Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Trump to call Jerusalem Israel's capital, move embassy

If Trump goes through with the move, the US will become the first country to have its embassy in Jerusalem. [Reuters]
Wednesday 6 December 2017 04
US President Donald Trump will recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and direct the state department to begin the lengthy process of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the city, according to senior White House officials. 
The announcement, which is expected at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday, comes amid global condemnation of the move.

The officials said in a briefing that Trump's expected announcement is a "recognition of a reality". 
The officials added that moving the embassy "will take years" and Trump will continue to sign the six-month waiver to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv until the relocation process is complete.  

'Dangerous repercussions'

Leaders in the Middle East and elsewhere had warned Trump that such a move would have grave implications for the so-called peace process and on regional stability. 
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What a US embassy in Jerusalem means to Palestinians

Trump held phone calls with the leaders of Palestine, Jordan and Egypt on Tuesday to inform them of his intention to move the embassy. 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned Trump against "the dangerous consequences such a decision would have to the peace process and to the peace, security and stability of the region and of the world," Nabil Abu Rudeina, Abbas' spokesman, said in a statement after Trump's call. 
Jordan's King Abdullah II told Trump that such a decision would have "dangerous repercussions on the stability and security of the region", according to a statement released by the palace. 
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in a statement, also cautioned Trump against "taking measures that would undermine the chances of peace in the Middle East".
Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to cut diplomatic ties with Israel if Trump went through with the embassy move, calling it a "red line for Muslims". 

Honest broker? 

Jerusalem's status is an extremely sensitive aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  
OPINION

Trump's dangerous Jerusalem gambit

Daoud Kuttab
by Daoud Kuttab
Israel claims the city as its capital, following the occupation of East Jerusalem in the 1967 War with Syria, Egypt and Jordan, and considers Jerusalem to be a "united" city.
Palestinians have long seen East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
They say that a US move to relocate the embassy would prejudge one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict - the status of Jerusalem - and undermine any attempt by Washington to restart the peace process.  
US officials said that Trump "remains committed to achieving a lasting peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians and is optimistic that peace can be achieved". 
One official said that Trump's decision "doesn't change the status quo with respect to the holy sites and other sensitive issues". 
But Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada said that one would have to have been "living on another planet for the last few decades to believe that the US was ever an honest broker". 
"What [Trump's move] achieves is truth in advertising," he told Al Jazeera.
"It is a more honest expression of American policy, which is to support Israel unconditionally, including Israel's illegal colonisation and settlement-building in East Jerusalem," he said, adding that "this has effectively been US policy for many, many years and Trump is simply coming out and being open about it".

'Day of Rage' 

A small group of Palestinians protested in Bethlehem on Tuesday evening, burning posters with the image of Trump on them. 
In a statement, Hamas called for Palestinians "to make Friday a day of rage against the occupation, rejecting moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and declaring it the capital of a Zionist entity". 
Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian politician in the West Bank, warned that the "Arabs and Muslims will not take this lying down".  
"The Palestinian people will react, with a public, popular, non-violent uprising," Barghouti told Al Jazeera earlier on Tuesday. "That's what you will see tomorrow, after tomorrow and the days after," he added.  
Hillary Mann Leverett, a former state department official, said Trump's move might be an attempt to "generate a crisis in order to create opportunity". 
"If there was any actual hope of a peace process being launched by Jared Kushner, they wouldn't be doing something like this that is so inflammatory and incendiary about Jerusalem," Mann Leverett said, referring to the senior White House adviser and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. 
"[The expected move] says to me that the process that Jared Kushner has been working on since Trump was elected is going nowhere and they've decided to generate crisis in order to create some opportunity," she added. 
No country currently has its embassy in Jerusalem, and the international community does not recognise Israel's jurisdiction over and ownership of the city.
US Congress passed a law in 1995 that required the embassy be transferred to Jerusalem, but all presidents since then have repeatedly signed a six-month waiver to override implementation of the law. 
White House officials on Tuesday said Trump, who pledged during the 2016 presidential campaign to move the embassy, will continue to sign the waiver until the embassy is ready to be transferred to Jerusalem in order to avoid the financial consequences of not implementing the law. 
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Palestinian village facing imminent demolition by Israelis


