As deadly flames swept closer and smoke poured into their Los Angeles home, Zahrah Mihm tried to calmly wake her two young children in the middle of the night.”We gotta go baby. We’re going on a fun adventure,” she told 4-year-old Ethan in her gentlest voice, scooping up her 18-month-old baby and fleeing their house in Altadena.The neighborhood would soon be totally razed by the inferno. At least 17 died in this community alone, with more bodies being discovered. The trauma has been severe for everyone, but is perhaps more acute among evacuated families with young children, many of whom are now desperately seeking diapers, milk formula and clothing.And then there is the question of how to explain this colossal disaster to children who may sense their parents’ panic, even if they do not fully grasp what is happening.”When we woke up at four in the morning panicking, he was shaking, scared,” recalled Mihm.”I was like, ‘Are you cold?’ He’s like, ‘No, mommy, what’s happening? Why is there fire?'” The Mihms are sheltering at a friend’s home after struggling to find a hotel.Even now, Zahrah is trying to distract her son, describing their visit Monday to a donation center in search of clean bedding and diapers as “a super fun party” packed with people, food and toys.As his mother — still wearing the slippers in which she’d fled — spoke to an AFP reporter, Ethan proudly displayed his new dinosaur pajamas and toy car. “I’m trying to take this moment out of his mind, and just be like, ‘It’s all good. Our house got a little owie, we are gonna fix it. It’s gonna be fine,'” she said, out of earshot of him.- ‘Traumatized’ -The donation center in nearby Arcadia — which sprung up organically from one resident’s TikTok post asking for supplies, and has drawn hundreds of volunteers — received so many donations it is turning some away, but baby products remain among the most pressing needs.”We desperately need diapers,” said Kellie Krievs, a 38-year-old communications director who is volunteering at the makeshift operation in the parking lot of the Santa Anita racetrack.”A lot of people, the first thing they ask for is diapers and baby formula,” Krievs told AFP.Beyond those products, mental health is an urgent concern.”The kids are not alright,” said Chessa Latifi, deputy director of emergency response for NGO Project Hope.”They’re acting differently and they’re under stress — they know that their friends have lost their homes, and they know that their school is closed.”She urged parents to maintain whatever normalcy they can, including setting up playdates with friends.”Just trying to make sure they understand that their community, whether it be physically or emotionally, is still there for them,” she said.”This entire city has been traumatized, whether your house was burnt down or not,” Latifi added.Thankfully for the Mihms, their home was only partially burnt.Neighboring homes on three sides of their property were totally destroyed, as the blaze miraculously swept in an S-shape around them.But they are still unable to return, with no electricity, powerlines dangling dangerously around the house, and National Guard soldiers sealing off the street.”We’re OK. We’re just devastated, that’s all,” Mihm said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of spreading “lies” about the state’s response to deadly wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, escalating their online row over swirling misinformation.President-elect Donald Trump and Musk — the Tesla and SpaceX owner poised to play a key role advising the incoming administration –- have stepped up criticism of the governor’s handling of the devastating blazes that have killed at least 24 people and displaced tens of thousands.In a post on his social media platform X, Musk blamed the huge loss of homes in Los Angeles on “bad governance at a state and local level that resulted in a shortage of water.””(Musk) exposed by firefighters for his own lies,” Newsom posted late Sunday, alongside a video clip showing the tycoon asking a firefighter whether water availability was an issue.The firefighter replied there was water in “several reservoirs,” and added that battling large-scale fires required supplementing the effort with water trucks.In a separate spat over the weekend, Newsom accused Musk of “encouraging looting by lying,” after the billionaire amplified a post on X that falsely claimed the governor and his fellow Democrats had “decriminalized looting.””It’s illegal — as it always has been,” Newsom responded, amid concerns of a looting spree in areas where people were forced to flee the fires.”Bad actors will be arrested and prosecuted,” he added.- Viral, misleading videos -Musk’s personal account on X, which has more than 212 million followers, has become increasingly influential and has often courted criticism for amplifying misinformation.The platform — previously called Twitter, which Musk purchased in 2022 for $44 billion dollars — has seen an explosion of right-wing misinformation about the deadly wildfires, researchers say.Even though months of dry weather and strong winds created optimal conditions for the wildfires, narratives on X have singled out the state policies such as practices to increase diversity in the Los Angeles fire force as a culprit.One viral video debunked by the misinformation watchdog NewsGuard had falsely claimed fire department officials were desperately using women’s handbags to fight the flames because their resources had been diverted to “woke causes” and war assistance to Ukraine.But the water-filled pouches seen in the video were actually “canvas bags,” carried by firefighters because they were easier to use to extinguish small sets of flames than having to hauling out a hose, the entertainment news site TMZ cited local officials as saying.Wildfire misinformation was also swirling on other platforms including the Meta-owned Facebook.Authorities recently warned of a false Facebook post urging people to travel to California to join a clean-up crew in areas affected by the wildfires.”We would like to clarify that there is no such opportunity available,” the state’s fire protection department wrote on its website.Meta triggered a global backlash last week after it announced it was scrapping third-party fact-checking in the United States and introducing a crowd-sourced moderation method similar to X.Disinformation researchers have criticized Meta’s policy overhaul, which came less than two weeks before Trump takes office, warning that it risked opening the floodgates for false narratives.Facebook currently pays to use fact checks from around 80 organizations globally on the platform, as well as on WhatsApp and Instagram. AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook’s fact-checking scheme.

