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A top leader of the powerful United States evangelical movement and outspoken opponent of gay marriage with close White House links has stepped down from his positions following allegations he paid for sex with a male prostitute. Ted Haggard had been president of the 30-million-strong National Association of Evangelicals.

South Africa’s Retief Goosen scored 32 points to capture his first PGA Tour title this year by winning the International. After rain postponed Thursday’s first round, 63 players were to take the course for the final two rounds on Sunday. There normally was a second cut where the field is reduced to the top 36 players and ties, but in an effort to play 36 holes, there was no third-round cut.

A geomagnetic storm spawned by a giant eruption of gas on the sun has reached the Earth’s upper atmosphere, interfering with high-frequency airline communications but causing no major problems so far. Power companies were taking precautions to avoid voltage problems and blackouts.

Coal seam fires that can burn underground for centuries pose a major threat to the environment and human health, experts say. Once under way they can be impossible to put out, raging for decades or even centuries.

The US Forest Service said on Sunday it has arrested one of its own for setting one of several wildfires that have ravaged the western state of Colorado for the past several days, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

With little ceremony, firefighters stopped the spread of the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history that at one point crept within a few kilometres of the city’s southern suburbs.