18 dead amid Kashmir protests against India, U.S.

Kashmiri protesters burn an effigy representing U.S. President Barack Obama during a protest in Budgam on the outskirts of Srinagar on September 13, 2010.

Indian-administered Kashmir witnessed widespread violence Monday that killed 18 people and left 80 wounded, some of them critically. Pro-independence mobs defied a round-the-clock curfew to stage protests against India and against a Florida pastor's now-canceled plans to burn the Quran, leading to fierce clashes with Indian security forces. Two Christian missionary schools, several government buildings and two police vehicles were set on fire by angry mobs, mostly young people, police said. The demonstrations to denounce the potential desecration of the Quran added a dimension to the three-month-long anti-India unrest. Monday's killings are the highest single-day toll in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley since June 11, bringing the death toll to 89.

Scores of others wounded in the violence are receiving treatment in Kashmir hospitals that have come under tremendous strain. Clashes between Indian security forces and stone-throwing protesters raged in numerous towns across Kashmir, from the northern resort town of Tangmarg to the central Budgam district and Anantnag in the south. Local governments appealed for calm and banned the Iranian Press TV channel, which reported on the American pastor's plans to burn the Quran. The protests are part of a "Quit Kashmir" campaign launched by separatist groups against Indian rule in Kashmir. Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan. India deployed thousands of troops in Kashmir to guard against what Indian leaders believe was a Pakistan-backed insurgency that began in the late 1980s. That insurgency, which India says claimed more than 43,000 lives, is no longer raging, but the troops have remained.

At least 5 still missing after California gas blast

At least 5 still missing after California gas blast

At least five people were still missing on Saturday after a gas pipeline explosion destroyed a neighborhood in a San Francisco suburb two days ago, killing four people. The remains of the fire site are still being searched and at least five people are known to be missing, said Neil Telford, chief of police for the city of San Bruno, California.  As investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board continued their probe into the cause of the blast, residents gathered at a town hall meeting in search of answers. Hundreds of people packed into a church on a warm afternoon, asking questions about insurance claims, the safety of gas lines, and when displaced residents might be able to return home. Mayor Jim Ruane told the assembled crowd: "In a split second, flash, our lives changed forever. Some were lost. This has been a tragedy of immense proportions." The ruptured 30-inch (76-cm) steel gas transmission pipeline belongs to utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co, whose parent company is PG&E Corp. The company is still looking into why the pipeline ruptured. It said it is working quickly to examine other lines to ensure that they are safe.

The section of the gas line was installed around 1956, said Geisha Williams, senior vice president of energy delivery for PG&E. Pipelines are checked annually for leaks, she said, and the line in question was inspected earlier this year. There have been several media reports that, in the days before the explosion -- which happened on Thursday evening -- residents called PG&E and reported smelling gas. Williams said the company did not yet know whether it had indeed received such calls. She said the company records all of its phone calls, and is combing through its phone records, which it will also turn over to the NTSB, which monitors gas leaks, to aid their investigation. DESTRUCTION City officials said the blast and ensuing firestorm destroyed 37 homes and injured more than 50 people. Roughly 270 homes were still inaccessible on Saturday, officials said, but the city plans to allow some people to return to those homes on Sunday.

The death toll from the incident remained at four, the San Mateo County Coroner's Office confirmed on Saturday, including a mother and her daughter. California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado attended the town hall meeting. Maldonado, standing in for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who was on a trade mission in Asia, has declared a state of emergency. Maldonado said he has spoken with President Barack Obama, who indicated that he wanted to help San Bruno residents. The blast left a massive crater. It took scores of firefighters until midday Friday to contain the fire touched off by the blast.

Igor Strengthens Into Category 4 Hurricane

Now a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Igor swirls in the Atlantic Ocean.

