As chaotic wildfires razed homes around Los Angeles forcing thousands to flee, one evacuation shelter was being overwhelmed Thursday with donations.The center at Pan Pacific Park, just south of Hollywood in the heart of Los Angeles, was having to turn away donations after kind-hearted locals brought cars full of food, clothing and toiletries.”We appreciate the support, donations and volunteers, however do not need anything additional at this time,” read a handwritten sign posted outside the shelter.The Sunset Fire, which erupted Wednesday night in the affluent Hollywood Hills, just a few hundred meters (yards) from the storied theaters of Hollywood Boulevard, sparked an evacuation order for thousands of people living in the heart of America’s entertainment capital.Some of those told to leave their homes — a mixture of multi-million dollar mansions and small, rent-controlled apartments — made their way to the city-run center.”It exploded so quickly, I’ve never seen fire move that fast,” Eric Calhoun, a city recreation director overseeing the site, told AFP.But almost as soon as the evacuees started arriving, so did the donations, and the center was soon full to bursting with goods.”I had to direct truckloads and truckloads to go to other sites,” Calhoun said.Evacuation orders for the Sunset Fire were lifted by Thursday, and by the afternoon the evacuation center had cleared out — for now.Other wildfires, including the Eaton Fire burning inland in the San Gabriel Valley and the Palisades Fire closer to the coast, have torched more than 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) combined, destroyed more than 6,000 buildings and killed at least five people.Despite the fire activity winding down from decreasing Santa Ana winds, Calhoun said emergency assistance was in a bit of a “holding pattern,” as more wind activity was forecast for next week.

From laptops to EVs, lithium-ion batteries have fueled phenomenal growth in the 21st century, but businesses struggle with a significant downside: increased fire risk.At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), companies unveiled a next-generation garbage truck designed to detect these highly flammable batteries.The innovation comes as careless disposal of batteries from smartphones, electric toothbrushes, and other gadgets has become an acute problem at recycling centers. The owner of a New Jersey recycling plant that caught fire early Thursday pointed to the batteries as a likely cause.In the United States, across the industry, “a couple of recycling centers burn down every year,” said Jon Vander Ark, chief executive of waste management company Republic Services.Republic showcased their solution at CES: a state-of-the-art garbage truck built by industrial company Oshkosh that screens for the batteries. The vehicle resembles a conventional garbage truck, weighing in at more than 41,000 pounds and capable of carrying nine tons of cargo. But it is fully electric and outfitted with AI software that scans for problem refuse in garbage and recycling loads.While Republic already uses detection systems at recycling facilities, batteries sometimes slip through.If undetected, a forklift can run over a small battery and start a fire, Vander Ark told AFP. The new trucks allow drivers to flag collections containing batteries as sensitive loads before they reach recycling plants.”Getting that out of the stream is of huge value to us,” said Vander Ark. – Value in trash -The Oshkosh booth also showcased electric arm technology that can speed up trash collections and software that identifies non-recyclable contamination in recycling bins.The spiffed-up vehicles provide a font of operational data that can make better use of a trash driver’s time, said Oshkosh CEO John Pfeifer.Companies can pinpoint contamination sources to educate customers or fine repeat offenders, he explained.The trucks even capture video evidence when drivers can’t access bins due to blocked pickup spots. “When a customer asks, ‘Why didn’t you pick me up?’…we have video evidence,” said Vander Ark.He noted that waste management is particularly well-suited for electrification since trucks typically travel shorter distances per shift, eliminating the range concerns that often deter everyday EV consumers.The quieter electric trucks could also allow for earlier morning collections when traffic is lighter, while their overnight charging capability ensures operational readiness.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday denied a last-minute bid by President-elect Donald Trump to halt sentencing in his hush money case.The top court, which includes three justices appointed by Trump, rejected his emergency application seeking to block Friday’s sentencing by a 5-4 vote.The court, in a brief unsigned order, said the “burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial” and noted that Trump will be allowed to attend virtually.The court also noted that Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the hush money case, has already said he plans to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge,” which does not carry any jail time, fine or probation.Trump is to be sentenced in Manhattan at 9:30 am (1430 GMT) on Friday after being convicted by a New York jury in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.The 78-year-old Trump, who is to be inaugurated on January 20, is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and will be the first convicted felon to serve in the White House.In a post on Truth Social following the Supreme Court decision, Trump thanked the court for “trying to remedy the great injustice done to me” and lashed out at Merchan, calling him a “highly political and corrupt judge.””I am innocent of all of the Judge’s made up, fake charges,” he said, adding that he will continue to pursue appeals of the guilty verdict in the hush money case.Trump filed an emergency application with the nine-member Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to block his sentencing.Four conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — were in favor of granting Trump’s request.Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, also conservatives, joined the court’s three liberal justices in rejecting the president-elect’s effort. Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were appointed by Trump.- ‘Grave injustice’ -Trump’s lawyers made several legal maneuvers in an effort to fend off sentencing, arguing that it would be a “grave injustice” and harm “the institution of the presidency and the operations of the federal government.”Trump’s attorneys also claimed that the immunity from prosecution granted to a sitting president should be extended to a president-elect.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg rejected their arguments in his response on Thursday, saying Trump was a private citizen when he was “charged, tried, and convicted.””Defendant makes the unprecedented claim that the temporary presidential immunity he will possess in the future fully immunizes him now, weeks before he even takes the oath of office,” he said.Bragg also said the Supreme Court “lacks jurisdiction over a state court’s management of an ongoing criminal trial” and preventing sentencing would be an “extraordinary step” by the top court.In the order allowing sentencing to go ahead, the Supreme Court said Trump can still appeal his conviction through the New York state courts.Merchan said last week that he was leaning towards giving Trump an unconditional discharge that would not carry jail time. He also agreed to allow the president-elect to attend Friday’s sentencing virtually instead of in person.Trump potentially faced up to four years in prison, but legal experts — even before he won the November presidential election — did not expect Merchan to incarcerate him.Trump was certified as the winner of the 2024 presidential election on Monday, four years after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol as he sought to overturn his 2020 defeat.

