wildfires doubles to ten. a fire official says there's no "conclusive evidence" that the fires were started deliberately. thousands of firefighters are still battling to control blazes, and there's no sign of any rain for the rest of the day. around 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes. we will bring you reaction and analysis of the fires. also coming up... the uk's home office says a team from its homeland security group is monitoring elon musk�*s social media posts. a warning of further travel disruption as snow and ice continue to affect many parts of the uk. hello, i'm martine croxall. ten people are now confirmed

have been killed in los angeles worst wildfires. it is sam there and thousands of firefighters are still fighting to control the blazers. the county sheriff says it hasn't been safe to reach many hard—hit areas and the number people who have lost their lives is "absolutely going to change". this aerial footage shows the kenneth wildfire as it approaches some homes. police earlier said they believed it was started deliberately, and detained a man on suspicion of arson. but the fire chief has now told the bbc that there is, as yet, no "conclusive evidence" that the wildfires have been deliberately set. this was the scene as dense smoke blanketed the sky above hollywood. weather forecasters are warning that across la, more high winds may fan the flames further. officials say as many as 10,000 homes and other structures have been damaged or destroyed. accuweather estimates the damage could be up to $150 billion. five fires continue to burn across los angeles. the national guard has

been deployed amid reports of looting. the devastation has been illustrated byjust one of thousdands of residents. harlan boll sent us this photo of his home before the wildfires. and this is what is left now from the eaton fire which burned nearly 111,000 acres in los angeles. as well as losing his home, harlon boll also lost his pet cat. residents have described the firestorm as "apocalyptic". in some areas, families have returned to scenes of devastation, combing through the rubble and ash that was their home. we'll have the latest from our correspondent in la shortly. but our first report this hour is from helena humphrey. i watched this house burn down live on the news. yeah, this was a beautiful home. had a lot of good times here. it's hard to put into words the level of devastation here, but the la county sheriff

put it bluntly. in some areas, he said, it looks like a bomb had been dropped. so far, land more than twice the size of manhattan lies in ruins. and, still, these fires rage out of control. there is a new fire, unfortunately, in west hills pushing into ventura county. and we are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds. this is a reminder that this is a very dynamic situation that can change quickly. on thursday, a brief lull in those fierce santa ana winds allowed aircraft to streak across the skies, dropping water and fire retardant onto the flames. but there's no guarantee that that calm will last, with forecasters warning more winds could fan these infernos even further. the wind definitely played the biggest part, especially with the flying embers. i mean, i rememberseeing embersjust shooting over my head, like, oh, my gosh, that's

somebody�*s house. that's someone�*s property. just balls of fire. some residents have ventured back, bracing themselves for what they'd find, only to discover their homes reduced to little more than ash. many told us they're simply too devastated to speak on camera. these fires don't discriminate — tearing through every kind of neighbourhood, from lavish mansions to humble bungalows, all of them once a place of safety for someone. this looks like the apocalypse. it just doesn't feel like the normal, er, things that happen in your life. this is something very unusual. and for others, the scope of this catastrophe confirms their growing fears about the changing climate. this is obvious that stuff like this is happening because of global warming, and people just want to deny it, just don't know science and don't know how to research those things.

so i think that humans are funny because they think anywhere they move in this world, they'll be safe. but the entire world has global warming. i guess, pick your disaster and live there. what disaster makes you feel most comfortable? because that's the world we're living in at this point. here in altadena, fire crews are out battling these hot spots. you can see that many homes, like this one, are still smouldering. and you can see here that this entire neighbourhood, this entire community, has essentially been wiped out. we've been speaking to families here who have lived in these homes for generations and, in just a matter of hours, they've lost everything. and in some of the hardest—hit areas, a night—time curfew is in place as some try to profit from the chaos. looting has already led to multiple arrests. meanwhile, president biden has pledged his support for all those affected. to the families who have been impacted by this disaster, you're living through a nightmare — i know. i promise you, we're going to help you get through this and, eventually, recover and rebuild.

