscow with a temporary travel pass. "It was a mistake on our part," he added.
The comments clashed with expressions of gratitude the 30-year-old fugitive issued hours later, before Correa's views had been published.
"I must express my deep respect for your principles and sincere thanks for your government's action in considering my request for political asylum," said a letter, in Spanish and attributed to Snowden.
"There are few world leaders who would risk standing for the human rights of an individual against the most powerful government on earth, and the bravery of Ecuador and its people is an example to the world."
The former NSA contractor contrasted the silence of governments afraid of US retaliation with Ecuador's help in his flight to Moscow on 22 June. A temporary Ecuadorean travel document substituted for his cancelled US passport.
"The decisive action of your consul in London, Fidel Narvaez, guaranteed my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong – I could never have risked travel without that. Now, as a result, and through the continued support of your government, I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest."
The letter will boost Ecuador's reputation with Snowden's supporters but sat awkwardly with the president's attempt to distance Quito from the saga. Correa said Quito respected the right of asylum and appreciated Snowden exposing the extent of US spying, but will not consider an asylum request unless he made it to an Ecuadorean embassy or the country itself – a remote possibility while he remains reportedly marooned in Sheremetyevo airport's transit lounge. "He must be on Ecuadorean territory," the president said.
Correa added his government had not, and would not, give Snowden an authorised travel document to extract himself from the airport. "The right of asylum request is one thing but helping someone travel from one country to another — Ecuador has never done this. "
He said the temporary travel document issued by his London consul on 22 June – and publicly disowned five days later — was a blunder.
"It was a mistake on our part. Look, this crisis hit us in a very vulnerable moment. Our foreign minister was touring Asia. Our deputy foreign minister was in the Czech Republic. Our US ambassador was in Italy."
Narvaez and Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who has sheltered at Ecuador's London embassy for the past year to escape extradition, took matters into their own hands because they feared Snowden risked capture, said Correa.
"The consul, in his desperation, probably he couldn't reach the foreign minister, it was four in the morning, and he issued a safe conduct document without validity, without authorisation, without us even knowing."
The president said Narvaez would be "sanctioned" but that he understood the consul and Assange acted in good faith. Quito's appreciation for Assange had not been damaged, he said.
Correa, a standard bearer for the left in Latin America, softened his denunciations of the US over the weekend and praised vice president Joe Biden for a gracious phone call, saying he would consider Washington's request to refuse any asylum claim from Snowden while retaining Ecuador's sovereignty. Asked if he thought Snowden would ever make it to Quito, he said he did not know.
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KHARTOUM: The vice presidents of Sudan and South Sudan pledged on Monday to resolve a conflict over Juba's alleged support for rebels that is threatening cross-border oil flows, but failed to offer any concrete solutions.
Last month, bilateral ties hit a new low when Sudan said it would halt South Sudanese oil exports passing through the north for shipment unless Juba ended support for rebels operating across the shared border. South Sudan denies the claims.
To defuse the situation, South Sudan's Vice President, Riek Machar, flew to Khartoum for the first high-level meeting since Sudan's threat to close two cross-border pipelines.
After two days of talks between Machar and Sudan's Vice President, Ali Osman Taha, both sides said they wanted to implement a raft of deals allowing southern oil exports to pass through Sudan and to secure their disputed border.
"We are committed (to the agreements) and have the political will to normalise ties with South Sudan," Taha told the talks' final session attended by both delegations.
Machar, who was hugging some Sudanese officials, said both countries wanted to build up trust to make the agreements reality.
"We are happy with the outcome of the talks and if there is any problem, we want to solve it without a mediator," he said.
The two did not say whether oil flows would stop. A joint communique only said they had agreed not to support rebels on the other's territory, without proposing any steps or referring to Sudan's threat to halt oil flows.
The neighbours, which fought one of Africa's longest civil wars, ending in 2005, had agreed in March to resume oil flows.
Juba had shut its entire crude production in January 2012 when tensions over pipeline fees and disputed territory escalated.
Their latest dispute threatens to hit supplies to Asian buyers such as China National Petroleum Corp, India's ONCG Videsh and Malaysia's Petronas, which run the oilfields in both countries.
Diplomats said they doubted Sudan would close the two cross-border export pipelines because its economy has been suffering without South Sudan's pipeline fees.
