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Forecasters issue new round of warnings about fire conditions in southern California 

TEASER: Chance of rain in the coming days could calm fires, but bring threat of mudslides 

PUBLISHED: 01/22/2025 at  6:01 am 

BYLINE:  VOA News 

WRITER: Fern Robinson, Chris Hannas 

ASSIGNING EDITOR:   

DATELINE:   

SCRIPT EDITORS: wpm 

PLATFORMS: WEB X TV __ RADIO __           

EDITOR NOTES: new lede & grafs 2-4, edits graf 7, trims))  

Firefighters and residents in southern California braced Wednesday for the possibility of more wildfire activity fueled by dry and strong winds, while the prospect of some rain in the forecast brought the potential for some relief from the fire threat but also the dangers of mudslides in fire-ravaged areas. 

The National Weather Service said dangerous fire conditions would persist in the Los Angeles area through Thursday or Friday. 

Forecasters said there was a 60% to 80% chance of rain in the region starting Saturday, with rainfall totals in most areas not exceeding 8 millimeters. 

A chance of thunderstorms bringing locally heavier rainfall has raised fears of mudslides with debris flowing down hilly areas that have been scorched by two weeks of wildfires. 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said an executive order she signed Tuesday is designed to curb the flow of toxic debris from the region’s fires and protect the area’s beaches and oceans.     

“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” the mayor said. City workers will remove toxic materials and set up barriers to direct the flow of debris into the sewer system. 

The fires have killed at least 27 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. 

 
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Washington — President Trump’s executive order suspending the U.S. refugee program would affect the resettlement of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan, an advocacy group said.

AfghanEvac, a California-based coalition of organizations helping U.S. Afghan allies to resettle in the U.S., said Monday that the pause in all refugee resettlements would affect Afghan allies who are awaiting relocation to the U.S.

“Thousands of Afghan allies who have completed almost all required steps in the refugee process would be immediately impacted by a refugee resettlement pause, and thousands more who are currently undergoing processing would remain in limbo,” AfghanEvac said, in a statement on its X account.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that called the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program detrimental to U.S. interests and suspending it beginning on January 27.

“This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligned with the interest of the United States,” stated the executive order.

It called on the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the secretary of state, to report to the president within 90 days if the program “would be in the interests of the United States.”

The order added that every 90 days, a report would be submitted to the president until he “determine[s] that resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States.”

According to Shawn VanDiver, president of AghanEvac, more than 180,000 Afghans were relocated in the U.S. from August 2021, after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, to December 2024.

Thousands of Afghans are still waiting to be relocated to the United States.

AfghanEvac said that the order would not only have an impact on at-risk Afghans living in hiding but also on the family members of the active-duty U.S. troops.

Earlier, Reuters reported that the flights of 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S. were canceled.

But the president of AfghanEvac, Shawn VanDiver, said in a post on X that no flights were canceled.

“To be clear: flights have not yet been canceled for anyone,” VanDiver said.

Omar Samad, a former Afghan diplomat living in the U.S., told VOA that the ban is part of a larger package and it will impact Afghans who are waiting to be relocated to the U.S.

“It is going to be reviewed by the U.S. agencies, and it is possible that they that the U.S. make an exception for Afghans,” Samad added.

VanDiver said that the coalition of organizations helping Afghans are working to “secure exemptions for Afghan allies.”

 
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73% респондентів вважають ситуацію в Україні загрозою світовому миру, а 61% вважає її загрозою безпеці Чехії
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Millions of U.S. TikTok users are looking to newly sworn-in President Donald Trump, who has given the app’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, 75 days to strike a deal with a U.S. buyer.
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The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for most of California’s Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Tuesday for the area’s “extremely low relative humidity and periods of gusty offshore winds.”

The weather service said its “Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag warning has ended, but dangerous fire weather conditions persist through Thursday or Friday.” Northeast winds will remain “gusty” in the hills and mountains, the service said in a statement. Low humidities are set to continue. 

Some areas will experience a lull in the winds Tuesday night into Wednesday, but extremely dry conditions will continue and winds will strengthen again late Wednesday, according to the weather service. The Red Flag Warning covers most of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties through 8 p.m. Thursday.

Earlier Tuesday, the weather service said there was an extreme risk of fire weather over parts of Southern California. The service said winds of 32 to 64 kilometers per hour, combined with “stronger winds in the terrain, low relative humidity, and dry fuels, have contributed to the dangerous conditions.”

Strong winds sparked some scattered fires Tuesday in Los Angeles, but alert firefighters quickly brought the fires under control.

At least 27 people have died in a series of wildfires across the Los Angeles area during the past two weeks as Santa Ana winds mixed with dry conditions on the ground to quickly spread blazes.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger has called for an outside investigation into the evacuation notification process for residents of western Altadena, near the Eaton Fire, one of several that erupted across Los Angeles. A report in the Los Angeles Times says evacuation orders for western Altadena were delayed for hours.

