Thousands evacuated as wildfire spreads north of Los Angeles
Thousands evacuated as wildfire spreads north of Los Angeles/node/2611105/world
Thousands evacuated as wildfire spreads north of Los Angeles
At least 10 zones in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were under evacuation orders, with 2,700 residents displaced as of 11 p.m. (AFP)
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Updated 08 August 2025
AFP
Thousands evacuated as wildfire spreads north of Los Angeles
A brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles triggered evacuations in two US counties, scorching nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), authorities said Friday
Updated 08 August 2025
AFP
LOS ANGELES: A brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles triggered evacuations in two US counties, scorching nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), authorities said Friday.
At least 10 zones in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were under evacuation orders, with 2,700 residents displaced as of 11 p.m. (0600 GMT) Thursday, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd told AFP.
At least 400 personnel have been deployed to contain the fire, according to Dowd.
The blaze erupted as firefighters battled a separate wildfire â Californiaâs largest of the year so far â which raged for an eighth straight day and engulfed more than 99,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, threatening hundreds of homes.
The latest fire has so far burned 4,856 acres and remains zero percent contained, Dowd said.
LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the area, urged residents to heed evacuation guidelines.
âThe #CanyonFire is spreading fast under extreme heat & dry conditions near Ventura-LA County line,â Barger wrote on X.
âIf youâre in Santa Clarita, Hasley Canyon, or Val Verde, take evacuation orders seriously â when first responders say GO, leave immediately. Keep aware--please donât risk lives.â
The fires follow a July blaze that scorched more than 70,000 acres and needed hundreds of firefighters to contain it.
Fire authorities at the time noted that dry brush, sustained winds and high temperatures were fueling the flames.
That came after several earlier fires, stoking fears of a difficult season in a state still reeling from wildfires that killed 30 people in January.
Earlier this week, Zurich-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re said natural disasters caused $135 billion in economic losses globally in the first half of this year, fueled by the Los Angeles wildfires.
Russia rejects Western security guarantees for Ukraine after coalition pledges force
Russia rejected the notion of Western security guarantees for Ukraine on Friday, after more than two dozen countries pledged to join a "reassurance" force to deploy in the wartorn country
Updated 23 sec ago
AFP
PARIS: Russia rejected the notion of Western security guarantees for Ukraine on Friday, after more than two dozen countries pledged to join a âreassuranceâ force to deploy in the wartorn country after any eventual peace deal with Moscow. A force to deter Russia from again attacking its neighbor is a key pillar of the security backstop a coalition of mainly European countries want to offer to Ukraine if the war ends via a peace deal or a ceasefire. The extent of any US involvement remains uncertain, even after European leaders spoke to President Donald Trump via video conference following the Paris summit at which the âcoalition of the willingâ pledged its force. But on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of Western security guarantees for Ukraine, saying that âforeign, especially European and Americanâ troops âdefinitely cannotâ provide such assurances to Kyiv. The Paris summit was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and attended by Ukraineâs President Volodymyr Zelensky, while others, like British premier Keir Starmer, participated remotely. The meeting represented a new push led by Macron to show that Europe can act independently of the United States after Trump launched direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United States was represented by Trumpâs special envoy Steve Witkoff, who also met with Zelensky separately. Trump said after his call with European leaders that he would speak to Putin soon, with Peskov confirming Friday that such a call could be organized swiftly. âFirst concrete stepâ Europe has been under pressure to step up its response over three and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. âWe have today 26 countries who have formally committed â some others have not yet taken a position â to deploy as a âreassurance forceâ troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air,â Macron told reporters, standing alongside Zelensky. Zelensky hailed the move: âI think that today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious concrete step.â The troops would not be deployed âon the front lineâ but aim to âprevent any new major aggression,â the French president said. Macron added that another major pillar was a âregenerationâ of the Ukrainian army so that it can ânot just resist a new attack but dissuade Russia from a new aggression.â Macron said the United States was being âvery clearâ about its willingness to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine. However, the US contribution remains unclear. There are also divisions within the coalition, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urging more pressure but remaining cautious about the scope of involvement. âGermany will decide on military involvement at the appropriate time once the framework conditions have been clarified,â a German government spokesman said after the summit. Taking a similar line, Italyâs Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated that her country will not send troops to Ukraine, but could help monitor any potential peace deal. There is also growing concern that Putin is not interested in a peace accord, with alarm intensifying after his high-profile visit to China this week. âPlay for timeâ Frustration has been building in the West over what leaders say is Putinâs unwillingness to strike a deal to end the conflict. Zelensky said the call with Trump discussed sanctions on Russia and protecting Ukraineâs airspace. âWe discussed different options, and the most important is using strong measures, particularly economic ones, to force an end to the war,â Zelensky said on social media. The White House said it urged European countries to stop purchasing Russian oil âthat is funding the war.