Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

CBS News [1/12/2025 11:51 AM, Kaia Hubbard, 52225K, Neutral] reports FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Sunday that L.A. officials were "very prepared" for devastating wildfires, noting that the area is prone to fires. But "they have never seen 100-mile-an-hour winds that are fueling the fire," she said. "Those winds and that weather condition is what really impacts, you know, where this fire is going to go, but more importantly, how they’re able to try to contain it in those first few hours and days," Criswell said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” Communities in Los Angeles have been engulfed in wildfires in recent days, which have killed at least 16 people, destroyed more than 12,000 structures, and displaced thousands, officials said. The high winds that fanned flames in recent days are expected to pick up again this week. The FEMA administrator said she doesn’t have any information on the cause of the wildfires at this time, though she noted that will be investigated. She urged as the winds are expected to return, she wants people to "make sure that they are listening closely to what local officials are saying" to stay out of harm’s way. When it comes to rebuilding, Criswell said insurance is a "real concern," citing reports of Californians losing their coverage before the fires. She said insurance is the "number one resource that families have to help with their rebuilding process.” Criswell noted that FEMA programs are in place to "help jump start the recovery process," not replace insurance. But she said without insurance, "families are going to have to find other means to be able to rebuild.” The maximum FEMA grant level is under $44,000. Criswell acknowledged that in many places, including California, the amount isn’t enough to rebuild a home. She pledged that FEMA will work with its partners, including the Small Business Administration, which can provide low-interest loans to families, along with nonprofit and philanthropic partners to help affected families rebuild.

Reuters [1/12/2025 9:33 AM, Douglas Gillison and Katharine Jackson, 48128K, Neutral] reports active duty U.S. military personnel stand ready to deploy to contain wildfires that have ripped through Los Angeles, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell said on Sunday in an interview on ABC’s "This Week" program. Criswell also said FEMA has the funding needed to support its response effort to the wildfires. CNBC [1/12/2025 12:56 PM, Emmie Martin, 36472K, Neutral] reports “There are active duty military personnel that are on a ‘prepare to deploy’ order, that are ready to go in and continue to support the firefighting effort,” in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Criswell said. “Those incident commanders at each of those command posts, they are going to know exactly what they need. And if they need anything else, we’re able to come in and support them.” That includes 500 active duty Marines and 10 Naval helicopters, according to the Department of Defense. When asked why the state hasn’t requested military assistance yet, Criswell said she would defer to the incident commanders, who “know what the needs are, where they need to put people.” “And often, in these situations, it’s very strategic. It’s not necessarily about always putting more people on that,” she added. “We have to make sure that it’s safe. And, you know, you can only have so much aircraft in the space. And so, they would have the specifics about the strategies that they’re using, but we want to make sure that we’re not late to need, and if they have that need, they can move them in.” Criswell said her “biggest concern” is that Los Angeles is “still in such a dangerous situation” as the wildfires rage on. “The red flag warnings have been reissued. The winds are coming back. And we still want to make sure that people are in a safe place,” she said in a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

NPR [1/12/2025 5:12 PM, Ayesha Rascoe and Rebecca Rosman, 35747K, Neutral] Audio: HERE reports as Los Angeles firefighters push into their sixth day battling the still-raging wildfires, thousands of residents are beginning to survey the damage left behind in their communities. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, and more than 150,000 residents are under evacuation orders as the city braces for more powerful winds which threaten to exacerbate the already devastating fires. Last week, President Biden declared a major disaster in the area, opening up federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The White House says the funding is being used to provide people with services such as grants for temporary housing and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses. In an interview with NPR’s Weekend Edition, Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, spoke with host Ayesha Rascoe about how this assistance is being used to help LA County residents affected by the wildfires.

The AP [1/13/2025 1:38 AM, Christopher Weber and Holly Ramer, 57114K, Negative] reports that, after a weekend spent blocking the explosive growth of fires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in the Los Angeles area, firefighters got a slight break with calmer weather but cast a wary eye on a forecast for yet more wind. Should that happen, already burned homes and valleys could flare anew, sending embers to unburned territory miles downwind. New fires could add to the complication. The death toll surged late Sunday with an update from the Los Angeles County medical examiner. At least 16 people were missing, a number authorities said was also likely to rise. The relative calm Sunday allowed some people to return to previously evacuated areas, however. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday, with sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) and gusts in the mountains reaching 70 mph (113 kph). The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, warned fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns at a community meeting Sunday night. “It will kind of ebb and flow over the next couple days,” Burns said. “Tomorrow night, it will really ramp up.” Spotting — new fires caused by blowing embers — could happen as much as 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) or more downwind of areas that have already burned, Burns said. Despite their recent losses, stress, and uncertainty, the crowd in a Pasadena City College gym was mostly respectful, in contrast with harsh criticism elsewhere for Los Angeles and California leaders. Applause followed each of the experts, police, firefighters and community leaders who spoke. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said 70 additional water trucks arrived to help firefighters fend off flames spread by renewed gusts. “We are prepared for the upcoming wind event,” Marrone said. Fire retardant dropped by aircraft will act as a barrier along hillsides, officials said. Fierce Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires sparked last week into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months. Twelve people were missing within the Eaton Fire zone and four were missing from the Palisades Fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Investigators were reconciling whether some of the missing might be among the dead but so far no children were among those reported missing, he said. Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 24 over the weekend. Eight deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 16 to the Eaton Fire, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Reuters [1/12/2025 9:05 PM, Nathan Frandino and Lisa Richwine, 48128K, Negative] reports that flames have reduced whole neighborhoods to smoldering ruins, leveling the homes of the rich and famous and ordinary folk alike, and leaving an apocalyptic landscape. Officials said 12,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. "L.A. County had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak," Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said. Aerial firefighters, some of them scooping water out of the Pacific Ocean, dropped water and retardant while land crews with hand tools and hoses held the line of the Palisades Fire as it encroached on the upscale Brentwood section and other populated areas of Los Angeles. That fire on the western side of town has consumed 23,713 acres (96 sq km) or 37 square miles and stood at 11% contained, a figure representing the percentage of the fire’s perimeter that firefighters have under control. The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of Los Angeles scorched another 14,117 acres (57 sq km) or 22 square miles - itself nearly the size of Manhattan - and firefighters increased the containment to 27%, up from 15% a day earlier. North of the city, the Hurst Fire was 89% contained, and three other fires that had ravaged other parts of the county were now 100% contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported, though areas within the containment lines may still be burning. Bloomberg [1/13/2025 12:25 AM, Lauren Rosenthal and Laura Curtis, 6595K, Neutral] reports that after a brief respite from the winds over the weekend, a shifting pressure gradient is set to send bone-dry gusts of up to 70 miles per hour through foothill communities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties from late Sunday evening into Monday. Gusts approaching 50 mph may whip along the coast and at lower elevations. The winds are set to ease during the afternoon hours before picking up again late Monday into Tuesday. That pattern will repeat across the region through at least midweek. Authorities are also concerned about fire conditions in portions of Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties. High winds will limit opportunities for firefighters to make progress against the fast-moving Palisades and Eaton fires, which have left at least 24 people dead and consumed more than 12,000 buildings in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods of Los Angeles. By Monday, more than 7.7 million people will face critical fire-weather conditions, the U.S. Storm Prediction Center said. Red flag warnings are in effect through Wednesday evening across a large swath of Southern California, extending from the Santa Clarita Valley into Riverside County. San Diego is also on alert for wildfires fueled by high winds.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [1/12/2025 1:50 PM, Brian K. Sullivan, 6595K, Negative]
VOA News [1/12/2025 12:07 PM, Staff, 2717K, Negative]
Washington Examiner [1/12/2025 11:23 AM, Brady Knox, 2365K, Negative]
San Francisco Chronicle [1/12/2025 11:00 AM, Staff, 4368K, Negative]

Yahoo! News [1/12/2025 10:24 PM, Nick Visser, 57114K, Negative] reports California Sen. Adam Schiff (D) on Sunday called for an independent commission to review the response to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, saying the state needed a "full analysis of what went wrong.” Schiff spoke to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on Sunday after touring the ongoing destruction created by the wildfires, which have so far scorched more than 40,000 acres, left 24 dead and destroyed more than 12,000 structures including homes and businesses. "That… frankly, reminded me of visiting war zones, seeing that kind of devastation, just house after house, block after block," the senator said Sunday after visiting hard-hit areas. "In talking to residents, so many who lost everything, they’ve told me how their house is gone, their neighbors’ are gone. Their church is gone. Their store is gone. It’s all gone. We haven’t seen that before, not in Southern California, not like this.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has called for an independent review of the fire response amid reports some fire hydrants ran dry and other issues with evacuation warnings. Schiff added the state should create a fully independent commission to determine what went right and what went wrong during the historic blazes. "I think we need an independent commission to look at all of it," the senator said. "And beyond that, Jonathan, we’re going to need to rebuild and with a sense of urgency. We need cleanup operations when the flames are out. We need the rebuilding to go forward. We can’t have, you know, local bureaucratic delay. We need to bring a sense of urgency to this.” The same day, GOP Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) predicted Republicans — who control both chambers of Congress — would ensure there are "strings attached" to any recovery funds sent to California. "I expect that there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved, and it has to do with being ready the next time because this was a gross failure this time," the Wyoming lawmakers told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan.

