Egypt: Large inscribed limestone blocks unearthed (AP)

CAIRO – French archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of 3,000-year-old colored limestone blocks believed to have been used to build the sacred lake walls of a temple dedicated to the goddess Mut.

Egypt's minister of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, says the blocks were unearthed in San El-Hagar in northern Egypt. Hawass said in a statement Monday the blocks may have belonged to King Osorkon II of the 22nd Dynasty (945-718 B.C.) and been used for either a temple or a chapel.

The French mission has so far cleaned 120 blocks, 78 of which have inscriptions.

San El-Hagar was known as Tanis during the pharaonic era. It is one of the oldest Egyptian cities and contains many temples belonging to the god Amun.

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Large wildfires rage in Arizona

(CNN) -- One of the largest wildfires in Arizona history threatened mountain retreats and spread ash and smoke as far away as Albuquerque, New Mexico, more than 200 miles away, officials said Saturday.

Across the state, blazes have burned more than 250,000 acres.

More than 1,000 personnel were battling a large wildfire near Alpine in the east-central part of the state. The fire, of undetermined origin, had burned 140,000 acres by Saturday and prompted the evacuation of nearly 2,500 people.

It was completely uncontained Saturday afternoon.

"The fire is burning pretty fast and it's pretty large," said Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who visited the area Saturday. "It's a big fire and we hope that we get more encouraging news in the morning."

She said officials have so far spent some $3 million on efforts to put out the blaze and that she would consider asking the state or federal governments for help if the situation gets worse.

The fire, which began last weekend, has destroyed several log outbuildings and remained a large threat to vacation homes and other properties in Alpine and Nutrioso, said Sgt. Richard Guinn of the Apache County Sheriff's Office. Residents in those communities and a subdivision were evacuated.

"It looks like fog in St. John's right now," Guinn said.

Apache National Forest in Arizona was closed to all public entry.

The area is popular for outdoor activities, which include elk hunting, fly fishing and skiing in the winter.

"With school out we have a lot of campers," but campgrounds in the national forest were closed, Guinn said.

Eric Neitzel with the Show Low Fire Department told CNN Phoenix affiliate KNXV that the fire is "stubborn."

The town of Greer was given a pre-evacuation notice Friday night, Guinn said.

As a precaution, because of the smoke and ash, a local hospital moved its patients, although the emergency room remained open, Guinn said.

Winds were expected to subside somewhat Saturday, but firefighting conditions could be tougher Sunday, said Guinn.

Crews were throwing an arsenal of equipment against the wildfire, including nine helicopters, four air attack planes and nearly 80 ground vehicles.

Joyce Benjamin said the smoky skies caused her daughter River's asthma to flare up.

"She's having trouble breathing," Benjamin said.

Albuquerque city officials, northeast of the blaze, advised residents to avoid outdoor activity and close windows and doors when heavy smoke is visible or can be smelled. The smoke alert was issued through Monday morning. Light ash has been reported in several areas of the city, according to CNN affiliate KOAT.

A second fire in southeast Arizona had burned more than 90,000 acres but was 50% contained, fire officials reported Saturday. The cause was under investigation.

A mandatory evacuation order continued for the communities of Paradise, East Whitetail Canyon and the surrounding communities, according to KNXV.

Chiricahua National Monument is temporarily closed.

CNN's Phil Gast contributed to this report.

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iPad challenge looms large at Asia IT show (AFP)

TAIPEI (AFP) – Tablets that match the iPad but at a cheaper price. Slimmer, more powerful notebooks. At Computex, Asia's top IT fair, manufacturers are showing how they plan to face the challenge from Apple's iconic product.

Taiwan-based Compal Electronics made its name as a producer of notebooks for big-league brands like Dell and Toshiba, but it too has now joined the tablet frenzy and is just months away from launching a seven-inch device.

"Of course, iPad is the number one challenge," said Yeta Huang, a Compal senior engineer.

"But we believe there's room for us, with the market size for tablet predicted to exceed 50 million this year. Cheaper price is one area where we're trying hard."

Computex, a sprawling event held in Taipei this week, provides a snapshot of a technology sector scrambling to find the right approach to the iPad, a product embraced by gadget lovers worldwide.

Since Apple's groundbreaking product was released in April last year, a proliferation of brands have hit the market with limited success, and manufacturers have also been hurt by eroding demand for traditional PCs.

Intel Corp, the world's top chip maker, has used Computex to unveil its response to the iPad, a type of thin laptop that it has dubbed Ultrabook.

It is "a new class of mobile computers" that "marry the performance and capabilities of today's laptops with tablet-like features," according to the American chip maker, suggesting the future will not just be all tablet.

"There is healthy room for PC growth, but affordability is key to PC penetration," Intel vice president Sean Maloney said according to the Taipei Times newspaper. "Now is the time to reinvent the PC platform again."

Even so, companies know they cannot ignore the tablet and have moved quickly to enter the market.

