live from london. this is bbc news. new wildfires break out across los angeles. five people are confirmed dead. more than 130,000 have been evacuated. it is without words that i can even explain to you what is taking place, especially in my district in altadena, but also in the bordering area of pasadena. my heart is heavy. racism and bullying — a former security guard tells the bbc what life was like at harrods under mohammed al fayed. targeting the finances of people smuggling networks — the uk's new plans to tackle illegal migration. the numbers of patients in hospital with flu in england continues to climb.

hello, i'm samantha simmonds. at least five wildfires are now raging across los angeles and its neighbouring ventura county. the latest blaze started in the hollywood hills in the past few hours — and has forced more people to evacuate, including in areas dotted with celebrity homes. these are live pictures from los angeles. at least 130,000 people have been evacuated — and tens of thousands more have been told to pack and be ready to go. officials say, despite their best efforts, the fires raging in the la area are 0% contained. among the areas affected is the pacific palisades which is between santa monica and malibu. a fire there doubled in size within hours, fuelled by tinder dry conditions and high winds. helena humphrey reports. as soon as you walk in, you would be met with the living room, which is literally right here in this area. the only thing that's basically standing is the chimney. and, yeah, now it's nothing. a picture of utter devastation.

the flames here are pitiless, sparing nothing in their path, not the glitzy houses of pacific palisades, nor the hillsides. hey, everybody. notjust this community, the community next door, i'm sure all the people up there have lost everything. it's just pretty devastating. i don't think la has seen anything like this before. the house, the house goes on fire. - our house will- definitely be next. with the fires still burning, more people are being told to evacuate their homes — faced with the agonising decision of what to take and what to leave behind. you look at something and you go, "you know what? i've had that for almost all my life. but you know what? i can let that go. i can let it go." and then i took photographs and things that meant something, a little...a little figurine that my daddy bought for me when i was five. you know, those kinds of things. southern california is used to wildfires, but not like this. january is supposed to bring rain.

instead, the ground is tinder dry. palisades, the first blaze to break out on tuesday, has now become the most destructive in la's history. hurricane—strength winds fanning the flames. some desperately trying to protect their homes. i know this looks pretty stupid, but if i can save one ember from burning down my house, i'll take the risk. the downtown of pacific palisades is nearly wiped out. its celebrity—filled suburbs, home to tom hanks, ben affleck and reese witherspoon, now deserted. vice president kamala harris's los angeles residence also affected. what residents will return to no—one knows. i'll be ok. i'm tough and we'll start over. you are tough. even though i'm 91 years old, i'll start over again. 0n the ground, there's limited water supply. the wildfires have caused massive issues for power supply too, affecting 1.5 million people.

and it is surreal. it is without words that i can even explain to you what is taking place. my heart is heavy, but i have to say, resources, both financial, but also resources for boots on the ground are here and we're going to continue to fight this fight. but promises of help will do little to calm fears. scientists warn that wildfires in the region are growing faster and more unpredictable, fuelled by climate change. as residents watch the orange haze on the horizon, all they can do is wonder what the next hours will bring. helena humphrey, bbc news, los angeles. people living in the pacific palisades area — and in nearby addresses — have been warned to use only boiled or bottled water for drinking and cooking, until further notice. as we have said, there are now at least five fires burning across the los angeles region. the woodley and 0livas fires have been contained.

as this map shows, they are spread across a wide area — threatening coastal areas, communities near the hills, and two are close to central urban areas. one is in the hollywood hills — which has led to scenes like this on the famous hollywood boulevard. the city's fire chief said as many resources as possible were being brought in to try to stop the spread of the fires, but so far, that task had proved impossible. the fire has been mapped this afternoon at 10,600 acres, and it is still growing. we have 0% containment. we have over 750 firefighting personnel assigned on the line, and mutual aid resources from out of state, including arizona, have arrived to assist us with this firefight. let's show you now the moment one man in the pacific palisades had to flee his home — as the fire took hold. this was filmed by tanner charles — who was trying to help defend the house when it became too

dangerous to stay. come up with it now. just let it burn. and god protect this house in the name ofjesus. protect this neighbourhood, god. injesus name, i pray. amen. this tree is going to kill us. there's nothing we can do now, bro. nothing we can do now. 0h. all right, dude. yeah. let's get out of here. we tried, we tried, bro. i'm sorry, dude. we tried our best. yeah. when this tree falls, it's over. i'm sorry, bro. got to get out of here? 0h!

