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Los Angeles County firefighter battles flames as a home burns from the Mountain Fire on 6 November 2024 in Camarillo, California. Photo: AFP / David McNew By David Swanson and Kanishka Singh, Reuters Over 10,000 people were ordered to evacuate communities northwest of Los Angeles as fierce seasonal winds drove a wildfire down tinder-dry hillsides into ranches and homes, authorities have said. Firefighters and police cleared residents from neighbourhoods near Camarillo before homes were set ablaze by embers blown 3.2 kilometres from the fire front, Ventura County fire department Captain Tony McHale said by phone from near the blaze. "It's like trying to put out a blowtorch with a squirt gun," said McHale of the fire which began in a hillside canyon, then tore west, driven by Santa Ana wi...

Donald Trump. Photo: JIM WATSON As the world digests the impacts of Donald Trump's second election victory, some people have started to ask what it might mean for New Zealand. Commentators say there are a few clear ways our economy - and household finances - could be affected. Cheaper goods (sometimes) Trump has talked about tariffs across the board on imports, but particularly on Chinese imports. While that may be a concern for our exporters - the US is the second-largest export market for New Zealand after China - New Zealand consumers could see some impacts, too. Kelly Eckhold, chief economist at Westpac, said there was still uncertainty about the extent to which Trump would follow through on some of the more "hyperbolic" things he had said. "To the extent to which he gets involved ...

Bitcoin was up 11 percent in a day on Thursday morning. Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP The price of bitcoin has surged and one New Zealand fund manager says many factors point to it continuing to rise. US president-elect Donald Trump has spoken as part of his re-election campaign about wanting to make the country the "crypto capital" of the planet. Bitcoin was up 11 percent in a day to NZ$128,110 or US$76,132 on Thursday morning. Dogecoin, which is a favourite of Trump supporter Elon Musk was also up almost 20 percent. Rupert Carlyon, founder of KiwiSaver provider Koura, which offers a crypto fund, said he expected prices to continue to rise. "Trump has been pretty clear he will support the industry, the US government will stop selling, he's going to undo a whole lo...

By Liam Reilly, CNN Donald Trump speaks to Fox News in the lead-up to the election. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource Press freedom groups have sounded the alarm on the potential dangers facing journalists under a second Trump administration, denouncing threats from the president-elect and his associates to undermine the news media. In the hours after Donald Trump's decisive victory, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom of the Press Foundation and American Sunlight Project called on the president-elect to end his attacks on the news media or altogether curb Trump's power to prevent a destabilizing onslaught against the press. "On the campaign trail and during his previous administration, President-elect Donald Trump has fre...