The Village People — the group behind “Y.M.C.A,” a staple of Donald Trump’s rallies — said Monday they have accepted an invitation from the president-elect to perform at events connected to next week’s inauguration.Singer Victor Willis said in a statement on Facebook the Village People would “participate in inaugural activities, including at least one event with President Elect Trump.””We know this wont make some of you happy to hear however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics,” Willis continued. “Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost.”Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music which is why VILLAGE PEOPLE will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J. Trump.”Trump’s campaigns have frequently played the 1970s-era hit at rallies during his multiple bids for office, with the Republican often dancing onstage to it.Also on Monday, famed country singer Carrie Underwood said she had accepted an invitation to perform during the inauguration slated for January 20.”I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event,” Underwood said in a statement. “I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.”The 41-year-old is scheduled to sing “America The Beautiful,” according to a schedule released by the Trump team.Historically the president-elect has had a rocky relationship with most figures in the entertainment world, many of whom have admonished him for playing their music at his rallies — including, at times, the Village People.During his first term several artists threatened to boycott their own induction ceremonies into the prestigious Kennedy Center pantheon if Trump attended those gala — which he ultimately never did.

A US court on Monday ordered a white supremacist group and its leader to pay $2.8 million in damages to a Black man its shield-wielding, masked members attacked while they rampaged through Boston two years ago. In July 2022, members of the Patriot Front group pinned musician Charles Murrell against a post and then kicked and punched him, in action the US District Court in Boston ruled was meant “to promote a white supremacist agenda.”Members of the mob reportedly also used a racial slur against their victim as they made their way down the East Coast city’s Freedom Trail during the incident.While police investigated the violence, and a detective concluded that the “incident appeared to be more likely than not motivated in whole or in part by Anti-Black bias”, no one was prosecuted, prompting Murrell to file a civil suit in August 2023.Murrell was on his way to play saxophone near the Boston Public Library over the Fourth of July weekend when he saw “Patriot Front moving towards him on the sidewalk, and observed signs that read, ‘Reclaim America’,” Judge Indira Talwani said in the ruling.”The group began shoving Murrell to the group’s right, into the street. When Murrell stepped back on the sidewalk, the group pressed him up against a concrete light post, knocked him to the ground, and hit and kicked him,” the court order said.To promote white supremacy, the group led by Thomas Rousseau has separately defaced a mural and statues of George Floyd, a Black man murdered by police as well as a mural of Black tennis star Arthur Ashe.  Talwani awarded Murrell $755,000 in damages for his injuries and lost earnings, and $2 million in punitive damages.Rousseau did not cooperate with the civil case and was not represented by a lawyer.