the moment where a local resident had to flee for his life and abandon his home. tyler bridges is a resident of pasadena — and he and his fiancee chose to stay in their house despite officials recommending they leave late on wednesday evening. he told us about his experience. kind of nightmarish, a little bit, like armageddon. you know, we had it started with really, really powerful winds. you know, we get santa ana winds here, which is pretty common, but these were, i think, far worse than normal. you know, winds, gusts, you know, coming in at 85 miles an hour. and, at first, that was scary enough because you have, you know, tree branches getting thrown around and falling on cars and on fences and on houses. and then the fire started and, you know, there's no way to stop or contain a fire that the winds are that powerful. and and itjust, it came so fast. and i think, like one of you guys said that, you know, it was raining ash.

you go outside and ash would slam into your eyes and your face and your mouth, and it's hard to breathe, you're coughing and the worst part is the closer to the fires you get, the darker it gets. and very black, very dark. and, so, last night was a really scary time, i think, for pasadenans. the message from officials is clear — it's not yet been possible to contain the worst fires, and those who are nearby should evacuate to safety. that's led to trafficjams on major roads — such as those you can see here near the hollywood hills — as the fire burns above. let's hear more now from helena humphrey — who gave us this summary of what people in los angeles have been having to deal with — and what they can expect next. the message here from authorities in la county is that nobody is out of danger tonight in a county that is home to almost 10 million residents, the most populous county in

the whole of the united states. and those fires, they are continuing to grow in strength, size, severity. as we came into los angeles, another fire erupting. this time, the hollywood hills, over the horizon. behind me right now, helicopters are up in the air. they are trying to dump water on those affected areas, taking it from swimming pools, the pacific ocean, at a time when there are also water shortages. scenes of some unease, perhaps even panic, with some fire hydrants running dry earlier today, as fire crews tried to use that to battle the flames. now, we know that in the hollywood hills, a—listers saying that they have been impacted. the likes of paris hilton, billy crystal, for example, saying that they have lost their homes. but of course, los angeles is a diverse community. these flames are merciless. we saw people close to the sunset boulevard, for example, grabbing whatever

they could take with them, pet carriers, stuffing carrier bags full of whatever they could bring with them. we also know that the department of defence is going to be deploying military aircraft equipped with a fire retardant substance to spray over the affected areas, but president biden has said that because of the severity of this crisis now here in california, he will be cancelling his trip to italy, his last foreign trip in the white house. and i think there is a sense of unease and nervousness about what the day break will bring in terms of the level of destruction that we are seeing here in los angeles. we will be live in los angeles in a few minutes for the latest. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

a warning now that some viewers

may find our next story upsetting and offensive. a former security guard at harrods has been speaking exclusively to bbc radio 5 live about the clear racism and bullying he saw during mohammed al fayed s ownership of the department store. the bbc has heard from scores of women who say they were sexually assaulted or raped by mohammed al fayed when he owned the knightsbridge store. that followed a documentary in september, which included 20 women s claims about al fayed s behaviour. harrods said they were "utterly appalled" by the abuse allegations, and that harrods is a "very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by al fayed". 5 live�*s clare mcdonnell told us more about this. mohamed al fayed back in 1995, sued vanity fair magazine. they alleged that he was racist. they alleged sexual misconduct. he vehemently denied those allegations and the case was eventually settled out of court. but i've been speaking to a former security guard at harrods, a man we are calling henry, and he says this.

he told me this over the course of two interviews that mohammed al—fayed, before he would do his morning rounds, daily morning rounds on the shop floor, black members of staff would be asked to leave the shop floor by a secret passageway under the road and to an office opposite harrods. and then, when mohammed al fayed had left the shop floor, they would be invited back in. his words are spoken by an actor. when he came on the shop floor, you would see a lot of movement. for example, i don't know how to say this and be nice, you would see the women, the women who the society and world sees as attractive would stay on the floor and those who the world did not consider to be attractive, all of a sudden you will see a beeline of them leaving, for example, beauty apothecary, the white hall, the black hall, and all around the store you'll see these people making a beeline to exit at door number three.