â A Russian rocket attack Thursday on northern Ukraine killed two people from the Danish Refugee Council who were clearing mines in an area previously occupied by Moscowâs forces, the local Ukrainian governor said. Macron warned that if Russia continued refusing a peace deal, then âadditional sanctionsâ would be agreed in coordination with the United States. He accused Russia of âdoing nothing other than try to play for timeâ and intensifying attacks against civilians. The gathering followed Putinâs high-profile trips to China and the United States, where he met with Trump in Alaska last month. Speaking Wednesday in Beijing, where he attended a massive military parade alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin hailed his forcesâ progress in Ukraine, adding that Russian troops were advancing on âall fronts.â
Trump hosts tech titans, minus estranged top supporter Elon Musk/node/2614201/world
Trump hosts tech titans, minus estranged top supporter Elon Musk
While the executives praised Trump and talked about their hopes for technological advancement, the Republican president was focused on dollar signs
Musk, once a close ally of Trump and part of his administration, had a public breakup with Trump earlier this year
Updated 05 September 2025
AP
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump hosted a high-powered group of tech executives at the White House on Thursday as he showcased research on artificial intelligence and boasted of investments that companies are making around the United States.
âThis is taking our country to a new level,â he said at the center of a long table surrounded by what he described as âhigh IQ people.â
It was the latest example of a delicate two-way courtship between Trump and tech leaders, several of whom attended his inauguration. Trump has exulted in the attention from some of the worldâs most successful businesspeople, while the companies are eager to remain on the good side of the mercurial president.
While the executives praised Trump and talked about their hopes for technological advancement, the Republican president was focused on dollar signs. He went around the table and asked executives how much they were investing in the country.
Metaâs Mark Zuckerberg, who sat to Trumpâs right, said $600 billion. Appleâs Tim Cook said the same. Googleâs Sundar Pichai said $250 billion.
President Donald Trump speaks as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg listens during a dinner in the State Dining Room of the White House on Sept. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
âWhat about Microsoft?â Trump said. âThatâs a big number.â
CEO Satya Nadella said it was up to $80 billion per year.
âGood,â Trump responded. âVery good.â
Notably absent from the guest list was Elon Musk, once a close ally of Trump who was tasked with running the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk had a public breakup with Trump earlier this year.
At the table instead was one of Muskâs rivals in artificial intelligence, Sam Altman of OpenAI.
In another reflection of shifting loyalties in Trumpâs world, the dinner included Jared Isaacman, who founded the payment processing company Shift4.
Isaacman was a Musk ally chosen by Trump to lead NASA, only to have his nomination withdrawn because he was, in Trumpâs words, âtotally a Democrat.â
The dinner was expected to be held in the Rose Garden, where Trump recently paved over the grassy lawn and set up tables, chairs and umbrellas that look strikingly similar to the outdoor setup at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
But because of inclement weather, officials decided to move the event to the White House State Dining Room.
The event followed an afternoon meeting of the White Houseâs new Artificial Intelligence Education task force, which first lady Melania Trump chaired and some tech leaders participated.
âThe robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,â she said,
Sundar Pichai (L), CEO of Google, attends a dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for tech leaders at the White House in Washington, DC, on Sept. 4, 2025. (AFP)
Pichai, IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna and Code.org President Cameron Wilson were among those participating in the task force.
The White House confirmed that the guest list for the dinner also included: Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates; Google founder Sergey Brin; OpenAI founder Greg Brockman; Oracle CEO Safra Catz; Blue Origin CEO David Limp; Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra; TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive; Palantir executive Shyam Sankar; Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang; and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.
Trumpâs outreach to top tech executives has occasionally been divisive within the Republican Party.
One of Trumpâs closest allies in Congress, Sen. Josh Hawley, delivered a sharp criticism of the tech industry during a speech at a conservative conference in Washington on Thursday morning. He criticized the lack of regulation around artificial intelligence and singled out Meta and ChatGPT.
âThe government should inspect all of these frontier AI systems so we can better understand what the tech titans plan to build and destroy,â the Missouri senator said.
Trump has embraced AI-created imagery and frequently shares it online, despite his complaints earlier in the week about the technology being used to create misleading videos.
Late Wednesday night, he posted a string of AI-generated memes and videos, such as one depicting him interacting with the man pictured in the Cracker Barrel logo, one showing California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff with an extremely elongated neck, and one with Trumpâs face superimposed on a pole vaulter as it appears to leap over a Cracker Barrel banner.
