Altogether 16-17 homes were therefore evacuated immediately. The slide was 30 metres wide and 100 metres long, and also swept several smaller outbuildings, a number of parked cars and boats into the fjord. It also destroyed the main highway.

An older man escaped to the top floor when his house was swept into sea, and was able to climb out the window and call for help before he was rescued by a neighbour in a row boat.

The other house was not occupied at the time of the slide.

Geologists are now on the site to examine the possibility of further slides in te area.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 4, 1781, Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers under the leadership of Governor Felipe de Neve.

On this date:

In 1886, a group of Apache Indians led by Geronimo surrendered to Gen. Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.

In 1888, George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film box camera, and registered his trademark: “Kodak.”

In 1893, English author Beatrix Potter first told the story of Peter Rabbit in the form of a “picture letter” to Noel Moore, the son of Potter’s former governess.

In 1917, the American Expeditionary Forces in France suffered their first fatalities during World War I when a German plane attacked a British-run base hospital.

In 1948, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicated after nearly six decades of rule for health reasons.

In 1951, President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco in the first live, coast-to-coast television broadcast.

In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used Arkansas National Guardsmen to prevent nine black students from entering all-white Central High School in Little Rock. Ford Motor Co. began selling its ill-fated Edsel.

In 1969, the Food and Drug Administration issued a report calling birth control pills “safe,” despite a slight risk of fatal blood-clotting disorders linked to the pills.

In 1971, an Alaska Airlines jet crashed near Juneau, killing all 111 people on board.

In 1984, Canada’s Progressive Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney (muhl-ROO’-nee), won a landslide victory in general elections over the Liberal Party of Prime Minister John N. Turner and the New Democrats headed by Ed Broadbent.

Ten years ago: French investigators announced that a stray length of metal which had gashed a tire of a supersonic Concorde, leading to a fuel tank fire and the plane’s fatal crash the previous July, probably came from a Continental Airlines plane that had taken off on the same runway four minutes earlier. (Continental has denied any responsibility.)

Five years ago: Six days after Hurricane Katrina left a devastated New Orleans in chaos, police stormed the Danziger Bridge, shooting and killing two people and wounding four others. (Four police officers are facing federal charges in the shooting; five former officers have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up of the shootings; a sergeant and a retired sergeant also are accused in the cover-up.)

One year ago: A German army colonel called in a U.S. airstrike on a pair of hijacked tanker trucks in northern Afghanistan, resulting in civilian casualties. (German officials said up to 142 people were believed to have died or been injured; Afghan leaders estimated 30 to 40 civilians were killed.) Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed disappointment at news outlets that had used a picture taken and distributed by The Associated Press depicting a U.S. Marine mortally wounded in combat in Afghanistan.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Mitzi Gaynor is 79. Singer Merald “Bubba” Knight (Gladys Knight & The Pips) is 68. World Golf Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd is 68. Actress Jennifer Salt is 66. World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson is 61. Rhythm-and-blues musician Ronald LaPread is 60. Actress Judith Ivey is 59. Rock musician Martin Chambers (The Pretenders) is 59. Actress Khandi Alexander is 53. Actor-comedian Damon Wayans is 50. Rock musician Kim Thayil is 50. Actor Noah Taylor is 41. Actress Ione Skye is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Richard Wingo (Jagged Edge) is 35. Actor Wes Bentley is 32. Singer Dan Miller (“Making the Band”) is 30. Singer Beyonce (bee-AHN’-say) Knowles is 29. Actor Carter Jenkins is 19. Actor Trevor Gagnon is 15.

Thought for Today: “This moment contains all moments.” — C.S. Lewis, British author (1898-1963).

While it may take months for the government to tally the damage caused, several economists said the disaster might cost Russia between 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent of this year’s gross domestic product (GDP), or roughly 7-15 billion dollars.

Alexander Morozov, chief economist for HSBC bank in Russia, said the abnormal heatwave, including a severe drought, forest fires and smog, will be a significant factor eroding growth as Russia recovers from the economic crisis.

