TV News LIES

The death toll from the Eaton and Palisades fires that have consumed large swathes of Los Angeles county – and are still less than 30% contained – has risen to 24, according to medical examiners.

The county of Los Angeles medical examiner published a list of fatalities without giving details of any identities. Eight of the dead were found in the Palisades fire zone, and 16 in the Eaton fire zone, the document said.

The largest of four active wildfires in Los Angeles County was encroaching on a major Southern California artery on Saturday as the flames expanded to the northeast and officials warned of more extreme fire weather conditions this weekend.

The Palisades Fire grew another roughly 1,000 acres on Saturday, and had burned 23,654 acres by afternoon with 11% containment. An expansion of the flames to the north and east prompted officials to issue more mandatory evacuation areas to the west of the 405 freeway as it threatened parts of Encino and Brentwood.

2024 is officially the hottest year ever recorded on Planet Earth, at least while humans have been around, according to the official tallies from meteorological organizations around the world.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), NASA and Copernicus—the EU's meteorological association—released their annual global temperature analyses [Friday]. They all found that Earth has warmed roughly 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above temperatures in the 1800s, before people began burning vast reserves of fossil fuels.

The numbers vary slightly. NOAA reports 1.46 degrees C of warming, NASA, 1.47; and the EU's Copernicus, 1.6.

"The real punchline is, it was another really warm year," says Russell Vose, a climate scientist at NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information, the group that produces the temperature estimates.

A series of deadly wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area were still burning fiercely on Friday, decimating entire communities and leaving residents reeling as the infernos destroyed over 10,000 homes, businesses and other structures.

Five wildfires remained active in Los Angeles County, scorching more than 36,000 acres or about 56 square miles, an area about the size of Miami, according to Cal Fire. The largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, which ranks as the most destructive in Los Angeles history, scorched over 20,000 acres and was 8% contained as of Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire near Altadena and Pasadena was at 3% containment as it grew to more than 13,600 acres. Several other fires have ignited across the county as fierce winds persisted, including the Kenneth Fire that broke out Thursday near the Woodland Hills neighborhood. The blaze prompted evacuation orders Thursday night that have since been lifted.

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The six biggest banks in the US have all quit the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group, with the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump as president expected to bring political backlash against climate action.

JP Morgan is the latest to withdraw from the UN-sponsored net zero banking alliance (NZBA), following Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. All six have left since the start of December.

Analysts have said the withdrawals are an attempt to head off “anti-woke” attacks from rightwing US politicians, which are expected to escalate when Trump is sworn in as the country’s 47th president in just under a fortnight.

President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration after powerful Santa Ana winds whipped up multiple wildfires across Los Angeles County, killing at least five people and setting homes ablaze.

As crews battled infernos across the county, a new brush fire, dubbed the Sunset Fire, ignited in Hollywood Hills Wednesday evening, spurring mandatory evacuation orders and scorching 20 acres, according to CalFire and the Los Angeles Fire Department.