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Outrage In Los Angeles As Residents Demand Reason For Wildfires

Published

11 months ago

January 12, 2025

Californians on Friday demanded to know who is at fault for the vast devastation caused by the raging Los Angeles wildfires, as a strict curfew went into force to prevent looting and lawlessness.

At least 11 people died as flames ripped through neighbourhoods and razed thousands of homes in a disaster that US President Joe Biden likened to a “war scene.”

While Angelenos grapple with the heart-rending ruin, anger has risen over officials’ preparedness and response, particularly for a series of false evacuation alarms and after hydrants ran dry as firefighters battled the initial blazes.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered a “full independent review” of the city’s utilities, describing the lack of water supplies during the initial fires as “deeply troubling.”

“We need answers to how that happened,” he wrote in an open letter.

Residents like Nicole Perri, whose home in the upscale Pacific Palisades burnt down, told AFP that officials “completely let us down.”

“They let us, the ordinary people, burn,” added Nicholas Norman, across the city in Altadena.

A flare-up late Friday prompted new mandatory evacuations from ritzy neighbourhoods along the fire’s eastern flank, which include the famous Getty Center.

Built at a cost of $1 billion and constructed partly of fire-resistant travertine stone, the acclaimed museum boasts 125,000 artworks.

Meanwhile, as fears of looting grew, a sunset-to-sunrise curfew took effect in evacuated areas.

Around two dozen arrests have already been made across Los Angeles, where some residents have organized street patrols and kept armed watch over their own houses.

“If we see you in these areas, you will be subject to arrest,” Los Angeles Police Department chief Jim McDonnell said.

Violators face up to six months in prison or $1,000 fines, he said.

The National Guard has been deployed to bolster law enforcement.

Five separate fires have so far burned more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares), destroying around 10,000 buildings, California’s fire agency reported.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed an additional fatality on Friday, bringing the overall death toll so far to 11.

“It reminded me of more of a war scene, where you had certain targets that were bombarded,” said Biden, as he received a briefing on the fires at the White House.

Winds calmed Friday, providing a much-needed if fleeting window of opportunity for firefighters battling blazes around the clock for a fourth consecutive day.

At the biggest of the blazes, in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, firefighters said they were starting to get the fire under control, with eight per cent of its perimeter contained.

“Braveheart” actor Mel Gibson was the latest celebrity to reveal his Malibu home had burned down, telling NewsNation the loss was “devastating.”

Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire in the Altadena area was three per cent contained, with fire chief Jason Schillinger reporting “significant progress” in quelling the blaze.

A third fire that exploded Thursday afternoon near the wealthy Hidden Hills enclave, home to celebrities like Kim Kardashian, was 50 per cent surrounded.

But emergency chiefs warned the situation is “still very dangerous” and reprieve from the intense gusts that spread embers will not last.

“The winds have died down today, but… are going to increase again in the coming days,” said Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Authorities have said it was too early to know the cause of the blazes.

Biden took a veiled swipe at incoming president Donald Trump, who has spread misinformation over the flames that has then been amplified on social media.

“You’re going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage of it,” Biden said of the fires.

Governor Newsom, who has been blamed for the disaster by the president-elect, invited Trump to visit Los Angeles and survey the devastation with him.

“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” said Newsom.

Wildfires occur naturally, but scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather and changing the dynamics of the blazes.

Two wet years in southern California have given way to a very dry one, leaving ample fuel on the ground primed to burn.

Emergency managers apologized Friday after false evacuation alerts were erroneously sent to millions of mobile phones, sparking panic.

“I can’t express enough how sorry I am,” said Kevin McGowan, the director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management.

Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley blamed recent funding cuts, telling Fox News affiliate KTTV her department was chronically “understaffed” and “under-resourced.”

AFP

Headline

Musk Breaks Record As First Person Worth Over $600 Billion

Published

1 hour ago

December 16, 2025

Editor

Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI, has reached a new personal wealth milestone, surpassing a net worth of $600 billion, driven primarily by a recent valuation increase of SpaceX.

