US President Joe Biden has cancelled an official trip to Italy that he was due to make between today and Sunday, the last trip abroad of his term, due to the fires in Los Angeles, California, the White House announced.
In a statement, the White House said that after returning from Los Angeles, where he travelled on Wednesday to meet with local emergency services, Biden "made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy in order to remain focused on leading the global federal response" in the coming days to the "massive disaster in California".
Less than two weeks before Donald Trump takes office as President of the United States (January 20), Joe Biden had planned to make his last official visit abroad to Italy and had scheduled an audience at the Vatican with the Pope and meetings with the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and with the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
At least five people have died in the massive wildfires raging in Los Angeles and devastating the Hollywood Hills, whose historic neighborhood was evacuated on Wednesday by order of authorities after a new fire broke out hundreds of meters from Hollywood Boulevard.
More than 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in several areas of Los Angeles, where six large fires have already destroyed around 1,500 homes, in what is the most destructive fire in the history of the Californian city.
A state of emergency has already been declared in Los Angeles County by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has received the 'green light' from President Joe Biden to obtain federal aid in fighting the fires.
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