Strong winds drive wildfires across Los Angeles
California firefighters have battled wind-whipped wildfires that have torn across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes and clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled, straining resources as officials prepared for the situation to worsen. The blaze that broke out on Tuesday evening in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living centre had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a car park. The residents waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and even construction vans arrived to take them to safety. A blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences and memorialised by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA”. In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable, as scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases. Advertisement Traffic jams prevented emergency vehicles from getting through. A bulldozer was then brought in to push abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway. A third wildfire started at about 10:30pm (06:30 GMT, Wednesday) and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, the northernmost neighbourhood in Los Angeles. The causes of all three fires were under investigation. Flames were being pushed by winds topping 60mph (about 100km/h) in some places. The wind speeds were projected to increase overnight, producing isolated gusts that could top 100mph (160km/h) in mountains and foothills — including in areas that have not seen substantial rain in months. The situation prompted the Los Angeles Fire Department to take the rare step of putting out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help. It was too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight. Officials did not give an estimate of structures damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but they said about 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures were under threat. Governor Gavin Newsom visited the scene and said many homes had burned. By evening, the flames had spread into neighbouring Malibu and several people there were being treated for burn injuries. A firefighter had a serious head injury and was taken to a hospital, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott. Advertisement As of Tuesday evening, nearly 167,000 people were without power in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in southern California, where there has been very little rain this season. Southern California has not seen more than 0.1 inches (2.5mm) of rain since early May. Adblock test (Why?)
Can Syria’s new leaders fix the broken economy?
After almost 14 years of civil war, Syria’s economy is in ruins. After almost 14 years of civil war, Syria’s economy has been decimated. Most of its oil and gas wells, roads, electricity grids, farmland and infrastructure are damaged. Crippling the economy even further is a wide range of Western sanctions imposed on the nation and on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad and is now leading Syria’s transition. The new administration says lifting those sanctions is vital to help rebuild the country. But will they be removed? Plus, Ukraine has halted Russia’s gas flows to Europe. And sales of foreign smartphones have dropped by almost half in China. Adblock test (Why?)
Former Assad military officers reconcile with Syria’s new authorities
NewsFeed Former Syrian military officers who worked under the Assad regime are registering with the new administration as part of the effort towards a peaceful political transition. Published On 8 Jan 20258 Jan 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Will Austria’s Freedom Party form a coalition and create stable government?
Herbert Kickle first far-right leader since World War II to be invited to form a government. Austria could soon join a growing number of European Union countries led by the far right. Months of negotiation led by the conservative Austrian People’s Party ended with no coalition and the president, a left-wing former Greens leader, has been left with little choice but to look even further to the right. The Freedom Party (FPO) is anti-immigration and pro-Russian. Its leader, Herbert Kickle, is due to begin negotiations with the conservatives and is hoping to emerge as chancellor. Will he succeed? And if he does, what does the future look like for Austria’s ailing economy and its significant immigrant population? Presenter: Cyril Vanier Guests: Michael Bonvalot – Journalist Aurelien Mondon – Senior lecturer at the University of Bath Florian Hartleb – Political consultant Adblock test (Why?)