who would stay? what you say the world finds attractive. what kind of women would be allowed to stay behind? we're talking young, thin, blonde, this type. and it was like nobody had to tell them to leave. it was like, robotic. and the way they would know something was happening was that the security guards would be moving around like ants. the command staff of the security and uniform would be manoeuvring through very quickly, and people knew then that something was going to happen. where did they go? the staff area. if you go to door number three, it's an escalator that goes down under the road into the other building. and this is where those people hid. now, henry told us he was never close enough to al fayed to hear how he interacted with those who were allowed to stay on the shop floor. but i asked him for further clarification on why he thought some people were asked to leave the shop floor before mohammed al fayed did these rounds. the level of racism was very clear. i don't know if they were instructed to do that, but it seemed very much like the protocol that the black people would disappear. every now and then

you would see one black person, you know, at a particular beauty station or luxury retail or something like this. someone had to have been given instruction. why would they all leave? why would they head out? and claire, what have other staff been saying about these claims? well, we have spoken to other women in various roles at harrods who have corroborated henry's claims. there was one woman called anna who herjob was to hire people, and she was told us that she was told not to hire black people. as and i quote, customers wouldn't like it. somebody else said those also hidden asked to leave the shop floor would be overweight. henry said there was a culture of fear and bullying at harrods that stemmed from mohammed al fayed, and essentially that was all about fear of losing yourjob, he told us. the whole system at harrods, in his opinion, had let women down with the various assault allegations that have come forward. and what he said to us was he wanted other security guards like him to come forward now in the way that he has to talk

about what they might have seen and what they might have known. and so have harrods responded to these latest allegations. well, they have. we asked harrods for a response and they referred us to their previous statement they gave to the bbc following the bbc documentary, and they said they were utterly appalled by the abuse allegations. and they said harrods today is a very different organisation to the one owned and run by mohamed al fayed. and if you've been affected by issues in this discussion, there is a range of organisations and websites that can offer you advice and support. you can find them listed on the bbc�*s actionline website at bbc.co.uk/actionline. if you have information about this story that you would like to share please get in touch. please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a bbc journalist. some breaking news, now, and nhs england has released their latest waiting time figures for winter including routine operations and cancer treatment, as well as a&e and

ambulance waiting times. with me now is our health correspondent, catherine burns. take us through them. the first thin i take us through them. the first thing i was _ take us through them. the first thing i was looking _ take us through them. the first thing i was looking for- take us through them. the first thing i was looking for was - take us through them. the first thing i was looking for was the l thing i was looking for was the flu. last week we were told it has quadrupled in a month. i was looking to see if it has started to ease off. it has not. last week therefore about 4,400 patients in hospital with the flu. the week before sorry. this week, the most recent figures, that has gone up to 5,400. it is still climbing and that isn't a surprise with the cold weather and everyone going back to school and work after the new year break. i bit shows, the extra thousand patients a week in a system thatis patients a week in a system that is so busy, across the bbc we have been hearing from patient about their experiences. if there are patients in hospital with the flu, other people can't get in the front door in a&e. and in

a&e, last year was the biggest yearfor a&e, last year was the biggest year for emergency services. a&e, last year was the biggest yearfor emergency services. in terms of a&e and ambulances, december, there were about 806 ambulance callouts. the average response time for those, category one calls, these are the cardiac arrests, they're supposed to be there within seven minutes. what has gone up to eight minutes 40. for category two, things like heart attack, 47 minutes and 26 seconds. the target is 18 minutes. it is bad, it is worse than the month before, but in 2023 the response times were worse. what we have, if you pull it from looking at this figure, that figure, what we have in the bigger picture is a scene of incredible stress and strain. so the nhs is busy all year round. in winter along comes the flu and we see an almost inevitable winter