“Economic growth in Russia is slowing and the heatwave will lead to a further slowdown,” Morozov told AFP, estimating the immediate losses from the fires and the smog at 1.0 percent of this year’s GDP, or around 15 billion dollars.

That number covers immediate losses in the agriculture, industrial and services sectors and does not take into account any indirect losses that would stem from a spike in deaths and illnesses, he said.

The International Monetary Fund said this month that a recovery in Russia from deep recession remained fragile but appeared to be gaining momentum, putting this year’s growth at 4.25 percent and 2011 at 4.0 percent.

The Russian economy contracted a very sharp 7.9 percent last year as key energy exports were hit by the global economic slump, sending the country into a painful reverse after years of buoyant expansion.

Several leading Russian industrial firms have shut down production during the heatwave to spare their workers the high temperatures, sending them on vacation.

Many Russians lay the blame for the disaster on the government but the authorities have rejected criticism that they were poorly prepared.

“You know full well that the weather is absolutely abnormal and people, authorities cannot entirely control this even if they display the highest level of thoroughness,” President Dmitry Medvedev said this week.

Moscow authorities acknowledged for the first time on Monday that due to the heatwave the city’s daily mortality rate had doubled and morgues were overflowing with bodies.

The federal government has yet to confirm that statistic.

Worst hit has been agriculture.

“The drought will likely cause a 30-33 percent drop in the grain harvest — mostly wheat — this year. Other agricultural goods get adversely affected too,” Morozov said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday slashed forecast for the wheat harvest by a third to 60-65 million tonnes after shocking international markets last week by announcing that from August 15, grain exports would be banned so as to keep prices down at home.

Vladimir Tikhomirov, chief economist at Uralsib, also estimates that if the heatwave does not subside by late August, the economic losses may be between 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent of this year’s GDP.

“But that’s the worst case scenario,” he told AFP, saying economic activity would still pick up later in the year.

The noxious smoke has forced Russians to flee the capital en masse and aviation officials said more than 100,000 people left Moscow by air on Sunday alone — a record number for the current year.

Economists said it was too early to estimate the long-term losses but admitted they could be big. The drought is likely to boost inflation further by squeezing the supply of agricultural products, they said.

“Indirect losses may be significantly larger,” Dmitry Polevoi, a Moscow-based economist with ING Bank, told AFP.

“We have raised our year-end inflation forecasts for 2010 and 2011 to 8.5 percent and 9.5-10 percent … from 6.8 percent and 7.6 percent before,” he wrote in a note to clients.

The Russian anti-monopoly service meanwhile said it was looking into reports of sharp rises in the prices of ventilators and air-conditioning equipment as people try to keep cook in the heatwave.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution.

On this date:

In 1680, Pueblo Indians launched a successful revolt against Spanish colonists in present-day New Mexico.

In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries (TWEE’-luh-reez) Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed the following January.)

In 1809, Ecuador struck its initial blow for independence from Spain. (Ecuador achieved independence in 1822.)

In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.

In 1885, Leo Daft opened America’s first commercially operated electric streetcar, in Baltimore.

In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.

In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.

In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ten years ago: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, defying the United States by being the first head of state to visit Iraq since the Gulf War.

Five years ago: A defiant Iran resumed full operations at its uranium conversion plant. President George W. Bush signed a $286 billion transportation bill. Tennessee prison inmate George Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer, surrendered in Columbus, Ohio, a day after she’d ambushed two prison guards at a courthouse, killing one of them, to help her husband escape. (Both later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and were sentenced to life in prison without parole.)

