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america. deadly wildfires continue to rage across los angeles. 10 people have been killed and more than 150,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate. the sheriff of l.a. county says the suburbs look like they have been hit by an atomic bomb. more than 55 square miles have burned. donald trump is sentenced without penalty in the new york hush money case but will still enter the white house as the first u.s. president to be a convicted felon. ♪ caitriona: hello and welcome to world news america. good to have you with us. firefighters are still battling to contain wildfires that have been waging -- raging across los angeles for four decades. let's have a look at the latest

pictures from the city. more high winds are expected, which could stoke an already perilous situation. 10 people are known to have died and about 10,000 homes and buildings are either destroyed, damaged, or at risk. a nighttime curfew has been put in place in the most affected areas to protect abandoned homes from looting. there are five fires still burning and fire crews have only made limited progress in containing them. the biggest fire in palisades, which was completely out of control yesterday, is now 8% contained. the fire in the alta dena neighborhood is just 3% contained. let's have a look at this street in altadena. this is fair oaks avenue. this is what it looks like now after the blaze tore through the neighborhood. this is one fair oaks avenue looked like before.

now street after street it's all gone. almost nothing left of these homes. early estimates suggest the damage could amount to as much as $150 billion. let's speak to someone now with that area, u.s. congresswoman judy chu, representing california. thanks for being with us. you represent much of the area damaged by the eaton fire. so much devastation. at what point do you believe people will be able to return to their homes and start the process of clearing and rebuilding? rep. chu: there will have to be more containment. i was impressed to wake up this morning and see there was not 3% containment, because we are doing better. what we need, though, is to have more of this under control so we know the fire is not spreading.

the other thing is that there will be a wind event, gusts of winds next week, and it will not be as severe as it was this last week. this last week, the winds were at 80 miles per hour, and it caused the fire to spread quickly, especially in our dry conditions. as a result, there were embers flying all over the place, as far as two or three miles away. that is how the fire spread so quickly and so widely. caitriona: do you have any questions about the preparedness or lack thereof of the area and how the fire could spread notwithstanding hurricane little wins. rep. chu: i have had extensive briefing by calfire. i understand that it was the confluence of these two events. very severe santa ana winds, which were at 80 miles per hour,

which we see only rarely. we did have a wind event before that was at that level, and all these trees fell on people's homes, so it was very devastating. it does not happen all the time. what happened was this happened and also a fire. as a result, the combination of these events was what made this happen. i actually have great admiration for our first responders, because they did get out there quickly. the mutual aid system is working. we have 1500 firefighters coming from all over, from other states, other locales in california, even from canada. we are getting the help we need. caitriona: there had already been a home insurance crisis brewing in california ahead of this disaster.

what is going to need to happen to stop insurance companies further leaving the market or refusing to offer how insurance coverage some had started to do in recent years? rep. chu: we clearly need to change our insurance system. thus this morning -- just this morning, our insurance commissioner announced there will be a moratorium on nonrenewals of insurance plans. these nonrenewals really affected people. they had no choice but to go on to the california fair plan, which at least is insurance, but costs so much more and covers so much less, and could be oversubscribed as well. there is some big problem-solving that has to be done on our insurance. caitriona: congresswoman judy

chu from california, thanks for joining us. we can go now to the district that they congresswoman represents him has been talking about because our correspondent is there on the ground for us in altadena. tell us a little more about conditions there now. correspondent: they continue to be very difficult. the warning from authorities is that the death toll is likely to climb further. it is already a 10. fire crews say so far they have not been able to reach the hardest to areas, which is difficult to believe, when you look at the level of destruction already here. this is altondena community church, completely destroyed. it is similar if you cross the road and take a look at st. mark's up this couple church. that too is all but gone. just down the road from here as well, the jewish center has also

burned down. when you speak to people here, many of them say that in moments like this they are turning to their faith, relying on it, but they cannot come to places like this for comfort nor shelter when they have lost their homes as well. we were speaking to one family who lived just up the road. their house has been completely destroyed. they were taking their children to have a look at the destruction to try to help them understand what happened, because the world -- the four-year-old was asking questions like, is the chimney still there, but santa claus be able to get down and deliver my presence? how do you explain that to the next generation, particularly at a time when there are all these concerns that the weather events exacerbated by climate change will only get worse in the future. caitriona: where are people going? we have are now long it is going to potentially take for people to go back to their homes and make them into a place where they can rebuild them again. what can they do in the

meantime? helena: people are coming up with a variety of solutions. the family i was telling you about was saying they're going to have to send their young children to florida to stay with family to have some kind of continuity, some kind of stability. learning at schools will likely become virtual. other people are staying at hotels for as long as they can afford it. others are also going to shelters. some shelters seeing a lot of animals as people are having to leave right now. some people are even sleeping in their cars, a lot of people with pillows in the back, taking it day by day. when you consider that president biden is authorized fire troops on the ground for 180 days from other states, i think it shows you how people here are in for the long-haul, and it is going to take a very long time to recover. caitriona: helena humphrey on the ground in altadena,

