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California fires could be costliest disaster in US history, says governor

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California fires could be costliest disaster in US history, says governor

The California wildfires could be the costliest disaster in US history, the state’s governor said, as forecasts of heavy winds raised fears that the catastrophic blazes would spread further.

In remarks to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Gavin Newsom said the fires — which have burnt through more than 40,000 acres, according to CalFire, the state’s forestry and fire protection department — would be the worst the country has seen “in terms of just the costs associated with it, [and] in terms of the scale and scope”.

He added that there were likely to be “a lot more” fatalities confirmed. The death toll on Saturday evening stood at 16, according to Los Angeles authorities.

The prospect of a pick-up on Sunday in the Santa Ana winds that have fanned the flames has left tens of thousands of residents under evacuation orders. The fires were threatening homes in upscale Mandeville Canyon and the Brentwood neighbourhood, although officials said they had made progress in stemming the advance there.

The National Weather Service has forecast gusts of between 50mph and 70mph, while drought conditions remain.

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“We know that elevated critical fire conditions will continue through Wednesday”, Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony Maroney said on Sunday.

LA is experiencing its second-driest start to its rainy season in more than a century, according to the non-profit Cal Matters news service. Halfway into the season, LA has only recorded about 0.2 inches of rain since October -— well below the 4.5 inches that is common by January.

Newsom, a Democrat, responded to a barrage of attacks from Donald Trump. The incoming Republican president has accused the governor of depleting water reserves to protect an endangered species of fish, and of refusing to sign a “water restoration declaration” that would have “allowed millions of gallons of water . . . to flow daily into many parts of California”. Newsom’s office has said no such declaration exists.

Trump, who has a long-standing feud with Newsom and refers to him as “Newscum”, also called on the Californian to resign, accusing him of “gross incompetence”.

“The reservoirs are completely full, the state reservoirs here in Southern California,” Newsom said.

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The charred remains of a jewellery store and other shops at a corner of Sunset Boulevard © Michael Nigro/Bloomberg
An air tanker drops fire retardant at the Palisades Fire © Ringo Chiu/Reuters

“That mis- and disinformation I don’t think advantages or aids any of us,” he added. “Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month. I’m very familiar with them. Every elected official that he disagrees with is very familiar with them.”

Newsom also said he had invited the president-elect to visit the affected areas, but had yet to receive a response from the Trump transition team.

Firefighters have tamed three fires since Tuesday, including the Sunset blaze that threatened the Hollywood hills. The Hurst fire in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles, was 80 per cent contained on Sunday afternoon.

But firefighters are still struggling to tame the two biggest blazes. Newsom said on social media platform X that the Palisades and Eaton fires were 11 per cent and 27 per cent contained. Thousands of firefighters have been deployed to battle the Palisades fire with heavy trucks and air support, the mayor’s office said Sunday. The city has also opened shelters to affected families.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has staff in LA to help Angelenos apply for disaster relief, while the Federal Small Business Administration is offering home and business disaster loans.

Newsom issued an executive order that he said would prevent those who lost their homes from being “caught up in bureaucratic red tape” so they could quickly rebuild.

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The head of Fema on Sunday raised the prospect of US troops being sent to Los Angeles to help control the blaze.

“There are active-duty military personnel that are on a prepare-to-deploy order, that are ready to go in and continue to support the firefighting effort,” Deanne Criswell told ABC’s This Week programme. Speaking on CNN, she warned that strong winds expected in the coming days could spread the fire further.

Map showing the perimeters of the fires in LA and evacuation orders and warnings currently in place

No official estimate of the cost of the damage has yet been released, but analysts at AccuWeather last week calculated the economic loss to be between $135bn and $150bn — short of the $250bn cost associated with last year’s Hurricane Helene. At least 12,300 structures had been destroyed, according to CalFire.

President Joe Biden on Thursday pledged that the US government would pay for “100 per cent of all the costs” created by the disaster, and would ask Congress for more financial aid.

Trump, who on the campaign trail last year threatened to withhold disaster funding from California, has thus far remained silent on whether he would provide similar assistance. On Sunday, he renewed his attacks on the state’s officials.

“The incompetent pols have no idea how to put [the fires] out,” he wrote. “There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?”

