California's Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has urged the residents of Los Angeles to prepare for a mass evacuation in the event of a public call to flee raging fires. Wildfires in the US Golden State, razing around 35,000 acres (over 14,000 hectares) of bush land, are threatening 13,000 properties just north of Los Angeles. The ravaging flames, fanned by the weak Pacific Ocean breeze and fueled by incoming arid weather system from the west midlands United States, have thus far forced thousands out of their homes in the vicinity of the ongoing inferno. The blaze has caused mandatory evacuations of around 7,000 California houses close to the valleys around the Big Tujunga Canyon, Schwarzenegger told reporters on Monday. He warned Californians about the pace in which the flames continue to engulf the residential areas, calling upon them to heed local officials' demands for evacuation. Plumes of smoke are now seen drifting across the Los Angeles sky as a number of other fires also continue to incinerate parts of southern and central California.

Housing counselors, homeowners and consumer advocates tell endless stories of banks giving homeowners the runaround: declining apparently eligible applicants; pressuring them into loans they can't afford; placing homes in foreclosure while the owners are being considered for a modified loan; lenders telling homeowners to waive their legal rights, even though the program prohibits it; or banks telling homeowners that they have to be in default to qualify, which isn't true. According to the Treasury Department's most recent report, only 230,000 of the up to 4 million eligible homeowners have new mortgages under the program. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has told bankers that he's not happy with the pace. Banks say that it took 90 days to get the program's rules and procedures and that they're still training staff members to handle it.

The Obama administration has put new restrictions on searches of laptops at US borders to address concerns that federal agents have been rummaging through travellers' personal information. The long-criticised practice of searching travellers' electronic devices will continue, but a supervisor now would need to approve holding a device for more than five days. Any copies of information taken from travellers' machines would be destroyed within days if there were no legal reason to hold the information. Given all the personal details that people store on digital devices, border searches of laptops and other gadgets can give law enforcement officials far more revealing pictures of travellers than suitcase inspections might yield. That has set off alarms among civil liberties groups and travellers' advocates who say the government has crossed a line by examining electronic contact lists and confidential email messages, trade secrets and proprietary business files, financial and medical records and other deeply private information.

Google has forged a distribution alliance with Sony's PC division and is in talks with other computer makers as it looks to promote its well-regarded but little-used Chrome browser. The renewed efforts to expand the reach of Chrome come a year after Google opened a new front in the browser wars with the surprise launch of the software. They highlight the difficulties the company has faced in using Chrome as a strategic weapon to counter Microsoft.

Online auction site eBay is poised to say it has agreed to sell internet phone company Skype, reports say. Skype is expected to be sold to a group of private investors, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and private equity firms. When eBay bought Skype for $2.6bn (£1.6bn) in October 2005, many analysts thought the price was too high. The New York Times said that a price has not been named, but that eBay had been seeking about $2bn for Skype.....Since being acquired, the number of registered Skype users has risen to 405 million from 53 million, though free user-to-user calls still dominate the service.

A "garage sale" organised by Arnold Schwarzenegger to raise money to help reduce California's budget deficit has raised more than $1.5m (£925,000). ....Mr Schwarzenegger's administration is continuing efforts to trim California's $26bn budget deficit. Last month, it passed a cost-cutting budget, including reduced funding for schools and colleges, prisons and state healthcare provision.

There's the "umbrella contract." While more than one past President (I served under seven during my tenure at CIA) has taken advantage of that open language, the Bush administration translated the dodging into a new art form. This, in turn, was sustained by Frankenstein cottage industries like Blackwater to launch and operate the administration's own Gestapo. I use the word advisedly; do not blanch before it. As for outsourcing, the Nazi Gestapo enjoyed umbrella authorization from the Fuhrer; they and the SS knew what was wanted, and famously "followed orders." There was absolutely no need to go back to supreme authority for approval to contract out some of their work. German legislators turned out to be even more intimidated than ours -- if you can imagine it. As for an American President's freedom of action, all a President need do is surround himself with eager co-conspirators like the sycophant former Director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, (not to mention his, and Panetta's, lingering lieutenants) who give allegiance to their secret world of unchecked power, rather than to the Constitution of the United States. True, a Vice President thoroughly versed in using the levers of power can be a valuable asset. But the sine quo non for successful subversion of our Constitutional process is this: cowardly members of Congress so afraid of being painted pastel on terrorism that they abdicate their oversight responsibility. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney made "terrorification" of Congress a high priority, and congressional leaders caved, winking even at torture, kidnapping, warrantless eavesdropping, etc., etc., etc.