On Tuesday, Trump said a video showing items being thrown out of an upstairs window of the White House must have been created by AI, despite his team seeming to have confirmed the videoâs veracity hours earlier.
Trump then said, âIf something happens thatâs really bad, maybe Iâll have to just blame AI.â
The first lady, at her event Thursday, likewise highlighted both the potential and peril of AI.
âAs leaders and parents, we must manage AIâs growth responsibly,â she said, calling for both action and caution. âDuring this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children â empowering, but with watchful guidance.â
Last month, the first lady launched a nationwide contest for students in grades K-12 to use AI to complete a project or address a community challenge. The project was aimed at showing the benefits of AI, but the first lady has also highlighted its drawbacks.
Melania Trump lobbied Congress this year to pass legislation that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation using imagery that is real or an AI-generated deepfake.
The president signed the âTake It Down Actâ in May.
In ruined Ukrainian cities, residents have tried to cling to hope but eventually they leave
Updated 05 September 2025
AP
KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine: For many residents of Ukraineâs eastern Donetsk region, evacuation begins with one defining blast â the explosion that makes it impossible to stay. For 69-year-old Tetiana Zaichikova, it came when a strike reduced her home to rubble.
The region has been the epicenter of heavy fighting for years and evacuations there have continued as long as Russiaâs invasion â more than three years. Town after town in the region, larger than Slovenia or roughly the size of Massachusetts, is emptying amid the fighting as Russian forces now control around 70 percent of the area.
Some are staying in shattered cities, clinging to the hope that the war will end any day â a hope fueled by ongoing peace efforts, largely led by US President Donald Trump, that so far yielded no breakthroughs. They hold on until it becomes too dangerous even for the military and police to drive into the city.
âWe kept hoping. We waited for every round of negotiations. We thought somehow they would reach an agreement in our favor, and we could stay in our homes,â said Zaichikova, who still bears bruises and hematomas across her face.
Defining moment to flee
If Zaichikova had taken even one step into the kitchen that night, she is convinced she would not have survived.
In Kostiantynivka â a city that once had a population of approximately 67,000 â conditions in recent months have become apocalyptic: There is no reliable electricity, water or gas, and nightly barrages grow heavier with each passing hour. Russian forces fire all types of weapons while Ukrainian troops answer back, and the former industrial hub has become a proving ground crowded with drones overhead.
Zaichikova knew the city was barely livable, but she clung to the hope she would not lose the place where she had lived all her life and taught music at a kindergarten.
On the night of Aug. 28, after months of rarely leaving her home, she wanted only to make tea before bed. She switched on a night lamp and walked toward the kitchen. As she reached for the light switch, the blast hit.
A wooden beam and shelves collapsed on her. When she came to, the rubble rose as high as she stood. The entrance to her building was blocked.
Emergency services no longer operated in the city, too dangerous even for soldiers. âIf we had been burning, we would have just burned,â she said.
Her neighbor swung a sledgehammer through the night until midday, finally breaking a hole for her to crawl through. Outside, she saw what she believed was the crater of a glide bomb.
A few days later, she left the city.
âI didnât want to leave until the last moment, but that was the last straw. When I was driven through the city, I saw what it had become. It was black and destroyed,â she said. Last call
Police Officer Yevhen Mosiichuk has driven into Kostiantynivka almost every day for the past year to evacuate people. He has watched the situation deteriorate.
The city now sits on Ukraineâs shrinking patch of territory, wedged just west of Russian-held Bakhmut and nearly encircled from three sides by Moscowâs forces.
âThe difficulty of evacuations is that the city is under constant attack,â he said, listing not only drones but artillery, rockets and glide bombs.
As he spoke, a drone detector beeped. âOh, it caught drones,â he said.
They drove across the river, one flying over it and then toward the bridge, before jamming it with their equipment. Their van is fitted with anti-drone netting, and they pass through mesh corridors that Ukrainians installed to force drones to detonate prematurely or malfunction.
âThe situation has been worsening â not every day, week or month, but every minute,â Mosiichuk said. âIt is clear because they are using all kinds of weapons.â
For civilians, that means their city may soon be wiped off the map, like other once-large cities in the Donetsk region â Avdiivka and Bakhmut, now ghost towns stripped of their industrial and historic past.
Like Zaichikova, those still in the city are mostly elderly, often disabled and poor. For them, losing their homes means setting out into the unknown without any support. Some evacuees said dying at home would be easier than leaving.