crisis. the health secretary has been talking about that, wes streeting said despite the best efforts of staff, patients are still receiving unacceptable standards of care and he said annual winter pressures should not mean an annual winter crisis. but that is the reality. we annual winter crisis. but that is the reality.— is the reality. we have been heafina is the reality. we have been hearing from _ is the reality. we have been hearing from patients, - is the reality. we have been i hearing from patients, people, those who need the nhs. what have they been saying.- have they been saying. people have they been saying. people have been _ have they been saying. people have been telling _ have they been saying. people have been telling us, - have they been saying. people have been telling us, one - have they been saying. people have been telling us, one lady| have been telling us, one lady that we spoke to yesterday said sieves on a wheelchair for 13 hours. i didn't dare go to the loo, in case that wheelchair was taken. he was worried about blood clots. she said she saw another patient got admitted a and sme went and got a hand sanitizer and cleaned the bed that he left, so she could lay down. another said my mum was waiting for 30 hours. she said it was like a victorian work

house. the reality for staff and patients right now. thank ou. here, the government is drawing up new measures which it says will help tackle people smuggling — by targeting the money generated by the gangs behind it. sir keir starmer says that as well as seizing funds, new laws will ban uk—based individuals and financial institutions from dealing with groups that have been identified and sanctioned. the laws could come into force this year. the details will be outlined today by the foreign secretary david lammy — who's been talking about the issue on bbc news. we have got to fight on all fronts and in terms of the foreign office, whether it's returning those who should not be in our country back to where they came from, and returns are up 23% since we have come to power. 0r whether it is with using the tools at my disposal to freeze the bank accounts of companies and individuals that facilitate this, or impose travel bans on them, working with other allies to make it harderfor them to do that, that is what i'm announcing today in a speech

in a few hours' time. 0ur chief political correspondent henry zeffman has more on the government's new measures to tackle people smuggling. well, i think it's basically about trying to use every lever possible to disrupt these smuggling gangs. we know that the small boat crossings across the english channel is one of the biggest policy challenges facing this government, as it was the previous government. the previous government's approach was to try to find a way to deter people from making that crossing. they went for the eye—catching rwanda scheme, which they spent several years trying to get into operation and never managed. this government has always taken the view, when they were in opposition and now in government, that that was a gimmick, that's not what you need. what you need is to find a way to disrupt or, in keir starmer�*s language, smash the gangs. and this is one tool they hope can do that. i mean, we've heard a lot...

we know a lot, of course, about the fact that the uk government can sanction individuals or entities, but we usually hear about them doing that to terrorists, or cyber criminals, or human rights abusers, whatever it may be. this is the first time the uk has tried to do this to people involved in people smuggling. in fact, they reckon it's the first time any country has tried to do this. and i think they're not saying that this is some magic tool that will make the entire policy or entire problem of small boat crossings go away, but they do hope that this will contribute to disrupting the people smuggling gangs and ultimately reducing the flow. henry, we've also heard from david lammy, who was asked to comment on president—elect donald trump's comments about his desire to purchase greenland. what did he have to say about that? well, he was trying to play down the tension, which is apparent here, between the us and many of its nato allies over this. well, presumably all of its nato allies. and i think itjust exemplifies

what a challenge it is going to be for the uk government, as it was for previous uk governments from 2017 to 2021, dealing with donald trump, just in terms of responding to things he says day—to—day. it's such a reminder as a result of that press conference the president—elect gave a couple of days ago where he talked about many things besides greenland, but obviously that was one of the most eye—catching, and, you know, the uk government and uk government officials have spent the subsequent couple of days having to respond to them one—by—one. that's while he's president—elect. just wait for 11 days' time when he's president. it's always the case that the us has an outsized role in affecting what happens in the uk and the tone of discussion and the nature of discussion in the uk. but that's clearly going to be turbo charged on january 20th, around 5pm uk time, when donald trump swears the oath of office for a second time.

more now on the fires in los angeles. let's speak to cbs news correspondent news correspondent da nya bacchus, describe the scene where you are and the picture across the city. are and the picture across the ci . �* ., , city. i'm in palisades, the neighbourhood _ city. i'm in palisades, the neighbourhood in - city. i'm in palisades, the neighbourhood in los - city. i'm in palisades, the - neighbourhood in los angeles. we have been able to drive through the different areas and see the level of destruction caused by the palisades fire. you're going through neighbourhoods and seeing home after home levelled. we also went to an area known as the village that has a lot of different shops and restaurants and grocery stores. all of that destroyed. we were able to travel to altadena fire where five people have been killed and we were walking the business district. you cannot even begin to recognise the