Washington Post [1/12/2025 9:01 PM, Mariana Alfaro, 40736K, Neutral] reports the Senate is expected this week to take up the Laken Riley bill, a measure that Republicans have championed as one of their first actions to address what they have deemed as necessary changes to immigration laws. If passed, the legislation would require federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants who are accused of, arrested or charged in cases of theft and related crimes. The bill has newfound bipartisan momentum after the House overwhelmingly passed the proposal last week. All but nine Senate Democrats on Thursday joined all Republicans in advancing the bill to debate, despite warnings from some immigrant rights groups that the bill, if enacted, would infringe on individuals’ rights to due process and would come with huge costs for the federal government. Still, the bill’s advancement in the upper chamber signals Democrats’ willingness to engage with more conservative immigration policies in the wake of the 2024 election, in which the issue of border security cost the party across the board. The shift is noticeable. During the last Congress, when Democrats were in control of the upper chamber, then-Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (New York) did not bring the proposal — named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant in 2024 — to the floor after it passed the House with the support of 37 Democrats. This time around, Democratic senators said they are willing to take a look at the measure. But many argued that they are looking to amend it, saying they will not vote for the legislation in its current form. The Senate is scheduled to resume consideration on the measure Monday at 5:30 p.m. Concerns remain about the legality and price tag of the bill. As written, the measure would allow federal authorities to detain an undocumented immigrant who merely faces an accusation of theft — no evidence or trial needed. Additionally, the measure would also allow individual states to sue the federal government if a state believes federal immigration laws are being improperly implemented. Organizations such as the American Immigration Lawyers Association urged a vote against the bill, arguing that it would only “impede local criminal law enforcement and create chaos in enforcement.” “We can recognize that the immigration system is broken, and we’re open to thoughtful modernizations that prioritize fairness,” María Teresa Kumar, president of Voto Latino, said in a statement. “However, this bill’s severe provisions would cause irreparable harm to longstanding families who have built lives and contributed to this country.”

CNN [1/12/2025 10:15 AM, Tierney Sneed, 22417K, Neutral] reports anti-immigrant state officials and federal judges would have new power to dictate immigration enforcement — including whether to detain individual migrants — under a GOP bill that has passed the House and is moving forward in the Senate with bipartisan support. The Laken Riley Act aims to overturn Supreme Court precedent and give states such as Texas the ability to bring the types of immigration lawsuits against the federal government that have been rejected by the courts, including conservative judges, legal experts say. But it would go further, also authorizing state attorneys general to sue to overturn the decisions to release individual immigrants — and even to obtain wide-reaching sanctions on a foreign country for refusing to accept a national eligible for removal. With Democrats eager to show that they were pivoting on an issue that cost them in the 2024 election, the bill has passed the House and easily cleared its first procedural hurdle on the Senate floor, with just nine senators voting against that step Thursday. But giving states new authorities to sue is emerging as a flashpoint for some Democrats, who want changes before a final vote. "I don’t think we want the entire immigration system being litigated in district courts all across the country," Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters last week. Republicans will likely need the votes of seven Democrats for final approval; 33 members of the Democratic caucus voted in favor of advancing it to the next procedural step. The bill would give state attorneys general multiple ways to intervene in how the federal government is carrying out immigration law.

FOX News [1/12/2025 7:20 PM, Alexandra Koch, 57114K, Negative] reports officials with FBI Los Angeles are searching for the operator of a privately owned drone that collided with a Canadian plane assisting with California wildfire suppression. Akil Davis, FBI assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, confirmed a Canadian Air "Super Scooper" aircraft that was helping to extinguish California wildfires on Thursday was damaged after colliding with a privately owned drone over the Palisades Fire. The crash left a 3-inch-by-6-inch hole in the plane’s wing, according to Davis. However, when a crash happens, policy dictates all aircraft in the area have to evacuate, a much more severe impact during wildfire, Davis said. "Those type of aircraft are our most effective means to suppress those fires and keep them contained," Davis said. "So when incidents like that happen, it causes a significant issue to public safety and causes dangerous scenarios for our first responders.” An investigation was initiated, and since then, parts of the drone have been recovered, according to the FBI. "We are working with our public and private sector counterparts to try to identify the operator of that drone," Davis said. "But since that incident, we have had [more than 10] contacts with drone operators in which we have warned and fined in previous years.” During wildfires, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enacts a temporary flight restriction, creating a barrier that allows the use of law enforcement-type drones and fire suppression aircraft. When drones are illegally operated, Davis said, it causes a "dangerous situation" that could result in loss of life. "These fires are so significant in size, [they] exponentially increase the amount of resources needed," he said. "[Operating private drones is] going to take firefighting efforts [away] from saving houses and saving lives. If one of these planes should go down, that would literally be catastrophic.” He added that once a drone is identified, all fire suppression aircraft in the area are grounded for about 20 to 30 minutes. CBS San Francisco [1/12/2025 11:10 AM, Emily Mae Czachor, 52225K, Negative] reports Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a statement to CBS News on Sunday that the drone violated temporary flight restrictions enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration in the wake of the blazes. The restrictions are set to remain in place through Jan. 25 and currently apply to areas around the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, which has scorched at least 14,000 acres as of Sunday. Providing "a safe environment for firefighting aviation operations" is the purpose of those temporary orders, the FAA said. The super scooper was able to land safely after being hit on Thursday, said Eimiller, although the drone left a 3-by-6-inch hole in the aircraft’s left wing. Authorities were able to recover parts of the drone, which was "heavily damaged," after it crashed. Officials have asked anyone with information about the person or group behind the drone collision to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles office or submit tips through a dedicated line. California state officials said there have been at least 40 incidents where unauthorized drones have forced firefighters to pause air operations since the wildfires broke out last week. Crews battling the blazes have used air tankers to dump thousands of gallons of flame retardant, and super scoopers, as well as helicopters, to drop water over the blazes.

Yahoo! News [1/12/2025 9:18 PM, Natalie Oganesyan, 57114K, Negative] reports two people have been arrested for flying unauthorized drones in the areas affected by the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Captain Jabari Williams said, per CNS. The news comes after an air tanker was grounded Thursday following a collision with a civilian drone. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told Deadline it had no additional information on the matter save confirmation of the report. Though Canada sent dozens of reinforcements and a Super Scooper plane — which can gather 1,500 gallons of ocean water to drop on the fires — the aircraft was forced to go off-duty after it was hit Jan. 9 as it was working to suppress the Palisades blaze. In the latest update, the FBI said it has launched an investigation to find the operator of the private drone that caused the collision. According to authorities, the operator violated temporary flight restrictions enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration amid the wildfires. Per previous reporting, the drone left a fist-sized 3-by-6 inch hole in the plane’s left wing, though the damage wasn’t noticed until firefighters returned to the ground. No one was injured, and officials were able to recover the "heavily damaged" drone. Airspace restrictions will remain in effect through Jan. 25 and currently apply to areas above and around the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, which have scorched a combined acreage of 37,000 since Jan. 7. Following the initial collision, stern warnings have been issued from authorities regarding prosecution and arrest for any individual flying such unmanned objects that could jeopardize fire rescue missions. In additional fire updates, authorities estimate the combined blazes will cost $150 billion, marking the state emergency as the costliest wildfire in Southern California history. The death toll is currently at 24 individuals.

Washington Examiner [1/13/2025 4:11 AM, Staff, 2365K, Negative] reports the man with a blowtorch who was arrested by citizens last week after allegedly trying to start fires in a Los Angeles neighborhood is an illegal immigrant, according to a report Sunday night. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin claimed that Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, the aforementioned accused arson suspect, is a Mexican national in the country illegally. Melugin shared the information in a post on X, stating that he received the information from insider sources at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "NEW: Per ICE sources, the man seen in a viral video being subdued by residents & arrested by police w/ a blowtorch near the #KennethFire in West Hills is an illegal alien from Mexico named Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva," Melugin posted. "He is in custody on a probation violation & has NOT been charged w/ arson.” Sierra-Leyva was initially taken into custody by law enforcement officials after a call to the Los Angeles Police Department notifying them that a man was purposely trying to start a fire in Woodland Hills, approximately five miles from where the Kenneth Fire began, the Los Angeles Times reported. Witnesses pursued the man, eventually confronting him and holding him down while waiting for police to arrive to detain him. He was allegedly riding on a bicycle and carrying a blowtorch while trying to light old Christmas trees and trash cans on fire. "We were sitting in the backyard and suddenly, we hear a car come to a screeching halt, and the guy is running out saying, ‘Stop! Drop what you’re holding! Neighbors, he’s trying to start a fire! Call 911!’" witness Renata Grinshpun told KTLA. "He was very, like, ‘I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I’m not putting this down. I’m doing this,’" said another witness. "And very focused on moving forward with the blow torch. And we’re like, ‘We can’t be doing that right now.’". After investigating and questioning the suspect, LAPD Divisional Chief Dominic Choi decided not to charge him with arson. "After the interview and additional investigative steps, looking at some additional evidence that was present, they made the determination that there was not enough probable cause to arrest this person on arson or suspicion of arson," said Choi. He was, however, charged with a felony probation violation, KTLA reported. Melugin mentioned this in his X post on Sunday night, along with additional updates on the case. "ICE will place a detainer request on him with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, but they do not expect it to be honored due to California’s Sanctuary State law," he said. "I’m told Sierra-Leyva will have a court appearance tomorrow. Again – he has not been charged w/ arson and is in custody only on a probation violation at the moment, as multiple agencies have been interviewing him.”

FOX News [1/12/2025 1:51 PM, Danielle Wallace, 49889K, Neutral] reports approximately 29 people have been arrested in Los Angeles so far in connection to criminal activity related to the ongoing wildfires, including a burglary suspect who allegedly attempted to disguise himself as a firefighter, officials said Sunday. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 25 of those arrested were in the area of the Eaton Fire, while four others came from the Palisades Fire evacuated zone. "When I was out there in the Malibu area, I saw a gentleman that looked like a firefighter. And I asked him if he was okay because he was sitting down. I didn’t realize we had him in handcuffs," Luna recalled to reporters. "We are turning him over to LAPD because he was dressed like a fireman, and he was not. He just got caught burglarizing a home. So those are issues that our front line deputies and police officers are dealing with.” Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonald said one person was arrested Saturday night for violating a curfew order in the city, and three others were arrested the night before in connection to an alleged burglary. "There were three individuals in a vehicle. They were stopped. They were where they weren’t supposed to be. One had on a fire jacket and a fire hat. And he was additionally arrested for impersonating a firefighter," McDonald said. "We have people who will go to all ends to be able to do what it is they want to do to exploit the victims of this tragedy.” The chief warned that the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time curfew remained in effect from Sunday night into Monday. "Unless you’re a public safety personnel or some other disaster worker, you have no reason to be at these locations," McDonald said. "And if you are in those areas, you will be subject to arrest. Enforcing a curfew is an important tool to keep the burn areas and evacuated properties secure, keeping looters out. This effort also helps protect public safety personnel who are operating in darkness in very difficult conditions.” He also said there was a threat from downed power lines and toxic materials from burned plastics and other composite materials. The chief warned people looking to donate to victims to take caution and research charities to verify their legitimacy. Luna issues a warning to scammers who intend to profit from burglaries or "white collar" crimes off the victims of the wildfires that he has been in close communication with local, state and federal prosecutors. "They are all eager to prosecute anybody who is taking advantage of our residents during this very difficult time, whether it is a burglary or it is some kind of white collar crime in a scam or anything that you may be thinking about doing," he said.

The Hill [1/12/2025 8:47 PM, Lauren Irwin, 16346K, Negative] reports California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Sunday that he increased California National Guard personnel to combat the Los Angeles wildfires. In a statement, Newsom said he was adding 1,000 more members to combat the spread of the fires, bringing the total to 2,500 service members. Thousands of other first responders are attempting to rein in the flames as more winds are expected in the area. "The men and women of the California National Guard have been on the ground since day one — not only fighting fires, but also assisting with public safety efforts in communities devastated by these fires," Newsom said in a statement. "We thank them for their efforts to keep our communities safe.” The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday. At least 16 people have died so far, and entire neighborhoods have been destroyed. As of Sunday morning, the Pacific Palisades Fire had burned more than 62 square miles and was 11 percent contained. The Eaton Fire’s containment reached 27 percent, The Associated Press reported. Canada and Mexico have each deployed firefighters to help combat the fires. Newsom declared a state of emergency earlier this week and called for an independent probe of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as concerns and questions have been raised about the city’s water supply and usage. In one of his final acts as commander in chief, President Biden sent federal aid to California, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working on the ground to support the impacted communities.

NBC News [1/12/2025 11:46 AM, Alexandra Marquez, 50804K, Negative] reports California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted President-elect Donald Trump’s response to the California wildfires in an interview on NBC News’ "Meet the Press" recorded Saturday, saying, "Mis- and disinformation I don’t think advantages or aids any of us.” Newsom appeared to be referring to Trump’s posts on Truth Social blasting Newsom, President Joe Biden and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass since the fires broke out Tuesday. In one post, the president-elect baselessly claimed Newsom had blocked a measure that would have allowed water to flow from Northern California to Southern California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, tours the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn in Los Angeles on Wednesday. "Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way," Trump wrote, using an insulting nickname for Newsom. On Friday, Newsom wrote a letter to Trump inviting him to come to his state and tour the destruction. "I invite you to come to California again — to meet with the Americans affected by these fires, see the devastation firsthand, and join me and others in thanking the heroic firefighters and first responders who are putting their lives on the line," the governor wrote. Newsom told Soboroff on Saturday that he had not received a response to the letter. He added that he’s worried the president-elect may make good on his threats to withhold disaster aid from the state after his inauguration. CNN [1/12/2025 8:47 PM, Gregory Krieg, 987K, Negative] reports that President-elect Donald Trump launched a new round of criticism Sunday targeting Democrats over their efforts to tame the Southern California wildfires, ripping rival liberal leaders as “incompetent” witnesses to “one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country.” Trump’s Truth Social post is the latest in a series of attacks by the president-elect and his allies on California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The Democrats already face tough questions from their constituents and other elected officials — including those from their own party and, increasingly, one another. But the broadsides from Trump and supporters such as billionaire Elon Musk — several of them misleading or citing erroneous reports — are setting the stage for fights to come between the president-elect and liberal cities and states ahead of his inauguration next week. The push-and-pull recalls some of the touchy, high-stakes interactions between Trump and top Democrats during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when leaders of liberal-leaning cities and states often pulled their political punches over concerns about alienating the first Trump White House and delaying federal support. Newsom is no stranger to clashes with Trump, but the crisis sweeping Los Angeles now presents a unique and more urgent challenge. The governor, considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, expressed frustration with Trump’s rhetoric, but also has invited him to come and survey the damage “to meet with the Americans affected by these fires, see the devastation firsthand, and join me and others in thanking the heroic firefighters and first responders who are putting their lives on the line.” The softer approach followed a more pointed response from the California leader during an interview last week with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, during which he sounded deeply frustrated by Trump’s commentary. “People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder, churches burned down,” Newsom said. “This guy wanted to politicize it.”

Los Angeles Times [1/12/2025 4:50 PM, Seema Mehta, Liam Dillon and Rosanna Xia, 6595K, Negative] reports landmark California environmental laws will be suspended for wildfire victims seeking to rebuild their homes and businesses, according to an executive order signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Requirements for building permits and reviews in the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act - often considered onerous by developers - will be eased for victims of the fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other communities, according to the order. "California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I’m not going to give that up," Newsom told Jacob Soboroff on NBC’s "Meet the Press." "But one thing I won’t give into is delay. Delay is denial for people: lives, traditions, places torn apart, torn asunder.” Conservatives, notably President-elect Donald Trump, have castigated Newsom and other Democratic leaders in California for embracing environmental policies that they argue laid the groundwork for the historic destruction caused by this month’s wildfires. Calling Newsom "incompetent," Trump said he should resign, and made false statements about water being redirected to protect small fish and about Federal Emergency Management Agency policy. "The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out," Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, Saturday night. "Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?". Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday. Newsom, during the NBC interview, said he had asked the incoming president to come view the devastation in person, as Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Kathryn Barger, a Republican, did earlier on Saturday.

NBC News [1/12/2025 12:06 PM, Jacob Soboroff and Alexandra Marquez, 50804K, Neutral] reports California Gov. Gavin Newsom told NBC News’ "Meet the Press" Saturday that the Los Angeles-area wildfires will be one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history and called for an independent investigation into the local water supply. "I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope," Newsom said when asked whether the disaster would be among the nation’s worst ever. His remarks came after firefighters said some fire hydrants ran dry in the first several hours as they were battling flames across greater Los Angeles on Wednesday. "Was it just overwhelm? That you had so much that was used, we drew it down? Was it pipes? Was it electricity? Was it a combination of pipes, electricities and pumps? Was that drawdown impossible because you lost seven-plus thousand structures right here anyway, and every single structure we lost had a pipe that was leaking, and we would’ve lost that water pressure anyway?" Newsom asked. "Did it contribute in any way to our inability to fight the fire? Or were 99 mile-an-hour winds determinative and there was really no firefight that could’ve been more meaningful?" he continued asking. On Saturday, Newsom said, "I have absolute faith in our community. I have faith in our leaders. I have the faith of our capacity to work together," when asked whether he has faith in Bass, who was absent from Los Angeles when the wildfires broke out as she returned home from a trip to Ghana.

