Los Angeles wildfires death toll rises as crews fight heavy winds to save homes and landmarks
Los Angeles wildfires death toll rises as crews fight heavy winds to save homes and landmarks
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks.
Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening.
The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.
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There were fears that winds could move the fires toward the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.
By Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).
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LA’s fire chief is at the center of a public spat with City Hall as wildfires rage
Kristin Crowley was elevated to Los Angeles fire chief in 2022 at a time of turmoil in a department consumed by complaints of rampant hazing, harassment and discrimination among its 3,400-member ranks. As a career firefighter, she was portrayed by the then-mayor as a stabilizing force.
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Three years later, the mood between Crowley and City Hall has changed.
The wildfire in Pacific Palisades that has burned more than 5,000 structures to become the most destructive in city history has put leaders on the defensive and led Crowley to engage in a public spat with Mayor Karen Bass over resources even as the battle against flames continues across the Los Angeles area.
Crowley publicly criticized the city Friday for budget cuts that she said have made it harder for firefighters to do their jobs at a time when they are seeing more calls. She also cast blame on the city for water running out Tuesday when about 20% of the hydrants tapped to fight the Palisades fire went dry.
“I’m not a politician, I’m a public servant. It’s my job as the fire chief for Los Angeles city fire dept to make sure our firefighters have exactly what they need to do their jobs,” she told CNN.
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Fires burn Los Angeles schools and destroy outdoor education sanctuaries
For Irina Contreras, a program manager for Los Angeles County’s Department of Arts and Culture, outdoor education was a refuge for both her and her daughter during the pandemic.
Now, much of that refuge has been burned in the raging wildfires around Los Angeles.
Her 7-year-old daughter, Ceiba, hikes with a kid’s adventure group called Hawks and attended Matilija, a bilingual forest school for preschool and kindergarten. Rain or shine, she and her friends would spend their days climbing, jumping, hiking, and swimming in places like Eaton Canyon Nature Area, a 190-acre (77-hectare) preserve near Altadena, now destroyed by fire.
Ceiba learned to ask plants for permission before taking samples to glue into her nature journal. Once, her group discovered a hidden path that led behind a waterfall. Ceiba couldn’t stop talking about it for days.
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For parents like Contreras, the wildfires have been devastating not just because of the loss of life and thousands of homes. They are mourning natural and educational areas that served as sanctuaries and learning spaces for local families, especially in the years since the pandemic. The fires have torn through natural areas that served every type of educational setting: public and private schools, nature-based preschools, homeschool groups, summer camps and more.
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Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the war want to rebuild. Many face a long wait
BEIRUT (AP) — Six weeks into a ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah, many displaced Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the fighting want to rebuild — but reconstruction and compensation are slow in coming.
Large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, lie in ruins, tens of thousands of houses reduced to rubble in Israeli airstrikes. The World Bank estimated in a report in November — before the ceasefire later that month — that losses to Lebanon’s infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion.
In the south, residents of dozens of villages along the Lebanon-Israel border can’t go back because Israeli soldiers are still there. Under the U.S.-negotiated ceasefire deal, Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw by Jan. 26 but there are doubts they will.
Other terms of the deal are also uncertain — after Hezbollah’s withdrawal, the Lebanese army is to step in and dismantle the militants’ combat positions in the south. Israeli officials have complained the Lebanese troops are not moving in fast enough — to which they say the Israeli troops need to get out first.
Reconstruction prospects — and who will foot the bill — remain unclear.
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Germany says sanctions against Syrian war crimes suspects must stay but people need relief
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister said Sunday that sanctions against Syrian officials responsible for war crimes must remain in place but called for a “smart approach” to provide relief to the Syrian population after last month’s overthrow of President Bashar Assad.
Annalena Baerbock spoke to reporters after arriving in Saudi Arabia for a conference on Syria’s future attended by top European and Middle Eastern diplomats.
Germany is one of several countries that imposed sanctions on the Assad government over its brutal crackdown on dissent. Those penalties could hinder Syria’s recovery from nearly 14 years of civil war that killed an estimated 500,000 people and displaced half the prewar population of 23 million.
“Sanctions against Assad’s henchmen who committed serious crimes during the civil war must remain in place,” Baerbock said. “But Germany proposes to take a smart approach to sanctions, providing rapid relief for the Syrian population. Syrians now need a quick dividend from the transition of power.”
Baerbock announced an additional 50 million euros ($51.2 million) in German aid for food, emergency shelters and medical care, highlighting the ongoing struggles of millions of Syrians displaced by the war.
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Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned after submitting his Trump report, Justice Department says
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump, an expected move that comes amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead.
