justin rowlatt reporting. on human rights and climate change. professor, welcome. how expected is this, in your view? a thank you so much, unfortunately - a thank you so much, unfortunately this - a thank you so much, unfortunately this is l a thank you so much, l unfortunately this is not a thank you so much, - unfortunately this is not a surprise. we had warnings from the global climate science body already in 2018 about how important it was not to go beyond 1.5 degrees to provide the most long—lasting and potentially irreversible changes to our planet and to the systems our planet has in place for ensuring human well—being and human survival. we knew already at the end of last year how we have a 40% gap between the promised climate action and the climate action we need to really prevent this crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent _ crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent at _ crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent at this - crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent at this stage this bec

justin rowlatt, bbc news. of falsifying business records, in connection to hush money paid to an adult film actress. while he's avoided any major penalty — the sentence means he'll be the first us president to serve as a convicted felon, ten days before he returns to the white house. 0ur north america editor, sarah smith, reports from new york. donald trump, you are before the court for sentencing... being allowed to appear virtually on a video screen from florida was special treatment for donald trump, granted as he is just ten days away from becoming president again. he knew the sentence would be as lenient as possible but still fought hard, all the way to the supreme court, to avoid this moment. the prosecution said his behaviour during the trial had made the crimes more serious. 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. the defendant sees himself as above the law and he won't accept responsibility for hi

justin rowlatt, bbc news.ction with hush money paid to a porn star. ajudge in new york has given the president—elect an unconditional discharge, after being found guilty of 3a counts of falsifying business records. but it still means that he will become the first us president to take office as a convicted felon. 0ur north america editor, sarah smith, joins us now from new york. and that shows why, as the fires in la continue, money paid to a porn star. ajudge in new york has given the president—elect an unconditional discharge, after being found guilty of 3a counts of falsifying business records. but it still means that he will become the first us president to take office as a convicted felon. 0ur north america editor, sarah smith, joins us now from new york. as you say, an unconditional discharge doesn't come with any kind of punishment at all and in fact people get tougher sentences for speeding offences than donald trump received today, but it does leave that stain on his record of being a convicted felon a

with the details here's our climate editor, justin rowlatt.the uk at the beginning of last year and left large areas flooded? scientists judge climate change has made rain and snow on stormy days here in the uk 30% more intense. and we've had it relatively easy. remember those devastating floods in spain in october? or the historic drought in the amazon basin, which reduced river levels to a 120—year low. or how about the six typhoons that hit the philippines injust 30 days in november? these are just a few examples of the extreme weather, which affected the world last year, and which scientists say was linked to climate change. this map shows how the world has warmed since 1940. the blue shading is when temperatures are lower than average. red shows where it is getting hotter. as you can see, virtually the whole planet has got warmer over the last eight decades, with last year, 2024, the hottest ever recorded. today's figures show the last decade has included all ten of the hottest years on record. "it represents a new climate era for our spe

justin rowlatt, bbc news.is field, director for the woods institute for the environment, at stanford university in california. thanks very much forjoining us. we've seen the huge differences of the us is experiencing, smart on one side and wildfires on the other, with the wildfires in california, the governor has said that there is no fire season, it'sjust said that there is no fire season, it's just year—round, do you agree? season, it'sjust year-round, do you agree?— season, it'sjust year-round, do you agree? thank you. yes, we have seen _ do you agree? thank you. yes, we have seen dramatic- do you agree? thank you. yes, | we have seen dramatic increase in extreme fire whether an extreme fire in california over the last decade. this year, we have seen very late start, not a start and the rainy season in southern california and it's open the window for devastating fires after the start of the year. i think it's really a situation where the probability of a fire is always high when the vegetation is right and

justin rowlatt, bbc news.beltran, a local los angeles resident who is at the evacuation shelter in pasadena now. thank you for speaking to us today, we appreciate your time. tell me how you have been affected and what is your experience with these fires been like?— experience with these fires been like? . , ., ., been like? last night on x, on television _ been like? last night on x, on television i _ been like? last night on x, on television i saw _ been like? last night on x, on television i saw seniors - been like? last night on x, on television i saw seniors being | television i saw seniors being evacuated from their elder care facility because the fire was about to engulf their centre. so it broke something in me and i came straight throughout abina and distributed respirators because particulate matter is some of the worst that anyone can breathe in and so we really did not have any respirators here, unfortunately. but what is regrettable is that our government is prepared for this level of emergency. so

justin rowlatt, bbc news.italy's dolomites mountains is believed to be that of 35—year—old samuel harris. he and aziz ziriat, who's 36, were last heard from on 1st january after sending messages home from the region. rescue teams are still searching for a missing british hiker in italy's dolomite mountains after one body, believed to be that of samuel harris, was found this morning. sam harris on the right was on a hike with his friend aziz ziriat in the dolomites. they had planned a day's walking route but were last heard from new year's day and missed their flight home on monday. bad weather hampered search teams but this morning they said they found a body which they believed to be sam's buried under the snow. they say it is not yet clear how he died but one theory is he may have fallen from theory is he may have fallen from the rock face in what would have been difficult conditions. we had snow, we been difficult conditions. we had snow. we had — been difficult conditions. we had snow, we had wind _ been d

