Flames threaten rich California enclave; residents flee

A firefighter puts out hotspots on a smoldering hillside in Montecito, California on Dec. 16, 2017. (AFP)
Updated 17 December 2017
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Flames threaten rich California enclave; residents flee

MONTECITO, California: Firefighters trying to prevent one of the biggest fires in California’s history from consuming homes in Santa Barbara and the nearby wealthy enclave of Montecito were hoping less powerful winds would help them after they managed to stop it from burning thousands of residences.
After winds roared at around 30 mph (48 kph), with gusts to about 60 mph (97 kph) on Saturday, they were expected to ease Sunday with gusts of up to 35 mph (56 kph).
But even the lower intensity winds are still extremely dangerous, said fire spokesman Jude Olivas.
The fire that started 12 days ago has burned at least 700 homes and killed a firefighter, but Olivas said firefighters saved thousands of homes from being destroyed on Saturday.
The winds “will go down a little bit, hopefully we can do the same job (Sunday) that we did today,” he said.
Earlier Saturday, residents piled into cars and fled, turning downtown Santa Barbara into what one resident called “a ghost town.”
There were mandatory evacuations around Montecito and neighboring Summerland came as firefighters sprayed water onto hot spots sparked by wind-blown embers. They also drove to the historic San Ysidro Ranch in yellow firetrucks as heavy smoke rose from the coastal hills, blotting out blue skies.
A portion of Santa Barbara was under mandatory evacuation. At the city’s zoo, workers began putting some animals into crates and kennels, to ready them for possible evacuation.
In downtown Santa Barbara, Maya Schoop-Rutten, owner of Chocolate Maya, said she saw through the window of her chocolate shop smoke suddenly appear after strong winds blew through.
“It was absolutely incredible,” she said. “There was a huge mushroom of smoke that happened in just a matter of a few minutes.”
Restaurants and small stores on normally bustling State Street were shuttered.
“It’s a ghost town. Everything is shut down,” Schoop-Rutten said. “It’s very, very eerie.”
The northbound lanes of US Highway 101, coming up the coast from Los Angeles, were closed for a few hours south of Santa Barbara, with cars stopped on the freeway.
The 418-square-mile (1,083-square-kilometer) blaze called the Thomas fire was moving rapidly westward and crested Montecito Peak, just north of Montecito. Known for its star power, the enclave boasts the mansions of Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and many other celebrities.
“It is right above the homes,” Olivas said.
Winfrey expressed her dismay on her Twitter account.
“Still praying for our little town. Winds picked up this morning creating a perfect storm of bad for firefighters,” Winfrey tweeted. It was not clear if the former talk show host was in Montecito.
Pierre Henry, owner of the Bree’osh Bakery in Montecito, said he got a text to evacuate Saturday morning as the fire approached homes.
“The worst was the smoke,” Henry said. “You couldn’t breathe at all and it became worse when the wind started. All the ashes and the dust on the street were in the air. It was very, very frightening.”
The day passed with no homes damaged or destroyed as firefighters dealt with “extreme and erratic” fire behavior, Olivas said.
Schoop-Rutten said the fire is taking an economic toll, even if it does not invade the city.
“It’s tragic for businesses at this time of the year because this is when we make the money,” she said. “Imagine all the restaurants, all the Christmas parties have been canceled. People lost a ton of revenue in the past few days.”
There was a spot of good news down the coast. Emergency officials announced that the same fire that was burning about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Montecito was 40 percent contained. Evacuation orders for the city of Ventura were lifted.
As the northerly “sundowner” wind was driving the fire south and west, firefighters could only hope it would calm back down.
“When the sundowners surface in that area and the fire starts running down slopes, you are not going to stop it,” Mark Brown, of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told a news conference. “And we are not going to stand in front of it and put firefighters in untenable situations.”
Olivas said 400 fire engines were sent to protect homes in the area. The fire is now the third-largest in California history.
The firefighter who was killed, Cory Iverson, 32, died of burns and smoke inhalation, according to autopsy results announced Saturday.
Since the fire began on Dec. 4, about 95,000 people have been placed under mandatory evacuation. The evacuation zone near Santa Barbara on Saturday was 17 miles (27 kilometers) long and up to 5 miles (8 kilometers) wide and the new expansion encompassed about 3,300 people.
The Santa Barbara Zoo has about 150 species of animals, including a pair of Amur leopards, a critically endangered species. Workers began putting vultures, California condors and some smaller animals into crates and kennels in case the fire approached.
“Everything is fine right now. The wind has shifted in our favor,” spokesman Dean Noble said. “However, we just don’t want to get caught by something unexpected.”


