Cloud of solar gas strikes our planet 
Airline navigation systems and satellite phones are feeling the effects of unexpectedly turbulent solar weather, but no widespread problems were reported Friday when a cloud of superheated gases reached Earth's upper atmosphere. 

Scientists tracking heightened solar activity in recent days reported some commercial airlines have had to make adjustments to their high-frequency communications, or in some cases switch to alternate satellite systems. 

"The first thing we notice in these storms is the X-rays, which travel at the speed of light and can cause radio blackouts," said Larry Combs, a space weather forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado. 

Several Himalayan expeditions using satellite phones have also had interference with their communications due to the X-rays, he said. 

The X-rays were associated with strong solar disturbances this week, in particular a coronal mass ejection (CME) on Wednesday that sent a stream of energized particles in the direction of our planet. 

X-rays reach Earth in a matter of minutes, but CME clouds take anywhere from two to four days. This one began arriving Friday morning, hours earlier than first predicted by space forecasters. 

"It's not anything you can see, but it is something our instruments can track," Combs said. 

Electrical grids, satellites and pagers and cell phones that rely on orbiting spacecraft can sometimes be affected by CMEs. In 2000, a solar blast briefly knocked out or created steering problems for several orbiting spacecraft. 

And in 1989, one zapped the main electrical utility in Quebec, Canada, plunging millions into darkness for hours and costing billions of dollars to fix. 

But many electrical systems on Earth and in orbit now have protective systems designed to minimize or prevent damage. And space weather experts like Combs think that this CME storm, classified a moderate 3 on a scale of 1 to 5, will not create major problems. 

"After the next 24 hours it may start slowing down," Combs said. 

But the sun is in an unexpected phase of energetic activity and could generate more X-rays, bursts or solar storms in the coming weeks, space weather forecasters caution. Sporadic high-frequency radio blackouts are likely to continue, Combs said. 

While not as dangerous as a class 5 storm, what makes this one so unexpected is that it comes three years after the peak of an 11-year cycle of solar activity. Combs likens it to a hurricane on the last day of hurricane season. 

And like hurricanes, they constantly change in intensity, making predictions a difficult challenge. 

"Like anything in nature, sometimes they don't act like we expect them to," Combs said. 

The solar stream erupted from a cluster of sunspots on the surface of the sun. The giant dark patch, known as sunspot group 10484, has grown to the size of Jupiter in recent days and has migrated across the face of the sun to a position where it now faces Earth. 

Such magnetic storms can also produce spectacular nocturnal displays of the northern lights; NASA's Space Weather Web site is predicting that nighttime auroras could be visible as far south as Oregon and Illinois. 

Early results show most Colombians vote "yes" in referendum 
The referendum on Saturday, called by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to seek an in-depth political and fiscal reform, has obtained a majority of favorable votes with nearly 16 percent of the votes counted, the electoral authorities said. 

The 15 proposals put forth by the government in the referendum have been approved according to early results from 15.18 percent of the votes examined, said the national electoral institution. 

The National Registry said the preliminary results also showed that voters particularly favored intensifying the combat against corrupt politicians, one of Uribe's goals in the referendum. 

The electoral authority is expected to continue issuing partial results of the referendum as the votes are being counted. The results of the referendum will only become valid when at least 25 percent of the 25 million registered voters cast their ballots. 

The referendum took place on Saturday amidst violence believed to be carried out by guerrillas. At least 12 people have been killed and another 21 injured in the violence. 

Violent actions are expected to continue Sunday during region alelections for governors, representatives, mayors and town councilors.

Wildfires destroy 270 homes, forcing more evacuations in California 
Driven by the Santa Ana winds, raging wildfires have scorched more than 270 homes in San Bernardino, southern California, and left thousands of residents homeless. 

The fire, which started Tuesday in the Rancho Cucamonga area of the San Bernardino County or 80 kilometers east of Los Angeles, has destroyed 16 homes in San Bernardino County and 50 others near Claremont in Los Angeles County. 

The fire continued to spread westward, forcing many residents at the cities of La Verne and Claremont to evacuate. The fire had torched 34,000 acres of forest land. 

"We're not sure exactly how many burned because we can't get up there," said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Edward Osorio. "Our priority of the moment right now is structure protection, not containment." 

Closer to San Bernardino, a wildfire that burned at least 200 homes Saturday and was blamed for the stress-related deaths of two residents was threatening at least 1,000 homes. 

The smoke and flames forced the evacuation of the San Manuel Indian Reservation's casino and the campus of California State University in San Bernardino, where flames damaged two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center. Patton State Hospital, which houses about 1,300 mental patients, also had to be evacuated. 

In some areas, the two wildfires were only about two kilometers apart Sunday and were expected to eventually merge, said Ranger Gabriel Garcia of the San Bernardino National Forest's fire suppression agency. 

Although the Santa Ana winds, which blew from the Nevada desert, had died down as the temperature dropped over night but they picked up again early Sunday, sending authorities rushing to evacuate hundreds more homes in the resort areas of Lake Arrowhead and Crestline, just north of San Bernardino. 

About 160 kilometers to the northwest of the two fires, other wildfires were raging early Sunday in the hills above Simi Valley's Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) Presidential Library and near Piru, in Ventura County. 

The fire had burned 47,000 acres by daybreak, damaged 14 homes and was threatening as many as 2,000 structures. It had also shut down Highway 118, the main route connecting Ventura County to Los Angeles. 

In San Diego County, three wildfires were burning, including one that had destroyed seven homes in a neighborhood of estates near Ramona, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate., started when a lost hunter set off a signal fire to get attention, Saunders said. The man could face charges. 

Governor Gray Davis declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino and Ventura counties late Saturday. 

"We are taking every possible step to support the firefighting effort," Davis said. He said he called on President Bush to issue a disaster declaration to free up federal loan money for people who lost homes.