here's our climate editor, justin rowlatt.e uk at the beginning of last year and left large areas flooded? scientists judge climate change has made rain and snow on stormy days here in the uk 30% more intense. and we've had it relatively easy. remember those devastating floods in spain in october? or the historic drought in the amazon basin, which reduced river levels to a 120—year low. or how about the six typhoons that hit the philippines injust 30 days in november? these are just a few examples of the extreme weather, which affected the world last year, and which scientists say was linked to climate change. this map shows how the world has warmed since 1940. the blue shading is when temperatures are lower than average. red shows where it is getting hotter. as you can see, virtually the whole planet has got warmer over the last eight decades, with last year, 2024, the hottest ever recorded. today's figures show the last decade has included all ten of the hottest years on record. "it represents a new climate era for our speci

justin rowlatt, bbc news.ds for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, which has generated a lot of debate in recent days. let's talk to our political editor chris mason. so as expected, the tories have lost this vote, but you've detected a change of tone from the prime minister. set ministers say this will help protect children and rejecting it would have the opposite effect and make the argument the conservatives have been opportunistic as they see it in mounting this argument. the context is elon musk and these posts on his social media site which have been, there have been gratuitous insults, have been full since. the prime minister was trying to rationalise the debate and try and take some of the heat out of it so he acknowledged that it was perfectly reasonable for some to make an argument that this should be an public inquiry, it'sjust a view he didn't share. the conservatives say the prime minister calls for all sorts of inquiries in opposition so why not have one in this instance? they argue that it

justin rowlatt, bbc news. house of commons, we are expecting an urgent question to be asked by the shadow chancellor, mel stride, who has asked permission for the question to be asked, urgent question, about the growing pressure of borrowing costs on public finances. the chancellor rachel reeves is facing herfirst major chancellor rachel reeves is facing her first major test after borrowing costs jumped sharply this week. not sure who will be answering that question. alarm bells are going off in financial markets as concerns mount about the uk economic outlook. the pound has fallen to the lowest level for 14 fallen to the lowest level for 1h months as uk government 1a months as uk government borrowing costs continue to rise, surging to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. economists warned the chancellor could be forced to cut spending or hike taxes as the government tries to meet its self—imposed borrowing target. more at the chief economics correspondent dharshini david. explain the context of

justin rowlatt, bbc news.cuated her home in palisades along with her family and told me more about how difficult the last 2a hours have been for her. obviously, it's very tough times. and this is so unusual because historically we've had fires, especially when there's been wind, but most of them occur in the higher hillside neighbourhoods. and the lafd, ourfire department is usually able to get it under containment before it goes anywhere else. the difference with this is that we've had these huge 50 to 80 mile an hour winds, and it's still windy, and so didn't matter where the fire started yesterday, but the embers flew everywhere. and unfortunately, our our beautiful, idyllic, wonderful town is sort of perched on a, on a, on a hillside, you know, looking over the ocean and one end of the town, people had a hard time getting down from the hills. consequently, you heard about cars being abandoned, people walking, uh, the fire raged all the way across pch onto the beach. so people really struggled to get out in

justin rowlatt, bbc news. back to the live pictures and you can see them right now.ing this particular building and it looks like a devastating scene in los angeles. key dates in the award season calendar and we are hearing some have been postponed and cancelled while firefighters continue to try to fight these wildfires. six separate wildfires across the city of la, major annual events in the hollywood agenda being rescheduled or abandoned, not surprisingly. loss of a listers are among the many people whose homes have been destroyed, people like billy crystal, paris hilton and so on. these are the live pictures coming into usk from los angeles and at least 100,000 people about 130,000 people in fact have been ordered to leave their homes, mandatory evacuation orders and we were just hearing from justin about these dry hurricane force winds that have been fanning the flames for the last few days and really hindering the firefighting operations, five people killed so far and there are fears that death toll could rise, but we will be back in los angeles very soon but w

justin rowlatt, bbc news. remain one of the top issues for president—elect trump when he takes office injanuary. 0ne takes office injanuary. one area of focus will be the darien gap, a treacherous strip ofjungle connecting south and central america. ofjungle connecting south and centralamerica. it ofjungle connecting south and central america. it is known as one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world. a number on thejourney migration routes in the world. a number on the journey has fallen in the past year as the panamanian government clampdown on illegal crossings. despite the risks for many people, a vital route towards the us. our reporter has been following one young venezuelan migrant who made the journey through the darien gap towards the us. tell us about this one journey, what happened to this young woman? maria is 19 from venezuela, travelling with her mother and stepfather. i got in contact with her in october when she had just made it out of the darien gap. she shared her ordeals, passin