Los Angeles  - After four days of widespread devastation firefighters on Tuesday had three large fires under control and evacuated residents returned to find hundreds of homes gutted by the flames.

Aided by lighter winds Monday, firefighters in southern California were gaining the upper hand on three wildfires that have devastated the region. They were hopeful of containing the blazes by mid-week.

Sonoma, California  - Californian wines are now a long established part of European connoisseurs' drinking habits, the most popular of which are varieties from the Napa Valley region.

But the West Coast state is home to another winemaking area, Sonoma, which boasts no less than 4,100 square kilometres of vines.

More than 250 vineyards are located in Sonoma, many of which have a winemaking tradition which is over a century old. A few claim to have roots in Europe's vineyards.

Los Angeles - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency as more than 1,000 firefighters battled a raging wildfire near the celebrity hideaway of Montecito on Friday.

More than 100 houses had been destroyed by the wind-driven flames overnight and fire chiefs were working to contain the damage before strong winds picked up again Friday night.

Los Angeles - Over 5 million Californians ducked for cover and held Thursday as they took part in what was billed as the largest public emergency drill in US history.

Some 5,000 first responders and emergency managers were also involved in The Great ShakeOut drill, which was designed to simulate the effects of a 7.8 magnitude quake on the San Andreas Fault across the densely populated area of Southern California.

With the aim to restrain the Navy's use of sonar, off the coast of Southern California to protect whales, on Wednesday the U. S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the environmentalists.

However, the debate in Washington State, where the Navy and environmentalists have argued over the use of sonar in naval exercises and its impact on marine mammals, including endangered Puget Sound killer whales; is not likely to get altered by the decision to allow the continued use of sonar.

A research by UC Davis M. I. N. D. Institute has concluded that infants who showed fascination for unusual objects were later diagnosed with autism. Strange though but these children were more likely to spin and rotate; look out of the corners of their eyes at simple objects including a feeder or a rattle as early as 12 months of age.

The study was conducted on 66 babies. 35 babies out of these were considered at high risk for autism as they had an older sibling who was diagnosed with the disorder.