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A woman ordered off a Qatar Airways flight along with a dozen other Australian women - some of whom were invasively examined in ambulances parked on the tarmac - first thought she had been caught in a hostage situation. Photo: AFP Ffranses Ingram, 73, said she would have struck officials with her walking cane if she had fully comprehended the ordeal her younger female passengers were about to endure on a stopover at Doha on 2 October. The women were subjected to an invasive internal examination as airport authorities searched for the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned in a bin at the airport. The incident has sparked outrage in Australia and infuriated officials and politicians in Canberra. "I find I'm getting more outraged every day now, and more frightened and more concerned for the girls on the plane than I had been at the time because I didn't realise how far the examination had gone on some of them," Ingram told the ABC. "It really is absolutely appalling and dreadful and disgusting." Ingram, who is legally blind, was headed back to Australia from Germany where she had been receiving eye treatment. "We must have been on the tarmac for about four hours and they kept telling us different stories," she said. "And then we waited perhaps about another hour and then the plane said, 'We're taking off now'. And all it did was taxi to another part of the airport. And then it said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we've got government security issues.' "And I thought, 'Oh no, Sydney's not taking us back in. They've decided to close the airport.' "We waited again and then we were told that all female passengers had to leave with our passport. "Then I got frightened because I thought, 'Oh, this is a hijack where the women are being allowed off and the men are going to be kept hostage.'" She and the 17 other women, including 12 other Australians, were escorted off the plane and into the terminal. "I said to the air hostess, 'What's happening?' and she said, 'No, you will just come with me.' And there was a sense of urgency around her," Ingram said. "I was taken in a lift and when I emerged down on the tarmac, I was surrounded by police. And, again, I said to her, 'I'm very frightened.' My heart was going 19 to the dozen and she still wouldn't tell me. "And then I saw the other women and went over to them, and one of them has said they'd been examined and that a baby had been found in the airport and they were trying to find the mother." The 73-year-old said she realised there was an ambulance on the tarmac but when it was her turn to go she was told "no". "They didn't want me, of course. Obviously if that's why they were examining - for childbirth - it obviously wasn't me," the mother of three said. Fury directed at Qatar Airways Ingram said she was furious with Qatar Airways and the experience made her question whether she would fly into the region again. "I thought that as a Qatar passenger, I would have been protected by the airline and as an international traveller I was protected," she said. "But we weren't. We were dragged off the plane like the blinking Petrovs here in Sydney years ago." She said if she had realised what was happening inside the ambulances she would have loudly protested. "I had my cane so I could have … I don't know how far I would have got with hitting them, but I, certainly as an older woman, would have refused," Ingram said. "If I'd known that was happening to the girls and if I'd been there at the beginning I certainly would have been far more outspoken over what was happening." But Ingram said she had found herself wondering about the woman who abandoned her newborn girl in a bathroom. "Oh my God, the poor mother of the baby - what is going to happen to her?" she said. "I just hope they never found her. What situation must she be in to leave her baby in the toilet. "I mean, it's just that unimaginable. At least in this country there'd be help. But over there … you just dread to think." - ABC

More police as well as the National Guard are being deployed in Philadelphia as authorities say they fear another night of unrest after the fatal police shooting of a black man. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway leading to the Philadelphia City Hall. Photo: 123RF Officials say 30 officers were hurt in overnight clashes with protesters. Police say officers opened fire on Walter Wallace, 27, when he ignored orders to drop a knife he was holding. Mayor Jim Kenney said the video of Monday's shooting "presents difficult questions that must be answered". The mayor did not elaborate, but said he was looking forward "to a speedy and transparent resolution for the sake of Mr Wallace, his family, the officers, and for Philadelphia". Meanwhile, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she had visited the scene and heard and felt the anger of the community". An investigation into the incident is under way. Large protests broke out in Philadelphia earlier this year following the police killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Footage showed white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, while he repeatedly said he was unable to breathe. Floyd's death sparked protests around the world against racism and police brutality. What happened overnight? Hundreds of people took to the streets to protest against the shooting of Wallace. The protests, which continued into the early hours of Tuesday, turned violent at times. Images from the scene showed a police vehicle set on fire. A number of businesses and shops were looted. Most of the