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Burkina Faso military officials announce dissolution of government and leader’s removal | CNN

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Burkina Faso military officials announce dissolution of government and leader’s removal | CNN

A brand new army takeover has been declared in Burkina Faso, after a day marked by gunfire and confusion within the capital metropolis of Ouagadougou. The nation’s land and aerial borders have been closed, and its structure suspended.

In an announcement on state tv late Friday, a Burkina Faso army official introduced the dissolution of the present authorities and the dismissal of the junta chief, President Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba.

Military Captain Ibrahim Traore will now take the reins because the President of the nation’s ruling junta, the Patriotic Motion for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), which first seized energy earlier this yr, stated army official Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho.

With the suspension of the structure and authorities, that is Burkina Faso’s second army takeover in a yr.

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Accompanied by greater than a dozen members of the army, Sorgho learn a communiqué from Traore declaring the adjustments. He additionally accused Damiba of “betraying” the army’s intention to revive safety to the nation.

“Folks of Burkina Faso, confronted with the degradation of the safety scenario, we now have tried a number of occasions to refocus the transition on the difficulty of safety,” Sorgho stated.

“The dangerous decisions of Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba have more and more weakened our safety equipment,” he additionally stated.

Prior efforts to calm the riot seem to have been in useless. Earlier on Friday, after residents of the capital metropolis of Ouagadougou awoke to the sounds of gunfire, the junta’s then-leaders defined the scenario as the results of “a temper swing” amongst some army members, and stated talks have been underway.

“The enemy that’s attacking our nation solely desires to create division amongst Burkinabes to perform its destabilization,” Damiba stated in a Fb assertion on the time.

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Although regular exercise was seen on the streets on Friday, heavy gunfire was heard coming from the primary army camp and a few residential areas of Ouagadougou. A number of armed troopers have been seen taking positions alongside the primary avenue resulting in the presidency, in addition to blocking entry to administrative buildings and nationwide tv.

Damiba took energy after a army coup on Jan. 24 ousted former President Roch Kabore and dissolved the federal government.

He vowed to revive safety after years of violence carried out by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State. However his authorities struggled to ship. Assaults persist and the military is in disarray.

This week, unknown assailants killed eleven troopers throughout an assault on a 150-vehicle convoy taking provides to a city in northern Burkina Faso. Fifty civilians are lacking.

Giant areas of the north and east have turn out to be ungovernable since 2018. Tens of millions have fled their properties, fearing additional raids by gunmen who continuously descend on rural communities on motorbikes. 1000’s have been killed in assaults.

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The West African nation, one of many world’s poorest, has turn out to be the epicenter of the violence that started in neighboring Mali in 2012 however has since unfold throughout the arid expanse of the Sahel area south of the Sahara Desert.

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RFK Jr. Would ‘Significantly Undermine’ Public Health, a Group of Experts Says

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RFK Jr. Would ‘Significantly Undermine’ Public Health, a Group of Experts Says

A new national coalition of health professionals and scientists, mobilizing to oppose Senate confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the United States’ next health secretary, released a public letter on Monday warning that his “unfounded, fringe beliefs could significantly undermine public health practices across the country and around the world.”

The coalition, calling itself “Defend Public Health,” includes faculty members from some of the U.S.’s leading academic institutions, including public health schools at Yale and Havard. Its leaders said they had gathered 700 signatures on the public letter and had generated 3,500 individual letters urging senators to reject Mr. Kennedy, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Mr. Kennedy is unqualified to lead the nation’s health department with a budget of over $1.6 trillion and over 80,000 employees,” the public letter states. “He has little to no relevant administrative, policy or health experience or expertise that would prepare him to oversee the work of critical public health agencies.”

Over the past several weeks, Mr. Kennedy has made the rounds on Capitol Hill, paying courtesy calls to senators who will consider his nomination. His confirmation is not assured, with some Republicans, including Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, having said that Mr. Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism gives them pause.

The letter published on Monday is only the latest public push by Kennedy opponents. A separate group, the Committee to Protect Health Care, said last week that it had gathered more than 15,000 signatures on a letter opposing Mr. Kennedy.

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But Kennedy allies in the medical field are also mobilizing. In December, not long after Mr. Trump announced his nomination, a group of 800 medical professionals released its own letter supporting Mr. Kennedy. It said his nomination “represents an unparalleled chance to restore our nation’s health and renew trust in our public health institutions.”

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Trump risks turning the US into a rogue state

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Trump risks turning the US into a rogue state

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“I think the president-elect is having a bit of fun”. That was how the Canadian ambassador to Washington reacted to Donald Trump’s first suggestion that her country should become the 51st American state.

The menacing “joke” is one of Trump’s preferred methods of communication. But the incoming president has now spoken at such length about his ambition to incorporate Canada into the US that Canadian politicians are having to take his ambitions seriously, and reject them in public.

The Canadians have the small solace that Trump ruled out invading their country and is instead threatening them with “economic force”. But he has refused to rule out military action to achieve his ambitions to “take back” the Panama Canal and take over Greenland, which is a self-governing Danish territory.

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More light-hearted banter? The chancellor of Germany and foreign minister of France took Trump’s threats seriously enough to warn that Greenland is covered by the EU’s mutual defence clause. In other words — at least in theory — the EU and the US could end up at war over Greenland.

