The improved weather conditions allowed firefighters to get the blaze 65 percent contained, though crews still had to watch out for wind gusts that could carry embers, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Ed Gililland.

There were some flare-ups Tuesday, but they remained well within containment lines, officials said. Full containment was not expected until Monday.

A marine layer that moved in at the beginning of the week helped firefighters catch up with the blaze in the Angeles National Forest that had doubled in size over the weekend and spread rapidly through old, dry brush with help from gusty winds and soaring temperatures.

Some 2,800 people in the rural communities of Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth were allowed to return home Monday after evacuating Saturday.

Six houses that were destroyed and nine more were damaged as the fire consumed 50 square miles of brush in and around the Antelope Valley about 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declared a local state of emergency for the fire area Tuesday, waiving regulations that might otherwise slow recovery. The county assessor's office urged property owners with serious damage to seek assistance with tax relief.

The cause remained under investigation.

Wildfires were also burning in northern New Mexico, Colorado and Alaska.

But there's one area in which the United States has outmaneuvered Europe, and that's net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission ruled as early as 2011 that slowing down certain types of traffic while privileging others was illegal. Internet providersthat treating all traffic the same makes it harder for them to manage load efficiently at peak hours. But for most consumers, the idea that your cable company can't slowdown your movie provider comes as a relief.

Now, new rules being hashed out in the European parliament may set up something similar. Today in Brussels, the head of the EU's digital agenda commissionbroadly following Washington's proscription against data throttling or blockages.

"It's clear to me that many Europeans expect protection against such commercial tactics," said Neelie Kroes, the EU's top digital officer. "And that is exactly the EU safeguards we will be providing."

Where the U.S. regulations prohibit traffic discrimination, the European proposal goes one step further: It appears tobetween wireless broadbandwhat you get on mobile devicesand wireline broadband, or what you get in your home.

That's unlike the American approach, which carved out a big exception for cell phone carriers such as Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. The theory, according to an industry spokesperson, is that mobile traffic is sometimes a matter of life and deatha call to police outranks a text to friends.

Yet if Europe is somehow able to implement net neutrality rules without giving wireless carriers a pass, that'll set an important precedent for more stringent regulation here in the United States. With more Americans turning to 3G and 4G data servicesand some going so far as to end their home subscriptions to broadbandthe United States is going to have to revisit net neutrality for wireless carriers eventually.

The most recognized sustainable building initiative is the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a certification that evaluates the potential environmental performance of a building over its life cycle. However, research has found that LEED-certified projects incur higher OSHA recordable injury rates than conventional construction projects due to widely used design elements and construction practices employed to attain LEED certification.

When it comes to sustainable buildings the construction industry's current perspective has focused on resource efficiency in terms of positive environmental impact, reduction of utility costs and the health of its final occupants.

The articles' authors Mohammed Albattah, Marielle Roucheray and Matthew Hallowell, Ph.D., state that sustainability should incorporate the effects of a building throughout its entire life cycle. This includes the health and safety of workers on the construction site.

Prevention through design (PTD) is a deliberate consideration of construction worker safety and health in the design of a building, by removing safety during design by altering a building's features so they are safer to construct and maintain. Studies have shown that PTD can be particularly effective in the construction of sustainable buildings.

In advocating for prevention through design (PTD) in sustainable buildings, the article describes; recent research identifying specific exposures to hazards connected to sustainable building components, the magnitudes of their impacts and the methods of risk mitigation, a web-based tool that organizes PTD information into a single decision support system and the results of pilot testing this tool on active projects with experienced professionals.

For more than 50 years, ASSE's Professional Safety journal has been sharing the latest technical knowledge in SH&Einformation that is constantly being developed through research and on-the-job experience. Each issue delivers practical guidance, techniques and solutions to help SH&E professionals identify hazards, protect people, prevent injuries, improve work environments and educate management that investing in safety is a sound business strategy. For more information please visit .

Founded in 1911, the Chicago-based ASSE is the oldest professional safety organization and is committed to protecting people, property and the environment. Its more than 35,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members lead, manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor, health care and education. For more information please go to

SOURCE American Society of Safety Engineers

Russian officials have said that Moscow signed a contract for the delivery of the powerful missiles a few years ago, but have been coy about whether any of them have been delivered.

Speaking after a Russia-EU summit Tuesday, Putin defended the deal, saying it isn't against international law, but added that Russia hasn't yet fulfilled it.