The Grammys, slated for February 2, will “proceed as planned” despite the devastating fires scorching Los Angeles, the Recording Academy said Monday.In a letter to Academy members obtained by AFP, organizers said the 67th annual music awards gala would take place at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown LA “in close coordination with local authorities to ensure public safety and responsible use of area resources.””This year’s show, however, will carry a renewed sense of purpose: raising additional funds to support wildfire relief efforts and honoring the bravery and dedication of first responders who risk their lives to protect ours,” Academy head Harvey Mason Jr said in the letter, which was co-signed by Board of Trustees chair Tammy Hurt.”The Grammys will not only honor the artistry and achievements of our music community but also serve as a platform to amplify the spirit of resilience that defines this great city of Los Angeles,” Mason and Hurt said.The marquee televised portion of the gala will still air on CBS.Top nominees include Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar.At least 24 people have died, tens of thousands of people are displaced, and swaths of Los Angeles sit in ruins nearly a week after fires broke out when extreme winds spread flames across arid Southern California, crippling the city and razing entire communities.In response, the Recording Academy and its philanthropic arm MusiCares launched a relief effort with an initial $1 million donation supporting impacted music industry workers.The letter said additional donations had allowed for the organization to distribute more than $2 million in emergency aid thus far.Separately, LiveNation and AEG Presents, along with the Azoff Company, over the weekend announced a FIREAID benefit concert on January 30 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.Proceeds are to go to a non-profit created for the event focused on “rebuilding infrastructure, supporting displaced families and advancing fire prevention technologies and strategies to ensure LA is better prepared for fire emergencies.”The entertainment industry in showbiz capital Los Angeles is weighing how to navigate its just-started award season, which is particularly intense for film and features a steady stream of swanky premieres and galas.The body behind the Oscars scrapped its ritzy nominees’ luncheon in light of the fires, while moving its nominations announcement online.

The Los Angeles wildfire disaster has cast a shadow over preparations for the 2028 Olympics, raising questions over whether the city can deliver a safe and successful Games.So far, none of the more than 80 venues due to stage Olympic competition in Los Angeles have been directly affected by the infernos that have left at least 24 people dead and reduced entire neighborhoods to smouldering ruins.But experts say the ongoing disaster has underscored the challenges of staging the world’s largest sporting event in a region increasingly under threat of wildfires.”The situation is clearly grave and given the prospect of significant climate change, you do have to wonder whether the current situation might be repeated, possibly even during the Games,” Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in Paris told British daily The iPaper. “This raises very serious questions, not least about insurance, and whether Los Angeles’ big-ticket 2028 attraction might be about to become an uninsurable mega-event.”While the flames that razed Pacific Palisades came uncomfortably close to the Riviera Country Club — which will host 2028’s Olympic golf tournament — the overwhelming majority of venues are situated outside what would be regarded as high-risk fire zones.Historical data, meanwhile, indicates that the chances of a similar disaster erupting during the 2028 Olympics are highly unlikely. Prior to last week, no fire in Los Angeles County had appeared on a list of the 20 most destructive fires in California history, according to statistics provided by CalFire, the state’s fire agency. The 2028 Olympics will also be taking place in July, a time of year when there are no Santa Ana winds, the powerful seasonal gusts widely seen as the biggest factor behind the unprecedented scale and scope of last week’s carnage.And Los Angeles has already staged the Olympics successfully on two occasions — in 1984 and 1932.- ‘Wake-up call’ -Nevertheless, Dan Plumley, sports finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, said the fires would have set alarm bells ringing among Olympic organizers.”Organising committees will have factored these events into their planning but you’re very much working on a contingency basis — how much do you reasonably budget for this and how cautious or not cautious are you going to be?” Plumley told the iPaper.”How much risk they want to build in, we’ll have to wait and see but these fires will have acted as an enormous wake-up call.”Pennsylvania State University professor Mark Dyerson meanwhile floated the idea of the Olympics being moved to 2024 hosts Paris if LA was unable to deliver the games.”They could go back to Paris,” the academic told the New York Post. “It would be unfortunate, but I’m sure they have some kind of committee — the IOC is a huge bureaucracy — that allegedly looks at contingencies.”California Governor Gavin Newsom however told NBC’s “Today” morning program that planning for the 2028 Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in 2026 — where eight matches take place in Los Angeles — was on track.Newsom said the flurry of major sporting events in Los Angeles over the next few years — the city will also host the Super Bowl in 2027 — should be seen as an opportunity.”My humble position, and it’s not just being naively optimistic, (is) that only reinforces the imperative (of) moving quickly, doing it in the spirit of collaboration and cooperation,” Newsom told NBC.Conservative pundits however have wasted no time in demanding that Los Angeles be stripped of the Olympics.”The Los Angeles Olympics should be cancelled,” right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk wrote on X last week.”If you can’t fill a fire hydrant, you aren’t qualified to host the Olympics. Move them to Dallas, or Miami, so the world’s athletes can compete in a place capable of actually safely building and running something.”Los Angeles 2028 organizers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.