The US Supreme Court is to hear TikTok’s appeal on Friday of a law that would force its Chinese owner to sell the wildly popular online video-sharing platform or shut it down.The top court is holding oral arguments in the case nine days before TikTok faces a ban unless ByteDance divests from the popular app.Signed by President Joe Biden in April, the law would block TikTok from US app stores and web hosting services unless ByteDance sells its stake by January 19.The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to spread propaganda. China and ByteDance strongly deny the claims.TikTok is arguing that the law — the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — violates its First Amendment rights.”We believe the Court will find the TikTok ban unconstitutional so the over 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights,” a TikTok spokesman said.In a filing with the Supreme Court, TikTok said “Congress has enacted a massive and unprecedented speech restriction” that would “shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms.””This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern,” it added.The potential ban could strain US-China relations just as Donald Trump prepares to be sworn in as president on January 20.Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, has emerged as an unlikely ally of the platform in a reversal from his first term, when the Republican leader tried to ban the app, citing national security concerns.Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer, filed a brief with the Supreme Court last month asking it to pause the law.In the amicus curiae — or “friend of the court” — brief, Sauer made it clear the president-elect does not take a position on the legal merits of the current case.”Instead, he respectfully requests that the court consider staying the act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025… thus permitting President Trump’s incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case,” Sauer said.- ‘You need competition’ -The president-elect met with TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in December.Trump told Bloomberg recently he had changed his mind about the app.”Now (that) I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition,” he said.A coalition of free speech groups — including the influential American Civil Liberties Union — filed a separate brief with the Supreme Court opposing the law, citing censorship concerns.”Such a ban is unprecedented in our country and, if it goes into effect, will cause a far-reaching disruption in Americans’ ability to engage with the content and audiences of their choice online,” they said.In an 11th hour development on Thursday, US billionaire Frank McCourt, founder of the non-profit Project Liberty, announced that he had put together a consortium to acquire TikTok’s US assets from ByteDance.”We’ve put forward a proposal to ByteDance,” McCourt said in a statement. “We look forward to working with ByteDance, President-elect Trump, and the incoming administration to get this deal done.”AFP, among more than a dozen other fact-checking organizations, is paid by TikTok in several countries to verify videos that potentially contain false information.

People forced to flee their homes by massive wildfires tearing through Los Angeles were taking turns to patrol their streets to ward off looters on Thursday.At least 20 people have been arrested in the aftermath of massive fires that have razed whole neighborhoods, officials said.Police warned that officers were flooding the affected areas and would challenge anyone they thought should not be there.With such a huge area scorched by the fires, which are ravaging the well-to-do Pacific Palisades and another area around Altadena, evacuees feared not enough was being done.Some are taking matters into their own hands.One man whose house was one of just a handful left standing on a burned-out Altadena street told AFP said he was working with his neighbors.”We’re so stressed about this looting happening all around that my neighbors were on watch all last night for several houses in the neighborhood,” said the man, who did not want to give his name.”I’m supposed to take over for them tonight.”Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his officers were pushing into fire-wrecked areas and evacuation zones to try to deter wrongdoers.”We continue to conduct roving patrols, manning hard road closures, providing security in evacuation areas to prevent anyone who may be tempted to engage in criminal… behavior like looting,” he told a press conference on Thursday.He said the bar for arresting people in an evacuation zone was low, and warned that his officers would pounce.”When we have an evacuation order by law, if you remain in that area, you are guilty of a misdemeanor. If you commit certain crimes, it could jump up to a felony,” he said.”If you are in one of these areas and you do not belong there, you are going to be subject to arrest.”Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said anyone the sheriff’s department handed over to his office would be dealt with severely.”If you want to go ahead and loot, if you want to commit burglary, if you want to engage in grand theft… you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law,” he said.Hochman said no one should think that taking property from an evacuation zone was a small matter.”It’s a huge deal. These acts are despicable, and we will prosecute them with maximal punishment.”