Wearing a helmet and body armor, Mosiichuk approached the apartment building of those who had requested evacuation. Explosions rumbled at varying distances. He and his colleague worked quickly, knowing every minute in the city was life-threatening.
The entrance was littered with shattered glass, and every floor had broken windows. Faded notices on the walls advertised electricians and plumbers who would never come.
They climbed to the seventh floor. A few residents peeked out after hearing the commotion. Police shouted at them to leave as soon as possible, warning that it would soon be impossible to enter the city. Leaving it all behind
When police came to evacuate 67-year-old Mykhailo Maistruk, it was the first time in two years he had set foot outside. With an amputated leg, he had been trapped in his apartment since the elevator stopped working and the city became too dangerous.
Together with his wife, Larysa Naumenko, he packed what little they had. Naumenko had lived in the apartment since before the Soviet Union collapsed.
They handed the keys to one of the two neighbors left in the building and left under the thunder of shelling.
âWe hoped ⊠we lived here for 40 years. Do you think itâs easy to leave all this behind? At our age, we are left with nothing,â Naumenko said.
Maistruk said even they could no longer endure the endless explosions and finally decided to leave. Many of their neighbors and friends had fled in the first months of the invasion; some later returned and left again. What kept them in place was not only Maistrukâs disability but also their small pensions, which made it nearly impossible to start from scratch elsewhere.
âHardly anyone will come back here. It feels like the city is being wiped off the face of the earth,â Naumenko said as she was driven away by the evacuation car. âWho will rebuild all this? It was such a developed city, with so many factories. Now they are gone.â
Thai parliament to vote on new PM, as Thaksin jets off amid chaos   /node/2614199/world
Thai parliament to vote on new PM, as Thaksin jets off amid chaos  Â
Tycoonâs departure leaves ruling party in disarray
Vote on PM comes after days of deadlock
Updated 05 September 2025
Reuters
BANGKOK: Thailandâs parliament was set to choose a new prime minister on Friday, after days of political chaos, in a vote that could be overshadowed by the dramatic departure from the country of its most powerful politician Thaksin Shinawatra.
Polarising billionaire Thaksin, the central figure in a tumultuous two-decade battle for power in Thailand, left on his private jet for Dubai late on Thursday, with his familyâs ruling party Pheu Thai in disarray.
Thaksinâs flight out of Thailand came only days ahead of a court ruling next week that could see him jailed.
The departure of Thaksin, the driving force behind Pheu Thai, came six days after a court sacked his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as prime minister for an ethics violation, triggering a scramble for power and a bold offensive by a renegade party to form its own government.
Pheu Thai, the populist political juggernaut that won five of the past six elections, has fought desperately to thwart the challenge of former alliance partner Bhumjaithai, which has won the backing of the biggest force in parliament with a pledge to call a new election within four months.
The turmoil has put Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul in pole position ahead of Fridayâs vote, where he needs the support of more than half of the lower house to become prime minister.
His coalition has 146 lawmakers and with the Peopleâs Party opting to stay in the opposition but guaranteeing him its 143 votes, Anutin could comfortably pass the required threshold of 247 votes.
âThe final showâ
After a failed attempt to dissolve the house to stymie Anutin, Pheu Thai made another last-ditch attempt to undermine his alliance on Thursday, announcing it would nominate 77-year-old former attorney-general Chaikasem Nitisiri to contest the prime ministerial vote, with a promise to call a snap election immediately if elected.
But with the sudden departure of 76-year-old power-broker Thaksin amid a crisis in his once-dominant party, the chances of political unknown Chaikasem succeeding look increasingly slim.
In an overnight post on X, Thaksin said he had arrived for a medical checkup in Dubai, where he spent most of his 15 years in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail term for abuse of power and conflicts of interest while he was prime minister from 2001-2006.
He said he would return by Monday.
Thaksin made a vaunted homecoming before cheering crowds in 2023 to serve his eight-year sentence, but on his first night in prison, he was transferred to the VIP wing of a hospital on medical grounds.
The tycoon had his sentence commuted to a year by the king and was released on parole after six months in detention. The Supreme Court will decide on Tuesday if his hospital stint counts as time served, if not, it could send him back to jail.
Wanwichit Boonprong, a political science lecturer at Rangsit University, said Anutin had outmaneuvered Thaksinâs Pheu Thai by making a pact with the opposition.
âIâm quite confident that Anutin will be elected as the next prime minister,â he said.