‘Hell will break loose’: Trump hints at military moves in Mideast, Americas
United States President-elect Donald Trump has hinted at possible military intervention in the Americas and the Middle East, as well as other items on his foreign policy agenda, during a wide-ranging news conference in Florida. Trump spoke from his Mar-a-Lago estate on Tuesday, a day after Congress officially certified his victory in November’s general elections. The news conference also comes just 13 days before Trump is set to take the oath of office for his second term on January 20. The president-elect touched on several domestic subjects, pledging to roll back environmental restrictions and pardon supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. But his most consequential statements concerned foreign policy. Trump expounded on a sweeping expansionist vision, with consequences for countries across the world. He repeated his desire for US control of the Panama Canal, Greenland and Canada, while emphasising that “all hell will break out” if captives held in Gaza are not released before he takes office. Advertisement In one exchange with reporters, Trump was asked if he would rule out the use of military force or economic coercion to take control of the Panama Canal or Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. He refused. “I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said. He then pivoted to the canal, an arterial trade route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He later added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes.” Both Greenland’s and Denmark’s prime ministers have ruled out the prospect of the sprawling Arctic island being transferred to US control. And the government of Panama has likewise maintained that the canal will remain Panamanian, as it has been since the US relinquished control in 1999, following a treaty negotiated under late US President Jimmy Carter. Eyes on Canada Trump also made bold statements about his intentions towards Canada, one of the US’s largest trading partners. The country shares a 8,891-kilometre (5,525-mile) border with the US, and Trump in recent weeks has suggested it should become the US’s 51st state. But during Tuesday’s news conference, he ruled out using military force against Canada, which has traditionally been a close ally — though not “economic force”. “You get rid of the artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what it looks like, and it would also be much better for national security,” Trump said, referring to the US-Canada border. Advertisement Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly responded to the prospect on social media. “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Trudeau wrote. Trump, meanwhile, renewed his pledge to impose “substantial tariffs” on Mexico and Canada if they do not acquiesce to demands to stem irregular migration and drug trafficking into the US. Trump had previously threatened to slap 25-percent tariffs on the two countries, despite warnings from economists that trade wars could mangle heavily interconnected North American industries. In another reference to changing the regional map, Trump said the Gulf of Mexico should be named the “Gulf of America”. It has a “beautiful ring to it”, he quipped. ‘Hell will break out’ Trump spent considerable time discussing Israel’s war in Gaza, a conflict that has claimed more than 45,885 Palestinian lives and prompted fears of grave human rights abuses. The president-elect called his nominee for Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, up to the podium to give an update on negotiations. Witkoff, a real-estate investor with no foreign policy experience, had been part of recent ceasefire talks in the Middle East. In apparently impromptu remarks, Witkoff said: “I think that we’ve had some really great progress, and I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.” But the president-elect took a harsher line, focusing on the release of the remaining captives held by Hamas after the attack on October 8, 2023, in southern Israel. Israel estimates about 100 people remain in Hamas’s custody. Advertisement Trump vowed that “all hell will break out” in the Middle East if Hamas does not release captives by the time he takes office. Some observers have interpreted Trump’s statement as a threat of possible US military intervention in Gaza, a line that outgoing President Joe Biden has refused to cross, despite surging military aid to Israel. When asked to explain what he meant at the news conference, Trump baulked: “Do I have to define it for you? All hell will break out if those hostages aren’t back.” “If they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say any more, but that’s what it is,” he said. Syria policy Trump gave a characteristically cryptic answer when asked about the future of US troops in Syria. The Pentagon says about 2,000 US personnel remain in the country as part of a mission to curb the armed group ISIL (ISIS). But questions have arisen about long-term US involvement in Syria after former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in early December. US troops have supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria since 2014, as a multi-pronged civil war unfolded in the country. But that backing put Washington at odds with its NATO ally Turkiye, which considers members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — the bulk of the SDF’s fighters — to be “terrorists”. Turkiye, by contrast, has supported the rebel groups that ultimately overthrew al-Assad. Advertisement During his first term, Trump floated the possibility of withdrawing US troops from Syria. And as recently as December, he posted on his Truth Social platform that the US should have “nothing to do” with Syria. But in Tuesday’s news conference, he opted instead for ambiguity about the future of US involvement
Venezuelan opposition candidate claims son-in-law has been kidnapped