The Hill [1/12/2025 4:51 PM, Tara Suter, 16346K, Neutral] reports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that his country has offered assistance on the California wildfires. "Today, I instructed Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs and our diplomats to prepare for the possible participation of our rescuers in combating the wildfires in California," Zelensky said in an address, according to an English transcript on his website. "The situation there is extremely challenging, and Ukrainians can help Americans protect lives," he added. The recent Los Angeles-area wildfires have devastated the region, destroying property en masse and leaving 16 dead. The Palisades Fire was behind five of the deaths, and the Eaton Fire was behind the other 11, according to an update from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. "This matter is being worked out, and through appropriate channels, we have offered our assistance to the American side. We already have 150 firefighters prepared," Zelensky said of the potential help on the fires. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said in an interview Sunday that the Los Angeles area was "very prepared" for the recent wildfires it has faced, but that it was not ready for "100-mile-an-hour winds.” "I think that they were very prepared. This is something that they are very used to, they fight fires all the time," Criswell told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation.”

CBS Sacramento [1/13/2025 1:06 AM, Dillon Thomas, 52225K, Neutral] reports that, with multiple wildfires still burning across the county, several Los Angeles power companies have started to try and get ahead of the potentially volatile and erratic flames, working to mitigate additional risks by clearing dry vegetation and protecting valuable power lines. They’ve been at work for days, stopping at as many power poles as possible along the edges of the wildfires still burning, the Palisades Fire along the Los Angeles Coast and the Eaton fire in the mountains above Pasadena and Altadena. "We are way ahead from the fire," said Connor Norton, one of the PG&E employees working in North Hollywood on Sunday. ". First, they clear dry shrubbery from the area surrounding the poles, using hoes and power tools to clear as much vegetation as they can that may pose a risk to the power grid. "Our job is to get out along the fire’s edge where the fire may go," said Rob Cone, also of PG&E. Afterwards, they use their trucks to douse each power pole fire retardant, the same thing that’s dropped by firefighting aircraft from above. They try to spray the substance both as far up the pole as they can, all the while working to spray it into the cracks of each pole, so embers can’t latch inside and start a fire. "That way, if or when the fire does make it this way, we don’t have to worry about embers catching it," Norton said. They both know how important the work is, which makes the difficulty all the more rewarding. "I enjoy this kind of work, even though I am covered in retardant, it’s fun," Norton said. "It is cool to see what we do actually pays off.” PG&E says that the work they do has a 92% success rate when it comes to preventing power lines from falling during a fire. Cones say that in the event a street-side pole is downed, they cost more than $20,000 to replace. The ones located on hillsides are even more pricey, topping $100,000 and requiring the assistance of a helicopter. "The power stays on, first responders get to do what they need to do," Norton said. "At the end of the day, more or less, everyone’s happy. ... It is rewarding. You get a sense of accomplishment. We did something today, we did our part.”

NBC’s Meet the Press [1/12/2025 11:54 AM, Staff, Neutral] reports L.A. City fire chief said that the city has failed her and that the Mayor’s budget cuts have made it harder for the fire department to fight the fire. Has he budget cuts played a role in the challenges firefighters have been facing, Senator Alex Padilla to joins the show today to discuss. Senator Padilla says that more resources can always be used for public safety in general. He goes on to say that every city, every county has different capacity and capabilities by having a federal led mutual aid system. Senator Padilla is asked if he believes they have the resources needed right now to fight the fires, he had this to stay: "Yeah. Well, collectively we’re putting all the resources we can towards fighting these fires. And as not just the Governor, others have reminded us, the biggest factor in the next 24, 48 hours, hopefully not longer than that, are the wind conditions. You know, now the whole world knows what we mean when we say red flag warnings. When it’s dry, when it’s warm, and the winds kick up, regardless of the cause of a fire, it has the chance to spread much more quickly. And it’s exactly what we’ve seen, both in the Eaton Canyon areas, Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, as well as the Palisades, of course, and the other fires that are also still burning within the region."

NBC’s Meet the Press [1/12/2025 11:54 AM, Staff, Neutral] reports Governor Gavin Newsom joins today to talk about resources and priorities California has taken in order to combat the devastating six fires. Governor Newsom says that they have 14,000 people working the line at the moment, double the National Guard, 1,680 people on logistics. He goes on to say there are people from Mexico, 73 folks that will relieve of the hand crews. With the winds changing it allows for resourcefulness with existing resources particularly in the air. When asked is this, or will it be the worst natural disaster in the history of United States Governor Newsom had this so say: " I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope. Don’t even remind the folks in California, we had the Tubbs fire, 5,600 houses were lost. And of course, Camp Fire, we had 18,000 housing units lost and 85 people that lost their lives. Currently we’re getting confirmation from the coroners, so we always have to be careful on the death toll, but it’s in the 13 range, and I’ve got search and rescue teams out. We’ve got cadaver dogs out. And there’s likely to be a lot more." The biggest concern Governor Newsom has is making sure life safety is focused, while they are focused on property as well they are addressing the issues at the same time. He goes on to say that the challenge is the winds.

NBC’s Meet the Press [1/12/2025 11:54 AM, Staff, Positive] reports President-elect Trump has Governor Newsom for the devastation taking place in California. Governor Newsom: "I don’t know what he’s referring to when he talks about the Delta smelt in reservoirs. The reservoirs are completely full, the state reservoirs here in Southern California. That mis- and disinformation I don’t think advantages or aids any of us. " Through reporting it was found that one reservoir that serves the Palisades was not full. Newsom says that’s what triggered his desire to investigate and understand what’s happening with the local reservoir. "That was not a state system reservoir, which the president-elect was referring to as it relates to the delta smelt and somehow connecting the delta smelt to this fire, which is inexcusable because it’s inaccurate. Also, incomprehensible to anyone that understands water policy in the state,” Newsom comments. Multiple times Mr. Trump has threatened to withhold aid for California wildfires, both as president and now again as president-elect. "Well, I mean, he’s done it in Utah. He’s done it in Michigan, did it in Puerto Rico. He did it to California back before I was even governor in 2018, until he found out folks in Orange County voted for him and then he decided to give the money. So he’s been at this for years and years and years. It transcends the states, including, by the way, Georgia he threatened similarly. So that’s his style. And we take it seriously to the extent that in the past it’s taken a little bit more time. I’ve been pretty expressive about that in the context of someone threatening our first responders in terms of supporting the immediacy of their needs or recovery of our community," Newsom states.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [1/12/2025 12:31 PM, Staff, 342K, Negative] reports prayers are being asked that the winds stay low enough to allow firefighters to contain and then extinguish those blazes burning through Los Angeles County. But after a productive night of fighting those fires this morning, sadly, emergency workers are again preparing for a return of those huge wind gusts that on Saturday propelled the Palisades Fire farther inland, threatening the 405, a major freeway, the Getty Center, the campus of UCLA. At least 16 people have died in these fires. Conditions are still dangerous, of course, to know the true death toll, as, amidst questions of arson, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms takes the lead in determining the fire’s origin and cause. More than 150,000 Angelenos are still under evacuation orders. They’re unsure when they can return to their homes or if they will even have homes when they drive back through the scorched Southern California streets. And no one is sure what comes next. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell joins the show today to discuss what’s updates on what’s going on from ground teams. Criswell says the winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again. The red flag warnings have been put back in place and the biggest thing people need to know is that its still dangerous and need to make sure to listen to their local officials to stay safe. When asked what is to be expected in the next few days, Criswell had this to say:" It all depends on the weather. I mean, the firefighters, they’re working day in and day out. There’s resources that are out there. But if the weather changes, it creates different conditions. It’s going to change the environment with which they’re operating under. Again, the most important piece is keeping them safe as they try to protect all the homes that are in the path of the fire. And then people need to start the registration process with us. They can register for assistance. They need to contact their insurance company and find out what their insurance company is going to pay for. And, really, we can start working with them on what this road to recovery is going to look like."