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Immigration poll shows growing support for restrictions, but deep divisions remain

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Immigration poll shows growing support for restrictions, but deep divisions remain

Members of the U.S. Marine Corps patrol the U.S.-Mexico border area as seen from San Diego on Feb. 7.

Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images


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Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Americans are deeply divided when it comes to the details of President Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.

The poll shows growing approval for restrictions on immigration, like expanding the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And a plurality of respondents say they support Trump’s call for mass deportation of all immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status.

But at the same time, the White House’s most dramatic moves — detaining migrants at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, pushing to end birthright citizenship for all children born in the U.S. and allowing immigration authorities to make arrests in schools and churches — are broadly unpopular with Democrats and independents, even as they’ve been welcomed by most Republicans.

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“Americans on the whole may be more supportive of immigration restrictions in theory,” said Mallory Newall, a vice president at Ipsos, which conducted the poll for NPR. But in practice, she says, “there’s still not a lot of agreement about what that looks like.”

Immigration often ranks as a bigger concern for Republican voters than for others, and this poll is no exception: 47% of Republicans describe immigration as a top issue, compared with 19% of independents and only 9% of Democrats.

Overall, 23% of poll respondents ranked immigration as a top-tier issue — a larger share than in previous polls but still lagging far behind the top concern, “inflation and increasing costs,” at 47%.

The president’s supporters have largely welcomed his first steps to restrict illegal and legal immigration. In the Trump administration’s first weeks, it has ramped up arrests of immigrants without legal status, suspended admissions of refugees and asylum-seekers at the southern border and rolled back legal protections for more than a million recent migrants from South and Central America.

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Nearly 1 in 3 poll respondents said that recent restrictions on immigration “go too far,” while a similar proportion (29%) said the restrictions “do not go far enough.”

For the most part, Republicans stand united behind the White House’s immigration agenda. Three out of 4 support denying federal funds to sanctuary cities that limit their cooperation with immigration authorities; nearly as many back using the U.S. military to arrest and detain immigrants without legal status.

Four out of 5 Republicans support deporting all immigrants without legal status and characterize the record numbers of recent migrant encounters at the southern border as an invasion.

“So as far as I’m concerned, that was an invasion. It was not an armed invasion, certainly, but it was an invasion,” said poll respondent Thomas Dunkelberger, a longtime Republican voter from western Michigan, in a follow-up interview. “And that’s got to stop. We can’t afford it as a people.”

But the poll shows that some Trump voters have doubts about his immigration policies.

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“I think he’s done a good job because we definitely do need to close the borders,” said poll respondent Maria Rose Pawlyk in a follow-up interview.

Still, Pawlyk worries that the White House is cutting off legal pathways for refugees and other immigrants who deserve humanitarian protections. And she does not support deporting all of the estimated 12 million immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status.

“There’s no easy answer to it,” said Pawlyk, who considers herself a political independent and says she voted for Trump. “You can’t just give a blanket statement of saying deport everyone, ’cause you can’t.”

Perhaps none of Trump’s executive actions has met with more opposition than his push to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants who don’t have permanent legal status in the United States.

According to this poll, less than a third of Americans support that proposal, which has been blocked for the moment by several federal judges.

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“It just seems like a fundamental right,” said poll respondent Morgan McGee, a Democratic voter from southwest Louisiana. “If you are born here, regardless of where you came from, you should be a U.S. citizen. Like, that is just the end of it, you know?”

The White House’s push to detain immigrants without legal status at the U.S. naval station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is also unpopular. Only 36% of poll respondents approved, although the idea is much more popular with Republicans.

The poll also reveals some broader shifts in public opinion about immigration over time.

When NPR and Ipsos began asking about building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, only 38% of Americans supported the idea. That figure has gradually grown over time, to nearly half in our latest poll.

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At the same time, support for DREAMers — immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children — has steadily declined. Seven years ago, nearly two-thirds of Americans favored giving them legal status. Now, that figure has declined to less than half for the first time.

“That, to me, is telling of the overall mood that the country is in right now,” said Newall, of Ipsos.

“But many of these newer proposals being pushed by the administration are a bridge too far. Yes, they are supported by the Republican base. But they are not supported by the American public,” she said.

