Firefighters rushed to contain the Los Angeles wildfires
Officials hoped that a drop in wind speeds yesterday would give firefighters a window to take control of the fast-moving blazes that have raged unchecked this week. At least five people have been killed, but that figure is expected to rise. Almost 180,000 people were under evacuation orders. Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, along with landmarks, making the landscape unrecognizable. Follow our live coverage and our maps of fires.
The Santa Ana winds, dangerous gusts that have spread the flames, were expected to intensify overnight and through the weekend, and possibly continue into next week. Helicopters and planes dropped water from an ominous orange sky, and firefighters battled the blazes with a renewed supply of water after hydrants had gone dry in previous days.
The Hollywood Hills, home to celebrities and entertainment executives, also began to burn overnight. Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal and other celebrities lost their homes.
Twenty people had been arrested and accused of looting during the chaos, with that number expected to increase, law enforcement officials said.
Context: Los Angeles, which is about the same size as two small U.S. states, can be hard to picture. Disasters or riots might occur on one end of the city while those on the opposite end are far removed from the scene. These wildfires, though, have assaulted the metropolis as a whole.
Rescue: As one resident rushed to evacuate, she sent out a plea to her Instagram followers: Could someone help evacuate her roughly 300-pound pig?
Lebanon elected a president after two years of gridlock
Lebanon’s Parliament picked Gen. Joseph Aoun, the commander of the Lebanese military, to become the next president.
Aoun won by an overwhelming majority in the second round of voting, reflecting the changing power balances at an unnerving time for Lebanon. The nation has endured a series of disasters in recent years, including an economic collapse and a war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.
Context: The country’s international backers, including the U.S., have hinted that financial support after the war was contingent on a successful presidential election.
Background: Aoun is considered to have U.S. backing and is widely respected in Lebanon. Since 2017 he has led the military, which is the only national institution to have cross-sectarian support.
How the U.S. capitalized on supporting Ukraine
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group will meet this week for the last time under the Biden administration. The group was first formed after Russia’s invasion in 2022 to provide aid and ammunition to Ukraine. It also gave the U.S. a rare chance to undermine an old enemy.
The Biden administration turned first to U.S. allies for help, but also drew on relationships with non-NATO countries. The way the group was formed could serve as a blueprint for future administrations to use in case of major conflicts, U.S. officials said, such as a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan.
What’s next: The group’s fate is uncertain. President-elect Donald Trump is deeply skeptical of supporting Ukraine, and has openly curried favor with President Vladimir Putin. Should the U.S. back out, the Pentagon said, another nation could take over.
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Across China’s west, Communist Party leaders are separating hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children from their families and placing them in boarding schools, rights activists say. The schools teach in Mandarin, push party values of loyalty and patriotism, and replace the culture and Buddhist beliefs that are instilled in Tibetan homes.
Our colleagues analyzed hundreds of videos posted to social media and propaganda departments to learn how these schools operate.
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Restoring the (very) old, with a modern touch
The second floor of a 12th-century palazzo in Genoa was in total disrepair: The walls were pocked with holes and the windows rattled and leaked — it couldn’t even be classified as a residence anymore.
But two architects could still feel a palpable grandeur, and they paid 250,000 euros for the wreck. Two years and another 350,000 euros later, their efforts yielded a glorious, 1,000-square-foot one-bedroom apartment where they now live. They even found a few secrets in the walls. See more from the renovation.
