What to know about the devastation from the Los Angeles-area fires

A fire fighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California, on January 11, 2025. (AFP)
A fire fighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California, on January 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 13 January 2025
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What to know about the devastation from the Los Angeles-area fires

What to know about the devastation from the Los Angeles-area fires
  • The California Department of Education released a statement Wednesday saying 335 schools from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, and San Diego counties were closed
  • About 150,000 people were under evacuation orders with more than 700 taking refuge in nine shelters, officials said

LOS ANGELES: Fires ripping through the Los Angeles area have killed at least 16 people, displaced thousands of others and destroyed more than 12,000 structures while burning through an area larger than the city of San Francisco.

The blazes started last Tuesday, fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds that forecasters expect to kick back up through at least midweek. Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers).

Five deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire along the coast and 11 deaths resulted from the Eaton Fire further inland, the LA County medical examiner’s office said. At least 16 people were missing, and authorities said that number was expected to rise.

While a cause for the fires has yet to be determined, early estimates indicate they could be the nation’s costliest ever. Preliminary estimates by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses at between $135 billion and $150 billion.

Here’s a closer look at what to know about the fires.

Thousands remain evacuated or without power

The flames have threatened and burned through several highly populated neighborhoods over the past week, including Pacific Palisades, Altadena and others.

About 150,000 people were under evacuation orders with more than 700 taking refuge in nine shelters, officials said.

Cal Fire reported containment of the Palisades Fire at 11 percent and the Eaton Fire at 27 percent on Sunday.

The Kenneth Fire, which broke out near West Hills in the San Fernando Valley, was 100 percent contained as of Sunday morning, while the Hurst Fire was 89 percent contained.

Nearly 70,000 customers were without power across California as of Sunday morning, more than half of them in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

Sewer, water and power infrastructure across the region has been significantly damaged, officials said.

The National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds could soon return and issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday. The winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the city where there has been no significant rainfall in over eight months.

Thousands have fled and many have lost their homes, including Hollywood stars Billy Crystal and Mandy Moore and Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick.

The fires have scorched more than just landmarks and celebrity homes

While the fires have reduced a number of celebrity mansions and movie landmarks to ashes, they also burned through a haven in Altadena for generations of Black families avoiding discriminatory housing practices elsewhere. They have been communities of racial and economic diversity, where many people own their own homes.

The fires have destroyed several places of worship, including a mosque, a synagogue, a Catholic parish and a half-dozen Protestant churches.

Investigators are studying the cause of the fires

No cause has been determined yet for the fires.

Lightning is the most common source of fires in the US, according to the National Fire Protection Association, but investigators quickly ruled that out. There were no reports of lightning in the Palisades area or the terrain around the Eaton Fire, which started in east Los Angeles County.

The next two most common causes are fires intentionally set and those sparked by utility lines.

Several events have been canceled and postponed

The Critics Choice Awards rescheduled Sunday ceremonies in Santa Monica for Jan. 26.

The organization that puts on the Oscars extended the voting window for Academy Award nominations and delayed next week’s planned nominations announcement.

The NFL moved the Los Angeles Rams’ wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings to Arizona because of the fires. The game will be played Monday night. And the NBA postponed the Lakers’ game against the Hornets.

NBA games are scheduled to return to Los Angeles on Monday night, with the Clippers hosting the Miami Heat and the Lakers set to host the San Antonio Spurs. It’ll be the Clippers’ first game in five days after having their home game against Charlotte on Saturday postponed. The Lakers had two home games pushed back.

The California Department of Education released a statement Wednesday saying 335 schools from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, and San Diego counties were closed. It was unclear how many would be closed Monday.

Accusations of leadership failures are percolating

LA Mayor Karen Bass faces a critical test of her leadership during the city’s greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.

 


Apple to invest additional $100 bn in US

Apple to invest additional $100 bn in US
Updated 12 sec ago
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Apple to invest additional $100 bn in US

Apple to invest additional $100 bn in US
  • It builds on plans announced in 2021, when the company founded by Steve Jobs said it would invest $430 billion in the country and add 20,000 jobs over the next five years

WASHINGTON: Apple will invest an additional $100 billion in the United States, taking its total pledge to $600 billion over the next four years, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

Trump announced the increased commitment at the White House alongside the tech giant’s CEO Tim Cook, calling it “the largest investment Apple has made in America.”

“Apple will massively increase spending on its domestic supply chain,” Trump added, highlighting a new production facility for the glass used to make iPhone screens in Kentucky.

In February, Apple said it would spend more than $500 billion in the United States and hire 20,000 people, with Trump quickly taking credit for the decision.