injured police officers were struck by objects such as bricks and other projectiles, authorities said. One officer was in hospital with a broken leg and other injuries after being struck by a pickup truck. More than a dozen people were arrested. What do we know about the shooting? Police said the shooting happened about 4pm (local time) on Monday, when two officers responded to a report of a man with a weapon in the neighbourhood of Cobbs Creek in West Philadelphia. Police spokeswoman Tanya Little told AP news agency that a man, later identified as Wallace, was holding a knife when the officers approached, and instead of following orders to drop the weapon "advanced towards them". Both officers fired "several times", hitting Wallace in the shoulder and chest. One of the officers drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Little said. Footage shared on social media shows two officers pointing their guns at Wallace as he walks towards them. The officers back away from him and shout at him to put the knife down. Shots are then fired and Wallace is seen lying on the street. Wallace's father told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his son had mental health issues and was on medication. "Why didn't they use a taser?" he asked. Meanwhile, Wallace's family lawyer said that they had called for an ambulance - not police - to help deal with Walter Wallace's mental issues. Instead, two police officers arrived, lawyer Shaka Johnson was quoted as saying by the Inquirer. Wallace's pregnant wife told them her husband had bipolar disorder and was in crisis. Reacting to the shooting, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris said in a statement: "Our hearts are broken for the family of Walter Wallace Jr., and for all those suffering the emotional weight of learning about another Black life in America lost. We cannot accept that in this country a mental health crisis ends in death." - BBC

Scientists on a research vessel probing Australia's oceans have found a new reef as tall as a skyscraper, the longest recorded sea-creature, and new species, but warn the fragile coral ecosystems are being decimated by climate change. [embedded content] Researchers working on board the research vessel the Falkor have found a new reef as tall as a skyscraper in the waters off Cape York in North Queensland. The 'detached' reef is the first to be discovered in more than 120 years. It is about 1.5km wide, and reaches down to more than 500 metres below the surface - making it larger than the Empire State Building. Researchers discovered the 'blade shaped' reef on 20 October during a 12-month mapping project of Australia's oceans. It's estimated to be 20 million years old at its deepest part. Queensland is home to the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system, made up of more than 2900 reefs. A "detached" reef refers to one that's bedded to the ocean floor, rather than part of the main body of a wider reef system. The newly-found coral formation sits among a cluster of seven other detached reefs that were mapped in the 1800s. However the marine ecosystem on the top of this latest find appeared to be more vibrant than the others, according to research leader Robin Beaman from James Cook University. "It's got a thriving coral community at the pinnacle," Dr Beaman said. "When we got to the crest of it - it's only about 300m by 50m wide - we found a lot of fish and a healthy shark population too." The reef rises from about 500m deep up to 40m. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute Detached reefs of this nature act as isolated seamounts, (a structure that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water's surface) according to Dr Beaman. Because there is a lot of deep water between it and the next coral community, they have the potential to evolve unique species. The team has been exploring the reef using an underwater robot called "SuBastian", which has a remotely controlled arm, to collect samples for identification. "As a collective over the entire [12-month] expedition, we've been finding a whole lot of new species," Dr Beaman said. "It's going to take time for us to work through the imagery and samples we've collected before we can say if there are new species [at this reef] or not." They made the discovery about 80km east of Cape Grenville, on Queensland's east coast. The researchers found new reef- building evident down to about 200m, and said during the last ice age some of the reef would have been in much shallower water, or even exposed. Siphonophores are predators that feed by dangling stinging tentacles in the water. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute 'World's longest recorded sea creature' among new finds The Falkor is being funded by the Schmidt Ocean Institute - a research body founded by American philanthropist and businesswoman Wendy Schmidt, and her husband, former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. Several new species have already been discovered during the project, Institute spokesperson Carlie Wiener said, as well as the "world's longest recorded sea creature" - a 45-metre long siphonophore found at Ningaloo canyon, off Western Australia. A siphonophore is a type of colonial organism; it's a string-like arrangement of many individual animals - zooids - that live connected together in a colony, and carry out different functions that allow the collective to digest food, float, reproduce and move about. Wiener said their latest reef discovery demonstrated how valuable the project is. "Australia has no dedicated underwater vehicle, so there are a lot of areas that haven't been looked at before. This is evidence for the importance of exploring our undersea environment, so that we can protect it." Dr Nerida Wilson in the Falkor control room discovering a rare deep see hydroid at 2497 metres. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute Scientists warn the reefs face devastating survival challenges Just weeks ago the Royal Society published research showing half the corals on the Great Barrier Reef have died since 1995, due to climate change- induced coral bleaching. The extent of deeper reefs, like the one just discovered, is only now becoming known as technology has improved, said reef scientist Terry Hughes from James Cook University, who co-authored that study published by the Royal Society. The highest point of the newly discovered detached reef is 40 metres below the surface, making it a mesophotic reef. "Mesophotic reefs - reefs deeper than 30 metres, it turns out there's probably at least as much coral habitat below 30 metres as there is above it, and people are still mapping it," Hughes said. The SuBastian awaiting deployment from the back of the Falkor, while exploring Flinders Reef. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute Because of their depth and distance from shore, mesophotic reefs are less susceptible to bleaching, cyclones, fishing pressure and land-based pollution, however they are still degrading, albeit at a slower rate than their shallow-water counterparts. Because most coral and marine species are restricted to specific zonal conditions, mesophotic reefs aren't going to help restock shallower reefs damaged by bleaching events or other impacts, he said. "There's been some speculation that's pretty well resolved now, that the deep reefs could be reserves for the shallow ones. That turns out not to be the case," he said. "Many corals are shallow water specialists and others are deep water specialists and only a few have a broader depth range. There are corals that you only find shallower than five metres [and] there are other corals you only find deeper than 30." One of the organisms photographed by the scientists on board the Falkor. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute While findings like this are interesting, Hughes said that we still need to urgently get emissions down to protect shallower corals. "We still have an opportunity to save the reef if we deal with climate change. "1.1 degrees of warming so far has triggered five bleaching events since 1998; [but] we still have half a reef." "What [warming] stabilises at will be critical. 1.5 to 2C is doable, but the mix of species will be different. It already is. If we go to 3 or 4C it will be a pretty sad state of affairs." - ABC

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has revealed women on 10 different aircraft at a Doha airport were subjected to invasive internal examinations by Qatari authorities this month. Australian officials have confirmed 18 of its citizens were subjected to invasive internal examinations by Qatari authorities this month. Photo: AFP / Karim Jaafar The examinations occurred after a newborn premature baby was found in a terminal bathroom at Hamad International Airport on 2 October. The episode has sparked outrage in Australia and infuriated officials and politicians in Canberra. A senior Australian official said Qatari officials are working with Australia and "two or three" other unidentified countries. Payne confirmed 18 Australian women were on the flights - an updated figure on the 13 female passengers revealed on Monday who had been affected on a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney - but officials said it was not clear how many in total were searched. She also told a parliamentary hearing that women from several different countries were searched. The foreign minister reiterated that the Australian government had formally registered its "serious concern" with Qatar, arguing the treatment of Australian women was "offensive" and "grossly inappropriate". Australia has also demanded Qatar submit a report to Australia about the incident. Payne said the report would be handed to Australia "very soon". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson said she was "incredulous" that the search could have occurred, and that the department had made "intensive" representations to Qatar. "There is a very strong determination [in Qatar's government] to report as soon as possible," she said. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne Photo: AFP / Charly Triballeau She also said the Qatari government's reaction "matches our own in terms of level of distress and abhorrence and a deep questioning of how this can have happened". Senator Penny Wong also grilled Payne about why she had not yet spoken to Qatar's Foreign Minister about the episode. "Don't you think Australians and the women concerned would expect that of our Foreign Minister?" she asked. Payne said she would do so as soon as she was equipped with the report. "[The women concerned] would expect us to get the best possible information possible from the Qatari system and to make it very clear to Qatar our concerns in relation to this matter," she told the hearing. "I have indicated that my priority is to get the report so I can deal with that directly so we can engage in acquiring that report as soon as it's available. "It's very clear this is not acceptable." Adamson also confirmed an Australian diplomat was on the flight but said she was not searched because she was "not of child-bearing age". Hamad International Airport released a statement this week that did not provide details of the examinations or women affected. The airport said it had acted on the advice of medical professionals to try to find the mother of the newborn before she departed. "Individuals who had access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn infant was found were asked to assist in the query," the airport said in a statement. - ABC / BBC

