SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A crash in a rain-slicked Southern California freeway tunnel quickly turned into a fiery, chain-reaction pileup that mangled 15 trucks, killed two people and shut down the key north-south route as wreckage burned for hours.

It wasn't immediately known Saturday whether the two people who died were among 10 hospitalized immediately after the accident, said David Porter, a California Highway Patrol officer.

Two trucks collided about 11 p.m. Friday inside a southbound truck tunnel on Interstate 5, triggering the pileup, said Fire Inspector Jason Hurd. The accident scattered wreckage for at least half a mile and continued to block Interstate 5 on Saturday.

———

Rice criticizes Putin's concentration of power

MOSCOW — The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow's commitment to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.

"In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development," Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights activists.

"I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament.

Telephone messages left with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov were not immediately returned Saturday evening.

The top American diplomat encouraged the activists to build institutions of democracy. These would help combat arbitrary state power amid increasing pressure from the Kremlin, she said.

———

Myanmar junta arrests 4 prominent activists

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar's junta arrested four prominent political activists Saturday, Amnesty International said, including one who went into hiding after leading some of the first major marches against the government several weeks ago.

The United Nations has called on the military government to halt its crackdown on the protesters, and a U.N. special envoy was expected in the region on Sunday to help coordinate a response among key Asian governments.

Among those detained Saturday was Htay Kywe, who led some of the first marches several weeks ago before going into hiding to escape a government manhunt, Amnesty said. Others arrested were Aung Htoo and Thin Thin Aye, also known as Mie Mie.

The three were believed to be the last remaining activists at large from the 88 Generation Students' Group — the country's boldest dissident group — which was at the forefront of a 1988 democracy uprising and one of the main forces behind the protests that started in August.

A fourth activist, Ko Ko, was also arrested, the London-based rights group said. All four were believed to have been rounded up in Yangon, the country's main city.

———

Makeshift gold mine collapses in Colombia, killing 21

BOGOTA, Colombia — A makeshift gold mine collapsed in southwest Colombia on Saturday, killing 21 people and injuring another 18, authorities said.

Efforts were under way to find about 10 miners missing and presumed trapped underground in the mine, located near the town of Suarez, 220 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota.

"There are still a lot of people to rescue, and we don't know what conditions they're in," a policeman who identified himself as patrolman Delgado said by telephone from the mine. "Initially they said there were around 50 people trapped."

Officials had recovered 21 bodies and rescued 18 people who were hurt in the morning collapse, said Delgado, who declined to give his name because he was not an official police spokesman.

"Initially they said there were around 50 people trapped," he said.

———

Federal review looms over acquittal in teen's death

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Seven former juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse had barely processed an all-white jury's decision to acquit them in a black teenager's death before federal authorities announced they would review the case.

Since jurors on Friday acquitted them of manslaughter charges, federal prosecutors likely would have to try another tactic, such as seeking an indictment alleging obstruction of justice, legal experts said.

"It's too early to say that the final chapter has been written with respect to the criminal justice system in this case," said Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney in Miami.

Florida civil rights leaders called for federal charges hours after a jury took 90 minutes to exonerate the eight in state court in the death of Martin Lee Anderson, 14.

By Friday evening, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tallahassee announced they were reviewing the state's prosecution.

———

European cities take lead on curbing global warming

VAXJO, Sweden — When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, most people doubted the ambitious goal would have any impact beyond the town limits.

A few melting glaciers later, Vaxjo is attracting a green pilgrimage of politicians, scientists and business leaders from as far afield as the U.S. and North Korea seeking inspiration from a city program that has allowed it to cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993.

Vaxjo is a pioneer in a growing movement in dozens of European cities, large and small, that aren't waiting for national or international measures to curb global warming.

From London's congestion charge to Paris' city bike program and Barcelona's solar power campaign, initiatives taken at the local level are being introduced across the continent — often influencing national policies instead of the other way around.

"People used to ask: Isn't it better to do this at a national or international level?" said Henrik Johansson, environmental controller in Vaxjo, a city of 78,000 on the shores of Lake Helga, surrounded by thick pine forest in the heart of Smaland province. "We want to show everyone else that you can accomplish a lot at the local level."

———

Werner Von Trapp dies at 91

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Werner von Trapp, a member of the musical family made famous by the 1965 movie "The Sound of Music," has died, his family said. He was 91.

Von Trapp died Thursday at his home in Waitsfield. The cause of death was not announced. The family confirmed his death, but declined to comment further.

"The Sound of Music" was based loosely on a 1949 book by his stepmother, Maria von Trapp, who died in 1987. It tells the story of an Austrian woman who married a widower with seven children and teaches them music.

Born in 1915 in Zell am See, Austria, von Trapp was the fourth child and second son of Capt. Georg von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead. In the movie "The Sound of Music," Werner von Trapp was depicted by the character named Kurt.