Forecasters say Hurricane Igor has rapidly strengthened to a Category 4 storm in the open Atlantic. It doesn't immediately threaten land. Meanwhile, a tropical depression off the coast of Africa prompted officials to issue a Tropical Strom warning for parts of the Cape Verde Islands on Sunday. Igor had maximum sustained winds of 135 mph and was moving west at 14 mph. Some additional strengthening is expected in the next two days. The center of the storm was located about 1,120 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands. Forecasters also warned that the newly formed depression could strengthen into a tropical Strom as early as Sunday night. The storm warning was issued for the southern Cape Verde Islands, including Maio, Sao Tiago, Fogo and Brava.

Pope pained by Belgian child sex scandal

Belgium's Catholic Church released a report detailing hundreds of 

assertions of abuse of children by clergy.

A Vatican spokesman said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI feels much pain after revelations that members of the clergy were involved in widespread sexual abuse of children from the 1950s through the 1980s in Belgium. "The publishing of this report is a new cause of pain for us, for the victims," Father Federico Lombardi said. The announcement came after leaders of the church in Belgium said Catholic priests who abused children should tell their superiors. "We want to repeat this call with force," said Bishop Johan Bonny, the bishop of Antwerp. "It is to everyone's advantage that the abuser in a pastoral relationship communicates this fact to his superior" or to a new "center for investigation, healing and reconciliation," which he announced Monday. The church has identified four experts to start preparatory work on the center, he said, but he did not name them.

Belgian church officials will begin interviews Tuesday as a follow-up to a church-backed investigation that detailed hundreds of assertions of sexual abuse of children by clergy and others working for the church from the 1950s into the late 1980s. It was led by Dr. Peter Adriaenssens, who is both a church investigator and a psychiatrist. "From the mistakes of the past, we wish to take the necessary lessons," said Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium. "In the interviews that will be conducted from tomorrow, we will consider the relevant reflexions and proposals of Professor Adriaenssens." The process will take time, because "it is impossible to try to resolve these traumatic experiences too quickly," Leonard said.  "We want to commit ourselves to giving the maximum support for the victims," he said. "We must listen to their questions in order to restore their dignity and help heal the suffering they have endured."

The commission said it received about 500 reports from alleged victims, about 60 percent of them from males. It cited 320 alleged abusers, of whom 102 were known to have been clergy members from 29 congregations. Thirteen of the alleged victims committed suicide, it said. "We can say that not a single congregation escaped sexual abuse of minors by one or more of its members," the Commission on Church-Related Sexual Abuse Complaints said Friday. "The stories they contain and suffering make us shudder," Leonard said. Linda Opdebeeck told CNN that her abuse as a Belgian schoolgirl did not begin immediately. "He had a little room at school, and when you had a problem, you could go to him," she said. "He was very charismatic; he was very friendly. I was alone. I didn't have brothers or sisters. I was an only child. I was fat, and I was lonely. So I went to him in his little room, and he listened to me, and I had a nice feeling. But a year later, he started to abuse me."

But Opdebeeck, now in her 40s, said she felt unable to tell anyone else what was going on. "I knew I had to be silent because he was a friend of my parents," she said. "What could I say? He was always saying that I had to shut up or something bad would happen to me." Years later, she confronted him but found little satisfaction. "There were three men at the table, and he was just telling that he didn't remember any more, and it wasn't so bad, and I had to feel pity because he was old," she said. "It seems to me that the victims are the abusers and the abusers are the victims when you hear them speaking about 'Just forgive us and continue your life.' " The abuse, she said, has had an impact on her faith. "I try to separate my faith and the church, but it's very hard," she said. "Perhaps there is a God, but then he has nothing to do with all the men there. No. The church is finished."