The US leader of the Nxivm cult has been sentenced to 120 years in prison for an array of crimes, many involving the exploitation of women and children. Former members of Nxivm, Linda Chung (2R), Nicki Clyne (L) and Michelle Hatchette (C) speak outside the court after Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison. Photo: AFP Nxivm founder Keith Raniere was last year convicted of racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography possession and other crimes. The punishment was handed down on Tuesday by a District Judge in Brooklyn after a sentence hearing where former members of the cult spoke out against him. As leader of the group, Raniere recruited women as slaves and forced them to have sex with him. Prosecutors said the 60-year-old should spend his life behind bars for the "immeasurable damages" he caused to victims of the cult. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis also fined Raniere US$1.75m (NZ$2.6m). Raniere himself never took the stand during the case last year. He was the only member of Nxivm's leadership to face trial as others took plea deals. Keith Raniere. Photo: Keith Raniere Conversations / Youtube His lawyers have maintained his innocence throughout, and have blamed a "media campaign involving witnesses who were motivated to testify falsely" for his conviction. US authorities began investigating Nxivm - pronounced nexium - after the publication of a New York Times investigation in 2017. Based in Albany, New York, and created in 1998, the group described itself as a "community guided by humanitarian principles that seek to empower people". According to its tagline, the organisation is "working to build a better world". It says it has worked with more than 16,000 individuals and operates centres across the US, Canada, Mexico and Central America. But in reality Raniere sat at the top and controlled female members through a slave and master system. Some women were branded in their pelvic areas with Raniere's initials in filmed ceremonies, while members would gather each year to celebrate and pay for his birthday - an event known as "Vanguard Week". One former member testified that she was "groomed" for weeks before she turned 18 so Raniere could take her virginity. Known as Daniela, she told the court that she and her sisters were impregnated by him and forced to have abortions, and that she and one of her sisters - who was underage - were forced to have sex with him a number of times. The cult membership reportedly included Hollywood actresses, heiresses and even the son of a former Mexican president - some of whom testified against Raniere in court. In 2018 FBI agents arrested Raniere in Mexico after he left the US following the New York Times report. - BBC

Europe's daily Covid-19 deaths rose by nearly 40 percent compared with the previous week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has told the BBC. People wear masks in the city centre of Moscow, Russia. Photo: AFP / Tom Grimbert / Hans Lucas WHO spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris said France, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands and Russia accounted for the majority of cases which increased by a third. "The concern ... is that intensive care units in hospitals are now beginning to fill with very ill people," she warned. Russia reported a daily record of 320 deaths, pushing the tally to 26,589. There has been a sharp increase in Italy too, with 221 fatalities announced in the past 24 hours. The total number of fatalities in Austria went above 1000 on Tuesday. Russia has the world's fourth highest number of Covid-19 cases after the US, India and Brazil. It recorded another 16,550 infections on Tuesday alone and authorities have now made the wearing of face masks compulsory in all crowded places. While infections surged in Italy too, to almost 22,000 in the past 24 hours, officials said testing had also been ramped up. Protests took place in towns and cities across Italy on Monday evening against a new round of restrictions. What did the WHO say? Speaking to the BBC's World at One programme on Tuesday, Dr Harris said: "Across the European region we're seeing an intense and indeed alarming increase in cases and deaths. She said daily cases rose by a third compared with the previous week, while daily deaths increased by "close to 40 percent". "Despite better management of hospital capacity, hospitals in several countries are filling up fast," she warned. Dr Harris said the effectiveness of new restrictions imposed in a number European nations could only be analysed in two weeks' time because of "the lag". "We will see the reduction in cases, but you don't see it overnight," the WHO spokeswoman said. And asked whether the second wave would be worse than the first one, she replied: "We're going to see a different sort of peak. "The good news is our hospitals are much better at understanding what's going on here, but the reverse of that is in gaining that experience they've been working incredibly hard for a very long time and they also know that what they are going to face is going to be grim. "The other good thing in a sense is that the very large numbers we're seeing are in groups that ideally won't progress to the more severe illness - that's the younger groups. But that's not a guarantee. "Those two