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sage to Central American leaders struggling with weak economies and drug violence.
• Obama was to meet with Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, then attend a gathering of leaders from the Central American Integration system. The regional network also includes the leaders of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
• The U.S. view of the region is that its pervasive violence and security weaknesses are holding back economic growth, and that with fewer Mexicans crossing the border illegally, the rest of the region has become the main source of illegal immigration into the United States.
• ___

• LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A wildfire burned across a Southern California region, flaring up amid strong winds in the morning and cutting a 10-mile path to the Pacific by nightfall.
• By the time it reached Pacific Coast Highway late Thursday, the blaze had burned about 8,000 acres -- or 12½ square miles -- and had forced the evacuation of a university and hundreds of homes, officials said.
• The blaze was 10 percent contained, but the work of more than 900 firefighters and deputies was just beginning, Ventura County fire Capt. Bill Nash said.
• "This fire is a long way from out," Nash said. "It is still growing."
• Nash said gusts of nearly 30 mph were still being reported near the coast late Thursday, and the National Weather Service said strong Santa Ana winds and extreme fire danger would remain in the region through Friday.
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• ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- With legal gambling now moving beyond the casinos and onto the Internet, the industry is bracing for the most far-reaching changes in its history.
• A Las Vegas firm, Ultimate Gaming, on Tuesday became the first in the U.S. to offer online poker, restricting it, for now, to players in Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware also have legalized gambling over the Internet and expect to begin offering

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