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Calif. faces blazes on two fronts

July 4: Two massive wildfires along the California coastline are keeping weary firefighters busy this Independence Day. NBC’s George Lewis reports. (Nightly News)Weary firefighters got no rest during the holiday weekend as a pair of out-of-control wildfires roared across the landscape along California's Central Coast at opposite ends of the arid Los Padres National Forest.




Venus tops Serena to defend title

US Venus Williams celebrates after winning the final of the 2008 Wimbledon championships against her sister Serena at The All England Tennis Club in southwest London, on July 5, 2008. Venus Williams won 7-5, 6-4.       AFP PHOTO / Adrian Dennis (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)Venus Williams defended her championship and won her fifth Wimbledon singles title, beating younger sister Serena Williams 7-5, 6-4 in the final.




Inside Mugabe's violent crackdown

April 30: As the one-time "breadbasket of Africa" plunges deeper into crisis, two prominent Africa-watchers analyze President Robert Mugabe’s devastating legacy. Produced by NBC News' Yuka Tachibana. (NBC News Web Extra)When Robert Mugabe told security officials he had lost Zimbabwe's presidential election and planned to give up power, a top general responded the choice was not Mugabe's alone to make.




Waves power 4,800-mile journey

In this photo released by Dentsu Inc., Japanese sailor Kenichi Horie waves on the deck of the Suntory Mermaid II Friday afternoon, July 4, 2008, about 37 kilometers (23 miles) off Hinomisaki, Wakayama prefecture (state), southern Japan. The 69-year-old mariner, who has sailed nonstop around the world and crossed the Pacific in a solar-powered boat, completed his nearly four-month voyage from Hawaii on Friday night aboard the 3-ton boat made of recycled aluminum and relies on the energy of waves to move two fins at its bow and propel it forward. Japanese adventurer Kenichi Horie took more than three months to sail from Hawaii to Japan in a boat powered by the energy of ocean waves.




Killer, 64, to marry woman, 20

Nepali girl Nihita Biswas, 20, engaged to be married to convicted French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, looks on during a meeting with the media in Katmandu, Nepal, Saturday, July 5, 2008. Sobhraj has in the past admitting to killing several Western tourists, and is serving a life sentence for killing a Canadian tourist in Katmandu in 1975, for which he filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Binod Joshi)Confessed French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Nepal, is engaged and plans to marry a woman 44 years younger than he is.




Both left and right pile on Obama

July 5: Are Barack Obama's recent comments signs of smart strategy, or a change of course? MSNBC's Alex Witt reports. (MSNBC)Democrat Barack Obama's appeal to  centrist voters has further opened the door to Republican claims his message of change only applies to the positions he has taken in the past.




Ex-Chargers safety Kiel dies in crash

Seattle Seahawks receiver Maurice Mann is drilled in the back by San Diego Chargers' Terrence Kiel while trying to catch a pass in the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 26, 2006, in San Diego. The ball was knocked away and intercepted. Former Chargers safety Terrence Kiel was killed after he was thrown from a Chevy sedan he was driving, police said Saturday.




Big landowner gets closed-door deal

This photo released by The Nature Conservancy Monday, June 30, 2008, shows Holland Lake in the center of the Swan Valley at dusk, near Missoula, Mont. Plum Creek Timber has agreed to sell 320,000 acres to two conservation groups with the backing of the federal government. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus says it's the largest deal of its kind in U.S. history and will cost about $500 million.  (AP Photo/The Nature Conservancy, Tana Kappel)The Bush administration is preparing to ease the way for the nation's largest private landowner to convert hundreds of thousands of acres of mountain forestland to residential subdivisions.




Study: Orangutans could go extinct

In this Nov. 8, 2007, file photo, Moni, a 17-year-old orangutan, carries her four-day-old baby at Gembira Loka zoo in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The numbers of orangutans in Indonesia and Malaysia had declined sharply mostly due to illegal logging and the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations, a researcher said. Orangutan numbers have declined sharply on the only two islands where they still live in the wild and they could become the first great ape species to go extinct if urgent action isn't taken, a new study says.




Bank fined over $7.8 billion rogue trader scandal

Jan. 24: According to French news reports, Jerome Kerviel — the rogue trader who took French bank Societe Generale for $7.14 billion — is missing. NBC's Ned Colt reports. (Nightly News)France's central bank announced Friday that it has fined Societe Generale $6.3 million for "serious shortcomings" that led to nearly $7.8 billion in trading losses announced earlier this year.