Israel expands plans to demolish areas of Susiya, in the occupied West Bank, in moves critics say are designed to make way for a settlement
A Palestinian man looks out of a tent in Susiya village, south of the West Bank city of Hebron in January 2016 (Reuters)

Wednesday 6 December 2017
A Palestinian community in the West Bank is facing the imminent flattening of nearly half of their village, after the Israeli army notified them they were expanding original plans to demolish 20 buildings.
Villagers in Susiya, a small Bedouin village to the south of Hebron, were this week handed a document and map by the Israeli army detailing the demolition of 40 percent of their land, with the first work scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
This comes after the Israeli State Attorney’s Office announced a plan in November to demolish 20 buildings within 15 days in Susiya. The village’s health clinic, which provides health services for about 500 people, is among the buildings under threat.
Read more ►
According to the Oslo Accords of 1993, Susiya village is located in Area C of the southern occupied West Bank, which is under full Israeli military control.
In protest of the demolition of Susiya, 35 British rabbis wrote a letter to Israel's ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, denouncing Israel's move.
"The residents [of Susiya] were expelled from their village in order to create an archaeological site of the ancient synagogue found in their village," they said.
"Since 1986 these people were forced to live in caves as they had no way of building legally on their land, even when they were applying for such permission."
They added that in 2001, the caves where Palestinian of Susiya were forced to live were destroyed by the Israeli army and settlers from the nearby "Susiya" settlement. 
In 1983, an Israeli settlement called "Susiya" was built on the village land, which amounts to about 741 acres.
In 1986, Israel declared Susiya an archaeological site and since then, the Palestinian village has been subject to repeated evictions and demolitions, as part of what residents and activists say is the Israeli authorities’ attempts to make way for the expansion of a nearby settlement.
Ben Jamal, the director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told Middle East Eye that "the demolition plan will expose this farming community not only to the winter weather conditions but also to the theft of their land by settlers living in the adjacent Israeli settlement, an act which will not be easily reversed."
He added that "the UK government must act now to prevent the demolition of Susiya, and to reject Israel’s policies of denying Palestinians permits to build on their own land, home demolitions, and land theft.”
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Israel’s ‘weapon exports to Rwanda during genocide’ to stay secret, following Supreme Court ruling

Between 800,000 and 1 million people were killed over the course of 100 days in Rwanda in 1994 


Metal racks hold the bones of thousands of Rwandan Genocide victims inside one of the crypts at the Nyamata Catholic Church Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith -Wednesday 13 April 2016 09:33 BST

Documents detailing Israel’s alleged defence exports to Rwanda during the country’s civil war and genocide in the 1990s are to remain sealed, the country’s Supreme Court has ruled.

Two years ago Professor Yair Auron and attorney Eitay Mack submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Israel’s defence ministry to discover the nature of any arms exports made to Rwanda between 1990 and 1995, the Times of Israel reports.

Between 800,000 and 1 million people were killed over the course of 100 days in Rwanda in 1994 during the civil war, kick started by the death of the Hutu President Juvenal Habyrimana whose plane was shot down over Kigali airport.

Weapons used in the genocide allegedly included Israeli-made 5.56mm bullets, rifles and grenades, the newspaper reports, but information apparently detailing this is sealed in the contested documentation.

Mr Auron and Mr Mack’s request reportedly stated: “According to various reports in Israel and abroad, the defence exports to Rwanda ostensibly violated international law, at least during the period of the weapons embargo imposed by the UN Security Council.”

The request was denied by the Ministry of Defence and later by the Tel Aviv District Court, upholding the argument that the release of information would undermine state security and international relations.

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The Supreme Court has also rejected the appeal for the documents to be released, stating: “We found that under the circumstances the disclosure of the information sought does not advance the public interest claimed by the appellants to the extent that it takes preference and precedence over the claims of harm to state security and international relations,” Haaretz reports.

