Los Angeles investigates fire blame as curfew enforced

Californians on Friday demanded to know who is at fault for the vast devastation caused by the raging Los Angeles wildfires, as a strict curfew went into force to prevent looting and lawlessness.At least 11 people died as flames ripped through neighborhoods and razed thousands of homes in a disaster that US President Joe Biden likened to a “war scene.”While Angelenos grapple with the heart-rending ruin, anger has risen over officials’ preparedness and response, particularly for a series of false evacuation alarms and after hydrants ran dry as firefighters battled the initial blazes.Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered a “full independent review” of the city’s utilities, describing the lack of water supplies during the initial fires as “deeply troubling.””We need answers to how that happened,” he wrote in an open letter.Residents like Nicole Perri, whose home in the upscale Pacific Palisades burnt down, told AFP that officials “completely let us down.””I don’t think the officials were prepared at all,” said James Brown, a 65-year-old retired lawyer across the city in Altadena.A flare-up late Friday prompted new mandatory evacuations from ritzy neighborhoods along the fire’s eastern flank, which include the famous Getty Center.Built at a cost of $1 billion and constructed partly of fire-resistant travertine stone, the acclaimed museum boasts 125,000 artworks.Meanwhile, as fears of looting grow, a sunset-to-sunrise curfew took effect in evacuated areas.Around two dozen arrests have already been made across Los Angeles, where some residents have organized street patrols and kept armed watch over their own houses.”If we see you in these areas, you will be subject to arrest,” Los Angeles Police Department chief Jim McDonnell said.Violators face up to six months in prison or $1,000 fines, he said.The National Guard has been deployed to bolster law enforcement.- ‘Devastating’ -Five separate fires have so far burned more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares), destroying around 10,000 buildings, California’s fire agency reported. The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office confirmed an additional fatality on Friday, bringing the overall death toll so far to 11.”It reminded me of more of a war scene, where you had certain targets that were bombarded,” said Biden, as he received a briefing on the fires at the White House. Winds calmed Friday, providing a much-needed if fleeting window of opportunity for firefighters battling blazes around the clock for a fourth consecutive day.At the biggest of the blazes, in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, firefighters said they were starting to get the fire under control, with eight percent of its perimeter contained.”Braveheart” actor Mel Gibson was the latest celebrity to reveal his Malibu home had burned down, telling NewsNation the loss was “devastating.”Meanwhile the Eaton Fire in the Altadena area was three percent contained, with fire chief Jason Schillinger reporting “significant progress” in quelling the blaze.A third fire that exploded Thursday afternoon near the wealthy Hidden Hills enclave, home to celebrities like Kim Kardashian, was 50 percent surrounded.But emergency chiefs warned the situation is “still very dangerous” and reprieve from the intense gusts that spread embers will not last.”The winds have died down today, but… are going to increase again in the coming days,” said Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).- ‘Demagogues’ -Authorities have said it was too early to know the cause of the blazes.Biden took a veiled swipe at incoming president Donald Trump, who has spread misinformation over the flames that has then been amplified on social media.”You’re going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage of it,” Biden said of the fires.Governor Newsom, who has been blamed for the disaster by the president-elect, invited Trump to visit Los Angeles and survey the devastation with him.”In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” said Newsom.Wildfires occur naturally, but scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather and changing the dynamics of the blazes.Two wet years in southern California have given way to a very dry one, leaving ample fuel on the ground primed to burn.Emergency managers apologized Friday after false evacuation alerts were erroneously sent to millions of mobile phones, sparking panic.”I can’t express enough how sorry I am,” said Kevin McGowan, the director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management.Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley blamed recent funding cuts, telling Fox News affiliate KTTV her department was chronically “understaffed” and “under-resourced.”