“From what I have been told, it was a night of pure chaos for both fire and first responders,” Barger told The Times. The county supervisor said she has “deep concerns” about what happened. Residents told the Times that by the time they received evacuation orders, many of the homes in the area already were on fire. 

Seventeen people are reported to have died in the Eaton fire.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said an executive order she signed Tuesday is designed to curb the flow of toxic debris from the region’s fires and protect the area’s beaches and oceans.   

“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” the mayor said. City workers will remove toxic materials and set up barriers to direct the flow of debris into the sewer system. 

Meteorologists say rain forecast for the region will begin late Friday and last until early Saturday. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis said “In terms of ending the fire season, it’s probably not going to be enough for that. But it’ll certainly help a little bit.”
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Representative Elise Stefanik, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, faced questions at her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday. The high-ranking House Republican told lawmakers she would advance Trump’s “America First” agenda at the international body. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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Twenty-two Democratic-led U.S. states sued Tuesday to try to block President Donald Trump from ending birthright U.S. citizenship for the children of undocumented migrants living in the country. 

The suit by the states, joined by the city governments in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, are among the first filed by those opposing Trump’s executive orders, which he signed in the immediate hours after his inauguration Monday. 

The U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship to those born in the country, and court rulings have made only small exceptions, such as rejecting citizenship for the offspring of foreign diplomats born in the U.S. Presidents cannot unilaterally change the Constitution, which instead must be accomplished through large majorities of lawmakers in Congress or wide state legislative action. 

But Trump, as part of his crackdown on 11 million or more undocumented migrants living in the U.S., signed one executive order directing U.S. agencies to stop handing citizenship documents to the offspring of undocumented migrants. 

The Republican president’s order directed federal officials, starting Feb. 19, to not recognize U.S. citizenship for children born in the United States to mothers who are in the country illegally or are in the U.S. only temporarily, such as visa holders, and whose fathers are not citizens or lawful permanent residents. 

Trump’s nascent administration is moving quickly to deport such migrants back to their home countries, even if they have lived in the U.S. for years, paid taxes and assimilated into American life. Trump’s immigration agents are first targeting undocumented migrants who have been convicted of crimes. 

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement, “State attorneys general have been preparing for illegal actions like [Trump’s no-citizenship edict], and today’s immediate lawsuit sends a clear message to the Trump administration that we will stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights.” 

The White House did not immediately comment on the suits, three of which were filed in Boston, Massachusetts, and Concord, New Hampshire. Four states filed a separate lawsuit in Washington. 

Democratic-led states and advocacy groups have immediately challenged two other Trump executive orders, one creating the Department of Government Efficiency — a nongovernmental advisory panel overseen by billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk — and another weakening job protections for government civil servants to make it easier for the Trump administration to fire them and replace them with Trump loyalists. 

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said that if Trump’s no-citizenship order is allowed to stand, it would mean more than 150,000 children born annually in the United States would be denied the right to citizenship. 

“President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights,” she said in a statement. 

One of the plaintiffs challenging the order is a woman living in Massachusetts identified only as “O. Doe.” She is in the country through temporary protected status and is due to give birth in March. 

The temporary protected status immigration designation is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events and currently covers more than 1 million people from 17 nations. 

U.S. birthright citizenship was enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the aftermath of the Civil War in the early 1860s and ratified in 1868. It says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” 

Platkin, the New Jersey attorney general, said Tuesday that presidents might have broad authority, but they are not kings. 

“The president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, write the 14th Amendment out of existence, period,” he said. 

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a U.S. citizen by birthright and the nation’s first Chinese American elected attorney general, said the lawsuit was personal for him. 

“The 14th Amendment says what it means, and it means what it says — if you are born on American soil, you are an American. Period. Full stop,” he said. “There is no legitimate legal debate on this question. But the fact that Trump is dead wrong will not prevent him from inflicting serious harm right now on American families like my own.” 

Chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts along with other immigrant rights advocates have also filed suit to block Trump’s action. 

Their suit asked a court to rule that Trump’s order is unconstitutional. It cites the case of a woman identified as “Carmen,” who is pregnant but is not a U.S. citizen. The lawsuit says she has lived in the United States for more than 15 years and has a pending visa application that could lead to permanent resident status. She has no other immigration status, and the father of her expected child has no immigration status either, the suit says. 

“Stripping children of the ‘priceless treasure’ of citizenship is a grave injury,” the suit said. “It denies them the full membership in U.S. society to which they are entitled.” 

Some material in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told senators at her confirmation hearing Tuesday that she will promote his doctrine of “peace through strength” on the world stage if she is confirmed.