The development makes Musk the first individual in history to exceed the US$600 billion threshold.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Musk’s net worth stood at approximately $638 billion as of 15 December 2025, with the increase largely attributed to SpaceX, which was recently valued at around $800 billion following an insider share sale.

The privately held aerospace company, based in Starbase, Texas, is now considered the most valuable private firm globally, significantly boosting Musk’s personal holdings.

Musk’s stake in Tesla, estimated at roughly 12 per cent, is valued at nearly $200 billion, while his majority ownership of xAI Holdings is estimated at $60 billion.

Collectively, these assets place him on track to potentially approach US$700 billion, widening the gap between him and the world’s second-richest individual, former Google CEO Larry Page, valued at $265 billion.

The SpaceX valuation comes ahead of a projected public listing in 2026, which could see the company valued at approximately $1.5 trillion.

“Other shareholder meetings are snooze-fests but ours are bangers. Look at this. This is sick,” Musk said in November during Tesla’s shareholder meeting, referring to a performance-linked pay package approved by investors.

He added, “I super appreciate it.” The package, potentially worth up to US$1 trillion in stock, is tied to market-capitalisation and operational milestones over the next decade.

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network has also contributed to investor confidence. The company continues to expand high-speed internet access to underserved regions worldwide.

Chad Gibbs, Vice President of Starlink Operations, stated that the satellite technology “bypasses the need to build massive amounts of infrastructure,” allowing broader and faster connectivity.

Musk’s ascent in personal wealth follows years of strategic risk-taking and long-term planning, with Tesla’s focus on electric vehicles, battery technology, and autonomous systems laying the foundation for his financial growth.

Analysts note that the combination of SpaceX’s soaring valuation, Tesla’s long-term incentives, and Musk’s diverse portfolio underpins his current status as the world’s wealthiest individual.

Headline

South Korea, Japan Protest China, Russia Aircraft Incursions

Published

6 days ago

December 10, 2025

Editor

South Korea and Japan reacted furiously on Wednesday after Chinese and Russian military aircraft conducted joint patrols around the two countries, with both Seoul and Tokyo scrambling jets.

South Korea said it had protested with representatives of China and Russia, while Japan said it had conveyed its “serious concerns” over national security.

According to Tokyo, two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers on Tuesday flew from the Sea of Japan to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers in the East China Sea, then conducted a joint flight around the country.

The incident comes as Japan is locked in a dispute with China over comments Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made about Taiwan.

The bombers’ joint flights were “clearly intended as a show of force against our nation, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi wrote on X Wednesday.

Top government spokesman Minoru Kihara said that Tokyo had “conveyed to both China and Russia our serious concerns over our national security through diplomatic channels”.

Seoul said Tuesday the Russian and Chinese warplanes entered its air defence zone and that a complaint had been lodged with the defence attaches of both countries in the South Korean capital.

“Our military will continue to respond actively to the activities of neighbouring countries’ aircraft within the KADIZ in compliance with international law,” said Lee Kwang-suk, director general of the International Policy Bureau at Seoul’s defence ministry, referring to the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone.

South Korea also said it deployed “fighter jets to take tactical measures in preparation for any contingencies” in response to the Chinese and Russian incursion into the KADIZ.

The planes were spotted before they entered the air defence identification zone, defined as a broader area in which countries police aircraft for security reasons but which does not constitute their airspace.

Japan’s defence ministry also scrambled fighter jets to intercept the warplanes.

Beijing later Tuesday confirmed it had organised drills with Russia’s military according to “annual cooperation plans”.

Moscow also described it as a routine exercise, saying it lasted eight hours and that some foreign fighter jets followed the Russian and Chinese aircraft.

Since 2019, China and Russia have regularly flown military aircraft into South Korea’s air defence zone without prior notice, citing joint exercises.

