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A man notorious for shooting up a pizzeria in the US capital where he wrongly believed Hillary Clinton and other Democrats were running a child sex ring has been killed in a traffic stop police shooting, local media reported Thursday.The North Carolina man who died Monday, two days after the incident with police, has now been identified as Edgar Maddison Welch, who was at the center of the bizarre story that came to be known as “Pizzagate,” news outlets said.It involved the bogus conspiracy theory that Comet Ping Pong, a Washington pizza restaurant, was a hub for a child sex trafficking ring involving Clinton — who ran for US president in 2016 — and other prominent Democrats.In December of that year, Welch was arrested after he fired his assault rifle inside the eatery. He told police that he drove up from North Carolina to personally investigate stories that Comet was a center for child abduction.The false claim was an early taste of the conspiracy theories that would later abound among far-right conservatives in the Donald Trump era.Welch, then 29, was sentenced in 2017 to four years in prison after being convicted of a federal charge of interstate transport of firearms and a Washington DC charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. He was released from prison in March 2020.When Welch was sentenced, the US attorney’s office said the judge in the case declared “the extent of the recklessness in this case is breathtaking” and it was only through “sheer luck” that no one was wounded.On Saturday, police in the North Carolina town of Kannapolis stopped a car they believed to be driven by someone with an outstanding warrant. The driver was Welch.When police tried to open the car and arrest him, Welch pulled a gun and refused orders to drop it. Two officers then shot him, the Charlotte Observer newspaper reported. Welch died two days later in the hospital.

Incoming US president Donald Trump sparked a political battle with outgoing leader Joe Biden and California’s Democratic governor Thursday over the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles.Trump launched a series of evidence-free broadsides accusing Governor Gavin Newsom of a variety of failings — including wasting water that could have been used to fight fires in order to protect a kind of fish.”Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump said on his Truth Social network, using his usual nickname for the Democrat, who is widely viewed as a potential White House contender.Trump added that the deadly Los Angeles fires showed that January 20, when he replaces Biden in the White House, “cannot come fast enough.””Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo,” he said.Biden hit back on Thursday, saying people should “not make a political deal of it” as he held a crisis meeting of administration officials at the White House.He had been due to leave for Italy to see Pope Francis on the final foreign trip of his presidency on Thursday, but canceled it late Wednesday to stay and deal with the fires.”I’m leaving this office very shortly, but it’s not about the politics,” he said. “It’s about giving people some sense of security that we’re going to be able to get this under control.”Biden unveiled a series of announcements about fresh federal funding and resources to help California deal with what he called the most devastating wildfires in the state’s history.But he appeared especially keen to debunk the claims that Democratic mismanagement had caused water shortages which left firefighters struggling to put out the inferno.- ‘Rumors and fear’ -Notably, Trump had accused Newsom of blocking the flow of snow melt to “protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!)”Biden insisted that the problem lay with power outages — after utility companies cut electricity amid fears that faulty power lines could spark more fires — that took water pumps offline.And he urged officials at the White House meeting to spread the word.”In crisis, rumors and fear spread very quickly,” he said. “It allows for a lot of uninformed people to make… accusations about the local officials not caring.”Biden also said the Los Angeles fires showed that “climate change is real” — with Trump threatening to pull back on US efforts to combat global warning when he returns to the White House.In one of his earlier Truth Social posts, Trump had accused Biden of diverting money to “Green New Scam” climate policies instead of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).Biden has repeatedly denied steering funds away from FEMA, including after hurricanes lashed the United States in October, when Trump said he was sending the money to migrants instead.Governor Newsom rejected Trump’s claims in a CNN interview on Wednesday, saying: “People are literally fleeing… This guy wanted to politicize it.”Conspiracy theories have spread almost as fast as the fires themselves, with social media full of unproven claims about firefighting gear being sent to Ukraine and a lack of firefighting staff due to diversity issues. The world’s richest man Elon Musk, a key Trump ally, took to his social network X to promote a number of those conspiracy theories.

