BAGHDAD — Sunni politicians applauded goals set down in an agreement hammered out by the country's top leaders under intense American pressure but expressed doubt Monday that the U.S.-backed prime minister would actually see them through.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and four other senior leaders declared Sunday they had reached a consensus on a number of issues, including freeing detainees held without charge, easing the ban on former Saddam Hussein supporters in government posts, regulating the oil industry and holding provincial elections.

No details were released, and most measures require parliamentary approval.

But in a step toward implementing the deal, U.S. and Iraqi officials announced that coalition forces would increase the number of detainees released during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins next month.

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ATHENS, Greece — Firefighters rushed helicopters and buses Monday to evacuate more than two dozen villages threatened by towering walls of flames that had killed 63 people while ravaging swaths of forest and farmland in Greece's worst wildfire disaster in memory.

Four days of devastating blazes from the northern border with Albania to the southern island of Crete unnerved and angered Greeks, drawing strong criticism of the government's response and setting off widespread suspicions and finger-pointing.

The government, which declared a state of emergency, implied the destruction could be part of an orchestrated campaign of arson. But environmental experts expressed skepticism.

People used garden hoses, buckets, tin cans and branches in desperate — and sometimes futile — attempts to beat back flames and save their homes and livelihoods.

Frightened people called television stations pleading for help from the beleaguered fire service, and helicopters or vehicles were sent to several villages to evacuate threatened residents, although some insisted on staying to fight the flames.

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Russian prosecutor: 10 arrested in killing of journalist, critic

MOSCOW — Under pressure to solve the contract-style killing of journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya, Russia's chief prosecutor announced Monday the arrest of 10 suspects, including a Chechen crime boss and five law enforcement officers.

Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika refused to say who was suspected of ordering the Oct. 7 shooting of Politkovskaya, whose tireless chronicling of the killings, kidnappings and torture of civilians in war-scarred Chechnya had angered the Kremlin and the Moscow-backed Chechen leadership.

But he said that only someone living outside Russia would have an interest in killing Politkovskaya, with the aim of discrediting President Vladimir Putin and destabilizing the country ahead of national elections.

The prosecutor appeared to be referring to tycoon Boris Berezovsky, a former Kremlin insider who is one of Putin's fiercest critics and lives in Britain, where he has refugee status.

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3 NYC fire officials reassigned after blaze kills 2 firefighters

NEW YORK — Three senior fire officials responsible for inspecting the condemned skyscraper where two firefighters died were stripped of their commands and reassigned Monday, and the Fire Department ordered intensive inspections of buildings under demolition.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg also announced that a preliminary investigation indicated that careless smoking by construction workers started the deadly Aug. 18 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building, which was heavily damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks and was being dismantled and cleaned of toxic debris floor by floor.

Two firefighters died of cardiac arrest while trying to battle that blaze.

After the fire, the department acknowledged that it did not have a plan in place to fight fire at the tower and that it had not inspected the building's standpipe system, which connects fire hoses to its water supply, in over a year, even though it should have done so every 15 days. Inspectors found pieces of the standpipe disconnected in the tower's basement.

Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta on Monday ordered deputy chiefs to inspect all buildings in their divisions that are under construction or demolition and to review all plans to fight fires at every building in their area.

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Study: Putting a portable defibrillator in every school may not be worth the cost

SEATTLE — A nationwide push to put portable defibrillators in every school, a response to several high-profile student deaths, may not be worth the cost, a new study concludes.

The survey of emergency response to schools in the Seattle area over 16 years found that students suffered cardiac arrests only 12 times and a third of these children had known heart problems.

Most of the cardiac arrests at schools between 1990 to 2005 involved adults — teachers, volunteers or people just walking on school property. And they occurred much more often in high schools and middle schools than elementary schools.

"I certainly have no objection to AEDs (automated external defibrillators)," said one of the researchers, Dr. Tom Rea, of the University of Washington's Harborview Medical Center. He's also medical director for King County Medic One, the county's emergency medical service.

But not every school has the money for a defibrillator, which each cost an average of $1,000 to $3,000, not including the cost to train school staff, he said. They decided to do the study after several states mandated the purchase of defibrillators for schools and others were considering similar measures, he said.

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Ashton Kutcher offers advice on how to dress like the perfect couple

NEW YORK — Since leaving the trucker hat behind — and marrying Demi Moore — Ashton Kutcher's fashion sense has taken a turn for the better.

Kutcher, the face of 2003's trucker hat fad, dispenses sartorial tips for couples in an essay in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine, now on newsstands.

"Guys don't like to be told they look nice, pretty or cute or that they clean up well," the 29-year-old actor says.

"So when your guy finally tries on something that you like, tell him that he looks like James Bond or Tony Montana," he writes. "Feel free to be even more vague than that: 'Wow, that suit makes you look like that hot football player!"'