One thousand brave firefighters battle desperately against latest Californian wildfire
WALK ON THE WILDFIRE
WALK ON THE WILDFIRE One thousand brave firefighters battle desperately against latest Californian wildfire
A FIRE crew strides towards the danger in the desperate battle against the latest Californian wildfire.
About 72,000 acres has burnt in four days, with just three per cent of the fires put out, despite the efforts of 1,000 firefighters.
Advertisement
3
A fire crew strides towards danger during the latest Californian wildfire
Credit: AP
3
About 72,000 acres has burnt in four days
Credit: Reuters
3
Planes have dropped red fire retardant
Credit: Reuters
Planes have dropped red fire retardant on the flames engulfing Los Padres National Forest in Solvang.
So far, three people have been injured, with about 460 buildings under threat.
Last year, thousands of fires destroyed more than a million acres in California.
The Pacific Palisades, a haven for A-Lister types, was hit by the horrific infernos with firefighters battling to get the blazes under control.
Advertisement
Leighton Meester and Adam Brody's mansion, where they lived with their two young children, was reduced to smoking rubble.
Paris Hilton's Malibu beach house and Billy Crystal's sprawling home were also burnt down.
Actors John Goodman, Miles Teller and Anthony Hopkins also saw their houses destroyed.
At least five separate blazes spread across the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Lidia, and Woodley.
Advertisement
Parts of Sunset Boulevard were also torched, leaving one of the most iconic streets in the world reduced to smoking rubble.
Some 100,000 people were forced to evacuate Eaton with 30,000 fleeing the Palisades, turning celebrity haunts into ghost towns.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
10 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Oasis reunion is more than just music… gigs have reaffirmed community spirit, fun and united the UK, says Dominic Mohan
If Oasis were a political party itself, it would represent the real Britain and retain power for years WHO FEELS LOVE? Oasis reunion is more than just music… gigs have reaffirmed community spirit, fun and united the UK, says Dominic Mohan THEY came. They swore. They conquered. This storming Oasis triumph of a comeback has been more than a reunion, it is a resurrection. A resurrection not only of the greatest British band of the past 50 years, but also the reawakening of a huge swathe of our society which has felt forgotten, marginalised and overlooked. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 5 The Oasis reunion tour has reawakened of a huge swathe of our society which has felt forgotten Credit: BackGrid 5 Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher on stage in Cardiff have rolled back the clock and exceeded expectations Credit: AP 5 The unbridled joy of the Oasis gigs has helped the nation, which is enduring an identity crisis Credit: Reuters In a Britain where the air feels thicker with political tension than it ever did in the halcyon days of the glorious Nineties, Oasis have rampaged back into our consciousness, representing and celebrating our everyman and everywoman — the normal, hard-working folk who pay their taxes on time and want the streets to be safe for their children. And, as the group's British dates for 2025 edge to a close, save for a couple of Wembley victory laps next month, it is clear the Gallagher brothers have come back at the right moment, with a not-so-Great Britain never needing them more. Cavernous fields and arenas stuffed full of optimists and seekers, ordinary people that are like you and me, who perhaps feel a burgeoning sense of unfairness and injustice beginning to seep into British society, where hard workers are penalised while others laugh and exploit our failing systems. People who know what is right, who believe in law and order and decency, who are fun-loving yet respectful and tolerant — but feel little need for pronouns or wokery. Pure, unbridled elation This collective outpouring of mass joy was a potent reminder that there are a hell of a lot of us — 14million applied for 1.4million tickets for the 17 shows across Britain and Ireland. Just common people who are no longer certain whether it's safe to pull out their mobile phone in public or wear a decent watch or jewellery on the streets. Oasis are that timely reminder of an epoch when the country still had a sense of swagger, confidence and bloody-minded resilience. But also of safety and security, where it wasn't afraid of its own shadow and before it marched to the beat of political correctness. I saw not a single Palestinian flag or shirt, nor any type of political protest or sexual orientation garb, at any of the three concerts I witnessed alongside 250,000 fun-lovers over the past month. Just effervescent stadia in Cardiff and London, packed full of jubilant people with smiles plastered on their faces who still know how to have a damned good time. The Sun join the first ever Oasis masterclass ahead of Murrayfield gigs We met new friends of all ages, sexes and colour. We thronged and bounced up and down together like maniacs until our legs turned to jelly. We told our nearest and dearest how much we love them and spilt beer over one