Play Video AP  – Wind calmer as Calif battles devastating fires

DIAMOND BAR, Calif. – More residents of Southern California were urged to leave their homes Sunday despite calming winds that allowed a major aerial attack on wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and blanketed the region in smoke.

Fires burned in Los Angeles County, to the east in Riverside and Orange counties, and to the northwest in Santa Barbara County. More than 800 houses, mobile homes and apartments were destroyed by fires that have burned areas more than 34 square miles since breaking out Thursday.

No deaths have been reported, but police brought in trained dogs Sunday morning to search the rubble of a mobile home park where nearly 500 homes were destroyed. They didn't find any bodies after searching about a third of the homes.

"This has been a very tough few days for the people of Southern California," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said after touring damage.

The smell of smoke pervaded metropolitan Los Angeles. Downtown skyscrapers were silhouettes in an opaque sky, and concerns about air quality forced organizers to cancel a marathon in suburban Pasadena where 8,000 runners had planned to participate.

Fire officials say wind of "near hurricane force" has grounded some of their water-dropping aircraft as they battle a wildfire that has burned at least 10 homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate in northern Los Angeles.

The California Highway Patrol has shut a second freeway in the area.

CHP officer Patrick Kimball says a section of Interstate 5 near Sylmar was shut early Saturday as flames spread west toward the freeway.

About 5,000 residents have been evacuated since the fire started late Friday, and authorities say more evacuations are under way. Patients at one hospital were evacuated when the blaze knocked out power.

A separate fire in the Santa Barbara community of Montecito had forced evacuation of more than 5,400 homes since it started Thursday.

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aused by a malfunctioning fire safety system that spewed out chemicals, according to an initial investigation, officials said Sunday.

At least 21 other people were injured during Saturday's test run in the Sea of Japan, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

It was Russia's worst naval accident since the nuclear submarine Kursk sank after an onboard torpedo explosion on August 12, 2000, killing all 118 crew members.

The latest fatal accident was the result of the "accidental launch of the fire-extinguishing system" on the Pacific Fleet sub, Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo told reporters.

Russian news agency Interfax said a preliminary forensic investigation found that the release of Freon gas following the activation of the fire extinguishing system may have caused the fatalities.

Seventeen of the fatalities were civilian members of the shipyard crew, Interfax reported. The submarine was being field tested before it became a official part of the navy, according to a Russian Defense Ministry statement.

The statement said 208 people, including 81 soldiers were on board the submarine. In addition to the fatalities, the accident wounded 21, Russian officials said.

The accident did not damage the nuclear reactor on the submarine which later traveled back to its base on Russia's Pacific coast under its own power, Dygalo added.

The submarine returned to Bolshoi Kamen, a military shipyard and a navy base near Vladivostok, state-run Rossiya television said, according to The Associated Press.

Officials did not reveal the name of the submarine, but Russian news agencies quoted officials at the Amur Shipbuilding Factory who said the submarine was built there and is called the Nerpa.

Construction of the Nerpa, an Akula II class attack submarine, started in 1991 but due to a shortage of funding was suspended for several years, the reports said. Testing on the submarine began last month and it submerged for the first time last week.

The Kremlin is seeking to restore Russia's military power amid strained ties with the West following the war with Georgia.

But despite former President Vladimir Putin increasing military spending, Russia's military remains hampered by decrepit infrastructure and aging weapons.

The Kremlin said President Dmitry Medvedev was told about the accident immediately and ordered a thorough investigation.

Hard-Fought Battle in Hard-Hit Ohio

Job cuts: What sectors are most at risk?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the impact of the economic crisis takes hold, employees from Wall Street to Main Street are feeling nervous about their jobs, and with good reason.

As of September, 760,000 jobs have already been lost this year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And a quarter of U.S. employers expect to make layoffs in the next 12 months, according to a recent report by consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

But which industries will suffer the most? Experts say certain sectors are more vulnerable to layoffs than others.

Housing: Jobs in the housing sector were the first to go when the mortgage meltdown took hold. But with the industry outlook at an all-time low, even more layoffs could follow.

Beyond mortgage lenders and homebuilders, jobs in commercial real-estate and at real-estate agencies will be the next to go, according to Dean Baker, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.

With the worst September for new home sales since 1981, "some of the big [real-estate] chains will do some consolidation," Baker said, "clearly you need fewer offices," Baker said.

Finance: Few in the financial sector are feeling secure about their positions. The latest employment figures from the Department of Labor show financial firms have eliminated an estimated 110,000 jobs over the past year through September, and experts say there will be even more losses in the months ahead.

As financial firms reorganize and consolidate, there are going to be a lot more layoffs, Baker said.

"Financial services firms have cut tremendously and I don't think that's over," echoed Lee Pinkowitz, associate professor at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

Retail: Before the credit crunch, retailers were already struggling with soft sales as high gas prices and falling home equity forced consumers to curtail non-essential purchases. Now retail sales are dismal heading into the holiday season. "This could be the weakest holiday hiring season since 2001," said John Challenger, chief executive of global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, and that's not good for those employed in the retail industry.

"I doubt we'll see the pick up in seasonal hiring that we'd normally see," Pinkowitz said.

But while department stores and high-end boutiques may be particularly hard hit, discount retailers, like Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) could fare well in the current climate, Challenger said. Wal-Mart is also the nation's largest private-sector employer, and could be a safe haven for those who work there.

Publishing: As consumers cut back, advertisers follow, and that means tough times for print publications, including newspapers and magazines, experts say.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, employment in the publishing industry has been contracting since the beginning of last year.

But the "grand decline" of jobs in the media industry, which also includes broadcast and digital media, began with the dot-com bust in 2001, noted Heidi Shierholz an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a research group based in Washington. Now a loss of jobs in traditional publishing is being exacerbated, in part, by the move away from print toward digital media.

"Every time you have a recession it pushes companies that have been holding on by their fingernails out of business," Challenger said. "It clears away an old generation of companies and I think we'll see that with print."

Autos: While sales at the Big Three automakers have fallen 20% this year and are likely to tumble further, trouble in the auto sector is not confined to manufacturing. All told, about 2 million Americans work in the industry.

While declining sales will likely lead to more job losses, those in "the tentacles of the auto industry" could be particularly hard hit in the coming months, Pinkowitz said, which includes those jobs at dealerships and suppliers.

Travel: Airlines have already announced layoffs across the board, but as consumers and businesses continue to scale back discretionary spending on travel, the implications go far beyond flying.

"All the industries under the umbrella of travel are going to be at risk" Challenger said, including rental cars, hotels and even restaurants.

If people are cutting back, travel and leisure activities are the easiest things to do without, explained Baker. Big restaurant chains will close locations, he said, which means eliminating many wait staff and service jobs, while some smaller restaurants will be forced out of business entirely.

But despite the mostly doom-and-gloom predictions, some say there are some bright spots ahead for American workers.

"Even if you're in an industry where there has been some job downturns, there still can be some opportunities," said Kimberly Bishop, vice chairman of Chicago-based executive search firm Slayton Search Partners.

Bishop suggests focusing on those skills and experiences that can translate beyond the industry in which you work. There are certain roles that every organization needs, she said, and you may be able to fulfill that role in another industry that has more promise.