In the news today: Out-of-control fires have so far destroyed thousands of homes and other structures across Los Angeles; former President Carter will be honored at a Washington funeral today; and President-elect Trump has been embracing a new agenda. Also, Egypt unveils new artifacts and ancient tombs in Luxor. |
Wildfires rage across Southern California. (AP Photos/Ethan Swope, Etienne Laurent)
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Firefighters battle to control devastating Los Angeles wildfires
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An additional fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday night, as firefighters across Los Angeles battled three other major blazes that have already killed five people and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures. About 130,000 people are under evacuation orders. Read more. |
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- The new Sunset Fire started around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The five deaths recorded so far were from the Eaton Fire, inland around Altadena. The Palisades Fire, near the coast, is already the most destructive in Los Angeles history, with at least 1,000 structures burned. Flames moved so quickly that many barely had time to escape.
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The fires have consumed a total of about 42 square miles — nearly the size of the entire city of San Francisco. The winds increased to 80 mph on Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service. Fire conditions could last through Friday.
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Jimmy Carter will be honored at Washington funeral before burial in Georgia
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Jimmy Carter, who considered himself an outsider even as he sat in the Oval Office as the 39th U.S. president, will be honored Thursday with the pageantry of a funeral at Washington National Cathedral before a second service and burial in his tiny Georgia hometown. Read more. |
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President Joe Biden, the first sitting senator to endorse Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, will eulogize his fellow Democrat 11 days before he leaves office. All of Carter’s living successors are expected to attend the Washington funeral.
Thursday will conclude six days of national rites that began in Plains, Georgia, where Carter was born in 1924, lived most of his life, and died Dec. 29 at 100.
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Carter won the presidency promising good government and honest talk for an electorate disillusioned by the Vietnam War and Watergate, signed significant legislation, and negotiated a landmark peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. But he also presided over inflation and international crises, and lost a landslide to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980. Two years later he and his wife Rosalynn established The Carter Center in Atlanta as a nongovernmental organization that fought disease, mediated conflict, monitored elections, and advocated for racial and gender equity worldwide.
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Donald Trump has a new preoccupation: Imperialism |
Donald Trump ran on a return to his “America First” foreign policy platform. The U.S., he said, could no longer afford to be the world’s policeman. On his watch, he pledged there would be no new wars. But since winning a second term, the president-elect has been embracing a new imperialist agenda. Read more. |
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Talk of undermining sovereign borders and using military force against allies and NATO members — even if said lightly — marks a stunning departure from decades-old norms about territorial integrity. It’s rhetoric that analysts say could embolden America’s enemies by suggesting the U.S. is now OK with countries using force to redraw borders at a time when Russia is pressing forward with its invasion of Ukraine and China is threatening Taiwan.
Trump allies have long argued that his most audacious statements are all part of his complex negotiating tactics. But Michael McFaul, the Obama-era ambassador to Russia, said Trump’s language is counterproductive to U.S. national security interests. Trump’s trolling is not the negotiating ploy of “crazy genius,” he said, and will have consequences.
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“It is the resurrection of masculine American energy. It is the return of Manifest Destiny,” said Charlie Kirk, whose Turning Point group helped with Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort.
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A recently discovered ancient rock-cut tomb in Luxor, Egypt. (AP Photo/Khaled Elfiqi)
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Egypt unveils ancient rock-cut tombs and burial shafts in Luxor
Egypt unveiled several discoveries near the famed city of Luxor on Wednesday, including ancient rock-cut tombs and burial shafts dating back 3,600 years. Artifacts found at the tombs included bronze coins with the image of Alexander the Great dating to the time of Ptolemy I (367-283), children’s toys made of clay, cartonnage and funerary masks that covered mummies, winged scarabs, beads and amulets.
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Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Sarah
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