live from singapore, this is bbc news. whole neighbourhoods burned to the ground — devastation in los angeles with wildfires still raging three days on. at least five people have died and 180,000 people are fleeing their homes. also in the news: donald trump is set to be sentenced tomorrow after the supreme court denies his bid to delay his hearing. and former us president jimmy carter will be buried in his hometown of plains, georgia, after a state funeral in washington. hello. welcome to newsday.

in los angeles, wildfires are still burning. authorities say the death toll will remain unclear until it is safe to access neighbourhoods. they expect the number of people killed to rise. forecasters say strong winds will continue tonight. about 180,000 people have had to flee their homes. it has been described as apocalyptic. there are several fires still alight. the largest is the palisades fire, the first to arrive on tuesday. emergency services have made a dent in preventing that fire spreading. in the last hour, they say the palisades fire is 6% contained. breaking news in the last hour — a man has been arrested on suspicion of arson regarding the kenneth buyout which broke out north of palisades, threatening homes.

it is the latest to have united in southern california. us presidentjoe biden says he is sending all resources possible to southern california including 400 additional federalfirefighters including 400 additional federal firefighters and more than 30 firefighting helicopters. he and vice president kamala harris have been speaking in the past few hours. ~ . ., , , been speaking in the past few hours. ~ . . , , ., hours. what we are seeing is a situation that _ hours. what we are seeing is a situation that is _ hours. what we are seeing is a situation that is extremely - situation that is extremely dynamic, is very much in play, and to some degree unpredictable because we are literally waiting to see which way the wind blows. the families _ way the wind blows. the families impacted - way the wind blows. the families impacted by - way the wind blows. the families impacted by this disaster, you are living through— disaster, you are living through a nightmare, i know, and _ through a nightmare, i know, and i— through a nightmare, i know, and i promise we are going to help— and i promise we are going to help you _ and i promise we are going to help you get through this and eventually recover and rebuild. this latest wave of wildfires has become one of the costliest natural disasters in history with more than 10,000 homes destroyed. accuweather estimates the damages going to

be 315 billion compared to the previous wild by which saw damages of $400 billion. that was in the middle of summer. this fire has only been burning for three days in the middle of winter. from la, our correspondence emma vardy sent this report. still, they burn — the most catastrophic fires los angeles has ever seen. 0vernight, the hollywood hills resembling a disaster movie. a huge crescent of flame engulfing an iconic community of california. more than 130,000 people have been told to evacuate their homes. here, just one of many properties engulfed, turned to a shell. at least five major fires have been burning across los angeles county. the scale and spread has stretched firefighting crews

on the ground and in the air. 16,000 acres and counting consumed by the inferno. 0ne street filmed by a local resident moments before he left. i thought maybe i would be able to get some extra stuff that we didn't take, and come to see that the whole street is just gone. it's like a war zone. and we had so many memories in here that cannot be replaced. i had these great old pictures of my grandfather from world war ii, both grandfathers, and i was going to get them framed. and now they're gone and they're lost. and i had so many things that are just lost forever. itjust — i know we're safe, but i don't understand. the scale of this disaster is clear to see. this is pacific palisades —

block after block a blanket of destruction. more than a thousand buildings burned in this community alone. emergency services unable to save them. we had everything, like the sentimental things. like, my mum passed away, i had only a few things of hers left. my wedding dress, our wedding album, we left everything. 0uralbums, our... we have just whatever we're wearing. we're wearing the same thing for the last two days. copy that. fuelled by hurricane—force winds, these fires have struck at a vulnerable time. la hasn't seen any significant rainfall for months. abandoned neighbourhoods are now falling prey to crime. in the midst of the emergency, we've all seen individuals who are targeting vulnerable communities by burglarising and looting homes. this is simply unacceptable.

as dawn came in the palisades, it revealed the grim reality of what the fire has left behind. there are miles and miles of streets like this and utter shock at the devastation here. communities just vanished, now ghost towns, and once dream homes turned to dust. no one is immune — mansions now ash. the homes ofjennifer aniston, adam sandler and paris hilton among those evacuated. and this was filmed by the wife of take that star mark 0wen as they escaped through the flames. some are returning to the ruins to see what remains. a scene that will be repeated in this ravaged city over the coming days. emma vardy, bbc news,

los angeles. sue cole, president of the pacific palisades community council told me how they are going. i council told me how they are anoin. . council told me how they are oiiin _ ., ., council told me how they are oiiin_ ., ., , ., going. i have not spoken to anybody — going. i have not spoken to anybody who _ going. i have not spoken to anybody who has _ going. i have not spoken to anybody who has not - going. i have not spoken to anybody who has not lost i going. i have not spoken to i anybody who has not lost their home. the place where i live, usually safe from fires, has been completely wiped off the map. the fire did start in the hills where they usually start, but typically the firefighters get on it fast enough to put out the flames. this time we had 80 mile an hour winds and low water pressure and they did not have a chance. it didn't matter how good they are, how many hours they worked, those poor firefighters did everything they could and yet they could not really save much. the speed at which the fire has moved through the palisades area caught everyone by surprise.