Oil used to be the main source for Sudan's budget until the south's secession in July 2011, when Khartoum lost 75 per cent of its oil production and its status as an oil exporter overnight.-- Reuters
Share prices opened marginally higher today but eased thereafter in the first 30 minutes due to light selling activities.
At 9am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.25 points higher at 1,776.39 but eased 0.4 of a point to 1,774.68 at 9.30am.
Dealers said the market rose initially helped by the steadier close on US equities with sentiment boosted by news that the global economy remained on a recovery track.
They said that there were some spill-over effects from the positive external vibes on the Malaysian bourse today, but the market thereafter paused for a breather after a rebound for four straight days.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index opened 17.25 points lower at 16,911.6, the Industrial Index rose 9.44 points to 3019.83, the Plantation Index gained 0.14 of a point to 8391.17 while the FBM Ace Index rose 8.5 points to 4649.24.
Gainers led losers 203 to 125, while 185 counters were unchanged, 1,052 untraded and 25 others were suspended in the first half hour.
Volume stood at 164.235 million shares worth RM153.666 million.
Among actives, Ingenuity Consolidated and MAS rose half-a-sen each to 9.5 sen and 31.5 sen, respectively.
As for heavyweights, Maybank edged up six sen to RM10.42, CIMB
Group lost four sen to RM8.25 and Public Bank added four sen to
RM16.98 sen.-- Bernama
Eighteen members of an elite firefighting crew and one other person who were killed Sunday in an Arizona wildfire tried to protect themselves by deploying tent-like structures before they were overtaken, a state forestry spokesman says.
The lightning-sparked fire, which spread to more than 8,000 acres amid triple-digit temperatures, destroyed at least 50 structures and threatened 500 people in Yarnell, a town of about 700 residents that sits 85 miles northwest of Phoenix, the Yavapai County Emergency Management said Monday. Most people had evacuated from the town, and no injuries or other deaths were reported.
Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said the firefighters, whose names had not been released, were part of the city's fire department. A helicopter pilot discovered the bodies and authorities are working to remove them, a Department of Public Safety spokesperson said, according to Fox 10.
Nineteen fire shelters were deployed on Sunday, and some of the firefighters were found inside them, while others were outside the shelters, Mike Reichling, Arizona State Forestry Division spokesman, told the Arizona Republic.
It was the most firefighters killed battling a wildfire in the U.S. in decades.
"We're devastated," Fraijo said late Sunday. "We just lost 19 of the finest people you'll ever meet."
The fire killed 18 members of the 20-member of the Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshots crew, which were known for battling the region's worst fires, including two earlier this season. The average age of the men in the crew was 22-years-old, Fox 10 reports. The other person killed has not yet been identified, Reichling said.
Prescott firefighter and spokesman Wade Ward told the Prescott Daily Courier in an interview last week that the hotshots crews are highly trained individuals who work long hours in extreme conditions. The crews, which number roughly 100 in the U.S., often hike for miles into the wilderness with chainsaws and backpacks stuffed with heavy gear to build lines of protection between people and raging fires.
State forestry spokesman Art Morrison told the Associated Press that the firefighters were forced to deploy their emergency fire shelters — tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat — when they were caught in the Yarnell-area fire on Sunday.
The Cronkite News Service had featured the group in a story practicing such deployment in a worst-case scenario drill. The crew last year had four rookies on its team, according to the story.
"One of the last fail-safe methods that a firefighter can do under those conditions is literally to dig as much as they can down and cover themselves with a protective -- kinda looks like a foil type -- fire-resistant material -- with the desire, the hope at least, is that the fire will burn over the top of them and they can survive it," Fraijo said Sunday.
"Under certain conditions there's usually only sometimes a 50 percent chance that they survive," he said. "It's an extreme measure that's taken under the absolute worst conditions."
Two hundred firefighters were working on the Yarnell fire Sunday, and several hundred more were expected to arrive Monday. The fire has also forced the closure of parts of state Route 89. It was zero percent contained late Sunday.
Reichling said Monday that 18 hotshot fire crews are now battling the blaze.
The National Weather Service also said there's a 30 percent of thunderstorms and showers Monday in the Yarnell area. Rain could help slow the fire, but the forecast also says the storms could produce gusty winds.
"We're devastated. We just lost 19 of the finest people you'll ever meet."
- Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer plans to travel to the area on Monday.
"This is as dark a day as I can remember," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement on Sunday. "It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work. The risk is well-known to the brave men and women who don their gear and do battle against forest and flame.
