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.

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.

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.

Like a traditional pageant, the August 14 show will be divided into four segments: evening wear, swimsuit competition, talent performance and a question and answer session, sole organiser Mirabelle Jones told The Local.

“The pageant part is tongue-in-cheek, but the fashion is not,” the 26-year-old American said. “These are serious designers who are all well-established in Berlin and very unique, from costume designers to couture.”

The goal for contestant duos is to bring their chosen station to life, using details such as the appearance, materials, history and neighbourhood folk to inform their ideas.

Miss Zoologischer Garten’s getup, designed by artist Paradox Paul, will have live animals incorporated into the gown. Miss Warschauer Straße’s dress will be made of broken glass from Beck’s beer bottles. Miss Schlesisches Tor’s designs will be modelled by a drag queen.

Meanwhile each performers talents will be station-related, including live graffiti, opera and burlesque dancing.

“It’s about getting the public involved,” Jones said. “The models are performance artists and not just static people. And it’s a celebration of the city.”

Jones, a poet and performance artist hailing from San Francisco, has spent the last two years in Berlin, a city she says is “vibrant and supportive of giving artists space” to grow.

The Miss U-Bahn pageant is the first show with her newly founded production company and “mind hive” 3-2-1,000, which focuses on what she calls “future content.”

“I became frustrated that fashion, music, and style continues to harp on retro-isms,” she said, explaining that the subway pageant will be a Berlin first.

The idea came about through a different set of frustrations that followed a fruitless seven-hour visit to the Ausländerbehörde, or foreigners’ authority, where she left without a residence permit and with instructions to return again later.

Riding the U7 line home, Jones observed the many-coloured underground stations through her tears.

“And then I got to Richard Wagner Platz,” she said. “It’s hideous, but almost alive with pink, butter yellow and black tiles, and then pictures from ye olden days – it’s supposed to represents Wagner’s operas.”

Jones was so inspired by the garish sight that she spent the rest of the day riding U-Bahn lines, taking in the views of stations across the city.

Each Berlin U-Bahn station is different, she found, initially planning to photograph them for an exhibition, but ultimately deciding to invite designers and performers to breathe life into each stop with fashion instead.

Jones is not only organising the entire event, but participating herself as part of the design team for Miss Richard Wagner Platz, her original inspiration.

A spoken word artist will emcee the event at Spreewaldplatz, after which the judges panel, comprising Berlin fashion industry professionals, will award the winner a crown and sceptre, in addition to a cash prize.

“It’s very Berlin,” she said explaining that many of the participants may not be German-born, but have been living in the city for a long time. “The idea is that we are all Berliners, we love the city and have a relationship with it.”

The poll, published by Stern magazine and broadcaster RTL, put Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats (CDU), combined with their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), at 30 percent – up just one percentage point from the last tally. Their junior coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) also picked up a point but are still mired at just 5 percent.

With a combined 35 percent, the coalition finds itself 13 points below its September 2009 election result. Last week’s poll showed the three governing parties scraping together their weakest support since the survey began in 1986.

Meanwhile the centre-left Social Democrats maintained their year-high of 28 percent for the fourth week in a row, while the socialist Left party garnered 11 percent. The environmentalist Greens lost one point to reach 18 percent.

Were an election to be held soon, the Social Democrats and Greens could almost muster a majority necessary for a governing coalition.

Forsa head Manfred Güllner told Stern that Merkel’s coalition wasn’t profiting from the positive economic reports because people understand that the country remains heavily indebted. Germans are also sceptical over whether the recovery will continue.

“The people know that politics can’t just turn a lever, and then the economy is good or bad,” he said.

Forsa questioned 2,501 representative Germans between July 26 and 30 to reach the poll results.

Dekker left the port of Den Osse in southwestern Netherlands only days after winning a year-long battle with child welfare authorities concerned she was too young to undertake the trip.

“I am not really afraid,” said the petite blonde, smiling for the cameras as she took the wheel of her red-hulled 11.5 metre (38 foot) ketch Guppy. “I am very happy.”

Her immediate destination is Portugal, a two to three-week voyage accompanied by her father Dick, designed as a test cruise to iron out any technical problems before launching her official solo round-the-world bid from there “in about four weeks’” time.

“We want to be sure that the boat is completely ready,” said the poised youngster, wearing a black pirate T-shirt and white pants.

Dozens of journalists and about 100 cheering friends and family gathered to see her off from the small harbour where she has been living on a boat with her father and her dog, Spot.

A flotilla of small boats followed her boat of the harbour.

A determined Dekker said she was “going to try my best” to break the record, set in May by Australian teenager Jessica Watson who completed a non-stop circumnavigation a few days before her 17th birthday.

To achieve that, Dekker needs to complete the voyage in Lisbon by September 20, 2012, just four days before she turns 17.

Watson made her solo voyage non-stop and unassisted.

Dekker intends to break up her voyage with several stops in a bid which will take up to two years.

Her route from Portugal will take her across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Pacific via the Panama Canal. She plans to stop at the Galapagos islands before heading to Australia, Thailand and through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden back to Europe. An alternative route to avoid the Gulf of Aden would take her round the southern tip of Africa.

Dekker won a 10-month legal battle last week against child protection authorities who had been preventing her departure since last September, on the grounds that it would stunt her social and emotional development.

A court last Tuesday rejected a request for a one-year extension of state supervision over the girl to August next year.

In June, 16-year-old Californian Abby Sunderland embarked on a similar mission had to be rescued from the Indian Ocean when her boat was rolled in rough seas.

But Dekker’s lawyer Peter de Lange insisted she was ready for the challenge, saying she had gained a lot of solo sailing experience, learnt sleep management techniques and upgraded her boat’s instruments.

Dekker was born aboard her parent’s boat as they sailed around the world. “Laura has salt in her veins,” De Lange said. “She has gotten three years older in this one year.”

Her mother, separated from her father, was slow to come around to the idea of a solo circumnavigation, but eventually gave her consent. She was not present to see her daughter off at the quayside on Wednesday.

Asked what she would miss most on her trip, Dekker replied: “My dog, Spot”.

The problems are due not only to the wages bill but the economic crisis, RTL said, quoting a KNVB report which will be published on Wednesday.

The KNVB has divided the clubs into three categories: those under formal KNVB supervision, those where the finances need improving and those which are in a healthy financial state. Just four clubs – FC Volendam, Telstar, SC Heerenveen and Go Ahead Eagles – fall into that last category.

Feyenoord

Two top premier division sides – Rotterdam’s Feyenoord and NEC Nijmegen – are in the danger zone, RTL news says.

Earlier this year, the KNVB published a set of proposals to improve football financing.

Haarlem and Veendam, both first division sides, were declared bankrupt last season. Premier division side Willem II and first division club MVV were bailed out by their local councils.

The Norwegian government has given final approval, but the much-debated plan has been opposed by local authorities as well as environmental groups. Hovever the Government says the approval is final, and cannot be appealed.

But the Liberal Left Party has now announced that it will propose a change in the Energy Act, to ensure more use of subsea cable instead of land line in vulnerable and scenic areas like Hardanger. Party leader Trine Skei Grande takes it for granted that the building of the new line will not be started before the plans have been reconsidered once again.

The last ones to join the protests against the so-called “monster masts” along the Hardanger fjord, are several former top leaders within Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s own Labour Party.

Former environmental minister Thorbjørn Berntsen says to the newspaper VG that it will be a political strain on the Labour Party if the landline is built. Former finance minister Per Kleppe says he doubts that “the Prime Minister from Oslo and the Energy Minister from Telemark” have enough insight into the local geography of Hardanger to grasp which environmental consequenses their choice of line technology will have.