The week at a glance ... United States

San Bruno, Calif.

Fireball levels neighborhood: A natural gas line explosion ripped through a suburban neighborhood last week, triggering a roaring, wind-whipped inferno that destroyed dozens of homes and killed at least four people. Pacific Gas & Electric, which owned the 1956 gas transmission line that caused the inferno, was investigating what had caused the explosion, and said pipe corrosion was a possibility. Locals said they felt the shock wave from the blast and saw a fiery geyser. “The flames were just spreading all through the houses,” said one. “I don’t think the people had time to get out.” Fueled by the dry winds of late summer, the wall of fire quickly rose 1,000 feet into the sky, spreading from house to house and igniting smaller gas lines. Investigators were looking into reports that residents had complained about smelling gas days before the explosion.

Amarillo, Texas

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‘Dude, you have no Koran’: A 23-year-old skateboarder put himself at the center of an ongoing national debate over terrorism and freedom of religion last week when he saved a Koran from being burned by a Christian fundamentalist. Jacob Isom was strolling shirtless through a city park when he grabbed the kerosene-soaked holy text from David Grisham, the leader of Repent Amarillo, a group that crusades against promiscuity and homosexuals. “He said something about burning the Koran and I was like, ‘Dude, you HAVE no Koran’ and ran off,” Isom told a local TV reporter. Facebook groups quickly popped up to cheer Isom’s feat, and “Dude, You Have no Koran” became the catchphrase of the moment, emblazoned on T-shirts and baseball caps.

Gulf of Mexico

Oil coats ocean floor: Scientists said this week that they’ve discovered a 2-inch-thick layer of oil coating the sea bottom that probably explains why so much of the BP spill seemed to disappear. “I expected to find oil on the sea floor,” said University of Georgia researcher Samantha Joye, who took samples at distances ranging from two miles to 80 miles from the ruptured well. “I did not expect to find this much.” Scientists say it’s not unusual to find oil in the Gulf waters, from pipeline leaks, other vessels, and natural seepage, and cautioned against jumping to conclusions. But Joye said that there was almost no oily sediment in the area a few months ago. Government scientists estimated that at least 200 million gallons of oil entered the Gulf from the blown-out BP well, but about three-quarters of it has evaporated or was skimmed off.

Washington, D.C.

Memoir spills secrets: Pentagon officials are trying to buy and destroy all 10,000 copies of the first printing of an Afghanistan war memoir that officials say contains classified information. Operation Dark Heart by Anthony A. Shaffer, a former undercover agent for the Defense Intelligence Agency, is a breezy account of his five months stationed just outside Kabul. Defense Department officials say it describes classified eavesdropping operations and divulges the names of intelligence officers. Shaffer, aka “Christopher Stryker,” won a Bronze Star, but later fell out with his DIA superiors. The Pentagon’s censorship efforts, said Steven Aftergood of the Project on Government Secrecy, are “going to make this book famous.”

New York City

9/11 anniversary protests: The commemoration of the ninth anniversary of 9/11 this week was marred by angry demonstrations over the proposal for an Islamic center near Ground Zero. The somber annual reading of the victims’ names at the site was followed by shouting matches between those for and against the project, which would occupy a former Burlington Coat Factory. As demonstrators waved signs that said “No to sharia,’’ one protestor called the mosque “just the first stage of Saudi Wahhabist takeover of the United States.” Valerie Lucznikowska, whose nephew died on 9/11, said she shared the protestors’ anger at “the extremists who attacked the World Trade Center,’’ but said the people behind the mosque proposal “have nothing to do with them.”

New York City

NFL warns teams: The NFL sent out a sharply worded reminder to its players this week to treat female reporters with dignity and respect, after a TV sportscaster who has labeled herself “the hottest sports reporter in Mexico” triggered an uproar at a practice session of the New York Jets. Ines Sainz, who works for Mexico’s TV Azteca, arrived to interview quarterback Mark Sanchez in a low-cut blouse, skintight jeans, and heels. Players hooted and whistled at her, and coaches purposely overthrew passes in her direction, so they could run over to get a closer look. Sainz said she found their actions “embarrassing.” Later, a player on another team, Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis, said women like Sainz go into sports to ogle naked male athletes in the locker room. Portis and the Jets’ owner, Woody Johnson, apologized, and the NFL said it would have a women’s group speak to the Jets’ players.