One year ago: While attending a North American summit in Mexico, President Barack Obama predicted that Congress would pass his sweeping health care overhaul in the fall as more “sensible and reasoned arguments” prevailed. A double truck bombing tore through the village of a small Shiite ethnic minority near Mosul, Iraq, killing at least 28 people. Country duo Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn posted a message on their Web site announcing they had agreed to “call it a day” after 20 years of making music together.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Rhonda Fleming is 87. Singer Eddie Fisher is 82. Singer Ronnie Spector is 67. Actor James Reynolds is 64. Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 63. Singer Patti Austin is 62. Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 61. Actor Daniel Hugh Kelly is 58. Folk singer-songwriter Sam Baker is 56. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 51. Actor Antonio Banderas is 50. Rock musician Jon Farriss (INXS) is 49. Singer Julia Fordham is 48. Journalist-blogger Andrew Sullivan is 47. Singer Neneh Cherry is 46. Singer Aaron Hall is 46. Boxer Riddick Bowe is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lorraine Pearson (Five Star) is 43. Singer-producer Michael Bivins is 42. Actor-writer Justin Theroux is 39. Actress Angie Harmon is 38. Country singer Jennifer Hanson is 37. Actress JoAnna Garcia is 31. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nikki Bratcher (Divine) is 30. Actor Ryan Eggold is 26. Actor Lucas Till is 20.

Thought for Today: “A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, American author (1809-1894).

The three party leaders are each accompanied by a colleague. Mark Rutte (VVD) has MP Edith Schippers with him, Maxime Verhagen (Christian Democrats) is accompanied by caretaker health minister Ab Klink and Geert Wilders (PVV) chose Euro MP Barry Madlener.

Negotiator Ivo Opstelten said last week the talks will take two to three weeks and will take place out of the public eye.

An affiliated cultural centre was also banned.

“Hamburg must not become a cradle of violent Islamists,” the city-state’s Interior Minister Christoph Ahlhaus told reporters.

“We closed the Taiba mosque today because young men were converted to religious fanatics there. A purported cultural association shamelessly exploited the freedoms of our democratic state under the rule of law to recruit for holy war behind the scenes.”

Three of the September 11 hijackers including their ringleader Mohammed Atta, who piloted the first plane into New York’s World Trade Center, met regularly at the mosque before moving to the United States.

The prayer house was known as Al-Quds until two years ago.

Authorities said it served for several years as a recruitment centre for fellow jihadists, including accomplices of the hijackers, and offered logistical and financial assistance to Islamic militants.

Twenty police officers searched the mosque and homes of the association’s leaders in the early-morning raid and confiscated funds from the group.

“We have finally put an end to the spectre behind the walls on Steindamm,” said Ahlhaus, referring to the street where the mosque is located.

The mosque, with about 45 members, was still the main meeting point for Islamic extremists in the city, according to Hamburg authorities.

A group of 10 men from the mosque travelled to Pakistan or Afghanistan in March last year, probably to attend militant training camps, security officials said.

At least one of the men joined the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Pakistan and later appeared in a German-language propaganda video for the group in which he called for Muslims to take part in holy war.

“The association continuously promoted jihadist, aggressive and anti-democratic ideology and religious views in recent years,” Ahlhaus said.

“We do not tolerate organisations that are levelled against the constitutional order and the idea of understanding between cultures in an aggressive, militant way. But I underline that these measures are not targeted against the majority of the peace-loving, law-abiding Muslims in Hamburg.”

Ahlhaus said the association had a sophisticated programme of courses, sermons, seminars and online publications to whip up hatred of “non-believers.”

Germany, which opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq but has some 4,500 troops in Afghanistan, has beefed up security and surveillance in response to the threat of attacks on its own soil.

In March, four Islamic militants, including two German converts to Islam, who dreamed of mounting “a second September 11″ were jailed for a thwarted plot to attack US soldiers and civilians in Germany.

Farrow, 65, told Taylor’s war crimes trial at The Hague that an “excited” Campbell had confided in her that two men had come to her hotel room after a charity dinner in 1997 hosted by Nelson Mandela and given her the stone.

The account differs sharply to Campbell’s recollection of events.

At the Special Court for Sierra Leone last week, Campbell said she received a pouch of “dirty looking pebbles” in the middle of the night from unknown men.