It builds on plans announced in 2021, when the company founded by Steve Jobs said it would invest $430 billion in the country and add 20,000 jobs over the next five years.

“This year alone, American manufacturers are on track to make 19 billion chips for Apple in 24 factories across 12 different states,” Cook said in the Oval Office.

Trump, who has pushed US companies to shift manufacturing home by slapping tariffs on trading partners, claimed that his administration was to thank for the investment.

“This is a significant step toward the ultimate goal of... ensuring that iPhones sold in the United States of America also are made in America,” Trump said.

Cook later clarified that, while many iPhone components will be manufactured in the United States, the complete assembly of iPhones will still be conducted overseas.

“If you look at the bulk of it, we’re doing a lot of the semiconductors here, we’re doing the glass here, we’re doing the Face ID module here... and we’re doing these for products sold elsewhere in the world,” Cook said.

Apple reported a quarterly profit of $23.4 billion in late July, topping forecasts despite facing higher costs due to Trump’s sweeping levies.

The tariffs are essentially a tax paid by companies importing goods to the United States. This means Apple is on the hook for tariffs on iPhones and other products or components it brings into the country from abroad.


France’s biggest wildfire of the summer has eclipsed the size of Paris and is still spreading

France’s biggest wildfire of the summer has eclipsed the size of Paris and is still spreading
Updated 5 min 24 sec ago
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France’s biggest wildfire of the summer has eclipsed the size of Paris and is still spreading

France’s biggest wildfire of the summer has eclipsed the size of Paris and is still spreading
  • Over 2,100 firefighters and several water bomber aircraft battled the blaze

SAINT-LAURENT-DE-LA-CABRERISSE, France: France’s biggest wildfire in years was spreading quickly Wednesday in a Mediterranean region near Spain after leaving one person dead and several injured, authorities said. The fire burned an area larger than Paris, and the military was called in to help.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou deplored a “disaster on an unprecedented scale” in the region.

Over 2,100 firefighters and several water bomber aircraft battled the blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon in the village of Ribaute in the Aude region, a rural, wooded area that is home to wineries.

The fire, which has burned 16,000 hectares , remained “very active” on Wednesday and continued to progress as night fell, the local administration said. The weather was hot, dry and windy, making it difficult for firefighters to contain the blaze.

Villagers sought to help douse the flames or save their homes and small businesses, and described their alarm at the fire’s speed. Ash filled the air and coated windows and cars, and several roads were closed around the region.

’’The sky was blue, and then less than an hour later the sky was orange,″ said Andy Pickup of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, at the heart of the fire zone. “That’s when we went out and tried to help.”

’’We heard pops and cracks — it was the trees, it was the village,″ he told The Associated Press. ‘’We could see the fires taking hold on all the hills around Saint-Laurent.″ At dusk, he said, they saw fires in every direction, some as near as 100 meters  away.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said the military will reinforce efforts starting from Thursday, with several dozens of soldiers to be deployed.

One person died in their home, and at least 13 others were injured, including 11 firefighters, local authorities said. Three people were missing, the prefecture said.

Jacques Piraux, mayor of the village of Jonquières, said all residents have been evacuated.

“It’s a scene of sadness and desolation,” he told broadcaster BFM TV after visiting there on Wednesday morning. “It looks like a lunar landscape, everything is burned. More than half or three-quarters of the village has burned down. It’s hellish.”

Residents and tourists in nearby areas were requested to remain in their homes unless told to evacuate. Two campgrounds were evacuated as a precaution.

The prime minister met Wednesday afternoon with firefighters and residents at Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, where the fire service’s command post has been set up. He said he came to express “national solidarity.”

The area’s economy is relying on winery and tourism and “both sectors are affected,” he stressed.

Bayrou said an investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.

The environment ministry said the Aude region has been experiencing a drought this month, with water use restrictions in place. Lack of rainfall in recent months “played a major role in the spreading of the fire, since the vegetation is very dry,” the statement said.

This week’s fire was the biggest since the creation of a national fire database in 2006, according to the national emergency service.

Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern port of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, left aroundTh 300 people injured.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

‘’We’ve lived here for 10 years and we’ve seen nothing like that,” Pickup said. ‘’Consistently the summers are getting hotter, there is less and less rain, and that is a major problem.”

‘’We have been told the wind might come stronger tomorrow,” he added.


Trump says he could impose more tariffs on China, similar to India duties, over Russian oil

Trump says he could impose more tariffs on China, similar to India duties, over Russian oil
Updated 11 min 25 sec ago
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Trump says he could impose more tariffs on China, similar to India duties, over Russian oil

Trump says he could impose more tariffs on China, similar to India duties, over Russian oil

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25 percent duties announced earlier on India over its purchases of Russian oil, depending on what happens.