but rebuilding is hard to imagine right now, when all these residents can do is wait, hoping and praying that the next gust of wind won't stoke the embers back into an inferno. helena humphrey, bbc news, los angeles. jason kirkpatrick, a climate expert and former vice—mayor of arcata in california, says these fires bring back memories of his time there. i know exactly what this feeling is like, it is terrifying. i've been stuck in these fires, my cousin lost her house in this area a few years ago when it burned down, and even as a youth in this area i remember nearby fires, i was on the roof of our wooden shingled home with a garden hose, hosing down the roof so that flying embers with these big winds called santa ana winds would not catch my house, it was terrifying. so when we see fires on this

scale, the worst in los angeles history, and we're told by climate change experts that the frequency is likely to increase, what needs to change, first of all, in terms of how emergency responses are organised, in your view? ok, the short—term thing for emergency response, there are some small things that we are learning from these lessons we are hearing in the news. the water planning needs to be done a bit better. they have really done well, but this is the worst ever fire and now there will be lessons learnt, there will be more waterstorage, better collaboration with other agencies, possibly outside of california so that there can be rapid reaction from nearby states like arizona, nevada, 0regon. that will have to happen, but another thing we can see dealing with evacuations, we know the firefighters are tired, they are exhausted, so having things like the national guard and reserve but maybe trained in advance to deal with mass evacuations, if they were able to be called

in from early on to help firefighters and police, that would free up more time for the firefighters. that is something they could do. bonnie and jason matthews have lived in altadena since 2017. this is what remained of their neighbourhood whenjason returned to check on their house. the couple had evacuated — along with their two cats — on tuesday after the power went out and police drove by warning everyone to evacuate. this smoldering wreckage is all that remains of their home. with me is our bbc weather presenter stav danaos. we keep talking about the sheer strength of the wins that are hitting the la area.- hitting the la area. yes, the santa ana — hitting the la area. yes, the santa ana winds _ hitting the la area. yes, the santa ana winds which - hitting the la area. yes, the santa ana winds which are i hitting the la area. yes, the santa ana winds which are a | santa ana winds which are a common feature across this part of the world, having been particularly strong recently, gus nick in excess of 80 miles an hour over the past few days. they have been fuelling the

fires. —— gusting. the map i am showing you now is actually the drought map across southern california. we are actually in severe drought. it has been a dry december so far. there has been ample range of the site of the winter here. very different story further south. so have dipped tinder dry conditions. the santa ana winds, they are a common feature when you get high pressure to the north of the region and lower pressure to the south. and we have strong easterly winds which blow out from the desert, dry out even more over the mountains and then drop down as very dry, low humidity wins across the la region. these wins have been exceptionally strong recently. i have got the pressure chart to show you what has been happening the last 12

hours. you can see the high—pressure system i am talking about to the north of california, which has been squeezing against a lower pressure down towards mexico. we have had these stronger easterly ones. those wins have been particularly strong for the last couple of days, gusting in excess of 80 miles an hour. the next few days, the winds do ease it down. the cold front misses southern california. there is no rain in sight. by the time we reach sunday, sunday looks like the winds will pick back up again and back into next week with no rain in the forecast so we could begin more dangerous conditions once again. we are already hearing _ conditions once again. we are already hearing that _ conditions once again. we are already hearing that water - already hearing that water levels are so high, so it is difficult to put out these fires. �* ,., difficult to put out these fires. �* , , ., fires. also, because of the strain for— fires. also, because of the strain for the _ fires. also, because of the strain for the winds, - fires. also, because of the strain for the winds, they l fires. also, because of the - strain for the winds, they have not been able to get a helicopter and plane is out to douse the fires from an aerial view. the culmination of it all

has been devastating. the outlook for next week, no rain at all. we do get droughts in california but it has been particularly dry recently and with the strong winds, whatever started the fires, it has just been a lethal combination. find been a lethal combination. and this is winter, _ been a lethal combination. and this is winter, it _ been a lethal combination. and this is winter, it is _ been a lethal combination. and this is winter, it is not even the height of the summer yet. thank you, stav danaos. officials in the home office are monitoring elon musk�*s social media posts, as well as posts from other accounts which have large numbers of followers. the monitoring is being carried out by a team in the homeland security group, which is part of the uk home office and is responsible for reducing national security risks. well, a short time ago, our political correspondent helen catt who is in westminster, told us a bit more about this. this was a story that was broken by the mirror newspaper this morning, and it's understood that there are officials within a team