Farrow said she was having breakfast with Campbell, 40, Campbell’s ex-agent Carole White and others when the supermodel joined them and said she had been given a “huge diamond” by men sent by Charles Taylor during the night.

“I remember… having breakfast and I remember that Naomi Campbell joined us at the table,” Farrow told the court.

“She said that in the night she had been wakened by some men who were knocking at the door… they had been sent by Charles Taylor and they gave her a huge diamond.

“She said she intended to give the diamond to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Charity.”

Farrow said she did not see the diamond.

Farrow and Campbell’s accounts differ over whether the supermodel received one stone or several.

The actress told the court she was confident Campbell had spoken of one diamond rather than several stones.

However, under tough cross examination she struggled to remember other facts about the event, became confused about her son’s age at the time of the event and said the Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan was a footballer.

The defence also suggested to Farrow that Campbell and Carole White discussed giving the diamond or diamonds to charity the following day and not at breakfast.

However, Farrow insisted her account was correct – that Campbell had been given one diamond and that the model had said it was from Taylor.

“I can only tell you, and I swear on the Bible to this court and beyond, that is what Naomi Campbell said that morning at breakfast,” she said.

Campbell’s former agent is due to testify after Farrow and is also expected to contradict the model’s claims that she did not know who gave her the diamonds.

Taylor, 62, is on trial for his alleged role in the 1991-2001 civil war in Sierra Leone that claimed some 120,000 lives.

He is accused of receiving illegally-mined “blood diamonds” for arming rebels who murdered, raped and maimed Sierra Leoneans, amputating their limbs and carving initials on their bodies.

Prosecutors want to prove that Taylor took rough diamonds to South Africa in 1997 “to sell… or exchange them for weapons” for Sierra Leone rebels.

If Farrow’s account is true, it would dent Taylor’s denials of any involvement with the trade in illicit diamonds.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people.

On this date:

In 1842, the United States and Canada resolved a border dispute by signing the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” which described Thoreau’s experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.

In 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of Britain following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

In 1910, the U.S. Patent Office granted Alva J. Fisher of the Hurley Machine Co. a patent for an electrically powered washing machine.

In 1930, cartoon character Betty Boop made her debut (as a dog-eared singer) in Max Fleischer’s animated short “Dizzy Dishes.”

In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.

In 1944, 258 African-American sailors based at Port Chicago, Calif. refused to load a munitions ship following an explosion on another ship that killed 320 men, two-thirds of them black. (Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny, fined and imprisoned.)

In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally slain at Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon’s resignation took effect. Vice President Gerald R. Ford became the nation’s 38th chief executive.

In 1995, Jerry Garcia, lead singer of the Grateful Dead, died in Forest Knolls, Calif.,of a heart attack at age 53.

Ten years ago: Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announced it was recalling 6.5 million tires that had been implicated in hundreds of accidents and at least 46 deaths.

Five years ago: The space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven safely returned to Earth, ending a 14-day safety test that was shadowed by the Columbia tragedy. Charles McCoy Jr. pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and 10 other charges in a series of Ohio highway shootings and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. Author Judith Rossner, who wrote “Looking for Mr. Goodbar,” died in New York City at age 70.

One year ago: President Barack Obama flew to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a two-day speed summit with Mexican President Felipe Calderon (fay-LEE’-pay kahl-duh-ROHN’) and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Iraqi authorities arrested British contractor Danny Fitzsimons in the shooting deaths of two co-workers in Baghdad’s protected Green Zone. Jennifer Song became the second woman to win two U.S. Golf Association championships in the same year, beating Jennifer Johnson 3 and 1 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur final. (The 19-year-old Song had won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in June 2009.)

