A string of fierce wildfires broke out Tuesday and surged throughout the Los Angeles area, destroying hundreds of houses and killing at least five people. The fires were fueled by strong winds and dry conditions. A city official in Los Angeles called Tuesday night "one of the most devastating and terrifying" that she had seen in her area of the city, while a Los Angeles County fire official stated that two of the fires were responsible for an unspecified number of serious injuries. For live coverage, click this link. According to climate scientist Daniel Swain, "the more information we get, the worse this looks." What we know about the flames is as follows. Where are the fires? The Palisades Fire erupted Tuesday morning in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles County neighborh...

Washington According to a Justice Department statement, the head of a Japanese criminal organization who was accused by American officials of smuggling nuclear materials from Myanmar entered a guilty plea on Wednesday. According to the Justice Department, Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, entered a guilty plea in Manhattan to scheming with a group of friends to transport nuclear materials, such as uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Myanmar to other nations. According to the department, Ebisawa also entered a guilty plea to counts of international drug trafficking and firearms trafficking. The Japanese yakuza mafia lord was accused by U.S. authorities in February 2024 of plotting to trade nuclear materials from Myanmar for Iran's anticipated use in nuclear weapons. Additionally, he wa...

A string of fierce wildfires broke out Tuesday and surged throughout the Los Angeles area, destroying hundreds of houses and killing at least five people. The fires were fueled by strong winds and dry conditions. A city official in Los Angeles called Tuesday night "one of the most devastating and terrifying" that she had seen in her area of the city, while a Los Angeles County fire official stated that two of the fires were responsible for an unspecified number of serious injuries. For live coverage, click this link. According to climate scientist Daniel Swain, "the more information we get, the worse this looks." What we know about the flames is as follows. Where are the fires? The Palisades Fire erupted Tuesday morning in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles County neighborh...

Washington Two significant unions announced their reunion only days before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, nearly two decades after they split. The AFL-CIO, which is made up of 60 affiliated labor organizations, announced on Wednesday that the Service Employees International Union is rejoining it. Its membership will reach 15 million workers with the addition of SEIU. Less than two weeks remain until the start of a second Trump administration, which is anticipated to have a far different stance toward labor unions than the Biden administration did. But according to the AFL-CIO and SEIU leaders, the decision to join forces was not political. In an interview with NBC News, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler stated, "The idea that this is political couldn't be further from the tru...

Washington A former FBI informant was given a six-year jail sentence on Wednesday for fabricating a tale about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter receiving bribes that was at the heart of Republicans' attempt to have him impeached. Last month, in a federal court in Los Angeles, Alexander Smirnov entered a guilty plea to tax evasion and lying to the FBI about the fraudulent bribery plan, which prosecutors said was an attempt to sway the 2020 presidential election. Smirnov, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, told his FBI handler that in 2015, then-Vice President Biden and his son received $5 million each from leaders of the Ukrainian energy business Burisma. Prosecutors claim Smirnov made his explosive accusation in 2020 after expressing prejudice against Joe Biden as a pr...

According to Capitol Police, a guy brandishing three knives and a machete was taken into custody on Wednesday while undergoing a security check for those in line to see former President Jimmy Carter lie in state. According to a news release from Capitol Police, Mel J. Horne of Washington, D.C., was taken into custody on several counts of possessing a dangerous weapon. Shortly after 2 p.m. ET, police said they saw the machete in a bag as it passed through an X-ray machine at the Capitol Visitor Center. Three knives were also found in the backpack, according to Capitol Police. According to the agency, screening at the tourist center's north location was suspended for approximately an hour while authorities conducted their investigation. In the news release, Capitol Police stated that "USCP i...

The Summary Exceptionally dry conditions and strong Santa Ana winds have fueled the dangerous fires in Los Angeles. Southern California has been abnormally dry for months, even in what is typically the rainy season. Devastating blazes are expected to become more frequent as climate change amplifies the ingredients that help wildfires ignite and spread. A frightening triple combination of extreme conditions—a protracted drought, an extremely dry winter, and strong Santa Ana winds—has sparked multiple out-of-control wildfires in the Los Angeles area. As of Wednesday, two people have been killed and over 1,000 buildings had been burned by fast-moving fires that had devoured the Pacific Palisades area, portions of Pasadena and Altadena, and Sylmar, north of San Fernando. Furi...

On Wednesday, tens of thousands of dockworkers tentatively agreed to a new six-year contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which covers 14 major ports along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama, to Houston, and from Boston to Miami. The tentative agreement, according to both parties, will prevent an impending strike on January 15 at midnight. A news release from the parties stated, "We are happy to announce that ILA and USMX have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year ILA-USMX Master Contract, subject to ratification, thus averting any work stoppage." In addition to modernizing ports on the East and Gulf coasts to make them safer and more effective and to build the capacity they require to maintain the strength of our supply networks, this agreement safeguards existing ILA jobs...

According to Capitol Police, a guy brandishing three knives and a machete was taken into custody on Wednesday while undergoing a security check for those in line to see former President Jimmy Carter lie in state. According to a news release from Capitol Police, Mel J. Horne of Washington, D.C., was taken into custody on several counts of possessing a dangerous weapon. Shortly after 2 p.m. ET, police said they saw the machete in a bag as it passed through an X-ray machine at the Capitol Visitor Center. Three knives were also found in the backpack, according to Capitol Police. According to the agency, screening at the tourist center's north location was suspended for approximately an hour while authorities conducted their investigation. In the news release, Capitol Police stated that "USCP i...

The Summary Demand for water to fight the Palisades Fire led the community s water tanks to temporarily dry up. The Los Angeles Fire Department said that hampered firefighting efforts. Experts said the area s water system simply wasn t designed for fire disasters of this magnitude. Water is in high demand to combat the rapidly The Palisades In the past day or so, several fire hydrants and all three of the community's water tanks have been temporarily dried up. The Los Angeles Fire Department claimed that this hindered efforts to put out the fire, but it did not go into detail about the particular difficulties or how it overcame them. There is currently no containment on the Palisades Fire, which started Tuesday morning. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated as m...