Rage

Firefighters were battling a three-alarm blaze Monday night at an industrial company in Camden, authorities said. The fire was reported around 10:45 p.m. at the Magnetic Metals plant at Hayes Avenue and 21st Street, authorities said. Flames were reported shooting through the roof of the building, which was described as being 100 feet by 200 feet in size. The company's website said the location contained its corporate headquarters and facilities for fabricating magnetic components.

BELLVUE, Colo. - Massive wildfires in drought-parched Colorado and New Mexico tested the resources of state and federal crews Monday and underscored the need to replenish an aging U.S. aerial firefighting fleet needed to combat a year-round fire season. Wyoming diverted personnel and aircraft from two fires there to help with a 60-square-mile wildfire in northern Colorado. Canada also lent two aerial bombers to fight the Colorado blaze after the recent crash of a U.S. tanker in Utah.

Travolta accuser No. 2: Arbitration The second Anonymous Masseur who lodged a sexual battery complaint against John Travolta is willing to withdraw his lawsuit and enter arbitration, says his lawyer. "We can set up our own private trial. I'm willing to do that," Okorie Okorocha tells the New York Daily News, "and I've proposed that to [Travolta's lawyer] Marty Singer. " Adds Okorocha, "He hasn't agreed, but he hasn't said no. " Travolta has dismissed the masseurian claims against him as bogus.

It's a warm Friday evening in April, and the doors to Vine Street's Asian Arts Initiative are wide open, literally and figuratively. As on any third Friday at the community center dedicated to discussing the issues and art of Philly's Asian American community, Family Style Open Mic is on a roll. Poets, storytellers, dancers, singers, spoken-word performance artists, and their friends — a mix of ethnic groups that establish the initiative as a promoter of cross-cultural dialogue — hang out at a preshow reception noshing on appetizers from Sampan and watching the Penn Lions drum troupe.

RE: the April 2 Daily News "Crime Scene" and suspect Gregory Alston: Twenty-one prior arrests before he killed the innocent driver of a car while he was fleeing police for a felony car stop with a gun. It's too bad that the system has let this poor man down. We didn't rehabilitate him and teach him job skills so he could assimilate back into society. Maybe the liberal judges who sentenced this worthless waste of flesh & blood looked at his prior record and said, "I think after 20 arrests he has learned his lesson.

By James Carroll 'I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies. " President Obama sent this message to Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week in the thick of mass protests after U.S. personnel burned copies of the Quran. NATO commander Gen. John R. Allen had earlier offered "sincere apologies ... to the noble people of Afghanistan," but the demonstrations raged on. Members of Afghanistan's parliament called for jihad against Western forces, at least two coalition soldiers were shot dead, and multiple civilians were killed in the violence that accompanied the protests.

KABUL, Afghanistan - On a day when President Obama personally apologized for the burning of Qurans at a U.S.-run military base, violence over the incident escalated ominously with the killing of two American troops by an Afghan army soldier during a demonstration in eastern Afghanistan. At least 13 people have been reported killed in unrest that broke out after Afghan laborers at the Bagram air base discovered late Monday that discarded Qurans were being disposed of in the incinerator used to burn trash.

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Obama apologized to Afghans on Thursday for the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base, trying to assuage rising anti-American sentiment as an Afghan soldier gunned down two American troops during another day of angry protests. The U.S.-led military coalition says the Muslim holy books were sent by mistake to a garbage burn pit at Bagram Air Field and the case is under investigation. The explanation and multiple apologies from U.S. officials have yet to calm outrage over the incident, which has also heightened tension between international troops and their Afghan partners.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Clashes between Afghan troops and protesters angry over the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. military base left at least seven people dead and dozens wounded Wednesday, as anger spread despite U.S. apologies over what it said was a mistake. The demonstrations across four eastern provinces illustrated the intensity of Afghans' anger at what they saw as foreign forces flouting their laws and insulting their culture. The violence was also a reminder of how easily Afghan-U.S.

ATHENS, Greece - Greek lawmakers on Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the nation from bankruptcy, after rioters in central Athens torched buildings, looted shops, and clashed with police. The historic vote paves the way for Greece's European partners and the International Monetary Fund to release $170 billion in new rescue loans. Without the loans, Greece would default on its massive debt next month and likely leave the eurozone - a scenario that would further roil global markets.