Firefighters struggle to contain Arizona wildfire

PHOENIX -- Firefighters used a combination of air power and intentional fires on Friday to try to block the progress of a mammoth wildfire that has been creeping toward a central Arizona community. Crews used heavy air tankers to drop retardant to reinforce previously created fire lines, some gouged in the ground by bulldozers. They then set fires inside the lines to burn vegetation in the path of the nearly 200,000-acre fire, one of the largest in the state's history. It was burning about three miles east of the town Friday.

Bush calls for doubling African aid over five years

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Thursday that he wants to more than double aid to Africa. The president is preparing to attend a meeting next week in Scotland of major industrial democracies and Russia. The summit host, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has made Africa a top item for discussion. The increase includes initiatives to battle malaria, provide legal protection for women and education to girls.

Third shark attack in Gulf of Mexico this week

BOCA GRANDE, Fla. -- A shark bit an Austrian tourist on the ankle Friday while he stood in chest-deep water in the Gulf of Mexico, the state's third shark attack in a week. Armin Trojer, 19, of Baden, Austria, was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Fort Myers, where he was in good condition, hospital spokeswoman Pat Dolce said. He is scheduled to have surgery to repair torn ligaments and tendons. Paramedics also indicated the wound was consistent with a shark bite, she said. The man was bitten near the lighthouse at Gasparilla Island Beach.

--From wire reports

Federal government to start using lethal electrified fences at prisons

Seven high-security federal prisons will be getting lethal electrified fences in a $10 million project intended to reduce the number of perimeter guards needed. The 12-foot-high "stun-lethal" fences, similar to ones already used at some state prisons, can be set to deliver a shock if touched once, and a fatal jolt if touched a second time. The federal Bureau of Prisons expects to award contracts for the fences in late fall, spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said.