"When a tragedy like this strikes, all we can do is offer our eternal gratitude to the fallen, and prayers for the families and friends left behind. God bless them all."
President Obama, currently traveling in Africa, released a statement praising the firefighters as "heroes -- highly-skilled professionals who, like so many across our country do every day, selflessly put themselves in harm's way to protect the lives and property of fellow citizens they would never meet."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the "devastating" loss is a reminder of deadly risks firefighters take every day.
"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten," McCain said in a statement.
The National Fire Protection Association website lists the last wildland fire to kill more firefighters as the 1933 Griffith Park fire of Los Angeles, which killed 29. The most firefighters -- 340 -- were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, according to the website.
In another Arizona fire, a 2-acre blaze that started at a motorcycle salvage yard and spread to a trailer park has destroyed five mobile homes in the Gila County community of Rye, located more than 130 miles east of Yarnell.
Gila County Health and Emergency Services Director Michael O'Driscoll said no one was injured in Rye.
The fire was ignited Saturday night at All Bikes Sales located off Highway 87. It spread to neighboring federal Forest Service land but was fully contained within 12 hours of its start.
The Red Cross says seven adults and two children were staying at a shelter set up for people who were evacuated.
CAIRO — Egypt's powerful military issued an ultimatum to the government of President Mohamed Morsi on Monday: resolve the crisis that has pitted hundreds of thousands of Morsi's opponents against his supporters and ground this county to a political standstill—or the military will intervene.
Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, commander of Egypt's armed forces, said the military may soon take action to enforce the demands of the masses of Egyptians who took to the streets on Sunday calling for the president's ouster.
"The armed forces reiterates its call to meet the demands of the people, and it gives everyone 48 hours as a last chance to carry the burden of the ongoing historic circumstances that the country is going through," Sissi said in a statement broadcast on national television.
"If the demands of the people are not met within the given period of time, [the military] will be compelled by its national and historic responsibilities, and in respect for the demands of Egypt's great people, to announce a roadmap for the future, and procedures that it will supervise involving the participation of all the factions and groups."
Anti-government activists have called repeatedly on the military in recent days to back them in their struggle against Morsi and his supporters in the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Many interpreted Sissi's remarks on Monday as a victory for their cause.
"I think it's highly unlikely that Morsi will be able to make a deal with the opposition in 48 hours. I don't think anyone wants to deal with Morsi anymore," said Wael Nawara, a longtime political activist, and the co-founder of the liberal Dustour party.
"So that effectively means that the military will basically appoint some kind of transition government," he said.
The military had repeatedly signaled that it does not want to return to the helm of politics, which it commanded — turbulently — in the first year and a half after the ouster of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak in February, 2011. But Sissi also said earlier this month that the army would step in if Egypt's political crisis worsened.
Before the military's announcement on Monday, four of Morsi's cabinet ministers submitted their resignations, in a show of solidarity with the anti-government protesters, the state news wire reported.
In the early morning, protesters stormed and ransacked the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters, looting its offices, and setting fire to sections of the eight-story building as police officers looked on. Several Muslim Brotherhood offices in other cities also were attacked.
Sunday's protests were the largest showing of opposition to Morsi since the Islamist leader took office one year ago. At least 16 people nationwide have been killed in violence related to the protests since Sunday, said Saad Zaghloul, assistant to Egypt's minister of health.
Protest leaders are calling for a new wave of demonstrations on Tuesday and gave Morsi until 5 p.m. that day to step down from office — a move that analysts describe as unlikely and Morsi supporters say is out of the question.
Malaysia's benchmark stock index fell in early trade, dragged by a decline in property firm UEM Sunrise Bhd and telecoms company DiGi.com Bhd.
The index, which dropped 0.17 per cent, outperformed MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan that fell 0.62 per cent, though it underperformed Tokyo's Nikkei share average, which declined 0.05 per cent.
"The benchmark, which has jumped 44.9 points or 2.6 per cent over the last three days, could consolidate its recent gains by hovering above the immediate support line of 1,750 ahead," HwangDBS Vickers Research said in a note to clients on Monday.
HwangDBS also said investors will watch MMC Corp Bhd, whose subsidiary Malakoff paid A$130 million (US$120.61 million) to buy a 50 per cent stake in an Australian wind farm from New Zealand's Meridian Energy.
The index was down 0.09 per cent at 1,771.89 at 10.06am in Kuaal Lumpur.-- Reuters
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