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News Making International Headlines: 13 October 2021

California Wildfire Doubles in Size


PHOTO: FIRES ALONG ROADSIDE IN SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA.

INTERNATIONAL: The Alisal Fire in California has nearly doubled in size, with the flames now spanning more than 5,000 hectares. It is zero percent contained, forcing the closure of parts of Highway 101 and prompting evacuations. At least 100 homes are threatened. The fire jumped from the east side to the west side of the freeway on Tuesday. Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze. It broke out on Monday afternoon near Alisal Lake in the Santa Ynez Mountains. It’s been stoked by sweltering and dry conditions that experts say are symptomatic of climate change during a summer fire season already shaping up as one of the most destructive on record. Last month, US President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for California after a series of wildfires hit the state.

Car Bombing Claims Six Lives in Syria


PHOTO: FIRE BURNING AND SMOKE BILLOWING FROM STREET EMERGENCY SERVICE WORKERS SPRAYING VEHICLES WITH WATER WOUNDED PERSON BEING CARRIED INTO AMBULANCE

A car bomb has exploded near a market in the northern Syrian town of Alfrin, which is controlled by Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters. Six people have been killed, while 12 others have been injured including two children. Video footage shows smoke billowing from a fire burning in the street, while emergency service workers spray water onto burning vehicles. Turkey has blamed previous bombings in Afrin on the Syrian Kurdish group, YPG, which held the Afrin area until Turkish forces seized the region in a cross-border military operation in 2019. Turkey regards YPG as a terrorist group tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and has staged incursions into Syria in support of Syrian rebels to push it back from the Turkish border. YPG views Turkey as an “invader and occupying force”.

La Palma Tsunami Fears Dismissed as “Remote”


PHOTO: TIMELAPSE OF VOLCANO ERUPTING LAVA SPURTING FROM VOLCANO WHILE IT ERUPTS

And, the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano shows no signs of abating. As the river of molten rock continues to flow in the northeast of the Canary Island of La Palma, authorities ordered more than 700 residents of La Laguna to leave their homes with their belongings and pets. The eruption began on 19 September and has already laid waste to nearly 600 hectares. Torrents of molten rock have destroyed almost 1,200 buildings and forced the evacuation of 6,700 people. The only good news is that claims spread on social media about the eruption potentially causing a tsunami, have been dismissed as remote. The theory is based on a 2001 research article that the island of La Palma is at risk of undergoing a large landslide, which could cause a tsunami across the Atlantic Ocean. The US tsunami warning center says it is continuing to monitor events on La Palma, however.


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