The U.S. and Israel have strongly warned Russia against delivering the missiles, which would dramatically increase Syria's air defence capability.

Russia has been a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, protecting it from United Nations sanctions and providing it with weapons despite the two-year civil war.

The simple, but elegant garment created by Hollywood costume designer Helen Rose for the then 18-year-old Taylor is an oyster shell-colored, floor-length satin gown with a fine silk gauze off-the-shoulder illusion neckline.

The dress, which was a gift from MGM film studios, has a top estimate of 50,000 pounds ($75,300). Rose also designed Grace Kelly's wedding dress for her marriage to the Prince of Monaco.

By the time Taylor married Hilton she was already a veteran actress and was just a year away from her Oscar-nominated performance in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "A Place in the Sun".

The A-list of old Hollywood - Greer Garson, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Esther Williams, and Van Johnson - were among the many stars who came to congratulate the bride.

The star of "Cleopatra" surpassed Michael Jackson as the highest-earning deceased celebrity in a survey released by Forbes in October 2012, with her estate pulling in $210 million, much of it from a 2011 auction of jewels, costumes and art work.

The auction of Taylor's jewels took in $116 million, more than double the record for a single collection, and set new marks for pearls, colorless diamonds and Indian jewels.

Taylor, who died in 2011 at the age of 79, was married eight times, twice to actor Richard Burton, and had a career spanning seven decades.

She first gained fame in 1944's "National Velvet" at age 12, and was nominated for five Oscars, winning best actress for "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966), which also starred Burton.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Michael Roddy)

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The head of the Catholic Church in Australia on Monday blamed a former culture of silence for the cover-up of child abuse by clergy, making it difficult to know the full extent of abuse, but added that the number of cases had dropped significantly since the church started taking stronger action.

Cardinal George Pell, an adviser to Pope Francis on Vatican reforms, told a parliamentary hearing the church had been slow to address the suffering of victims and again issued an apology.

"I am fully apologetic, and absolutely sorry," said Pell in a tense hearing marked by at times angry questioning over the church's compensation and investigations. Pell was questioned for more than four hours.

Pell said the number of reports of abuse by clergy members peaked in the 1970s and 80s, but had fallen as the church changed its approach.

"The evidence of misbehaving, crimes, has been significantly reduced. I hope the worst is behind us," Pell said, adding 300 people in Victoria had received compensation for abuse.

Child abuse scandals have haunted the Church for more than two decades in Australia, Europe and the United States, with Ireland shutting its embassy to the Vatican in 2011 due to strained relations over the abuse issue.

Pell was giving evidence to a Victorian state inquiry in Melbourne, in relation to his role as Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001 when he implemented protocols for dealing with abuse complaints.

Before a packed public gallery, with many in tears during his testimony, Pell issued another apology to the victims of sexual abuse, and said church leaders in the past had been reluctant to share information about accused priests.

"So I don't think many persons in the leadership of the Catholic church knew what a horrendous, widespread mess we were sitting on," he said.

But since the 1990s, the church was more open in dealing with the issue, and conducts stronger background checks on people joining the clergy, he said.

He also denied acting like "Pontius Pilate" in brushing aside claims and rejected accusations from MPs that his past references to the church being "bled to death" by abuse inquiries referred to concern about compensation payments.

"In my mind it was a secondary consideration, the financial consideration. Whatever the legislature decides is appropriate, we will pay," Pell said.

COVER UP

The parliamentary inquiry has heard child abuse by members of the church was covered up, and that the Catholic church was more concerned with protecting priests than protecting victims.

It has been told that Pell's predecessor as Archbishop of Melbourne, Frank Little, dealt with complaints confidentially, kept no records, and moved accused priests to new parishes where some continued to sexually abuse children.

Little died in 2008. But Pell acknowledged Little covered up the issue and did not discuss it with advisers or other bishops.

"He inherited a situation where there were no protocols, no procedures. And he never spoke to anybody about it. He didn't know how to deal with it," Pell said.

Pell has also been criticized by victim support groups for his decision to accompany an accused pedophile priest into court in 1993, but said the action was not meant as a slight against abuse victims.

The priest, Gerald Ridsdale, was convicted and jailed for 19 years for molesting and raping 40 children between 1961 and 1987. Pell said he was aware of the "terrible crimes" and knew Ridsdale was going to plead guilty, and his decision to walk with him to court was not meant as a sign that he did not support the victims of his crimes.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has set up a rare Royal Commission, the highest form of investigation in Australia, into how churches, government bodies and other organizations dealt with child sex abuse cases.

