Flying Tigers' historic legacy highlights enduring China-U.S. friendship

(Xinhua) 08:35, September 12, 2024


Margaret Kincannon, daughter of a veteran of Flying Tigers, takes pictures of wreckage from Flying Tigers bombers displayed at an exhibition in Huimin Village in Anqing City, east China's Anhui Province, Sept. 10, 2024. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

HEFEI, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Jeffrey Greene, 70, was deeply moved by the sight of wreckage from Flying Tigers bombers displayed at an exhibition in Huimin Village in Anqing City, east China's Anhui Province.

Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, was part of a delegation of foundation members and descendants of Flying Tigers veterans visiting the exhibition on Tuesday.

Greene said that it was the first time he saw and touched the remains of bombers in the very place where his father served during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. "It's a memory I will carry with me for the rest of my life."

The Flying Tigers, formally known as the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force, was formed in 1941 by U.S. General Claire Lee Chennault. They came to China to help the Chinese people fight the invading Japanese troops.

The Anhui section of the Yangtze River was a key supply route during the war, and several Flying Tigers planes crashed in the region due to combat or mechanical failures.

In 2013, a local fisherman named Ma Jinbing and others from Huimin Village accidentally retrieved parts of three Flying Tigers planes from the river, including landing gears, engines and fuselage sections.

"We caught these pieces in our fishing nets. As soon as we realized their importance, everyone stayed on shore day and night to protect them," said Ma, 56, adding that the local government soon built an exhibition hall to house these historic remains.

Since its opening, more than 600,000 people have toured the exhibition hall. "The real-life, moving historical stories between the Chinese and American people continue to resonate deeply with visitors," said Wang Maofang, a senior volunteer docent.

Data shows that more than 2,000 Flying Tigers personnel died during the war, and over 200 in distress were rescued by the Chinese people.

Nearly 95 percent of downed pilots from the Flying Tigers were saved by the Chinese, and no matter where they parachuted, they would be rescued, according to Chennault's memoir Way of a Fighter.

The Chinese government has long honored this profound historical bond. Earlier this month, the country released, for the first time, a list of 2,590 anti-Japanese aviation martyrs from the United States, most of whom were from the Flying Tigers.

Numerous museums, memorials and heritage parks focusing on the Flying Tigers have been established, and friendship school programs have been launched in several provinces, including Sichuan, Hunan and Yunnan.

Greene highlighted the importance of fostering understanding and stronger communication between Chinese and American youth. He noted that his foundation plans to assist in upgrading the Flying Tigers exhibition hall and expanding the friendship school program in Anhui.

"With face-to-face exchanges, we can understand each other better and develop better relationships," said Margaret Kincannon, daughter of a veteran.

Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, has a touch of the wreckage from Flying Tigers bombers displayed at an exhibition in Huimin Village in Anqing City, east China's Anhui Province, Sept. 10, 2024. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)
(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing)

A Flying Tiger - The Curtis P-40 Warhawk in Photos (warhistoryonline.com)

ANTI ARMS SHOW 

Protests in Melbourne enter second day, police beef up security

Protesters confront police at the biennial Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition in Melbourne, on Sept 12. 

Sep 12, 2024,

SYDNEY - Anti-war groups protested outside a defence exhibition in Australia's second-largest city of Melbourne for a second day on Sept 12, after violent clashes between police and protesters on Sept 11 injured several officers.

Protesters marched through the city's streets as police set up new barricades to block the crowd entering the roads near the venue hosting the biennial Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition.

Riot squad officers and specialist personnel have been deployed in what police said is the largest security operation in Melbourne since the World Economic Forum in 2000. Hundreds of police officers in other parts of the state of Victoria have been dispatched to Melbourne.

Dozens were arrested on Sept 11 as police used sponge grenades, flash-bang devices and irritant sprays to control parts of the hostile crowd, some of whom threw rocks, horse manure and bottles at police officers and horses.

About 1,500 people protested outside the venue on Sept 11 with many chanting pro-Palestine slogans through loudspeakers and waving Palestine flags, while others had signs and flags representing other conflicts and causes.

