Legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey dies

Paul Harvey, the legendary radio host whose career sharing "the rest of the story" with listeners spanned more than 70 years, has died, according to ABC Radio Networks.
He was 90.

Harvey died at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where he kept a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for the networks. He was surrounded by family members when he died, Adams said. Known for his deliberate delivery and pregnant pauses, Harvey's broadcasts were heard on more than 1,200 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces networks and his commentaries appeared in 300 newspapers, according to his Web site.

He had been hosting his radio shows part-time for much of the past year, after recovering from physical ailments including pneumonia and the death of his wife, Lynne "Angel" Harvey, in May 2008.

"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news," said Harvey's son, Paul Harvey Jr., in a written statement. "So, in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."

"Paul was a friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans," Bush said Saturday in a written statement. "His commentary entertained, enlightened, and informed. Laura and I are pleased to have known this fine man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

The cause of Harvey's death was no immediately known. He was forced off the air temporarily in 2001 because of a virus that weakened a vocal cord

Giant horse to tower over UK countryside

A sculpture of a giant white horse taller than the Statue of Liberty is set to tower over the countryside as part of an unusual scheme to help revive the fortunes of a depressed region of England.

The 50-meter equine artwork was Tuesday announced as the winner of a competition to design a landmark to dominate the skyline of the Ebbsfleet Valley, set to be a new stop on the Eurostar London-to-Paris rail link.

Designed by artist Mark Wallinger -- whose previous work has included dressing in a bear suit and wandering around a gallery in Berlin -- the £2 million ($3 million) horse will be one of the largest artworks in the UK.

Wallinger's horse -- which echoes ancient white horse symbols carved into hillsides around Britain -- beat a shortlist of designs that included a tower of stacked cubes and giant steel nest.

Victoria Pomery, head of the panel that selected the design, described the 33-times normal size horse as "outstanding."

"Mark is a superb artist of world renown and his sculpture will become a real landmark for Ebbsfleet Valley and the whole region," she said.

It drew a less favorable response from readers of local Web site Kentnews.com, who described it as a "waste of money," an "abomination" and "depressing."

One correspondent, Andy Smith, added: "This horse looks extremely silly."

Raging Australia bushfires kill at least 35

Deadly bushfires raged on in southeast Australia on Sunday despite cooler temperatures and scores of firefighters trying to control the flames.

At least 35 people have died in the fires, authorities said Sunday

"Unfortunately those numbers will increase as we move through the day," said Kieran Walshe, deputy police commissioner of the state of Victoria, told CNN on Sunday, adding that police are investigating possible instances of arson.

"We do believe some of the fires are the result of human intervention," he said. "When you look at the way fires started, you can clearly see it's not possible for a natural ignition to occur."

A third of the deaths occurred in the Kinglake area about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Melbourne.

Still, despite earlier reports, the fires have not posed a significant threat to more populous areas, including Melbourne, as they sweep across rural outskirts of southeastern Australia, Walshe said.

The prime minister's office confirmed to CNN Sunday that troops will be deployed to help fight the fires.

By Sunday afternoon, eight major fires were burning through Victoria, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres, said Daniel Connell, spokesman for the state's Country Fire Authority. The largest blaze has centered around Kinglake, where 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) have burned down.

Another fire ravaged 90,000 hectares in Churchill, about 160 km (100 miles) southeast of Melbourne.

Officials say this year's brush fires in southeast Australia could become the worst since fires in 1983 that killed 75 people.

In Victoria, 30 blazes were registered in 30 hours, said Fran Ludgate with Australia's Fire Protection Association. The Victoria Herald Sun newspaper reported Sunday that at least 100 homes were destroyed over the weekend, critically injuring one person who suffered burns to 50 percent of his body.

Sharon Merritt, a technical officer with Australia's Fire Protection Association, told CNN there had been dry thunderstorms -- with no rain -- in parts of the region and there were concerns that lightning from them could ignite more fires.

"Today is probably the worst day we've had for fires," she said.

Walshe said temperatures had cooled overnight into Sunday, but that winds remained a major threat to spread fires.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service asked residents to remain indoors and close all windows, as winds continued to push smoke from the bush into the Sydney metropolitan area.

Sue McMahon thought she could stay in her home as wildfires burned, but changed her mind after taking a look at the blackening sky in Victoria.

