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/ 29 October 2007

Fire-weary Californians mull next step

A week after a half-million people fled southern California’s wildfires, shelters began closing and residents were figuring out what to do next — even as firefighters kept a wary eye on the possibility of strong winds developing later in the week. The flames destroyed more than 2 000 homes.

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/ 28 October 2007

Retreating California fires leave smoke hazard

Firefighters tightened their grip on California’s wildfires with the help of cooler weather, but a threat remained on Sunday of health hazards from choking plumes of smoke over the region. Cooler temperatures, calmer winds and spots of drizzle allowed firefighters to staunch or contain most of the 23 fires that have erupted since last Sunday.

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/ 24 October 2007

500 000 forced to flee California wildfires

Fierce wildfires raged across Southern California on Tuesday, threatening more than 60 000 homes as night fell and forcing half a million people to flee in the state’s largest evacuation. California’s worst fires in four years tormented the San Diego area in the south and threatened mountain communities further north.

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/ 5 August 2007

Bonds hits 755th career homer

San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit the 755th home run of his career on Saturday, tying the Major League Baseball all-time record held by Hank Aaron since 1974. The controversial slugger slammed the landmark homer, a 611m blast into the Petco Park leftfield stands, off San Diego Padres pitcher Clay Hensley.

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/ 12 February 2007

Sevens: Bok hopes dashed by referee

Springbok coach Paul Treu’s hopes of winning the San Diego Sevens were demolished by a controversial refereeing call at Petco Park in San Diego on Sunday. The Springboks had fought a titanic tussle with world champions Fiji, forcing the game into extra time after the teams were deadlocked 21-all at the end of full time when referee Matt Stanish’s mistake cost them a place in the semifinals.

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/ 25 November 2006

One baby, batteries not included

A classified ad that offered a free baby boy on the Craigslist website was under investigation by police on Friday, although the posting was believed to be a hoax. The ad was posted to the ”free stuff” section of the site early on Thursday alongside offers for free turkey dinners, a set of crutches and an electric stove.

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/ 1 April 2005

Flickr stands firm for the future

Stewart Butterfield launched Flickr, the online photo-sharing system, somewhat quietly at last year’s Emerging Technology conference in San Diego, California. One year later, at the same show, Flickr is running on almost everybody’s laptop, Butterfield has become a star and, we suspect, a multimillionaire.

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/ 15 April 2004

Lindows changes name of operating system

Lindows on Wednesday changed the name of its Lindows OS operating system to Linspire, responding to a court’s refusal to halt Microsoft’s trademark infringement lawsuits outside the United States. Michael Robertson, founder and chief executive, said the company’s flagship Linux operating system would be renamed Linspire worldwide.