factors suggest that we may not see the terrible rise in deaths that we saw in April," Dr Harris said. What are the new rules in Russia? From Wednesday, face masks will be mandatory in all potentially crowded areas including public transport, taxis, car parks and lifts, public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said. Regional authorities will have responsibility for implementing the new rules. Russia brought in similar measures at the beginning of the initial outbreak in the spring but lifted them in July as the number of cases eased. In addition, Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova recommended an overnight curfew for bars, restaurants and other public venues. Other recommendations include increased efforts to disinfect public transport, taxis and public spaces. In total, Russia has recorded more than 1.5 million infections and 26,589 deaths, according to national figures. What's happening elsewhere in Europe? In Italy, a protest against new restrictions in the northern city of Turin ended in police firing tear gas at demonstrators on Monday evening. Clashes were also reported in Milan. People have reacted angrily to the closures of restaurants, bars, gyms and cinemas from 18:00 since last Friday. Researchers at the UK's Imperial College London say immunity against coronavirus may only last a few months after infection. They say the number of people testing positive for antibodies fell by about a quarter between June and September, with the biggest drop in those over 65. Belgium has seen an 88 percent rise in hospital admissions, with officials warning that half of intensive care beds are already filled. Ten hospitals have asked medics who have tested positive - but shown no symptoms - to continue working. In France, the government's health defence council will discuss introducing stricter measures. Extending curfews already in place in Paris and other cities is reportedly among the options. Interior minister Gerald Darmanin warned people to prepare for "difficult decisions". Slovakia is to begin testing its entire population from this weekend to try to avoid harsher anti-coronavirus measures. Prime Minister Igor Matovic hopes to identify tens of thousands of infected people who, together with their families, would then spend the next 10 days in quarantine. "We had only two options, either general testing or complete lockdown," he said. The Czech Republic has introduced a night-time curfew, which came into effect on Tuesday at midnight for a week. No-one is allowed to leave their home between 21:00 and 04:59 except to travel to and from work, for medical reasons or a few other exceptions. All shops will be shut on Sundays and will close at 20:00 on other days. - BBC

Levels of protective antibodies in people wane "quite rapidly" after coronavirus infection, say researchers. Illustration of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19. Photo: AFP Antibodies are a key part of our immune defences and stop the virus from getting inside the body's cells. The Imperial College London team found the number of people testing positive for antibodies has fallen by 26 percent between June and September. They say immunity appears to be fading and there is a risk of catching the virus multiple times. The news comes as figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the number of Covid-19 deaths in the UK rose by 60 percent in the week of 16 October. The ONS figures suggest there have now been more than 60,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK. More than 350,000 people in England have taken an antibody test as part of the REACT-2 study so far. In the first round of testing, at the end of June and the beginning of July, about 60 in 1,000 people had detectable antibodies. But in the latest set of tests, in September, only 44 per 1000 people were positive. It suggests the number of people with antibodies fell by more than a quarter between summer and autumn. "Immunity is waning quite rapidly, we're only three months after our first [round of tests] and we're already showing a 26 percent decline in antibodies," said Professor Helen Ward, one of the researchers. The fall was greater in those over 65, compared with younger age groups, and in those without symptoms compared with those with full-blown Covid-19. The number of healthcare workers with antibodies remained relatively high, which the researchers suggest may be due to regular exposure to the virus. Antibodies stick to the surface of the coronavirus to stop it invading our body's cells and attacking the rest of the immune system. Exactly what the antibody drop means for immunity is still uncertain. There are other parts of the immune system, such as T-cells, which may also play a role, directly killing infected host cells and calling to other immune cells to help out. However, the researchers warn antibodies tend to be highly predictive of who is protected. Professor Wendy Barclay said: "We can see the antibodies and we can see them declining and we know antibodies on their own are quite protective. "On the balance of evidence, I would say it would look as if immunity declines away at the same rate as antibodies decline away, and that this is an indication of waning immunity." There are four other human coronaviruses, which we catch multiple times in our lives. They cause common cold symptoms and we can be reinfected every six to 12 months. Many people have mild or asymptomatic coronavirus infections. Two out of every three people who tested positive for coronavirus in a study published today by the Office for National Statistics experienced none of the main symptoms of