and tiktok says reports of a possible sale to elon musk to fend off a ban in the us are "pure fiction." welcome to newsday. nearly all public schools across los angeles have reopened after almost a week of wildfires. these are the live pictures from los angeles where you can see flames and smoke have picked up again as forecasters are warning that strong winds are set to return. the strongest winds are expected to be on tuesday in ventura county, north of la. while they're not expected

to match last week's intensity, wind gusts could reach 70mph, about the force of a category 1 hurricane. three major fires are still burning. the palisades fire has burned more than 23,000 acres and is now 14% contained. the eaton fire remains the second largest. there have been stories of people helping each other through the difficult fires, but also scenes of those taking advantage of those already struggling. the la county district attorney has charged several people with looting, saying those charged were "seeking to exploit this tragedy for their own benefit." 0ur correspondent emma vardy reports. the debris still smoulders. thousands of acres of damage still untouched by recovery tea ms. today, road blocks and patrols by the national guard have visibly increased. there have now been more than 60 arrests in evacuated areas, mainly for looting and burglary. 0ne offender caught disguised as a firefighter. the criminals have decided that this is an opportunity,

and i'm here to tell you that this is not an opportunity. you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be punished to the full extent of the law. some have lost more than possessions. one of the victims of the palisades fire was 32—year—old rory sykes, a child actor from the �*90s british tv show kiddy kapers. he lived with cerebral palsy and his mother says she escaped but could not save him. the biggest fear i had was that it might burn and hurt, because i think burning must be the most painful death, and the fire department chiefs said, "no, he will have died of carbon monoxide poisoning "fi rst. " i just can't believe my baby's not going to be here. the clean—up task is so vast, it will stretch on for months. there have been promises by

officials that the rebuilding process will be made as quick as possible, by cutting red tape to help people put their lives back together. but there is frustration that in many places it is still too dangerous to start, and the job of rehousing people will take time. it will take months, if not years. i know that, in hawaii, it took at least temporary housing for a year, so we don't know what the situation will be here. all around, signs of the trauma the city has suffered as the fires overwhelmed communities. as people tried to escape from the oncoming flames in this part of pacific palisades, many just abandoned their cars, and you can imagine the sense of panic, manyjust appearing to have crashed into each other as they tried to flee. and you can see why they ran, because here's what's left after the fire reached this spot not long after. 23 people are still missing and many addresses are still to be searched

for human remains. shouting help continues to arrive. today, the national guard set up a base for incoming troops on the seafront. they'll provide security and logistical support to the city as it reels from disaster. emma vardy, bbc news, los angeles. there has been a huge outpouring of support for those that have lost everything in the fires with people donating food, clothes, whatever might help. 0ur correspondent helena humphrey has been to one makeshift donation centre. we are here at a donation centre and you can see the scale of the need right now. throughout the day, more and more people coming to donate items, as well as for people collecting items they may need. this is one of the charities that is currently here — muslims for humanity. you can see a line of people picking up essentials, groceries, water and so on. over in this direction, people picking up the likes of clothes, shoes, anything that they may need to get them

through the coming days, perhaps even weeks, because you have to keep in mind that currently 90,000 people right now are under evacuation orders. we don't fully know the path of those wildfires, whether they stand to be impacted, and of course many people here losing everything, losing their homes. now, in terms of the response from authorities, we have had confirmation sadly today that 2a people have been confirmed as being killed in this crisis, 23 people still missing, and authorities calling on people not to go into impacted areas as they continue to search the rubble for the remains of some of those people who are still missing. in terms of the federal response, confirmation today from president—elect donald trump that once he is inaugurated as president, he will be visiting this estate here in california. but the road ahead is long and i think you can just see that from the number of people

