contain the two largest fires in los angeles. authorities warned that strong winds fanning the blaze are likely to continue for several more days. likely to continue for several more dam-— likely to continue for several more days. elevated to critical fire weather _ more days. elevated to critical fire weather conditions - more days. elevated to critical fire weather conditions are - fire weather conditions are predicted to continue through wednesday. these winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire threat — vegetation, will keep the fire threat in _ vegetation, will keep the fire threat in los angeles county high — high. rachel reeves high. — rachel reeves announces high. rachel reeves announces trade agreements worth £600 million during a visit to china, but is criticised for the timing of her trip. and america's topcoat appears poised to upload a law that bans tiktok over national security concerns unless its chinese parent company sells the platform. hello. i'm leila nathoo.

let's start in los angeles, where strong winds that have spread wildfires over a wide area are likely to continue for several more days. we can bring you these live pictures, where firefighters are still battling to contain the devastating wildfires. they the devastating wildfires. began on tuesday across several they began on tuesday across several different parts of the city. we've heard from fire and community officials. these are the key points from a news conference earlier. at least 11 people have been killed and the number of homes and structures that have been destroyed stands at 12,000. thirteen people are missing. the evacuation zone has been expanded around the palisades fire, which has now burned more than 21,000 acres. it's now 11% contained. that's the area around which an effective barrier has been created, stopping it from spreading. at least six fires are burning and the forecast is for more of the strong winds, which have proved so dangerous in helping fan the flames. the smoke has led authorities

to declare a public health emergency for the entire los angeles area. residents are advised to stay indoors with windows and doors shut. a night—time curfew for parts of the city has been in place. we now know at least 20 people have been arrested for curfew violations, tresspassing and looting. with the latest from los angeles, here's our correspondentjohn sudworth. it's a reminder that this disaster is far from over. the helicopters working relentlessly, dropping water to try to contain this flare—up. with the nearby communities now under new evacuation orders. with the fight still far from over. la county had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion

of the palisades fire. 0n the other side of the city, in the neighbourhood of altadena, amid the shock and grief, there is mounting anger too. the water issue is... something happened there. there was no water. you turned on the hydrants and there were drips and drops coming out. it is not only the residents. the city's fire chief is also demanding answers from politicians. was the budget cut? yes, and it impacted our ability to provide services. the fires have affected the wealthy, burning the la home of actors like anthony hopkins, and the ordinary alike. the priority is not the politics, but the crisis itself. at one evacuation centre, harry and meghan met with survivors and emergency workers. many thousands have been made homeless. for now, lower wind speeds are helping contain the spread. but they are expected

to pick up again later. most of the landmarks in los angeles have been affected by the fires. let's hearfrom angeles have been affected by the fires. let's hear from john again, reporting on the ground from one of the city's most famous roads. yes, i'm just off mulholland drive, this iconic los angeles neighbourhood up in the hills, and you can probably see behind me, the smokejust rising beyond the ridge there. that is the focus of this very intensive effort now. we have seen helicopter after helicopter all night and into this morning, dropping a huge amount of water and fire retardant chemicals on the blaze on the other side of that hill. at the moment, although that is a real threat and there are new evacuation orders in place for the community down at the bottom of the hill there, they do appear at the moment to be keeping it at bay. the real advantage, of course, is the weather. the wind speeds through the night and into this morning

have been very favourable. the concern is that they are predicted to pick up again, and as you can probably hear, we are already feeling the beginnings of that new weather pattern moving in. these fire crews with both the helicopters and fixed wing aircraft have been working relentlessly. thousands of firefighters on the ground as well in those surrounding neighbourhoods where the evacuation orders are in effect. it's unprecedented. everybody keeps making that point, and you've only got to look at the pictures to understand the scale of this disaster. priority now is to try to do everything they can while they've got the weather on their side to stop it getting any worse, but nobody is under any illusions that the crisis is far from over. there is no doubt there is a huge need for emergency provision, that supply of shelter and food, the red cross running

