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Two days after the enormous fire started, the extent of the wreckage caused by the catastrophic Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County is becoming clear as personnel continue to fight it. Drone footage reveals a community in ruins, with buildings and houses reduced to ash on block after street. Once dotted with mansions and inhabited by some of the nation's most affluent citizens, smoke looms over the area. The head of the U.S. Forest Service stated that although drones have given a useful overhead perspective of the situation in California, they have also presented risks to firefighting planes attempting to combat the fires. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore stated, "We have to be mindful of that because you also have drones in the air, which is a concern to our pilots and to the safety of t...

According to prosecutors and court documents, a Florida doctor was federally indicted on charges that he sexually molested ten minors, including a teenage girl who was discovered dead after he gave her instructions to harm herself. In a statement released Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida accused St. Petersburg resident Stephen Andrew Leedy with three counts of producing material pertaining to child sexual abuse and two counts of pressuring or luring a minor to participate in sexual activity. Prosecutors claimed that Leedy, 59, a palliative care physician in the Tampa region, used the username maximumuncle#9112 to exploit ten youngsters online. According to court records, Leedy was taken into custody in Georgia on December 20. Prosecutors said if he is f...

LAS VEGAS Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume reports that Scout Motors has received over 50,000 refundable reservation deposits for its first electric pickups and SUVs. Volkswagen brought back Scout, an American brand that existed from 1961 to 1980, and in October it unveiled the Terra pickup truck and Traveler SUV, which were intended for production. Both extended-range electric vehicles, or EREVs, and all-electric variants will be available. When several all-electric vehicles were first being offered in the early 2020s, Scout received less reservations than other automakers. Reservations can serve as a gauge of interest but do not ensure sales. During a private media event at the CES tech conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, Blume stated that the market's reaction has been really good. "T...

Microsoft confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday that it is reducing a small percentage of jobs across departments based on performance. A Microsoft representative told CNBC via email on Wednesday that the company prioritizes high-performance individuals. We're constantly trying to help folks develop and learn. We respond appropriately when individuals fail to perform. Late Tuesday, Business Insider published a report on the plans. Less than 1% of workers will be impacted by the layoffs, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified in order to protect confidential information. At the close of June, Microsoft employed 228,000 people. Microsoft's stock underperformed its rivals last year, climbing 12% while the Nasdaq gained 29%, despite the company's net inc...

At least five wildfires engulfed more than 45 square miles in the greater Los Angeles area on Thursday, continuing to burn mostly out of control. The flames, which have been fanned by dry conditions and strong winds, have claimed the lives of at least six individuals. Tens of thousands of acres are being burned in highly populated regions by the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires, among others, forcing more than 180,000 people to evacuate. Photographs of the catastrophe, which will probably go down as the most catastrophic in Los Angeles history, depict the cataclysmic level of devastation and misery it left behind.

In order to access ice that is believed to be at least 1.2 million years old, a multinational team of scientists reported Thursday that they had successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores to date, reaching nearly 2 miles (2.8 kilometers) into Antarctic bedrock. It is anticipated that analysis of the ancient ice will reveal the evolution of Earth's climate and atmosphere. According to them, that should shed light on how Ice Age cycles have evolved and should aid in comprehending how atmospheric carbon altered the climate. Carlo Barbante, an Italian glaciologist and coordinator of Beyond EPICA, the initiative to acquire the ice core, stated that we would be able to comprehend the changes in greenhouse gases, chemicals, and dusts in the atmosphere because of the core. Barbante is also t...

This week, a baby girl was delivered on a migrant boat bound for Spain's Canary Islands, marking the end of a perilous voyage that has frequently meant death for asylum-seekers crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The newborn was seen resting in her mother's lap in a picture that showed the moment the people on the dinghy were saved. As Spain celebrated the Epiphany holiday, also called Three Kings Day, which commemorates the day the three wise men presented gifts to the infant Jesus, the boat was sighted off the island of Lanzarote on Monday, according to rescuers. "Christmas ends in the Canary Islands with the rescue of a baby born in the middle of a voyage on the sea," the Spanish government's marine rescue service, Salvamento Mar Timo, stated on X on Wednesday. The mother and her newborn kid w...

At President Jimmy Carter's funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, all of the current American presidents poured into pews to commemorate one another in a rare display of solidarity in these turbulent times. Even though his one tenure in the White House was viewed as a letdown at the time, Carter, who passed away late last month at the age of 100, is remembered as a kind Christian and progressive ahead of his time. Family members and dignitaries recalled acts of public sacrifice and private compassion under the soaring neo-Gothic nave's stained glass and stone filigree. They mentioned that Carter taught Sunday school at his Plains, Georgia, church "every Sunday from World War II to Covid." Carter had good vision. In a eulogy before his death in 2021, Carter's vice presid...

Santa Fe, New Mexico. At the state attorney general's request, the New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday overturned conservative counties' and cities' bans on abortion. The state's reputation as having some of the most permissive abortion laws in the nation is strengthened by the unanimous ruling. The decision protects access to abortion services throughout a state that has grown to be a popular travel destination for those from other jurisdictions that have banned the procedure. Lawyers for the cities of Hobbs and Clovis, as well as Lea and Roosevelt counties in New Mexico, had contended in court that the Comstock Act's anti-vice sections could not be used to overturn local abortion regulations. Justice C. Shannon Bacon, who wrote the majority judgment, stated that counties and towns are...

Dry wind gusts that can produce watery eyes or runny noses, as well as occasionally be strong enough to stop traffic or topple trees, are experienced by Southern Californians every year between fall and spring. The terrain of the western United States allows for the natural occurrence of the so-called Santa Ana winds. When coupled with other climatic factors, like dryness, they become much more dangerous since they raise the possibility of wildfires like the ones that are raging right now in the Los Angeles region. This year's gusts were more widespread than usual and occasionally approached hurricane strength. They combined with an unusually dry winter to provide the perfect environment for fires to spread. The Palisades and Eaton fires, which started Tuesday, along with three minor fires...