NEW YORK: US stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday as the West moved closer to punitive military action against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons in a devastating attack on civilians.
Warnings stepped up from the United States, France and Britain that Damascus would be held accountable for the August 21 attack, sparking market worries of a possible broader conflict.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 170.33 points (1.14 percent) at 14,776.13.
The broader S&P 500 index fell 26.30 points (1.59 percent) to 1,630.48, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 79.05 points (2.16 percent) at 3,578.52.
Odds grew that a strike would occur against al-Assad's forces for a chemical weapons attack against civilians as a number of nations and groups - including Britain, France, Canada and the Arab League - joined Washington in urging a firm response to Assad. Adding to the tension, Russia has supported Assad Syria's civil war.
"This (stocks) move is as much about the potential spillover effect in the region as it is the potential for a U.S. strike," said Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer at BNY Mellon Wealth Management, adding that because geopolitical risk had been "ratcheted up," portfolios would need to be reallocated away from riskier investments like stocks.
"Doing that in a market that was already acting sloppy is cause for further weakness," he said. -- AFP, Reuters
A rebel fighter takes aim at regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo on August 26, 2013. (Photo by Louia Abo Al-Jod/AFP/Getty Images)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to continue the fight that has killed more than 100,000 Syrians in the last two and a half years even as the United States huddles with allies to prepare a military response in reaction to suspected chemical weapons use by the regime.
Senior U.S. officials told NBC News that it may launch limited missile strikes against Syria "as early as Thursday."
"Failure awaits the United States as in all previous wars it has unleashed, starting with Vietnam and up to the present day," Assad warned the U.S. in an interview with a Russian newspaper published Monday.
Assad called U.S. claims that his regime launched a chemical attack outside a Damascus suburb last Wednesday "nonsense and "an insult to common sense." He charged the West with drumming up the charge as a politically motivated attack.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that "the options are there, and the United States Department of Defense is ready to carry out those options," noting that any action would occur "in coordination with international partners."
Given what Secretary of State John Kerry called "undeniable" evidence that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against its own citizens, "there has to be a response" from the United States, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday. Carney said the public will hear the decision as soon as President Obama has made it, and he emphasized that all options are open–except boots on the ground.
"I think you can expect to hear [President Obama] speak on it again as he evaluates the potential options and responses, and as he makes a decision about a potential response," Carney said during Monday afternoon's press briefing.
The United Nations reported in June that the Syrian death toll had risen to more than 100,000 dead, which is likely a conservative estimate.
More than one million children have fled to neighboring countries, the U.N. said Friday, representing half of all refugees in an ongoing crisis that has spilled into Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt–straining limited resources.
More than four million people, including more than two million children, have been displaced within their home country, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.N. Children's Fund. The figures only include registered persons and are thought to be much higher.
In an impassioned press conference Monday, Kerry called the alleged chemical attack that killed hundreds and injured thousands more "a moral obscenity" and said there is no doubt the attacks were perpetrated by Assad's regime.
"By any standard, it is inexcusable," Kerry said, "and despite excuses and equivocations, it is undeniable." Kerry said the U.S. would be sharing evidence proving Assad's culpability in the coming days.
It appears to be the worst chemical weapons attack in a quarter century, since former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein launched chemical weapons strikes in 1988, killings thousands of Iraqi Kurds.
The use of chemical weapons in Syria violates a "red line" delineated by Obama more than one year ago. While the U.S. has weighed its military and diplomatic options, the death toll in Syria has steadily climbed and thousands of Syrians have been displaced, primarily to Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq.
TUOLUMNE CITY, Calif. (AP) — Officials say a massive wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park grew overnight, but they are still making progress in containing it.
The Rim Fire remained 20 percent contained on Tuesday morning. Officials said the fire grew to about 280 square miles, up from about 252 square miles the previous day, but back burning by crews was responsible for at least part of that increase.
California fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said crews are anticipating cooler temperatures and higher humidity this week that could allow them to gain the upper hand.
The fire is threatening thousands of structures, the main reservoir serving San Francisco and historic giant sequoias.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Crews are finally gaining ground on a massive wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park as fire officials expressed optimism even as the blaze grew larger while containment jumped to 20 percent.
As flames lapped at the edge of the main reservoir that supplies San Francisco, fears that the inferno could disrupt water or power to the city diminished.