The department disclosed Smith’s departure in a court filing Saturday, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated , follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions against Trump that were withdrawn following Trump’s White House win in November.
At issue now is the fate of a two-volume report that Smith and his team had prepared about their twin investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of his 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Justice Department had been expected to make the document public in the final days of the Biden administration, but the Trump-appointed judge who presided over the classified documents case granted a defense request to at least temporarily halt its release. Two of Trump’s co-defendants in that case, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, had argued that the release of the report would be unfairly prejudicial, an argument that the Trump legal team joined in.
The department responded by saying that it would withhold from public release the classified documents volume as long as criminal proceedings against Nauta and De Oliveira remain pending. Though U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had dismissed the case last July, a Smith team appeal of that decision related to the two co-defendants remained pending.
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Powerful winter storm that dumped snow in US South maintains its icy grip
ATLANTA (AP) — Flight cancellations piled up and officials warned of continuing dangerous roads Saturday in the wake of a winter storm that brought biting cold and wet snow to the U.S. South, leading to school closures and disrupting travel.
The storm was moving out to sea off the East Coast on Saturday, leaving behind a forecast for snow showers in the Appalachian Mountains and New England. But temperatures were expected to plunge after sundown in the South, raising the risk that melting snow will refreeze, turning roadways treacherously glazed with ice.
“I definitely don’t think everything’s going to completely melt,” said Scott Carroll, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Atlanta. “Especially the secondary roads will probably still have some slush on them.”
Main thoroughfares were mostly clear, but traffic remained light Saturday. The Atlanta Hawks postponed their scheduled afternoon game against the Houston Rockets, citing the icy conditions.
Major airports including those in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, continued to report disruptions. While flights were operating, airlines canceled and delayed more flights after Friday’s weather slowed travel to a crawl.
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North Korean troops in Ukraine gain battlefield experience, cementing alliance with Russia
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — For weeks, Ukrainian troops braced for an unfamiliar enemy: North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Moscow’s forces after Ukraine launched a lightning-fast incursion and seized territory in Russia’s Kursk region over the summer.
Their arrival marked a new and alarming phase in the war. And while initially inexperienced on the battlefield, North Korean troops have adapted quickly — a development that could have far-reaching consequences as they gain combat knowledge in the war against Ukraine.
Unlike the Russian troops Ukraine has been battling for nearly three years, Kyiv’s forces were uncertain about what to expect from this new adversary, drawn into the war after Moscow and Pyongyang signed an agreement pledging military assistance using “all means” if either were attacked.
One Ukrainian soldier who has witnessed North Koreans in battle described them as disciplined and highly methodical, saying they were more professional than their Russian counterparts. The soldier spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive military issue.
However, other soldiers, including Ukrainian special forces, have shared battlefield drone footage on the Telegram messaging app mocking their tactics as outdated.
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15 killed in an explosion and fire at a gas station in central Yemen
CAIRO (AP) — An explosion at a gas station triggered a massive fire in central Yemen, killing at least 15 people, health officials said Sunday.
The explosion occurred Saturday at the Zaher district in the province of Bayda, the Houthi rebel-run Health Ministry said in a statement. At least 67 others were injured, including 40 in critical condition.
The ministry said rescue teams were searching for those reported missing. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the explosion.
Footage circulated online showing a massive fire that sent columns of smoke into the sky and left vehicles charred and burning.
Bayda is controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have been at war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government for more than a decade.
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Mayotte on red alert again as another cyclone heads toward the French territory off Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The French territory of Mayotte was put on red alert Saturday as another cyclone headed toward the islands off Africa that were devastated by their worst storm in nearly a century last month.
The Prefecture of Mayotte said the red alert warning was issued at 10 p.m. local time in preparation for the arrival of Cyclone Dikeledi, which made landfall in northern Madagascar earlier Saturday and was moving west toward Mayotte.
Dikeledi was expected to reach Mayotte early Sunday. Emergency personnel and law enforcement were on high alert and “everything is being put in place to protect the population,” the French Interior Ministry said. It said Dikeledi would likely weaken to a strong tropical storm as it neared Mayotte.
The French meteorological department, Meteo, said Dikeledi would still bring strong winds and heavy rain, although it was expected to pass approximately 75 kilometers (46 miles) to the south of Mayotte. Wind gusts could reach up to 110 kph (68 mph), Meteo said.
Mayotte has not yet recovered from the impact of Cyclone Chido, which ripped through the archipelago a month ago, causing extensive damage to France’s poorest department. Authorities say at least 39 people were killed in Mayotte and more than 2,000 were injured by Chido, but French Prime Minister François Bayrou warned on a visit to the islands two weeks ago that the final death toll could be several hundred.
The Associated Press