âPheu Thaiâs tactics are like the final show,â he said. âPheu Thai has completely closed the curtain.â
US senators pit Kennedy against Trump on vaccine policy. Democrats, medical groups call for his resignation
Republican Senator Cassidy contrasts Kennedyâs anti-vaccine stance with Trumpâs 2020 COVID vaccine initiative
Criticism of Kennedy has intensified since he fired CDC Director Monarez, which triggered resignations of four CDC agency officials
The officials cited anti-vaccine policies and misinformation pushed by Kennedy and his team
Updated 05 September 2025
AP
WASHINGTON: Democrats and Republicans pushed US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedyâs Jr. on his recent vaccine policies and their stark contrast to President Donald Trumpâs successful first-term pandemic initiative to speed vaccine development during a combative three-hour Senate hearing on Thursday.
Half a dozen heated exchanges focused on the details of his decision to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, who had started the job with Kennedyâs support only a month earlier.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician who played a critical role in Kennedyâs confirmation, grilled him about the cancelation of $500 million in COVID vaccine contracts, while citing examples of doctors and cancer patients who have been unable to obtain the protection against the potentially deadly disease.
âI would say, effectively, weâre denying people vaccine,â concluded Cassidy.
âWell, youâre wrong,â Kennedy responded.
Cassidy, of Louisiana, praised Trump for having accelerated the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020.
His line of questioning â mirrored by two other members of his and Trumpâs party â underscored the tightrope Republicans critical of Kennedy needed to walk in order to push back against his vaccine policies without criticizing the president.
Cassidy asked Kennedy during the Senate Finance Committee hearing if he agreed with him that Trump deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for the COVID vaccine initiative, known as Operation Warp Speed. Kennedy said he did.
Why then had Kennedy said the vaccines killed more people than COVID? Cassidy asked. Kennedy denied making the statement, would not agree that the vaccines saved lives, and in a later exchange acknowledged the shots prevented deaths but not how many.
COVID vaccines in the first year of their use saved some 14.4 million lives globally, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
Kennedy has also canceled $500 million in funding for research on the mRNA technology that yielded the most widely used COVID vaccines under Trump, which Cassidy characterized as denying people vaccines.
Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, who like Cassidy is a physician, adopted Cassidyâs tactic, as did Senate Democrats Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, where the CDC is headquartered, and Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats.
The White House backed Kennedy, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance both defending him and Leavitt attacking Democrats in posts on X. Neither mentioned his Republican critics.
âSecretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearings you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, Iâve grown deeply concerned,â said Barrasso.
âThe public has seen measles outbreaks, leadership in the National Institutes of Health questioning the use of mRNA vaccines, the recently confirmed Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fired,â the senator added.
Under fiery questioning from most Democrats and some Republicans, Kennedy defended the ousting of Monarez, adding that he might need to fire even more people at the agency.
Trump fired Monarez after she resisted changes to vaccine policy advanced by Kennedy that she believed contradicted scientific evidence, further destabilizing the already embattled agency.
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Monarez said she had been directed to preapprove vaccine recommendations and fire career CDC officials, describing her ouster as part of a broader push to weaken US vaccine standards.
Kennedy said she lied and that he had never told Monarez she needed to preapprove decisions, but that he did order her to fire officials, which she refused to do.
âSecretary Kennedyâs claims are false, and at times, patently ridiculous. Dr. Monarez stands by what she said in her Wall Street Journal op-ed,â her lawyers said in a statement, adding that she was willing to repeat it under oath.
Calls for Kennedy's resignation
Kennedy said the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic had lied to Americans about mask wearing, social distancing, school closures and the ability of the vaccine to stop transmission.
âI need to fire some of those people and make sure this doesnât happen again,â Kennedy said.
The CDCâs pandemic recommendations were based on past experience with virus transmission and what was known about the novel coronavirus at the time. By late 2021, with more real-world data, the CDC acknowledged the shots could not stop COVID infection and transmission, but were highly effective in preventing severe cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Since taking the job, Kennedy has made a series of controversial changes to US vaccine policy, including narrowing who is eligible for COVID shots and firing all 17 expert members of a CDC vaccine advisory panel, choosing some fellow anti-vaccine activists to replace them.
Vaccination rates in the US have been on the decline. Florida on Wednesday said it plans to end all state vaccine mandates, including for students to attend schools. No senators asked Kennedy about the announcement in the hearing.
Criticism of Kennedy has intensified since Monarezâs firing, which triggered resignations of four CDC agency officials who cited anti-vaccine policies and misinformation pushed by him and his team. He revisited several issues after the hearing, posting four times on X to address questions and respond to accusations.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the committeeâs top-ranking Democrat, called for Kennedyâs resignation, as have Warnock, Sanders, and over 1,000 current and former health employees.