"It looks great out there. No concerns," Glen Stratton, an operations section chief on the blaze, said of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
Nearly 3,700 firefighters battled the roughly 252-square-mile fire, the biggest wildfire on record in California's Sierra Nevada.
Weather conditions forecast for Wednesday may bring challenges in the morning as heavy smoke settles low to the ground, limiting visibility, but higher humidity was expected in the afternoon which could help dampen the flames, said Matt Mehle, a National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the fire.
Crews remained confident they could protect hydroelectric transmission lines and other utility facilities at the reservoir, the chief source of San Francisco's famously pure drinking water.
"I don't foresee any problems," Stratton said.
Utility officials monitored the basin's clarity and used a massive new $4.6 billion gravity-operated pipeline system to move water quickly to reservoirs closer to the city.
So far the ash that has been raining onto the reservoir has not sunk as far as the intake valves, which are about halfway down the 300-foot O'Shaughnessy Dam. Utility officials said the ash is non-toxic but that the city will begin filtering water for customers if problems are detected.
Power generation there was shut down last week so firefighters would not be imperiled by live wires. San Francisco is buying replacement power from other sources to run City Hall and municipal buildings.
It has been at least 17 years since fire ravaged the northernmost stretch of Yosemite that now is under siege.
Park officials cleared brush and set sprinklers on two groves of giant sequoias that were less than 10 miles away from the fire's front lines, said park spokesman Scott Gediman. While sequoias have a chemical in their bark to help them resist fire, they can be damaged when flames move through slowly with such intense heat.
The fire has swept through steep Sierra Nevada river canyons and stands of thick oak and pine, closing in on Tuolumne City and other mountain communities. It has confounded ground crews with its 300-foot walls of flame and the way it has jumped from treetop to treetop.
Crews spent Monday bulldozing firebreaks to protect Tuolumne City, several miles from the fire's edge.
Stratton said they would continue working to burn vegetation in the fire's path to slow its march toward town. He said that while the community remains in harm's way, "I'm pretty optimistic."
Meanwhile, biologists with the Forest Service are studying the effect on wildlife. Much of the area that has burned is part of the state's winter-range deer habitat. Biologist Crispin Holland said most of the large deer herds would still be well above the fire danger.
Biologists discovered stranded Western pond turtles on national forest land near the edge of Yosemite. Their marshy meadow had burned, and the surviving creatures were huddled in the middle of the expanse in what little water remained.
"We're hoping to deliver some water to those turtles," Holland said. "We might also drag some brush in to give them cover."
Wildlife officials were also trying to monitor at least four bald eagle nests in the fire-stricken area.
While it has put a stop to some backcountry hiking, the fire has not threatened the Yosemite Valley, where such sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Yosemite Falls draw throngs of tourists. Most of the park remained open to visitors.
The U.S. Forest Service said the fire was threatening about 4,500 structures and destroyed at least 23.
Rugged terrain, strong winds and bone-dry conditions have hampered firefighters' efforts to contain the blaze, which began Aug. 17. The cause has not been determined.
NEW YORK: US stocks closed lower on Monday after Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the United States would demand "accountability" after an "obscene" chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 64.05 points (0.43 percent) at 14,946.46.
The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.72 (0.40 percent) to 1,656.78 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.22 (0.01 percent) to 3,657.57.
The markets ended firmly in the red after trading solidly higher for most of the day, but volumes were very low.
The sell-off came immediately after Kerry said the US was still examining evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria but left no doubt that Bashar al-Assad's regime would be blamed.
The top US diplomat said President Barack Obama would demand accountability for this "moral obscenity."
Stocks were under modest pressure after the Commerce Department reported new orders for durable manufactured goods plunged 7.3 percent in July, much sharper than the 5.0 percent drop expected.
"Traders continue to grapple with whether the US economy is strong enough to facilitate tapering of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, which is set to meet in September," said Charles Schwab & Co. said.
But a spate of corporate activity sparked investor interest in the last week of summer before the long Labor Day weekend.
Shares in biotech giant Amgen soared 7.7 percent after it announced a US$10.4 billion deal to buy cancer-drug specialist Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Amgen sweetened its prior bid by US$4 per share to US$125. Onyx leaped 5.6 percent to US$123.49.