A total of 22 people were charged and 10 were issued infringement notices, Victoria state police said. Twenty-seven police officers required medical treatment.

Protesters alleged police used rubber bullets and other weapons that they said should be banned for use on demonstrators, including pepper spray.


The violence during the protests, led by a group calling itself ‘Disrupt Land Forces’, drew strong rebukes from the major political parties though the minor left-wing Greens has called for an independent inquiry into the police actions.

About 1,000 exhibiting organisations from 31 countries are expected to attend the event, which the organisers said was Australia's largest defence expo. The three-day event concludes on Sept 13.

 REUTERS

ELECTIONS DO NOT A DEMOCRACY MAKE

US grants Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid, overriding rights conditions

September 11, 2024 
By Reuters

An Egyptian soldier stands guard on the border between Egypt and southern Gaza Strip, Sept. 8, 2013.
washington —

The Biden administration is overriding human rights conditions on military aid to Egypt, a State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday, granting the U.S. ally its full allocation of $1.3 billion this year for the first time during this administration, despite ongoing concerns over human rights in the country.

The announcement comes as Washington has relied heavily on Cairo, a longstanding U.S. ally, to mediate so far unsuccessful talks between Israel and Hamas on a cease-fire deal to end the war in Gaza.

Of the $1.3 billion in U.S. foreign military financing allocated to Egypt, $320 million is subject to conditions that have meant at least some of that sum has been withheld in recent years.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress on Wednesday that he would waive a certification requirement on $225 million related to Egypt's human rights record this year, citing "the U.S. national security interest," the spokesperson said by email.

"This decision is important to advancing regional peace and Egypt’s specific and ongoing contributions to U.S. national security priorities, particularly to finalize a cease-fire agreement for Gaza, bring the hostages home, surge humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in need, and help bring an enduring end to the Israel-Hamas conflict," the spokesperson said.

Democrat Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Middle East subcommittee, said Washington had previously withheld military aid from Egypt on human rights grounds while maintaining its strategic relationship with the country.

"It's no secret that Egypt remains a deeply repressive autocratic state, and I see no good reason to ignore that fact by waiving these requirements," Murphy said.

Cairo has remained a close regional ally of Washington despite accusations of widespread abuses under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's government, including torture and enforced disappearances.

Sissi denies there are political prisoners in Egypt. He says stability and security are paramount and authorities are promoting rights by trying to provide basic needs such as jobs and housing.

The war in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants on southern Israel, has increased Washington's reliance on Cairo for diplomatic efforts like the cease-fire talks. Much-needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza also enters from Egypt.

Blinken issued a similar waiver on the human rights conditions last year but withheld a portion of the military aid over Egypt's failure to make "clear and consistent progress" on the release of political prisoners.

This year, he determined that Egypt had made sufficient efforts on political prisoners to release $95 million tied to progress on the issue, the spokesperson said.

They cited Egypt's efforts to draft legislation to reform pretrial detention and the broader penal code, its release of some political prisoners and a move to end travel bans and asset freezes associated with foreign funding for nongovernmental organizations.

Seth Binder, director of advocacy for the Washington-based Middle East Democracy Center, said that while about 970 prisoners had been released since last September, at least 2,278 Egyptians were arbitrarily arrested over the same period, according to data collected by the center and Egyptian human rights groups.

The State Department spokesperson said Washington was continuing "a rigorous dialogue with the Egyptian government on the importance of concrete human rights improvements that are crucial to sustaining the strongest possible U.S.-Egypt partnership."

UN chief says lack of accountability on UN staff killings in Gaza 'unacceptable'

A damaged car with a "UN" marking, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

September 11, 2024 

UNITED NATIONS — A lack of accountability for the killing of United Nations staff and humanitarian aid workers in the Gaza Strip is "totally unacceptable," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview on Sept 11.

Guterres also said that establishing a UN peacekeeping force would not be the "best solution" for Haiti, where armed gangs have taken over much of the capital and expanded to surrounding areas, fuelling a humanitarian crisis with mass displacements, sexual violence and widespread hunger.