Edmundo Gonzalez, who competed against incumbent Nicolas Maduro in July’s presidential elections, says masked men abducted his son-in-law in Caracas. Edmundo Gonzalez, the leader of Venezuela’s political opposition, has accused masked men of kidnapping his son-in-law, who remains missing. Gonzalez, who ran in the country’s contested presidential election in July, announced the news on social media on Tuesday. “This morning my son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped,” Gonzalez wrote. “Rafael was heading to my grandchildren’s school, ages 7 and 6, in Caracas, to drop them off for the start of classes, and he was intercepted by hooded men dressed in black, who put him in a gold-coloured pickup truck with the license plate AA54E2C and took him away. At this time he is missing.” Gonzalez himself currently faces an arrest warrant in Venezuela, where he has asserted that he is the rightful winner of the July 28 presidential contest. That has put him at odds with incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, who likewise claimed victory. Maduro is set to be sworn in for a third term on Friday. The opposition and other critics of Maduro’s government have protested against the election and the official results, which they maintain lacked transparency and fairness. Advertisement Pre-election polling appeared to show Maduro trailing Gonzalez by a steep margin. But shortly after polls closed, the country’s electoral authority declared Maduro the winner, without releasing the usual breakdown of the voting tally. Venezuela’s opposition argued that precinct-level tallies show Gonzalez beating Maduro by a two-to-one margin, and they have published what appear to be official tally sheets online. That raised doubts about the legitimacy of his victory, and protesters flooded the streets in cities like Caracas in the aftermath of the vote. The government has, in turn, been accused of leading a violent crackdown against protesters and political opponents following the election. Some 2,000 people were initially arrested, and 23 killed, though Maduro’s government recently said it released 1,515 of the detainees. His administration has long faced accusations of political repression and human rights abuses, including torture and arbitrary detention. In September, prosecutors in Venezuela’s government accused Gonzalez of conspiracy, usurpation of powers and falsifying documents, and a court issued a warrant for his arrest. The opposition leader fled the country and went into exile in Spain. But he has pledged to return to Venezuela. The Venezuelan government, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that Gonzalez will be arrested if he comes back. Maduro and his allies maintain that Gonzalez and other opposition members worked with hostile foreign powers to destabilise the country. Advertisement In early January, Gonzalez left Spain to rally support in a tour across the Americas and put pressure on Maduro’s government. He has already visited Argentina and Uruguay, and on Monday, he met US President Joe Biden, whose government recognised Gonzalez as the legitimate president-elect in November. While regional leaders have expressed scepticism about Maduro’s claims of victory and condemned the crackdown on protesters, it remains unclear what leverage can be exerted on Gonzalez’s behalf. Adblock test (Why?)
US pauses select restrictions on Syria, offering hope on Western sanctions
Washington opens the way for transactions needed for humanitarian purposes in a move seen as an ‘important step’ towards easing the West’s sanctions. The United States has announced it is easing select restrictions on Syria’s transitional government. Late on Monday, the US Treasury issued a general licence, lasting six months, that authorises certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions. The move is designed to allow the entry of humanitarian aid following the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last month, the US said. It suggests some progress in the efforts of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main group that overthrew al-Assad and now leading Syria’s transition, to strengthen international relations. The action does not remove any sanctions but will ensure they “do not impede activities to meet basic human needs, including the provision of public services or humanitarian assistance”, the US Treasury said. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said the end of al-Assad’s “brutal and repressive rule, backed by Russia and Iran”, provided a unique opportunity for Syria and its people to rebuild. Advertisement “During this period of transition, Treasury will continue to support humanitarian assistance and responsible governance in Syria.” A wide array of Western sanctions is debilitating Syria’s economy and threatening its recovery after more than 13 years of civil war. The US, as well as the European Union, imposed sanctions against al-Assad and his regime for war crimes and human rights violations. Despite the removal of al-Assad, however, the sanctions remain in place. European officials recently said they would not be lifted until Syria’s new rulers demonstrate that they will protect minorities and share power. Syria’s new trade minister warned on Monday that Damascus was unable to make deals to import fuel, wheat and other vital items due to strict US sanctions, despite many countries, including Gulf Arab states, wanting to do so. Maher Khalil al-Hasan told the Reuters news agency Syria’s new administration had managed to scrape together enough wheat and fuel for a few months, but the country faces a “catastrophe” if sanctions are not frozen or lifted soon. ‘Important step’ “The new administration … wants all of these sanctions lifted. But this is an important step coming from the US – because Western sanctions are in place from the European Union and other allied Western countries too, but they think they mainly take their lead from the United States,” Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays, reporting from Damascus, said. The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between the leader of HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa – who was once aligned with al-Qaeda – and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf. Advertisement The US and United Nations have long designated HTS as a terrorist organisation. However, the US has gradually lifted some penalties since al-Assad’s departure, including dropping a $10m reward on al-Sharaa. Takeoff In another positive development for Syria’s new rulers, international flights to the war-battered nation resumed on Tuesday. Airport official Saad Khair Bek said two flights from Damascus international airport departed for the United Arab Emirates in the morning. Its first arrival, from Qatar, was due to land at noon. On Thursday, Qatar Airways announced it would resume flights to Damascus after nearly 13 years, with three flights per week to start with. No flights had taken off or landed since pro-Assad forces abandoned the airport in the Syrian capital on December 8. Adblock test (Why?)