who are here today clearly still very much in need. david ulin is a sho sato professor of english at the university of southern california. he has written extensively about los angeles, its history, environment and culture, and he told me more about the neighbourhoods and people who have been affected by these fires. it's impacted residential neighbourhoods. it's impacted neighbourhoods that are in hills. the eaton fire in pasadena crept up through a canyon. the palisades fire also going through other canyons. and now continuing to move into other canyons. and those are the most susceptible areas of the los angeles basin to wildfire, because they're fairly rural, they're fairly compact. they're densely forested in certain ways. and when you have a kind of situation that we have now where we had a lot of rain last year, which led to a lot of growth of vegetation, but there has been very little rain — almost none — this fall and winter, that vegetation dries, and with the santa ana winds coming through the canyons,

like the winds come through the canyons and shoot through and build speed and momentum — it's a circumstance that's just ripe for disaster. and these fires have been deadly and devastating for many families losing their homes, all of their possessions, theirfamily heirlooms. you've known many people that have been affected by this personally, family and friends. what are the initial discussions? what are they talking about as these events have been unfolding? well, right now, the people that i know who have lost their homes are just — you know, they're reeling. i mean, it's a brand—new situation for them. and, you know, everyone who lives in southern california understands that this is part of the landscape. it's a wildfire ecology. it's a landscape that is marked by natural disasters — earthquakes, fires, floods, etc. but it's one thing to be aware of that in the abstract. it's another thing for the concrete reality of it to come to roost. so most of the people i know who have been seriously

affected by the fires — right now, they are just sort of trying to figure it out day—to—day. they're trying to get... you know, they have a family. they're trying to get to a stable place to stay where their kids or their pets can be safe. and then they're sort of just at the earliest stage of surveying what the damage is and figuring out what's going to happen. there are a lot of gofundmes and outreach programmes starting up. a lot of people who are donating. a lot of organisations that are collecting donated goods. so one of the things that happens in a community like this where these sorts of disasters are part of the landscape is — you start to see how people react in real time. so the people who are affected are, as i say, looking for kind of stable ground to take stock of where they are. and those of us who have been fortunate enough not to be affected are aware that, you know, to borrow the cliche — there but for the grace of god — so you see a lot

of community activism and community generosity and donations as the community rallies around the people who have been most affected by the fires. hope is growing that a ceasefire deal may be close between israel and hamas to end the fighting in gaza and see a return of hostages taken on october 7, 2023. a palestinian official familiar with negotiations has also told the bbc that terms of a deal between israel and hamas are being finalised. an israeli official told news agency reuters that negotiations are in "advanced stages" with a deal possible in "hours, days or more." white house national security advisorjake sullivan also said a truce and hostage deal could be done "this week." and in a speech on his foreign policy achievements, outgoing presidentjoe biden said a deal to secure the release of hostages and achieve a ceasefire in gaza is on the brink. pressing hard to close this. the deal we have instructed would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to israel

and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the palestinians who have suffered terribly in this war that hamas started. saeed khan is associate professor in near eastern studies at wayne state university. i asked him how optimistic he is that a deal can be struck. i think the optimism comes now from the timing more than the substance. it is interesting to hear president biden speak that this is a deal and a proposal that he has put on the table for several months. i think that that is something that scholars will debate. but at the same time, you also have president—elect trump claiming credit that he sent his incoming middle east envoy, mr whitcoff, to the region and pressured prime minister netanyahu to accept a deal that had been on the table for quite some time. so, i think that this seems to be really about, as oftentimes it is, america

jostling for credit on this. the deals have been under negotiation for quite some time. many people who are on the inside, particularly on the israeli side, have claimed that prime minister netanyahu has procrastinated and has, infact, impeded the ability for these negotiations to go forth several months ago. so the fact that it is happening now coinciding with a transition of power in washington and at the white house to and seems to be particularly for those who tend to and those who are suffering there will be seen as a welcome change of direction. and just staying with the transition of power — what leverage does trump have in, if he does have at all, to getting this deal pushed through? well, i think he has two things going for him. one is that he is going to be the president of the united states effective next monday. and with biden leaving, that means the person