Saudi Arabia showcases work safety initiatives at Osaka Expo 2025

Updated 16 July 2025
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Saudi Arabia showcases work safety initiatives at Osaka Expo 2025

  • Technology, training, incident reporting programs on show from July 16-19 in Japan

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is showcasing its advancements in occupational safety and health at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, from July 16 to 19.

The Kingdom’s National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and led by Secretary-General Majed Al-Fawiz, is participating in the Global Initiative for Safety, Health, and Well-being Conference.

The delegation at the event includes representatives from the Ministry of Energy and the private sector.

This participation is a part of the Kingdom’s broader efforts to highlight its advancements in occupational safety, health, and employee well-being under Vision 2030.

Saudi Arabia has an exhibition highlighting key programs, including cutting-edge technologies to improve work environments, training initiatives and incident reporting.

The council emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to global collaboration, knowledge exchange, and leadership in building safe, healthy, and sustainable workplaces.


Ethiopia arrests dozens of suspected Daesh militants, Fana broadcaster reports

Updated 16 July 2025
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Ethiopia arrests dozens of suspected Daesh militants, Fana broadcaster reports

  • The 82 suspects were part of Daesh’s Somalia affiliate
  • The Daesh faction in Somalia has become an increasingly important part of its parent organization’s worldwide network

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia has arrested dozens of suspected Daesh militants, who it claimed have been trained and deployed to carry out operations across the country, the state-affiliated Fana broadcaster reported.
The 82 suspects were part of Daesh’s Somalia affiliate, which operates in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, according to a statement by the National Intelligence Security Services which was shared with Fana.
The Daesh faction in Somalia has become an increasingly important part of its parent organization’s worldwide network in recent years.
“NISS has been closely monitoring the group’s cross-border infiltration strategies and its efforts to establish sleeper cells in Ethiopia,” Fana reported late on Tuesday.
With an estimated 700 to 1,500 fighters, Daesh’s Somalia wing has grown in recent years thanks to an influx of foreign fighters and increasing revenues.
But it is still much smaller than Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab militant group, which controls large parts of southern and central Somalia.
The US military has carried out periodic air strikes against the group for years and recently intensified the strikes since President Donald Trump took office.
Puntland government forces have captured large portions of territory from IS since announcing a major offensive against them in December.


One dead after Ukrainian drone attack on Russia, governor says

Updated 16 July 2025
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One dead after Ukrainian drone attack on Russia, governor says

MOSCOW: One person has died in Russia's Voronezh region after being wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack, Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said on Wednesday on his Telegram channel.


Migration group head urges EU to bolster deportations

Updated 16 July 2025
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Migration group head urges EU to bolster deportations

  • The EU migration pact, adopted last year and set to come into force in June 2026, hardens procedures for asylum-seekers at its borders