Massive wildfires that engulfed whole neighborhoods and displaced thousands in Los Angeles remained totally uncontained Thursday, authorities said, as US National Guard soldiers readied to hit the streets to help quell disorder.Swaths of the United States’ second-largest city lay in ruins, with smoke blanketing the sky and an acrid smell pervading almost every building.A vast firefighting operation continued for a third day, bolstered by water-dropping helicopters thanks to a temporary lull in winds.Amid the chaos, looting had broken out, with numerous arrests made, officials said, and hundreds of soldiers were set to be deployed.”The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has officially requested the support of the California National Guard for both fires,” Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters.”For the last 24 hours or so, we have had approximately 400 National Guard members throughout the state ready to support us.”We expect that they may be on site as soon as tonight,” he said, adding Governor Gavin Newsom had approved the request.Luna said his officers were patrolling evacuation zones and would arrest anyone who was not supposed to be there.With such a huge area scorched by the fires, which are ravaging the well-to-do Pacific Palisades and another area around Altadena, evacuees feared not enough was being done.Some were taking matters into their own hands.”We’re so stressed about this looting happening all around that my neighbors were on watch all last night for several houses in the neighborhood,” said one man whose house was one of just a handful left standing on a burned-out Altadena street.”I’m supposed to take over for them tonight,” said the man, who did not want to give his name.A sunset-to-sunrise curfew has been declared in evacuated areas of the coastal city of Santa Monica, and Luna said more overnight curfews would be coming in the fire zones.- ‘Death and destruction’ -The biggest blaze had ripped through over 19,000 acres (7,700 hectares) of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, while another fire in Altadena had torched 13,000 acres.Neither was contained on Thursday, though firefighters said spreading had slowed.US President Joe Biden told a White House briefing he had pledged extra federal funds and resources to help the state cope.”This is the most widespread, devastating fire in California’s history,” he said.Some of those who had been forced out of their homes returned Thursday to a scene of devastation.Kalen Astoor, a 36-year-old paralegal, said her mother’s home had been spared by the inferno’s seemingly random and chaotic destruction. Some neighbors’ houses, often side-by-side with those razed to the ground, had similarly survived.Through the blackened remains of devastated homes, gloomy vistas of the surrounding fire-ravaged mountains could be glimpsed through the smoke.”The view now is of death and destruction,” she told AFP. “I don’t know if anyone can come back for a while.”The same fire flared up again near the summit of Mount Wilson, home to a historic observatory and vital communication towers and equipment.- ‘Critical’ -Fast-moving flames fanned by powerful winds of up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour since Tuesday have leveled more than 2,000 structures across the city, many of them multi-million dollar homes.Los Angeles fire chief Kirstin Crowley said a preliminary estimate of destroyed structures in Pacific Palisades was “in the thousands.”Nearly 180,000 people across Los Angeles remain under evacuation orders.Officials and meteorologists warn that “critical” windy and dry conditions, though abated, are not over.”The winds continue to be of a historic nature… this is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.A National Weather Service bulletin said “significant fire growth” remained likely “with ongoing or new fires” throughout Thursday and into Friday.- Ignored pleas -Among those who died was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, whose sister said he had ignored pleas to leave as the fire swept through Altadena because he wanted to protect their home.”When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply,” Shari Shaw said.”I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm that I had to save myself.”Shaw’s body was found by a friend on the driveway of his razed home, a garden hose in his hand.- Climate crisis -Wildfires are part of life in the western United States and play a vital role in nature.But scientists say human-caused climate change is causing more severe weather patterns.Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, sparking furious vegetative growth.That has left the region, which has had no significant rain for eight months, packed with fuel and primed to burn.

