First Thing: dozens die in unprecedented Hawaii wildfires

Fires fanned by Hurricane Dora have ripped through historic Lahaina. Plus, Trump asks to review classified evidence at Mar-a-Lago before trial

Good morning.

Rapidly moving wildfires in western Maui have killed at least 36 people and displaced thousands of others.

The fires, which erupted on Tuesday night, have torn through the historic town of Lahaina, destroying buildings and injuring dozens of people. Rescuers with the US Coast Guard pulled more than 10 people from the ocean who had dived into the water to escape the smoke and flames.

“It’s horrifying,” said Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company. “We never thought we’d experience anything like this in our whole life.”

• Joe Biden has “ordered all available federal assets on the islands to help with response”. Expressing his condolences, Biden said his and his wife, Jill’s, “prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed”.

• The unprecedented wildfires are being fanned by the winds of Hurricane Dora. Hawaii is facing drought conditions and is in the middle of its dry season.

Biden bans range of US hi-tech investments in China

Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will narrowly prohibit certain US investments in sensitive technology in China.

The president told Congress that he was declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat of advancement by countries – such as China – “in sensitive technologies and products critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities”.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said China was “very disappointed” by the move, and added that the curbs would “seriously undermine the interests of Chinese and American companies and investors”.

Trump requests to review classified documents at Mar-a-Lago before trial

Lawyers for Donald Trump have asked the federal judge overseeing his classified documents case to approve an ultra-secure facility at his Mar-a-Lago club so he and his legal team can review the evidence against him from there.

In an 11-page filing, the lawyers suggested the re-establishment of a sensitive compartmented information facility, often called a “Scif”, at the Florida estate, arguing that the former president’s schedule and security requirements made it impossible for him to make regular trips to such a facility at a courthouse.

This request came as the US special counsel investigating Trump obtained a search warrant for the former president’s Twitter account.

In other news …

• The Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been assassinated. He was fatally shot as he left a campaign event in Quito just days before an election in which the central issue has been the rise violence and crime in Ecuador.

• The US is voicing concerns about Niger’s deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, who has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since a military coup last month.

• The New Orleans archdiocese failed to monitor priests accused of sexual assault, according to a 48-page memorandum secretly prepared by a team of attorneys representing some people pursuing clerical abuse claims.

• Cats in Cyprus are being treated with anti-Covid pills meant for humans after a surge in deadly feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) caused by feline coronavirus.

• A powerful group of labor and immigration rights organizations is calling on Biden to expand work permits for asylum seekers.

Stat of the day: solar installation jobs have grown by 247% since 2011

The growing solar industry represents a potential boon for formerly incarcerated individuals who face the barriers in the US job market upon their release. But the pay is low, and the work is gruelling,

Don’t miss this: preserving Nigeria’s past

A non-profit startup in Lagos is attempting to digitise every edition of every newspaper published in Nigeria since 1 January 1960, the year of independence from Britain.

“Nigerian history is inaccessible online, and the greatest repository of that history is old newspapers,” said Fu’ad Lawal, the founder of Archivi.ng. “The newspapers from our history are rotting away in libraries and private archives, and our mission is to stop the erasure and recapture all the history before we lose them for ever.”

Climate check: the guardians of Europe’s most vital wetlands

A battle is being waged to safeguard Spain’s Doñana national park, one of the most important wetlands in Europe.

Scientists, ecologists and park rangers are fighting to protect Doñana’s delicate ecosystem, amid declining water supplies, illegal wells and encroaching strawberry farms.

Last Thing: from the nosebleed seats to the front row

Imagine saving up to see your favorite act, knowing you’ll probably only be able to afford seats seemingly miles away from the stage – and then to get upgraded to the front row while you are at the concert.

This dream scenario has been a reality for a number of fans of performers such as Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Coldplay. They routinely send staff to scout the nosebleed seats for the true fans, and bring them up to the action.

“In my head, I was like: ‘Is she trying to sell me something?’” said Tyler Orton, who was approached by a woman at a McCartney concert and asked whether he was a fan of the former Beatle. “She gave us an envelope and said: ‘Here are two tickets to front row seats.’ And we honestly didn’t believe her.”

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