“It is imperative to ensure strong American leadership at the United Nations,” Elise Stefanik told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I share President Trump’s vision of a U.N. reformed by strong America First peace through strength and return to this founding mission of promoting peace and security around the world.”

Stefanik, 40, from a rural New York district, has been in Congress for a decade and has served on national security related committees. As chair of the Republican Conference since 2021, she is the fourth-ranking House Republican but will have to step down if she is approved.

She appeared to have bipartisan support, with Democratic legislators largely posing standard foreign policy questions and avoiding partisan attacks.

China’s influence

China’s growing influence within the United Nations was at the top of lawmakers’ concerns.

“China has used its malign influence to block attempts to discuss the Chinese government-sponsored genocide against the Uyghurs, and they have blocked our ally Taiwan from fully participating in the U.N.,” committee chair Jim Risch of Idaho said. He also criticized Beijing for pushing its nationals into U.N. system jobs to serve its national interests.

Stefanik agreed that Beijing has made “significant inroads” at the world body and said Washington needs to push back on it with a “long-term strategy.”

“Working closely with our allies and our partners, both at the most junior levels and at the more senior levels within the U.N., we need to make sure that we are running candidates – either American or allied nations – in the election process for key leadership posts within the U.N. system,” she said.

Stefanik said efforts should focus on technical organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – both organizations that until recently had been under the leadership of international civil servants from China. And she warned that the United States must be vigilant in protecting its ethical standards related to the use of artificial intelligence.

The United States is the single largest financial contributor to the United Nations, and several senators questioned whether U.S. taxpayers are still getting their money’s worth from the organization. The nominee said she would seek to do an agency-by-agency audit of what U.S. funds are spent on and press for reforms including more transparency and accountability. She also had praise for agencies led by U.S. appointees, including the World Food Program and the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.

“Stefanik’s remarks signaled that the U.S. is going to be tough on the U.N., but not walk away from the organization altogether,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group. “I actually think that quite a lot of her lines about the need to ensure the U.N. offers value for money will play well with other big donors to the organization, who are keen to control costs.”

One of Trump’s first executive orders on Monday was to notify the World Health Organization of his intention to withdraw the United States from the body – and with it the hundreds of millions of dollars it contributes to WHO’s budget. Stefanik said she supported the move.

“WHO failed on a global stage in the COVID pandemic for all the world to see,” she said.

Stefanik was most passionate about “our most precious ally” Israel and defending it from what she called “antisemitic rot” and bias at the United Nations.

“We need to be a voice of moral clarity on the U.N. Security Council and at the United Nations at large, for the world to hear the importance of standing with Israel, and I intend to do that,” she said.

Asked by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen about her vision for “the day after” in Gaza, she said Trump is “uniquely positioned” to bring peace to the region, to eradicate Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, and protect Israel’s national security.

Van Hollen pressed further, asking if she supports the view of far-right Israeli legislators who say Israel has a biblical right to the entire West Bank. Stefanik replied “yes.”

Crisis Group’s Gowan said that last comment might fuel “nervousness” among U.N. members that Trump could endorse an Israeli effort to annex parts of the Palestinian territories. But overall, he thinks international diplomats will have found her testimony reassuring.

“Especially after the whiplash effect of Trump disowning the Paris [climate] deal and World Health Organization during his first afternoon in office,” he said.

No vote has been scheduled yet in the committee on her nomination. If Stefanik passes that hurdle, and she is widely expected to, then her nomination would go to the full Senate for a final vote.
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У Києві на лівому березі працювали сили ППО
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s executive order moving toward designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations would only impact Mexico if there’s close coordination between the two governments.

She said that Mexico would defend its sovereignty and independence while seeking coordination with the U.S. in the wake of the order signed Monday.

“We all want to fight the drug cartels,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press briefing. The U.S. “in their territory, us in our territory.”

Trump’s order highlighted Mexican drug cartels and other Latin American criminal groups like Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The order says they “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”

The order did not list any Mexican cartels by name but said Cabinet secretaries would recommend groups for designation as terrorist organizations in the next 14 days. It was among a slew of executive orders Trump signed Monday to kick off his administration, several of which focus on securing the southern border.

“The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” the order reads.

It was unclear what the impact could be for fighting the cartels, but there was concern it could be another way to make it more difficult for people from the countries where those groups operate to access the U.S.

It came in addition to measures including the declaration of an emergency on the U.S. southern border, a promise to slap 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1 and ending the use of the CBP One app, which allowed migrants to apply for asylum appointments before reaching the border.

Trump has also promised to carry out mass deportations and threatened military intervention in Mexico to fight cartels, something sharply rejected by Sheinbaum.

Many have voiced concern the terrorist designation could provide the U.S. justification to take military action against cartels.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, an organized crime expert at the Brookings Institution, said the order could have “huge implications from trade to migrants.”

