Latest News
As winds pick up, LA firefighters desperately battle to contain monster inferno
Firefighters are making an all-out assault to prevent the largest of the deadly wildfires that is threatening Los Angeles from spreading into one of the city’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.
Aerial crews have been bombarding the flaming hills with water and fire retardant to hold back the Palisades fire, which has expanded an additional 1,000 acres and is now menacing Brentwood.
Officials have been on the defensive amid mounting anger at how hydrants ran dry as firefighters struggled to contain the fast-moving blazes. Winds are expected to pick up again overnight, further fanning the flames that have already left at least 16 people dead.
On Saturday evening, the LA County coroner’s office announced that 11 of the deaths were attributed to the Eaton fire and five to the Palisades fire.
“LA County had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath on Saturday.
Firefighters have made modest progress against the worst of the infernos, the Palisades fire, which has scorched nearly 23,000 acres and is 11% contained.
But the conflagration has spread into the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood, sparking evacuation orders for swathes of Brentwood, a ritzy enclave where Arnold Schwarzenegger, Disney chief executive Bob Iger and NBA star LeBron James have homes.
Also in the evacuation zone is the Getty Center, a hilltop museum that holds more than 125,000 artworks, including masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet and Degas. The building is undamaged so far.
The second-biggest blaze, the Eaton fire, has razed more than 14,000 acres and was 15% contained. Firefighters have mostly contained two smaller blazes, the Kenneth and Hurst fires.
But the National Weather Service warned that the gusty Santa Ana winds that whipped up the fires at the outset would increase again on Saturday and into Sunday.
Seven neighbouring states, the federal government and Canada and Mexico have rushed resources to California.
No cause has yet been established for the fires. The two biggest ones combined have razed an area more than twice the size of Manhattan.
Some 153,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders and another 166,000 have been warned they may have to flee, too.
The political repercussions have begun.
On Friday, Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat with rumoured White House aspirations, ordered an investigation into why a key reservoir was out of service and some fire hydrants ran dry.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley complained about the shortage. “When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.
Chief Crowley has also attacked city leadership for cutting her department’s budget and eliminating mechanic positions, which she said had resulted in more than 100 fire apparatuses being out of service.
On Saturday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass – who has been criticised for being in Ghana attending the inauguration of the African country’s president when the fires erupted in LA on Tuesday, hinted at her tensions with Chief Crowley.
“Let me be clear about something,” Bass told a news conference, “the fire chief and I are focused on fighting these fires and saving lives, and any differences that we might have will be worked out in private.”
More than 70,000 people have signed a change.org petition demanding the mayor’s immediate resignation.
As fears of looting grow, a sunset-to-sunrise curfew is being strictly enforced in evacuated areas, official said.
Newsom announced on Saturday that he would double the number of National Guard on the ground to “keep communities safe”, deploying 1,680 troops.
About two dozen arrests have been made, including for burglary, looting and curfew violations.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said cadaver dogs are helping 40 search and rescue team scour razed neighbourhoods.
The death toll is expected to rise once house-to-house searches are conducted.
[BBC]
Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool.
The 32-year-old’s previous deal was scheduled to run out in the summer and there had been doubts he would stay with the Reds following comments from him during the season and speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia.
However, he is staying and will have the chance to add to his 243 goals and 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances.
“Of course I’m very excited – we have a great team now,” said Salah.
“Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.
“I have played eight years here, hopefully it’s going to be 10. I’m enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I have had the best years of my career here.”
Salah has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, including 27 in the Premier League as the Reds chase a 20th top-flight title. Liverpool are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with seven games remaining.
Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup with the Reds.
He was one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract this summer, along with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
Netherlands defender Van Dijk has said there has been progress on talks over a new deal but Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.
[BBC]
MS Dhoni will lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Rutraj Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season with an elbow injury.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday. It is a significant blow to CSK, who have made a bad start to their campaign by losing four of their first five matches. They are currently ninth in the points table, above only Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Gaikwad suffered the injury during CSK’s match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30. He was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to fast bowler Tushar Deshpande and missing the ball in the second over of CSK’s unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that game. He played two more games after that and made 5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai on April 5 and 1 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on April 8. After five games, he was CSK’s second-highest run-scorer with 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61; he was CSK’s highest run-scorer in IPL 2024.
“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” Fleming said in Chennai. “We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.
“So we’re disappointed, and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”
Dhoni, 43, had led CSK from 2008 until 2024, when he handed the captaincy to Gaikwad. He had also handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but took back the leadership some way into the season after the team went through a bad run of results. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have won five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League trophies as well.
“He [Dhoni] had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can,” Fleming said. “So that was never a doubt. We’ll look at replacements. We’ve got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first. But yeah, there is an opportunity to see how we can enhance the squad probably moving forward into subsequent years.”
After their home game against KKR on today, CSK play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 14 and Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 20.
[Cricinfo]
Sarvodaya Development Finance joins Global Banking Alliance, set to host annual board meeting in Sri Lanka
Sanjiv Hulugalle appointed CEO and General Manager of Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams Sri Lanka
Empowering SMEs on capital raising through listing
-
Business5 days agoColombo Coffee wins coveted management awards
-
Features6 days agoStarlink in the Global South
-
Features3 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part III
-
Features6 days agoModi’s Sri Lanka Sojourn
-
Midweek Review3 days agoInequality is killing the Middle Class
-
Features5 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part I
-
Features4 days agoA brighter future …
-
Business2 days agoNational Anti-Corruption Action Plan launched with focus on economic recovery