another, carefree. Oh, and how we laughed and cried tears of joy as our choir sang those choruses side-by-side. This was pure, unbridled elation and I think some had forgotten how that had felt. These raucous assemblies were populated by the sort of people who want the best bits of the Nineties back, soundtracked by a group, still burning bright, and encapsulating the working-class spirit of Britain — loud, defiant and irreverent. There wasn't any political posturing, no vile calls for murder from the stage nor balaclavas. Oasis are giving fresh hope and inspiration to generations young and old who feel increasingly ignored and isolated. This was pure, unbridled elation and I think some had forgotten how that had felt Dominic Mohan This Oasis tour has been a reassertion of British values, of fun, community, spirit, mass celebration and imbibement, of throwing your arms around strangers and chanting blissfully into each other's faces. It is a reminder of what, at its heart, this country is still about — something that may have been buried and lost in a world of X, AI, TikTok, perpetual wars and a repetitive cycle of post-pandemic horror and misery, served to us 24/7 in our pockets. This summer has been two powerful, Gallagher-propelled fingers up to the party poopers who want to stifle and silence us and ruin our lives. Our nation is enduring an identity crisis and feels demoralised by a faltering economy, left weary by violence, crime, and small boat crossings, alongside simmering tensions outside taxpayer-funded migrant hotels. A country on the edge, a powder keg with the potential to blow. The tough-talking Gallaghers and their forthright opinions could not be further from our Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a squeaky, risk-averse lawyer being roughed up on the world stage. 5 Dominic Mohan has seen the change in the more mature Gallagher brothers 30 years one Credit: Supplied I've had more than 30 years of the Gallagher live experience, run-ins, interviews, japes and scrapes around the world as a journalist and broadcaster. The band played a part in my success, but this is certainly a more refined and modern Oasis for the 21st Century. There's definitely a little less laddishness around this time, no maybe about it. In 2000, when I saw the band perform at Wembley, the brothers encouraged women to expose their breasts for the big screens and leered at them. This is a more polished and less shambolic Oasis of those times, and it is poignant to see the group's bewitched offspring in the audience each night, led by Noel's daughter Anais, whose love and pride for her father is beautiful to witness. She has taken some ownership of this revival, tenderly documenting her exhilaration online. She also hosted the Lionesses at Wembley after their Euros triumph, which typified contemporary Oasis, who even dedicated Roll With It to them. The concept of an England women's football team being invited to one of their anarchic gigs in the Nineties would have been unthink- able. This is also a band at the most professional they have ever been, well-drilled and slick, with breath- taking lighting, firework displays and pop art visuals. The other four — Andy Bell, Gem Archer, Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs and new recruit, drummer Joey Waronker — are a jaw-droppingly tight and well-rehearsed unit, combining to produce that ear-splittingly powerful, hallmark wall of sound which has left Oasis ringing in my ears for the past three decades. 5 The legendary Oasis tour of 1996 at Knebworth set a high bar, and the band have not disappointed Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd Forget your woes The three closing tunes — Don't Look Back In Anger, Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova — combine to produce one of the most majestic and exalted trilogies composed by any individual in contemporary music, and I'm not certain this euphoric holy trinity can ever be eclipsed. The chemistry between band and fan is like no other. But this is no box-ticking legacy act. The 2025 Oasis experience serves to remind us all of a simpler Nineties era, where life felt more colourful, less oppressive and liberated, more of a laugh and light-hearted Dominic Mohan This is a celebration of the pre-eminent British songwriting canon of the past five decades, two hours where you can forget your woes and your mortgage, an experience that is the antithesis of Glastonbury in many ways and representative of a monumental constituency of this country, reflecting its true nature and soul. Ultimately, nobody cared how much they paid for their ticket. The atmosphere inside and outside of these sonic cathedrals was like that of a World Cup Final but all 90,000 of us supported the same team. Packed into Tube trains afterwards, we laughed, linked arms and sang together all the way home, banging on the carriage doors and ceilings, most knowing every word of the same thunderous council house hymns we had been assaulted with just hours before. This rebirth is certainly the biggest British rock reunion of all time. No question. The technological, media and musical terrain has shattered so significantly since the band split that I cannot envision any other act hereafter surfacing with such cultural and societal impact or