In last week's report, investigators had information about when the abuse started for 233 of the alleged victims. Forty-eight were 12; one was 2; five were 4; eight were 5; seven were 6; ten were 7. Of the 230 alleged victims about whom investigators said they had reliable information, more than 70 percent are currently between the ages of 40 and 70, it said. Ten percent are 31 to 40. Four alleged victims are 20 to 30 years of age, and one is younger than 20, it said. At the other end of the scale, five alleged victims are aged between 80 and 90 years old, and one is older than 90. Belgian police raided Catholic Church headquarters in the country this year and questioned a cardinal over allegations of a cover-up by the church. Belgian police questioned Gotfried Danneels, the country's former Catholic archbishop, for about 10 hours over accusations he knew of sexual abuse in the church but failed to stop it, the Belgian prosecutor's office said in July. Danneels was being considered a witness but could become a suspect, prosecutor's spokesman Joseph Colain said. Danneels, who was questioned July 5, could be interrogated again as the investigation continues, Colain said. Danneels was archbishop of Belgium for more than 30 years before he stepped down in January.

Belgian police raided the national headquarters of the Catholic Church in June over allegations of child abuse, prompting an angry response from Pope Benedict XVI and other church leaders. Investigators seized archdiocese archives covering 25 years as well as personal computers and other personal possessions, said Fernand Keuleneer, a lawyer for the archdiocese. Police raided Danneels' private residence and the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Belgium as a meeting of bishops was taking place. They detained the bishops and other church employees -- even the cook -- for about nine hours, the Rev. Eric De Beukelaer said. Members of a Belgian church commission that helps sexual abuse victims resigned en masse to protest the raid a week after it took place, said De Beukelaer, a spokesman for the Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese.

The commission worked with people who have been abused by clergy members, said the spokesman. The Belgian Prosecutor's Office said in July that it is investigating death threats against witnesses and magistrates involved in clergy child abuse cases. The Vatican criticized the raids but reaffirmed its "strong condemnation of any sinful and criminal abuse of minors by members of the church." It cited "the need to repair and confront such acts in conformity with the law and teachings of the Gospels." The Catholic Church is facing allegations that clergy members abused children in at least half a dozen countries, including the pope's native Germany, as well as Belgium, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands and the United States. 

Suspected U.S. drone kills five in Pakistan

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed five suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed five suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal region on Sunday morning, intelligence officials told CNN. Two intelligence officials said two missiles were fired on the hideout of suspected militants in the Data Khel area of North Waziristan, one of seven districts in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The intelligence officials asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Last week officials said suspected drone strikes killed 29 suspected militants in the region.

While the United States is the only country in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones -- which are controlled remotely -- U.S. officials normally do not comment on suspected drone strikes.

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Toll of Colorado wildfire grows; at least 135 homes destroyed, 12 damaged

A wind-whipped wildfire sent flames roaring through a rugged canyon in the Colorado foothills, forcing hundreds of people to flee and destroying dozens of homes.

A wildfire burning in the canyons and steep mountainsides near Boulder became one of the most destructive blazes in Colorado history Wednesday as authorities determined it had destroyed at least 135 homes in just three days. Authorities provided the dire assessment as firefighters encountered a tangle of rattlesnakes, downed power lines and combustible propane tanks and struggled to get an upper hand on the inferno. The Boulder County sheriff's office said Wednesday that 135 homes have been destroyed — a toll likely to rise as the blaze rages on and firefighters get a clearer picture of the damage. About 3,500 people have been evacuated from about 1,000 homes stemming from a fire that broke out in a parched area near of Boulder on Monday. Residents of four neighborhoods will be allowed to return home Thursday morning. It wasn't clear how many homes that involves.

Four people remain missing as some residents have stayed behind and risked their lives to try to save their homes. No deaths or injuries have been reported at this point, and the cause of the fire was not known. The fire west of Boulder is not large in terms of size — only about 6,200 acres, or about 10 square miles. But it struck in a populated area that inflicted major property damage. The reported loss of homes surpasses that of the 2002 Hayman fire in southern Colorado that was the most destructive in the state's history. That fire destroyed 133 homes and 466 outbuildings over 138,000 acres in a more sparsely populated area that includes national forest land. Todd Martin, incident commander, told a crowd of about 600 at a public meeting Wednesday night in Boulder that it has cost $2.1 millon so far to fight the fire. Firefighters took advantage of cooler temperatures and light rain to attack the wildfire Wednesday but authorities acknowledged they still don't have a good handle of the blaze. Fire officials scheduled a meeting night on the University of Colorado campus to update the community.