In November last year, Seoul scrambled jets as five Chinese and six Russian military planes flew through its air defence zone.

Similar incidents occurred in June and December 2023, and in May and November 2022.

Meanwhile, Tokyo said Monday it had scrambled jets in response to repeated takeoff and landing exercises involving fighter jets and military helicopters from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier as it cruised in international waters near Japan.

It also summoned Beijing’s ambassador after military aircraft from the Liaoning locked radar onto Japanese jets, the latest incident in the row ignited by Takaichi’s comments backing Taiwan.

Takaichi suggested last month that Japan would intervene militarily in any Chinese attack on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims as its own and has not ruled out seizing by force.

AFP

Headline

Thousands Reported To Have Fled DR Congo Fighting As M23 Closes On Key City

Published

1 week ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

Fierce fighting rocked the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday as the Rwanda-backed M23 militia rapidly advanced towards the strategic city of Uvira, with tens of thousands of people fleeing over the nearby border into Burundi, sources said.

The armed group and its Rwandan allies were just a few kilometres (miles) north of Uvira, security and military sources told AFP.

The renewed violence undermined a peace agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump that Kinshasa and Kigali signed less than a week ago, on December 4.

Trump had boasted that the Rwanda-DRC conflict was one of eight he has ended since returning to power in America in January.

With the new fighting, more than 30,000 people have fled the area around Uvira for Burundi in the space of a week, a UN source and a Burundian administrative source told AFP.

The Burundian source told AFP on condition of anonymity he had recorded more than 8,000 daily arrivals over the past two days, and 30,000 arrivals in one week. A source in the UN refugee agency confirmed the figure.

The Rwanda-backed M23 offensive comes nearly a year after the group seized control of Goma and Bukavu, the two largest cities in eastern DRC, a strategic region rich in natural resources and plagued by conflict for 30 years.

Local people described a state of growing panic as bombardments struck the hills above Uvira, a city of several hundred thousand residents.

“Three bombs have just exploded in the hills. It’s every man for himself,” said one resident reached by telephone.

“We are all under the beds in Uvira — that’s the reality,” another resident said, while a representative of civil society who would not give their name described fighting on the city’s outskirts.

Fighting was also reported in Runingo, another small locality some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Uvira, as the M23 and the Rwandan army closed in.

Burundi views the prospect of Uvira falling to Rwanda-backed forces as an existential threat, given that it sits across Lake Tanganyika from Burundi’s economic capital Bujumbura.

The city is the main sizeable locality in the area yet to fall to the M23 and its capture would essentially cut off the zone from DRC control.

Burundi deployed about 10,000 soldiers to eastern DRC in October 2023 as part of a military cooperation agreement, and security sources say reinforcements have since taken that presence to around 18,000 men.

The M23 and Rwandan forces launched their Uvira offensive on December 1.

Rich in natural resources, eastern DRC has been choked by successive conflicts for around three decades.

Violence in the region intensified early this year when M23 fighters seized the key eastern city of Goma in January, followed by Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province, a few weeks later.

– Regional risk –

The peace deal meant to quell the fighting was signed last Thursday in Washington by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, with Trump — who called it a “miracle” deal — also putting his signature to it.

The agreement includes an economic component intended to secure US supplies of critical minerals present in the region, as America seeks to challenge China’s dominance in the sector.

But even on the day of the signing, intense fighting took place in South Kivu, where Uvira is located, which included the bombing of houses and schools.

Witnesses and military sources in Uvira said that Congolese soldiers fleeing the fighting had arrived in the city overnight Monday and shops were looted at dawn.

Several hundred Congolese and Burundian soldiers had already fled to Burundi on Monday, according to military sources, since the M23 fighters embarked on their latest offensive from Kamanyola, some 70 kilometres north of Uvira.
Since the M23’s lightning offensive early this year, the front had largely stabilised over the past nine months.

Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye warned in February there was a danger of the conflict escalating into a broader regional war, a fear echoed by the United Nations.