Bushfires raging across eastern Australia yesterday singed the Sydney suburbs, where firefighters were forced to scramble planes and helicopters to splatter a built-up neighborhood with water and red retardant.
Twin blazes in the north shore suburb of Turramurra — about 15km from the center of Australia’s largest city — tore through a eucalypt forest park and sparked spot fires in homes, before eventually being brought under control.
More than 100 bushfires are burning up and down Australia’s east coast, fanned by gale-force winds, scorching temperatures and tinder-dry bushland that has brought some of the most dangerous conditions the country has seen.
In Turramurra, gardens smoldered, thick smoke hung heavy in the air, and cars, houses and roads were caked in raspberry-red retardant as if hit by a giant paintball.
“It was the embers that floated up that actually went across and set off spot fires in the front yards,” resident Nigel Lush said, adding that one roof had been set alight.
Another resident, Julia Gretton-Roberts, said the blaze spread shockingly quickly.
“Next thing I know the fire was opposite our house and it was massive and the police came and grabbed our kids and took them away,” she said. “My daughter is pretty freaked out.”
Firefighter Andrew Connon said that “a number of homes were threatened, but it was contained by the aerial bombing”.
From early morning thousands of firefighters spread out across New South Wales in anticipation of what they called “off the scale” fire risk and “catastrophic” conditions.
However, they were unable to prevent several bushfires from breaching containment lines and trapping residents who had not already evacuated.
Thirteen of the more than 100 bushfires scarring the countryside were declared emergencies, with numerous towns under direct threat.
“Plenty of people have heeded the warnings and have left early,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said. “Obviously, others have chosen not to.”
“Our advice to those who still may be there is that it is too late to leave on most of these fires, and sheltering is now your only option,” he added.
Experts have described the conditions as the worst on record, as spring temperatures climbed toward 40°C and winds topped 80kph across a zone that has been plagued by persistent drought.
Even before unfavorable weather hit, days of fires had killed three people and destroyed at least 150 homes.
“The conditions are expected to get worse,” Fitzsimmons said, warning residents in adjacent areas to stay alert.
“Complacency kills,” he added.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of