Mr Mack responded to the decision by calling it “mistaken and immoral,” but said that “at no point during the proceedings was there a denial that there were defence exports during the genocide,” and vowed to “continue to fight to expose the truth”.
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Younger evangelical Christians indifferent about Israel, poll finds

Evangelicals are the backbone of Christian Zionist groups including Christians United for Israel, but support for Israel is eroding among the young. (via Facebook)

Ali Abunimah-5 December 2017

Younger evangelical Christians in the United States are much less likely to support Israel than their elders, a new survey has found.

“Older American evangelicals love Israel – but many younger evangelicals simply don’t care,” according toLifeWay Research, the church-focused firm that conducted the survey.

Evangelicals are the backbone of major Christian Zionist organizations, such as Christians United for Israel, and are an influential constituency on the right of American politics.

President Donald Trump’s reported decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy to the city is the fulfillment of a long-standing demand of such groups.

The national survey of 2,002 adults with evangelical beliefs was conducted on behalf of Chosen People Ministries, a religious group that proselytizes that Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews – effectively missionaries who aim to convert Jews to fundamentalist Christianity.

“For the most part, younger evangelicals are indifferent about Israel,” according to Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research.

Four in ten evangelicals aged 18-34 say they have “no strong views” about Israel.

“I am concerned for the obvious decline in support for Israel among millennial followers of Jesus, who either do not know what they believe or do not seem to care,” said Mitch Glaser, president of Chosen People Ministries.

Overall, two-thirds of evangelicals have positive views of Israel. Nine percent have a negative view and 24 percent are not sure.

About a quarter say they would support Israel no matter what it does. However two in five say that they support Israel but not all its actions. A third have no strong views.

Black evangelicals are the least likely to express a positive view of Israel (50 percent).

There is a marked generation gap: just nine percent of older evangelicals see the “rebirth” of Israel in 1948 as an injustice to Palestinians, 62 percent disagree and 28 percent are not sure.

Those figures almost double among the younger age group: 19 percent say Israel’s creation was an injustice, just 34 percent disagree and nearly half are not sure.

Overall, six in 10 respondents believe “Christians should do more to love and care for Palestinians,” a number that also rises among evangelicals who are younger or Black.

Global trend

In recent years there has been a general generational shift away from support for Israel in several countries.

In the United States, where support for Israel remains strong overall, a 2016 Pew Research Center survey found a surge of sympathy for Palestinians among liberals, and a growing generation gap.
It found that greater sympathy with Palestinians had tripled among millennials from nine percent in 2006 to 27 percent a decade later.

Jewish communities reflect these changes too as younger Jews increasingly feel indifferent to or alienated from Israel – a shift that prompted liberal Zionist commentator Peter Beinart to sound the alarm about what he dubbed the “Crisis of Zionism.”

Many younger Jews are visible and active in the Palestine solidarity movement and support boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), amid the emergence of organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow that challenge the claims of pro-Israel establishment Jewish organizations to speak for them.

Surveys in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have also revealed greater sympathy towards Palestinians in younger age groups.

Opportunities

The changing attitudes of younger evangelicals are not surprising when seen in light of broader social trends.

For instance, younger evangelicals are also much more likely than older age groups to hold more liberal views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, immigration and government support for social services.

In June, the Pew Research Center found that almost half of younger white evangelicals now support same-sex marriage, opening up a dramatic generation gap with their elders that didn’t exist just a year earlier.

This shows that what are assumed to be bedrock beliefs rooted in religion can change quite rapidly as broader society shifts. It suggests that advocates for Palestinian rights should not limit their outreach only to those they assume will be receptive.

Joel C. Rosenberg, the author of the LifeWay Research survey, warned that without more theologically driven pro-Israel indoctrination aimed at young Christians, “overall evangelical support for the Jewish state could very well plummet over the next decade as millennials represent an ever-larger percentage of the overall church body.”

Given the changes in attitudes in recent years and the opportunities they represent, it is no wonder Israel and its lobby are in a panic about their failure – despite enormous expenditures – to stem the growing support for Palestinian rights.
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U.S. Cities Want to Join U.N. Migration Talks That Trump Boycotted

Urban centers want a seat at the table, even if the White House doesn’t.

