LOS ANGELES: As California fires continue to rage north of Los Angeles, authorities are releasing more details on the discovery of a burned body of a man found outside a home in Santa Clarita.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says firefighters found the remains Saturday night inside a burned small sedan that was parked in the driveway of the residence.
The sheriff’s department says there is no evidence the death was crime-related. The home is in an area among those ordered evacuated because of the wildfire that has blackened more than 31-sq. miles of brush. Another fire, about 300 miles up the coast, is blazing across 10-square miles north of Big Sur. Both continue to rage, causing the evacuation of thousands of homes.
Thousands of homes remained evacuated Sunday as two massive wildfires raged in tinder-dry California hills and canyons, and authorities said a burned body was found in one neighborhood swept by the flames.
Firefighters have been working a fire up and down ridgelines since Friday that has blackened 31-square miles of brush on the edge of Santa Clarita and the Angeles National Forest. About 300 miles up the coast, crews were battling another blaze across 10-square miles north of the majestic Big Sur region.
The body was discovered Saturday evening outside a home on Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles, and detectives are trying to determine whether the person was killed by the blaze or another cause, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Rob Hahnlein said.
The home also may have burned, he said.
The area was among those ordered evacuated as the fire raged through brush withered by days of 100-degree temperatures as Southern California sweltered through a heat wave.
After flames driven by gusty winds swept through an evacuated neighborhood, firefighters reported that some buildings had been engulfed, but it was not immediately clear whether they were homes, outbuildings or garages, said Nathan Judy, a spokesman for the US Fire Service.
The area was still unsafe, he said late Saturday night.
“You’ve still got hotspots in that area, a lot of smoldering stuff,” and trees that might fall because their roots had burned, Judy said.
More than 900 firefighters and water-dropping helicopters battled the flames overnight on several fronts.
“It’s not a one-direction type of fire,” Judy said. “It’s going in different directions depending on which way the wind is blowing. It’s doing what it wants.”
Despite firefighters’ efforts, the blaze destroyed sets at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, which has Old West-style buildings used for movie locations.
“It was a horrific firestorm,” owner Derek Hunt told KABC-TV. “At some point, you know you’re defeated and you have to step back and save what you can. We fought as best as we could.”
Smoke and ash from the fire cast a pall over neighboring Los Angeles. Air quality officials advised people with respiratory problems to stay indoors.
Bengal tigers and a mountain lion were among several hundred animals evacuated Saturday as flames partially ringed the Wildlife Waystation, a nonprofit sanctuary for rescued exotic creatures in Sylmar. Volunteers showed up with trucks and trailers to help with the rescue. Later in the day, firefighters managed to beat back the threat.
More than 200 horses along with goats, rabbits and other animals also were removed from fire areas.
Sunday’s forecast called for low humidity with afternoon and evening winds gusting to 25 mph or more that could once again fan the fires’ explosive growth.
Up the coast, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighters battled the blaze in rugged mountains north of Big Sur. The fire 5 miles south of Garrapata State Park posed a threat to about 1,000 homes and the community of Palo Colorado was ordered evacuated, Cal Fire said.
Burned body found as wildfire rages north of Los Angeles city
Burned body found as wildfire rages north of Los Angeles city
Malala Yousafzai ‘overwhelmed and happy’ to be back in Pakistan
- The education activist was shot by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 when she was a schoolgirl
- Pakistan is facing a severe education crisis with more than 26 million children out of school
The education activist was shot by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 when she was a schoolgirl and has returned to the country only a handful of times since.
“I’m truly honored, overwhelmed and happy to be back in Pakistan,” she said as she arrived at the conference in the capital Islamabad.
The two-day summit was set to be opened Saturday morning by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and brings together representatives from Muslim-majority countries, where tens of millions of girls are out of school.
Yousafzai is due to address the summit on Sunday.
“I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls,” she posted on social media platform X on Friday.
The country’s education minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said the Taliban government in Afghanistan had been invited to attend, but Islamabad has not received a response.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban government there has imposed an austere version of Islamic law that the United Nations has called “gender apartheid.”
Pakistan is facing its own severe education crisis with more than 26 million children out of school, mostly as a result of poverty, according to official government figures — one of the highest figures in the world.