many of those centres. in the affected areas themselves where the damage is obviously very extensive, there are checkpoints set up officially. residents have not been given permission to move into those areas and the checkpoints are being manned by the police now with the back—up from soldiers from the national guard, but you have seen the interviews and pictures yourself. there are still some residents who are managing to get round that, get back to their properties, hoping to sort of... well, one, to see what has happened for themselves and two, to try and salvage what they can. the mayor of los angeles has just finished speaking at a media briefing. karen bass said city officials and first responders are working together to fight the fires and keep everyone safe. in spite of the grief, in spite of the anger, in spite of the shock, we have got to stay focused until this time passes, until the fires are out. now,

we need to stay focused, but i will say that when the fires are out, make no mistake, we will have a full accounting of what worked and especially what did not. and i know that this is a top priority of the people that are here behind me and the firefighters and the first responders that are on the front line. there is nothing, nothing, nothing that i will nothing, nothing that i will not do for the city where i was born and raised. and i know that that goes for all of us. so let me be clear about something. the fire chief and i are focused on fighting these fires and saving lives, and any differences that we might have will be worked out in private, but right now, our first and most important obligation to angelenos is to get through this crisis.—

this crisis. earlier, we had a comprehensive _ this crisis. earlier, we had a comprehensive update - this crisis. earlier, we had aj comprehensive update from officials in la. we can listen now to some of the key details on the battle to contain and extinguish the largest fire, in the pacific palisades. the palisades incident is now at 21,596 acres and is 11% contained. in the mandeville canyon area, creating containment lines and protecting structures, continuing a full suppression effort. approximate 100 engines were surged into that area for direct suppression efforts and structural defence. six night—flying helicopters were utilised all night and additional night—flying resources were also ordered. it was approximately 1,000 acres in growth last night in the mandeville canyon area. we can speak now to davejones, california's former insurance

commissioner between 2011—2018. he is now the director of the climate risk initiative at the university of california, berkeley. many thanks for joining us here on bbc news. could you perhaps start by giving us the picture of how insured people in los angeles would have been? how many people would have had insurance, and what would their premiums have been? mast insurance, and what would their premiums have been? most people have insurance, _ premiums have been? most people have insurance, but _ premiums have been? most people have insurance, but as _ premiums have been? most people have insurance, but as has - premiums have been? most people have insurance, but as has been . have insurance, but as has been widely reported, private insurers some time ago, and with increasing ferocity, began to non—renew homeowners. we do have what is called the california fair plan, which is the insurer of last resort to which homeowners and businesses can go if they can't get private insurance, and that is where many have gone. to give you some idea of when i left office in 2018, they had about 400,000 policyholders, and are now at about 450,000. the exposure of the fair plan in the pacific palisades alone is $5.8 billion, and that is a

problem, because the fair plan has between its and its reserves close to $3 billion in claims paying capacity. beyond that, what happens is, under new rules adopted last year, all policyholders in the state of california get assessed if the fair plan has a shortfall. we are not there yet, but that's where we might go. the overall insured losses are estimated to be as high as 20 billion. the overall economic losses from these fires, 50 billion, so on top of the deaths, injuries, destruction of people's homes and businesses and wipe—out of whole communities, we are talking about a substantial economic hit and hit to the insurance industry. those are huge figures. people who have insurance, could they expect to be compensated fully for the damage caused by these fires? yes, thanks to california's strong insurance regulation, the insurers are required to have very strong reserves. there is no indication they will be unable to pay the claims or that any of them will

go insolvent. but i think there is an additional point to be made. the main driver of this terrible, terrible catastrophe, and increasingly more of these extreme weather—related events, whether it is hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, rivers, convective heat and wildfires, is climate change, driven by our failure to transition fast enough from fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas emitting industries. it might interest your viewers to know the insurance industry in the united states invest —— invests over $500 million in the fossil fuels industry, whose emissions are making it impossible, they say, to keep providing insurance. globally, insurers write off about $900,000 worth of insurance for the industry. we need state legislators to stand up and tell the industry, you have got to do that. you are investing and providing insurance in the very industry