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [1/12/2025 10:15 AM, Staff, 2476K, Negative] reports FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell joins the show to talk about concerns with the L.A. fires. Criswell says that her biggest concern right now is that there they are still in dangerous conditions. The red flag warning have been reissued and the winds are coming back. She says she wants to make sure the people are in a safe place and that’s hard for many because they want to get back in, they want to see their home, if they have anything left. When asked if the people of Los Aneles have everything they need from the federal government right now, Criswell had this to say, "We are in there supporting them. The – you know, the support for the firefighters themselves, that is coordinated through the NIFC, the National Interagency Fire Center. There are active duty military personnel that are on a prepare to deploy order, that are ready to go in and continue to support the firefighting effort. Those incident commanders at each of those command posts, they are going to know exactly what they need. And if they need anything else, we’re able to come in and support them. While we at FEMA now are starting to help support this recovery piece, starting to – to work with the local jurisdictions and understand what their long-term recovery needs are going to be, starting to plan for how we’re going to be able to bring in temporary structures for schools or other critical facilities that were lost. We need to really start to put – take this time to put that plan in place, to help them with what they’re going to need to do to remove debris and get this community on that long journey of recovery."

CBS’ Face The Nation [1/12/2025 11:45 AM, Staff, 2364K, Negative] reports FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell joins the show to talk about concerns with the L.A. fires. Santa Ana winds are forecast to continue into the next week, and that could fuel some of the blazes. Criswell says she is concerned for the safety of the firefighters, concerned for their ability continue to contain this fire. And She wants people to make sure that they are listening closely to what local officials are saying, so they can stay safe and they can stay out of harm’s way. The winds themselves are rare for this particular time of year, but Los Angeles and the area, they have got a lot of experience with wildfires. They have a lot of regulation and a large firefighting force. Yet why was the are so unprepared? "I think that they were very prepared. This is something that they are very used to. They fight fires all the time. But they have never seen 100-mile-an-hour winds that are fueling the fire, and those winds and that weather condition is what really impacts, you know, where this fire is going to go, but, more importantly, how they’re able to try to contain it in those first few hours and days. And because it was in such a populated area, it just makes it that much more challenging to be able to get in there and secure the perimeter, but as well try to save as many homes as possible," Criswell comments.

FOX News Sunday [1/12/2025 11:45 AM, Staff, 2364K, Negative] reports FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell on the federal role in providing relief to communities devastated by wildfires in California and the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program’s impact on families affected by Hurricane Helene.

NBC News [1/12/2025 11:49 AM, Didi Martinez, 50804K, Neutral] reports the morning after Election Day last year, Melanie Claros, a civics teacher and ESL coordinator at a South Florida school where half the students are Latino, found herself having to do a job beyond her usual duties. By the end of the day, she recently told NBC News, more than two dozen students had separately approached her to ask about changes to immigration enforcement ahead of another Donald Trump presidency. "‘Are they going to deport all of us now?’ ‘Who is going to get deported first?’" she recalled students asking her during class. The concerns have not abated since then, Claros said, noting she knows of at least one student who has already stopped showing up to school for immigration-related reasons. "I am very suspicious that we will have [more] kids that will be withdrawn or just stop showing up to school," she said. Claros is one of several educators across six states who told NBC News they have found themselves in the uncomfortable position of fielding questions about potential mass deportations under the Trump administration. Many teachers and administrators are aware of a variety of scenarios that could start playing out very soon: immigration officials asking about a student; a kid who leaves school for the day only to discover that their parents have been detained and no one is home to care for them; students worried about deportation who simply stop coming to class. Educators and advocates say they feel they have to be prepared for these situations, but they are also keenly aware of the risk of backlash that can come with talking about a political issue like this publicly. This dilemma has left teachers like Claros in disbelief. She became a teacher knowing she’d have to talk about civics, she said, but "I never in a million years thought that they [students] would ask me and have fears about immigration.”

NPR [1/13/2025 4:05 AM, Steve Inskeep, 54K, Neutral] Audio: HERE reports NPR’s Steve Inskeep speaks with outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who says the border is more secure now than in 2019.

San Diego Union-Tribune [1/12/2025 8:02 AM, Alexandra Mendoza, 2212K, Neutral] reports the clock could be ticking for thousands of asylum seekers who have been waiting months for an appointment to show up at a U.S. port of entry, as President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration approaches. At the Juventud 2000 migrant shelter in Tijuana, some people have already given up. The uncertainty comes as Trump has signaled that he will end the appointment process included in the CBP One app, which was implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection two years ago as a way for asylum seekers to present themselves for processing at a designated port of entry in an orderly and safe manner rather than through illegal pathways. "We’re desperate," said Rosa Blancas, an asylum seeker who has been trying to get an appointment for two months. Nearly 905,000 individuals secured an appointment through the CBP One application from January 2023 to November 2024, according to CBP. The most prevalent nationalities were Venezuelan, Cuban and Mexican, officials said. But the demand is far greater than the number of daily appointments available along the U.S.-Mexico border. In July, the average number of appointment requests received by CBP per day was 282,824 - yet the federal agency only grants a total of 1,450 appointments per day, less than 1%. A CBP spokesperson said this past week that appointment demand remains "generally consistent" with those numbers. To get a coveted appointment at one of eight designated ports of entry, users in Mexico must search for an appointment every day. Some ports of entry are more impacted than others. "The number of appointments is determined by a port’s capability and capacity to process noncitizens," reads the final rule on President Joe Biden’s asylum executive order published in the Federal Register. "CBP’s ability to process undocumented noncitizens in a timely manner at land border POEs (ports of entry) is dependent on CBP resources, including infrastructure and personnel.”

Washington Examiner [1/13/2025 2:24 AM, Staff, 2365K, Neutral] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents and Homeland Security Investigations uncovered a man-made tunnel entering the U.S. from Mexico on Thursday. Agents discovered it in El Paso, Texas, near a storm drain system by the border wall during a security sweep of the area. It is suspected that the "sophisticated cross-border tunnel" was used for human trafficking and drug smuggling in and out of the United States. The tunnel’s dimensions were six feet tall and four feet wide. It had a lighting and ventilation system and was supported with wooden beam braces, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It is believed to have been built within the last year, according to reports. Border patrol agents raved about the significance of discovering the underground system. "This is an historic event for the U.S. Border Patrol here in El Paso, Texas, along with multiple other federal, state, local, law enforcement agencies, including the government of Mexico," said Border Patrol spokesman Claudio Herrera. "We were able to find a handmade tunnel, from Juarez [Mexico] into this area.” Additionally, officials categorized the tunnel as a vital blow to drug smugglers and human traffickers operating in the area. "Transnational criminal organizations mistakenly think they can avoid detection by moving people and contraband underground," said HSI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Jason T. Stevens. "This recent discovery is a significant blow to their operations as it highlights our capability to disrupt their sophisticated smuggling networks.” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Scott Good stressed the dangers of such tunnels and lauded the efforts of those who found it. "We are proud of the Agents who discovered this smuggling infrastructure used by transnational criminal organizations," Good said. "Our Agents are relentless in searching and surveying every square mile of the El Paso Sector. With our partners, we are committed to investigating these illicit activities and bringing all perpetrators to justice — those who endanger lives in these hazardous environments and circumvent the legal pathways to entering the United States.” "This alarming discovery underscores the urgent need to secure our borders and put an end to the flow of deadly drugs and human trafficking networks," Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) posted on X.

New York Times [1/12/2025 3:14 PM, Mark Walker, 6595K, Neutral] reports that, when historic flooding ravaged southeastern South Dakota last summer, leaving homes and businesses in ruins, Gov. Kristi Noem made a controversial decision: She chose not to deploy the state’s National Guard. Citing the high cost and arguing that the Guard should only be called for “a true crisis,” Ms. Noem left thousands of residents to cope with the aftermath without the additional support, despite widespread devastation and mounting calls for help. “We have to be wise with how we use our soldiers,” she said during a June news conference in Yankton, S.D. Her reasoning shocked residents and lawmakers across the political spectrum, particularly in light of Ms. Noem’s earlier decisions to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to deploy the Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to address the immigration crisis. That move was one reason Ms. Noem was picked by President-elect Donald J. Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security, a sprawling department that includes Customs and Border Protection and various other immigration-related agencies. “Kristi has been very strong on border security,” Mr. Trump said in a Nov. 12 statement. “She was the first governor to send National Guard soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden border crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times.” The Department of Homeland Security also includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Although Ms. Noem would not be running FEMA’s day-to-day operations — the agency administrator does that — she will be expected to ensure that the agency has the resources it needs to assist those hurt by calamities such as wildfires and flood. The agency is already dealing with assisting victims from the vast swatch of damage left by Hurricane Helene in the southeastern United States last fall and the wildfires that roared through Los Angeles this month. More climate-related disasters will undoubtedly arise during her tenure if she is confirmed. But when faced with the option to use the Guard for disaster aid in her home state as she did for border aid 1,000 miles away, Ms. Noem did not ask the state legislature for the funds to do so, even though officials there say the request would have been granted as routine. “Gov. Kristi Noem sent troops to Texas and billed us, South Dakota taxpayers,” Lee Schoenbeck, then a Republican state lawmaker, wrote on X in June. “BUT Noem said it’s too expensive to use our Guard to help our taxpayers fight the flood. Explain this hypocrisy???” Ms. Noem also faced criticism for being on the national circuit campaigning for Mr. Trump instead of being in South Dakota to support the flood victims and for waiting more than one month to ask for federal disaster assistance, including from FEMA.

FOX News [1/12/2025 12:02 PM, Staff, 49889K, Negative] Video: HERE reports FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell on the federal role in providing relief to communities devastated by wildfires in California and the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program’s impact on families affected by Hurricane Helene.

Newsweek [1/12/2025 6:43 PM, Peter Aitken, 56005K, Neutral] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency has notified thousands of residents in western North Carolina that their temporary housing has expired even as a snowstorm batters the region, but FEMA’s director has advised those affected on what next steps they can take. Newsweek reached out to FEMA, the White House and the Trump transition team for comment by email on Sunday morning. Families who lost their homes due to Hurricane Helene in late September 2024 received housing assistance from FEMA in the form of vouchers that allowed them to stay at local hotels, funded by the agency. Helene hit the state harder than expected; even areas such as Asheville, a city located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, experienced unexpected high levels of flooding. The storm destroyed over 9,000 homes in Asheville, just a fraction of the over-100,000 homes destroyed across the state, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. Local North Carolina outlets last week reported that as many as 3,500 households across western region of the state had received notifications that their temporary housing status would lapse by the weekend. WBTV reported that the program was meant to lapse on January 11. FEMA told the outlet that there were no plans to extend the program, even as a snowstorm was predicted to hit the area on Friday, January 10. FEMA also told the outlet that families had been notified approximately seven days before the checkout date and cited one of three reasons for the change in status: An inspection of the applicant’s home has deemed their home now "habitable"; the applicant declined to allow FEMA to inspect the home; or that the agency could not make contact with the applicant. FEMA Director Deanne Criswell addressed this report during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, telling anchor Shannon Bream that the agency makes every best effort to make contact with the applicants before sending out these notices. "There’s a number of reasons somebody might have received that notification," Criswell said. "What we do is we call everybody. We call them every two weeks to check in on where they’re at, what their status is, and is their home able to be occupied again.

FOX News [1/12/2025 3:30 PM, Taylor Penley, 49889K, Neutral] reports Western North Carolina families left without homes after Hurricane Helene swept through the Appalachian Mountain region last year received some devastating news earlier this month — their temporary FEMA housing assistance could soon come to an end, leaving them with nowhere to turn as temperatures dip below freezing. The agency began notifying some families checked into hotel or motel rooms that they are no longer eligible for the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program due to one of the following reasons: an inspection indicated their home is habitable, they declined an inspection or FEMA has been unable to contact them to update their housing needs. The deadline, initially Friday, now sits on Jan. 14. FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell says those who receive the notification who are still in need of housing are still eligible, but they need to contact the agency. "There’s a number of reasons why somebody might have received that notification," Criswell explained Sunday. "What we do is we call everybody. We call them every two weeks to check in on where they’re at, what their status is, and is their home able to be occupied again, but one of the biggest things is when we call them, if we don’t hear from them, the only thing we can do is assume that they’ve been back in their home. One of the things I want to make sure, if somebody has received that notification, but they haven’t talked to somebody at FEMA and their situation is still in need, they are still eligible. We just need them to get in touch with us so we can talk to them. Everybody’s going to have a unique circumstance. Everybody’s going to have a unique situation," she added.

CBS Austin [1/12/2025 4:41 PM, Staff, 581K, Positive] reports FEMA has extended the move-out date for its first round of eligibility review from Sunday, Jan. 12, to Tuesday, Jan. 14. According to a release, FEMA activated the Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) Program at the state’s request after Hurricane Helene. The program mandates that individuals and families receiving assistance be "periodically reviewed for continued need and eligibility.” The release said the first round of eligibility reviews for continued housing assistance is complete. If occupants are no longer eligible for the TSA program, they will begin receiving aid on Jan. 3. These occupants were initially told that they would need to vacate no later than Jan. 11. The release said that due to the winter weather currently affecting the Western North Carolina region, the move-outs scheduled for Jan. 11 were extended until Jan. 12. However, the release also said that after reviewing road conditions shared by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), which reported that conditions on most primary roads are "covered in snow and ice" and conditions on secondary roads are "fully covered.” In response, the release said that FEMA had taken an "abundance of caution in considering the safety of thousands of occupants who are departing the TSA program" and decided to extend the move-out date for the first round of eligibility review to Tuesday, Jan. 14.

The Washington Examiner [1/12/2025 3:47 PM, Brady Knox, 2365K, Negative] reports Los Angeles police arrested two people outside of Vice President Kamala Harris’s Southern California home during a curfew due to the deadly wildfires. The Los Angeles Police Department told KTLA that they arrested two individuals at Harris’s Brentwood home at around 4:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, responding to a tip reporting a possible burglary. The two were arrested for a curfew violation, as the area was under an evacuation order, but they were soon released as there wasn’t evidence showing they were intending to commit a crime. One law enforcement source familiar with the matter told KNBC that the duo "likely had no idea where they were.” Harris was not present at the time of the incident. The residence is usually guarded by the U.S. Secret Service, state, and local police, but it’s unknown if this changed due to the evacuation order. The National Guard is assisting in patrolling the evacuation areas, which have a curfew of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Dozens of suspected looters have been arrested during the fires so far. Over 150,000 citizens are under evacuation orders so far. Brentwood has become increasingly threatened by the Palisades fire, the first and largest of the wildfires consuming the Los Angeles area. The resumption of high Santa Anna winds on Monday could exacerbate the danger. Yahoo! News [1/12/2025 4:46 PM, Amethyst Martinez, 57114K, Negative] reports that there was no evidence that the two entered Harris’s property, sources told NBC4, and likely didn’t know where they were. The home is protected by Secret Service, alongside LAPD and California’s Highway Patrol. Last week, the neighborhood was put under an evacuation order, and no one was in their home at the time, according to the vice president’s press secretary. The curfew is in effect from sundown to sunrise, and officials earlier stated they would take those who violated it into custody. "You cannot be in these affected areas. If you are, you are subject to arrest," LA county sheriff Robert Luna said last week.

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [1/12/2025 1:15 PM, Jason Lemon, 56005K, Negative]

Telemundo [1/12/2025 9:20 PM, Staff, 283K, Neutral] reports some 37 Cubans were flown to the Bahamas on Sunday by the U.S. Coast Guard after two separate rescues off the Bahamian coast. A crew from Coast Guard Auxiliary Air Station Miami notified Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders on Thursday of a group of people waving their arms in distress at Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas. The same happened on Friday when the crew of the HC-144 Ocean Sentry informed the Coast Guard of a group of migrants stranded on Anguilla Cay, on which they dropped food, water and a radio to establish communications. After Bahamian authorities requested the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard to rescue the individuals from both islands, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Northland arrived on scene and took the migrants aboard due to concerns for safety of life at sea. Once aboard the Coast Guard vessel, the migrants were processed to determine their identity and were provided food, water, shelter and basic medical care prior to repatriation to the Bahamas. "The Coast Guard and its partners in the Southeast Homeland Security Task Force diligently patrol the Straits of Florida, Windward Passage and Mona Passage to save lives by removing migrants from unsafe environments and deterring dangerous illegal migration activity," said Lt. Connor Pascale, Coast Guard liaison officer for the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. "These illegal migration journeys in unseaworthy vessels are extremely dangerous and put the lives of you and your loved ones at risk." These Coast Guard actions are designed to protect the safety of life at sea and, at the same time, prevent illegal maritime entry into the United States and its territories. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [1/12/2025 10:00 AM, Kurt Knutsson, 57114K, Neutral] reports cybercriminals spare no industry, targeting sectors like health care, insurance, automotive and education. Health care has been a frequent target, with attacks like the Ascension breach last year and the CVR incident in late 2024. Now, education technology giant PowerSchool has become the latest target, with records of millions of students and teachers stolen. While the exact number of affected individuals remains unknown, the scale of the breach is alarming. PowerSchool serves 18,000 customers worldwide, including schools in the U.S. and Canada, managing grading, attendance and personal information for over 60 million K-12 students and teachers. PowerSchool revealed a cybersecurity breach to its customers Jan. 7, as reported by BleepingComputer. The company said it discovered the breach Dec. 28, after customer data from its PowerSchool SIS platform was stolen through the PowerSource support portal. PowerSchool SIS is a student information system used for managing grades, attendance, enrollment and other student records. Hackers accessed the PowerSource portal using stolen credentials and used an "export data manager" tool to steal information. The company said this wasn’t a ransomware attack or a result of software flaws, but rather a straightforward network break-in. The company has hired a third-party cybersecurity firm to investigate the breach, figure out what happened and determine who was affected. The PowerSource portal includes a feature that allows PowerSchool engineers to access customer systems for support and troubleshooting. The attacker exploited this feature to export the PowerSchool SIS "students" and "teachers" database tables to a CSV file, which was then stolen. PowerSchool confirmed the stolen data primarily includes contact details like names and addresses. However, for some districts, the data may also include sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, personally identifiable information, medical records and grades. The company said customer support tickets, credentials and forum data were not accessed or stolen during the breach. PowerSchool also emphasized that not all SIS customers were affected and expects only a subset of customers will need to notify those affected. "We do not anticipate the data being shared or made public, and we believe it has been deleted without any further replication or dissemination," the developer told customers in a notice.