Today’s Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Cousy is 82. Tennis Hall of Famer Rod Laver is 72. Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette is 68. Comedian-director David Steinberg is 68. Boxing Hall-of-Famer Ken Norton is 67. Actor Sam Elliott is 66. Singer Barbara Mason is 63. Former baseball player Bill Campbell is 62. College Football Hall of Famer John Cappelletti is 58. College Football Hall of Famer Doug Williams is 55. Actress Melanie Griffith is 53. Actress Amanda Bearse is 52. Rapper Kurtis Blow is 51. Singer Whitney Houston is 47. Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull is 46. TV host Hoda Kotb (HO’-duh KAHT’-bee) is 46. Actor Pat Petersen is 44. Former football player-turned-broadcaster Deion Sanders is 43. Actress Gillian Anderson is 42. Actor Eric Bana is 42. Producer-director McG (aka Joseph McGinty Nichol) is 42. Hockey player Rod Brind’Amour is 40. TV anchor Chris Cuomo is 40. Actor Thomas Lennon is 40. Rock musician Arion Salazar is 40. Rapper Mack 10 is 39. Actress Nikki Schieler Ziering is 39. Latin rock singer Juanes is 38. Actress Liz Vassey is 38. Actress Rhona Mitra (ROH’-nuh MEE’-truh) is 35. Actress Jessica Capshaw is 34. Actress Anna Kendrick is 25.

Thought for Today: “Hope is a waking dream.” — Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384 B.C.-322 B.C.).

Vladimir Ladyzhensky was rushed to hopsital along with his Finnish rival, Timo Kaukonen, after both collapsed during the competition.

The pair both had severe burns on their bodies after enduring heat above 110 degrees Celcius (230 degrees Fahrenheit).

A spokesman for the event confirmed the cirumstances of Mr Ladyzhensky’s death were being investigated by police.

The annual contest, which has been held since 1999, has been suspended.

Over 130 participants from 15 countries had entered this year’s event in the southern town of Heinola.

Competition rules require the sauna to be heated to 110 degrees Celsius with a pint of water added to the stove every 30 seconds.

The last person to remain in the sauna is the winner.

Mr Kaukonen, who was last year’s champion, is being treated in hospital at the city of Lahti.

More than 70 were injured in the landslides in a mainly Tibetan region of Gansu province late Saturday night, state television said.

A total of 20,000 people living in Zhouqu county have been evacuated, the report said.

Wen has left Beijing and is on his way to the devastated county, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities have deployed 2,400 soldiers and about 100 medical experts to help in search and rescue efforts, state television said.

The landslides swept mud and other debris into a river flowing through the county, blocking the waterway and triggering flooding, the government said.

Rescuers were searching for missing people, Xinhua said, without providing further details.

The torrential rain that started around 10pm (1400 GMT) Saturday had now stopped, reports said.

“The water of the Bailong River then flowed into the county seat and many people were trapped,” a senior county official was quoted as saying.

“Now the sludge became the biggest problem to rescue operations. It’s too thick to walk or drive through.”

Some streets were covered with sludge as deep as one metre (three feet), Xinhua said.

Many houses were buried in the landslides which destroyed roads and bridges while telecommunications, water and electricity have been cut in parts of the region, reports said.

The number of people killed or missing in devastating floods across China this year has risen to more than 2,100, according to the government, as weather authorities warn of yet more rain to come.

The nation’s civil affairs ministry said late Friday 1,454 people had died in floods this year, another 669 were still missing and more than 12 million had been evacuated from their homes.

Large swathes of China have been hit by summer deluges that have triggered the worst floods in a decade, caused countless deadly landslides and swollen many large rivers to dangerous levels.

According to the ministry, 1.4 million homes have been destroyed by the floods that have also caused 275 billion yuan (41 billion dollars) in direct economic losses.

The figures cover the entire year so far and it is unclear specifically how many people have died or gone missing in the summer floods.

China’s northeast is the worst-hit area, with entire towns flooded and rivers bordering North Korea swollen to critical levels, prompting fears of deluges in both countries.

China’s national meteorological centre said Saturday that large swathes of the nation would see rain in the next 24 hours, although it added the rainfall would be light in most areas.

But it warned that the northeast would once again be hit by torrential downpours from Sunday.