Ahead of the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly later this month, Guterres summed up the past year as "very tough, very difficult."


It has been dominated by the war in Gaza, which began just two weeks after leaders left New York following last year's assembly when Palestinian Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages in a cross-border rampage into Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

Describing Israel's retaliation against Hamas in Gaza — where local health officials say some 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began — Guterres said there have been "very dramatic violations of the international humanitarian law and the total absence of an effective protection of civilians."

"What's happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable," he said.

The Israeli military says it takes steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and that at least a third of the Palestinian fatalities in Gaza are militants. It accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, which Hamas denies.

Nearly 300 humanitarian aid workers, more than two-thirds of them UN staff, have also been killed during the conflict, according to the UN Guterres said there should be an effective investigation and accountability for their deaths.

"We have courts, but we see that the decisions of courts are not respected, and it is this kind of limbo of accountability that is totally unacceptable and that requires also a serious a serious reflection," Guterres said.

The top UN court — the International Court of Justice — said in July that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements is illegal and should be withdrawn. The 193-member UN General Assembly is likely to vote next week on a draft resolution that would give Israel a six-month deadline to do so.

Guterres said he has not spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who has long accused the UN of being anti-Israel — since the deadly Hamas attack in Israel on Oct 7 last year. The pair met in person at the UN a year ago and Guterres said he would do so again — if Netanyahu asked.

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"I have not talked to him because he didn't pick up my phone calls, but I have no reason not to speak with him," Guterres said. "So if he comes to New York and he asks to see me, I will be very glad to see him."

When asked if Netanyahu planned to meet with Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said that Netanyahu's schedule hasn't been finalised yet.
Haiti 'scandal'

Guterres' described the current state of the world as "chaotic." He said the conflict in Gaza and Russia's war in Ukraine were "stuck with no peaceful solutions in sight."

When asked about Western accusations that North Korea and Iran are now providing Russia with weapons, Guterres said: "Any expansion of war in Ukraine is an absolutely dramatic development."

Iran has rejected the Western accusations, while North Korea has denied the allegations against it. UN sanctions monitors said in April that debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Jan 2 was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile.

In Haiti, a UN-backed international force has been slow to deploy — after Haiti asked for help in 2022 — and lacks funds. The United States wants the UN Security Council to ask the UN for a plan to transition the force into a UN peacekeeping operation.

"I don't think peacekeeping is the best solution in a situation like this... peacekeeping means to keep the peace, and that's not exactly the situation we have Haiti," Guterres said. "I find it a scandal that it has been so difficult to mobilise funds for such a dramatic situation."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has not spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the Hamas attack last year. PHOTO: Reuters
Trump looms

Guterres' first five-year term as secretary-general coincided with the US presidency of Donald Trump, who cut funding to the international body, calling it weak and incompetent. Trump is again the Republican president nominee and will face off against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov 5 election.

"We are ready to work in all circumstances in defence of the values of the (founding UN) charter and of the values of the UN," Guterres said when asked if the world body had a contingency plan for a possible second Trump administration.

During his first term in office Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement, an international pact to fight climate change, and Trump's campaign said he would do it again if he wins in November. The US is currently a full participant in the accord after President Joe Biden swiftly rejoined in 2021.

"It will survive. But, of course, it will probably survive severely undermined," Guterres said of a second withdrawal from the pact by a potential Trump administration. Guterres has long pushed for stronger action to fight climate change.

With abortion rights a key topic in the US election, Guterres said the US voice was "obviously very important" at the United Nations when it came to the issue of women's sexual and reproductive rights as well as health.

Under Trump's presidency, the US opposed long-agreed international language on women's sexual and reproductive rights and health in UN resolutions over concern that it would advance abortion rights.

Trump also cut funding in 2017 for the UN Population Fund because his administration said it "supports, or participates in the management of, a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation." The UN said that was an inaccurate perception.