significance, capturing the zeitgeist and stimulating a nation and its people in the same way. The Irish-blooded brothers' surprise peace deal has held firm so far, like the Good Friday Agreement, itself cast in the Nineties when Oasis reached their pinnacle — sending alternative culture mainstream. And, unlike some of their shows in the past, this set is expertly paced for maximum joy and communion. There is barely a moment for pause or reflection, with one audio juggernaut after another crushing your consciousness. I expect this incendiary tour to roll into next year to mark the 30th anniversaries of the mythical Maine Road and Knebworth shows of 1996, thus reuniting the true face of Britain once again, for that collective outpouring of bottled-up and suppressed emotion. It sometimes feels as if it might not be worth going to see any other act live in the meantime, because they will never measure up to this. The 2025 Oasis experience serves to remind us all of a simpler Nineties era, where life felt more colourful, less oppressive and liberated, more of a laugh and light-hearted. But, alongside that, was a political hope, a thriving economy and a capital city abuzz with some of the world's leading wealth creators, restaurateur and clubs, top fashion designers and unparalleled artistic geniuses. That's what's missing this time around, but we must harness our newly reclaimed power and voice, and strive to restore the country we love, sparking a revolution in political thinking and attitude, bringing back the sense of fairness and justice that has slipped from our democratic grasp. Oasis have helped put a spring back in the nation's faltering step. The planet is looking on in envy as the reworked version of Britpop- mania thrives on our shores and we can again proudly boast that our modest nation has spawned the greatest rock and roll band of modern times. We must build on that spirit, endeavour and influence as the Gallaghers spread the word around the globe, with their intercontinental tour detonating worldwide. The brothers played a significant role in shaping Nineties British media and politics, assisting the ushering in of Tony Blair as Labour Prime Minister in 1997. And these Oasis paeans are Noel's glorious manifesto for a brighter Britain and fairer society, strangely resonating now more than ever, it would seem. But what is beyond doubt is that, if Oasis were a political party itself, it would represent the real Britain and retain power for years — its rivals caught beneath a landslide.
Scotsman
15 hours ago
- Scotsman
Fringe Theatre: Out of My Head – Alan Watts is Alive and Well… Dead
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Out of My Head – Alan Watts is Alive and Well… Dead Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) ★★★★☆ Seemingly risen from the grave after his death in 1973 in the Californian hilltop hippie enclave of Druid Heights, the author and self-proclaimed 'freelance philosophical entertainer' Alan Watts is here to tell us his story. Embodied for the purposes of this play by actor Jeremy Stockwell, that story at first appears as conventionally told as the real-life Watts was unconventional. Jeremy Stockwell in Out of My Head – Alan Watts is Alive and Well… Dead | Contributed Amid a jumbled living room stage set in which we can almost smell the patchouli oil, Stockwell's Watts gives us the straight biography, from his birth in Chislehurst in 1915 to his middle class upbringing and boarding school education, before he wilfully failed to win a scholarship to Oxford and began to pursue more alternative avenues in life. At first his religious leanings led him towards Episcopalian Christianity, then towards Eastern religion, in particular Buddhism. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad That Watts was undertaking this journey in the years immediately after the Second World War, long before the Swinging Sixties brought such ideas into the mainstream, made him a pioneer and an early brand of the kind of Western guru who would later flourish. So far, so educational, until the point where Stockwell himself, by subtly clever and inventive means, intrudes upon the story he's telling and provides his own parallel narrative. Where Wells is grandiose, exuding a self-conscious air of above-the-fray wisdom, Stockwell himself is creaking, his thoughts turning to his own health and mortality. One man is self-aware and conscious of the world turning around him, and Stockwell illustrates his own concerns with honesty and humour. The other appears to mould reality to his own desire through sheer force of will and charisma, as exemplified by a wonderful sequence in which Stockwell-as-Wells takes questions from the audience and improvises profound but largely meaningless answers. It feels like a reckoning with the counterculture that shaped so much of Stockwell's generation, revealing a later-life realisation that even gurus are just making it up as they go. DAVID POLLOCK until 25 August Enjoy Your Meal Summerhall (Venue 26) ★★★☆☆ Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Thanks to series like Boiling Point and The Bear, culinary dramas are all the rage right now. In those shows, though, the chefs can cook. In this alternative comedy from American writer and performer Cory Cavin, the