Number of missing rises as fires continue in Los Angeles
Firefighters made progress in containing multiple wildfires that swept through the city Sunday as new desert winds arrived. The fires have killed at least 16 people and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the number of missing was rising by the hour. Follow our live coverage here.
Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed and the gusts that fueled the fires are expected to return after a possible reprieve. Although crews were able to stop the momentum of the large Palisades Fire, fire danger remained high in the area. More than 100,000 residents were still under evacuation orders.
The Eaton fire, which killed at least 11 people, is now one of the deadliest in California history. Search teams accompanied by cadaver dogs searched the neighborhoods razed by the flames. Here’s what we know about the fire victims.
Political criticism: California politicians have faced questions about their preparation. President-elect Donald Trump called state officials “incompetent” on his Truth Social site and renewed a long-running feud with Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who said Trump was politicizing the destruction.
A potential turning point in Sudan’s civil war
The Sudanese army this week recaptured the town of Wad Madani from the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, a paramilitary group that recaptured the town just over a year ago.
Experts say if the army manages to maintain control of the region, it would be the most significant victory since the war began nearly two years ago and could reshape the battlefield. General Mohamed Hamdan, the head of the RSF, promised to retake the city soon.
Sudanese residents gathered in the streets of Khartoum, the capital, to celebrate victory as church bells rang out in Port Sudan. They hoped the news could mark a turning point in a civil war that has led to massacres, ethnic cleansing and growing famine.
Related: Last week, the United States determined that the RSF had committed genocide in Sudan.
Digital gaming is spreading in Brazil
The animal lottery, a game of chance, has been part of the daily lives of many Brazilians for decades and has fueled bloody mafia feuds. Digital gambling, however, is reshaping the way people place their bets and upending organized crime.
Digital gaming, legalized in Brazil in 2018, has sparked a frenzy in the country and forced authorities to figure out how to regulate the industry. An avid gamer, who grew up in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, estimates she lost around 78,000 euros in two years using a gaming app.
Digital alternatives now generate more than €22 billion in bets each year, 10 times the amount coming from analog gaming. Some of this money comes from animal lottery bosses themselves, who have used legal betting sites to launder their earnings.
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In Mozambique, a country known for its lush forests and emerald waters, Islamic State militants have ravaged a region the size of Austria for more than seven years. The government says the crisis has stabilized, but residents, many of whom bear physical and psychological scars, say otherwise. Nearly 6,000 people were killed and nearly half of Cabo Delgado province’s 2.3 million residents were displaced.
Our colleagues visited the country in October to speak to and photograph residents trying to regain a sense of normalcy and come to terms with the conflict. Find out what they learned here.
Lives lived: Mauro Morandi, nicknamed the Italian Robinson Crusoe for living alone on a Mediterranean island for 32 years, has died at age 85.
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The politics of ham
When a priest in Saint-Flour, France, struggled to raise funds for the restoration of his cathedral’s antique organ, he found a unique solution. He transformed one of the bell towers into a curing workshop, where for almost two years farmers could dry their hams. (After the meat has been blessed by a local bishop, of course.)
But an architectural heritage inspector, more fond of bureaucracy than red meat, intervened and ordered the ham to be removed after finding violations such as a grease stain on the floor.
The cathedral refused and the dispute escalated to the office of the French Minister of Culture. The problem seemed hyperlocal, but it raised a broader question facing the nation: Who will pay to maintain the country’s vast religious heritage?