reports say 96% of properties in the pacific palisades will face wildfire risks over the next 30 years. is this the first time you have had to evacuate your home because of fire? no. it's not. we had to evacuate before. that was part of the problem for me. previously when we have evacuated, we have grabbed the dogs, couple of things and the next day have been told to come back. this time, grabbed the dogs, grabbed photo albums, but thought we will be back in a day or two, so we did not take any clothes or a lot of things we needed and we got out of there and within, i don't know, 24 hours, our house was gone, our entire neighbourhood was gone, so now we are just trying to get over the grief and focus on the future and how grateful we are we all got out safely. that is sort of where we are right now. it is hard to describe really.

it is strange. it is a really difficult moment. i know you are a real estate agent, so you understand the area, the properties, the financial implications to all those people who would have lost their homes. can you talk us through a bit more about the area? it is basically, in terms of suburbs of los angeles, it is one of the more wealthy suburbs. the properties are very expensive, multi—million dollar properties everywhere. i don't know what will happen now. i do not know who will rebuild, who will decide to move away. what i do know is we have had a long list of clients contact us today. everybody needs a place to rent everybody needs a place to go, and we have to look in other areas of los angeles

because there is really nothing there. i'm trying to go back tomorrow to walk up the street, but there is nobody there. the businesses burned, the churches, the schools, the supermarkets, the restaurants, the stores — everything. everything is gone, so i don't know if everyone will rebuild. some might choose to move away. it is hard to know right now. it really is a difficult situation. we really do appreciate you talking to us about what has been happening in los angeles. you're also the president of the pacific palisades community council. have you been busy? and how has the community come together to try to help each other with what has been happening? i will tell you we have the most tightknit community you can imagine.

it is like a small town, but it is on the edge of la right near the beach, so a pretty idyllic place. everybody knows everybody, everybody is friendly. as a community council we have meetings a couple of times a month by zoom and we had to cancel the one tonight because everyone is scrambling, but we plan to have a meeting on the 23rd and have people from the mayor's office, a city councilwoman tracy park, and state senator's office, anyone we can get, to come together and try and help the community understand what sort of help they can get and what our first step of the path forward will be. right now, there is a big whatsapp group,text messaging groups. there are so many methods

of communication and i've heard from so many people. everybody has a devastating story, and everybody is grieving and not quite sure what to do next. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's get back to our top story. several wildfires are still burning in los angeles, most uncontained. 0fficials most uncontained. officials have warned five deaths but says the toll will remain unclear until they can access neighbourhoods. they expect the death toll to rise as they say strong winds will continue overnight. there are still five major fires alight around the city with the two largest still the destruction caused by the fire in the eaton area is

widespread. in pasadena, this synagogue was devastated and the pacific palisades was not spared either. many neighbours look like this from block after block. let's cross to ashley sharp who is in altadena and shejoins us life. sharp who is in altadena and she joins us life. thanks for joining us. tell us how badly the area that you are in has been hit. the area that you are in has been hit-— the area that you are in has been hit. ., ., , , , been hit. you about sums it up. you talked _ been hit. you about sums it up. you talked about _ been hit. you about sums it up. you talked about block- been hit. you about sums it up. you talked about block after- you talked about block after block, homes destroyed, churches destroyed. i am standing in front of that very thing right now. i am standing in front of that very thing right now. iam in altadena. the eaton fire ripped through here. i accrues are trying to get it contained. the home before me, the family bought it in the 19505. the grandmother passed away three years ago and i have connected with the homeowner. i have been texting with her because they

have not been able to get to this home and they say all of their memories are gone — they were in this home — and the last memories of their grandmother who passed away they no longer have because of this destruction. home after home. you will see next to me, this is the house next door. you are seeing shell5 this is the house next door. you are seeing shells of two cars. we are seeing another hollowed out home. i could walk all the way down the street and show you the same picture, house after house, churches, businesses. it is devastating. fires continue to prop up around los angeles tonight. they are making slight progress on the palisades fire which is the largest burning. this eaton fire, i have not seen any reported containment at all yet, so 0% containment. you mentioned the winds. it has not been too bad tonight. we can see my hair is not blowing, trees are not rustling behind us compared to the gusting winds on night one on this fire — it is better now. we know