cuisine is a long way from haute. Cavin plays Wayne Swingle, a chain-smoking head chef whose restaurant is failing. We, the audience, are his diners for the evening. He introduces himself, flicks through a funny slideshow of his culinary heroes – Gordon Ramsay, Guy Fieri, Paul Hollywood – then sets about serving us some food from a station at the front of the stage. Things do not go to plan. First, he repeatedly fails to make a cocktail, so hands out beers instead. Next, he makes a wrap containing most common allergens – shellfish, peanuts, dairy, and more – then has a reaction to it himself. Sporadically, he steps outside for a cigarette and a stressful phone conversation with the owner, who wants to fire him. It is a great concept – Fawlty Towers meets Saturday Kitchen – but Cavin does not quite pull it off. The show feels underwritten and his performance underpowered. Still, the food, when it sporadically comes, is actually nice enough. And you might get a free beer. FERGUS MORGAN until 25 August Lapdog Just the Tonic Nucleus (venue 393) ★★★☆☆ Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad How long can you keep up a fantasy before you start to lose yourself? Rachel Frost explores that question in her honest, deeply personal telling of life as a stripper in New York City. She discusses grappling with morals, the tension of giving more of herself to gain more, and shares secrets she has kept from herself and others. A struggling actress, Frost became a stripper to help pay the expensive rent on her NYC apartment. But she reflects frankly on if it was ever really about the money. Was it her desire to explore her sexual fantasies? A search for validation? A mission to define herself? Frost doesn't just tell the story, she performs it. She brings her experiences to life with vivid yet grounded portrayals of encounters that avoid being overly sexual or graphic, but still convey the intimacy, complexity, and occasional absurdity of her world. The show touches on everything from early sexual curiosity and teen intrigue (like buying her first thong) to more layered sections on identity and secrecy. It also showcases the beauty and strength of pole dancing as an art form whilst staying truthful to her relationship with it. It is an insightful story about identity, fantasy, and reclaiming your narrative. SUZANNE O'BRIEN until 24 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Confessions of a Lunatic theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39) ★★★☆☆ This new take on Dracula by Lewis Mullan clearly values novelty — a gender-flipped Count(ess) who's looking to buy property in Scotland rather than London — but it's at its best focusing on secondary characters from Stoker's novel who can often be given short shrift in other adaptations. This centres on the relationship between Renfield (Mullaney) and Lucy Westerna (Elliot Shaw) the glamorous debutante who's customarily Dracula's first victim. Here, Lucy is given an actual character rather than simply being pretty and sought after. Unsatisfied with the expectations of Victorian society and having at the attention of Dr John Seward (Aydan Macdonald) her sympathetic nature finds her drawn to Renfield — and by proxy Dracula (Arzaneira Deepsri). This is an interesting sideways method of tackling the story and it's telling that Mullan's invented scenes are stronger than the ones pulled from the book. Deepsri gives an interesting, almost Lugosi-esque, performance — rolling both her 'r's and her eyes — and it's certainly novel to have a Dracula noticeably shorter than the rest of the cast. Lucy's resurrection as the 'bloofer lady' should be chillier or more grisly (or both) and the ending isn't as effective as it could be, but this is still good gothic fun. RORY FORD until 22 August Wenches! Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236) ★★★☆☆ Three lively performances and some inventive video effects go a long way to keeping this sly medieval satire fizzing. Set in Berlin in 1423, two peasants, Bertegilde and Nortburga (played by co-writers Maya Le Roux and Bianca Waechter) are feeling a little down after watching one of their friends burned at the stake. Deciding to visit the local witch (a perfectly cast Derya Celikkol) in an attempt to say a final farewell to their late bestie they get rather more than they bargain for when they unwittingly rip open the gates of space and time and gaze upon the sum total of human knowledge — the internet. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Produced by the Berlin-based, female-led Hysterie Theater, this is funny and absurd without ever really becoming absurdly funny. The script isn't quite as sharp as it could be, but it's fun to watch Le Roux and Waechter as they embrace feminism, post-feminism, performative hashtag political activism, and Crocs. While the satire is handled about as lightly as you could wish, the conceit of Bertegilde and Nortburga hosting a podcast is a bit of a drag on the show's momentum in the latter half. Even so, it's still a bright and funny hour, stylishly directed by Antonia Reinisch – and Celikkol's disarmingly modern witch is a hoot. RORY FORD until 23 August The Forum C aquila (Venue 21) ★★☆☆☆ It's seldom a good sign to come out of a show unsure of what you've just seen. And not in a pioneering-experimental-theatre kind of way. In the case of Desmond Devenish's fraught solo play, it's simply a case of heavy accents, swallowed words and quick but uneven rhythms obscuring the details of his dark tale of ambition, extremism and justice. Its themes are timely and provocative, but The Forum needs some substantial pruning and clarifying, and its delivery stripping back to basics, before it can make its mark and achieve the potential it surely has. DAVID KETTLE until 24 August
