California | Pakistan

Torrential rains unleashed flash floods and warnings of debris flow across southern California, particularly in fire-scarred areas, with further downpours forecast for Thursday as authorities declared a state of emergency in several counties. Driven by an atmospheric river known as “the Pineapple Express,” which moves heavy moisture from the tropical climes of Hawaii to the United States’ west coast, the storm was expected to deliver months’ worth of rain over a few days. Early on Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned about the risk of excessive rainfall over parts of southern California, including in Los Angeles, the second-most populous city in the US. The NWS warned of a “broad plume of moisture” producing heavy rain in California on Christmas Day, adding there was a “moderate risk” of excessive rainfall over the southern parts of the state. A man walks along the Los Angeles river during heavy rainfall in Los angeles, California, the US on December 24. — AFP “Numerous flash flooding events ar...

Four people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting at a family gathering in California on Saturday night, United States police said, calling it a “targeted incident”. The shooting took place inside a banquet hall in Stockton, northeast of San Francisco, just before 6pm (7am Sunday PKT), San Joaquin County Sheriff’s office spokesperson Heather Brent told reporters in a news briefing. The victims, who range from “juveniles to adults”, were taken to local hospitals, Brent said, adding that information on the shooting was limited. “What we have confirmed at this time is that there was a banquet hall where a family was celebrating. We have 14 victims of this shooting. Four of those are deceased,” Brent said. “Early indications suggest that this may be a targeted incident. Investigators are exploring all possibilities at this time.” The sheriff’s office said in a post on social media that detectives were “working to determine the circumstances leading up to this tragedy”. “We are urging anyone with information, v...

Democratic former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday she will not run for governor of California, ending speculation that the failed presidential candidate would seek the high-profile post. “I have given serious thought to asking the people of California for the privilege to serve as their Governor. I love this state, its people, […]

A farm worker was in critical condition on Friday, his family said, after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California that resulted in the arrests of 200 undocumented migrants and clashes with protesters. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called demonstrators involved in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “slimeballs” and said they should be arrested. In another development, a district judge ordered a halt to “roving patrols” in Los Angeles by federal agents who were detaining suspected undocumented migrants without probable cause and denying them due process. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered an end to the arrests, which she said were being made “based upon race alone”, on whether a person was speaking Spanish or English with an accent or because of their place of work. Trump’s remarks and the court order come a day after a chaotic raid on a cannabis plantation in Ventura County, some 56 miles (90 kilometers) from L...

CALIFORNIA: In an encouraging viral rescue operation on June 25, animal control officers in Alameda, California, successfully rescued a stuck kitten inside the engine compartment of a parked car at an OfficeMax parking lot. The Alameda Police Department highlighted in a social media post that the kitten was exposed, hiding under the hood, seeking shelter […]

LOS ANGELES: President Donald Trump has rejected accusations that protesters were paid by California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for California protests to provoke violence amid demonstrations in the city. However, according to the critics, Donald Trump made similar claims in a speech at Fort Bragg just hours earlier. While talking […]

Demi Lovato and Jordan Lutes tied the knot in California, with the bride wearing a custom Vivienne Westwood gown

Several people are feared dead after a small plane crashed into a California neighbourhood before dawn on Thursday, destroying homes and setting cars on fire. At least 10 houses were burned or hit by debris that spread over a wide area, and cars on both sides of a street were set on fire when the Cessna 550 slammed into the ground in San Diego. “There are more than one fatality that we found so far, but we’re waiting to get the registered numbers that were on the plane itself,” said San Diego’s Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy. “When it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down, it took out every single car that was on both sides of the street,” he said, adding: “We have jet fuel all over the place.” Footage of the immediate aftermath of the crash showed a line of burning fuel linking the flaming cars. Eddy said “miraculously” no one on the ground had been killed or seriously hurt. Daylight revealed what a close call it had been for some people, with images showing the roof of one home blackened and c...

A bomb exploded on Saturday outside a California fertility clinic, killing one person in what the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) labelled a terror attack. The blast tore through downtown Palm Springs, ripping a hole in the clinic and blowing out the windows and doors of nearby buildings, an AFP journalist on the scene reported. “Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism,” Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, told reporters near the site of the fatal explosion. “This is probably one of the largest bombing investigations that we’ve had in southern California,” he added. He confirmed that one person near the clinic at the time of the blast had been killed and that four others were wounded. Work was ongoing to identify the deceased, he added. Asked whether the clinic was deliberately targeted, Davis answered: “We believe so, yes.” The city’s mayor, Ron deHarte had earlier told AFP that investigators confirmed a bomb exploded in or near a vehicle outside ...

A small plane has crashed into a backyard of a residential neighbourhood in southern California, in the United States, killing two people onboard and damaging homes, local authorities said. The Ventura County Fire Department said firefighters received reports on Saturday afternoon of a single-engine aircraft that had crashed into two houses in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles. Police and the medical examiner’s office “verified there were two passengers in the aircraft, both of whom were fatally injured in the accident,” the county fire department wrote on X. The two homes were occupied at the time of the crash but no injuries to residents were reported, the fire department said. Photo and video images posted by the department showed firefighters on top of a house with holes in the roof, a fence and brick wall between residences knocked down, and the tops of trees sheared off. The Simi Valley Police Department said officers had located the plane “in the backyard of a residence.” Police told CBS News that ...