particular will make a ban. and in the la fires, we look at the hefty costs for residents and insurer as they brace for heavy losses. hello and welcome to business today with me, steve lai. the us supreme court is set to hear arguments on friday on an impending law what would force the chinese company bytedance, to sell social media platform tiktok to an america company, or bebanned in the us. the bbc�*s north america technology correspondent has more on how this could unfold. congress passed that law in april on national security grounds. law makers expressed concerns that tiktok�*s chinese ownership, bytedance, means that the data of millions of

americans could be compromised, and that they are also prone to manipulation by china's communist party. tiktok has consistently denied those allegations. they have expressed confidence that they will get the outcome that they seek from the supreme court. president—elect donald trump, meanwhile, has weighed in, despite once trying to ban the 3pp despite once trying to ban the app himself. he has now filed a brief in this case asking the supreme court to temporarily block the law so that he can try to save it. tiktok has repeatedly denied any potential influence by the chinese communist party and has said that the law violates the first amendment free speech rights of its users. the app is already banned from government devices in many countries, including the uk. boeing is donating $1 million to incoming president donald trump's inauguration. the plane—maker joins trump's inauguration. the plane—makerjoins a host of major us companies donating to the event, including ford, microsoft and meta. boeing

previously donated the same amount to the last three inaugurations, including trump's first one back in 2017. now the latest on the wildfires in los angeles. officials are warning that most of the fires are still uncontained, while smaller blazes are being tackled successfully. according to some reports, the damage incurred could cost nearly $60 billion. the bbc�*s north ameria business correpondent ritika gupta has more on the economic cost from this disaster. wildfires engulfing swathes of los angeles are expected to be one of the nation's costliest natural disasters. it will likely cause tens of billions of dollars in damage and economic loss, according to accuweather. the blazes burning in santa monica and malibu are consuming some of the most pricey real estate in the us, affecting areas where the median home value is more than $2 million. and in addition to the human costs and property damage in la, there's likely to be longer lasting health

impacts and medical costs due to acrid smoke, as well as a dent in the reem on�*s lucrative tourism business. jp morgan warned insurers that the cost is expected to pass $20 billion. the figure could pass further as the fires are not controlled and continue to spread. many affected homes were not insured. some of the biggest insurers hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters over the years have seized writing or stopped renewing policies in high—risk coastal and wildfire areas like pacific palisades. hurricane katrina in 2005 was the most expensive us natural disaster, with an estimated cost of $200 billion, according to national oceanic and atmospheric administration. places in california in 2018, including the camp fire caused an estimated $30 billion of damage. gareth grade and one of the

evacuees talked to me about the financial scale of rebuilding. insurability is a big problem. notjust here in california, but all over the country. for example, in florida where there's hurricanes. there has been a lack of access to insurance. so, there is different government programmes and carriers trying to fill the 93p- and carriers trying to fill the gap. but as the frequency and severity of these events tend to increase because of climate change and other economic factors, it's going to become increasingly difficult for consumers to find insurance. and with that in mind, i know that corelogic has a rating systems of sorts for this. and you've seen the scores for different properties and different properties and different areas as a result of all of the fires going up. is that the trend? i all of the fires going up. is that the trend?— all of the fires going up. is that the trend? i bought my house in _ that the trend? i bought my house in the _ that the trend? i bought my house in the pacific - that the trend? i bought my l house in the pacific palisades three years ago. and i knew that the corelogic fire risk score was in the high 80s. 0ver score was in the high 80s. over the last couple of years, it's been moving up into the 90s,

which makes sense, given now the way that it has been impacted. so scores are rising, as we look at the climate change analytics. they are also projected to continue to rise. so this is a challenge that's going to continue to become difficult to solve. find going to continue to become difficult to solve.— difficult to solve. and given the trend — difficult to solve. and given the trend of _ difficult to solve. and given the trend of these - difficult to solve. and given the trend of these extreme | the trend of these extreme weather events becoming more and more frequent, how are individuals and insurance companies going to be able to adapt? i companies going to be able to ada t? ~ �* , ., companies going to be able to adat? ~' �*, ., ., adapt? i think it's all about havin: adapt? i think it's all about having good _ adapt? i think it's all about having good data. - adapt? i think it's all about having good data. one - adapt? i think it's all about having good data. one of l adapt? i think it's all about l having good data. one of the things that corelogic is really working with carriers to help them understand the risk that is are different by each property. because every property. because every property is different and has different characteristics that affect the risk. so understanding the risk tos properties. understanding for homeowners. 0ne properties. understanding for homeowners. one of the reasons that maybe, my house was potentially spared is because we understood how to mitigate a lot of the fuel that was around the house, and we were really proactive around that. so there are mitigation efforts that homeowners can do to try to

