The top US nuclear research lab was ordered to stay closed on Tuesday after flames reached it and the local town began evacuating, though all high-risk materials were safe, officials said on Monday.

If all goes as planned, Bobby Bradley will lift off from a desolate patch of central New Mexico on Saturday and float into history.

Governor Bill Richardson said on Thursday that he had received a formal petition to pardon Billy the Kid, and that he would make a decision before he left office at the end of the year.