Members of the New York Immigration Coalition, recent immigrants, and activists rally outside of Trump Tower in New York on Nov. 6. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 

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Cities in the United States are petitioning for formal inclusion in a U.N. global compact on migration just days after the White House withdrew from the accord.

“Cities are on the frontlines of resettling and supporting immigrants and refugees,” a spokesperson from the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrants Affairs told Foreign Policy. “Cities are pushing for a seat at the table at a time when many national leaders are increasingly isolationist – and even xenophobic – and disconnected from cities’ values of inclusivity and growth.”

A dozen U.S. cities including New York and over 130 international cities have signed a petition to be sent to Mexican Ambassador to the U.N. Juan José Gómez Camacho and Swiss ambassador at Turtle Bay Jürg Lauber as they meet at a global migration conference this week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Numerous cities will also send a letter to the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees asking for cities to be formally included in the process as the global compact on migration is discussed. Signatories to this letter include the mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Providence, Dallas, and the District of Columbia, as well as officials from Paris, Milan, Montreal, Athens, and Amman, Jordan.

“We need to be part of U.N. decision-making if international agreements are to be responsive to on-the-ground realities,” said Bitta Mostofi, acting commissioner at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, in a statement to FP.

The move comes after the United States announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing from the U.N.’s New York declaration for refugees and migrants. The declaration, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in September 2016, agreed to uphold universal human rights for immigrants, fight xenophobia, and bolster global governance by creating a global compact on migration by 2018, among other commitments. The United States under Barack Obama agreed to participate in the declaration last year.

But the Trump administration shuns multilateral commitments and argues that the global compact infringes on U.S. sovereignty.

“We simply cannot in good faith support a process that could undermine the sovereign right of the United States to enforce our immigration laws and secure our borders,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a Dec. 3 press release. “The United States supports international cooperation on migration issues, but it is the primary responsibility of sovereign states to help ensure that migration is safe, orderly, and legal.”

Local governments, however, say they need a seat at the table during global migration policy debates, since urban areas are major destinations for migrants amid global population flows that have reached crisis levels.

“While our national government may decline to engage the international community on this crisis, it is imperative that cities join the conversation,” said Penny Abeywardena, New York City’s commissioner for international affairs, in a statement to FP. “We are a city of immigrants, and by raising our voice in this process, we want to show that the New York City values of inclusion, fair treatment, and global cooperation represent the best of American values.”

 As the United States has retreated from global leadership under President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, local governments have tried to fill the void in dealing with transnational challenges.
Three dozen U.S. mayors signed a climate compact Tuesday agreeing to curb greenhouse gas emissions despite the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord earlier this year. And as Trump has antagonized long-term U.S. allies and trade partners in North America, Europe, and Asia, governors have side-stepped the White House and worked directly with governments in Europe and Canada to shore up newly uncertain trade ties.
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London mayor calls for UK apology over Jallianwala Bagh massacre in India

London Mayor Sadiq Khan visits the holy Sikh shrine of Golden temple in Amritsar, India, December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer


Reuters Staff-DECEMBER 6, 2017 

LONDON (Reuters) - Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called on the British government on Wednesday to make a formal apology for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in which nearly 400 Sikhs were shot dead by British Indian army soldiers.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan visits the holy Sikh shrine of Golden temple in Amritsar, India, December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

During a visit to the Golden Temple at Amritsar in northern India, the most important pilgrimage site of Sikhism, Khan called the massacre one of the most horrific events in Indian history.
On Sunday 13 April 1919, some 50 soldiers began shooting at unarmed civilians who were taking part in a peaceful protest against oppressive laws enforced in the Punjab by British colonial authorities.

At least 379 Sikhs were killed, but the figure is still disputed.

“It is wrong that successive British governments have fallen short of delivering a formal apology to the families of those who were killed,” he said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan places a wreath at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial in Amritsar, India, December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer


 
“I’m clear that the government should now apologise, especially as we reach the centenary of the massacre. This is about properly acknowledging what happened here and giving the people of Amritsar and India the closure they need through a formal apology.”

Khan, who is from the opposition Labour Party, does not speak for Britain’s Conservative government.

Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron visited Amritsar at the end of a trade mission to India four years ago in a show of contrition over the massacre but stopped short of making a formal apology.

Khan is on a six-day mission to India and Pakistan to strengthen cultural and economic ties with the British capital.

The British Foreign Office said in a statement: “As the former Prime Minister said when he visited the Jallianwala Bagh in 2013, the massacre was a deeply shameful act in British history and one that we should never forget.

”It is right that we pay respect to those who lost their lives and remember what happened. The British Government rightly condemned the events at the time.”

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UN: CHINA FAILS TO SCUPPER RESOLUTION ON MYANMAR’S PERSECUTION OF ROHINGYA


December 5, 2017

Responding to the failed attempt by China, Philippines and Burundi to vote down a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the situation of the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar, Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia Director at Amnesty International, said:

“The adoption of today’s resolution demonstrates the broad international concern about the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people so brutally impacted by the ongoing crimes against humanity in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. By voting against it, China and others showed how woefully out of step they are with world opinion on the crisis.

“China has the diplomatic, humanitarian and economic resources to make a real difference in the lives of the Rohingya. But its current maneuvering simply seeks to intervene only to preserve impunity for horrific crimes.

“Thankfully, the resolution passed despite its detractors, and states across all regions of the world engaged positively on it. The international community must now redouble efforts to urge Myanmar’s authorities, and in particular its military leadership, to immediately stop the violence and discrimination against Rohingya and other minorities, and allow unfettered access to the UN Fact-Finding Mission, humanitarian aid and independent human rights monitors.

“This is crucial to lay the groundwork for accountability for atrocities against Rohingya women, men and children, as well as to ensure the voluntary, safe and dignified return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.”
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‘Out of control’ Southern California fire explodes as growing blazes force tens of thousands to flee

Fast moving wildfire engulfed an estimated 25,000 acres in less than seven hours in Southern California’s Santa Barbara and Ventura counties on Dec. 5. (Amber Ferguson, Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)



VENTURA, Calif. — Ferocious fires tore through Southern California on Tuesday, burning massive stretches of land in a matter of hours and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Firefighters in multiple locations in the region battled fires that were spurred by dry and windy conditions, officials said. In Ventura County, the Thomas Fire burned more than 50,000 acres, and on the outskirts of Los Angeles County, the Creek Fire enveloped more than 11,000 acres north of the city’s downtown. Another fire in the county, dubbed the Rye Fire, had cut through 5,000 acres near the city of Santa Clarita by Tuesday evening.

Authorities issued ominous warnings of more dangers to come during a “multiday event” across the area, as weather forecasters said the region faces “extreme fire danger” through at least Thursday because of intense Santa Ana winds and low humidity that could cause the fires to grow rapidly.

The wildfires are the latest grim chapter in a brutal year for California, coming just months after deadly blazes in the state’s wine country killed dozens of people and razed thousands of buildings. Many parts of the state experienced record temperatures over the summer and in the fall; a sweltering heat wave brought cities in the Los Angeles area above 100 degrees as recently as late October.

[What happens when people live in areas where natural disasters can erupt]
The Ventura County fire, the largest, began when a small blaze quickly went out of control. The fire — which burned an area nearly as large as Seattle — stretched into the city of Ventura, home to more than 100,000 people, its course sped by high winds that ranged from 35 to 55 miles per hour. More than 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed in the fire, and officials said they anticipated many more.

“The prospects for containment are not good,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said at a news briefing. “Really, Mother Nature’s going to decide when we have the ability to put it out.”

As the flames continued to spread, so did the damage. Homes were destroyed and the charred remains of cars sat among heaps of ash. Aerial images showed huge clouds of thick smoke billowing around the Los Angeles region.





NASA Earth
✔ @NASAEarth
Smoke and Fire in Southern California https://go.nasa.gov/2jgDpje 
The impact hit home for many of those responding to the blaze: One local fire official told a reporter that he had to call his daughter to tell her that her apartment had burned.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) declared a state of emergency in Ventura County, calling the fire “very dangerous” as it spread rapidly: “We’ll continue to attack it with all we’ve got,” Brown said. “It’s critical residents stay ready and evacuate immediately if told to do so.”