make their house less likely to burnin make their house less likely to burn in a fire like this. but, you know, the vast majority of houses — there was nothing that you could do. they werejust in the path and the fire was marching towards the ocean, and no mitigation effort would have saved any of the homes. just to clari , saved any of the homes. just to clarify. when — saved any of the homes. just to clarify, when you _ saved any of the homes. just to clarify, when you say _ saved any of the homes. just to clarify, when you say fuel- saved any of the homes. just to clarify, when you say fuel - - clarify, when you say fuel — you mean like leaves and vegetation that is flammabilitys that what you mean? ., �* , flammabilitys that what you mean? . h , mean? that's exactly right. so the last couple _ mean? that's exactly right. so the last couple of— mean? that's exactly right. so the last couple of years - mean? that's exactly right. so the last couple of years in - mean? that's exactly right. so the last couple of years in los| the last couple of years in los angeles, we had a lot of extra rain — more rain than normal. which causes foilage to growment and then less rain this year than normal, especially for the winter months. so that got really draw and becamejust months. so that got really draw and became just the fuel that drove the fire in the canyons and throughout pacific palisades and beyond. what ha--ens palisades and beyond. what happens to _ palisades and beyond. what happens to people - palisades and beyond. what happens to people without l happens to people without insurance in these fires that we've seen unfurling all across los angeles? will there be state and federal funds available?— state and federal funds available? . ., �* ~ ., available? yeah, i don't know the exact _ available? yeah, i don't know the exact answer— available? yeah, i don't know the exact answer to _ available? yeah, i don't know the exact answer to that. - available? yeah, i don't know the exact answer to that. i i the exact answer to that. i know that fema will be responding. but that is one of the big challenges. if you do not have insurance, and

insurance that covers wildfire, you're at significant risk of not being made whole in one of these events. and so, it's a challenge that we need to figure out how to solve. everyone should be able to have access to insurance so that they can protect their biggest investment that they have in their lives, generally — it's their lives, generally — it's their home. the world's largest asset manager, black rock, has announced it is pulling out of announced it is pulling out of a climate change industry group known as net zero asset managers. the money management said that they had caused confusion on blackrock and invited legal officials. blackrock were sued by 11 republican states over the environmental agenda, though the company denied any wrongdoing. during the covid lockdown, online dating exploded and apps like tinder, hinge and bumble sky rocketed in popularity. but are they still as widely loved as they were during the highs of the lockdown. a researcher

centre surveyed 6,000 americans. and in this week's talking business, my colleague spoke to one of the authors of that report. we do see differences overall when we ask people about their experiences of online dedating. to get into the detail, we explored some of the more negative experiences that people encounter when online dating. and we see that younger women, women under 50, stand out for experiencing these things. for example, they were more likely than other groups to say they'd received unwanted sexually explicit messages or images, for example. another place that we see differences is when we asked people who had been on dating apps more recently how they feel about the number of messages they receive. so, we've heard a lot of discussion about online daters and motions from burn—out, to elation — everything in between. and what we find when we asked online daters themselves is that there's a gender disconnect here. so women are more likely to say — in the past year, they've felt overwhelmed by how many messages they get on dating sites and apps. and men

on the other hand, are more likely to say they feel insecure about the same thing. some are concerned about safety. they think dating sites and apps should implement background checks. they've had the negative experiences. but others are saying that their experiences have been positive. now, why do you think some sites are more popular than others? if you do pay, and if you do go for that extra service with a much bigger price tag, did users find that it was worth it? so price tag, did users find that it was worth it?— price tag, did users find that it was worth it? so we did see some differences _ it was worth it? so we did see some differences in _ it was worth it? so we did see some differences in how- it was worth it? so we did see i some differences in how people rated their experiences. and so, we found that about six in ten online daters who said that they'd paid for a site or an app they'd paid for a site or an app or a feature at some point said that their experiences had been positive. among those who haven't paid, about half say that their experiences have been positive. 0ne that their experiences have been positive. one other thing is that different platforms may

appeal to different people. and overall, we asked people about their reasons for being on dating sites and apps. and it's important to note that while many people consider — well, one measure of success of online dating