Sept. 11 flight crews honored with sculpture
On a pedestal in a Texas intersection hundreds of miles from where terrorists crashed planes seven years ago, two flight attendants and two pilots, rendered in bronze, now care for a traveling child.

Wax museum's Hitler is beheaded by protester

In this July 3, 2008 file photo, a figure depicting former German dictator Adolf Hitler is displayed at the Madame Tussauds Berlin Wax Museum, in Berlin, on Thursday, July 3, 2008. Berlin police say a man has ripped off the head of the wax figure, shortly after the museum opened to the public on Saturday morning July 5, 2008. A man tore the head off an Adolf Hitler wax figure at Madame Tussauds' new branch in Berlin in what appeared to be a symbolic protest on the museum's opening day Saturday, officials said.




Canada to rehear U.S. soldier's refugee claim
A court ordered Canada's refugee board to take another look at a U.S. Army deserter's failed bid for asylum in a ruling that could affect many U.S. soldiers who have refused to fight in Iraq.

Liberty's crown may reopen to public

This undated file photo shows a close up of the Statue of Liberty. The National Park Service is considering reopening Lady Liberty's crown for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to documents a congressman released on July Fourth. The National Park Service is considering reopening Lady Liberty's crown for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to documents a congressman released on July Fourth.




Quest for oil, gas off Fla. begins
Oil companies once viewed drilling in the deep waters off Florida as cost prohibitive. Politicians feared even the slightest sign of support would be career suicide.

Jerusalem attacker had Jewish lover

In this file photo from Thursday, July 3, 2008, Palestinian Sarah Dwayat, right, reacts as she holds a portrait of her son Hussam Dwayat, 30, who carried out an attack in Jerusalem Wednesday, at the family house in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Tsur Baher, Thursday, July 3, 2008. The Palestinian who went on a deadly rampage on a Jerusalem street this week spent years in a romantic relationship with a Jewish Israeli woman, relatives said, a rarity in a city where such ties between Arabs and Jews are nearly nonexistent. In an interview with an Israeli paper Friday, the woman, identified only as "S," said the attacker, Hussam Dwayat, fathered her child, now seven years old. The Palestinian who went on a deadly rampage on a Jerusalem street this week had spent years in a romantic relationship with a Jewish Israeli woman, relatives said.




Phelps sets world record in 200 IM

OMAHA, NE - JULY 04:  Michael Phelps celebrates after winning the final of the 200 meter individual medley and setting a new world record of 1:54.80 during the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials on July 4, 2008 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska.  (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)Michael Phelps claimed a world record in the 200 IM with a time of 1 minute, 54.80 seconds, beating the mark of 1:54.98 he set while winning seven events at last year’s world championships in Australia.




Rockies, Marlins bring their own fireworks

Colorado Rockies' Ryan Spilborghs hits A double off Florida Marlins starting pitcher Scott Olsen to lead off the bottom of the first inning of a Major League baseball game in Denver on Friday, July 4, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)Colorado beat the Florida Marlins 18-17 after trailing by nine runs in the biggest comeback in Rockies history on Friday.




Crazy cat mends ways under house arrest
A combative cat named Lewis who frightened the neighbors and got his owner into legal trouble two years ago has done so well under house arrest that the case has now been scratched.

Video shows Colombia hostage rescue

Gerardo Aguilar, right, a rebel of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC,  who was arrested by army officers during the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. military contractors and 11 other hostages stands at a military base in Bogota, Thursday, July,3, 2008. Aguilar,alias Cesar,  was the local commander of the rebel group in charge of guarding the hostages. A video taken during the Colombian mission that rescued 15 hostages showed them hugging one another and crying tears of joy.




Swords, bombs seized inside Afghan prison
Afghan security forces found more than 100 knives and swords, gasoline bombs and dozens of cell phones in a search of Kabul's main prison, the country's Defense Ministry said Saturday.

Americans mark an old-fashioned Fourth

July 4: NBC’s Mike Taibbi takes a look at some of the red, white and blue celebrations around the country. (Nightly News)Americans across the country mixed patriotism and plain old good fun to mark Independence Day on Friday.



 

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