What caused the fire remained unknown Tuesday, Lorenzen said, and the fire’s ultimate impact also remained unclear. Lorenzen said that the number of burned buildings could increase because firefighters were not yet able to assess the damage in most affected areas. He also warned that there is “a high possibility” that more areas will be evacuated.

Drone footage captured fires burning near Lake Casitas on Dec. 5 (Nicholas Weissman/The Washington Post)

Lorenzen said 27,000 people were evacuated, and “almost none of them know the status of their homes.”

Some of those who did were given bad news. Debbie Gennaro, who wiped tears from her eyes as she was consoled by her husband, Mark, said they were told that their home of 12 years has been burned to an ashy husk.

They had packed up clothes, photographs and passports on Monday night and headed to a hotel ahead of the fire; the couple are unsure where they will go next.

“This is life in Southern California. This is where we live,” Mark Gennaro said. “I stand on that back hill and I see all that brush and I’m like, ‘Something’s gonna happen at some point.’”

The fires Tuesday sparked unusually late in the wildfire season, which typically runs from spring to late fall. That is because, unlike other parts of the United States, summer and early fall tend to be dry in California. Wildfires need just three things to start and spread: fuel, dry weather and an ignition source.

The dry weather is significant this week — humidity was just 10 percent on Monday morning and “red flag” fire conditions will last through at least Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

The fire’s fuel was a year in the making. After an epic, multiyear drought, California finally got the rain and snow it needed last winter, and it allowed vegetation to rebound. The hills turned green and the brush thickened. But as the weather turned dry, it created plentiful amounts of fuel, which are now feeding the wildfires.

Cal Fire official Tim Chavez said that a lack of rain in the region in recent months made conditions particularly susceptible to a wildfire.

“This year however no rain came in September, October and November in Southern California. So we have incredibly desiccated dry fuels,” he said.

Though the Santa Ana winds are not unusual, “that combined with the dry fuels results in what you see today,” Chavez said.

People who escaped the fires reported apocalyptic scenes.

Gena Aguayo, 53, of Ventura, said she saw fire “coming down the mountain.” When Lorena Lara evacuated with her children on Tuesday morning after initially staying put, she said the wind was so strong it was blowing ashes into her home.

“I’ve never experienced something like that,” said Lara, 42. “Maybe in Santa Barbara, but we didn’t expect it here.”

As the fires forced waves of people to rush from their homes, the contours of daily life were shut down. Multiple schools were closed Tuesday, while some events were canceled amid the fires and power outages. In Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, more than 260,000 people were left without power at some point, Southern California Edison said in a tweet. Officials in the city of Ventura urged residents to boil water because of the fires and power outages.

Fire officials were blunt about the blaze, saying that it was out of control and that structures throughout the area were under serious threat, with Ventura County officials saying that “due to the intensity of the fire, crews are having trouble making access and there are multiple reports of structures on fire.”

Further east, firefighters also hurried to respond to the Creek Fire north of downtown Los Angeles that also expanded quickly, growing to 11,000 acres by early Tuesday afternoon. Officials said that fire began outside the city limits before threatening parts of the Sylmar and Lake View Terrace areas.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti declared a state of emergency in the city and said that more than 30 buildings had burned in the blaze. He said that some 150,000 people lived in evacuation areas.

“We want to be really clear, folks,” he said. “We have lost structures, we have not lost lives. Do not wait. Leave your homes.”

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby said that “when we’ve had fatalities, it’s because people did not heed the early-warning evacuations.”

 “This is going to be a multiday event,” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck warned. “This will not be the only fire.”

[Santa Ana winds sparked a critical wildfire threat in Southern California]

Osby said the county department diverted two helicopters to respond to the Rye Fire near Santa Clarita, where officials said the blaze had shut down the interstate.

The Creek Fire prompted a wave of mandatory evacuations, forcing people to leave about 5,000 homes. A convalescent hospital evacuated 105 patients, officials said.