who is going to be in power for the next four years with whom hamas, israel and many other parties in the region, this is the occupier of the white house with whom they're going to have to contend. the other thing is that it seems as though the trust dividend when it comes to prime minister netanyahu is far greater with president trump than it has been with recent democratic presidents — whether that is president biden, despite the fact that the united states has given $17.9 billion in aid to israel to prosecute this current invasion of gaza. but also, we find that prime minister netanyahu was quite frosty toward, at the time, vice—president biden�*s boss that was president 0bama. so it seems as though those kinds of personal ties and relations that are being leveraged is playing a big role in the end game here, or what should be and hopefully is the end game when it comes to a ceasefire proposal. and if it does happen, you mentioned the residents of gaza. what will it mean for them and for those fighting

on both sides? i think as far as the residents of gaza goes, it may be very much a victory, given the terms that have been described. yes, they can go back to their homes, but there are no homes on the ground. there is no infrastructure. israel has destroyed every hospital. it has destroyed every university. it has destroyed every power grid in the region. what has been left ambiguous in this whole process is any kind of a commitment to the rebuilding of gaza — a restoration of an area that, of course, is devastated. the fact that israel has demanded that those returning can really only return on foot suggests that this is really not about a full restoration of gaza to the people of gaza, which is the palestinians. the fact that israel is also maintaining control of an 800—metre or half a mile buffer zone in the south of the rafah crossing between gaza and egypt

also shows that the securitisation of gaza will continue, perhaps indefinitely, and certainly well beyond the ceasefire time frame. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. sir keir starmer has launched a major overhaul of the government's approach to artificial intelligence, saying he wants to make the uk an ai super power. the prime minister unveiled a plan to involve the technology more deeply in public services and encourage further investment. downing street has insisted that rachel reeves will be chancellor for the whole of this parliament as she faces criticism over the falling pound and rising government borrowing costs. borrowing costs are rising for many countries across the world, but some have argued that decisions made in the budget appear to have made the uk more vulnerable.

activists from the environmental protest group just stop 0il have spray painted "1.5 is dead" on the grave of the scientist charles darwin in westminster abbey. the graffiti appears to reference the confirmation that last year was the first to breach a key global warming threshold. two women have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage. you're live with bbc news. tiktok says reports that china is considering a sale of the company's us operations to elon musk is "pure fiction." the firm's comments came in response to a report by bloomberg that chinese officials are weighing an option that could see its business in america being sold to the world's richest person if the us supreme court upholds a ban on the app. supreme courtjustices are due to rule on a law that set ajanuary 19 deadline for tiktok to either sell its us operations or face a ban in the country. i'm joined now by sam biddle,

senior technology reporter at the intercept. he joins us from los angeles. firstly, thank you forjoining us. i want to know if you are safe in los angeles. have you been affected by the fires? 0nly been affected by the fires? only by some really horrendous error that has luckily cleared up error that has luckily cleared up as of today —— air. not near the actualfires up as of today —— air. not near the actual fires but the air has been horrible up until now. thank you. talk about tiktok and what has been happening. tiktok have dismissed claims that musk will buy the platform, but what do you make of the claim? i think it would certainly be surprising, especially given the extreme polarisation around mask and the country. it would be a pretty enormous

development —— musk. i would be surprised only because tiktok �*s parent company bytedance has been so emphatic in their desire to not divest the company. it would be a pretty major turnaround, very, very hard to avoid exactly this type of contingency. iii hard to avoid exactly this type of contingency.— hard to avoid exactly this type of contingency. if they do then mana . ed of contingency. if they do then managed to — of contingency. if they do then managed to succeed _ of contingency. if they do then managed to succeed on - managed to succeed on divestments, that doesn't leave them with very many options, does it? ., . , does it? no, i mean, they essentially _ does it? no, i mean, they essentially have _ does it? no, i mean, they essentially have the - does it? no, i mean, they| essentially have the option does it? no, i mean, they. essentially have the option to either unload the company onto a willing buyer or shutdown. it has been referred to as a tiktok van driel as it is essentially a de facto ban on the app given its owner's extreme reluctance to divest, yes. extreme reluctance to divest, es. , , ., ., , ., yes. they still have a bit of time. january _ yes. they still have a bit of time. january 19 _ yes. they still have a bit of time. january 19 is - yes. they still have a bit of time. january 19 is the - yes. they still have a bit of| time. january 19 is the day. yes. they still have a bit of. time. january 19 is the day. do time. january 19 is the day. do you think they will find a buyerin you think they will find a buyer in that time? gosh, the clock is ticking _ buyer in that time? gosh, the clock is ticking and _ buyer in that time? gosh, the clock is ticking and it - buyer in that time? gosh, the clock is ticking and it is - clock is ticking and it is

