Wildfire near L.A.'s Getty museum contained

Los Angeles

A wildfire burned 100 acres of brush and grass near the world-famous Getty art museum before it was doused early Thursday without causing any damage or injuries, fire officials said.

Many areas of Southern California were under National Weather Service warnings of extreme fire danger until Saturday evening because of heat and low humidity, but Santa Anas were diminishing.

A blaze at the base of Mount Baldy, 40 miles east of Los Angeles, burned 115 acres Thursday afternoon and was 30 percent contained by evening.

On Wednesday, winds drove a 250-acre wildfire in Fontana and the canyons of Rancho Cucamonga, 60 miles east of Los Angeles. It was 90 percent contained Thursday.

New York

Term-limits change for Bloomberg OK'd

The City Council on Thursday opened the door to a third term for billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has argued that his business and political experience is needed to lead the city through its financial challenges.

After a day of contentious debate, the council approved legislation allowing city officeholders to serve three consecutive four-year terms. Bloomberg's second term is up at the end of next year.

Bloomberg proposed the term-limits extension three weeks ago, which did not leave enough time to get a measure on the November ballot through the voter-referendum process. Given the dire economic outlook, council members in favor of the change said, they could not risk waiting.

Washington

FBI: Letters warned of "payback time"

Threatening letters sent this week to banks and financial institutions declare "It's payback time" and promise death within 10 days, the FBI said Thursday.

More than 50 letters were mailed to Chase Bank branches and federal regulators in 12 cities this week. Three of were delivered Thursday to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. headquarters in Washington.

Most of the letters were in envelopes containing white powder, which, so far, has tested negative for any toxins.

They were sent to offices in or near: Arlington, Va.; Atlanta; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Newark, N.J.; New York City; Oklahoma City; Phoenix; San Francisco; and Washington.

Columbia, S.C.

Ex-generals back accused combatant

Former generals and U.S. Justice Department officials filed briefs Thursday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Bush administration's authority to indefinitely detain the only suspected enemy combatant held on U.S. soil.

"This unprecedented expansion of executive authority within the borders of the United States is not only at odds with more than 200 years of history, but it is wholly unnecessary," argued former judges and officials including former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and former FBI Director William Sessions.

That brief and others from retired military officers, professors and nonprofit organizations were filed in support of a request by Ali al-Marri, a native of Qatar held in solitary confinement at a U.S. Navy brig near Charleston since 2003. He has not been charged.

The legal U.S. resident was living in Illinois when he was arrested in 2001 as a material witness to the Sept. 11 attacks.

The government has said federal agents found evidence that al-Marri, who was charged with credit-card fraud in 2002, had links to al-Qaida terrorists and was a national-security threat. Authorities shifted his case from the criminal system and moved him to the military brig indefinitely after he was declared an enemy combatant.

The American Civil Liberties Union asked the high court last month to review a July decision in which the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the administration could detain anyone suspected of being an al-Qaida member.

Also

Chilean salmon: Environmentalists and consumer advocates urged the U.S. government Thursday to increase testing of the farm-raised fish after authorities in Germany detected antifungal and antiparasitic chemicals banned in Europe and the U.S. in samples of Chilean salmon.

Logo banned: A California judge granted what appears to be an unprecedented order barring the Mongols motorcycle gang of wearing, licensing, selling or distributing their trademarked logo. It comes after authorities arrested dozens of Mongol members under a racketeering indictment.

Seattle Times news services