No food, no sleep, no hope in Gaza
I have spent a total of four years in Gaza, six months of them during the ongoing war. I have never felt so helpless in the face of the formidable war machine that shoves a new bullet into its gun as soon as it has fired the previous one, while having a seemingly unlimited supply of ammunition. In September, I spoke to a matriarch who ran a shelter for displaced people in Khan Younis. I asked her what hope she had about the prospect of peace. She pointed at a small girl holding her mother’s hand and sucking her thumb. “Her father was killed when their house was bombed five days ago, and they’ve not been able to retrieve his body from the rubble because the area is under constant fire,” she said. “What hope?” In hopeless Gaza, sleep is among the most precious commodities. Back in January, we would run to the window to watch the plume of smoke painting the sky after a particularly loud and close hit. But with time, they have become so commonplace that hardly anyone bothers to look any more. Advertisement On an average night in my neighbourhood in Deir el-Balah, bombardment would start at night, just as people would prepare to try to sleep. We would hear the whistling of a missile and then a loud explosion, shaking the windows. The blast would wake up the local dogs, the donkeys, the babies and any other soul who dared to sleep, starting a chain reaction of barking, crying and other agitated noises. More bombs would come that would then be followed by various types of gunfire until all quiets down for a short while. The dawn call to prayer would usually trigger another series of attacks. The apocalyptic scenes that everyone sees on TV are even more harrowing in person. I often find myself deleting photos and videos from my phone because the camera does not do justice to just how grotesque the surroundings appear to the naked eye. In person, the visuals are accompanied by a slew of sounds. This includes the now-daily ritual of people fighting for bread at the nearby bakeries as food supplies are dwindling, amid the almost total cut-off of commercial goods and the persistent and paralysing restrictions on the entry of humanitarian assistance. Just the other week, a woman and two girls suffocated after being trampled in front of a bakery when a fight broke out because there was not enough bread for everyone. My dear friend Khaled, who runs community kitchens across Gaza, worried that soon there would be no food at all and his kitchens would have to close. I struggled to find anything helpful to say to him given the reality around us and would cry every time we spoke, as I too was losing hope. “Don’t cry, Olga,” he always said. “Be strong, like we are.” Indeed, the strength of Palestinians is unparalleled. Advertisement In November, the Famine Review Committee, an ad hoc body of international technical experts that reviews classifications of potential famine identified by the United Nations and other actors, published a report, ringing another alarm over the imminent threat of famine, particularly in the beleaguered north of Gaza. Since then, things have only been getting worse. On several occasions, I saw people scooping up dirty flour that had spilled on the road after some bags of flour had fallen off an aid truck. Prioritising the most vulnerable in Gaza is a hopeless task since there is almost no aid to provide. With 100 percent of a population of about 2.3 million people in need, do you choose to help a pregnant woman, a domestic violence survivor, or someone who is homeless and disabled? Do you look for all of these risks in a single person? The agony of these choices will keep us awake long after our jobs in Gaza end. During the months we have spent in Gaza, my colleagues and I have witnessed so much pain, tragedy and death that we are at a loss for words to convey the horror. We have picked up dead bodies from the side of the road – some still warm and bleeding profusely, others with rigor mortis, half-eaten by dogs. Some of these bodies were young boys. Boys who were killed senselessly, some of them dying slowly as they bled out, terrified and alone, while their mothers agonised over why their sons had not come home that night. For the rest of the world, they became just another number in the grim statistic of people killed in Gaza so far – now more than 45,500, according to the Ministry of Health. Advertisement In the rare moments of quiet and between the chaos of constant crises, I reflect on everything around me and ask myself: “What hope?” The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)
Earthquake hits Tibet’s Shigatse: What we know so far