almost out. anything is possible, but with only six days to go, it is hard to imagine this would be anywhere near the top of the list of outcomes. a buyer will probably be a transaction that comes under duress for bytedance as opposed to someone they have been working with the negotiating with four months. it becomes at the very end of the clock running out, yes, certainly would be disadvantageous to tiktok itself. ~ ., ., ~' disadvantageous to tiktok itself. ., ., ~ , itself. what do you think is the likeliest _ itself. what do you think is the likeliest outcome - itself. what do you think is| the likeliest outcome here? itself. what do you think is i the likeliest outcome here? i try to never predict the news because it is a great way to be wrong in front of a lot of people. i would suspect that barring some sort of direct intervention from donald trump himself, it seems likely that the service will shut down in the service will shut down in

the us. �* ., ~ ,, the us. all right. thank you very much- _ the us. all right. thank you very much. we _ the us. all right. thank you very much. we will - the us. all right. thank you very much. we will leave i the us. all right. thank you very much. we will leave it | very much. we will leave it there. appreciate your time. my my pleasure. thank you. the bbc has found that workers in chinese factories making clothes for the fast fashion giant shein are labouring for more than 75 hours a week in contravention of the country's labour laws. these working hours are not unusual in the southern city of guangzhou, but the findings will add to a growing list of questions about working conditions in its factories. 0ur china correspondent laura bicker has more. few stop to eat during the breakfast rush. for those who work in this warren of more than 5,000 clothes firms, the factory clock dictates their day. at a nearbyjob market, workers check the stitching they'd be expected to do. they get paid per piece, so their skill and speed

determine how much they make. translation: it depends how difficult the item is. l something simple like a t—shirt is i to 2 yuan per piece, and i can make around a dozen in an hour. we earn so little. how is that enough? the cost of living is now so high. workers travel thousands of miles to guangzhou to earn money to send back to theirfamilies. shein is now one of their major employers. translation: | think shein i will become better and better. it always pays the suppliers on time. it is efficient and reliable. how many people do you think work for shein in this region, this area? translation: i would say over 80% of the people here work for shein. this is the beating heart of an empire. the machines seldom stop.

more than a dozen workers told us they labour 75 hours a week in contravention of chinese labour law. most have only one day off a month. and by the door, the end product, ready to be shipped to europe, the uk or the us. there is an almost constant supply of fabric from nearby vendors. shein�*s success has been possible because this city in china has everything it needs. spending the day here, it is clear that shein�*s meteoric rise has had a positive effect on the local economy, but it has also come with increased scrutiny. there have been allegations of forced labour. they themselves have found incidents of child labour, and there are accusations their staff are overworked and underpaid. we found that a 75—hour week is not unusual for many companies

in this industrial heartland. it is not unusual, you say, but it's clear that it is illegal, and it violates basic human rights, so it is a human rights issue, it is an extreme form of exploitation that happens, and this needs to be visible. people need to know under what conditions clothing is being produced. especially in such an opaque company that does not really report what they are doing. the thrum of machines continues well into the night. in a statement, shein told us it's committed to ensuring the fair and dignified treatment of all workers within its supply chain, and it is investing tens of millions of dollars in strengthening governance and compliance. they added that they strive to set the highest standards for pay, and that all partners adhere to their code of conduct.

but the work here will go on as long as someone in london or new york continues hunting for their next bargain. laura bicker, bbc news, guangzhou. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. south korean president yoon suk yeol�*s impeachment trial is set to get under way in the coming hours over his botched attempt to impose martial law. he has said he will not be attending due to fear of being arrested in a separate criminal investigation. in the trial, the constitutional court will focus on whether to uphold the impeachment voted on by the parliament last year. if it does, then he will be removed from office. north korea has reportedly fired multiple missiles in its latest test according to south korea's military. the test comes about a week after the north fired what it claimed was a new intermediate—range hypersonic ballistic missile. south korea's acting president choi said the missile launch was a clear violation of un security council resolutions.

