LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- "Fires erupted in the hills above Los Angeles on Thursday, damaging or destroying several homes as dangerous north winds fueled the flames. Farther inland, a blinding sandstorm triggered a deadly highway pileup.

      Wind speeds of more than 50 mph propelled the flames in grass near expensive mountainside homes above the city of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers said.

     Couldn't have happened to a nicer town.

      NEW YORK (Reuters) - "The race to buy hedge funds is picking up speed as traditional managers want a piece of these market darlings to keep clients happy and increase their own bottom line, hedge fund industry specialists said this week at the Reuters Hedge Fund and Private Equity Summit.

      But whether performance can stay high is another question, said managers, who worried that incentive to deliver top returns could be muted by a big Wall Street investment.

      "The reason we are seeing more consolidation in the hedge fund community is tied closely to the interest of institutional money going into hedge funds," said Richard Bookstaber, a well known manager who published "A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation."

      The quake itself killed hundreds of people on Nias island off the western coast of Sumatra.

     Lots of seismic activity recently.

      ACAPULCO, Mexico (Reuters) - "A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.0 shook Mexico early on Friday, sending thousands of tourists in Acapulco fleeing into the streets in panic and knocking out electricity as far away as the capital.

      There were no immediate reports of injuries from the quake, centered in the Pacific coastal state of Guerrero.

      "Oh man, we felt it. We jumped out of bed and went into the garden. I was fast asleep. It really shook. Things fell off shelves," said Acapulco resident Anna Archdale de Palazuelos..."

      Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture of our star's activity in the past.

      They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth's climate became steadily warmer.

This trend is being amplified by gases from fossil fuel burning, they argue.

'Little Ice Age'

      Sunspots have been monitored on the Sun since 1610, shortly after the invention of the telescope. They provide the longest-running direct measurement of our star's activity.

      The variation in sunspot numbers has revealed the Sun's 11-year cycle of activity as well as other, longer-term changes.

       In particular, it has been noted that between about 1645 and 1715, few sunspots were seen on the Sun's surface..."

     Hold it.   You mean when the sun gets hotter.... the Earth gets hotter too?  No way!  That's ridiculous!  Preposterous!  .... please note my sarcasm.

     The implications of this are hard to foresee.

      TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- "A day after Iran announced it had begun production of nuclear fuel on an "industrial level," the head of the country's atomic energy organization said Iran had plans to greatly expand its nuclear program.

      "Iran's uranium enrichment program in Natanz does not only aim to install 3,000 centrifuges, but 50,000 centrifuges," Iran's Atomic Energy Organization chief, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Centrifuges are used in the process of enriching uranium.

      The Natanz nuclear facility is located in central Iran, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of Tehran.

      Iranian plans to expand its enrichment process to 50,000 centrifuges goes well beyond any previously announced aspirations by Tehran.

      "I did not want to create any uncertainty about the nuclear program," Aghazadeh said. "But it is a fact that all of our infrastructure (in Natanz) ... is planned for 50,000 centrifuges."

      The report in US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the pine forests of Europe, Siberia and Canada may contribute to warming.

      Only tropical forests effectively cool the earth by absorbing carbon dioxide and creating clouds, the report says.

      But the report's authors stress they are not advocating chopping down trees.

They say forests are a valuable resource and remain vital for bio-diversity, providing a home for animals and plants..."

     I wish they would make up their mind.  So now cold stuff makes it hotter, and hot stuff makes it colder?  I think they want us to be confused.  Confused people are generally more submissive to change.

      A coalition of civil rights groups underscored such fears last week by calling on lenders to stop foreclosing for six months on subprime mortgages, which involve loans to risky borrowers with blemished credit.

      Optimistic analysts say that will not be necessary because lenders on a strong footing are moving aggressively behind the scenes to limit losses from faltering subprime mortgages..."

      Traders said this week's big theme will be any yen-friendly comments leading up to Friday's G7 meeting.

      G7 officials in the past have said yen weakness runs counter to Japan's economic recovery and warned investors they could be burned making one-way currency bets..."

     It shouldn't take a genius to realize that ANY drastic change in the Earth's Climate patterns will most likely be bad news.

      Cold temperatures in much of the country have those celebrating Easter this weekend swapping out frills, bonnets and sandals for coats, scarves and socks. Baseball fans are huddled in blankets, and instead of spring planting, backyard gardeners are bundling their crops.

      The National Weather Service was predicting record lows Sunday for parts of the Southeast and Midwest, and an unseasonably cold weekend for much of the Northeast. Snow was forecast in parts of Ohio, Michigan and New England..."

     Wow, so much for Global Warming being a sure thing ALL the time.

• Report: Poor countries will see increased hunger and water shortages
• Scientists: Climate change will affect billions of people
• North America will see more hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, wildfires
• Africa will be hardest hit, Europe will see its Alpine glaciers disappear

     BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The world faces increased hunger and water shortages in the poorest countries, massive floods and avalanches in Asia, and species extinction unless nations adapt to climate change and halt its progress, according to a report approved Friday by an international conference on global warming.

      Agreement came after an all-night session during which key sections were deleted from the draft and scientists angrily confronted government negotiators who they feared were watering down their findings.

      "It has been a complex exercise," said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

      Several scientists objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators but, in the end, agreed to compromises. However, some scientists vowed never to take part in the process again.

      Five days of negotiations reached a climax when the delegates removed parts of a key chart highlighting devastating effects of climate change that kick in with every rise of 1.8 degrees, and in a tussle over the level of scientific reliability attached to key statements..."