The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history, the so-called Camp Fire, has now claimed 71 lives after authorities found eight additional sets of human remains.

The fire has devoured an area roughly the size of Chicago.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told reporters the number of people unaccounted for almost doubled from 631 to 1,011 in 24 hours as authorities received more reports of people missing, and as emergency calls made when the fire broke out are reviewed.

“I want you to understand that this is a dynamic list,” he told reporters. He said that on a positive note, 329 people who had been listed as missing since the fire broke out had so far been accounted for.

“The information I am providing you is raw data and we find there is the likely possibility that the list contains duplicate names,” he said, adding that some people who had escaped could be unaware they were listed as missing.

Paradise lost

The inferno erupted November 8, laying waste to the town of Paradise at the northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains and sending thousands fleeing.

Trump would “meet with individuals impacted by the wildfires,” a White House spokeswoman said, but in an interview with Fox News ahead of his trip, the president said he was going “just to see the firefighters.”

In the interview he also reiterated an earlier claim that mismanagement of California’s forests was to blame for the fires, though he acknowledged climate change may have contributed “a little bit.”

“You need forest management. It has to be,” Trump told Fox.

Roslyn Roberts, 73, forced from her home in Paradise, said she voted for Trump but would disagree with him if she has the chance on Saturday.

“I would tell him that this fire has nothing to do with forest mismanagement. Thousands and thousands of homes got destroyed with no trees around,” she said amongst other evacuees at a shelter set up by the American Red Cross in a church.

In the community of Chico, just west of Paradise, volunteers had erected a tented encampment for others forced from their homes.

“Just trying to make it day by day. It’s all we can do. Just take the resources that they’re giving us and then try to make it the best,” Dustin Kimball, who worked at the Paradise cemetery, said in front of a tent.

Democratic Governor Jerry Brown’s administration and President Donald Trump’s Republicans have repeatedly clashed over issues including environmental and immigration regulations, as well as “net neutrality” governing access to the internet.

Days ago Trump threatened to cut federal funding to California over its alleged “gross mismanagement” of forests but late Friday he tweeted that he was looking forward to meeting Brown and his newly-elected successor Gavin Newsom.

“We are with you!” Trump said.

The Camp Fire has burned 146,000 acres (59,000 hectares) and was 50 percent contained by Friday, California’s fire service said.

Authorities said 47,200 people had been evacuated because of the fire and nearly 1,200 were living in shelters.

Losing hope

Smoke from the fire forced the closure of public schools in San Francisco on Friday and the shutdown of the city’s iconic cable cars as the Air Quality Index soared to 271, comparable to Dhaka, Bangladesh and worse than Kolkata, India.

A blanket of haze enveloped the region and the Golden Gate Bridge was shrouded in thick smog.

Much of the rescue work is now focused on Paradise, a community that was home to many retirees who found themselves unable to get out in time.

Hundreds of rescuers, backed by sniffer dogs, have been conducting a painstaking house-to-house search, as authorities collect DNA from relatives of the missing to help with body identification.

“I’m still going to keep on looking and hope for the best,” said Jhonathan Clark, who was hunting for his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.

“My dad is starting to lose hope a little bit,” he told AFP.

Adding to the misery

Three other people have died in southern California in another blaze dubbed the Woolsey Fire, which engulfed parts of Malibu, destroying the homes of several celebrities.

That inferno, which is about two-thirds the size of the Camp Fire, was close to 80 percent contained by Friday, and authorities predicted they would have it under control by Monday.

Adding to the misery of Camp Fire survivors, an outbreak of the highly contagious norovirus has been reported at several shelters.

Public health officials said 41 people had been sick with vomiting and diarrhea as of Wednesday evening and 25 had to be hospitalized.

While the cause of the Camp Fire is still under investigation, a lawsuit has been filed against the local power company, PG&E, by fire victims claiming negligence.

Following a New York Times report that suggested Trump was privately questioning the loyalty of his deputy, Pence told reporters in Port Moresby that they had still had a good rapport.

“I’m just tempted not to dignified it with a comment,” he said after a pause, adding that the pair had spoken by phone and “it came up.”

“We had a good laugh,” said Pence. “We’ve got a very strong relationship.”

“I’ve been honoured to serve as his vice president, I was honoured when he asked me to run with him.”

The New York Times said Trump has taken to asking several advisors whether the vice president is loyal — which they say is usually a sign he has “grown irritated” with someone, according to the paper.

Trump has not openly suggested dropping Pence from the ticket with the 2020 presidential election rapidly approaching, the New York Times stressed.

But according to the paper, some advisors have suggested Trump could benefit from a running mate who would help him win support from women.

Pence had originally been due to shuttle to the APEC talks from the northern Australian city of Cairns rather than stay overnight in Port Moresby, which is hosting the gathering for the first time.

But the White House confirmed that Pence would instead spend the night in the Pacific island nation, shrugging off its reputation for violence and petty crime.

“Staying in PNG is better for the schedule and the office was able to make it work, from a logistical and security standpoint,” a senior administration official told AFP.

The port city is effectively on lockdown with a heavy police presence and warships from the US, Australia and New Zealand patrolling offshore.

Due to security and a dearth of hotel rooms, most journalists and delegates are billetted on two hulking cruise ships moored in the harbour with ultra-tight security access.

Although the threat posed by terrorism in Papua New Guinea is considered minimal, the Melanesian country has developed a reputation for lawlessness.

Feared street gangs known as “raskols” have made carjackings common and the country has among the highest rates of rape and domestic violence in the world.

Pence’s decision to stay in Papua New Guinea now puts him in the same boat as China’s President Xi Jinping, whose delegation has locked down the Stanley Hotel where Chinese lanterns abound and a pagoda has been constructed in his honour.

Some of the leaders are thought to be staying at the Airways hotel — “one of the world’s most unique airport hotels”, according to its website.

Hotel guests describe security arrangements at the Airways as “immense” even without the APEC summit, complete with shotgun-toting guards at the gates.

“But that is nothing compared with what we see now,” a resident said on Saturday, citing snipers on the roof, parts of the hotel sealed off, road blocks and special clearance required for cars.

A war crimes tribunal in Cambodia found the Khmer Rouge’s former head of state Khieu Samphan, 87, and “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, 92, guilty of genocide on Friday and sentenced them to life in prison.

The historic verdict comes nearly 40 years after the Khmer Rouge were expelled from Cambodia following a four-year reign of terror that left about a quarter of the population dead from starvation, mass executions, and overwork.

“Their crimes were numerous, calculated, and grave,” US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said, commending the courage of the victims and witnesses who testified during the trial.

“Let this be a message to other perpetrators of mass atrocities, even those at the highest levels, including former heads of state, that such actions will not be tolerated and they will ultimately be brought to justice,” she said in a statement.

Cambodia’s neighbour Myanmar has come under fire in recent months for its handling of the Rohingya crisis, which United Nations investigators believe amounts to “genocide” given the atrocities perpetrated on the stateless Muslim minority.

Myanmar has denied the allegations but UN investigators have urged that the case be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and prosecution.

Despite the show of support for war crimes prosecution, the US is one of the few Western countries that is not signed up to the ICC, which has a mandate to investigate the gravest offences including genocide and crimes against humanity.

The country’s refusal to be party to the body erupted again following an ICC request to open an investigation into alleged war crimes by the US military and intelligence officials in Afghanistan, especially over the abuse of detainees.

White House National Security Advisor John Bolton called the Hague-based rights body “unaccountable” and threatened to arrest and sanction judges and other officials of the court if it moved to charge any American.