inside the home office known as the homeland security group, which are looking at elon musk�*s tweets and those of other accounts which have large numbers of followers, as you said. now, this team is responsible for reducing national security risks and, according to its website, focuses on the highest harm risks to the homeland. now, what they're looking at is notjust the tweets themselves, but the reach, how far they're going, who is seeing them and also who is engaging with them. so the home office isn't commenting on this, but a source said it was being done to make sure that they were on top of whatever challenges were being posed by non—state actors. and as to when all this started, well, it's understood that the monitoring of mr musk�*s tweets began after he made comments about the safeguarding minister, jess phillips. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

in the us, the supreme court will hear closing arguments today in a case over whether tiktok should be

banned in the country, if it doesn't separate from its chinese owner bytedance. the split is required by a biden administration law which says it's necessary to protect national security. tiktok and some its content creators have argued the ban would violate their first amendment rights to free speech. tiktok says it's used by around 170 million americans. the new law is set to take effect in nine days' time. let's speak to dr eleanor drage. she's a senior research fellow, university of cambridge and co—host of the good robot podcast. thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc news. the government in the us argues that tiktok could be potentially used for spying and political manipulation. how credible are those claims? 50 credible are those claims? so there is credible are those claims? sr there is no evidence to suggest that there is anything different that is happening now

than in 2020. the ai arms race narrative that the us had created to make china less competitive is a myth. there is no evidence to suggest that china is doing anything akin to the manhattan project and that it is as competitive as the us suggests. so the question is, why has trump changed his tune in the last couple of weeks and why is he not saying that tiktok is posing a threat to privacy as he did before? in fact, he said something to on true social in the end of 202a. in september, when he said the voters, go out the vote for me and i will protect tiktok, tiktok will be under threat by the democrats are not by us. given that other countries have a ready band tiktok, how might that have an effect on the case in the us?—

in the us? the us very much does its own _ in the us? the us very much does its own thing _ in the us? the us very much does its own thing and - in the us? the us very much does its own thing and now l in the us? the us very much i does its own thing and now that the us is doing selling totally different and that it is governed by a technocracy, was a very close allies with mask and potentially, they are advising him not to use the first amendment take down tick—tock. because champ is notoriously inconsistent and might one day do the same thing the us tech companies that he has not pleased by. facebook has not pleased by. facebook has now a little come into trump's good books because they were on the phone to trump during the election is trying to get on side but that might change during the next couple of years i can see why tech companies in the us are worried that tiktok will set a precedent for them. that tiktok will set a recedent for them. ., precedent for them. how might the ublic precedent for them. how might the public react, _ precedent for them. how might the public react, those - precedent for them. how might the public react, those 170 - the public react, those 170 million people that tiktok says it uses a platform and the content creators, who some of

whom make a lot of it? set content creators, who some of whom make a lot of it?- whom make a lot of it? set is wakin: whom make a lot of it? set is waking up _ whom make a lot of it? set is waking up to _ whom make a lot of it? set is waking up to the _ whom make a lot of it? set is waking up to the youth - whom make a lot of it? set is waking up to the youth vote, | whom make a lot of it? set is i waking up to the youth vote, to the incredible popularity of the incredible popularity of the platform —— trump. he boasts about how much of her style he is on tiktok —— how much of a star he is. he might have realise that there is some political gain to have from maintaining tiktok as a platform, that it could be useful to him, that a potential allegiance can be forged with its ceo and that it could be a useful platform for the republicans. so i would just like to emphasise that this statistics that trump uses that say that he has won over the youth vote are not correct. they have not been as successful with the youth vote as he says he has been. however, it is true that he has had more success on the platform that he had predicted.

