FIRES IN ALBERTA RUSSIA

Stories on this day in history. FIRES IN ALBERTA , CHINA, GOLD PLUNGES IN DEHLI AND NEW ZEALAND FREE TRADE DEAL NEXT YEAR LIKELY.

Alberta forest fires out of controlCanadian Press

WHITECOURT, Alta. — A wildfire almost twice as large as another one that had been threatening in west-central Alberta was burning out of control in the forests of the province's northwest. Officials said the fire near Whitecourt was believed to have chewed through 15 square kilometres. They had planned to fly over the site overnight Friday with infrared equipment to determine its size. Winds from the east were blowing the long and narrow fire towards the west where the province's Eagle Tower lookout was evacuated. The Virginia Hills Road near Highway 43 was also closed.

Meanwhile, weary firefighters finally managed to get a handle on what had previously been Alberta's largest forest fire.The status of the Burnstick Lake fire in west-central Alberta was changed from out of control to being held. Fire officials said they were confident the blaze would not spread any further.An evacuation notice issued to residents near Caroline, Rocky Mountain House and several campgrounds was lifted as a result. Flames swept through almost nine square kilometres of mature timber and clearcuts on Crown land in the five days the fire burned out of control.

At its height, crowns of trees were exploding in flames, and more than 100 firefighters were involved in battling the blaze.Fire officials feared the blaze would continue to grow over the May long weekend, but forecast winds never materialized.The fire is not expected to spread, based on the resources we have, and on the forecasted weather," said Rob Harris, provincial wildfire information officer.Sundre Forest Products will attempt to harvest salvageable scorched timber within the next month.There are 15 fires burning in Alberta's forest protection area. Crews have already been called to 529 fires this season.Open burning has been banned in a large area of southwestern Alberta.

More than 90 fires rage in eastern Russia

KHABAROVSK, Russia, May 20 (UPI) -- Raging fires in Russia's far east have destroyed almost 1.4 million acres of forest, particularly in the Amur region. More than 1,000 firefighters have mobilized to put out the fires. Thirty-two fires have been suppressed and 10 localized, but new fires have sprung up, Itar-Tass reported. The number of fires is almost four times worse than during the same time period last year. The Amur region alone has already lost close to a million acres. Forest experts have said the conflagrations are not putting towns or businesses at risk.

Gold prices plunge, back in four digits Press Trust Of India Posted Saturday , May 20, 2006 at 19:29Updated Saturday , May 20, 2006 at 19:38.

New Delhi: Gold prices tumbled on the bullion market on Saturday due to aggressive selling by stockists influenced by weakening overseas trend amid drying demand in local markets due to off marriage season.Gold was down by Rs 340 at Rs 9,910 per ten gram in the absence of buying by retail customers and jewellery fabricators, as stockists continued to sell on reports the metal in overseas markets revealed an over night heavy loss.Gold fell 7.8 percent in the week to 659.20 dollar an ounce in London, dropping from a 26-year high of 730.40 dollar on May 12 and silver rising a record level over 14.50 dollar.

A similar weak trend was noticed in silver on reduced offtake by industrial units and stockists, against reports of new stocks coming from neighbouring states.Marketmen said the ending marriage season at this time dampened trading sentiment, which was already passing through a rough patch.They said the activity in the market remained dull as most of the retail customers extended their decision to buy gold at prevailing high levels in the last few days.Standard gold and ornaments dropped by Rs 340 each at Rs 9910 and Rs 9760 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign dropped by Rs 200 at Rs 8000 per piece of eight gram.

Silver ready plunged by Rs 700 at Rs 19,100 per kilo and weekly-based delivery by Rs 2560 per kilo as speculators unwind their long positions in view of a fall in its prices in overseas markets last night.Silver coins were unchanged at Rs 23,000 for buying and Rs 23,200 for selling of 100 pieces.

GCC-New Zealand free trade deal likely next year By Mariam Al Hakeem,

Correspondent Riyadh: The GCC states and New Zealand are expected to sign a free trade agreement next year. A source in the New Zealand embassy in Riyadh told Gulf News that there is a strong chance of signing the trade agreement, especially after the recent visit of Trade Minister Phil Goff to the Gulf. According to a source, negotiators will start intensive, wide-ranging talks to work out details of a free trade accord this year.The vast Gulf market, and its exports of petro-leum products, especially petrochemical products from Saudi Arabia, will be the major basis for the agreement," the source said.

Major breakthrough

The volume of New Zealand's exports to the six GCC states reached $500 million last year and its imports from the GCC, mainly oil and petrochemical products, has exceeded $1 billion. Meanwhile, the forthcoming talks between the European Trade Commission and the GCC are expected to be a major breakthrough in overcoming the bottlenecks in the establishment of a much-awaited GCC-EU free trade zone, said a senior GCC official.Saudi Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Affairs Dr. Hamad Al Bazie, who is heading the Gulf team in the trade talks with the European Union, told reporters here yesterday that the date for the talks has yet to be fixed.

The recent meeting of the Ministerial Council of the GCC and the European Union, held in Brussels, stressed the need to accelerate the procedures to conclude the free trade agreement. The meeting also agreed to hold talks between the European Trade Commission and the relevant GCC ministers to solve the outstanding issues, mainly concerned with the services sector and government purchasing,he said. According to Al Bazie, the GCC states have completed the procedures in this respect and presented them to the concerned agencies with the hope of signing a final agreement with the Europeans.