On Trump, Russia UN envoy says Ukraine war can't end in one day

Source: Reuters

ORGANIZED RELIGION IS ORGANIZED CRIME

Key charges against Philippines' 'Appointed Son of God' Apollo Quiboloy

International evangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy (2nd R) walks with presidential candidates attending his 60th birthday celebration in Davao City, southern Philippines April 25, 2010.

PUBLISHED ONSEPTEMBER 11, 2024 

MANILA — Philippine pastor Apollo Quiboloy, self-proclaimed "Appointed Son of God", has been apprehended after a weeks-long search by more than 2,000 police officers of his huge church compound in the southern city of Davao.

The celebrity evangelist faces charges of sex trafficking and sexual abuse of minors. He denies wrongdoing and his lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Quiboloy also figures on the "most wanted" list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, where he was charged with running a sex-trafficking operation, among other crimes.

Key points of the us indictment

In 2021, a US federal grand jury indicted Quiboloy, leader of the Philippines-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), along with several of his associates, on charges including sex trafficking, fraud, coercion and money laundering.
Sexual abuse and coercion

Quiboloy, and his associates, were accused of sexually exploiting women and underage girls, under the pretence of religious duty.

The indictment alleged they recruited females aged 12 to 25 as personal assistants, or "pastorals." It said they had been required to prepare Quiboloy's meals, clean his residences, give him massages, and travel with him.

The pastorals were coerced to have sex with Quiboloy during what they called "night duty," under the threat of "eternal damnation" and physical abuse, according to the indictment.
Trafficking

The indictment also accused Quiboloy and others of participating in a labour trafficking scheme that exploited church members, forcing them into sham marriages and fraudulently obtaining visas to allow them to stay in the US to solicit money.

Church members were ordered to inform the public that the donations would help impoverished children, when in fact the money directly financed KOJC operations and the lavish lifestyle of KOJC leaders.

Money laundering

The indictment also charged bulk cash smuggling and money laundering, alleging that funds were illegally sent back to the Philippines through various means, such as church workers carrying $9,000 in cash hidden in socks and luggage when they returned to Manila.

Larger amounts were transported in KOJC's private jets under Quiboloy's direction. In February 2018, Quiboloy tried to transport over US$335,000 (S$437,074) in his luggage from California to the Philippines, according to the indictment.


No special treatment for celebrity pastor Apollo Quiboloy, says Philippine president

Source: Reuters

Boeing boss in last-ditch plea ahead of strike vote

João da Silva

BBC
Business reporter

New boss tells staff that a strike would put the firm's "recovery in jeopardy"

Boeing's new chief executive Kelly Ortberg has pleaded with workers to not go on strike as it would put the company's "recovery in jeopardy".

It comes hours ahead of a crucial union vote that could trigger industrial action at the embattled company.

The aviation giant's executives and union representatives reached a deal earlier this week that includes a 25% pay rise over four years but it has yet to be approved by union members.

If workers vote against the agreement it would lead to a second ballot on whether to start a strike as early as Friday.

"I ask you not to sacrifice the opportunity to secure our future together, because of the frustrations of the past," said Mr Ortberg in his message to staff.

"Working together, I know that we can get back on track, but a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy".

The current contract between Boeing and the unions was reached in 2008 after an eight-week strike.

In 2014, the two sides agreed to extend the deal, which is due to expire at midnight on Thursday.

It comes as the company faces deepening financial losses and continues to struggle to repair its reputation following recent incidents and two fatal accidents five years ago.

‘Ecocide’ on Easter Island never took place, studies suggest

By Bénédicte Réy
11 Sep, 2024

Moai stone statues on Easter Island. Photo / Getty Images

Two recent studies have cast doubt on a popular theory that the ancient residents of Easter Island suffered a societal collapse because they overexploited their natural resources, an event often labelled one of history’s first “ecocides”.

Easter Island, in the Pacific Ocean 3700km from the coast of Chile, is best known for the enigmatic “moai” stone statues of humans carved by the Rapanui people.

A widespread theory popularised by historians, including US author Jared Diamond, claimed that the Rapanui deforested the small island – which is known to have once been covered in palm trees – to keep supporting the flourishing culture of its more than 15,000 inhabitants.

