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Air quality warning as Oregon wildfire grows

Photo by Dan Morrison / AFP

AFP

A wildfire raging out of control in Oregon grew in size Tuesday as residents faced evacuation orders and worsening air quality as multiple blazes scorch the US West.

Dozens of active fires in California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and other western states have ravaged more than 1,200 square miles (3,100 square kilometers), highlighting the devastating effects of a two-decade-plus drought that has left the region parched.

Dense smoke blanketed towns in southwestern Oregon including the popular outdoor tourism gateway of Bend, as the Cedar Creek fire has now consumed 92,548 acres (37,450 hectares) — more than twice the size of the US capital Washington — with zero percent containment as of Tuesday, according to the Oregon State Fire Marshal.

Evacuations were ordered for Lane and Deschutes counties, although some of the orders have been eased amid cooler temperatures and gentler winds. More than 2,000 homes remained under threat, authorities said.

The inferno — which began back in early August — has turned skies an eerie orange, as more than 1,200 firefighters and other personnel converge on the steep mountainous terrain, much of it in US national forest land and hard to reach.

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“Smoke continues to create unhealthy air quality, which will likely continue for several more days,” the state fire marshal’s office said in a statement.

Similar air quality alerts have been issued in Idaho and Washington due to fires in those states.

Scientists say the long-term drought has been worsened by human-made climate change.

Much of the countryside is parched, creating conditions for hot, fast and destructive wildfires.

An even larger blaze, the Double Creek Fire, was burning in northeastern Oregon where it has consumed 155,300 acres.

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According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), more than 90 fires were currently burning across seven western states.

The Mosquito Fire, California’s current largest blaze, has now swept through nearly 50,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with several small nearby towns evacuated.

Firefighters south of Los Angeles were also working to contain the major Fairview fire, which has claimed two lives.

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International

Brazil’s Lula wishes Trump a successful term focused on prosperity and peace

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wished the new U.S. President, Donald Trump, a “successful” term that promotes “prosperity and well-being for the U.S. people” and “a fairer and more peaceful world.”

“On behalf of the Brazilian government, I congratulate President Donald Trump on his inauguration,” said the progressive leader on his social media, shortly after Trump took the oath of office at the Capitol in Washington.

Lula, 79, highlighted that the relationship between Brazil and the United States, one of its most important trade partners, is “marked by a history of cooperation, based on mutual respect and historical friendship.”

“Our countries maintain strong ties in various areas such as trade, science, education, and culture. I am confident that we can continue to make progress in these and other areas,” he added.

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International

Iran hopes U.S. will adopt realistic approaches under Trump administration

Iran declared on Monday that it hopes the new U.S. administration under Donald Trump will adopt “realistic approaches” toward Tehran and show “respect” for the interests of the countries in the region.

The Republican tycoon will take the oath for his second term as president of the United States on Monday at noon Washington time (17:00 GMT).

“We hope that the approaches and policies of the new U.S. government will be realistic and based on respect for the interests… of the countries in the region, including the Iranian nation,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, during a weekly press briefing.

During his first term (2017-2021), Trump implemented a “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran.

In 2018, under his administration, the United States withdrew from the international nuclear deal with Iran, concluded three years earlier, which offered Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for assurances that the country would not seek to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran denies any such intentions.

In response, Tehran significantly increased its stockpile of enriched materials and raised the enrichment threshold to 60%, approaching the 90% required to produce an atomic bomb, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Tehran, which has expressed a desire to relaunch negotiations to revive the deal, defends its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop nuclear weapons.

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International

Trump to sign executive order recognizing only two sexes

Donald Trump will sign an executive order instructing his administration to “recognize” the existence of only “two sexes,” future White House officials announced on Monday, just before the Republican’s inauguration.

“What we are doing today is defining that the policy of the United States is to recognize two sexes: male and female,” said the official, speaking to the press on the condition of anonymity.

The aim of the decree is “to defend women against the ideological extremism of gender and to restore biological truth within the Federal Government,” the official added, explaining that a person’s sexual identity will be defined solely by the gametes they possess.

During his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to put an end to the “transgender delusion.”

The elected president also plans to eliminate federal funding for programs supporting diversity in the administration, the same officials from his incoming cabinet stated.

“We are going to end this type of funding, we are going to put an end to these programs,” said one source from the future team, speaking anonymously about antiracism and diversity training courses.

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