Taiwanese PC maker AsusTek Computer set up its first tablet business unit in November 2010, just months after Apple unveiled the iPad.

"Our Chairman Jonney Shih feels the tablet industry has great potential. That's why he decided to establish the new business unit," said Kakuangelo Kuo, a product manager of AsusTek's Eee Pad Business Unit.

"Leading computer brands all have adjusted downward their PC shipments this year as they expect part of the PC market to be eaten away by tablets," he said.

Ray Chen, Compal's president, said that while his company remains confident about the notebook market, where it derives 90 percent of its revenue, it will diversify into tablets and other products.

That way it hopes to raise its non-notebook revenue to 20 percent by the end of this year, Chen said according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Despite all the attention that tablets receive, analysts with a cool view of broad trends in the industry also see continuity in the future.

The good old desktop is not going away, since for large portions of the world's population it remains the only affordable option, they say.

In addition, in many emerging markets the infrastructure is not yet developed enough to make mobile Internet browsing a seamless, troublefree experience.

"Regular notebooks or desktops will feel less pain as demand from emerging markets, such as Russia, China, India and Brasil remains strong," said Kuo Ming-chi, a Taipei-based analyst with Concord Securities.

This demand will help offset the decline of PC demand from North America and Western Europe following the lauch of the iPad and other tablets, he said.

Some dissenting voices are moving to hose down the tablet hype.

"I bought a tablet and after three weeks, I found it can't replace my phone, and it can't replace my PC," Mooly Eden, general manager of Intel's PC client group, told the Asian Wall Street Journal at Computex.

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Still no containment on large wildfires in Texas, officials say

A fire over 16,500 acres in Midland County, Texas, has burned more than 30 homes. STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Presidio County's wildfire is now the largest, having grown to 80,000 acresThirty to 40 homes have been destroyed in Presidio CountyGov. Rick Perry has renewed a disaster proclamation for all of Texas' 249 counties Red flag warnings remain in effect for southern counties in TexasRELATED TOPICSTexasWildfiresTexas Forest ServiceRick PerryOklahoma (CNN) -- The battle to contain large Texas wildfires responsible for destroying close to 100 homes and other structures continued Monday.

The largest blaze, which has destroyed 30 to 40 homes in Fort Davis in Presidio County, has grown to 80,000 acres with 10% containment, the Texas Forest Service said.

The agency has deployed three air tankers, 60 firefighters, bulldozers and other equipment and personnel in addition to a host of other state and local resources to focus on this blaze.

KWES-TV: Parts of West Texas ravaged by fires

Another 34 homes have burned in Midland County due to a fire over 16,500 acres that the state agency on Sunday described as "very active" and not at all contained, officials said.

A Red Cross shelter has been set up at Midland College for those displaced or otherwise affected by this wildfire.

"(Firefighters) can't outrun it," said Alan Craft, a spokesman for the state's Lone Star Incident Management Team.

Another large fire is burning in three Texas counties and has scorched more than 71,000 acres, according to the state Forest Service.

As of Sunday night, the blaze across parts of Stonewall, Knox and King counties was totally uncontained despite the use of air resources, bulldozers, fire engines and other tools and personnel, a statement from the Forest Service said.

There have been no evacuations yet related to another 60,000-acre blaze, this one in Potter and Moore counties near the city of Masterson. That fire is 50% contained but is still considered a threat to the towns of Dumas and Sunray, the Forest Service said.

Gov. Rick Perry renewed a disaster proclamation in effect for all of Texas' 249 counties -- even though major fires are occurring in only 13 of them -- to expedite assistance in case of new fires, his office said Sunday.

In addition to more than 750 personnel working with the Texas Forest Service, the governor's statement noted that two Blackhawk helicopters from the Texas Military Forces, bulldozers from the state transportation department and resources from 60 fire departments statewide were part of the effort.

Improved wind conditions over the past couple of days have helped firefighters in their battle, but dry conditions remain and still pose a problem, CNN meteorologist Monica O'Connor said Monday.

Six new wildfires reported on Sunday were quickly brought under control, the Texas Forest Service said.

Authorities in the Lone Star State have responded to 6,831 fires over 643,000 acres since wildfire season began.

Texas is not alone, as wildfires are burning in large swaths of the Southwest and Midwest, fanned in part by dry, warm and windy conditions.

In the past few days, the National Weather Service has issued "red flag warnings" for New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Sunday extended a state of emergency for seven counties. The designation authorizes state agencies to make emergency purchases needed to quickly deliver resources to local jurisdictions, the state's emergency operations center said.

Parts of Oklahoma remain under a "fire weather watch," which means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur.

Many southern counties in Texas are under a "red flag warning," meaning conditions have created the potential for explosive fire growth.

The National Weather Service's website urges residents to exercise extreme care with respect to all outdoor activities that could inadvertently cause wildfires.

CNN's Stephanie Gallman, Mariano Castillo and Kara Devlin contributed to this report.

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