YANGON, Myanmar — Soldiers and police took control of the streets Friday, firing warning shots and tear gas to scatter the few pro-democracy protesters who ventured out as Myanmar's military junta sealed off Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access.

On the third day of a harsh government crackdown, the streets were empty of the mass gatherings that had peacefully challenged the regime daily for nearly two weeks, leaving only small groups of activists to be chased around by security forces.

"Bloodbath again! Bloodbath again!" a Yangon resident yelled while watching soldiers break up one march by shooting into air, firing tear gas and beating people with clubs.

Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, but they were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gates and barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Troops stood guard outside and blocked nearby roads to keep the clergymen isolated.

Many Yangon residents seemed pessimistic over the crackdown, fearing it fatally weakened a movement that began nearly six weeks ago as small protests over fuel price hikes and grew into demonstrations by tens of thousands demanding an end to 45 years of military rule.

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Nevada names man sought in sexual assault of girl

LAS VEGAS — Nevada authorities said Friday that a man they called a registered sex offender may have been the one who raped a young girl in a horrific homemade videotape, and said they want to talk to him in hopes he can lead them to the child.

Chester Arthur Stiles, 37, was being called a "person of interest" in the search for a girl with haunting eyes who authorities believe was 4 or 5 years old when she was raped and sexually assaulted in the video, Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said.

The girl is called "Madison" on the tape, and it is "possible" that the man seen assaulting her is Stiles, DeMeo said.

"We're hoping if he has any information about this victim he'll give it to us. Hopefully, we'll find out she's OK," DeMeo said at a news conference in Pahrump, a rural town 60 miles from Las Vegas.

He said investigators were led to Stiles by tips after photos drawn from the videotape of the girl and her attacker were distributed widely.

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Doctor says woman trapped for 8 days has severe injuries

SEATTLE — A woman who spent eight days trapped in a wrecked vehicle has severe injuries, but her brain function is normal and she can move her arms and legs, her physician said Friday.

Tanya Rider, 33, was found alive but dehydrated at the bottom of a steep ravine in suburban Maple Valley on Thursday, more than a week after she failed to return home from work. After being cut out of her SUV by rescuers, she was taken to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where she was in critical condition.

Dr. Lisa McIntyre said during a hospital news conference Friday that while Rider was doing better, she's "not out of the woods yet." McIntyre said Rider's kidneys failed because of toxins from a muscle injury in the crash and dehydration. She was being treated with intravenous fluids.

Rider was sedated and on a ventilator, McIntyre said. In addition to her kidney failure, she wife was being treated for extensive sores from lying in the same position for a week and nearly had to have a leg amputated, said her husband, Tom Rider.

Her husband also said Friday he was frustrated by the red tape he had to fight to get authorities to launch a search for his wife more than a week after she disappeared.

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Stranger posted bond for 'Jena 6' teen

NEW ORLEANS — When a 17-year-old at the center of a civil rights controversy in a small Louisiana town left jail, he had a stranger to thank.

Dr. Stephen Ayers, who lives about 135 miles away, said he felt compelled to help the family of Mychal Bell by posting the teen's bond and allowing him to go home for the first time in 10 months.

Bell is one of six black teenagers accused of beating a white classmate in the central Louisiana town of Jena, where more than 20,000 demonstrators gathered last week to protest what they perceive as differences in how black and white suspects are treated.

Ayers, 42, of Lake Charles in southwestern Louisiana, said Friday that he isn't politically active and isn't usually one to "get into things like this." But then a patient whose feet hurt after the march gave him a report on the event, in which Ayers did not participate.

"I was concerned about what was going on up there and thought the district attorney was a bit harsh in his treatment of Mr. Bell," said Ayers, who is black but added that his race was not his motivation. "I really thought it was overkill."

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Gunman in custody after shots fired at high school

OROVILLE, Calif. — A student fired shots inside a high school Friday and held three students hostage for more than an hour before he was taken into custody, authorities said. No one was injured.

The 17-year-old student initially took about 30 students hostage in a band room at Las Plumas High School. He quickly released most of them, but held three girls for about an hour longer before he was arrested, Capt. Jerry Smith of the Butte County Sheriff's Department said.

The gunman's only demand to deputies during the standoff was that they "back off," he said.

Six schools in the Oroville Union High School District were locked down while a deputy talked to the hostile student on a cell phone. Authorities said the teenager fired two shots at random from a handgun.

"We made him realize that the best thing for him and everyone concerned was to release the remaining three hostages," Smith said.

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Key political states weigh January dates

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowans could still be humming Auld Lang Syne as they gather to choose among presidential candidates, thanks to decisions by other states to move up their election dates.

Party leaders in Iowa are edging toward holding the state's leadoff caucuses as early as Jan. 3, although they'll hold off on a decision until New Hampshire selects a date for the nation's first primary.

"There are only a couple of days that work, and we don't want to go into December," said Iowa GOP head Chuck Laudner, who mentioned Jan. 3, 4 and 5 as dates being considered.

Iowa and New Hampshire have made clear they won't stand pat as states such as Michigan and Florida move up their election dates, but don't expect a decision soon. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has the sole power to schedule his state's primary, and he's not talking.

"I'm not any closer," Gardner said Thursday. "I can't (pick a date) at the moment because I don't know."

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6 die from brain-eating amoeba

PHOENIX — It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.

"This is definitely something we need to track," said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better," Beach said. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect to see more cases."

According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.

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UAW gets job security guarantees in GM deal

DETROIT — General Motors Corp. will put $29.9 billion into a fund for retiree healthcare and guarantee that cars and trucks will be built at 16 U.S. plants as part of its tentative contract agreement with the United Auto Workers, according to a summary of the agreement released Friday by the union.

GM will pay an additional $5.4 billion to fund retiree healthcare while the UAW is setting up the healthcare trust which it will manage. The formation of the trust, called a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA, was a major part of this year's contract agreement. GM has around 340,000 retirees and spouses.

Under the tentative contract, 3,000 temporary workers will get permanent jobs at the full-time wage rate. There also is a moratorium on outsourcing.

Hourly workers will get economic gains totaling $13,056 over the life of the four-year contract, the UAW said. But some workers will be getting less than before.

New hires who aren't doing direct manufacturing jobs, such as groundskeepers, will make between $14 and $16 an hour, according to the summary. Manufacturing workers would make a starting wage of $28.12 under the new contract. There are 16,000 people doing non-core work in U.S. plants, the UAW said.

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Kiefer Sutherland is charged with misdemeanor DUI

LOS ANGELES — Kiefer Sutherland, already on probation for a 2004 drunken driving arrest, was charged Friday with misdemeanor driving under the influence in a case the city attorney's office said could put him in jail for more than a year.

The star of the Fox TV drama "24" was charged with single counts of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or above, said city attorney spokesman Nick Velasquez. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a minimum of four days, Velasquez said.

"We also charged him with a second DUI offense within 10 years, which we believe also violates the terms of his probation," Velasquez added.

If found guilty of violating probation, Sutherland could be sentenced to an additional six months.