US tech billionaire Elon Musk doubled down Thursday on his full-throated support for the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), promoting its leader Alice Weidel during a livestream on X in his latest intervention in European politics.”Only AfD can save Germany, end of story,” the Tesla and SpaceX boss and ally of US President-elect Donald Trump said during the discussion with Weidel.”People really need to get behind AfD, otherwise things are going to get very, very much worse in Germany.”Musk, who last year used his influence and vast wealth to propel Trump to victory in the White House race, has been vocal in his support for the AfD ahead of snap elections in Germany on February 23.In the wide-ranging conversation, both Musk and Weidel heaped praise on Trump and voiced their shared disdain for “woke” politicians and traditional media, whom they blamed for what they called criminal immigrants and online censorship.Addressing German voters, Musk said, “I’m really strongly recommending that people vote for AfD,” as he called Weidel a “very reasonable person.”  The AfD, founded in 2013 and especially popular in the formerly communist eastern Germany, is polling at around 20 percent ahead of the elections, but has been shunned as a coalition partner by all other parties. Chapters of the AfD are considered right-wing “extremist” groups by Germany’s domestic intelligence service.Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned on Wednesday that fascism could return as Musk “openly attacks our institutions” and “stirs up hatred.”French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot earlier on Wednesday urged the European Commission to protect its member states with “the greatest firmness” against political interference by Musk, telling France Inter radio: “We have to wake up.”burs-ac/acb

Jimmy Carter brought a fleeting moment of national unity to a divided America Thursday as all five living US presidents gathered for their predecessor’s moving state funeral in Washington’s National Cathedral.At the rare gathering just days before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, sitting President Joe Biden gave a eulogy describing “character” as fellow Democrat Carter’s main attribute.Trump shook hands with former president Barack Obama on the country’s day of mourning, while Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were also there to pay their respects. But Biden, 82, also appeared to deliver a veiled swipe at Trump, the Republican whose racially charged rhetoric and efforts to overturn the 2020 election he has often criticized as threats to democracy.”We have an obligation to give hate no safe harbor,” said Biden, also stressing the importance standing up against “the greatest sin of all, the abuse of power.”After the speech Biden briefly tapped the flag-draped coffin of Carter, America’s 39th commander-in-chief, who died on December 29 at the age of 100 in his native Georgia.Carter was widely perceived as naive and weak during his single term from 1977 to 1981, but a more nuanced view has emerged as the years passed, focusing on his decency and foreign policy achievements.- ‘Love and respect’ -The presidential funeral was the first since George H.W. Bush died in 2018 — and provided a series of unique and sometimes awkward moments as former leaders met.Obama shook hands, laughed and chatted with his successor Trump, despite the fact that the billionaire built his political movement on questioning whether Obama is really a US citizen.In the row in front of Trump sat Vice President Kamala Harris, his defeated rival in the 2024 election.There was also a brief moment of reconciliation for Trump and his former vice president Mike Pence.The pair met and shook hands for what is believed to be the first time since the 2021 US Capitol riots when Pence refused to back Trump’s false claims to have won the 2020 election.During the service, family members and former political adversaries alike paid emotional tributes to Carter, the oldest ever former US president and the only one to make it to three figures.One of his grandsons, Jason Carter, described his love of nature, saying the devout Baptist and former peanut farmer “celebrated the majesty of every living thing.””He led this nation with love and respect,” Jason Carter said.There was even a tribute from Carter’s Republican predecessor Gerald Ford. Ford died in 2006 but left a eulogy for his political rival-turned-friend that was read out by his son Steven.A second posthumous tribute, from Carter’s vice president Walter Mondale, was delivered by his son Ted. – Day of mourning -Carter’s coffin was earlier transported by an honor guard from the US Capitol, where thousands of mourners had paid their respects as the former president lay in state.Thursday has been designated a national day of mourning in the United States with federal offices closed.His carefully choreographed six-day farewell began on Saturday with US flags flying at half-staff around the country and a black hearse bearing his remains from his hometown of Plains, Georgia.It was to Georgia that Carter’s remains returned on Thursday for burial, making their final journey home on the US presidential jet that is normally reserved for the sitting commander-in-chief.Carter’s funeral was a brief respite from an already tumultuous run-up to Trump’s inauguration on January 20, and a reminder of a very different style of president.Carter, who served a single term before a crushing election loss to Ronald Reagan in 1980, suffered in the dog-eat-dog world of Washington politics and a hostage crisis involving Americans held in Tehran after Iran’s Islamic revolution finally sealed his fate.But history has led to a reassessment, focusing on his brokering of a peace deal between Israel and Egypt. He also received high praise for his post-presidential humanitarian efforts, and a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.Carter had been in hospice care since February 2023 in Plains, where he died. He will be buried next to his late wife Rosalynn, who died in November 2023.