VIENNA: The head of an influential EU-funded migration advisory body has urged the bloc to bolster expulsions of rejected asylum-seekers under its new migration pact and defended his group over human rights concerns.
The director general of the International Center for Migration Policy denied responsibility for what he called “individual cases” of human rights abuses by authorities in countries where his organization works.
Michael Spindelegger, a former vice chancellor from the conservative Austrian People’s Party, spoke in an interview with AFP as Brussels comes under pressure to keep out or deport migrants, with hard-right anti-immigration parties performing strongly across Europe.
The EU migration pact, adopted last year and set to come into force in June 2026, hardens procedures for asylum-seekers at its borders.
“It’s very important that a well-functioning return policy is established, also in the spirit of the pact,” Spindelegger told AFP.
“If someone comes, isn’t granted asylum, and then stays anyway, and nothing actually happens, that’s a very bad sign for the state of law,” said Spindelegger.
He added it was important to make sure those deported are re-integrated in their home countries so that they don’t leave again.
Currently fewer than 20 percent of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data.
In EU migration reforms, “the train is moving, that’s clear, but there are, of course, still various stations that need to be considered,” Spindelegger said.
“However, in my view, much has already been accomplished at the foundational level.”
The Vienna-based ICMPD advises the European Union authorities and others on migration policy and runs projects in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized it over overseas projects aimed at reducing the number of migrant arrivals in Europe.
It has worked with the Tunisian coast guards and Libyan authorities, which have been accused of mistreating migrants.
“I deeply regret whenever negative individual cases (of human rights abuse) persist. We cannot take responsibility for that,” Spindelegger said.
He insisted that training courses run by the ICMPD for border guards in migrant transit countries included training on human rights.
Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz, spokesman of rights group Asylkoordination Austria, dismissed that claim as “window dressing.”
“Cooperation is being advanced with regimes that have a highly doubtful human rights record,” Gahleitner-Gertz told AFP.
Spindelegger said an ICMPD-backed border guard training center built in Tunisia had been a “big success,” helping prepare hundreds of people for the job so far.
A similar training project has been launched in Jordan, while the ICMPD is looking to expand the scheme to Algeria.
Rights groups have also voiced concern at the European Commission’s plans, unveiled in May, to make it easier to send asylum seekers to certain third countries for their applications to be processed.
The proposal is seen as a step toward the creation of sites outside the bloc that would act as hubs for returning migrants.
It needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law.
The ICMPD counts 21 mostly EU countries as its members and has a staff of more than 500 people.
Founded by Austria and Switzerland in 1993, it works in more than 90 countries.
Among its members are EU countries such as Germany and Greece and non-EU members, including Turkiye. France, Italy and Spain are not members.
Since Spindelegger, 65, took over the center in 2016, the number of employees has grown four times bigger.
Its budget has increased by five times to more than 100 million euros ($120 million), he said.
Some 70 percent of the budget comes from the European Commission.
Spindelegger will retire at the end of the year. He is due to be replaced by another Austrian conservative politician, Susanne Raab.


State prosecution in firebombing attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages moves ahead

Updated 16 July 2025
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State prosecution in firebombing attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages moves ahead

  • Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the US illegally with his family at the time

DENVER: A judge ruled Tuesday that Colorado prosecutors can move ahead with their case against a man accused of killing one person and injuring a dozen more in a firebomb attack on demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza.
A police detective had been set to testify at a hearing explaining the evidence gathered against Mohamed Sabry Soliman in the June 1 attack on the weekly event in Boulder. But Soliman’s lawyer, Kathryn Herold, told Judge Nancy W. Salomone that he gave up his right to hear the evidence.
Soliman, wearing an orange and white striped jail uniform, told Salomone that he understood he was waiving his right to a hearing following a discussion with his lawyers Monday.
Despite that, prosecutors and victims who sat across the courtroom from Soliman or watched the hearing online were caught off guard by the decision.
Salomone said the case would now move ahead to an arraignment and scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing for Soliman to enter a plea to murder, attempted murder and other charges over the defense’s objection.
Herold said Soliman would not be ready to enter a plea then because of the large amount of evidence in the case and the murder charges recently added against him following the death of Karen Diamond, an 82-year-old woman injured in the attack. Herold said she expected to ask for the arraignment hearing to be delayed and suggested that a plea deal was possible.
20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty objected to a delay, saying any discussions could happen before and after an arraignment. He declined to comment on the possibility of a deal after the hearing.
Investigators say Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly event on Boulder’s Pearl Street pedestrian mall. But he threw just two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, “Free Palestine!” Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.
Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the US illegally with his family at the time.
Soliman has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges and is scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Denver in September. However, his lawyers told US District Judge John L. Kane last week that they expect to ask for a delay.
Additional charges related to Diamond’s death could also slow down the federal proceedings. Assistant US Attorney Laura Cramer-Babycz told Kane that prosecutors have not decided yet whether to file additional charges against Soliman.
Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. But Soliman’s federal defense lawyers say he should not have been charged with hate crimes because the evidence shows he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen of them were physically injured, and the others were nearby and are considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, so Soliman has also been charged with animal cruelty.