As cartels have gained a firm grip on control of the lucrative migrant smuggling trade in recent years, it’s virtually impossible for migrants and asylum seekers to pass through Mexico and other Latin American countries without paying some sort of fee to cartels.

The moment they do, Felbab-Brown said, it could disqualify them from seeking asylum.

“Trump can essentially prevent the vast majority of undocumented migrants trying to cross the U.S. border from getting asylum,” she said.

Mike Vigil, a former head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s foreign operations, said he expected any terrorism designation to have very little impact on day-to-day operations against cartels because many of the same anti-terrorism powers American authorities would be granted are already employ in counter-narcotics efforts.

“It’s already been done. This is nothing new,” Vigil said. “It’s all political theater and tossing a piece of stale salami to [Trump’s] base.”

He said logistically the order would likely allow the U.S. to seize assets of groups in the U.S., sanction U.S. citizens that do business with terrorist organizations and block members of those groups from entering the U.S.

“It’s not going to allow the U.S. to send troops into Mexico like so many people think simply because people forget that Mexico is a sovereign country and it would be an act of war,” he said.

The move comes as cartel violence has intensified in northern Mexican states after the kidnapping and detention of kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada sparked an all-out war between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel. Gunmen continue to leave mutilated bodies scattered across the state and kidnap people even from hospitals.

It’s part of a larger shifting dynamic in cartel warfare in the Latin American nation. Years ago, a handful of criminal organizations headed by a few key capos controlled large parts of Mexico. Now, many more factions have violently fought for power, as they’ve become more agile and harder to pin down.

They’ve used more sophisticated tools like bomb-dropping drones, improvised explosive devices and rigged armored vehicles, and have expanded into migrant trafficking and the avocado trade. Meanwhile, thousands of Mexican citizens have gotten caught in the crossfire, having been slain or gone missing.

 
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Washington — President Donald Trump is spending his first full day back in the White House meeting with congressional leaders, making an infrastructure announcement and demonstrating one of his favored expressions of power: firing people.

The new president posted on his Truth social media platform early Tuesday that he would fire more than 1,000 presidential appointees “who are not aligned with our vision,” including some high-profile names.

Trump fired chef and humanitarian Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, retired Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former State Department official Brian Hook from the board of the Wilson Center and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council.

“YOU’RE FIRED!” Trump said in his post — his catchphrase from his reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”

Former President Joe Biden also removed many Trump appointees in his first days in office, including former press secretary Sean Spicer from the board overseeing the U.S. Naval Academy.

Trump planned to continue to build on his barrage of Inauguration Day announcements, with the White House promising a “massive announcement” on infrastructure. Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail the announcement in advance, but she said in an interview on Fox News that it would send a message to the world.

“You won’t want to miss it,” she said.

“Infrastructure week” became a punchline during Trump’s first administration as White House officials promised repeatedly — over years — to train a focus on major public works projects, only to have Trump himself quickly shift emphasis elsewhere while major legislation on infrastructure never materialized.

It was enough of a pattern that Biden joked about how his predecessor couldn’t pull off even a week of focus on infrastructure while his administration oversaw passage of billions of dollars for bridges, tunnels, roads and other projects for the coming 10 years.

“He didn’t build a damn thing,” Biden said frequently of Trump, adding that his own administration delivered “infrastructure decade.”

Trump wants to ban Chinese companies from owning vital U.S. infrastructure in sectors such as energy, technology and agriculture, and he says he will force Chinese owners to sell any holdings “that jeopardize America’s national security.”

Trump also attended a national prayer service Tuesday morning at Washington National Cathedral, a customary visit for new presidents and one that will wrap up his four days of inauguration-related events.

Later in the day, the president was expected to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other GOP (Republican) legislators. It’s the first formal sit-down for the GOP leadership teams including Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso and the new president as they chart priorities for using Republican power in Washington.

Despite an ambitious 100-day agenda, the Republican-led Congress is not on the same page on some ideas and strategies as they rush to deliver tax cuts for the wealthy, mass deportations and other goals for Trump.

Trump used the first hours of his presidency on Monday to sign a series of executive orders and memorandums, moving quickly to show that his new hold on the U.S. government would be a stark change from his predecessor.

He pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accords and the World Health Organization, began his immigration crackdown by declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and sought to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in America, which is expected to run into constitutional challenges.

He also signed an order that intends to pause a ban on TikTok for 75 days to give its China-based parent company more time to find an approved buyer.
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З початку доби загальна кількість бойових зіткнень вздовж усієї лінії фронту складає 55
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Його лишають під вартою на 60 діб з можливістю внесення застави 263 тисячі гривень
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In the Southwest United States, bird migrations are shifting as global temperatures warm. Gustavo Martіnez Contreras takes us to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in the state of New Mexico.
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