Film and television stars are among hundreds of people who have lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires that have ravaged parts of the world’s showbiz capital.These are some of the best-known celebrities who have been impacted by the blazes this week:- Paris Hilton -Hotel heiress Paris Hilton, 43, said she watched her seafront Malibu home burn to the ground on live television, writing on Instagram that she was “heartbroken.””My heart aches for those still in harm’s way or mourning greater losses. The devastation is unimaginable,” Hilton wrote.She later shared a video of her five Pomeranians in the back of a car and said she was traveling to a hotel to take shelter.- Anthony Hopkins – Two-time Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins, perhaps best known for his role in “The Silence of the Lambs,” reportedly lost his luxurious home.Pictures appeared to show the 87-year-old’s property burned to the ground, though Hopkins has yet to issue a public statement.- Jeff Bridges -Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges, known for cult classic “The Big Lebowski,” lost the Malibu home that he shares with his family, a representative told entertainment news site TMZ.- Billy Crystal -“When Harry Met Sally” star Billy Crystal said the home he had lived in for 46 years was destroyed, with only a tennis court remaining.”Words cannot describe the enormity of the devastation we are witnessing and experiencing,” Crystal, 76, said in a joint statement with his wife Janice.- Eugene Levy -US media reported that a home belonging to “Schitt’s Creek” and “American Pie” actor Eugene Levy burned to the ground.Levy had previously told the Los Angeles Times how he traveled through black smoke to evacuate his celebrity-studded neighborhood.- John Goodman -“Roseanne” actor John Goodman’s home was burned to the ground, according to photos published by People Magazine that showed a pile of smoldering rubble. Goodman, who co-starred in “The Big Lebowski,” had not issued any public statement on his property.- Mark Hamill -“Star Wars” star Mark Hamill told followers on Instagram that he had fled his Malibu home with his wife and pet dog, escaping down a road flanked by active fires.Hamill, 73, did not confirm if his house was destroyed but said his family were “fleeing for our lives.”- Jennifer Grey -“Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey lost her home to the blaze, her daughter wrote on Instagram.”Last night my mama’s house was burnt to the ground,” Stella Gregg wrote on Instagram, adding that Grey was safe.- Cary Elwes -“The Princess Bride” star Cary Elwes said on Instagram that his home was destroyed after he and his family evacuated.Elwes, 62, had earlier shared a video driving along the winding LA hills that showed an orange blaze in the distance, describing the scene as “biblical.”- Adam Brody – Golden Globes nominee Adam Brody (“Nobody Wants This,” “The OC”) and his actress wife Leighton Meester (“Gossip Girl”), who were on the red carpet on Sunday, reportedly lost their home in the Pacific Palisades.People magazine obtained pictures of their home engulfed in flames.- Miles Teller -“Whiplash” star Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh Teller had their home destroyed by fire, according to photos published by People magazine.Teller, who also appeared in “Top Gun: Maverick,” did not publicly comment. – James Woods -Emmy-winning actor James Woods posted a video on X showing flames engulfing trees and bushes near his Pacific Palisades property.”I couldn’t believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long. It feels like losing a loved one,” said the 77-year-old Woods.- Jamie Lee Curtis -Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis was forced to evacuate, writing on Instagram: “Our beloved neighborhood is gone. Our home is safe. So many others have lost everything.”She announced on Thursday that she was giving $1 million to those impacted by the fires in Los Angeles.

