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US officials investigate what triggers huge power blackout 
US investigators were concentrating on areas in upstate New York state and neighboring Canada in efforts to find out the cause of a huge power outage that hit several major US and Canadian cities Thursday afternoon. 

Officials were looking at a power transmission problem from Canada as the most likely cause, said a spokeswoman for New York Governor George Pataki. 

American officials declined to confirm the claim by a spokesmanfor Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien that the blackout probably was caused by a lightning strike on part of a power plantin the Niagara region of upstate New York. 

Pataki said the claim was untrue because the Niagara Falls power plant has worked perfectly. "That's how we kept power on in western New York," he told the Cable News Network (CNN). 

Michehl Gent, president of the North American Electric Reliability Council, also said on CNN that it was "virtually impossible" for a lighting strike to cause such a widespread powerfailure. 

The massive power failure swept through parts of America's Northeast and Midwest and Canada, causing blackouts, snarling traffic and shutting down transportation systems. 

The series of power outages began about 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) as lights, air-conditioning and transportation shut down in New York City and at least parts of New York State, northern New Jersey andConnecticut. There were also reports of wide power failure as far west as Detroit and as far north as Toronto and Ottawa. 

Television footage showed swarms of people wandered on the streets of New York, turning its wide avenues into rivers of pedestrians. Passengers were stuck in subways and planes grounded at major airports. 

Government and law enforcement officials quickly announced thatthe power outages were not caused by terrorism in an effort to quell any fears that al-Qaida or other terrorist groups had carried out their threats to strike US economic targets. Power plants were among possible targets. 

US President George W. Bush said he would order a review of "why the cascade was significant," adding that he suspects the nation's electrical grid would need to be modernized. "It's a serious situation," he said. 

Officials said it is essential to find out why the grid collapse occurred so rapidly and was widespread. About 21 power plants shut down in only three minutes. 

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, former energy secretary during the Clinton administration, said the nation's power grid isantiquated and the blackout underscored the need for national standards for the reliability of the electric power system. 

"In my view, we're the world's greatest superpower but we have a third world electricity grid," Richardson said on CNN. "We have not imposed harsh reliability standards on utilities," he said. 

Last year, legislators rejected measures that would have provided money to update the nation's power grids. The debate is expected to heat up when the Congress returns after the summer break. 

Costa Rica-based BoDog Sportsbook put 1-10 odds on the actor snatching the top job from a crowded field of 135 colourful candidates, including porn king Larry Flynt, porn star Mary Carey, a sumo wrestler and California's lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante.

"Schwarzenegger is by far the public's favorite at 1-10, way ahead of Bustamante who is next in line with 2-1 odds," said BoDog spokesman Lance Bradley.

Another Republican candidate Bill Simon was placed a distant third by BoDog with 5-1 odds, while incumbent Democratic Governor Gray Davis was given 4-1 odds of staying in power.

Flynt drew odds of just 100-1 on winning Davis's job, while diminutive former child star Gary Coleman placed last with 500-1 odds, largely because he has made it clear he will not campaign actively for the job.

US ranchers call for normalizing ties with Cuba 
Visiting United States ranchers and Cuban officials on Thursday urged Washington to develop normal relations between the two countries. 

"I have the clear impression, as a businessman, that between Cuba and the United States there are more similarities than differences," John Park, president of a US company selling cattle to Cuba, told the local media. 

Under US laws, American businessmen have the right to trade with Cuba, said Park, adding that he will defend this constitutional right despite Washington's 40-year-old blockade against the Caribbean country. 

It was the moment for Cubans and US citizens to maintain a normal trade, based on friendship, he said, "because whoever tries to stop such relations will be seeking to starve Cubans to death." 

Pedro Alvarez, director of the Cuban food-importing company, ALIMPORT, called the visit of US ranchers an historical event. 

In his opinion, the exchanges between both countries could double or triple, should US restrictions on trade with Cuba be lifted. 

Alvarez said Cuba would buy food worth 300 million US dollars from the United States this year, and this would account for 30 percent of Cuba's total imports. 

Despite the blockade imposed by Washington, Cuba had been among the first importers of US food products, he stressed. 

Havana and Washington severed diplomatic relations in 1961, two years after the victory of the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro. 

Now the only ties between the two countries are between their selective offices of interests in Washington and Havana, established under a 1997 agreement.

Colombia asks UN to help demobilize paramilitary group 
The Colombian government Thursday asked the United Nations to be involved in the demobilization of aright-wing paramilitary group as well as in the country's peace process. 

Foreign Minister Carolina Barco said her government hoped the UN would participate in the inspection of the forthcoming demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC),and help reintegrate the demobilized combatants into the civil society. 

The minister, however, denied that Colombia would ask for military intervention from the UN for the inspection. 

After painstaking negotiations, the Colombian government and the AUC reached an agreement on July 15, under which the paramilitary group would be demobilized within two years, and the government in return would provide the soldiers with necessities to enable them to return to normal life. 

Barco also asked the international community to support her government's peace efforts and provide material assistance. 

The 10,000-strong AUC, founded in April 1997, was the second largest illegal military group in the country. 

Colombia has been ravaged by a four-decade-old civil war, which pits leftist guerrillas, paramilitaries and government troops against each other. An average of 3,500 people, most of them civilians, are killed every year in the conflict.