Chinese software firm Qihoo 360 Technology jumped 7.8 percent after reporting breakneck growth in second-quarter profits and revenues.
"Our PC security products already cover nearly 95 percent of Chinese PC Internet users, and our mobile security solutions cover approximately 70 percent of Chinese smartphone users, making Qihoo the indisputable leader in Internet security in China," Hongyi Zhou, the firm's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Home-improvement retailer The Home Depot gained 2.1 percent, the strongest of the 30-stock Dow's four gainers.
Procter & Gamble was the laggard, falling 1.8 percent. Microsoft shed 1.7 percent, paring its 7 percent-plus gain Friday on news that chief executive Steve Ballmer will retire in 12 months. -- AFP
A vehicle carrying U.N. chemical weapons investigators came under sniper fire Monday as it was heading toward the site of an alleged chemical attack last week that killed hundreds of people.
There were no reported injuries in the sniper attack in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh, although one vehicle was disabled.
The Syrian government accused the rebels of firing at the team, while a rebel representative said a pro-government militia was behind the attack.
The shooting comes as U.S. naval forced move closer to Syria and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that any military intervention in Syria without a mandate from the U.N. would be a grave violation of international law.
The attack by snipers took place in the buffer zone area between rebel- and government-controlled territory.
"The first vehicle of the Chemical Weapons Investigation Team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area," saied Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
"As the car was no longer serviceable, the team returned safely back to the government checkpoint," the spokesperson said.
The eight-vehicle convoy included six vehicles carrying the U.N. experts, one with security forces and one ambulance.
Wassim al-Ahmad, a member of the Moadamiyeh local council, said five U.N. investigators eventually arrived at a makeshift hospital in the suburb, where doctors and about 100 people still with symptoms from the alleged chemical attack were brought in to meet with the U.N. team.
"They are late, they came six days late," he told the Associated Press via Skype from Moadamiyeh, referring to the time it took the U.N. team to arrive. "All the people have already been buried."
He also claimed that members of a pro-government militia known as the Popular Committees fired at the U.N. team.
Syrian activists and opposition leaders have said that 322 to 1,300 people were killed in the alleged chemical attack in the capital's western suburbs.
Syria agreed Sunday to allow a U.N. investigation into the alleged chemical weapons attack last week. A White House official said the offer comes too late.
The White House has concluded that there is "very little doubt" that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the attack, increasing the chances of a U.S. military strike.
The chemical weapons assessment is based on a variety of evidence and represents a broad consensus, according to a statement from a senior administration official.
The official requested anonymity; deliberations are ongoing and no decision has been reached about what to do.
U.S. defense officials told the Associated Press that the Navy had sent a fourth warship armed with ballistic missiles into the eastern Mediterranean Sea but without immediate orders for any missile launch into Syria.
Navy ships are capable of a variety of military actions, including launching Tomahawk cruise missiles as they did against Libya in 2011 as part of an international action that led to the overthrow of the Libyan government.
In his remarks at a news conference Monday, the Russian foreign minister appealed to the U.S. and other Western power to avoid "past mistakes" with any intervention in Syria. Lavrov said he had spoken by telephone with Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday about the Syrian crisis.
President Obama was presented with a range of military options as he huddled with his national security team Saturday to discuss Syria.
Military analysts say the likeliest option would be a punitive strike designed to send a message to the regime of Bashar Assad but that would not be designed to decapitate the regime or dramatically alter the course of the civil war raging there.
"Behavior modification would be the main objective rather than decisively shifting the situation on the ground or removing the regime," said Jeffrey White, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Defense Intelligence Agency official.
Administration officials have been wary of any military intervention that would draw the United States into a lengthy commitment, and they have also expressed concerns that the collapse of the regime might lead to a failed state or the emergence of al-Qaeda affiliates.
Contributing: Jim Michael and Oren Dorell in Washington; Associated Press
With scant cooperation from Mother Nature, fire crews waged a battle with few gains Sunday against the giant Rim Fire, which voraciously consumed dry brush and trees as it marched toward the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park.
As of Sunday evening, the fire had burned 224 square miles -- more than the area occupied together by San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Campbell. It remained only 7 percent contained. Nearly 2,850 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, Cal Fire and numerous local agencies were battling California's largest wildfire. Southerly afternoon winds up to 20 miles per hour pushed the fire north, said Cal Fire Captain Mike Mohler.
