Deadly wildfires ravage Southern California as water runs out
Multiple wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles area yesterday, killing at least two people and seriously injuring many others. The fire destroyed homes and businesses and covered highways with smoke. Officials warned of low water levels and said the worst was yet to come. Follow our live stream here.
Tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes, and additional areas were placed under one-hour evacuation orders. At least 18 school districts have reported outages, and about 400,000 electric customers are without power. Air quality worsened as smoke poured into the sky. Here is a map of the population.
Winds blowing in the area reached 160 kilometers per hour, fueling the fire and hampering efforts to contain the damage. Many fire departments responded with strike teams, but the wind forced them to drop their planes, making it difficult to fight the fires.
Context: Winter and late fall often produce catastrophic fires in California, and scientists have found that fires in the region have been moving faster. An analysis of 60,000 wildfires in the US combined between 2001 and 2020 found that the rate of growth has increased over the decades in California and other parts of the West. As its regions become hotter and drier, the soil is more prone to burning.
World leaders have responded to Trump’s foreign policy threats
On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump suggested that the US might take back the Panama Canal through military intervention. He then pointed out that the same could be done to include Greenland. He also threatened to use “economic power” to make Canada part of the US and suggested that the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed the “Gulf of America.” The responses of world leaders were mixed.
“The sovereignty of our canal is non-negotiable and part of our history of struggle and irreversible victory,” said Panama’s foreign minister, Javier Martínez-Acha. The citizens of Greenland seemed confused and worried. “All of this is scary,” said the Greenlander.
Canada was not specific. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded on social media saying “there is not a chance in hell that Canada will ever become part of the United States.” Mexico was happy about it. At a news conference yesterday, President Claudia Sheinbaum dismissed many of Trump’s statements and joked that the US should be renamed “Mexican America.”
Related: Trump has vowed that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” if the Israeli hostages are not released in the next two weeks. The people of Gaza are left wondering: If this is not hell, then what is?
The UK has given evidence to an inquiry into war crimes in Afghanistan
British soldiers are using extreme measures against insurgents in Afghanistan, according to evidence released yesterday as part of a British Ministry of Defense investigation into alleged war crimes. The evidence paints a disturbing picture of a special forces operation operating with impunity and putting the body count above all other benchmarks.
The evidence came from email exchanges, letters and witness statements of senior officers and high-ranking soldiers. One member of the British army said that the soldiers acted as if they “carried a golden pass that allowed them to get away with killing.”
Armia Khalil, an artist who worked as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, met a visitor in 2023 who was looking for something specific. Their five-minute talk in the wing of the Egyptian museum changed Khalil’s life.
The visitor turns out to be a museum curator organizing an exhibition. After Khalil showed him his art, it was put on display.
Lives were lived: Perry, the young donkey who modeled the donkey in the “Shrek” franchise, has died at the age of 30.
What determines longevity?
There are countless people who live to be 100 years old, and their daily habits do not always follow the usual medical advice – they drink, smoke, do not exercise. Helen Reichert, a cigarette smoker who lived for more than 100 years, survived all the doctors who told her to quit.
But decades of research have shown cases like Reichert’s to be far less common than the motivation to let go. So, how much of a person’s height comes down to lifestyle, and how much is due to luck – or lucky genes?
Both can be aspects of your lifestyle. Read more.
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