so it is a very important platform for hen and the young people and he does not want to lose popularity by sucking in tiktok, which has been incredibly important that the us youth economy —— sacking. the law as it sounds bowl require tiktok to separate from its chinese owner, businessman, why is that a problem? == why is that a problem? -- itytedance- _ why is that a problem? -- bytedance. there - why is that a problem? » bytedance. there is a line of american businessmen and companies waiting at the wings to take over if they can in that timeframe. however, it feels as though it will be nigh impossible to do such a dramatic handover in that time and we have real questions about privacy, security, data, that will be handed over, the

terms of conditions of which will change. if tiktok is handed over, we as users do not know what will happen to all of our information on there, who it is owned by and what will be the status of the privacy of information we put online. and these are really huge concerns which is why celebrities unions and groups in the us, has said, like the american civilities union —— civilities have said, we cannot do this. union -- civilities have said, we cannot do this.— union -- civilities have said, we cannot do this. doctor and la grange _ we cannot do this. doctor and la grange -- _ we cannot do this. doctor and la grange -- dr _ we cannot do this. doctor and la grange -- dr eleanor - we cannot do this. doctor and i la grange -- dr eleanor drage, la grange —— dr eleanor drage, thank you very much. here in the uk, temperatures are to stay below freezing as the met office issues four fresh weather warnings across the uk. it is expected to stay cold for another couple of days with yellow warnings of ice

in place in scotland, north east england and wales. there are also dozens of flood alerts due to heavy rain or melting snow. 0ur reporter thomas magill has more. high up in the yorkshire dales 1800ft above sea level, and it's a race against time forfarmer frank carr as he digs out a sheep trapped in the snowdrift. good thing about horn sheep is they've got good handles. he has more than 1300 animals spread across 2,000 acres — many now completely cut off, such is the harsh conditions. we were predicted 40cm, and i think we definitely got that, as well, with the winds — it's the wind that makes the drifts as bad as they are. in leeds city centre, there was less snow, but icy conditions left it like a ghost town as people heeded advice and stayed away. many roads across the uk were blocked, with drivers facing some challenging conditions, and there was disruption to flights

and some rail services. and in the southwest, many schools and colleges remained closed, with many taking a chance for a bit of winter fun on dartmoor. just thought we'd try to have a bit of family time, really, and enjoy the snow. we did think about the road conditions. didn't feel it was too bad, so we've come up. the met office has issued two new weather warnings for ice and snow covering parts of northern ireland and wales, as this cold snap is expected to stick around a bit longer. 0ther yellow warnings covering most of england and parts of scotland also remain in place until later this morning, as snow continues to freeze and icy conditions persist. thomas magill, bbc news. earlier i spoke to our reporter, nickjohnson. he's in harrogate, north yorkshire where conditions have remained icy since sunday. it was about “4, minus five

degrees overnight, probably about —2 now. we think it will get around plus two at around midday today. there's a scene here is really lovely, feels like a winter wonderland and we have seen lots of people enjoying it this morning but that hasn't been a fresh flake of snow which has fallen here since sunday but because the temperatures have been so bitter, everything has frozen over. one of these payments here, which is right in the and i have not been in enough staff ' which is right in the middle of town, more like the here, which is right in the middle of town, more like the skate rink and we have seen skate rink and we have seen people really struggling to people really struggling to negotiate that this morning. negotiate that this morning. this is right in the middle of this is right in the middle of town, right next to the shops town, right next to the shops and we have had that the snow and we have had that the snow and we have had that the snow and ice has had a real impact and we have had that the snow and ice has had a real impact on businesses here. we have on businesses here. we have heard from someone who speaks on behalf of local businesses heard from someone who speaks on behalf of local businesses who said in the past week or who said in the past week or so, they have had a 75% so, they have had a 75% reduction in football because reduction in football because people just haven't been able people just haven't been able to get into town. —— fitful. to get into town. —— fitful. some children have been the some children have been the school since before the school since before the christmas break. that means christmas break. that means parents have had to stay home parents have had to stay home

and i have not been in enough and i have not been in enough staff to staff to work in these businesses. so i real mark of effect here in harrogate. —— a real knock on. the local authority here says it has been working around the clock to ensure that it is doing the best it can. the record for overnight temperature