The NPR/Ipsos poll was conducted from Feb. 7 to 10, 2025, with a sample of 1,013 adults online. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for all respondents.

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Donald Trump Jr invests in ‘steroid Olympics’

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Donald Trump Jr invests in ‘steroid Olympics’

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Donald Trump’s son has backed a proposed sports event for athletes using performance enhancing drugs as the US president shakes up health policy and sports governance.

The Enhanced Games, dubbed by critics as the “steroid Olympics”, announced on Thursday that Donald Trump Jr’s venture fund 1789 Capital would co-lead an investment round for the sports group.

The vision for the games is to allow athletes in the competition to use almost any legally available performance enhancing drugs in an effort to break world records. One person close to the deal said the fundraising round would raise double digit millions of dollars for the project.

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“For over 100 years, elites in charge of global sports have stifled innovation, crushed individual greatness, and refused to let athletes push the limits of what’s possible. That ends now,” said Trump Jr.

“The Enhanced Games represent the future — real competition, real freedom, and real records being smashed.”

​The Trump administration​ has championed an unorthodox agenda on drugs and health policy, driven by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. Trump Jr is seen as a close adviser to his father but does not hold a formal position in the administration.

The games have already received financial support from tech investor Peter Thiel, another figure with close ties to the White House, crypto investor Balaji Srinivasan and Christian Angermayer, a German financier who is a leading investor in commercial psychedelics.

Aron D’Souza, president of the Enhanced Games, said: “We’re building something revolutionary — sports without hypocrisy, where the best can actually be the best.”

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The Enhanced Games have yet to announce a host city or date for the competition. The games would include athletics, swimming, and “strength” events, although only one athlete, retired Australian Olympic team member James Magnussen, has enlisted in the games.

The Enhanced Games have emphasised the scientific grounding and pioneering nature of the contest. It has promised athletes they will receive comprehensive medical testing and supervision. 

D’Souza told the FT that the games would be partly funded by advertising by pharmaceutical and biotech firms.

Former president Joe Biden’s White House issued a statement condemning the Enhanced Games last year. Both the World Anti-Doping Association and the International Olympic Committee have also expressed concerns about the games. 

“D’Souza believes that data collected from chemically boosted Enhanced Games athletes might help his billionaire investors live longer and richer lives,” said John Hoberman, a professor at the University of Austin who has authored several books on the use of performance enhancing drugs.

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The Trump Jr endorsement of the Enhanced Games comes at a time when the US is at loggerheads with the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The US last year accused Wada of failing to conduct a proper investigation into allegations of doping rule breaches by 23 Chinese swimmers in the run up to the Tokyo Olympics.

China’s own doping watchdog said the swimmers were accidentally exposed to a banned heart drug by a chef working in a hotel kitchen. The athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics, with some going on to win medals.

An independent prosecutor appointed by Wada found no evidence of wrongdoing in the body’s handling of the case. The incident came to light last year following investigations by the New York Times and German TV channel ARD.

The US, the biggest government contributor to Wada funding, withheld a $3.6mn payment due late last year.

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Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin’s grandest ambitions

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Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin’s grandest ambitions

Vladimir Putin’s initial plan to capture Ukraine in a few days ended in disaster. But after Donald Trump set up direct peace talks with Moscow, bypassing Kyiv and European allies, the Russian president is now closer than ever to getting what he wanted from his three-year-long invasion.

Putin’s main ambition, said people who have spoken to him during the war, is to establish a new security architecture that gives Russia a sphere of influence in Europe — much as the Yalta conference did for the Soviet Union at the end of the second world war.

Now, the US may be open to letting him have it. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed Ukraine’s aspirations to join Nato and reclaim its territory from Russia. Putin and Trump discussed “bilateral economic co-operation”, suggesting that the US was prepared to roll back its sanctions against Moscow.

And Trump appears intent on rolling back the US’s commitment to Nato and leaving to European countries the job of sustaining a peace.

“The situation looks much more favourable for Putin than at any point during the entire war over the last three years,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. “If the US just unilaterally ends its military and diplomatic support, as well as intelligence sharing, then Ukraine will be in a very tough position. And it’ll be hard to get out of it even if the Europeans get more involved.”