If there was any good news, it was that the
A contractor prepares to load a bulldozer onto a trailer as a smoke plume from the Rim Fire rises near Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013. With winds gusting and flames jumping from treetop to treetop, hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to protect this and other communities in the path of the Rim Fire raging north of Yosemite National Park. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) ( Jae C. Hong )
predicted gusts up to 30 mph didn't materialize. But the bad news is that high temperatures, in the mid-80s Sunday, are expected to rise Monday.
"With the size of the fire and amount of ground we still have to cover, it's still a difficult fire," Mohler said. "We need Mother Nature to cooperate. Hopefully we'll turn the corner soon."
The Rim Fire also threatened communities to the south of Highway 120 in Mariposa County, with evacuation orders issued at 5 p.m. In addition, recommended evacuation remained in place for several mountain communities in Tuolumne County, including Camp Mather and San Jose Family Camp. The Red Cross was operating a shelter at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora, said Carole Logue, a volunteer with the Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services.
Bay Area threat
Aside from the rugged and hard-to-reach terrain, another difficulty is the blaze's tendency to burn the tops of trees, creating a "crown fire" with long, intense flames that skip across forested land faster than a wildfire that creeps along near the ground.
Courtesy of southerly winds, Yosemite National Park remains open and is relatively smoke-free, according to the park website. But the entrance from Highway 120 on the west side of the park, the White Wolf campground, the Hodgdon Meadow campground and the Hetch Hetchy backpackers' campground were closed as of Sunday evening.
Popular areas in the park such as Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point, Wawona, Mariposa Grove, Crane Flat and Tuolumne Meadows were open Sunday.
Although the Rim Fire is more than 100 miles from the Bay Area, it still could threaten San Francisco's electric supply if it damages the power system originating in O'Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy reservoir. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has been forced to shut down two of its three hydroelectric power stations near Hetch Hetchy, and Gov. Jerry Brown has extended a state of emergency to include San Francisco because the reservoir is a major source of electricity and water for the city.
As fire leapfrogs across the vast, picturesque Sierra forests, moving from one treetop to the next, residents in the fire's path are moving animals and children to safety.
"Left everything"
The fire moved through San Jose Family Camp last week, consuming an outbuilding and 10 tents, said camp recreation Supervisor Art Catbagan. He said he was hoping that a group from Maybeck High in Berkeley, which evacuated on 15 minutes' notice, could return early this week to recover belongings.
"They left everything -- books, clothing, things on their beds. They even had food in the cafeteria they were getting ready to prepare," Catbagan said.
The fire has burned northeast away from Groveland, where smoke gave way to blue skies Sunday. But at Tuolumne City's Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne City, the slot machines were quiet as emergency workers took over nearly all of the resort's 148 hotel rooms.
"The casino is empty," said casino employee Jessie Dean, who left her four children at relatives' homes in the Central Valley. "Technically, the casino is open, but there's nobody there."
Hundreds of firefighters were deployed Sunday to protect Tuolumne City and other communities in the fire's path. Eight fire trucks and four bulldozers were deployed near Bunney's ranch on the west side of Mount Baldy, where two years of drought have created tinder-dry conditions.
The Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/NoguchiOnK12.
BEIRUT — The Syrian government agreed Sunday to allow United Nations inspectors to visit the sites of suspected chemical-weapon attacks outside Damascus, the official Syrian news agency said.
Syrian officials and the U.N. "have agreed to a mutual understanding that enters into force immediately allowing the U.N. inspection team to investigate" the sites of the recent alleged attacks, the state media outlet said in a statement.
The reported accord comes as U.S. officials were said to be preparing for a possible military strike on Syria in retaliation for the government's alleged use of chemical weapons. President Obama met with his top security advisers this weekend about the Syria crisis.
A 20-member contingent of U.N. inspectors is already on the ground in Damascus, but the team's official mandate was limited to looking into three previous allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria. Sunday's agreement would seem to open the way for the experts to visit several areas near the capital where chemical weapons allegedly struck last week.
The U.N. and individual member nations, including the United States and Russia, have been pressing Damascus to allow the experts to visit the disputed sites.