It was unclear how many people have been injured or killed in the fires. In Ventura County, a battalion chief was injured in a traffic accident on Monday night and is expected to recover, Lorenzen said. Two firefighters were receiving treatment after being injured in the other fires, Garcetti said. And three people were injured in a much smaller blaze earlier in the day in San Bernardino County, according to local news reports.

The National Weather Service reported that damaging winds and “very critical fire weather conditions” would return late Wednesday night into Thursday, saying the conditions could lead to “very rapid fire growth” and “extreme fire behavior.” The NWS issued a red flag warning for Ventura and Los Angeles, saying wind gusts between 50 mph and 70 mph are likely through Thursday.

Michael Dubron @MichaelDubron
Unbelievable conditions @LACoFDPIO
· Los Angeles, CA
Authorities had previously warned that a combination of strong winds and low humidity this week could increase the wildfire risk across Southern California. Cal Fire said it had moved resources from the northern part of the state to the south and prepared aircraft and fire equipment to respond.
[Ten miles of California’s loveliest countryside, transformed by fire]

Once the fire in Ventura County began on Monday, it moved “unbelievably fast,” said Ventura County Fire Sgt. Eric Buschow.

Robert Perez, who preaches at the Santa Paula Church of Christ in Ventura County, was driving home from the airport when he first caught word of the Thomas Fire from his daughter, who called to warn him.

Perez said that when he finally got home at around 11 p.m., the police were already evacuating his street. Perez, 57, quickly loaded his wife, daughter, grandson, and pets into his car and drove to the church.

They planned to return home in the early hours of the morning, but the strong Santa Ana winds put their house in danger, so they remained at the church. Perez said his family was joined by several other church members, who he said slept overnight in their cars in the church parking lot.

“The fire was so close to the church, I think it scared the members,” he said. “There were a few members that came and parked in our parking lot, but didn’t go inside the church.”

For some, the fires came as a shock. Lance Korthals, of Ventura, said he looked out from between his blinds early Tuesday morning and “saw an odd color.” Then he saw that the hills behind his apartment complex “were just completely engulfed in flames.”

Korthals, 66, a retired business executive originally from Detroit, said he then banged on doors trying to alert others in the apartment complex, but they had already evacuated, so he eventually hit the road.

“The trees within the complex were already on fire,” Korthals said. “I had to drive around the flames that were already flowing into the road.”

Others, though, said they expected something like this to happen.

“We live in Southern California,” said Kevin Wycoff, 55, who was with his family at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, which was sheltering evacuees. “This [ash] is what we call snow. This is our weather.”

Michelle Wycoff, his wife, added: “We’ll have mudslides coming soon.”

Berman and Rosenberg reported from Washington. Travis M. Andrews, Angela Fritz and J. Freedom du Lac in Washington contributed to this report, which has been updated throughout the day. 
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Exclusive: Adults using YouTube to groom children into making inappropriate videos



 5 DEC 2017

A Channel 4 News investigation reveals how adults have used YouTube to message young children and groom them into making inappropriate videos on-demand.

Adults have used YouTube to message young children and groom them into making inappropriate videos on-demand, a Channel 4 News investigation can reveal.

Once uploaded, the children’s videos receive comments requesting more specific content, as well as demands for the child’s contact details. In some instances children comply with these demands.

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, told the programme: “It’s clearly grooming, luring the children into doing it, it’s dangerous. YouTube is hugely popular with children – they have an obligation.”

Channel 4 News has witnessed examples where children are contacted by strangers online with what sounds like a harmless dare – in return for viewers.

Children fall for this trick, they end up filming intimate videos in their bedrooms, for the gratification of total strangers – who then push the kids to go even further.

Once the clip is uploaded – the demands increase: “Something like this sweetheart, could you do this for me please?”; “Bare feet now.”; “Next part without socks please. If you do it I will subscribe to you.”

Channel 4 News has seen examples of children complying with these escalating demands which are then followed by requests for their contact details: “Do you have any social media?”

Again, some kids willingly comply: “Yes, I’ll edit into the description, my Instagram is…. ”

The “challenge” videos and comments found by Channel 4 News had not been caught by YouTube’s recent crackdown on inappropriate content, which saw hundreds of thousands of videos and comments deleted.

