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. 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 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. project liberty put in a bid on thursday to buy the assets he previously was the owner of the baseball team the la dodgers. boeing is donating $1 million to incoming president donald 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 most of the fires are still uncontained. more than 9000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. according to some reports, the damage incurred could cost up to $150 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 region's lucrative tourism business. jp morgan warned insurers that the cost is expected to pass $20 billion. the figure could rise 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. blazes in california in 2018, including the camp fire caused an estimated $30 billion of damage.

i spoke to garret gray, president of insurance solutions at corelogic and one of the evacuees of the palisades fire, to discuss the range of the damage and the financial toll 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 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 areas as a result of all of the fires going up. is that the trend? i bought my house in the pacific palisades

three years ago. and i knew that the corelogic fire risk 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. and given 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 think it's all about 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 is different and has different characteristics that affect the risk. so understanding the risk for 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 burn in a fire like this. but, you know, the vast majority of houses — there was nothing that you could do. they were just in the path and the fire was marching towards the ocean, and no mitigation effort would have saved any of the homes. just to clarify, when you say fuel — you mean like leaves and vegetation that is flammable, is that what you mean? that's exactly right. so 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 became just the fuel that drove the fire in the canyons and throughout pacific palisades and beyond. what 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? yeah, i don't know 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 home. the world's largest asset manager blackrock has announced it is pulling out of the climate change industry group known as net zero asset managers. the money managers as its membership had caused confusion on blackrock�*s practices and invited legal inquiries from officials. blackrock and rivals in november was sued by 11 republican led state of environmental agendas. the company denied any wrongdoing. sales of electric and hybrid sales of electric and hybrid

vehicles broke records in vehicles broke records in china. china. purchases were driven by a brutal price war and subsidies to encourage from greener cars. cells rose by 40% from 2a making up almost half of all competences. chinese manufacturers saw excellent results in their home market but the prospect of higher tariffs in the us and europe could dent sales this year. luxury car maker mercedes—benz reported its best ever annual sales in india last year. encouraged by performance, now pledged to open several other dealerships focusing on smaller indian cities. our correspondentjoins us for more on this. what do the sales figures tell us about attitudes towards indulging in luxury purchases?

which is jump of about i2%. primarily driven by new offerings in cars and also significantly it's electric vehicle segment which appears to have doubled in the same year. at the moment mercedes has about 125 for outlets in the country but they are looking to expand to 20 more outlets. notjust cities like delhi and mumbai, they are looking to target the smaller cities as well which are seeing a little more demand. analysis by the company shows that a lot of the younger people are coming into buy these cars, a lot of second and third generation business owners are looking to splurge on these cars which is where you are seeing other reasons that are also driving this kind of demand is the fact that there is an aspirational value but the increase in infrastructure with a lot of analysts in terms of roads and better highways and driving this desire to have the

ultimate driving experience using these cars. notjust not just about mercedes—benz but a lot of other luxury brands as well.- but a lot of other luxury brands as well. , . ., , brands as well. the sector but the sa brands as well. the sector but they say they _ brands as well. the sector but they say they are _ brands as well. the sector but they say they are optimistic i they say they are optimistic about 2025. with so much of the latest in los angeles. wildfire still burning with many still uncontained. more than 9000 homes and other structures have been damaged or destroyed. the estimated economic cost of the damaged mouse is between 135 and $150 billion and accounting. there is a live page “p accounting. there is a live page up and running with more updates. take you forjoining me. —— thank you forjoining me.

i'm julia with the catch up. today, lynx on the loose. instagram's big new change and the man who lost £600 million in a dump. but we'll start in los angeles where five wildfires are ripping across thousands of acres in the wider city. the blazes have led to more than 130,000 people being driven out of their homes. adam brodie among the a—listers who lost their house, as well as paris hilton who took to social media to say: some other stories now. a man has tried to sue the newport council after they refused him entry to the dumping ground. he wanted access to search for a hard drive that was thrown away. it had £598 million of bitcoin on it, but the judge has thrown his case out. if you use instagram

or threads, you'll no longer be able to opt out of being shown political content, even if it is from people you don't follow. that's what parent company meta have announced. the change will happen in the us this week, before it's expanded globally next week. but critics worry that it risks spreading disinformation. and two lynx have been captured in the scottish highlands after they were illegally set free and spotted on wednesday. and here's 10 seconds of high—fashion history. italian fashion house dolce and gabana are bringing an exhibition to paris showcasing their collections throughout the years. launching on january 10, it will include immersive experiences and access to one of a kind pieces. that's you all caught up now. have a good night.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm marc edawrds. here's what's coming up. arrivadyche. everton part ways with their manager sean dyche hours before their 3rd round fa cup tie. point to prove for potter. former chelsea and brighton boss graham potter appointed the new west ham manager. difficult draw for djokovic. the 24—time grand slam champion with a potential blockbuster quarter final against carlos alcaraz on the horizon. hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday. we start with football and the news that everton have sacked their manager sean dyche. the 53—year—old's departure

was announced on thurdsayjust