"Combined with the noise and the smoke and the blackness, I don't think I can do it," the Tinumbuk resident said.

Video from the scene showed people trying to stamp out fires with towels and clothes. In some instances, people waited too long to flee the scene and were trapped in their cars, a police spokeswoman said.

Accompanying the flames is one of the most powerful heat waves in memory, with temperatures in parts of Melbourne reaching 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last few weeks. Dozens of heat-related deaths have been reported.

By Sunday, the temperatures had dropped to the mid-20s in the area.

Chavez doubts U.S. can shake oil needs

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he supported U.S. President Barack Obama's efforts to find alternative energy sources but doesn't believe the United States can do it.

"I don't know how he will achieve what he said he would," Chavez said in an exclusive 30-minute interview with CNN en Espanol's Patricia Janiot Monday night. "It's very difficult for the United States to diminish its use of oil."
The United States, a major Venezuelan oil consumer, needed petroleum "like air, like oxygen to live, to survive," Chavez said.
"We employ thousands of workers in the United States," Chavez said. "We give aid to hundreds of thousands of poor families in the United States with our heating oil program."
Chavez added that also isn't worried about the falling price of crude oil because there is such worldwide hunger for petroleum.
"The world will need to sustain its industrial rhythm," he said.
Chavez certainly hopes that's the case. Oil revenues account for about 90 percent of Venezuela's export earnings, about half of federal budget revenues and some 30 percent of gross domestic product, according to the CIA Factbook.

Skydiver lands with dying instructor at his back

Daniel Pharr says he was in the middle of his first-ever skydive, thousands of feet over South Carolina, when the instructor strapped to his back stopped talking to him Saturday.

The instructor, George "Chip" Steele of Skydive Carolina, was later pronounced dead. But as they were falling, Pharr -- an Army soldier taking a private skydiving lesson -- knew only that Steele wasn't responding.
Pharr said he "went into survival mode," using his military training to calm himself as he tried to get to ground safely.
"We're just taught to deal with adversity, whether it be on the battlefront or at home or ... up in the air, and you just do what you have to do -- assess the situation and keep a calm head about you because it doesn't do anybody any good to panic," said Pharr, a private in the Army.
Pharr, able to steer himself only in right circles because he could use only the parachute's right steering mechanism, managed to maneuver away from some obstructions and landed safely in Chester, South Carolina.

Afghanistan: Can Obama succeed in the 'land of the unruly?'

The ancient Persians called it "the land of the unruly." Historians call it "the graveyard of empires." President Obama calls Afghanistan something else: The "central front" in the battle against terrorism.
Afghanistan has defied armies led by military leaders including Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Now Obama's new administration will attempt to accomplish what few leaders have been able to do: stabilize Afghanistan.
Obama says he wants to start by adding U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Although some believe that a "surge" helped in Iraq, there is no military solution for stabilizing Afghanistan, several military and political experts say.
"Controlling the Afghan people is a losing proposition," says Stephen Tanner, author of "Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban." "No one has ever been able to control the country."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is struggling to control the country now, Tanner says. The landlocked nation, which is roughly the size of Texas, has no strong national police, he says; its citizens are averse to taxes and a strong central government.
Afghans seem to unite only when a foreign army occupies their country, Tanner says.
"The people are so disunited within that they can't resist an invader at the border," Tanner says. "But once you're in, you're surrounded by them."

Protesters use 16,000 coconuts as symbols of violence

Antiviolence protesters stretched out 16,000 coconuts on Brazil's world-famous Copacabana beach Saturday, each one representing a victim of urban violence.

Activists from ONG Rio de Paz led a protest march Saturday morning that included residents and tourists who usually can be found on the beach on weekends.
The protesters strung up a sign on the sand that said "Shame" in Spanish, Portuguese, English and French.
They finished with a minute of silence for the victims of violence.
Rio de Paz said the coconuts represent victims of violence, homicides, dead police officers and those who have been shot in gunfights between authorities and gangs of narcotics traffickers.
The figure itself was obtained from official information from the Rio de Janeiro governmental Institute of Public Security.
It was the second protest staged this week on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach by the group Rio de Paz.
On Tuesday, the group created a mock cemetery in the sand with mannequins representing 9,000 people who Rio de Paz says have been slain and secretly buried since January 2007.