YouTube has deleted accounts, videos and comments that we flagged up to the website.

A YouTube spokesperson told Channel 4 News: “Content that misleads or endangers children is abhorrent and unacceptable to us. In recent months we’ve taken aggressive steps to tackle the emerging challenges around family content on YouTube. In the past week alone, we’ve removed videos, turned off inappropriate comments and terminated hundreds of accounts.”

Today YouTube also announced it will hire 10,000 more staff to police the site.

Releasing a new safety video today the National Crime Agency also warned of “dares and tricks” being used to groom children. The new trend, they say, is children live-streaming videos from their phones which potentially gives the YouTube groomers a whole new playground.
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I tried to take my child to work with me in Japan – but I got thrown out

As a city councillor I have come to see the huge obstacles that are put in the way of working mothers. For the benefit of all things have to change

Yuka Ogata holds her baby during a session at Kumamoto municipal assembly. Photograph: KYODO/Reuters

Ogata is a member of the Kumamoto municipal assembly in south-western Japan

 Wednesday 6 December 2017 04.38 GMT

 Earlier this month, I decided to take my 7-month-old baby into the chamber of the Kumamoto municipal assembly because I believed it was the only way I could overcome the huge obstacles that had been placed in front of me as a working mother.

I saw it as my best chance to move forward with the policies I have devoted myself to ever since I became a councillor in my home city: to improve childcare provision and make Japan’s working environment more family friendly.

But almost none of the proposals I have made since I was elected two years ago have been accepted by the city.

After I discovered I was pregnant, I asked the assembly to support me so that I could look after my infant son and continue my job as a councillor. I asked for permission to breastfeed him in the chamber, or for daycare to be provided in the assembly building for the children of councillors, assembly staff and visitors.

But my proposals were turned down. Instead, I was told to resolve those issues myself. Once again, I came up against a mindset that supports the status quo and makes bringing up children in Japan very difficult.

People overseas may find it hard to appreciate just how severe the situation is in Japan.

The shortage of childcare facilities forces many women to give up work. Even parents who manage to find a place for their child have to deal with lots of rules and regulations. For example, they have to write their child’s name on every single item of clothing, including nappies, and provide proof from a doctor that they have recovered from a cold or other communicable illness. When our children get sick – as they often do – it is very difficult to take time off work to look after them.

As a last resort, parents take their children to work, where they encounter negative remarks from their colleagues and bosses. When they become pregnant, many women are pressured into quitting their jobs, or are harassed by colleagues who have to take on their workload while they are on maternity leave.

But this isn’t a women’s problem – it is a management issue. In general, Japanese companies think balancing work and bringing up children are the sole responsibility of the parents. Very few workplaces have measures to help parents balance work and family life.

By sitting in the assembly chamber with my son on my lap, I wanted to represent all of the parents who are struggling to raise children in Japan. I hoped it would mean that their voices would no longer be ignored.

The assembly session held on the day of the incident was due to last only 15 minutes or so. My son is usually well behaved so I was confident we could sit through the session together without any problems.

I certainly wasn’t expecting the strong reaction I got from my colleagues and assembly staff. As soon as I took my seat in the chamber, staff from the secretariat rushed over to me, followed by the chairman. He told me: “Don’t do this. Please take your baby and leave the chamber immediately.”

I was surprised, but tried to hold my ground. I said: “I am a councillor with a baby, so I will stay here with him. Please go ahead and open the session.”

I thought it was wrong of them to attempt to eject an elected councillor who was only trying to represent other citizens in a similar position to mine.

My treatment that day proved that too many employers in Japan expect us to work and forget about other important parts of our lives, like raising children, caring for ageing parents or dealing with illness.

For many Japanese women the situation is even worse. They do short-term contract work that comes with lower salaries and fewer benefits than regular employees, most of whom are men.

It is time for the Japanese workplace to change to accommodate the needs of working parents, and that includes taking care of their families. I will continue to use my position to turn Japan into a country where people can enjoy a proper work-life balance.

• Yuka Ogata is a member of the Kumamoto municipal assembly in south-western Japan
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