Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson create Maui relief fund after Hawaii wildfires and kick it off with m

Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson create Maui relief fund after Hawaii wildfires and kick it off with $10m

Published

2 years ago

September 1, 2023

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Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have donated $10m (£7.9m) to a Maui relief fund they’ve created, to help those affected by deadly wildfires in Hawaii.

The Hollywood stars say donations for the People’s Fund Of Maui will be sent “directly” to residents who are trying to rebuild their homes following the fires, which have killed at least 114 people.

The wildfires, which completely destroyed the town of Lahaina, are the deadliest in the US in more than a century.

Winfrey is a part-time resident of Maui while Johnson, also known by his former ring name as The Rock, who is of Samoan descent, lived in Hawaii as a child. He went on to voice the character of demigod Maui in Disney film Moana.

Winfrey said she was inspired to create the fund after reading about the success of country music veteran Dolly Parton and her My People Fund, set up to offer financial assistance to residents following the wildfires in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 2016.

Sharing a video alongside Johnson on Instagram, Winfrey said the pair had seen first-hand the “devastating” impact of the fires and wanted to find a way that would guarantee donations would go “directly into the hands of Lahaina residents”.

She said: “We were so concerned about what was happening in Maui that we were texting back and forth and I read this article that Dolly Parton had given money in her community and I said ‘I think this is the answer’.”

She went on: “So, we have created the People’s Fund Of Maui that will put money directly in the hands of the people who need it right now. If you send a donation… that money is going to go to one of many residents who have been displaced in Maui, we guarantee.”

Johnson, with his arm around Winfrey’s shoulder, continued: “I know a lot of people out there, as Oprah and I have been finding, are having a hard time trusting where the money goes.

“It is a clean direct from you to their hands, and right away with some real immediacy because as we’re finding, as you guys around the world know, with disasters like this the number one need is money in hand.”

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Winfrey went on: “People being able to have their own agency, being able to make decisions for themselves about what they need and what their family needs, that’s our goal – to get that to the people now.”

The fund, part of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, will allow every resident over the age of 18 who lost their “primary residence” in the wildfires to apply for $1,200 per month.

It’s available to homeowners and renters, but not to owners who did not live in the buildings that were destroyed.

US

Elon Musk says he’s created his own political party – the ‘America Party’

Published

9 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Elon Musk says he's created his own political party - the 'America Party'

Elon Musk says he has created a new political party – the America Party –
after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll.

It follows his public falling out with Republican President Donald Trump.

On Friday, the billionaire had asked his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created.

On Saturday evening he wrote on the same platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

The world’s richest man made the announcement just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk had fiercely opposed.

Musk had previously said we would form and fund a new political party to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.

From bromance to bust-up

The Tesla boss backed Trump’s election campaign with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, later rewarded with a high profile role running the newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE).

But observers of the two men, both with huge wealth and reputations, wondered how long the bromance would last.

In May Musk left the role, still on good terms with Trump but criticising key parts of his legislative agenda.

After that, the attacks ramped up, with Musk slamming the sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination” and Trump hitting back in a barbed tit-for-tat.

Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billion-dollar federal subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, and said he would even consider deporting him.

US

Is this the most powerful Trump’s been?

Published

14 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has passed and he’s due to sign it into law on Independence Day. Mark Stone and David Blevins discuss how the bill will supercharge his presidency, despite its critics.

They also chat Gaza and Ukraine, as Donald Trump meets with freed Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and talks to Vladimir Putin.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

US

At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

Published

1 day ago

July 4, 2025

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At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

13 people have been killed in the US state of Texas after heavy rain caused flash flooding, according to local media reports.

Officials have also said more than 20 are missing from a girls’ camp in Texas.

As much as 10 inches (25 centimetres) of heavy rain fell in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River.

Judge Rob Kelly, the chief elected official in the county, confirmed fatalities from the flooding and dozens of water rescues so far.

A flood watch issued on Thursday afternoon estimated isolated amounts up to seven inches (17 centimetres) of rising water.

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