The sudden lack of resources is said to have triggered a brutal period of famine and warfare that escalated into cannibalism and ended in a demographic and cultural collapse. This event in the 1600s abruptly brought an end to the creation of new moai statues – or so the story goes.

When Europeans first arrived at the island in 1722, they estimated there were only around 3000 inhabitants.

This tale of ecological suicide – or “ecocide” – by the Rapanui “has been presented as a warning tale for humanity’s overexploitation of resources”, according to the authors of a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

The international team of experts in population genetics tried to find signs of the societal collapse using an advanced statistical tool that reconstructs the genomic history of a people. They analysed the genomes of 15 Rapanui who lived between 1670 and 1950 – and found no sign of a societal collapse, which would have caused a sudden reduction in genetic diversity.

“Our genetic analysis shows a stably growing population from the 13th century through to European contact in the 18th century,” said study author Barbara Sousa da Mota of the University of Lausanne.

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Easter Island mystery 'finally solved'

“This stability is critical because it directly contradicts the idea of a dramatic pre-contact population collapse.”

The research also shed light on contact between the island’s residents and Native Americans well before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas – another controversial moment in the history of the Polynesian people.
Different method, same conclusion

The new research reinforced the findings of a study published in June in the journal Science Advances, which took a very different approach. That the two studies reached the same conclusion “shows the importance of looking at the same scientific question from different disciplines”, Sousa da Mota told AFP.

The team behind the June study used satellite images to map rock gardens on the island.

Rock gardening is an agricultural method that involves mixing rocks into the soil to preserve nutrients and moisture.

Previous research had claimed that up to 21sq km of the small island – 12% of the total of 164sq km – was covered with these gardens, which would have been necessary to sustain more than 15,000 people.

‘We can learn from them’

But the US-based researchers determined that only 0.76sq km of the island were used as rock gardens.

Such a small harvest of sweet potatoes – essential to the Rapanui’s diet – from these gardens could not have supported more than 4000 people, the researchers estimated. That is close to the number of people that Europeans first found on the island, indicating there never was a society of 15,000 or more that endured a terrifying collapse.

“When we label an entire culture as an example of bad choices, or as a cautionary tale of what not to do, we had better be right, otherwise we feed stereotypes, which themselves have profound consequences on people,” Dylan Davis, a co-author of the Science Advances study, told AFP.

“In this case, the Rapanui managed to survive in one of the most remote places on Earth and did so fairly sustainably until European contact,” said the environmental archaeologist at Columbia University.


“This suggests we can learn something from them about how to manage limited resources.”

'Ecocide' on Easter Island never took place, studies suggest

Agence France-Presse
September 11, 2024 

A view of "Moai" statues in Ahu Akivi, on Easter Island, 4,000 km (2486 miles) west of Santiago, in this photo taken October 31, 2003. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

Two recent studies have cast doubt on a popular theory that the ancient residents of Easter Island suffered a societal collapse because they overexploited their natural resources, an event often labelled one of history's first "ecocides".

Easter Island, located in the Pacific Ocean 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) from the coast of Chile, is best known for the enigmatic "moai" stone statues of humans carved by the Rapanui people.

A widespread theory popularized by historians including U.S. author Jared Diamond claimed that the Rapanui deforested the small island -- which is known to have once been covered in palm trees -- to keep supporting the flourishing culture of its more than 15,000 inhabitants.

The sudden lack of resources is said to have triggered a brutal period of famine and warfare that escalated into cannibalism and ended in a demographic and cultural collapse.

This event in the 1600s abruptly brought an end to the creation of new moai statues -- or so the story goes.

When Europeans first arrived at the island in 1722, they estimated there were only around 3,000 inhabitants.

This tale of ecological suicide -- or "ecocide" -- by the Rapanui "has been presented as a warning tale for humanity's overexploitation of resources," according to the authors of a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Easter Island, also called Rapa Nui, is best known for the giant stone statues called "moai" © PABLO COZZAGLIO / AFP/File

The international team of experts in population genetics tried to find signs of the societal collapse using an advanced statistical tool that reconstructs the genomic history of a people.


