CHINESE CAMP: A cluster of lightning-sparked wildfires raged across parts of two Northern California counties on Wednesday, forcing widespread evacuations and engulfing part of a historic Gold Rush mining town once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants.

Wind-driven flames from nearly two dozen separate blazes have scorched more than 13,000 acres (5,261 hectares) of sun-baked dry grass, brush, and timber since a lightning storm ignited the fires on Tuesday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The remote village of Chinese Camp, a town of fewer than 100 residents on the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California’s Gold Country region, was particularly hard hit by one of the fires.

According to a Reuters journalist at the scene, the blaze destroyed dozens of homes in and around Chinese Camp, a remnant of the Gold Rush-era mining community first settled by thousands of Chinese labourers in the mid-19th century.

Flames also gutted two historic buildings, including an old stagecoach stop, and scorched a hilltop cemetery but left the adjacent church, established in 1854, unscathed, CalFire spokesperson Jaime Williams said.

Three other landmark buildings — the Chinese Camp Store and Tavern, the town’s post office, and its pagoda-style public school — also survived the fire, she said.

The entire town and several other communities in Tuolumne County and neighbouring Calaveras County remained under evacuation orders as a firefighting force of more than 600 personnel battled to contain the blazes, CalFire said.

The full extent of property losses and evacuations had yet to be determined, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

“We are securing all available resources — including support from our federal partners — to fight this growing lightning complex fire in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement on Wednesday.

At least two evacuation shelters were opened for people displaced by the fires, along with shelters for livestock and smaller domestic pets.

Electricity crews were working to restore power knocked out by fire damage to lines, transformers, and utility poles.

The 22 blazes making up the TCU September Lightning Complex fires ranked as the largest of about a dozen wildfire incidents documented across the state by CalFire on Wednesday. But they paled in destructive force compared with the Los Angeles fires in January that killed at least 31 people and destroyed nearly 16,000 homes.

• Vessel with 100+ aboard struck submerged tree stump.
• Incident occurred near Gausawa in Borgu district.
• Dozens rescued, 10 in serious condition.

At least 60 people have died and dozens were rescued after a boat carrying over 100 passengers capsized in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State, local officials said on Wednesday.

The vessel departed from Tungan Sule in Malale district on Tuesday morning, heading to Dugga for a condolence visit, when it struck a submerged tree stump near Gausawa community in Borgu Local Government Area.

Abdullahi Baba Ara, chair of Borgu Local Government Area, said the casualty figure was rising.

“The death toll of the boat incident has risen to 60,” Baba Ara told Reuters. “Ten people have been found in serious condition, and many are still being sought.”

The incident occurred around 11am (1000 GMT).

Sa’adu Inuwa Muhammad, the district head of Shagumi, told Reuters he was at the scene shortly after the accident.

“I was at the scene yesterday, around 12pm until 4pm. The boat carried more than 100 people,” Muhammad said. “We were able to recover 31 corpses from the river. The boat was also recovered and removed.”

He added that four victims were buried on Tuesday in accordance with Islamic rites, and that women and children made up the majority of the deceased.

The Niger State Emergency Management Agency said emergency personnel and local divers were searching for the victims. It confirmed 29 deaths so far with 50 rescues, and two missing persons. The agency said the boat was overloaded and collided with a tree stump, causing it to capsize.

Boat accidents are frequent in Nigeria, especially during the rainy season, due to lax safety enforcement, overcrowding, and the use of poorly maintained vessels.

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised his country’s full backing for Russia’s war effort, calling it a “fraternal duty”, the country’s state media KCNA reported on Thursday.

The North Korean leader made the pledge during talks with President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, where both leaders attended a grand military parade alongside China’s Xi Jinping.

Kim and Putin held a meeting on Wednesday on the sidelines of China’s celebrations to mark the formal surrender of Japan in World War Two in Beijing.

The pair joined Chinese President Xi Jinping at a massive military parade, marking the first such gathering of the three countries’ leaders since the early days of the Cold War.

Kim’s Beijing trip gave him his first chance to meet Putin and Xi together, as well as mingle with more than two dozen other national leaders who attended the events.

State media photos showed Kim standing or walking with Putin and Xi side by side, smiling.

“Comrade Kim Jong Un and President Putin exchanged candid opinions on important international and regional issues,” KCNA said.

Putin “highly praised” North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine and said relations between the two countries were “special ones of trust, friendship and alliance”, according to KCNA.

North Korea has sent soldiers, artillery ammunition and missiles to Russia to support Moscow in its war against Ukraine.

South Korea’s intelligence agency estimated this week that some 2,000 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia have been killed.

It believes North Korea plans to send another 6,000 troops, with about 1,000 combat soldiers already in Russia.

Kim and Putin discussed in detail their long-term partnership plans and reaffirmed their “steadfast will” to strengthen bilateral relations, KCNA said.

Last year, the two leaders signed a mutual defence treaty, which calls for each side to assist the other in the event of an armed attack.