that the wind could pick up overnight so we are watching that. ~ ., ., ._ ., that. we are into day three of these fires — that. we are into day three of these fires across _ that. we are into day three of these fires across los - that. we are into day three of. these fires across los angeles. how are the forces coping with the sporadic pop—up of fires in different locations, as you have been describing? well, it is all hands — have been describing? well, it is all hands on _ have been describing? well, it is all hands on deck. _ have been describing? well, it is all hands on deck. it - have been describing? well, it is all hands on deck. it is - is all hands on deck. it is crews that are in from eight, nine hours away in california. they have driven south to help. they have driven south to help. they are sleeping in the fire engines for 45 minutes and then going back to fight the fire. there have been a lot of belief crews that have come in, passing out water, passing out food to the tired firefighters, tired law enforcement officers because these communities have shut down. they are evacuation zones so we have police officers staged in these communities to make sure people who are not supposed to be here are not coming up here. we have

had 20 people arrested for looting, for coming into these neighbourhoods and stealing which is unacceptable and it takes away from the resources — the officers having to divert their attention to preventing crime when the focus should be on the fire. the crews are exhausted but they continue working hard tonight.- exhausted but they continue working hard tonight. thank you for those updates. _ working hard tonight. thank you for those updates. ashley - working hard tonight. thank you for those updates. ashley sharp i for those updates. ashley sharp in altadena. we will turn our attention away from those fires in los angeles. the us supreme court has denid a last—minute bid by president—elect donald trump's to halt sentencing in his hush money case. the top court rejected donald trump's emergency application seeking to block friday's sentencing by a 5—4 vote. the president—elect has been convicted in a new york court of covering up payments to an adult film performer. the two conservative judges joined three liberals to reject trump's bid to delay the hearing. donald trump has already expressed his anger at the decision.

they called for an appeal, and as you know, they acknowledged what the judge said about no penalty and there is no penalty, but we're going to appeal anyway, just psychologically, because frankly it is a disgrace. it is a judge who should not have been the case. it is a highly conflicted judge and they called for an appeal, and i read it and i thought it was a fair decision actually, so i will do my little thing tomorrow. they can have fun with their political opponent. i am under a gag orderfrom thejudge. this is an attack of a political opponent, and if you take a look at it — i am not supposed to be talking about it, so i won't. after the news broke, we spoke to former federal prosecutor sarah krisoff. i am not particularly surprised this is where they ended out. the 5—4 ruling here shows again how divided the court is. i imagine it was a very contentious day there as they sorted this out. i am not surprised — the court basically said

"you can appeal this case in the normal course of business. "as every other criminal defendant does. "we're not going to allow you to hop scotch here "and bring this to the supreme court. "we're not going to stop this from going forward. "if you have appalate issues to raise "you can raise them after the sentencing "like everybody else does." in many ways, i really think president trump is the luckiest criminal defendant in the world because he has a sentencing judge who has essentially already told him what is going to happen. most defendants go into sentencing as scared as can be because it is one of the most contentious and pressure—filled moments of their whole experience, but in this case, we know what it is going to happen. judge merchan qualified his statements a little bit, and said "obviously i need to consider this and that "and i will follow all the rules but essentially "you're not getting prison time "or a fine or any supervision

by this court going forward. "we are ensuring this conviction stays in place." jimmy carter has been buried alongside his wife, rosalynn, in their home in the town of plains, georgia. a private family service was held at the mara natha baptist church. earlier in the day, there was a state funeral service at the national cathedral in the us capitol. jimmy carter's casket was draped in stars and stripes, and accompanied by his family. 3,000 guests, including the last five presidents, leaders from around the world, and jimmy carter's friends and family, attended the funeral. the 39th president died last month at 100 years old. jimmy carter lay in state for three days at the us capitol rotunda, where thousands of mourners lined up for hours to pay their respects. let's ta ke let's take a look at some other stories. become a smack run health ministry in gaza says

