Shorts (right)
Boston Sweeps Series With 4-3 Victory Over Colorado
They have gone from exorcism to coronation in record time. The Boston Red Sox, who fought ghosts for most of the last century, are the premier team of the new millennium.
The Red Sox won their second World Series in four years on Sunday, edging the Colorado Rockies, 4-3, in Game 4 at Coors Field. They are the first team to win multiple championships since 2000, and with a deep payroll and a stable of talented young pitchers, they may be poised for more.
Mike Lowell doubled and homered and was named Most Valuable Player in the Series for hitting .400 with six runs scored and four runs batted in. Jon Lester — who, like Lowell, is a cancer survivor - worked five and two-thirds shutout innings for the victory.
Boston has won all eight of its World Series games under Manager Terry Francona, and this sweep was nearly as emphatic as the one in 2004, when the Red Sox never trailed against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Their sweep was the first in 80 years to feature victories by four different starting pitchers. The last team to do it? The 1927 Yankees.
Weather Aids In Containing Most Fires In California
A week after a wave of fires began their deadly streak across Southern California, firefighters were close to claiming victory Sunday, with all but two of what had been 24 blazes more than half contained.
The fires — which burned through more than 516,000 acres, killing seven people and injuring close to 90 — were down to seven by Sunday afternoon. Officials expected that, barring significant changes in wind patterns and temperatures, all would be out by early in the week.
“We remain guardedly optimistic,” said Mary Ann Aldrich, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in Sacramento. “They’ve made great progress.”
Aided by cooler air and some rain over the weekend, a residential canyon in Orange County was spared from flames that threatened over 700 homes on Saturday.
That blaze, which officials believe was set by an arsonist, is known as the Santiago fire and consumed nearly 30,000 acres before firefighters were able to contain 50 percent of it by Sunday.
In San Diego County, the so-called Witch fire — which was the largest, burning through nearly 200,000 acres — was 90 percent contained Sunday afternoon. The Poomacha fire, also in San Diego County, was half contained, officials said.
While temperatures began to rise again Sunday, more humidity was expected on Monday, which would further aid the firefighting effort.
The sources of the fires remained under investigation, but the authorities believed that power lines downed by strong winds and possibly camp fires contributed to some blazes, with arsonists starting others.
Paulson In India With A Wish List For Economic Changes
Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. who landed in Calcutta over the weekend, came bearing a long list of advice, requests, predictions and recommendations for India, which has the world’s second-fastest-growing major economy after China.
Paulson is making his first trip to India as a government official to urge a successful conclusion of the deadlocked world trade talks, to push for expansion of India’s capital markets and to urge regulators to open the financial sector to foreigners.
His visit comes as international investors’ fears about the U.S. economy have pushed cash into Indian stock markets, propelling them to records and generating concerns of a bubble. The Sensex index of the Bombay Stock Exchange traded above 20,000 for the first time on Monday, and closed up 3.82 percent at 19,977.67.
Late last week, market regulators in India approved rules that prohibit anonymous foreign investors from participating in India’s markets. The new rules could drive some hedge funds out of the markets.
Paulson, a former chairman of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, said Monday that he thought these rules could be detrimental if not applied correctly. Restrictions on capital flows are “blunt instruments and can have unintended consequences,” he warned.
The country needs to spend an estimated $500 billion building roads, power grids and ports, or risk stifling growth, which has averaged nearly 9 percent annually in the last three years. American banks and financial companies have been studying the market closely, hoping to finance the investment by expanding India’s nascent bond market.
Campuses Mourn Loss Of Seven Students In House Fire
Two university campuses grieved on Monday after a fast-moving fire on Sunday swept through a beach house at a resort in North Carolina and killed seven college students on a weekend getaway.
As investigators sought the cause of the fire and worked to identify victims, students at the University of South Carolina, where six of the victims were enrolled, were in mourning. The seventh victim was reported to have been a student at Clemson University. Six students survived.
The fire broke out around 7 a.m. at a beach house on Ocean Isle Beach on the southern end of North Carolina, about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Witnesses described seeing people jumping out of windows, screaming and struggling to get out as the fire raced through the home. The house, a two-story structure on stilts, was consumed by flames, and a charred frame was nearly all that remained on Monday morning.
Dennis Pruitt, dean of students at the University of South Carolina, said many of those in the house were members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority or the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The survivors were taken to the Brunswick Community Hospital and released.