UK treasurer says London ‘natural home’ for Chinese finance

British treasurer Rachel Reeves said Saturday that London was a “natural home” for Chinese finance during a visit to Beijing in the shadow of bond market turmoil back home.Reeves, whose formal title is chancellor of the exchequer, is the most senior British government official to visit China since then-prime minister Theresa May held talks with President Xi Jinping seven years ago.The trip comes as the yield on British government bonds reached a 17-year high this week, further complicating the ruling Labour Party’s sputtering efforts to revitalise growth.The increase makes it more costly for the government to finance current operations and repay debt, raising risks it will have to make spending cuts or hike taxes.Speaking at the reopening of long-suspended finance talks between the two countries, Reeves said London was a “natural home for China’s financial services firms and your clients raising capital, and a launchpad for Chinese firms seeking to build a global footprint”.She hailed “opportunities to deepen connections” on capital markets, but said both countries needed to work more closely on “regulatory cooperation”.At a later press briefing, Reeves said “common ground” had been found on financial services, trade, investment, climate change and other areas.She said the total value of what had been agreed would be worth £600 million ($732 million) for the British economy over the next five years, without giving specific details.Her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, said experience showed that “as long as China and the UK respect each other… relations between our two countries can develop in a healthy way”.Reeves faced pressure from the parliamentary opposition to stay home and address the financial crisis, but a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week she had not planned to cancel her “long-standing” trip.On a visit to British bicycle-maker Brompton’s Beijing showroom earlier Saturday, Reeves acknowledged “moves in global financial markets over the last few days”, but said the fiscal rules she set out in her October budget were “non-negotiable”.”Growth is the number one mission of this government, to make our country better off,” she said, adding that her visit would “unlock tangible benefits for British businesses”.The governor of the Bank of England and the chief executive of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority also took part in the visit.- Fine balance -Starmer has sought to reset the UK’s diplomatic relationship with China, balancing opportunities for trade and cooperation with the need to challenge Beijing on areas like human rights and the war in Ukraine.In November, Starmer became the first British prime minister to meet Xi since 2018, when the pair spoke at the G20 summit in Brazil.But trust is fragile following claims that a Chinese businessman used his links with Britain’s Prince Andrew to spy for the Communist Party, an allegation Beijing has dismissed as “preposterous”.Reeves said Saturday that it was “important that we can have open and frank exchange” on issues where London and Beijing disagreed, including concerns around national security, market access and the impacts of subsidies and industrial policy.Other points of contention, she said, were “Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine… and Hong Kong, where we have concerns on rights and freedoms, but where we also have shared interests”.In response, He repeated China’s long-standing position that it is “neither a creator of the Ukraine crisis, nor a direct party” to the conflict.He added that “Hong Kong can become a bridge to closer cooperation between our two sides”.China is a long-time ally of Russia and has refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine despite criticism from Western governments that Beijing is giving Moscow political and economic support to wage a war of aggression.Relations between the UK and China plummeted in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong which severely curtailed freedoms in the former British colony.

Diagnostiquée d’un cancer du sein il y a trois ans, Braun-Pivet appelle les femmes à se faire dépister

La présidente de l’Assemblée nationale, Yaël Braun-Pivet, a révélé avoir été diagnostiquée d’un cancer du sein il y a trois ans à l’occasion d’un examen de routine, et suivre aujourd’hui une hormonothérapie, appelant les  femmes à se faire dépister.”Aujourd’hui, je vais bien”, écrit sur X Mme Braun-Pivet, présidente de l’Assemblée nationale depuis juin 2022, relayant un extrait d’une interview publiée par le média Mesdames vendredi. “Je suis sous hormonothérapie et je suis suivie régulièrement par une équipe de soignants qui tout au long de ce processus a été formidable d’engagement et de dévouement”, précise-t-elle.”En 2022, dans la série des bonnes résolutions de nouvel an, je me suis dit : +allez, j’y vais maintenant+. J’ai pris rendez-vous pour une mammographie… et c’est à cette occasion que mon cancer a été détecté”, affirme-t-elle, parlant d’un “coup de tonnerre dans (sa) vie”.Alors que le cancer du sein est “la première cause de mortalité par cancer chez les femmes”, “près d’une femme sur deux ne fait pas le dépistage auquel elle a droit tous les deux ans”, souligne la députée Renaissance des Yvelines auprès de Mesdames. “Il faut que toutes les femmes fassent ce dépistage”, insiste-t-elle.