“Could happen,” Trump told reporters, after saying he expected to announce more secondary sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine.

He gave no further details.

“It may happen ... I can’t tell you yet,” Trump said. “We did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China.”

Trump on Wednesday imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods, on top of a 25 percent tariff announced previously, citing its continued purchases of Russian oil.

The White House order did not mention China, which is another big purchaser of Russian oil. Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned China that it could also face new tariffs if it continued buying Russian oil.


US Army soldier accused of attempting to share tank infomation with Russia

US Army soldier accused of attempting to share tank infomation with Russia
Updated 16 min 5 sec ago
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US Army soldier accused of attempting to share tank infomation with Russia

US Army soldier accused of attempting to share tank infomation with Russia

A U.S. Army soldier was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly seeking to pass sensitive information about American battle tanks to the Russian government, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Taylor Adam Lee, 22, an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, is facing two federal charges accusing him of attempting to transmit national defense information and export controlled technical data without a license, according to court documents.

“Today’s arrest is a message to anyone thinking about betraying the U.S. – especially service members who have sworn to protect our homeland. The FBI and our partners will do everything in our power to protect Americans and safeguard classified information,” Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said in a statement.

Lee has not yet entered a plea on the charges, which were filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Attorney information for Lee was not immediately available.

Prosecutors accused Lee, who holds a top-secret security clearance, of attempting to share information on the operation and vulnerabilities of the M1A2 Abrams, the main U.S. battle tank, with the Russian government in exchange for Russian citizenship.

Last month, Lee shared an SD card that contained documents and information about the tank and other U.S. military operations with someone he believed to be a Russian intelligence officer. The documents contained technical data Lee was not authorized to provide and some were marked “Controlled Unclassified Information,” according to prosecutors.

“Soldiers who violate their oath and become insider threats will absolutely be caught and brought to justice, and we will continue to protect Army personnel and safeguard equipment,” said Brigadier General Sean Stinchon, the commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command.


Trump immigration crackdown boosts private prison profits

Trump immigration crackdown boosts private prison profits
Updated 15 min 17 sec ago
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Trump immigration crackdown boosts private prison profits

Trump immigration crackdown boosts private prison profits
  • Geo Group, one of the two leading US private prison companies, said the White House’s policies will fuel their growth for the foreseeable future
  • The Florida-based group reported profits of $29.1 million and is adding thousands of beds for detainees at sites around the United States
  • CoreCivic, the other leading private prison company, lifted its financial targets after reporting that second-quarter profits more than doubled to $38.5 million

NEW YORK: One of the biggest US private prison companies announced a share repurchase program on Wednesday, the latest sign of an industry boom from President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Geo Group, one of the two leading US private prison companies, said the White House’s policies will fuel their growth for the foreseeable future, even as executives pointed to staffing and infrastructure limitations that could constrain the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s target of hiring 10,000 workers is “very expensive and very complicated,” said Geo Executive Chairman George Zoley, predicting it will “take a long time” to reach that figure.

“You need more people to go across the country and identify people who are here unlawfully,” Zoley said on a conference call. “One person doesn’t go out and do this job by themselves. It’s a whole team of people.”

Florida-based Geo, which is adding thousands of beds for detainees at sites around the United States, reported profits of $29.1 million after losing $32.5 million in the year-ago period. Revenues rose 4.8 percent to $636.2 million.

The company, which is also seeing growth in its transportation business for ICE, said its board had authorized $300 million in share repurchases.

Company officials expect more of a revenue increase in 2026 from the ICE crackdown. By that point, four facilities currently being activated will be at capacity, resulting in annual revenues of $240 million.

Geo also has another 5,900 beds at six company facilities that are currently idle. If fully utilized by ICE, they could yield another $310 million in annual revenues, Zoley said.

But company officials suggested a widely-discussed Washington target of one million deported annually could be difficult in light of the constraints facing the operation.

Trump’s multi-year fiscal package approved by Congress in July triples ICE’s detention budget to $45 billion over four years. Administration officials have said they need 100,000 beds at detention centers to reach their mass-deportation goals.

Zoley estimated that private companies currently have capacity for 75,000 or 80,000 beds, leaving a gap that could be met at military bases or by the US states.

“They are communicating with many red states in particular,” said Zoley, who mentioned Florida, Texas and Louisiana among the Republican-controlled states whose public sectors are being enlisted.

“These are unchartered waters for the agency to expand their platform of detention nationally... to literally more than double the size of the previous administration,” he said. “It can’t be done overnight.”

Shares of Geo rose 2.6 percent.

After the stock market closed, CoreCivic, the other leading private prison company, lifted its financial targets after reporting that second-quarter profits more than doubled to $38.5 million.