buildings. some are still smouldering as we were walking through. right now what we are seeing, there is a lot of people taking in the damage that has been done by all these fires. also still a very active fires. also still a very active fire scene. as we were driving here we could see the glow from the palisades fire. we know there was another fire that blew up in the hollywood hills area of los angeles that prompted evacuations and thousands of people trying to leave. at this point in los angeles, many people know that at a moment's time they're going to have to leave. because they're able to see how destructive the fires have been. everyone here is on edge. what is the latest on the efforts to try and contain the fires? , , fires? yes, the firefighters are continuing _ fires? yes, the firefighters are continuing to - fires? yes, the firefighters are continuing to work - are continuing to work throughout the night and there are multiple agencies from other states who are now coming to los angeles to join in other states who are now coming to los angeles tojoin in on that fire fight. the winds here

have died down significantly. last night we were dealing with wind gusts up to 60mph where i am now. wejust checked wind gusts up to 60mph where i am now. we just checked the wind gusts are eight miles an hour. that makes a huge difference. that means that firefighters are now able to kind of predict which way the fire's going to be burning. last night those erratic winds moving embers up to two miles and firefighters weren't able to predict where it was going. they were not able to fly water—dropping aircraft that help to control the fires and make progress on the fires. so tonight we are hoping that because the winds have died down and they're expected to remain at this level, that there will be some progress made. . ~ there will be some progress made. ., ~ i. there will be some progress made. ., ~' ,, , there will be some progress made. ., ~ , . there will be some progress made. . ~ , . ., made. thank you very much for u -adatin made. thank you very much for updating us _ made. thank you very much for updating us from _ made. thank you very much for updating us from pacific - updating us from pacific palisades.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello again. we've just had the coldest night this winter in england, wales and northern ireland, but this coming night could prove to be even colder. for the next few nights, we're looking at some severe frosts. also, further snow and ice by day and by night some freezing fog. and by the time we get to the weekend, something a little bit less cold is coming our way. so, today, we are still pulling in some wintry showers across the north of scotland on that northerly wind, which is exacerbating the cold feel. this morning's wintry showers across northern ireland, north—west england and wales and the south—west easing a touch, still be a few left behind, but we still are looking at a lot of dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine. you may find a little bit of lingering fog in northern ireland and parts of north—west england. but this is what we're looking at temperature wise in our towns and cities, two to about five degrees,

colder than that where we've got lying snow. as we head through the evening and overnight, once again, the wintry showers continue across the north—east. brisk winds here. another weather front coming in across the south—west will introduce rain. we could well see some snow on its leading edge. and you can see from the colours here, it's going to be a cold night. there's potential for —20 somewhere with a bit of height and lying snow in the highlands. widely we're looking at —5 to —10. locally, we're looking at between —10 and also —16 or —17. tomorrow, then, our weather front doesn't move terribly far. it will still bring in all this cloud into the south—west. also some patchy rain, maybe a little bit of sleet on some of the moors. a lot of dry weather as well. any fog that's formed could take its time to lift. some of it again could linger for much of the day. and temperature wise, freezing in glasgow, to about 7 in plymouth, under that veil of cloud. then, as we head on from friday into the weekend, you can see how high pressure sinks south.

a weather front comes in from the atlantic, followed in hot pursuit by another one. isobars tell their own story at times. it is going to be windy. but the wind coming in from the south—west means that it's not going to be as cold as it has been this week. so, you can see how the temperatures rise, initially across northern ireland and western scotland. but by the time we get towards the end of the week, more of us are seeing higher temperatures than we have done.

this is bbc news. the headlines... new wildfires break out across los angeles. five people are confirmed dead. more than 130,000 have been evacuated. the pound tumbles as government borrowing costs surge to their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. latest figures show more than 5,000 people are in hospital with flu in england each day — and the number's rising. new analysis reveals the major housing increase councils are facing to meet government targets. welcome. some breaking news concerning _ welcome. some breaking news concerning manchester- welcome. some breaking newsj concerning manchester airport. we told — concerning manchester airport. we told you _ concerning manchester airport. we told you it _ concerning manchester airport. we told you it had _ concerning manchester airport. we told you it had closed - we told you it had closed

because of the weather. heavy snow there.