Trump’s defenders and sycophants are treating the whole thing as a huge joke. The New York Post proclaimed a new “Donroe Doctrine” — the 19th-century message to Europeans not to meddle in the western hemisphere — with Greenland relabelled as “our land”. Brandon Gill, a Republican congressman, smirked that the Canadians, Panamanians and Greenlanders should be “honoured” at the idea of becoming Americans.

But the rights of small nations are not a joke. The forcible or coerced takeover of a country by a larger neighbour is the biggest alarm bell in world politics. It is a signal that a rogue state is on the march. That is why the western alliance knew it was crucial to support Ukraine’s resistance to Russia. It is also why the US organised an international alliance to eject Iraq from Kuwait in the early nineties.

Attacks on small countries triggered the first and second world wars. When the British cabinet agonised in 1914 over whether go to war with Germany, David Lloyd George, who later became prime minister, wrote to his wife: “I have fought hard for peace . . . but I am driven to the conclusion that if the small nationality of Belgium is attacked by Germany all my traditions . . . will be engaged on the side of war.”

Britain and France infamously refused to protect Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany in 1938. But within a year, they had recognised their error and extended a security guarantee to Poland — the next small neighbour on Germany’s hit list. The invasion of Poland triggered the start of conflict.

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Trump’s supporters bitterly resent any comparison between his rhetoric and that of aggressors from the past or present. They argue that his demands are actually aimed at strengthening the free world, for a struggle against an autocratic China and possibly Russia too. Trump has justified his expansionist ambitions for Canada, Greenland and Panama on grounds of national security.

Another argument is that Trump’s bluster is simply a negotiating tactic. His supporters sometimes claim that he is just putting pressure on allied nations to do what is necessary, for the greater good of the western alliance. And after all, they say, aren’t many of Greenland’s 55,000 inhabitants seeking independence from Denmark? Are Canadians not tiring of the incompetent “woke” elite who run their country?

But these are feeble arguments. It would be legitimate for Trump to try to persuade Greenlanders that they might be better off as Americans. But threatening to use military or economic coercion is outrageous. His claims that many Canadians would love to join the US are also delusional. The idea was rejected by 82 per cent of Canadians in a recent poll.

As for grand strategy — the reality is that Trump’s threats to Greenland, Panama and Canada are an absolute gift to Russia and China. If Trump can claim that it is a strategic necessity for the US to take over Greenland or the Panama Canal, why is it illegitimate for Putin to claim that it is a strategic necessity for Russia to control Ukraine? If Gill can claim it is America’s “manifest destiny” to expand its frontiers, who could object when Xi Jinping insists it is China’s manifest destiny to control Taiwan?

Both Russia and China have long dreamt of pulling apart the western alliance. Trump is doing their work for them. Just a few weeks ago, it would have been beyond the Kremlin’s wildest dreams to see Canada’s main news magazine running a cover story on “Why America can’t conquer Canada”. The idea of European leaders invoking the EU’s mutual-defence clause against the US — not Russia — would also have seemed like fantasy. But these are the new realities.

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Even if Trump never makes good on his threats, he has already done enormous damage to America’s global standing and to its alliance system. And he is not even in office yet.

It does seem unlikely Trump would order an invasion of Greenland. (Although it once seemed unlikely that he would attempt to overthrow an election.) It is even less probable that Canada will be intimidated into surrendering its independence. But the very fact that the incoming president is ripping up international norms is a disaster. Any sniggering at Trump’s “jokes” is misplaced. What we are witnessing is a tragedy — not a comedy.

gideon.rachman@ft.com

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Firefighters Brace For More Santa Ana Winds As Los Angeles Palisades and Eaton Fires Continue To Burn | Weather.com

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Firefighters Brace For More Santa Ana Winds As Los Angeles Palisades and Eaton Fires Continue To Burn | Weather.com
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  • At least 24 have been killed in wildfires throughout Los Angeles County.
  • Red flag warnings are issued for early this week, meaning dangerous fire conditions are expected.
  • The fires combined have burned more than 62 square miles.

T​he death toll is up to 24 as wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles County. The Palisades Fire is being blamed for eight of those deaths, while the Eaton Fire is responsible for 16 fatalities. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office, missing persons reports have been filed for 16 individuals. The number of missing and the number perished could both rise, according to officials.

F​irefighters who spent the weekend keeping four large fires in check are now bracing for more Santa Ana winds which could stoke the flames and cause new fires to flare up.

The National Weather Service has posted red flag warnings through Wednesday, meaning severe fire conditions are expected. Gusts from 45 mph up to 70 mph are expected, with the worst of the weather coming on Tuesday morning through noon Wednesday.

(​MORE: Intense ‘Firenado’ Spawned By Palisades Fire)

Homes along the Pacific Coast Highway are seen burned by the Palisades Fire, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Malibu, California.

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Seventy additional water trucks were sent to the county to help with any surging flames in the coming days, and fire retardant dropped from the air will block fires along hillsides, officials said.

“We are prepared for the upcoming wind event,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said, according to the AP.

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About 150,000 people in Los Angeles County are under evacuation orders. Officials said that evacuation orders in the Palisades area will likely stay in place until the red flag warnings expire Wednesday evening.

In total, the four blazes have consumed more than 62 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco, The Associated Press reported. T​he Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 37 square miles, according to CalFire, has consumed more than 1,000 structures. The fire was 13% contained early Monday morning. The Eaton Fire, at 27% containment early Monday, had consumed more than 22 square miles and more than 1,400 structures.

T​he Hurst Fire is now 89% contained after burning a little over one square mile.

More than 14,000 personnel, including firefighters from California, nine other states and Mexico, have been responding to the fires.

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