Two massive wildfires that engulfed whole neighborhoods and displaced thousands in Los Angeles were totally uncontained on Thursday, authorities said, as shell-shocked residents began to pick through the charred wreckage of their homes. Swaths of the United States’ second-largest city lay eerily deserted due to the fires’ destruction and sweeping evacuation orders, with smoke blanketing the sky and its acrid smell pervading almost every building.A vast firefighting operation continued for a third day, bolstered by water-dropping helicopters thanks to a temporary lull in winds.Amid the chaos, looting broke out, with at least 20 arrests made so far, officials said.The biggest fire, which has ripped through 17,000 acres (6,900 hectares) of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, is “one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” city fire chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference.Another 10,000-acre fire in Altadena in which at least five people died was also at “zero-percent containment,” although spreading had “significantly stopped” as wind gusts reduced, county fire chief Anthony Marrone said.Kalen Astoor, a 36-year-old paralegal, was among those returning to the scorched remains of residential streets Thursday morning.Her mother’s home had been spared by the inferno’s seemingly random and chaotic destruction. Some neighbors’ houses, often side-by-side with those razed to the ground, had similarly survived.Through the blackened remains of devastated homes, gloomy vistas of the surrounding fire-ravaged mountains could be glimpsed through the smoke.”The view now is of death and destruction,” she told AFP. “I don’t know if anyone can come back for a while.”The same fire flared up again near the summit of Mount Wilson, home to a historic observatory and vital communication towers and equipment.But there was some good news for Hollywood, the historic home of the US movie industry, after evacuation orders prompted by the nearby “Sunset Fire” on Wednesday were lifted.- ‘Critical’ -Fast-moving flames fanned by powerful winds of up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour since Tuesday have leveled more than 2,000 structures across the city, many of them multi-million dollar homes.Aerial views on Thursday showed whole neighborhoods burnt to the ground, in scenes watched in horror by millions in Los Angeles and around the world.Crowley said a preliminary estimate of destroyed structures in Pacific Palisades was “in the thousands.”Nearly 180,000 people across Los Angeles remain under evacuation orders.Officials pledged to crack down on looters hitting areas deserted due to the fires and evacuations.A sunset-to-sunrise curfew has been declared in evacuated areas of the coastal city of Santa Monica.In Altadena, neighbors took turns to patrol and protect homes on their streets.Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 20 arrests had been made so far, with that number expected to rise. Officials and meteorologists warn that “critical” windy and dry conditions, though abated, are not over.”The winds continue to be of a historic nature… this is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.A National Weather Service bulletin said “significant fire growth” remained likely “with ongoing or new fires” throughout Thursday and into Friday.- ‘Lost everything’ -Among those who died was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, whose sister said he had ignored pleas to leave as the fire swept through Altadena because he wanted to protect their home.”When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply,” Shari Shaw said.”I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm that I had to save myself.”Shaw’s body was found by a friend on the driveway of his razed home, a garden hose in his hand.William Gonzales got out alive, but his Altadena home was gone.”We have lost practically everything; the flames have consumed all our dreams,” he told AFP.President Joe Biden, who canceled a trip to Italy this week over the crisis, is due to give public remarks about the fires later Thursday.His incoming successor Donald Trump blamed California governor Gavin Newsom for the devastation and called on the Democrat to resign. “This is all his fault,” Trump said on his Truth social platform. – Climate crisis -Wildfires are part of life in the western United States and play a vital role in nature.But scientists say human-caused climate change is causing more severe weather patterns.Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, sparking furious vegetative growth.That has left the region, which has had no significant rain for eight months, packed with fuel and primed to burn.