california. thank you for that. you can get all the latest developments on the fire on our live page, bbc.com/news. you can keep up-to-date with the story there. a new york judge has sentenced president-elect donald trump two and unconditional discharge over his criminal conviction last year on multiple charges of fraud. the sentence means mr. trump avoids prison or a fine, but it formalizes his status as the first u.s. president to be a convicted felon, 1 before he returns to the white house. his lawyers argued unsuccessfully of presidential immunity after he was found guilty of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal. justice juan mershon said the unconditional discharge was the only lawful sentence without encroaching upon the highest office of the land. donald trump and his defense lawyers say they will appeal the

ruling, arguing the case should be dismissed. pres. trump: this has been a very terrible experience. i thicket has been a tremendous setback for new york and the court system. it was a political witchhunt done to damage my reputation so that i would lose the election, and obviously that did not work, and the people of our country got to see this firsthand because they watched the case in your court room, got to see this firsthand, and then they voted. got the largest number of votes by far by any republican candidate in history. caitriona: the prosecution said donald trump had shown no remorse for his actions. >> instead of preserving, protecting, and defending our system of criminal justice, the defendant wan -- the once and future president of the united states, has conducted a campaign to undermine its legitimacy, far from expressing remorse. the defendant has personally

bred disdain for our judicial institutions and the rule of law. put simply, this defendant has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm's way. caitriona: our correspondent sent this report from new york. correspondent: donald trump appeared virtually on a monitor at the defense table. he was sentenced to unconditional discharge on all 34 criminal counts. that is the most lenient sentence possible amines that his guilty verdict goes on his record when the case is concluded, but he faces no punishment. judge juan mershon explained his remarks, saying it was the only lawful sentence he couldn't produce -- he could impose

without encroaching on donald trump's role as president. he wished the president godspeed in his second term. the sentencing hearing marks the culmination of a historic criminal trial, the first one ever brought against a sitting or former president. because it was a state case with a verdict, donald trump could not get it stopped like the other cases against him. trump says he plans to appeal. he spoke in court and repeated his claims that the case was politically motivated. in the end, enough voters did not feel it was disqualifying, and he will be sworn in as president on january 20. caitriona: let's talk about some of the issues raised by today's developments. we are joined by a former u.s. prosecutor. thanks for being with us on bbc news. this unconditional discharge, many people have not heard of that before. how often is it handed down of a sentencing hearing? >> it is very uncommon, but this

is not an ordinary case. an unconditional discharge means there was no substantive punishment at all, no incarceration, no home confinement, no fine, not even probation, because it does not make sense to find or put a former president or current president-elect on probation because he can just thumb his nose at the judicial system and there is no recourse if he does not live. -- does not comply. caitriona: given the conviction still stands, but does this mean for donald trump? he's about to become president. is he limited in any way? >> know, the constitution places no limits on a convicted felon being president. the only requirements are being 35 years of age and born in the united states. theoretically, someone could be a convicted felon even in prison and still be a convicted felon. it does tarnish his reputation, and that is why his defense team wanted to appeal the case before the conviction was finalized, but now that it has been entered into a judgment, he will have to

appeal like any other criminal defendant and wait months for the appellate courts to sort through these issues. caitriona: talk to us a little bit about what will be involved in that appeal process. >> will be three stages of appeals. the first will be the appellate division the supreme court of new york, and then there will be an appeal to the new york court of appeals, the state's highest court. this case may end up before the u.s. supreme court again, because there are constitutional issues when it comes to presidential immunity. we know the president has a receptive audience, because at least four of the justices were willing to grant that emergency appeal, which would have been extraordinary. the supreme court typically does not hear appeals like that until he conviction is finalized. the president will have three chances to get this conviction overturned on appeal. caitriona: we heard from trump that he had tried to use the supreme court ruling on presidential immunity. will it likely have any impact

on the appeal process is outlined? -- they appeal process you have outlined? >> i think so. that is the strongest argument the president has, because a different majority of the supreme court, 6-3, ruled last summer that a president's immunity is very broad. anything that is arguably an official act is subject to immunity. even evidence of official acts cannot come into trial. the president is arguing his tweets about michael cohen, his communications with hope hicks and other officials in the white house, they were introduced as evidence in that hush money trial and that was unconstitutional. the appellate courts are going to have to weigh those arguments. caitriona: a lot of road still to run. thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. caitriona: staying with issues pertaining to the u.s. supreme court, justice is there today have signaled that they are

minded to uphold a law that would ban tick-tock in the united states if it is not sold by its chinese parent company. the u.s. government argues that without a sale, tiktok could be used by china as a tool for spying and political manipulation. tiktok says it is being unfairly targeted and that the measure violates free speech. representatives of the social media platform appeared before the court on friday in a last-ditch effort to overturn a ban. president-elect donald trump has also argued against the ban. let's speak to our north american technology correspondent, who has been following this. what was said in court today? >> as you alluded to, tiktok has long framed this debate as being about free speech, and that is what we heard from lawyers from tiktok in court today. it is also what we heard from a number of young people who woke up early, lined up here so they

