Donald Trump pledged a blitz of presidential actions to end “American decline,” telling a fired-up inauguration eve rally on Sunday that he would crack down on woke ideology and immigration.In a raucous campaign-style gathering in Washington, the 78-year-old Republican promised cheering supporters that he would act with “historic speed” from day one of his White House comeback.”Tomorrow at noon, the curtain closes on four long years of American decline, and we begin a brand new day of American strength and prosperity,” Trump told a packed sports arena.”I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country.” Billionaire Trump was joined on stage by Elon Musk — the tech tycoon who will lead a major cost-cutting drive in his administration — and who vowed to make America strong “for centuries.”Then at the end the rally Trump danced alongside the disco band Village People as they performed their 1970s hit “Y.M.C.A.” which became the unofficial anthem of his election campaign.Much of Trump’s hour-long speech focused on immigration, driving home one of the dark messages that helped spur his remarkable victory in November’s presidential election over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.”We’re going to stop the invasion of our borders,” added Trump, who has pledged to launch raids targeting undocumented migrants within days of taking office.- ‘See history unfold’ -But he also promised “lots” of executive orders from his first day back in the Oval Office, including one to ban “transgender insanity” and critical race theory from schools and to keep trans athletes out of women’s sports.Trump also reiterated a promise to release files on the assassinations of former president John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.Long lines of Trump supporters formed outside the arena despite snowy conditions.”I wanted to see history unfold before my eyes,” Alan McNeely, 21, a student from Connecticut, told AFP.Earlier, the future US commander-in-chief paid a highly symbolic visit to Arlington National Cemetery, the resting place of America’s war dead. Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, followed by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.The somber ceremony contrasted with Trump’s last trip to the cemetery as a presidential candidate in August, when the US army criticized his staff for pushing a cemetery employee.Later on Sunday Trump is set to attend a “candlelight dinner” for supporters.Trump’s hopes for a huge crowd to see his inauguration at the US Capitol on Monday took a blow, however, when forecasts of below freezing weather prompted organizers to move the ceremony indoors.Instead of being sworn in on the steps of the Capitol, Trump will now take the oath under the massive dome of its Rotunda, last used for the ceremony 40 years ago during the inauguration of Ronald Reagan.- ‘Keep the faith’ -“You’re going to hear President Trump talk about how we are entering a Golden Age of America” in his inaugural speech, his incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt told “America’s Newsroom” on Fox News.Outgoing President Joe Biden meanwhile traveled to South Carolina on Sunday, his last full day as US president, to mark a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.The Democrat pointedly urged Americans to “keep the faith in a better day to come” and promised that he was “not going anywhere,” as he prepares to hand over to the man he has branded a threat to democracy.But Trump has already been heavily drawn into global affairs before he takes office.Widely used video-sharing app TikTok credited his “clarity” for being able to restore service in the United States after briefly going dark due to a ban on national security grounds.”We have to save TikTok,” Trump told the rally.He earlier promised to issue an executive order delaying the ban to allow time to “make a deal” to remove TikTok’s US subsidiary from Chinese ownership. In the Middle East, the first three Israeli hostages were released Sunday under a Gaza truce that Trump’s team had been involved in along with Biden’s administration.

Exhausted Los Angeles firefighters on Sunday braced for the return of yet more dangerously strong gusts, as California’s governor slammed “hurricane-force winds of misinformation” surrounding blazes that have killed 27 people. The two largest fires, which have obliterated almost 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) and razed entire neighborhoods of the second biggest US city, were both now more than half contained, officials announced.But the National Weather Service warned that powerful winds and very low humidity would again bring “dangerous high-end red flag fire weather conditions” from Monday, with potential gusts up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour.”This is the last… we hope, of the extreme” wind events, said Governor Gavin Newsom.It will be “the fourth major wind event just in the last three months — we only had two in the prior four years,” he told MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”Officials were accused of being unprepared at the outbreak of fires this month. Now, 135 fire engines and their crews are prepositioned to tackle new flames, along with helicopters and bulldozers, said Newsom.Firefighters said the largest conflagration, the Palisades Fire, was 52 percent contained. It has killed at least 10 people.Evacuation orders were lifted this weekend for dozens of neighborhoods in upscale western Los Angeles.”Our focus is on repopulation this week, and we’re moving quickly to finish urban search-and rescue-work so that utilities can safely be restored where possible,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.With reports of looting rife, a man and woman were arrested Saturday while driving “a vehicle that looked like a fire engine, going through a checkpoint,” said Los Angeles County sheriff department commander Minh Dinh.The pair “purchased the vehicle through an auction” and “have been in the area for about a couple of days.” Further east, the Eaton Fire, which killed at least 17 in the Altadena suburbs, was 81 percent contained.Several evacuees reunited with missing pets they had feared were dead.Serena Null told AFP of her joy at finding her cat Domino, after having to leave him behind as flames devoured her family home in Altadena.The pair were reunited at NGO Pasadena Humane, where Domino — suffering singed paws, a burnt nose and a high level of stress — was taken after being rescued.”I just was so relieved and just so happy that he was here,” a tearful Null told AFP.  – No ‘magical spigot’ -As Los Angeles learns the true scale of the devastation, political bickering has intensified.Donald Trump, set to be sworn in as US president on Monday, has sharply criticized California officials.He falsely claimed that Newsom had blocked the diversion of “excess rain and snow melt from the North.” Los Angeles’s water supplies are mainly fed via aqueducts and canals originating from entirely separate river basins further east.”What’s not helpful or beneficial… is these wild-eyed fantasies… that somehow there’s a magical spigot in northern California that just can be turned on, all of a sudden there will be rain or water flowing everywhere,” said Newsom. The governor blamed Elon Musk — the Tesla and SpaceX owner poised to play a key role advising the incoming administration — “and others” for “hurricane-force winds of mis- and dis-information that can divide a country.”Trump told a rally Sunday that he plans to visit the region on Friday. Well into its typical rainy season, Los Angeles has had almost no rain since May.Though rain is not expected imminently, Newsom warned of the need to prepare “for potential flooding in the next week or two,” as rain, when it comes, pours down hillsides denuded by the fires.”I prepositioned 2,500 National Guard. We’re going to start some sandbagging operations,” he said.”We’re dealing with extremes that we have never dealt with in the past” due to changing climate, said the governor.