California

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Global warming has significantly increased the risk of "mega-flooding" in California and the Western United States, a UCLA study published in the journal of Science Advances on Friday said.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- A serious chemical leak accident forced the evacuation of more than 100 homes in Perris, 122 kilometers east of Los Angeles downtown Friday morning and prompted the closure of the 215 Freeway in both directions.

Local NBC 4 news channel reported that Cal Fire Riverside County received a call about the chemical leak around 7:40 p.m. Thursday local time, when someone discovered a large plume of smoke coming from a rail car along the railway running parallel to the freeway in the town with over 77,000 residents.

(AP) --- Johnson & Johnson is pulling baby powder containing talc worldwide next year after it did the same in the U.S. and Canada amid thousands of lawsuits claiming it caused cancer.

Talc will be replaced by cornstarch, the company said.

The company has faced litigation alleging its talcum powder caused users to develop ovarian cancer, through use for feminine hygiene, or mesothelioma, a cancer that strikes the lungs and other organs.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Antarctica's coastal glaciers are shedding icebergs more rapidly than nature can replenish the crumbling ice, doubling previous estimates of losses from the world's largest ice sheet over the past 25 years, a satellite analysis showed on Wednesday.

The first-of-its-kind study, led by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles and published in the journal Nature, raises new concern about how fast climate change is weakening Antarctica's floating ice shelves and accelerating the rise of global sea levels.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Confirmed monkeypox cases in the United States have exceeded the mark of 10,000, reaching 10,392 cases Wednesday, according to the newest data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country's national public health agency.

The CDC's dashboard showed that 1,391 confirmed monkeypox cases were reported on Wednesday, the first time that CDC reported over 1,000 monkeypox infections in one day since the first was reported on May 17.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and nine others injured Thursday afternoon in a fiery multi-vehicle crash in Los Angeles, authorities said.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a tweet that the agency responded to the crash at about 1:41 p.m. local time (2041 GMT) at La Brea and Slauson avenues.

Five people were pronounced died at the scene. Eight of the nine injured were transported to area hospitals, said the department.

KLAMATH RIVER, Calif. (AP) — Two more bodies were found within the burn zone of a huge Northern California wildfire, raising the death toll to four in the state’s largest blaze of the year, authorities said Tuesday.

Search teams discovered the additional bodies Monday at separate residences along State Route 96, one of the only roads in and out of the remote region near the state line with Oregon, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

YREKA, Calif. (AP) — Crews battling the largest wildfire so far this year in California braced for thunderstorms and hot, windy conditions that created the potential for additional fire growth Sunday as they sought to protect remote communities.

The McKinney Fire was burning out of control in Northern California’s Klamath National Forest, with expected thunderstorms a big concern Sunday just south of the Oregon state line, said U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Adrienne Freeman.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Wildfires in California and Montana exploded in size overnight amid windy, hot conditions and were quickly encroaching on neighborhoods, forcing evacuation orders for over 100 homes Saturday, while an Idaho blaze was spreading.

LOS ANGELES, July 28 (Xinhua) -- A strong majority of people in California, the most populous state in the United States, say the effects of climate change have begun, a new survey has found.