Pell has said the church would fully cooperate with the Royal Commission, which has yet to start hearing evidence and could run for several years.

The Catholic Church is Australia's largest, with 5.4 million followers, representing about one in four Australians.

(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Michael Perry)

A private asteroid mining company will announce a new plan to help humanity explore the universe today (May 29) and you can watch it live.

At 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT),will host a live streamed event that will "announce an unprecedented project that will change the way humanity explores the cosmos," according to a news announcement from the company.

You can beginning at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT).

Planetary Resources representatives Peter Diamandis, Eric Anderson and Chris Lewicki will take part in the event from Seattle, Wash. They will be joined by video blogger Hank Green.

For most of us, the effects of the price drop were masked by the tinge of scandal: Among the victims of the crash was the infamous Solyndra, which went bankrupt at the cost to the country of hundreds of millions of dollars. Conservatives seized on the company's collapse as a reason for the government to divest itself from renewable-energy projects. Campaigning outside Solyndra's shuttered headquarters in Fremont, Calif., last year,  that the company was a symbol of "the president's failure to understand the basic nature of free enterprise in America."

But amid the right-wing outrage over President Obama's investment choices, we lost sight of what Solyndra's collapse really meant: A boon for solar energy in general.

Darnell, 51, the network's president of alternative entertainment, oversaw some of Fox's most popular shows - including talent contest "The X Factor," animated series "Family Guy" and reality cooking shows "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares."

"I'm extremely grateful that Fox has offered me a new long term contract (and anyone who knows me won't believe I'm saying this), but I've decided it's time for a change," Darnell said in a statement.

Prime time ratings at News Corp-owned Fox slumped 16.7 percent this year, according to Nielsen data provided by Horizon Media and based on viewing the day the show airs.

The network also lost its eight-year grip atop the 18-to-49 age group most coveted by advertisers, falling behind CBS, according to Nielsen data released this week.

Fox's ratings were brought down largely by a shrinking audience for "American Idol." The show's finale set a record-low ratings of 14.2 million viewers last week.

It was the first time in its 12-season history that the audience for the "Idol" finale failed to top 20 million and the network is in the midst of overhauling program's judging panel.

Darnell, who joined the network in 1994 as director of specials, will officially leave Fox at the end of June.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey. Editing by Andre Grenon)

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Indians closer Chris Perez deactivated his Twitter account following two rough outings, and after receiving a slew of negative comments.

Perez took down (at)chrisperez54 on Monday, not long after the two-time All-Star gave up a ninth-inning home run to Seattle's Endy Chavez. It was the second straight poor performance by Perez, who allowed back-to-back homers in the ninth on Saturday. The Indians won both games.

Several fans sent Perez harsh comments and there were a few profane remarks made toward him following Monday's win, which completed a four-game sweep by the first-place Indians, who entered Tuesday's game against Detroit leading the AL Central by 2 1-2 games over the Tigers.

Although he was one of the AL's top closers last season, Perez became a target for some fans when he criticized them for not supporting the Indians. Perez has always been active on Twitter, posting a daily favorite song and interacting with his followers.

In a statement released through the team, Perez didn't specify his reason for deactivating his account.

"The decision to deactivate my Twitter account was a personal choice I made in order to maintain the greater focus on the success of the team this season and our shared goals moving forward," he said. "We have an extremely positive and supportive group of players, coaches and staff members in our clubhouse and I want to participate in activities and routines that contribute positively to the culture we're building here.

"Out of respect for my teammates, I want to minimize any potential off-the-field distractions so this is the only time I will comment on this topic. Thank you for your understanding."

Perez was not in Cleveland's clubhouse before pregame batting practice and he did not speak with reporters after leaving the field.

Indians manager Terry Francona was aware of Perez's decision to abandon the social media site.

"I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea," he said. "I understand his reasoning was to focus more on what we're doing. I thought his thought process was really good. I don't think I've looked at a Twitter in my life. I don't even know if I know how. But I like his reasoning. I'm cool with it."

Francona wasn't with the Indians last season, but he knows Perez was a polarizing figure. Francona contacted Perez shortly after he was hired by the Indians and said the hard-throwing 27-year-old has been great to deal with and focused this season.

"Terrific and more," Francona said. "His level of communication with me has been fantastic."

Perez, who recorded 39 saves in 2012, is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA and six saves this year.