CBS Miami [1/12/2025 10:26 AM, Martha Teichner, 52225K, Neutral] Video: HERE reports no easy stroll to the exit for Antony Blinken. With exactly eight days left as secretary of state, he’s only just concluded what is likely his last trip back-and-forth across the globe, with meetings in Seoul, Tokyo, Paris and, finally, Rome. Blinken has traveled more than a million miles on the job. "Every minute, every hour, every day of the time that we have left, we’re focused on getting results," he said. "Sunday Morning" flew with him in early December – three trips ago – from Washington to Brussels for the most recent NATO foreign ministers meeting. The main topic of discussion was Russian aggression in Ukraine. "We have a new NATO strategic concept," said Blinken. "It recognizes Russia as the most direct threat to the alliance.” But there was a lot of well-wishing going on as well. Blinken stood right in the middle of the so-called "family photo," and also photo-bombed a portrait of all the women foreign ministers. Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, the secretary-general of NATO, told Blinken, "You have been a staunch ally, and people like you very much.”

New York Times [1/12/2025 2:14 PM, Amanda Holpuch, 161405K, Neutral] reports investigators on Sunday were seeking more information about the theft of three Humvees, more than a dozen bayonets, seven free-standing machine gun tripods and other military equipment from an Army Reserve warehouse in Southern California. The Tustin Police Department said in a statement that the stolen items, including medical equipment and 40 pairs of binoculars, were taken on the night of Jan. 8 from an Army Reserve Center in Tustin, Calif., which is about 34 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The police recovered two of the Humvees on Saturday after receiving tips from the public, Lt. Matt Nunley, a spokesman for the department, said on Sunday. The military vehicles were found in the nearby cities of Orange and Santa Ana. Lieutenant Nunley said that the police did not have information about the thieves because the military did not have surveillance cameras on the warehouse. He said the police were seeking footage from other cameras in the area. The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division said in a statement that it was “continuing to investigate this matter alongside our local law enforcement partners and therefore cannot provide additional information at this time.” Investigators have been sifting through tips that include reports of sightings of Humvees that are being used to respond to the wildfires in Los Angeles, Lieutenant Nunley said. Humvees are four-wheel-drive tactical vehicles designed to protect passengers and cargo in wars. Gov. Gavin Newsom has deployed the National Guard to help with the wildfire response. The thieves entered a storage warehouse at the Army Reserve Center between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., the police said. It’s unclear when the thieves left with the stolen goods, which also included eight machine gun vehicle mounts. Investigators found multiple storage lockers with the locks removed and a fence cut to get to the parking lot where the Humvees were parked, the police said. It also looked as if there had been an unsuccessful attempt to cut a lock to gain access to uniforms. There have been several Humvee thefts from military sites in California in recent years.

Bloomberg [1/12/2025 5:39 PM, Curtis Heinzl, 6595K, Neutral] reports Justin Trudeau says Canada is ready to respond with counter-tariffs against the U.S. if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his threat to begin a trade war in North America. Speaking on MSNBC’s "Inside With Jen Psaki," the outgoing Canadian prime minister said his government isn’t looking for a trade fight with the new administration but will have to retaliate if the U.S. puts tariffs on Canadian products. Canada buys more U.S.-made goods than any other country, according to US Commerce Department export data - about $320 billion in the first 11 months of last year. The U.S. trade deficit on goods with Canada was $55 billion during that period. "As we did last time, we are ready to respond with tariffs as necessary," Trudeau said. "We are the number one export partner of about 35 different U.S. states and anything that thickens the border between us ends up costing American citizens and American jobs." On a per capita basis, Canada buys far more from the U.S. than the U.S. buys from Canada. When the first Trump administration placed tariffs on steel and aluminum in 2018, the Canadian government put levies on a list of U.S.-manufactured items that included household appliances, bourbon whiskey and boats. This time, Trump has said he’s considering broad 25% tariffs against items from Mexico and Canada. One draft retaliation plan circulating within the Canadian government would affect almost every category of products imported by Canada from the U.S., Bloomberg reported on Jan. 10. In the interview with Psaki, Trudeau touted Canada’s decision to spend more on border security, including more helicopters and drones, which aims to stymie the flow of fentanyl and illegal migration into the U.S. - a direct response to Trump’s concerns. "Less than 1% of the illegal migrants, less than 1% of the fentanyl that comes into the United States, comes from Canada. So we’re not a problem," Trudeau said. "We’ve actually responded to his request for us to do more with billions of dollars worth of investments to even further strengthen the security of our borders.” Trudeau called Trump’s taunts about making Canada the 51st U.S. state "distracting" from more pressing issues. Trudeau, who said on Jan. 6 he’ll resign as prime minister and Liberal Party leader, will remain in the country’s highest political office until members of his party choose his successor on March 9.

AP [1/13/2025 5:04 AM, Kim Tong-Hyung, 33392K, Negative] reports South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Monday that two North Korean soldiers who were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region haven’t expressed a desire to seek asylum in South Korea. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the social media platform X that he’s willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea if the country’s authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Zelenskyy added that "there may be other options" for North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return home, and a video released by his government indicated that at least one of the captured soldiers expressed a desire to remain in Ukraine. In a closed-door briefing at South Korea’s National Assembly, the National Intelligence Service confirmed its participation in the questioning of the North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian authorities. The agency said the soldiers haven’t expressed a request to resettle in South Korea, according to two lawmakers who attended the meeting. The agency said it was willing to discuss the matter with Ukrainian authorities if the soldiers eventually do ask to go to South Korea. About 34,000 North Koreans have defected to capitalist rival South Korea to avoid economic hardship and political suppression at home, mostly since the late 1990s. Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said facilitating the asylum of the North Korean soldiers would require "legal reviews, including on international law, and consultations with related nations." "There’s nothing we can say at the current stage," Koo said.

AP [1/12/2025 7:27 PM, Wafaa Shurafa and Natalie Melzer, 30936K, Neutral] reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke Sunday about efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Israel-Hamas war, a sign of the intensifying push to reach a deal before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week. Talks mediated over the past year by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly stalled at moments when they seemed close to a deal. Still, in recent days, U.S. officials have expressed hope of sealing an agreement. Sunday’s call between Biden and Netanyahu came as the head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and Biden’s top Mideast adviser, Brett McGurk, were both in the Qatari capital Doha. Barnea’s presence, confirmed by Netanyahu’s office, meant high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved in talks. McGurk has been working on final details of a text to be presented to both sides, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” But he said he would not predict whether a deal can be reached by Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration. “We are very, very close,” he said. “Yet being very close still means we’re far because until you actually get across the finish line, we’re not there.” The White House and Netanyahu’s office both confirmed the phone call between the two leaders without providing details.

AP [1/13/2025 4:59 AM, Victoria Eastwood, Samy Magdy and Josef Federman, 30936K, Neutral] reports U.S. and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but a deal has not been reached yet, officials said Monday. Three officials acknowledged progress has been made and said the coming days would be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks. One of the three officials and a Hamas official said there were still a number of hurdles to clear. On several occasions over the past year, U.S. officials have said they were on the verge of reaching a deal, only to have the talks stall. One person familiar with the talks said there had been a breakthrough overnight and that there was a proposed deal on the table. Israeli and Hamas negotiators will now take it back to their leaders for final approval, the person said. The person said mediators from the Gulf country of Qatar had put renewed pressure on Hamas to accept the agreement, while President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, was pressing the Israelis. Witkoff recently joined the negotiations and has been in the region in recent days. The person said the mediators had handed off the draft deal to each side and that the next 24 hours would be pivotal. An Egyptian official said there had been good progress overnight but that it would likely take a few more days, and that the sides were aiming for a deal before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. A third official said the talks were in a good place but had not been wrapped up. That official also assessed that a deal was possible before the inauguration. A Hamas official, however, said a number of contentious issues still need to be resolved, including an Israeli commitment to ending the war and details about the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the hostage-prisoner exchange. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke anonymously. The Egyptian official confirmed that those issues were still being discussed.