The U.N. staff "should coordinate with the Syrian government on the date and time of the team's visit to the sites agreed to by the two sides," the state news media said.
There was no immediate confirmation from the U.N.
The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons in a series of alleged attacks that occurred early Wednesday against opposition strongholds outside of Damascus.
Opposition representatives have accused the government of mounting poison-gas bombardments, killing hundreds, including women and children.
Unverified footage said to be of the victims has caused global outrage and prompted calls for an independent inquiry.
Experts have said the images are not conclusive but could indicate the deployment of a nerve agent of some kind and have stressed the need for on-site inspection and the taking of samples from the area and from purported victims. Officials have said time is of the essence as some of the suspect substances may dissipate in a few days, making detection more difficult.
Syrian authorities have said that any chemical attacks were carried out by rebels in a bid to discredit the government and prompt international retaliation against Syria. The Syrian opposition has denied unleashing any chemical strike.
No details were immediately available about the logistics of the planned inspections.
The areas allegedly hit by chemical gas attacks are in conflict-ridden suburbs of Damascus where government troops and armed rebels have repeatedly clashed. Officials would have to agree on some kind of security regimen and possibly a cease-fire to permit the U.N. presence. Opposition activists have said they are willing to facilitate the entry of U.N. personnel.
The agreement to allow U.N. access came Sunday during a meeting in Damascus between the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, and the U.N.'s top disarmament official, Angela Kane, the government said.
In a statement, the Syrian foreign minister said his government was ready to cooperate with the U.N. to "expose the false allegations of the terrorist groups accusing the Syrian forces of using chemical weapons." Syrian authorities routinely refer to armed rebels as terrorists.
The "dream" of racial equality described by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago at the March on Washington has not yet been fulfilled, the last living speaker from the original march said Sunday.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights icon who spoke at the original rally where King delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech, said more must be done to meet King's vision.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the only living speaker from the original March on Washington, reflects on his experience at the momentous event 50 years ago.
"We have a lot of work to do. The dream is not yet fulfilled," Lewis said during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Following a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Saturday — where Lewis, Attorney General Eric Holder, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and others spoke — Lewis lauded what he called a "nonviolent revolution" since 1963 that has changed race relations in America.
That rally sets the stage, as well, for a more formal ceremony on Wednesday where President Barack Obama, the country's first African-American president, will mark King's speech with one of his own.
Lewis has spoken with Obama ahead of those remarks, but the Georgia congressman said that it's important to be mindful of the context for the president's speech.
"The president is the president. He's not a civil rights leader," Lewis said.
Watch the Aug. 25, 1963 edition of Meet the Press, featuring interviews with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped lead a later generation of civil rights leaders, said that addressing economic inequality, the effects of gun violence and voting rights should be the focus of contemporary civil rights leaders.
And Sharpton said he hoped this week's anniversary would help spur a renewed focus on those issues.
"Marches are not set to solve a problem. They're set to show the problem, and force someone to solve it," he said.
Booker, a Democratic candidate for Senate in New Jersey, said the original March on Washington's message was that "the power of the people is greater than the people in power."
The favorite in this fall's special election, Booker said he hoped to break the partisan gridlock in Congress to secure actual achievements.
"We as a people can not allow our inability to do everything … to undermine our willingness to do something," he said.
FRESNO, Calif. After burning for nearly a week on the edges of California's Yosemite National Park, a massive wildfire of nearly 200 square miles has now crossed into it, and firefighters have barely begun to contain it.
Flames of the so-called "Rim Fire" continue to shoot up toward the sky with the fire swallowing up everything in its path, reporter Anjali Hempbill of CBS Sacramento station KOVR-TV reported on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" from near the park.
"It's scary," said resident David Husid. "You just don't want to see your house go up. We've got so many memories in the last year."
Neighbors watched as a helicopter hovered over their homes, picking up more water to fight the growing flames as thick smoke fills the valleys.
The plume of smoke from the fire is so big it creates its own weather patterns inside, making it even harder for crews to predict where the fire burns next.
"It's like 'Backdraft' the movie," said Husid. "It sucks the air out, and all of the sudden you get a wind coming from nowhere, and it's not windy up here, and it's just the fire that's pulling all the oxygen, so it can breathe."