Many young British Muslims feel they have been demonized and under attack by the UK police and media ever since the September 11 events and 2005 London bombings, a study shows. The study, carried out by an Islamic Think Tank called the Policy Research Center, reported on Monday that since the September 11 attacks and 2005 London bombings, Muslims in Britain have been under pressure to prove they can be both British and Muslim at the same time. Moreover, they believe that Britain's role in Iraq and Afghanistan has only increased the pressure. The report also revealed young Muslims feel they are under attack by the media, saying that it portrays them as a threat to society. .... According to the last census in 2001, there are currently more than 1.6 million Muslims residing in Britain. Unofficial estimates, however, suggest the number could now be well above 2 million.

The president of the African Union (AU) holds Israel responsible for all the woes facing Africa, calling on member-states to cut diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv. Israel is "behind all of Africa's conflicts," Muammar Gaddafi said on Monday and demanded the closure of all Israeli embassies across Africa. The Libyan leader, who holds the rotating AU presidency described Israel as a "gang" which uses the "protection of minorities as an excuse to launch conflicts." Gaddafi made the remarks at a meeting of 30 African leaders, who had convened in Tripoli for a one-day summit on the continent's trouble spots, including Sudan's Darfur and Somalia. ...."As African brothers, we must find solutions to stop the superpowers who are pillaging our continent," the president of the AU added.

The Palestinians residing in the United Arab Emirates have expressed their criticism at a government decision to expel thousands of them under the pretext of security concerns. Palestinian refugees, in a letter addressed to the ruling al-Nahyan family, drew attention to their plight caused by the Israeli occupation and called upon high-profile Emirati authorities to reverse the decision. The letter went on to highlight that the expulsion of the Palestinians who have been in the UAE for over two decades would undoubtedly exert undue strain on them as well as their families. ....Almost 350 Palestinian teachers have faced the axe this year as part of an Education Ministry decision to replace them with Emirati nationals. The UAE nationals would replace the Palestinian teachers in Arabic, English and mathematics.

Gordon Brown has pledged tough action to clamp down on excessive remuneration for bankers as part of an international effort to rectify the systemic weakness that led to the global financial crisis. The prime minister said in an interview with the Financial Times that pay and bonuses should be based on long-term success not short-term speculative gains; banks should "claw back" bankers' rewards if their performance suffered in subsequent years; and regulators should be able to impose higher capital requirements on financial institutions.

The Conservatives' George Osborne must be right. Britain's government should impose a cap on bankers' bonuses. But wait a minute, Hector Sants surely has a point when he counters it is not the job of financial regulators to fix pay rates. Politicians in London and beyond are struggling to square the circle. Britain's shadow chancellor has been shouting loudly about the return of inflated pay packages and bonuses in financial institutions still propped up by taxpayer guarantees. Quite right. Banks have inflicted heavy costs on the rest of society but, rescued by governments, they are returning to the bad old ways.

Jim Bolger is the biggest spender on domestic travel perks available to former prime ministers and governors-general, racking up $36,000 in expenses in 2008. An Official Information Act request from NZPA has revealed that five former prime ministers and four former governors-general had taxpayer funded domestic travel. Former National prime minister Jim Bolger spent $27,191 on chauffeur-driven cars, $5562 on self-driven cars and $3400 on domestic airfares. Mr Bolger has a number of high profile roles including chairing New Zealand Post. Sir Paul Reeves was the most expensive former governor-general with $28,100 in expenses - $22,794 in chauffeur-driven cars and $5306 on domestic flights ....The information does not include other expenses such as international air travel subsidies available to former long-standing MPs through Parliamentary Service.