thatis insurance in the very industry that is killing people, injuring people, ultimately destroying communities and making it impossible for you to keep providing insurance. thank you very much, dave jones, former insurance commissioner in california between 2011—2018. the chancellor rachel reeves has insisted that visiting china this weekend is "squarely in the national interest" and that agreements reached in beijing would be worth £600 million to the uk economy over the next five years. the conservatives, however, she should have cancelled the trip, and focus instead on recent increases in government borrowing costs and a fall in the value of the pound. with me is our political correspondent harry farley. why has rachel reeves chosen this time to go to beijing? i suppose her argument is that britain has no choice but to engage with china as the world's second largest economy, and obviously, the uk's fourth largest single trading partner. so her argument is that by

developing and deepening ties with china, the benefits for the economy here can be seen. she is pointing to the £600 million she has negotiated in business this weekend. but this trip, and i suppose more importantly the longer term government approach to china, is fraught with potential difficulty. in the immediate term, there is market turbulence we have seen in the last few days, the cost of government debt going up at the same time as the value of the pound goes down. you mention both the conservatives and the liberal democrats have said that she must return to address that she must return to address that people. but there were also questions, i suppose, for also questions, i suppose, for a longer term closer relationship with china. what might cheap chinese imports mean for british steal production, for example and electric car manufacturers, and of course, it is just over a week until donald trump re—enters the white house, promising tariffs on chinese goods, and he might not take

too kindly to the uk developing closer ties with china, so rachel reeves�* argument is, there is no choice. 600 billion pounds worth of agreements this weekend, but the international climate is clear to see. what kind of landscape as she returning to with this pressure, given the wider macroeconomic situation? its, macroeconomic situation? pretty fraught one. you mentioned the market turbulence. it is a 16 year high in the cost of government debt. shadow chancellor mel the chancellor last summer. many shadow harry farley. the chancellor last summer. many shadow chancellor y. the chancellor last summer. many shadow chancellor mel debt. shadow chancellor mel strider said the policies, strider 5aid announced in the budget last debt. shadow chancellor mel strider said the policies, announced in the budget last year, taking us back towards year, taking us back towards the 19705. daisy the 19705. daisy cooper of the year, taking us back towards the 19705. dai5y cooper of the liberal democrats: her to liberal democrats: her to announce a serious plan for announce a serious plan for growth. i think we will hear growth. i think we will hear more of that this week, but more of that this week, but certainly, the pressure on her certainly, the pressure on her is, i would say, the most is, i would say, the most severe it has been since she severe it has been since she entered government, and became the chancellor last summer. entered government, and became the chancellor last summer. many thanks, harry farley. many thanks, harry farley.

ukraine says it has captured two north korean soldiers who are fighting alongside russia in the kursk region. video was released claiming to show the two wounded men, but no evidence was provided that were north korean. 0ur eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford has the latest. the photos and the video that have been released by the ukrainian authorities show two young men being held in cells used for prisoners of war. one had his face bandaged and the doctor said he has an injured jaw and a blooded lip, and another has his hand

and who they are and in one of the photographs, there is a russian military document that was found of one document that was found on one of the man. ukraine are saying that is a fake document produced by russia to disguise the use of foreign troops in its war against ukraine. that document suggests that the man comes from siberia, although ukraine is saying he is clearly north korean. in questioning by the sbu, apparently these men have both said they were professional soldiers in north korea and they went to russia believing they were going there for training, but then they have been used in this full—scale war against ukraine. the americans have previously said that they believe there are 12,000 north korean troops deployed with russian troops to fight against ukrainians. ukraine has previously said that those soldiers are used very much as cannon fodder and the number of casualties both dead and injured has been huge. in fact, ukrainian say that north koreans and russians go

to extraordinary extents to try and conceal their use in this war. if this is true, it is a huge coup for ukrainian authorities. when vladimir putin has been asked about the use of north korean soldiers, he has not denied it but said it is russia�*s prerogative and their sovereign business. the father of molly russell, the teenager who took her own life after seeing harmful content online, has appealed to the prime minister to tighten online safety rules to protect children. fourteen—year—old molly russell died in november 2017 after being exposed to a stream of dark, depressing content on social media sites pinterest and instagram. her father ian russell is now warning more children are at risk due to the implementation of the government�*s online safety bill by regulator 0fcom, claiming it�*s been

a "disaster". ian russell�*s letter to the prime minister is also in response to meta�*s announcement that it will end third party fact—checking on its media platforms in the us as big tech prepares for the incoming trump administration. this week, 1544 00: