U.S. PRESIDENT HEADS TO CALIFORNIA AS WILDFIRES RAGE

LOS ANGELES/ HENDERSON: US President Donald Trump took a brief break from the campaign trail on Monday to visit California, where record wildfires have killed 35 people and fuelled accusations that he is in denial about climate change. The blazes have burned nearly five million acres across the US West Coast, torching an area roughly the size of New Jersey state, with fears the death toll may rise.

Trump is set to arrive late morning in McClellan Park, where heads of California’s emergency services will brief him on the fires. He will then give a speech recognising the state’s National Guard.

Trump’s indoor rally sparks Covid concerns

Trump on Sunday held his first fully indoor rally in months, outraging officials in the state of Nevada who warned the gathering violated coronavirus restrictions on crowd sizes.

Indoor rallies during the pandemic have proven problematic for Trump, who was criticised after one in June that was later linked to a spike in virus cases.

Trump used Sunday’s event, held in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, to applaud his own handling of the pandemic.

“We have done an incredible job, we get absolutely no credit for the job we have done,” he told the crowd at the Xtreme Manufacturing facility.

Governor Steve Sisolak tweeted that “tonight, President Donald Trump is taking reckless and selfish actions that are putting countless lives in danger here in Nevada”.