Yousafzai became a household name after she was attacked by Pakistan Taliban militants on a school bus in the remote Swat valley in 2012.
She was evacuated to the United Kingdom and went on to become a global advocate for girls’ education and, at the age of 17, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Jeju Air crash black boxes stopped recording before flight crashed
- South Korean and US investigators are still probing the cause of the crash of Jeju Air flight 2216
- Investigators have pointed to a bird strike, faulty landing gear and the runway barrier as possible issues
The black boxes holding the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the crashed Jeju Air flight that left 179 people dead stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, South Korea’s transport ministry said Saturday.
The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan, South Korea, on December 29 carrying 181 passengers and crew when it belly-landed at the Muan airport and exploded in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier.
“The analysis revealed that both the CVR and FDR data were not recorded during the four minutes leading up to the aircraft’s collision with the localizer,” the transport ministry said in a statement, referring to the two recording devices.
The localizer is a barrier at the end of the runway that helps with aircraft landings and was blamed for exacerbating the crash’s severity.
“Plans are in place to investigate the cause of the data loss during the ongoing accident investigation,” the statement added.
South Korean and US investigators are still probing the cause of the crash of Jeju Air flight 2216, which prompted a national outpouring of mourning with memorials set up across the country.
Investigators have pointed to a bird strike, faulty landing gear and the runway barrier as possible issues.
The pilot warned of a bird strike before pulling out of a first landing, then crashed on a second attempt when the landing gear did not emerge.
Text messaging scammers stole $2m in cryptocurrency from victims, says NY lawsuit
- Scammers used unsolicited text messages to target people looking for remote work
- Victims were told to review products online in order to help generate “market data”
NEW YORK: Scammers stole millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from people seeking remote work opportunities as part of an elaborate scheme, according to New York’s attorney general.
Attorney General Letitia James said Thursday that she’s filed a lawsuit in order to recover more than $2 million that she said was stolen from New Yorkers and others around the country.
James said the unknown network of scammers used unsolicited text messages to target people looking for remote work.
They told victims that the job involved reviewing products online in order to help generate “market data,” James’ office said. But in order to begin earning money, victims were told they had to open cryptocurrency accounts and had to maintain a balance equal to, or greater than, the price of the products they were reviewing.
The victims were assured they would get their investments back plus commission, but the funds simply went into the scammers’ crypto wallets, James’ office said. The product reviews were also conducted on a website set up as part of the scheme.
The suit cites seven victims, identified by pseudonyms, residing in New York, Virginia and Florida. One New York victim lost over $100,000, according to the suit. A Florida woman lost over $300,000.
“Deceiving New Yorkers looking to take on remote work and earn money to support their families is cruel and unacceptable,” she said in a statement. “Scammers sent text messages to New Yorkers promising them good-paying, flexible jobs only to trick them into purchasing cryptocurrency and then stealing it from them.”
James’ suit seeks to return the stolen funds.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said her office’s cryptocurrency unit traced over $2 million in stolen crypto and identified the digital wallets where the coins were being held. Then, working with James’ office, they were able to have the currency frozen until they could be returned to victims.
“Work scams that prey on those seeking legitimate employment not only rob victims of their hard-earned money but also shatter their trust in the job market,” she added.
UK finance minister seeks ‘pragmatic’ relations with China to boost trade
- Rachel Reeves is seeking to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen since 2019
- China is Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner, accounting for goods and services trade worth almost $138 billion
BEIJING: British finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Saturday during a visit to Beijing that she intended to have “pragmatic” relations with Chinese leaders to boost exports to the world’s second-largest economy.
Under pressure from market turmoil at home, Reeves is seeking to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen since 2019.
She joins the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue meeting in Beijing with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Saturday, before traveling to Shanghai, accompanied by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and other finance leaders.
She is due to discuss financial services, trading ties and the importance of cooperation on issues like climate change, the Treasury said.
Her appearance offers a chance to persuade investors that she has plans to deal with a sharp increase in British government borrowing costs, due in part to a global bond selloff which threatens to derail her budget plans.
“The fiscal rules that I set out in my budget in October are non-negotiable and growth is the number one mission of this government to make our country better off,” Reeves told reporters after visiting a Brompton bicycles shop in Beijing.
“That’s why I’m in China to unlock tangible benefits for British businesses exporting and trading around the world to ensure that we have greater access to the second-largest economy in the world.”