A powerful earthquake has struck a remote region of Tibet, killing at least 95 people and wounding dozens, with tremors felt in Nepal, Bhutan and parts of northern India. Videos aired by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed houses destroyed with the official Xinhua News Agency saying more than 1,000 houses were damaged. The epicentre of the quake was Shigatse, one of the holiest cities of Tibet. Here is what we know so far: What was the magnitude of the Tibet earthquake? The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, while the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) recorded a magnitude of 6.8. The quake, just after 9:05am local time (01:05 GMT), shook the region of western China at a depth of about 10km (6 miles). Where was the epicentre of the earthquake? The epicentre of the quake was the Shigatse high-altitude county of Dingri, located on the Chinese side of Mount Everest and home to about 62,000 people. Tuesday’s quake was the most powerful recorded within a 200km (124-mile) radius in the last five years, the CENC added. Advertisement Shigatse is the seat of the Panchen Lama, a significant figure in Tibetan Buddhism, whose spiritual authority is second only to the Dalai Lama. Dingri is currently experiencing temperatures of about minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The China Meteorological Administration forecast that the mercury will drop to minus 18 degrees Celsius by Tuesday evening. The remote Shigatse is far from China’s main cities. This, combined with the extreme cold, has hindered rescue efforts, according to Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing. What do we know about the victims? At least 95 people have been killed and another 130 people are injured, according to Chinese state media. A man in Kathmandu was injured after jumping off the top of a house following strong tremors, Nepal Police spokesman Bishwa Adhikari told Reuters. No other casualties or damages have been reported so far from Nepal, India and Bhutan. Were houses damaged in the quake? The earthquake caused infrastructural damage, with images showing collapsed homes and other buildings reduced to rubble. The Xinhua news agency reported that more than 1,000 houses have been damaged to varying degrees. “Dingri county and its surrounding areas experienced very strong tremors, and many buildings near the epicentre have collapsed,” according to the state broadcaster CCTV. In the town of Lhatse, videos geolocated by AFP showed debris scattered in front of streetside eateries. Rescue teams look through rubble in Shigatse City [Screengrab obtained from a handout video via Reuters] Where were the tremors of the Tibet earthquake felt? Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, was rattled by the tremor and aftershocks, forcing some residents to rush from their homes. Kathmandu is about 230km (140 miles) south of Shigatse. Advertisement Tremors were also felt in India’s northern state of Bihar which borders Nepal. They were also felt in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu. According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), shocks were experienced in seven hill districts which border Tibet. People leave their houses during an earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal [Stringer/Reuters] How has the government responded? The government has deployed some 1,500 rescue workers, including military personnel, to the area. Al Jazeera’s Yu said there are pictures of those affected by the earthquake being treated on the streets. Xinhua reported that some 22,000 items of disaster relief aid have been dispatched to the affected areas, which include cotton tents, quilts and items for high-altitude areas. Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasised “the all-out search and rescue efforts, minimising casualties to the greatest extent possible, properly resettling affected residents, and ensuring their safety and warmth through the winter”, CCTV added. Xinhua said that “local authorities are reaching out to various townships in the county to assess the impact of the quake”. Have the Himalayas recently experienced earthquakes? The Tibetan Plateau is prone to earthquakes because of colliding tectonic plates. Tibet and Nepal lie on a major geological fault line where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence. The region is seismically active, causing tectonic uplifts that can grow strong enough to change the heights of the Himalayas’ peaks. Advertisement There have been 29 earthquakes of magnitude three or above in the past five years within 200km (124 miles) of the Shigatse quake epicentre, according to CCTV. However, authorities say that Tuesday’s quake has been “more powerful” than the other earthquakes in the past five years, Al Jazeera’s Yu reported. In 2015, nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured when a magnitude 7.8 quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes. On May 21, 2021, an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 rattled China’s southern Qinghai province. Tuesday’s quake is among the worst earthquakes to hit the Himalayan region in 100 years. Adblock test (Why?)
Shooting in the occupied West Bank kills three Israelis
NewsFeed A shooting took place near an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, killing three Israelis and wounding several. Published On 6 Jan 20256 Jan 2025 Adblock test (Why?)