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In Moscow, there was palpable joy following Wednesday’s call between Trump and Putin.

“A single call can change the course of history — today, the leaders of the US and Russia have possibly opened a door to a future shaped by co-operation, not confrontation,” said Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian sovereign wealth fund chief involved in back-channel talks with the US over prisoner exchanges.

Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta conference in 1945 © Keystone/Getty Images

The call marked a dramatic about-face from US policy under Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, who pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” while working with other western countries to isolate Russia. Now, the US has said victory on Ukraine’s terms is not “realistic” — a shift that Moscow hailed as a return to reason.

“Finally, the Americans are taking things seriously without the pointless illusions they have been feeding to the Ukrainians since the start of the war. It’s common sense. And a chance to stop the war,” said a former senior Russian official.

“Putin rid himself of any illusions three days in,” when Russia realised its plans for a blitzkrieg victory had failed, the former official added. “But the Europeans and Americans have been under them ever since, and they’re only starting to see sense now.”

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Senior Ukrainian and western officials said Trump and Putin would probably try to secure a ceasefire by one of two significant upcoming dates: Easter, which the Orthodox and Catholic churches will both celebrate on April 20 this year; or May 9, when Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

“Putin will want [a deal] on a notable day like this,” said a Ukrainian official.

Russian soldiers fire towards Ukrainian positions
Russian soldiers fire towards Ukrainian positions on February 4 © Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP
Konstantin Malofeyev
Konstantin Malofeyev was one of pro-war hardliners who welcomed the recent developments © Bloomberg

In Moscow, markets reacted with glee. The rouble strengthened 5 per cent against the dollar and Moscow’s main exchange index rose 2.8 per cent to its highest level in nine months.

Pro-war hardliners hailed the call as a sign that Russia’s victory was at hand.

“It must really hurt for the EU and Ukraine to hear this. But their opinion doesn’t matter any more,” said Konstantin Malofeyev, a conservative tycoon who runs several Russian volunteer units fighting in Ukraine. “Ukraine is just the pretext for a grand dialogue between two great countries about the start of a new era in human history.”

Putin told Trump he wanted to “settle the reasons for the conflict”, indicating that Russia has not dropped its goal of stopping Ukraine’s ambitions to join the west and rolling back the post-cold war security order.

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Moscow is also demanding that Ukraine cede control over four partly occupied south-eastern regions, none of which Russia fully controls, and expects the west to end all sanctions over the war.

Since Russia holds the upper hand on the battlefield, Putin could choose to continue the war if Trump does not agree to all his demands, said Dmitry Trenin, a research professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.

“Russia is serious about the need to solve the Ukraine issue. It is not suing for peace. It knows that the only guarantees it can rely on are those it can provide itself,” Trenin said. “A deal that falls short of Russia’s vital security requirements would only guarantee that there will be another war soon. Russia will not permit that.”

He added: “The fighting will not stop with the start of the talks; and if there is no deal, it will go on.”

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Notably, the delegation Trump appointed to negotiate with Russia does not include his own envoy on the conflict, Keith Kellogg, who had been the most outspoken US official calling to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow and maintain arms supplies to Ukraine.

“It suggests the administration is not going to take Ukraine’s core concerns seriously,” said a former senior US official. “Putin would have seen that as an endorsement of his view of the world and a step towards realising his dream of having really deep friction between the US and Europe.”

Trump’s drive to end the war quickly has blindsided Ukraine. Kyiv had hoped it could convince Trump to work out a common position on bringing Russia to the table, and had offered access to its reserves of rare earth metals in return for US support.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the Financial Times it had been “a challenge” to develop close relationships with Trump’s team and admitted it would “take time” before they can build the same type of relationship they had with those in the Biden administration.

For now, Kyiv and its European allies are looking on, aghast, from the outside, fearful the US will strike an unfavourable deal to end the war with Putin — and stick them with the bill.

“Trump is proving to be as bad as we feared. He is willing to make a deal with Putin at the expense of Ukraine, and still wants Ukraine to pay him in mineral resources,” said Volodymyr Kulyk, a professor of political science at the Kyiv School of Economics. “The question is, what Ukraine and Europe will do.”

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Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova in Berlin and Daria Mosolova in London

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