17 people have been killed in strikes in the past 24 hour�*s. the man said that involved his daughters who were killed in a refugee camp in the north of the territory. israel says it is targeting hamas. poland says it will ensure safe access to israeli officials wanting to attend the anniversary of the nazi concentration camp in oshawa it's early month. 05hawa it's early month. colin's president asked prime minister donald tusk to allow the israeli prime minister to visit without fear. benjamin netanyahu is wanted by the international criminal court for alleged war crimes in gaza. the us supreme court will hear oral arguments over the fate of tiktok on friday in what is known as one of the most important cases of the social media age. congress passed a law forcing bytedance to sell tiktok to an american company orface a man in the us. the us government says the law is

necessary to protect national security and given bytedance's chinese ownership. 0thers security and given bytedance's chinese ownership. others say it would violate their first amendment right and harm free speech. let's check in and see how you are doing with new year's resolutions. are you still going to the gym every day as promised or kept away from junk food and alcohol? if you have not, you are not alone because today is known as quitters day. it is the second friday in january and research suggest around 80% of people have given up on their promise of new year, new me. i spoke to a professor at the chicago university school of business and she told me why people tend not to stick to their resolutions. happy new year and happy quitters day. hopefully you are not quitting quite yet.

the psychology is basically the psychology of goal setting. people like to set goals and you know what? it is actually good for us. it is good to set goals even though we often need to reset them and go back to them and it is just one strategy. it is one strategy, but goal setting is an important thing to do. why do some people succeed and others not? let me say that in our sample of thousands of people, about a quarter who set resolutions stick to them all the way until next year, so it is not hopeless and we do not really know what is going on with the other 75%. it is possible that many of them are still doing something but they do not want to engage with our survey. we know 25% stick to their resolution so it could work for people. we also know that the people

who are able to stick to the resolutions set resolutions that they find some value for pursuing. that is they care about it and maybe enjoy pursuing these resolutions and maybe they find it satisfying. it is not that these people set resolutions to eat more ice cream and watch more tv. they still set things about exercise, eating, professional goals, but they enjoy the journey. that is, they want to be the person who does the work notjust a person who completed the resolutions. a lot of these targets people have, they have an emotional investment in these which can be had to maintain. is there a trick to it when you can take the emotion and feeling out of it and create a good habit and make it a routine? this is one strategy, creating a routine. the problem with creating

a routine and habit is that for most of our resolutions, that will take some time, and it is not going to be things like brushing your teeth in the morning. you have to give the extra push. there is still some difficulty in doing it and there will be setbacks so even people who successfully changed their life, quit smoking or quit alcohol or start exercising, there will be setbacks and then you need to get over. some good advice there. before we go, let's give you a recap of our top stories with those fires in los angeles. you have information on our lives are paid which is up and running and giving your background on what is happening. a man has been detained on suspicion of lighting one of the latest fires which broke out on the border of los angeles and ventura county. plenty more information on our platforms on bbc news. thanks for your

company. goodbye. hello there. winter continues to hold a firm grasp across the country. so it will be a freezing friday in store. yes, a frosty start with some freezing fog as well first thing in the morning, gradually lifting to sunny spells. but as we head towards the weekend, something a little less cold on the horizon but still under the influence of high pressure. still the wind direction coming from the north. the only exception into the far southwest. here we've got cloud and showery outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow for a time down to the southwest, some freezing fog lingering in the southeast, and some icy stretches. they will lift to sunny spells into the afternoon. could still see a few coastal showers across the far north and east, but on the whole, not a bad afternoon. a little more cloud pushing through. wales, the midlands and southern england are showery rain continues to the southwest here. we'll see highs of seven degrees, but after that bitterly cold start, temperatures in manyjust a couple of degrees above

freezing and that is going to lead to another cold frosty start into the weekend. once again, our weather front starts to drag more cloud in from the west though, here preventing those temperatures from falling too far but in sheltered central and eastern areas once again, a widespread hard frost on saturday morning. so saturday will gradually see more cloud pushing in on this weak weather front. not that much in the way of rain on it. a few spits and spots of showery rain from time to time. central and eastern areas starting off crisp with some sunshine but clouding over from the west. a little less cold here, where we've got that blanket of cloud, but don't expect a dramatic change quite just yet. we're looking at highs of around 7 or 8 degrees, with the best of the sunshine again between 2 and 4 celsius. now, as we move out of saturday into sunday and the week ahead, it looks likely that the wind direction will change as southwesterly flow will drive in weather fronts to the far north and west, but mild air right

across the country. so we will start to see a change by the middle part of the week for all of us. takes its time in arriving across central and southern england, but by the middle of the week we're back to double figures. but there will be a little bit of rain to go with it. take care.

tiktok will make its final appeal to the supreme court on friday at a potential ban in the us. and as wildfires in la continue, we look at the hefty cost to residents and insurers as they brace for losses in the billions of dollars. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. the us supreme court is set to hear arguments on friday on an impending law that would force the chinese company bytedance, to sell social media platform tiktok to an american company, or be banned 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. lawmakers 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.