They analyzed the genomes of 15 Rapanui who lived between 1670 and 1950 -- and found no sign of a societal collapse, which would have caused a sudden reduction in genetic diversity.

"Our genetic analysis shows a stably growing population from the 13th century through to European contact in the 18th century," said study author Barbara Sousa da Mota of the University of Lausanne.

"This stability is critical because it directly contradicts the idea of a dramatic pre-contact population collapse."


The research also shed light on contact between the island's residents and Native Americans well before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas -- another controversial moment in the history of the Polynesian people.
Different method, same conclusion

The new research reinforced the findings of a different study published in June in the journal Science Advances which took a very different approach.


Easter Island © Gustavo IZUS, Nicolas RAMALLO / AFP

That the two studies reached the same conclusion "shows the importance of looking at the same scientific question from different disciplines," Sousa da Mota told AFP.

The team behind the June study used satellite images to map out rock gardens on the island. Rock gardening is an agricultural method that involves mixing rocks into the soil to preserve nutrients and moisture.


Previous research had claimed that up to 21 square kilometers of the small island -- 12 percent of the total of 164 square kilometres -- was covered with these gardens, which would have been necessary to sustain more than 15,000 people.
'We can learn from them'

But the US-based researchers determined that only 0.76 square kilometres of the island were used as rock gardens.


Such a small harvest of sweet potatoes -- essential to the Rapanui's diet -- from these gardens could not have supported more than 4,000 people, the researchers estimated.

The rest of the world could learn from the Rapanui about how to live on limited resources, the researchers said © PABLO COZZAGLIO / AFP/File

That is close to the number of people that Europeans first found on the island, indicating there never was a society of 15,000 or more that endured a terrifying collapse.

"When we label an entire culture as an example of bad choices, or as a cautionary tale of what not to do, we had better be right, otherwise we feed stereotypes (which themselves have profound consequences on people)," Dylan Davis, a co-author of the Science Advances study, told AFP.

"In this case, the Rapanui managed to survive in one of the most remote places on Earth and did so fairly sustainably until European contact," said the environmental archaeologist at Columbia University.

"This suggests we can learn something from them about how to manage limited resources."


© 2024 AFP

Los Angeles wildfire explodes, engulfing homes

By AFP
September 11, 2024

Three huge blazes are burning in hills around Los Angeles - Copyright AFP/File Yoshikazu TSUNO
Huw GRIFFITH

A wildfire in the hills near Los Angeles exploded overnight, torching dozens of homes as its footprint swelled 1,000 percent by Wednesday.

The Bridge Fire is one of three out-of-control blazes that have erupted around the United States’ second-biggest city, fueled by a punishing heat wave and fanned by gusting winds.

Authorities issued widespread evacuation orders as the fire tore through the towns of Wrightwood and Mt Baldy, destroying at least 33 homes, several cabins, and racing through a ski resort.

“We live in the canyon so that fire was coming right in there, and you couldn’t take anything out of there,” local resident Jenny Alaniz emotionally told broadcaster KTLA.

“I got the dogs out. Our house is gonna burn,” she sobbed.

An AFP journalist in Wrightwood witnessed the aftermath of the fire, where the charred shells of buildings and vehicles stood shrouded in smoke.

The fire broke out early Sunday afternoon in Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles, and by Tuesday had grown to around 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares).

But by Wednesday afternoon it had roared to 49,000 acres (20,000 hectares), fueled by thick brush that carried the flames into the San Bernardino County community of Wrightwood and the Mountain High ski resort.

Resort staff said the resort was largely unscathed.

“All the main lifts and buildings survived with little to no damage,” a social media post said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said three people — including one of his deputies — were trapped by the fire in a remote area near Mt. Baldy.

He said thick smoke and blocked roads were hampering the rescue effort.

“Our air rescue crew is working to hoist them out once the smoke clears, and LA County Fire is also trying to get a four-by-four vehicle to get them out,” he told reporters.

