Around the world
BUSH FIRES: Firefighters declared a state of emergency in Australia's Queensland state Monday as they battled bush fires whipped up by gale-force winds. Hundreds of people were evacuated from Brisbane's northern suburbs. Fires burned out of control less than six miles from downtown Brisbane, the state capital. Six houses were destroyed, roads were closed and those evacuated where sent to a school for shelter.MARCH: Waving red Soviet flags and portraits of Stalin and Lenin, 30,000 people marched peacefully Monday to the former KGB headquarters in Moscow to mark the 77th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. Although Revolution Day is still a state holiday, few Russians bother to celebrate and most simply enjoyed a day off. President Boris Yeltsin, who led the effort to break up the Soviet Union, made a point of reporting to work at his Kremlin office.
SAVED: Two elderly Chinese men, presumed dead by their families, were saved from being cremated alive when staff at a funeral parlor found they were still breathing, reports reaching Beijing Monday said. The two men were both being prepared for cremation when attendants at a Tianjin funeral parlor discovered both still had heartbeats, the Shanghai Evening News said.
UFOS: Numerous Shanghai citizens reported spotting UFOs Thursday, and one UFO enthusiast took a picture of a strange flying object, the China-funded Wen Wei Po newspaper said Monday.
Across the nation
VISIT: Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the bombastic Russian parliamentarian, arrived without comment for his first visit to the country he once called "the empire of evil." Zhirinovsky arrived at San Francisco International Airport Sunday night, surrounded by an entourage and body guards. No appearances were scheduled until Monday afternoon.
TRESTLE: A 15-year-old girl trapped on a trestle with a train coming suffered only cuts and scratches when she fell down between the rails and let the train pass above her. "I don't know how she managed to stay under the darn thing, but she did," deputy sheriff John Newcomer said in Lakeside, Ore.
TRIAL: Heidi Fleiss may soon tell her side of the story about a Hollywood madam who allegedly provided prostitutes to the entertainment world's rich and famous. A prosecutor and defense attorneys were scheduled to begin questioning potential jurors Monday in Superior Court. The judge expects the pandering trial to last three weeks. Fleiss, 28, is accused of running a sophisticated call-girl ring. She has pleaded not guilty to the pandering charges but has admitted in interviews that she was a call girl.