Reeves’ visit follows a dialogue opened last year between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping, the first between the two countries’ leaders since 2018.
The approach taken by the Labour government, elected in July, contrasts with the previous Conservative administration which took a robust approach to differences with China — particularly over human rights, Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese espionage.
Asked on Thursday if Reeves would raise human-rights issues, Starmer’s spokesperson said her visit would fit with London’s stance that it would take a strategic approach to China and challenge it “robustly” when necessary.
Starmer has long described his desire to build a relationship with China that is “rooted in the UK’s national interests” by boosting trade, a task that may become more difficult if US President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his threat to impose tariffs on all imports.
Asked whether Britain would follow Washington and Brussels in imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, Reeves said: “We keep issues under review but we make decisions in our national interest.”
British car manufacturers “like Jaguar and Land Rover export substantially to Chinese markets, and we want to help them to grow.”
China is Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner, accounting for goods and services trade worth almost 113 billion pounds ($138 billion).
2024 was the hottest year on record, scientists say
- C3S confirms first year above 1.5C since pre-industrial times
- Climate change impacts, severe weather visible globally
- Political will to curb emissions wanes despite rising climate disasters
BRUSSELS, Belgium: Global temperatures in 2024 exceeded 1.5 Celsius above the pre-industrial era for the first time, bringing the world closer to breaching the pledge governments made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, scientists said on Friday.
The World Meteorological Organization confirmed the 1.5C breach, after reviewing data from US, UK, Japan and EU scientists.
“Global heating is a cold, hard fact,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “There’s still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act – now.”
The bleak assessment came as wildfires charged by fierce winds swept through Los Angeles, with 10 people dead and nearly 10,000 structures destroyed so far. Wildfires are among the many disasters that climate change is making more frequent and severe.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said climate change was pushing the planet’s temperature to levels never before experienced by modern humans. Scientists have linked climate change to greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels.
The planet’s average temperature in 2024 was 1.6 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, C3S said. The last 10 years are the 10 hottest years on record, the WMO said.
Climate change is worsening storms and torrential rainfall, because a hotter atmosphere can hold more water, leading to intense downpours. Atmospheric water vapor reached a record high in 2024, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was the third-wettest year on record.
In 2024, Bolivia and Venezuela suffered disastrous fires, while torrential floods hit Nepal, Sudan and Spain, and heat waves in Mexico and Saudi Arabia killed thousands. While climate change now affects people from the richest to the poorest on Earth, political will to address it has waned in some countries.
Governments promised under the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to prevent the average global temperature rise from exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has called climate change a hoax, dismissing the global scientific consensus. During his first term in office he withdrew Washington from the Paris Agreement, and he has vowed to push greater fossil fuel production and roll back President Joe Biden’s push toward alternative energy.
Recent European elections have shifted political priorities toward industrial competitiveness, with some European Union governments seeking to weaken climate policies they say hurt business.
Matthew Jones, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia in Britain, said climate-linked disasters will grow more common “so long as progress on tackling the root causes of climate change remains sluggish.”
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the 1.5C breach last year showed climate action must be prioritized.
“It is extremely complicated, in a very difficult geopolitical setting, but we don’t have an alternative,” he told Reuters.
The 1.5C milestone should serve as “a rude awakening to key political actors to get their act together,” said Chukwumerije Okereke, a professor of climate governance at Britain’s University of Bristol.
Britain’s Met Office confirmed 2024’s likely breach of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, while estimating a slightly lower average temperature of 1.53C for the year.
Buontempo noted that 2024 did not breach that target since it measures the longer-term average temperature, but added that rising greenhouse gas emissions put the world on track to blow past the Paris goal soon.
Countries could still rapidly cut emissions to avoid temperatures from rising further to disastrous levels, he added.
“It’s not a done deal. We have the power to change the trajectory,” Buontempo said.
Concentrations in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, reached a fresh high of 422 parts per million in 2024, C3S said.
Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at US non-profit Berkeley Earth, said he expected 2025 to be among the hottest years on record, but likely not top the rankings. He noted that temperatures in early 2024 got an extra boost from El Niño, a warming weather pattern now trending toward its cooler La Nina counterpart.
“It’s still going to be in the top three warmest years,” he said.