greenland says it wants to work more closely with the united states on defence and mining following recent remarks by the us president—elect about acquiring the territory. prime minister mute egede said his government was looking for ways to work with donald trump rather than fight him. the incoming us president recently said he could not rule out using military or economic force to take control of the territory. a federaljudge has cleared the way for the usjustice department to release part of former special counsel jack smith's report on donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. trump was charged with election interference and for keeping classified documents at his mar—a—lago resort. trump has denied any wrongdoing. and before we go, the largest religious gathering in the world is taking place in india. hindu monks clad in saffron havejoined millions of other pilgrims at a huge i2—yearly festival

in the north of the country, the maha kumbh mela. to the beat of drums and honking of horns, millions have already plunged into the cold waters of the river ganges. and these are live pictures from prayagraj in uttar pradesh state where a procession is currently under way. you can see a lot of people there. the religious gathering attracts more than 400 million people and can even be seen from space. we will leave you with these images of people bathing in the waters. hello. we had really big contrasts in weather across the uk on monday. in highland scotland, here in plockton, there was a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain, but it was very mild, and just along the road from here,

we had temperatures up to 111 degrees in achnagart. so a real contrast then to the 3 celsius that was recorded in fylingdales in north yorkshire. the reason for this? well, the cold air that we had last week hasn't entirely gone away from eastern areas, and the winds were blowing over the snow—covered north york moors, keeping those temperatures well suppressed in our coldest parts. now, over the next few hours, there's a little bit of rain to come across parts of southern scotland, northern ireland, into northern england, the north midlands and north wales, as well. for most, it's going to be a mild start to the day on tuesday, but you mightjust see an odd nip of frost if we keep those skies clearest long enough over the next few hours. now, next few days, high pressure dominates our weather picture, and the high pressure is going to be feeding in a lot of mild air, often with these southwesterly winds. so temperatures will be running above average for most areas over the next few days. quite a spell of weather then coming up for most, but there will be some rain around to start the day across northwest england, the north midlands and across western wales. a damp start to the day here.

there will be some breaks in the cloud. northern and eastern scotland looking pretty good for some sunshine, and those sunnier skies should push into northeast england as the day goes by. a few breaks as well quite likely across parts of the southeast. high pressure then stays with us as we head towards the middle part of the week, and as that high pressure becomes more centred over england and wales, the winds start to fall light, and that's a recipe for some fog to develop as we head into wednesday morning, and some of that fog will be with us all day. where that happens, yes, it could be quite cool, but for most of the uk, we should see some bright or sunny spells coming through, a bit of rain from another weather front just edges into the far northwest of scotland. heading into thursday, again, we could see a few mist and fog patches around, the feed of southwesterly winds continuing to bring in some pretty mild weather. most of us should stay dry with some sunshine at times, and our temperatures above average for the time of year, typically between around 8 and 10 celsius. this relatively quiet spell of weather then lasts, for most of us, through the rest of this week and into the weekend,

but then we've got another weather front bringing some rain to western areas as we head into sunday. bye for now.

mexico pledges to reduce imports from china — in a nod to us president—elect donald trump. and how norway has managed to get more electric vehicles on its roads

than petrol—powered cars. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. let's begin in north america, where the mexican government has launched a plan to shrink its trade deficit with china, which stood at $105 billion in 2023. it comes weeks after the country rolled out tariffs appearing to target popular chinese online retailers shein and temu. in a speech on monday, mexico's president claudia sheinbaum said the country aims to boost the local production of textiles and cars. she added that a trade agreement among the united states, mexico and canada is quote, "the only way we can compete with asian countries, in particular with china". translation: i also highlight the respectful _ translation: i also highlight the respectful and _ the respectful and collaborative relationship during the first term of donald trump with the then mexican

president