we've just been evacuated. we've just been evacuated from this good samaritan's car. you got it, dad. we're having to walk. this is crazy. there's a fire right outside our car. we got it. no, not that way. dad! my father in law has parkinson's. he can barely move. this was a heroic effort on his part. very wobbly. here, let me try to get you some help. which way do i go? this way. to the sidewalk. i went outside, i saw smoke and fire near my father—in—law�*s house and realised we need to go. the problem is, we didn't have a car. by circumstance, we had no car in the house. i ran up and down the street where he was, glen haven, finally found a neighbour who was willing to swing by and pick us up. most people had already gone at that point, and at that point, i grabbed his medicine. that's the only thing i could think to grab. turn around, dad, we got this. and at that point, wejumped in his car. this guyjeff, a neighbour we'd

never met before but, you know, salt of the earth saved our lives. as we're driving down, there's fires on both sides of the car. we're driving. we're suddenly seeing fires. you could feel the heat. and then the fires were getting closer and closer. and at that point, just being stuck there, surrounded by fire, these... the policemen started running up the street. "get out of the car, get out of the car," and started screaming. you don't really realise how serious it is. you don't think this is a life threatening situation. we do have a live page running on the bbc news website with our latest with correspondence in the area. you can also see dramatic footage of how the fires have been spreading and these before and after pictures of what has happened to those many properties that have been destroyed or damaged. this is bbc news.

hello, there. coldest morning of the winter so far this morning. temperatures down to 44.4 celsius in altnaharra. if it's all getting too cold for you, there are changes on the way. it's going to be a slow change, though. gradual thaw into the weekend after a frosty start and the risk of some freezing fog. just how cold it's been compared to normal, you can see by the blue colours here on the chart with the coldest is relative to normal across europe. 0ur anomaly chart though shows we switch them for reds, especially across scotland and ireland and some in northern scotland. you might be around 25 degrees warmerfor the start of the mornings next week, compared with what we've seen today. “14, as i said in altnaharra, but widely a very, very cold start to the day and some struggling to lift above freezing even this afternoon. we have more cloud though, towards the south west, south wales as well. that's producing some outbreaks of light rain or drizzle. some snow over the moors, a few rain, sleet and snow showers close to eastern coast of scotland and england. most, though, staying sunny through the afternoon. and, as i said, temperatures struggling to get above freezing for some of you.

and they will drop straightaway as we go into tonight. lighter winds tonight. that means fog could become a bigger issue across wales, central and southern england. cloud, outbreaks of rain and sleet into northern ireland, but with the winds lighter across scotland a bit further east, it's the grampians where we could see some of the lowest temperatures, maybe down to a —15 or —16. so, this is the chart for saturday. high pressure, not much wind around, not many isobars. but this weather front out towards ireland is going to produce cloud, outbreaks of rain in the morning. it will slide into southwest scotland. increased cloud across many western areas. but notice here, across parts of southern england, east wales and the midlands, some could sit in fog all day long. away from the fog, lots of sunshine around but still temperatures struggling for most. but notice changes. belfast seven, plymouth eight degrees. milder air is trying to push its way in. it's going to be a slow process. it's going to come around this area of high pressure that's with us into the start of the weekend and through much of the weekend. but eventually the mild air will topple down. notice it arrives in the south and east last of all, through monday and tuesday next week.

so, a quick look at sunday for you. lingering fog patches potentially again across some parts of england and wales. more cloud through scotland, northern ireland and parts of western england and wales. temperatures well above freezing by this stage, but still a chilly one towards the south and the east. but even here, temperatures will rise as we go through much of next week. that's how it's looking. see you soon.

talking trade — the chancellor rachel reeves heads to china to reinforce uk china ties. but pressure mounts back at home, with the sterling continuing to fall. tiktok�*s last chance — the social media platform will make a final plea at the us supreme court today to block a new law which could shut it down in america. and clamping down on touts — the uk unveils a plan to put a price limit on re—sold event tickets. welcome to business today, i'm tadhg enright. the british government has been defending its handling of the economy after a turbulent day on the markets on thursday saw the pound drop to its lowest level in more than a year and government borrowing cost surge to a 16—year high. today, sterling is down once again as pressure mounts

on chancellor rachel reeves.