Crews say the dry brush and rugged terrain make getting into the fire on foot to build containment lines very difficult.
"It's dryer than lumber that you buy at a lumber yard," some guy said.
The Yosemite Valley, the part of the park frequented by tourists and known around the world for such iconic sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Yosemite falls, remained open, clear of smoke and free from other signs of the fire that remained about 20 miles away.
But the blaze was reverberating around the region. It brought a governor's declaration of emergency late Friday for San Francisco 150 miles away because of the threat the fire posed to utility transmission to the city, and caused smoke warnings and event cancellations in Nevada as smoke blew over the Sierra Nevada and across state lines.
And the fire had established at least a foothold in Yosemite, with at least 17 of its 196 square miles burning inside the park's broad borders, in a remote area near Lake Eleanor where backpackers seek summer solace.
Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said that the park had stopped issuing backcountry permits to backpackers and had warned those who already had them to stay out of the area.
She emphasized that the skies over Yosemite Valley were "crystal clear," however.
"Right now there are no closures, and no visitor services are being affected in the park," Cobb said. "We just have to take one day at a time."
The blaze did, however, pose a threat to the lines and stations that pipe power to the city of San Francisco, so Gov. Jerry Brown, who had declared an emergency for the fire area earlier in the week, made the unusual move of doing the same for the city across the state.
San Francisco gets 85 percent of its water from the Yosemite-area Hetch Hetchy reservoir that is about 4 miles from the fire, though that had yet to be affected. But it was forced to shut down two of its three hydroelectric power stations in the area.
Firefighters monitor the Rim Fire Aug. 23, 2013, near Groveland, Calif., outside of Yosemite National Park.
/ Getty Images
The city has so far been able to buy power on the open market and use existing supplies, but further disruptions or damage could have an effect, according to city power officials and the governor's statement.
The declaration frees funding and resources to help the city and makes it eligible for more federal funds to help with power shortages and outages or water problems.
The 196-square-mile blaze was 5 percent contained and more than 2,000 firefighters were on the lines.
It continued to grow in several directions, although "most of the fire activity is pushing to the east right into Yosemite," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
In Nevada, the smoke forced officials in several counties to cancel outdoor school activities and issue health advisories, especially for people with respiratory problems.
The fire was threatening about 5,500 residences, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The blaze has destroyed four homes and 12 outbuildings in several different areas.
Officials issued voluntary evacuation advisories for two new towns — Tuolumne City, population 1,800, and Ponderosa Hills, a community of several hundred — which are about five miles from the fire line, Forest Service spokesman Jerry Snyder said.
A mandatory evacuation order remained in effect for part of Pine Mountain Lake, a summer gated community a few miles from the fire.
"It feels a little bit like a war zone, with helicopters flying overhead, bombers dropping retardant and 10 engine companies stationed on our street," said Ken Codeglia, a retired Pine Mountain Lake resident who decided to stay to protect his house with his own hoses and fire retardant system. "But if the fire gets very hot and firefighters evacuate, I will run with them."
Officials previously advised voluntary evacuations of more than a thousand other homes, several organized camps and at least two campgrounds in the area outside the park's boundary.
More homes, businesses and hotels are threatened in nearby Groveland, a community of 600 about 5 miles from the fire and 25 miles from the entrance of Yosemite.
Usually filled with tourists, the streets are now swarming with firefighters, evacuees and news crews, said Doug Edwards, owner of Hotel Charlotte on Main Street.
"We usually book out six months solid with no vacancies and turn away 30-40 people a night. That's all changed," Edwards said. "All we're getting for the next three weeks is cancellations. It's a huge impact on the community in terms of revenue dollars."
The fire is raging in the same region where a 1987 blaze killed a firefighter, burned hundreds of thousands of acres and forced several thousand people out of their homes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alice Long planned months ago to use vacation time to travel from Huntsville, Ala., to the 50th anniversary events for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Long, a NASA administrative assistant, brought along her grandchildren to give them a close-up view of African-American and civil rights history that she said isn't being taught in schools.
''I'm here supporting this march because there are so many injustices in this country,'' Long, 59, said on the eve of Saturday's march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. ''I'm very concerned about it because I have a 5-year-old grandson and a 13-year-old granddaughter.''