Following in the footsteps of electric scooters on land and wakeboards at sea, young entrepreneurs are bringing electric power to snow travel with self-propelled skis and all-terrain skates.Already an experienced surfer and snowboarder, Edouard Aubert took up skateboarding during the pandemic, as he was drawn to the empty roads.”Since I’m an engineer, I quickly put a motor on it,” he said with a grin at the CES technology show in Las Vegas.”But we needed more. Roads weren’t enough for us, and neither was off-roading. We needed sand, snow.”While electric skateboards were abundant, “there was nothing for off-roading,” said Adrien Ladan, Aubert’s former schoolmate and business partner.The two Frenchmen launched SQ-Motors to develop the Sternboard, a three-wheeled board capable of reaching speeds over 60 km/h on a track.Initially focused on sand terrain, they developed a tracked model “for fun” and recently sold six units to a ski resort in the French Pyrenees.The basic configuration costs around 3,000 euros, with snow equipment adding another 1,000.”The snow version isn’t meant for hurtling down slopes or replacing snowboarding,” Aubert explained.”It’s more for walking and cross-country skiing.”The resort will test both winter and summer configurations, using tracks and mini-skis on the front wheels for winter, then removing them for year-round use.Qatari investors have approached the entrepreneurs about the sand version, and Aubert promises mass production this year.So far, they’ve hand-manufactured dozens of units to refine the product and ensure reliability.”The idea is to find new playgrounds,” he said.The classic wheeled version has found unexpected fans: “We’ve had quite a few requests from farmers who ride them on their farms,” Aubert noted. “We’re already on our fifth.”- Just enough exercise -Nicola Colombo brought his E-Skimo to Las Vegas, a ski touring system he likens to an electric bicycle.In ski touring, skiers climb slopes rather than using lifts before skiing down.With E-Skimo, as the skier moves, a motor drives a fabric strip beneath the ski, acting as a conveyor belt that reduces strain on legs and thighs.Using AI, the system gauges the slope and ski positions to calibrate assistance based on the user and pace. The motor stops once the skier completes their forward stride. At the summit, users can remove the fabric band, motor, and battery to descend on what amount to conventional skis.”The idea came after taking friends ski touring,” Colombo recalled.”They weren’t enjoying themselves because it was too physically demanding.”Ski touring typically requires more exertion than downhill skiing.”We want to make it accessible to people with lower fitness levels,” said Colombo, whose Swiss company E-Outdoor seeks partnerships with ski manufacturers.Though production hasn’t begun, he estimates a price of around 1,500 dollars, roughly double standard touring skis.While the e-skis can move on flat surfaces without leg power, as Colombo demonstrated on a Las Vegas ice rink, he emphasized that wasn’t their purpose: “We want to maintain exercise.”

Shell-shocked Los Angeles residents on Thursday surveyed the devastation from fast-moving fires that have claimed at least five lives, as officials warned the largest blazes remained totally uncontained.Swathes of the city lay eerily deserted due to the fires’ destruction and sweeping evacuation orders, with acrid smoke blanketing the sky.A vast firefighting operation continued for a third day, bolstered by extra water-dropping helicopters thanks to a temporary lull in winds.Amid the chaos, looting has broken out, with at least 20 arrests made so far, officials said.The biggest fire, which has ripped through 17,000 acres (6,900 hectares) of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, is “one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” city fire chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference.Another 10,000-acre fire in Altadena was also at “zero percent containment,” although spreading had “significantly stopped” as wind gust reduced, county fire chief Anthony Marrone said.Judy Chu, the US congresswoman representing the region, visited an evacuation center where 1,000 displaced residents sought shelter, and said Altadena was “just devastated.””They are numb. They don’t know what they will return to once this fire is contained,” she told local news KTLA.Nearly 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, as officials and meteorologists warned that “critical” windy and dry conditions, though abated, were not over.”The winds continue to be of a historic nature… this is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.A National Weather Service bulletin said “significant fire growth” remained likely “with ongoing or new fires” throughout Thursday and into Friday.But there was some good news for Hollywood, the historic home of the movie industry, after evacuation orders prompted by the nearby “Sunset Fire” on Wednesday were lifted.- Multi-million dollar homes -Fast-moving flames fanned by powerful winds have leveled more than 2,000 structures, many of them multi-million dollar homes, with aerial views on Thursday showing whole neighborhoods burnt to the ground.Millions of Angelenos have watched in horror as blazes have erupted around America’s second biggest city, sparking panic and fear.Winds with gusts up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour spread the fire around the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood with lightning speed.Crowley said a preliminary estimate of destroyed structures was “in the thousands.”Around a thousand more buildings have been destroyed in Altadena, north of the city, where flames tore through suburban streets.Officials pledged to crack down on looters hitting areas deserted due to the fires and evacuations.A sunset-to-sunrise curfew has been declared in evacuated areas of the coastal city of Santa Monica.Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 20 arrests had been made so far, with that number expected to rise. “It’s absolutely unacceptable,” he said.- Lost everything -Among those who died was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, whose sister said he had ignored pleas to leave as the fire swept through Altadena because he wanted to protect their home.”When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back,” Shari Shaw said.”I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm that I had to save myself.”Shaw’s body was found by a friend on the driveway of his razed home, a garden hose in his hand.William Gonzales got out alive, but his Altadena home was gone.”We have lost practically everything; the flames have consumed all our dreams,” he told AFP.President Joe Biden, who canceled a trip to Italy this week over the crisis, is due to give public remarks about the fires later Thursday.His incoming successor Donald Trump meanwhile blamed California governor Gavin Newsom for the devastation and calling on the Democrat to resign. “This is all his fault,” Trump said on his Truth social platform. – Climate crisis -Wildfires are part of life in the US West and play a vital role in nature.But scientists say human-caused climate change is causing more severe weather patterns.Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, sparking furious vegetative growth.That has left the region, which has had no significant rain for eight months, packed with fuel and primed to burn.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said Donald Trump’s return to the White House would open “a new chapter” and reiterated a call for Western allies to send troops to help “force Russia to peace”.Zelensky spoke at a meeting of about 50 allies at the US air base Ramstein in Germany, the last such gathering before Trump takes office on January 20, casting doubt on future American support for Kyiv.”It’s clear that a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world — just 11 days from now, a time when we have to cooperate even more, rely on one another even more, and achieve even greater results together,” said Zelensky.”I see this as a time of opportunities,” he added at the 25th meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.As the grinding war nears the three-year mark, Zelensky repeated a call for Western allies to send troops to help Ukraine.”Our goal is to find as many instruments as possible to force Russia into peace,” he told the meeting. “I believe that such deployment of partners’ contingents is one of the best instruments.”The United States under President Joe Biden has been Ukraine’s biggest wartime backer, providing military aid worth more than $65 billion since February 2022.- ‘Success story’ -US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin — who launched the Ramstein format shortly after the war started — announced new military aid worth $500 million for Kyiv.”The coalition to support Ukraine must not flinch. It must not falter. And it must not fail,” Austin said. “Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is all of our security.”Austin looked back over recent years and how, since the days when “Ukrainian citizens were making Molotov cocktails to defend their homes,” the multinational group had supplied the country with an arsenal of high-tech weapons.This had helped “turn Ukraine’s struggle into one of the great military success stories of our times,” Austin said, adding that Russia had suffered more than 700,000 dead or wounded and had become “more isolated” on the world stage.Austin said “this coalition must continue to stand foursquare with Ukraine -— and to strengthen its hand for the negotiations that will someday bring Putin’s monstrous war to a close”.But, pressed on whether he wanted the Trump administration to push on with the effort, Austin said that “it’s up to the future administration to make their own decisions”.Trump, who has criticised the large amount of US military aid for Kyiv, has promised to bring a swift end to the war, but without making any concrete proposals for a ceasefire or peace deal.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she hoped the United States would keep supporting Ukraine but added that “the European Union is also ready to take over this leadership if the United States is not willing to do so”.German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius called for the continuation of the Ramstein format, saying its results so far “must now inspire us to make every effort for what is still to come”.- ‘World is watching’ -Russian and Ukrainian forces are now engaged in fierce fighting, looking to secure their battlefield positions before Trump’s inauguration.Trump has criticised NATO allies for spending too little on shared defence. This week, he sparked further alarm by refusing to rule out military action to take Greenland, an autonomous territory of EU and NATO member Denmark.Austin stressed that “the United States of America has always been a reliable partner. We will always be a reliable partner in the future”.NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said allies needed to help Ukraine reach a position of strength ahead of any eventual ceasefire or peace talks.”We have to bring Ukraine into the best possible position that one day, when talks would start at the initiative of Ukraine on how to solve this conflict, that they are in the best possible position to do that,” he said. “And then when these talks end, it will be looked at, in a sense, whether it is a good deal or not.”And if it is not a good deal, it will be watched by the Chinese, the North Koreans, Iran, obviously, Russia. The whole world is watching.”burs-wd/fz/sea/yad