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Tuesday night, authorities said the blaze was 20 percent contained.
• In Nevada, the biggest impact of the Rim Fire was on the air. The air quality index briefly surpassed the rare "hazardous" level east of Lake Tahoe before improving slightly. It hovered around the next-most serious stage of "very unhealthy" for all populations in the Reno-Sparks area 30 miles north.
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• KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Hamida Gulistani was getting ready to leave home for her office when she heard the crack of gunfire. What she saw as she peered through the steel gates of her house deepened her fears about the future of her country.
• Her driver lay dead. Her neighbor was shouting that Gulistani's house was under attack. And the Afghan army and police weren't responding to her phone calls. As an elected provincial councilor, and thus a prime target for the Taliban, she feared her time was up.
• "I kept calling the police chief and other security forces, but by the time they arrived it was too late. The attackers took my car and drove away," said the 40-year-old human rights activist. She has since moved from her province of Ghazni to the relatively safer capital, Kabul.
• Ghazni and neighboring Wardak province have become a hotbed of insurgent activity in the past year, mainly along the main highway which links Kabul to Kandahar in the south and runs through Gulistani's home town. Dozens of abductions and killings are reported weekly on the highway, and Afghans are beginning to worry that the nascent Afghan National Security Forces taking over the defense of Afghanistan won't be up to the job.
• Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, who runs the day-to-day coalition campaign in Afghanistan, says only a small stretch of the 1,900-kilometer (1,200-mile) road has been affected. Less than three months after the Afghan forces took over primary responsibility for national security from the U.S.-led coalition, Milley says he's sure they are capable of operating alone, carrying out large-scale operations around the country with little support from the U.S.-led coalition.
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