coronavirus. Separate figures from the ONS today showed that Covid-19 deaths in the UK increased from just under 500 to just over 750 in the week to 16 October, pushing the total number of deaths 6 percent over the level expected for this time of year. The ONS figures suggest that more than 60,000 deaths in the UK have involved coronavirus so far this year. By 16 October, more than 59,000 of these deaths had happened and, since then, a further 1200 people have died within 28 days of a positive test for coronavirus. Ninety percent of these deaths happened before the end of June. There have been very few confirmed cases of people getting Covid twice. However, the researchers warn this may be due to immunity only just starting to fade since the peak infection rates of March and April. The hope is the second infection will be milder than the first, even if immunity does decline, as the body should have an "immune memory" of the first encounter and know how to fight back. The researchers say their findings do not scupper hopes of a vaccine, which may prove more effective than a real infection. One of the researchers, Professor Graham Cooke, said: "The big picture is after the first wave, the great majority of the country didn't have evidence of protective immunity. "The need for a vaccine is still very large, the data doesn't change that." Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT-2 study, said it would be wrong to draw firm conclusions from the study about the impact of a vaccine. He said: "The vaccine response may behave differently to the response to natural infection." But he said it was possible that some people might need follow-up booster doses of any vaccine that became available to top up fading immunity over time. -BBC

Wind-driven walls of flame have prompted mass evacuations of homes in Southern California and badly injured two firefighters, as hundreds of thousands of residents endured a second day of power shutoffs meant to counter heightened fire risks from gusty, dry weather. Firefighters position in a residential area and monitor flames climbing a ridge toward homes at the Blue Ridge Fire in Yorba Linda, California. Photo: AFP The latest threats came amid what meteorologists called the strongest onslaught of extreme winds - and lowest humidity levels - yet documented during a California wildfire season already ranked as the worst on record in terms of acreage burned. Fires have scorched more than 16,500 square kilometres - equivalent to the land mass of the state of Hawaii - since the start of the year, with thousands of homes destroyed and 31 lives lost. Red flag warnings for incendiary weather conditions remained posted across much of California due to extreme winds producing gusts in excess of 129km/h, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Illustrating the hazards posed by California's latest bout of dry, desert-born winds, a blaze dubbed the Silverado fire erupted early Monday (Tuesday NZT) and spread across 2913 hectares of Orange County by late afternoon, county fire authority spokesman Thanh Nguyen told Reuters. Some 90,800 residents were ordered evacuated from homes in and around the city of Irvine as the fire raged largely unchecked through drought-parched brush in the canyons and foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains south of Los Angeles, officials said. No property losses were immediately reporte, but two firefighters among an estimated 500 personnel battling the flames with bulldozers and hand tools were hospitalized with severe burns, authorities said. A second Orange County blaze, the Blueridge fire, later broke near Yorba Linda and has charred roughly 485 hectares, Nguyen said. Local television news footage showed at least one home gutted by flames. Precautionary outages Utility company Southern California Edison reported shutting off electricity to 21,000 homes and businesses in the region as a precautionary measure in the face of elevated fire risks posed by dangerously high winds. Hundreds of miles away, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) said it had cut off power to more than 350,000 of its customers for the same reason. Wind-damaged electrical lines have been implicated in causing dozens of devastating California wildfires in recent years, and utilities have increasingly resorted to such "public safety power shutoffs" to reduce the risk. Wind gusts were clocked at up to 143km/h in Sonoma County wine country north of San Francisco Bay, and were steadily blowing at more than 80km/h elsewhere through the region. "It's the strongest wind event, and the lowest humidity event, for this fire season," National Weather Service forecaster Jim Mathews told Reuters. By midday Monday, PG&E said it was beginning to restore electrical service to some customers "where it is safe to do so," with most of the shutoffs expected to be ended by Tuesday night (Wednesday NZT) as winds abated, the utility said in a statement. The latest outbreak of fires capped a summer of record California wildfire activity stoked by increasingly frequent and prolonged bouts of extreme heat, drought, wind and dry lightning storms that scientists point to as a consequence of climate change. Further east in drought-stricken Colorado, an Arctic storm sweeping the Rockies over the weekend dumped 15-40cm of snow on the two largest wildfires in that state's history. "The snow has improved our chances of getting them contained, but we're still a way off," said Larry Helmerick, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center. The two blazes combined have so far blackened well over a quarter-million acres. - Reuters