Fires Portugal

Walls of flames swept through Lisbon's historic Chiado district Thursday, devastating much of the 10-block area that has been the commercial and literary heart of the capital since the 18th Century. One person was killed and 43 were injured, officials said. Bottles of butane gas stacked in stores exploded throughout the morning as the flames rushed through the ornate buildings that housed cafes and specialty stores on the narrow, cobblestone streets.

The fire began in a third-floor storeroom before dawn on a hot summer's day. It burned for 10 hours through the center of Lisbon, claiming two lives, wiping out 2,000 jobs, destroying shops of old wood and fine silk, consuming memories of poets and empire, charring the city's soul. "Some values are irreplaceable. For Lisbon, the Chiado is one of them," said Gonzalo Ribeiro Talles, an architect and former city councilman. The historic hillside Chiado district burned on Aug.

The fire began in a third-floor storeroom before dawn on a hot summer's day. It burned for 10 hours through the center of Lisbon, claiming two lives, wiping out 2,000 jobs, destroying shops of old wood and fine silk, consuming memories of poets and empire, charring the city's soul. "Some values are irreplaceable. For Lisbon, the Chiado is one of them," said Gonzalo Ribeiro Talles, an architect and former city councilman. The historic hillside Chiado district burned on Aug.

Walls of flames swept through Lisbon's historic Chiado district Thursday, devastating much of the 10-block area that has been the commercial and literary heart of the capital since the 18th Century. One person was killed and 43 were injured, officials said. Bottles of butane gas stacked in stores exploded throughout the morning as the flames rushed through the ornate buildings that housed cafes and specialty stores on the narrow, cobblestone streets.

An "immense" fire fanned by high winds raged out of control Saturday in central Portugal, killing at least 15 people and charring 12,000 acres of forest and brush land. Firefighters called on the military for help in battling the blaze near the town of Agueda, 200 miles north of Lisbon. "The fire is immense, immense," said a fire official. "Houses have burned down; civilians and firemen have died." "We confirm there are 15 dead," said an official at the Agueda fire station.

Tropical Storms The U.S. National Hurricane Center was forced to call in extra personnel to cope with a near record number of storms in the Atlantic, while three severe typhoons struck the western Pacific. Typhoon Janice produced cloudbursts over the Korean peninsula that killed at least 53 people and left 110,000 homeless. Heavy rains from super Typhoon Kent unleashed floods and mudslides on Luzon Island.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center was forced to call in extra personnel to cope with a near record number of storms in the Atlantic, while three severe typhoons struck the western Pacific. Typhoon Janice produced cloudbursts over the Korean peninsula that killed at least 53 people and left 110,000 homeless. Heavy rains from super Typhoon Kent unleashed floods and mudslides on Luzon Island.

The arsonist's fire started on a 100-degree day deep in the Portuguese forest, fanned by a strong, dry easterly wind. Nearby, townsfolk celebrating the annual festival of their patron saint rushed to join the local fire station's bombeiros . The blaze raced through Vale de Tabuas, the "valley of planks," battled by 50 firefighters and civilians. Suddenly, directly behind them, a new wall of flames appeared. It was a new fire, another arson, and advancing fast.

Mourad surveyed his cold concrete world. The official name of the housing complex, a wind-swept corridor of towers crammed with 17,000 people, is the Valley of Silver. Its nickname: the Slab. "It's very simple," Mourad said. "There is a border between here and Paris, between rich and poor. And you can never really cross it." Mourad, 25, and his friends had taken refuge from the chill in a vestibule of an aging high-rise. Outside on the weather-beaten esplanade, mothers hunched behind strollers.

An "immense" fire fanned by high winds raged out of control Saturday in central Portugal, killing at least 15 people and charring 12,000 acres of forest and brush land. Firefighters called on the military for help in battling the blaze near the town of Agueda, 200 miles north of Lisbon. "The fire is immense, immense," said a fire official. "Houses have burned down; civilians and firemen have died." "We confirm there are 15 dead," said an official at the Agueda fire station.