Scottish Sun
18 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Jessie J reveals she needs ‘another surgery' after breast cancer op and hospital dash
The singer seemed optimistic about her upcoming operation and also spoke about the future of her career 'I CAN DO IT' 'I CAN DO IT' Jessie J reveals she needs 'another surgery' after breast cancer op and hospital dash Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) JESSIE J has revealed that she needs 'another surgery' after undergoing her recent breast cancer op - with the singer also teasing new music in a candid new post. The Domino singer, 37, revealed her breast cancer diagnosis at the start of the summer, had surgery at the end of July, and was admitted to hospital last weekend. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 5 Jessie J has revealed she will undergo another operation this year Credit: AP 5 Jessie J underwent surgery for breast cancer seven weeks ago Credit: jessiej/Instagram 5 Jessie J has been honest about her breast cancer battle since she was diagnosed Credit: jessiej/Instagram Now, following her hospital dash where she was diagnosed with an "infection" and "fluid on lungs", Jessie has revealed she needs to go into the hospital for another operation. In the caption of her new Instagram post, shared today, the mother of one teased new music while subtly providing her fans with a health update. "I can rest, parent AND release new music," she said in the caption. "I didn't leave a major label after 18 years to be scared to re write the rules to fit around my life / health and just make it realistic on what I can deliver in all roles in my life." She then revealed her upcoming surgery when she penned: "Another surgery needed this year. I can do it." Jessie continued: "Raising a toddler. I can do it. "Releasing new music. I can do it." Getting candid about adapting following her cancer battle, Jessie went on: "It will look different to what I had planned but that's life, things change and either we panic and get mad that it isn't what is was going to be, or we ADAPT. "I'm just flowing with life and giving the best I can. Instead of stopping and disappearing and waiting for the timing to be perfect to release music again. "It's never the perfect time. Because grown up life is layered and has highs and lows and we just have to keep living in all of it. So here I am. LIVING. Jessie J shares health update after being rushed to hospital six weeks after breast cancer battle "And I just want you to have the music." "Deal?" she concluded the lengthy caption. In the accompanying video, Jessie could be seen posing up a storm before a date flashed on the screen seemingly teasing that new music would be released on August 29th. Fans were instantly excited by the announcement, with many quick to share how amazing they thought Jessie was. "You're incredible! I honestly don't even know what to say… sending you a big hug," said one. "Love you Jessie girl!! Can't wait to hear it. Rooting for you always," penned a second. A third person then wrote: "You are unstoppable." While a fourth said: "So beyond proud of you Jess, this is gonna be amazing." And a fifth person added: "You're the strongest woman i've ever known." HOSPITAL DASH Last weekend, Jessie revealed she had been admitted to hospital six weeks post breast cancer surgery before discharging herself. Jessie shared how she was taken to hospital and told she had an infection and fluid on her lungs following an operation more than a month prior. Sharing a photo from her hospital bed, Jessie shared a snap of an IV canula in her hand and explained how she had been admitted to hospital last Saturday. In the post, she revealed: "How I spent the last 24 hours. "6 weeks post surgery and I was back in the same ward I was after my surgery. Not expected or planned." 5 She went on to reveal: "I had and still have symptoms that pointed towards a blood clot on the lung. IT IS NOT A BLOOD CLOT THANK GOD. "They ran a lot tests, which ended up showing I have an infection (still trying to figure out what) and a little fluid on my lungs." "Finding it hard to breathe in, but I discharged myself last night (I hate being in hospital) and will continue the investigation as an outpatient." JESSIE'S BREAST CANCER DIAGNOSIS At the start of June, the Price Tag songstress revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and would soon undergo surgery. The former Voice coach, who shares a son with basketball player Chanan Colman, opened up about the sad news on Instagram in video she uploaded. In the post she told fans: "I was diagnosed with early breast cancer." She added: "Cancer sucks in any form, but I'm holding on to the word 'early'." The singer then said she would be undergoing surgery after performing at the Summertime Ball.