A man notorious for shooting up a pizzeria in the US capital where he wrongly believed Hillary Clinton and other Democrats were running a child sex ring has been killed in a traffic stop police shooting, local media reported Thursday.The North Carolina man who died Monday, two days after the incident with police, has now been identified as Edgar Maddison Welch, who was at the center of the bizarre story that came to be known as “Pizzagate,” news outlets said.It involved the bogus conspiracy theory that Comet Ping Pong, a Washington pizza restaurant, was a hub for a child sex trafficking ring involving Clinton — who ran for US president in 2016 — and other prominent Democrats.In December of that year, Welch was arrested after he fired his assault rifle inside the eatery. He told police that he drove up from North Carolina to personally investigate stories that Comet was a center for child abduction.The false claim was an early taste of the conspiracy theories that would later abound among far-right conservatives in the Donald Trump era.Welch, then 29, was sentenced in 2017 to four years in prison after being convicted of a federal charge of interstate transport of firearms and a Washington DC charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. He was released from prison in March 2020.When Welch was sentenced, the US attorney’s office said the judge in the case declared “the extent of the recklessness in this case is breathtaking” and it was only through “sheer luck” that no one was wounded.On Saturday, police in the North Carolina town of Kannapolis stopped a car they believed to be driven by someone with an outstanding warrant. The driver was Welch.When police tried to open the car and arrest him, Welch pulled a gun and refused orders to drop it. Two officers then shot him, the Charlotte Observer newspaper reported. Welch died two days later in the hospital.

Incoming US president Donald Trump sparked a political battle with outgoing leader Joe Biden and California’s Democratic governor Thursday over the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles.Trump launched a series of evidence-free broadsides accusing Governor Gavin Newsom of a variety of failings — including wasting water that could have been used to fight fires in order to protect a kind of fish.”Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump said on his Truth Social network, using his usual nickname for the Democrat, who is widely viewed as a potential White House contender.Trump added that the deadly Los Angeles fires showed that January 20, when he replaces Biden in the White House, “cannot come fast enough.””Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo,” he said.Biden hit back on Thursday, saying people should “not make a political deal of it” as he held a crisis meeting of administration officials at the White House.He had been due to leave for Italy to see Pope Francis on the final foreign trip of his presidency on Thursday, but canceled it late Wednesday to stay and deal with the fires.”I’m leaving this office very shortly, but it’s not about the politics,” he said. “It’s about giving people some sense of security that we’re going to be able to get this under control.”Biden unveiled a series of announcements about fresh federal funding and resources to help California deal with what he called the most devastating wildfires in the state’s history.But he appeared especially keen to debunk the claims that Democratic mismanagement had caused water shortages which left firefighters struggling to put out the inferno.- ‘Rumors and fear’ -Notably, Trump had accused Newsom of blocking the flow of snow melt to “protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!)”Biden insisted that the problem lay with power outages — after utility companies cut electricity amid fears that faulty power lines could spark more fires — that took water pumps offline.And he urged officials at the White House meeting to spread the word.”In crisis, rumors and fear spread very quickly,” he said. “It allows for a lot of uninformed people to make… accusations about the local officials not caring.”Biden also said the Los Angeles fires showed that “climate change is real” — with Trump threatening to pull back on US efforts to combat global warning when he returns to the White House.In one of his earlier Truth Social posts, Trump had accused Biden of diverting money to “Green New Scam” climate policies instead of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).Biden has repeatedly denied steering funds away from FEMA, including after hurricanes lashed the United States in October, when Trump said he was sending the money to migrants instead.Governor Newsom rejected Trump’s claims in a CNN interview on Wednesday, saying: “People are literally fleeing… This guy wanted to politicize it.”Conspiracy theories have spread almost as fast as the fires themselves, with social media full of unproven claims about firefighting gear being sent to Ukraine and a lack of firefighting staff due to diversity issues. The world’s richest man Elon Musk, a key Trump ally, took to his social network X to promote a number of those conspiracy theories.