CNN [1/13/2025 5:30 AM, Abeer Salman, Kareem Khadder, Lucas Lilieholm, Mike Schwartz and Lauren Kent, 987K, Neutral] reports Hamas is “very close to an agreement” with Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to an official from the militant group. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that there had been progress in negotiations. “Israel wants a hostage deal. Israel is working with our American friends in order to achieve a hostage deal, and soon we will know whether the other side wants the same thing,” Saar said in a news conference in Jerusalem. Several sticking points remain in the ongoing negotiations being hosted in the Qatari capital of Doha, however, the Hamas official told CNN. They include Hamas’ demands that Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border, and commit to a permanent ceasefire rather than a temporary halt to the military operations launched in the wake of the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. Disagreement also remains over an Israeli-proposed buffer zone inside Gaza to run along the strip’s eastern and northern borders with Israel. The official said that Hamas wants the buffer zone to return to the pre-October 7 size of 300-500 meters (330-545 yards) from the border line, while Israel is requesting a much larger 2,000-meter depth. “We believe this means that 60 km (37 miles) of the Gaza Strip will remain under their control, and displaced people will not return to their homes,” the official said. Beyond those key demands, the official said that negotiators were hammering out specific details of the release of Palestinian prisoners and maps covering the areas from which Israeli forces would withdraw. Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees, told CNN separately on Monday that he is traveling to Doha to advise negotiators on the list of detainees to be released “in the event the deal materializes.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Joe Biden on Sunday, their first publicly announced call since October, about the progress in negotiations. Netanyahu, who met with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Saturday, is facing pressure from both the current and incoming US administrations to reach a deal.

The AP [1/12/2025 8:59 PM, Eric Tucker, 4917K, Neutral] reports President Joe Biden spoke Sunday with relatives of three Americans the U.S. government is looking to bring home from Afghanistan, but no agreement has been reached on a deal to get them back, family members said. Biden’s call with family members of Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi took place in the waning days of his administration as officials try to negotiate a deal that could bring them home in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Corbett, who had lived in Afghanistan with his family at the time of the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed government, was abducted by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip and Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 while traveling through the country. Officials believe the Taliban is still holding both men as well as Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company and also went missing in 2022. The FBI has said that Habibi and his driver were taken along with 29 other employees of the company, but that all except for Habibi and another person have since been freed. The Taliban has denied that it has Habibi, complicating talks with the U.S. government and the prospect of finalizing a deal. On the call Sunday, Biden told the families that his administration would not trade Rahim, who has been held at Guantanamo since 2008, unless the Taliban releases Habibi, according to a statement from Habibi’s brother, Ahmad Habibi. “President Biden was very clear in telling us that he would not trade Rahim if the Taliban do not let my brother go,” the statement said. “He said he would not leave him behind. My family is very grateful that he is standing up for my brother.” The White House confirmed the call with the families in a statement in which it said they “discussed the U.S. Government’s continuing efforts to reunite these three Americans with their families. The President emphasized his Administration’s commitment to the cause of bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained overseas.” A spokesperson did not directly address the complaint from the families. If a deal is not done before Jan. 20, it would fall to the incoming Trump administration to pick up negotiations, though it’s unclear if officials would take a different approach when it comes to releasing a Guantanamo detainee the U.S. government has deemed a danger. Reuters [1/12/2025 3:48 PM, Andrea Shalal and Jonathan Landay, 48128K, Neutral] reports Ahmad Habibi, Mahmood Habibi’s brother, who was on the call on Sunday, welcomed the discussion with Biden. "President Biden was very clear in telling us that he would not trade Rahim if the Taliban do not let my brother go," he said. "He said he would not leave him behind. My family is very grateful that he is standing up for my brother.” The Taliban, which denies holding Habibi, had countered the U.S. proposal with an offer to exchange Glezmann and Corbett for Rahim and two others, one of the sources told Reuters last week. The White House noted that Biden has brought home more than 75 Americans unjustly detained around the world, including from Myanmar, China, Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, Venezuela and West Africa. His administration also brought home all Americans detained in Afghanistan before the U.S. military withdrawal, it said. "President Biden and his team have worked around the clock, often in partnership with key allies, to negotiate for the release of Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad so that they can be reunited with their families, and will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the term," it added.

Washington Examiner [1/12/2025 2:21 PM, Brady Knox, 2365K, Neutral] reports National security adviser Jake Sullivan defended President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, arguing that history had vindicated the move. In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union during his last full week in office, Sullivan was pressed on one of the most controversial episodes of Biden’s presidency. Sullivan said the whole national security team bears responsibility for parts of the withdrawal from Afghanistan that went wrong, but he defended the move overall, arguing that it put the United States in a better position today. "The strategic call President Biden made, looking back three years, history has judged well and will continue to judge well," he argued. "From the point of view that, if we were still in Afghanistan today, Americans would be fighting and dying; Russia would have more leverage over us; we would be less able to respond to the major strategic challenges we face," Sullivan continued. As for threats of renewed terrorism due to Taliban control, Sullivan pointed to the recent New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans and how there hadn’t been any connection between the attacker and Afghanistan. "Now, the FBI will continue to look for foreign connections. Maybe we’ll find one, but what we’ve seen is proof of what President Biden said, which is that the terrorist threat has gotten more diffuse and more metastasized elsewhere, including homegrown extremists here in the United States who have committed terrorist attacks," he said. "Not just under President Biden, but under President Trump in his first term.”

Reuters [1/12/2025 11:47 PM, Staff, 48128K, Neutral] reports U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday met virtually with his counterparts from Japan and the Philippines to advance cooperation among the three countries, the White House said. The three leaders discussed trilateral maritime security and economic cooperation, and China’s "dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea," it said in a statement. "The three leaders agreed on the importance of continued coordination to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Biden spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. late on Sunday, a week before Biden leaves office and hands power to President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 20. Manila said the three countries, which met for a trilateral summit in Washington in April, agreed to further strengthen their ties in the face of growing tensions in regional waters. The South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, has been plagued by rising tensions for years. China claims almost the entire South China Sea despite a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration found Beijing’s sweeping claims had no legal basis. The U.S. has increased its security engagements with the Philippines under Marcos, securing expanded access to Philippine bases. The White House statement made no mention of any discussion about Nippon Steel’s (5401.T), planned acquisition of U.S. Steel (X.N), which Biden blocked on Jan. 3 citing national security concerns. Japan’s foreign ministry said Ishiba asked Biden to allay concerns in the Japanese and U.S. business communities over the decision, noting that cooperation among allies and like-minded countries was indispensable for establishing resilient supply chains.

AP [1/13/2025 3:09 AM, Staff, 47097K, Neutral] reports South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported that two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine haven’t expressed interest in seeking asylum in South Korea. Zelenskyy stated he’s open to repatriating the soldiers to North Korea in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners. The agency participated in their questioning but awaits any formal asylum requests. Approximately 34,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the 1990s, primarily fleeing economic and political hardships. North Korean soldiers in Ukraine are reportedly ill-equipped for modern warfare and face high casualties. South Korea’s Unification Ministry emphasized the legal complexities of facilitating asylum. North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine’s conflict could provide its forces with critical combat experience, raising security concerns for South Korea.

Reuters [1/13/2025 3:01 AM, Karen Lema, 30936K, Neutral] reports the Philippines on Monday called on Beijing to desist from "escalatory actions" at a South China Sea shoal and said a protest has been lodged over the presence of Chinese coast guard, militia and navy in its exclusive economic zone. The protest stems from the presence of two coast Chinese guard vessels on Jan. 5 and Jan. 10 in and around the disputed Scarborough shoal, one of which was a 165 m (541ft) long boat referred to by the Philippines as "the monster". It said a Chinese navy helicopter was also deployed in the area. "The escalatory actions of these Chinese vessels and aircraft disregard Philippine and international laws," said the Philippines’ national maritime council, an inter-agency group tasked with upholding the country’s interests at sea. "China should direct its vessels to desist from conducting illegal actions that violate Philippines’ sovereign rights in its EEZ," it said in a statement. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a news conference that its coast guard "patrol and law enforcement activities" were "reasonable, lawful and beyond reproach". "China urges the Philippine side to cease its malicious hype," Guo said. Tensions between China and the U.S. ally the Philippines have escalated the past two years, with frequent run-ins between their coast guards in the South China Sea, which China claims sovereignty over almost in its entirety. The statement came just hours after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had a virtual call with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba where the three leaders discussed China’s conduct in the South China Sea. China’s expansive claims overlaps with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The disputed waterway is a strategic shipping route through which about $3 trillion of annual commerce moves. A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal said Beijing’s claims, based on its historic maps, have no basis under international law, a decision China does not recognise.

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