He said all three were understood to be in good health.

To the southeast of Los Angeles, the Airport Fire was continuing to grow Wednesday, racing through vegetation and damaging a number of homes.

Cal Fire, the statewide fire agency, said seven people had been hurt in the blaze, which has now charred more than 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares).

The blaze erupted on Monday and began racing up canyons and hillsides, including Santiago Peak, which is home to radio and television broadcast towers, though the fire appeared to have left them undamaged.

The flames were also hurtling downslope toward Lake Elsinore, with video from the area showing some structures and vehicles consumed by fire.

Dramatic photographs taken by an AFP journalist show towering walls of flame.

Northeast of Los Angeles, the Line Fire has now consumed nearly 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares).

A number of mountain communities were ordered to evacuate, in an area popular with tourists, and several major access roads were blocked.

Firefighters were battling the blaze from the air as ground crews sought to establish containment lines, trying to create breaks in the vegetation to prevent the fire from spreading further.

Police in San Bernardino County have arrested a man on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire.

Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, from Norco was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of starting the blaze.

A persistent heat wave that has gripped much of southern California for a week was easing Wednesday, and officials were hopeful that lower temperatures might make the battle against the fires easier.

Wildfires are a natural part of the wilderness cycle and are not unusual in California and other parts of the US West at this time of year.

But after two relatively mild fire years, 2024 is shaping up to be significant.

A couple of very wet winters generated abundant growth of vegetation, which has now dried out after a long, hot summer, leaving behind lots of fuel.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/los-angeles-wildfire-explodes-engulfing-homes/article#ixzz8la4xx1T7

Canada tourism fears bigger, badder wildfires coming

Montreal (AFP) – Images of towering wildfires tearing through forests and leaving a national park in cinders have kept many tourists away, putting one of Canada's top industries on edge.


Issued on: 11/09/2024 - 

In this July 2024 image, smoke rises from a wildfire burning in Jasper National Park in Canada. The wildfire devoured up to half of the main town 

© Handout / Jasper National Park/AFP

The nation has been ranked among the top 12 destinations worldwide for its stunning displays of nature and cultural mosaic.

But 2023 saw megafires scorch a record amount of forests and displace 200,000 residents.

This year has been less intense with fewer fires causing much less damage, still large swathes of Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies were ravaged by fires, closing it to tourists and provoking a deep sadness among Canadians.

Fires swept through the park in the middle of its key summer tourism season. It usually welcomes about 2.5 million visitors each year from across Canada and abroad.

Since July, few people have been permitted to visit the area for safety reasons while popular tourist activities were suspended.

"It's catastrophic," Stavros Karlos of the Alberta Provincial Tourism Association told AFP.

Three-quarters of local businesses, including restaurants, hotels, a sky tram, and outfitters, earn more than 60 percent of their annual revenues during the summer and are now facing estimated daily losses of Can$4.5 million dollars (US$3.3 million).

It's unclear how long it could take this "national icon" to recover, a dispirited Karlos said.

'Canada is on fire'

This handout videograb provided by Park Canada shows the devastated town of Jasper following a wildfire in August 2024 that burned more than 350 of the 1,100 buildings in the town © Handout / Park Canada/AFP

Scientists paint a gloomy future with more and larger blazes sparked by a warming climate.

"When we see media headlines in other countries that say Canada is on fire, that's a challenge for us," said Beth Potter, head of Canada's tourism industry association.

"We're a very big country -- 18 times the size of France -- and one region may be dealing with an extreme event, but that doesn't mean the whole country is," she explained.

Last summer, tourism operators in eastern parts of the country faced cancellations due to wildfires more than 3,500 kilometres away in westernmost British Columbia.

"Climate change is an existential threat to Canadian tourism" and the nation's reputation, Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada acknowledged this spring.