could get into the court and listen to those oral arguments live. the u.s. government has a different take. they say it is not about that. they say it is actually about who owns tiktok, and that is the chinese company bytedance. the justices today, most of them seemed fairly animated by that argument. we heard a number of questions about that. as you laid out, the argument is that association with china could create the possibility of manipulation of what people see on the platform in the u.s. it could also create the opportunity for data harvesting that could be used by chinese intelligence. that is what we heard today, and at this point the consensus view is that justices are likely to rule on the side of the u.s. government and actually uphold this law, deem it constitutional . the one alternative to that is to grant an emergency halt on this law so that president-elect donald trump can try to sort out

some sort of political resolution to save the platform. caitriona: the deadline on the ban is just next week. is there any sense from the supreme court where they are going to report back at take option on this -- take action on this, what will happen to tiktok? correspondent: we are on an extremely expedited timeline, and this was sort of the plan all along. all the parties in this case, tiktok, creators joining them in challenging the law, as well as the u.s. department of justice, all last the u.s. appeals court in washington to make a ruling in this case on december 6 so that the supreme court could decide if they wanted to take the case. they obviously did. they are hearing arguments nine days before the ban. we expect them to make some type of ruling in the coming days.

caitriona: we will see what happens. thank you for that. let's talk more about the issues raised in this case. i am joined by jim lewis, the director of the technology and public policy program at the center for strategic and international studies. ask for being with us. after those hearings today, tiktok held a press conference outlining all the ways in which it says its parent company bytedance is not owned by china, saying it is a u.s. subsidiary, 58% owned by global institutional investors, including large american ones. 21% owned by its employees, many of whom are americans, and 21% owned by one founder, who is a chinese national but living in singapore. is there evidence that china is or could be using tiktok to threaten u.s. national security? >> that is the core of the problem. no one trusts china. the chinese have a law saying any chinese company must

cooperate with the intelligence services. bytedance's co-founder lives in beijing. china does collect data on u.s. citizens. there is a good case, which is why congress was so strongly supportive of this bill, there is a good case that you cannot trust kino when it comes to this, despite tiktok's arguments. caitriona: the issue of china is one thing, but there is also the issue of free speech. if this ban goes ahead, what does that mean for future provisions of the first amendment and free speech and platforms used for that? >> i feel that for tiktok's lawyers, because they have a heavy lift to try to persuade all the courts they've come in front of, that the free speech rights of a chinese company resident in beijing are worth considering. one of the justices pointed out that free speech is part of association, and we have laws that say you cannot associate with known terrorists. that could be the president.

so the free-speech argument has not gotten as much traction as tiktok might have hoped. caitriona: the way around this ban, according to lawmakers, is for bytedance to sell tiktok. there is no appetite to sell it, but if there were, who would buy it? >> varies appetite to sell it. some of the owners would like to cash out. even tiktok executives, you would make a lot of money if you sold tiktok and we get away from a lot of these headaches. who are the buyers? anyone who can come up with $80 billion and satisfy the u.s. there are not a lot of companies in that category. some companies like walmart or microsoft looked at tiktok and decided it was out of reach. we will see who can pull together a package, but i think the best shifter -- i think defense structure --

divestiture is almost habitable now. caitriona: the united states has increased its reward for information leading to the increase -- to the arrest of venezuela's president nicolas maduro to $25 million. the announcement came as mr. maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term as president. venezuela's political opposition was condemned, saying its candidate was the real winner of last year's election. the u.s. and european union recognize the opposition is the president-elect. correspondent: nicholas medeiros at his inauguration with mark the start of a peaceful new era, but venezuela has really been anything but peaceful in recent months since the disputed election results in july. there have been a number of antigovernment protests that have taken place, and there has been a heavy crackdown by venezuelan authorities on dissent. in recent days, there were

opposition protests that took place, including one thursday before the inauguration. the opposition says she was briefly detained before being released when she was trying to leave those rallies. the opposition candidate has been in political exile. he has said he would return to venezuela to claim victory, but he has not said how are when that may be. there has been widespread international contamination of the inauguration. the u.s. has increased a reward for the rest of nicholas maduro to 20 $5 million. he has been charged since 20, wanted by the u.s. authorities since then. the u.k. has also imposed fresh sanctions on individuals associated with nicholas medeiros government. the u.k. government has also condemned nicholas maduro himself as fraudulent. the context is after that election in july, the authorities said nicholas maduro

had won for a third term. the opposition then published voting tallies that they say prove their candidate, ed window gonzalez, rather than nicholas maduro, won the election. he is increasingly isolated on the road -- on the world stage. most of the international community, including some of his neighbors, have really condemned the disputed election results. caitriona: member, you can keep up-to-date with all of what is happening around the world -- remember, you can keep up-to-date with all of what is happening around the world and those l.a. wildfires on our website. we can have a look at some pictures coming to us now from los angeles. this is the scene there. that is it for the moment. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennet. as emergency cruise rush to contain catastrophic wildfires, resideom