"We just don't have control of the fire," Sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough said Wednesday afternoon as some rain began falling over the fire area. Air tankers dumped 35,000 gallons of fire retardant on the blaze and crews began building containment lines on the eastern side of the fire. The large plume of smoke the fire had been producing since it started has dissipated because of the favorable weather. However, the fire was still actively burning and threatening structures, forcing some deputies doing an inventory of the damage to retreat. Fire managers said as many as 500 firefighters and support personnel are at the fire and more are on the way. Laura McConnell, spokeswoman for the management team, said crews are dealing with downed power lines, debris, poison ivy and rattlesnakes. They also have to be watchful for propane tanks in the area.

Brough said the conditions make it too dangerous for anxious residents to return to check on their homes. The fire has also destroyed at least four outbuildings and damaged at least 12 homes, according to a list released by the Boulder County sheriff's office. At the Colorado Mountain Ranch, 60-year-old Mike Walker has been making a stand against the fire with his wife and 25-year-old daughter in a desperate effort to save the children's summer camp and outdoor recreation center they operate. "He's safe, he's up there," said Walker's 19-year-old daughter Rose, who evacuated. "He just won't leave. We never doubted where he was, he just won't leave for anybody." Rose Walker said her father, mother and sister are trying everything to save their ranch, with her father using a tractor to scoop up flames away from structures, "literally dragging the fire away from the buildings." On Wednesday, Rose Walker said her family were still at their ranch, using rakes and backpacks filled with water and a hose to put out any hot spots.

Fire conditions were expected to worsen Thursday night into Friday and the risk of any new fires quickly spreading was high along the populated Front Range region, according to the National Weather Service. Seven of the country's 19 heavy air tankers have been sent to Colorado to fight the blaze, considered the nation's top firefighting priority. Two more have been dispatched to the fire, said Ken Frederick, spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. Families like the Walkers have been carrying out their own fight against the fire. Firefighters have been supplying them with water when they can and Rose Walker said she's been crossing into the fire zone to bring her family food and supplies, although authorities have been reluctant to let her come up to the ranch. Despite her family's efforts, 35 structures have burned, including the family's home, sheds, barns and work areas, Rose Walker said. It's not clear if those are among the total structures that authorities have already confirmed have burned. "It's everything to us. It's home, it's our work, it's our life," Rose Walker said. She said family friends have started a Facebook page for the family to encourage people to make donations to help with supplies, food and help replace the tools her father has lost in the fire.

Brough said authorities don't have the time or manpower to force people to leave. However, he said that if a missing person is linked to a burned home, authorities will have to go to the home to see if there are any human remains, tying up resources. "People are going through trying times right now. We don't have the resources to go up and arrest everybody that's not leaving the area," Brough said. Meanwhile, those who abided by the evacuation order were frustrated that they couldn't do more to help. William Bradshaw has grown restless watching the smoke plume over Boulder as he stays in a shelter at the YMCA. "I don't know if my house has burnt to the ground but not just my house, but all the precious things that I have accumulated in my lifetime," said Bradshaw. The belongings left behind include the ashes and fingerprints of his son who died at 16. Resident Dan Hackett prepared to hike two miles from a roadblock to check on the condition of his home. He hiked in once before and found it was still standing. A house 200 feet away was lost and foundations and metal fixtures like sinks was all that remained of houses in some spots, he said. The fire center also dispatched hot-shot crews to Colorado — teams which Frederick called the "Marine Corps of firefighters." "If there's any good news, it's that we're at the tail end of the fire season nationally and there's a good availability of resources," Frederick said.