Marchers began arriving early Saturday to gather on the National Mall, many staking out their spots as the sun rose in a clear sky over the Capitol. The NAACP passed out signs reminiscent of the 1963 event expressing reasons for the march five decades later: ''We March To Protect Voting Rights,'' proclaimed one of the placards.
Organizers have planned for about 100,000 people to participate in the event, which is the precursor to the actual anniversary of the Aug. 28, 1963, march. It will be led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and King's son Martin Luther King III. After several speeches, participants will walk the half-mile from the Lincoln Memorial to the 2-year-old memorial.
On the day of the anniversary, President Barack Obama will speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the same place King stood when he delivered his ''I Have a Dream'' speech. Obama will be joined by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Churches and groups have been asked to ring bells at 3 p.m. Wednesday, marking the exact time King spoke.
On Friday, a coalition of black leaders issued what they said is the 21st century agenda for the nation as it marks the watershed civil rights event that helped bring about the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The 1963 march drew some 250,000 to the National Mall and ushered in the idea of massive, nonviolent demonstrations.
The leaders named economic parity, equity in education, voting rights, health care access and criminal justice reform as national policy priorities.
National Urban League President Marc Morial said the agenda was ''by no means a complete agenda'' but one that can strengthen the unity among the coalition's members and a way to go forward in a new civil rights movement.
Throughout the buildup to the anniversary march, leaders have been acknowledging and honoring civil rights progress spurred by the 1963 march. But they also have bemoaned what they see as an attack on that progress since King delivered his stirring speech.
They cite the Supreme Court ruling that effectively erased a key anti-discrimination provision of the Voting Rights Act; persistent unemployment among African-Americans, which is about double that of white Americans; and the shooting death of unarmed black teenage Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of George Zimmerman.
Organizers of Saturday's march hoped this year's event would serve to inspire people again to educate themselves about issues they see as making up the modern civil rights struggle.
''It's very difficult to stomach the fact that Trayvon wasn't committing any crime. He was on his way home from the store,'' Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's mother, said Friday as she prepared to participate in the march. ''Don't wait until it's at your front door. Don't wait until something happens to your child. ... This is the time to act now. This is the time to get involved.''
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Follow Suzanne Gamboa at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa
NEW YORK: US stocks scored solid gains on Friday as the market got a jolt from Microsoft's announcement that chief executive Steve Ballmer will retire within the next 12 months.
The computing giant's shares soared 7.3 per cent to US$34.75 as Ballmer, who succeeded Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2000, said the company would search for a new leader who can take charge of its "transformation to a devices and services company."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46.77 points (0.31 per cent) to 15,010.51.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 6.54 (0.39 per cent) at 1,663.50, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 19.09 (0.52 per cent) at 3,657.79.
The Commerce Department's unwelcome US new-home sales report for July - sales plunged 13.4 per cent month-on-month - also proved a catalyst for the rally.
Stocks were in negative territory before the morning report was released, but rebounded as investors weighed the data's implications on a potential Federal Reserve taper of stimulus.
"Questions arose as to whether that data point might convince the Fed to hold off on a tapering announcement at its September 17-18 FOMC meeting," Briefing.com analysts said.
Briefing.com noted there was a "presumption that the answer could be yes."
The markets showed no hangover from the shock of the Nasdaq's three-hour shutdown Thursday on technology woes.
Nasdaq said it was still investigating the issues, and Nasdaq OMX chief executive Robert Greifeld pointed to an outside party in an interview with CNBC television.
"We all have to be aware of the other person not acting always in the proper way, and you have to have your system be able to handle defensive driving," he said, without identifying the person.
Nasdaq OMX shares rebounded 1.2 per cent after falling more than 3 per cent Thursday.
Shares in youth fashion chain Aeropostale plunged 20.2 per cent after turning in a quarterly loss on a 6.4 per cent fall in sales for its second quarter, and predicted a poor third quarter as well.
The Gap fared better, slipping 0.1 per cent as its second-quarter sales grew and profits rose 25 per cent, but the general picture for retailers of hip clothes for the young remained poor.
On Thursday Abercrombie & Fitch shares also plunged on its bad quarter, and sank another 0.4 per cent Friday, while shares of another trendy chain, American Eagle Outfitters, were down 2.8 per cent. -- AFP
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