Experts say that wildfire smoke drifting across the border into the United States and darkening skies over New York and Washington is especially problematic as it can negatively affect Americans' attitudes toward Canada. They represent about two-thirds of international visitors to this country.
'An image problem'

Residents watched from the water's edge the McDougall Creek wildfire in West Kelowna in western Canada in August 2023 © Darren HULL / AFP/File

Destination Canada, a federal agency tasked with promoting local tourism, has acknowledged that Canada is facing "an image problem" and is working to improve communications with tourists about what's happening in various regions to warn but also allay fears.

Its executive director Sebastien Dubois told AFP he would like to see visits to Canada spread year-round to lessen the tourism sector's dependence on the summer crunch season.

So far, 2024 is shaping up to be a good year, with revenues generated by international visitors to the end of July topping those in the same period in 2019, which was a record year.

Nevertheless, what happened in Jasper should be a "wake-up call for the tourism industry" and authorities, believes Karlos.

He is hoping that the government will devote more effort and resources to mitigating the risk of forest fires.

"Therefore, a new and different approach needs to be taken to fire mitigation, to protect communities, and not only tourists, visitor communities," Karlos added.

© 2024 AFP

Wreck discovered of French steamship that sank in Atlantic in 1856

By AFP
September 11, 2024

A handout image from Atlantic Wreck Salvage shows diver Joe Mazraani fanning away sand to reveal a 'deadeye' used as part of the sail rigging of Le Lyonnais 

- Copyright AFP/File Yoshikazu TSUNO

Chris Lefkow

A US dive team has discovered the wreck of a French steamship, Le Lyonnais, that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1856 after a “hit-and-run” collision with an American sailing vessel, claiming 114 lives.

Le Lyonnais, which was built in 1855 and was considered state-of-the-art at the time, was returning to France after completing its maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York when the disaster occurred.

Jennifer Sellitti of Atlantic Wreck Salvage, a New Jersey-based company, said a team on the dive boat D/V Tenacious discovered the wreckage of Le Lyonnais last month after a two-decade search.

Sellitti said divers positively identified the ship in waters 200 miles (320 kilometers) off of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in an area known as the Georges Bank. They are not revealing the exact location for now.

“She certainly doesn’t look as good as she used to,” Sellitti told AFP. “She was really broken apart.

“The North Atlantic is a brutal place to be a shipwreck — storms, tides,” she said. “The Nantucket shoals are known for shifting sands that just completely bury wrecks.”

Sellitti said measurements of an engine cylinder were key to identifying the vessel.

The iron-hulled Le Lyonnais, which had both sails and a steam engine, was built by a British shipmaker, Laird & Sons, for Compagnie Franco-Americaine to provide passenger and mail service across the Atlantic.

“The 1850s was the beginning of the transition from sail to steam,” Sellitti said. “This was an early attempt by France to have its first successful passenger line.”

Le Lyonnais had sailed to New York carrying cargo and mail, she said, and was returning to Le Havre with its first passengers, most of whom were French.

– Hit-and-run –

On te night of November 2, 1856, Le Lyonnais, carrying 132 passengers and crew, collided with the Adriatic, an American barque which was sailing from Maine to Georgia.

Jonathan Durham, the Adriatic’s captain, in a statement published in the November 19, 1856 edition of The New York Times, said it was around 11:00 pm on a starlit but “hazy” night when Le Lyonnais “suddenly changed her course, which rendered a collision inevitable.”

Durham said the Adriatic suffered significant damage but managed to make it to Gloucester, Massachusetts two days later while Le Lyonnais continued on its way.

The French ship had, in fact, suffered extensive damage — a hole at the water line and another one lower, probably near its coal bunkers, Sellitti said.

It sank several days later. The handful of survivors were picked up by another ship.

Sellitti, whose book about the incident, “The Adriatic Affair: A Maritime Hit-and-Run Off the Coast of Nantucket,” comes out in February 2025, said the sinking of Le Lyonnais was “a really big deal at the time.”

The American captain was arrested and put on trial in France, she said, and the collision raised a number of novel maritime liability questions such as what happens when a sailing vessel meets a steamship at sea.

The disaster, which is mentioned in Jules Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” was the focus of much international attention, she said, but when the US Civil War broke out in 1861 “everybody stopped talking about this and went on to the Civil War.”