Wildfires which have caused at least eleven deaths and destroyed thousands of properties are expected to pick up pace again in the US county of Los Angeles. New evacuation orders have now been issued for neighbourhoods surrounding the city. Our Correspondent Peter Bowes gives us the latest. We also explore whether a water shortage has hampered relief efforts, as well as how long insurance companies will take to pay those affected. Also in the programme: The daughter of convicted rapist Dominique Pelicot speaks out; and the Palestinian creatives whose films have made the preliminary Oscars shortlist. (Photo: A member of the Fire Department holds a smartphone in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, 11th January 2025 (Credit: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/TPX)
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Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service.
Coming to you live from London, I'm James Kemara Samy.
Later in the program, we'll hear from the daughter of Dominique Pellico, the Frenchman convicted last month of drugging his wife, Giselle and allowing dozens of men to rape her.
His daughter tells us about the day when her mother told her the truth about her father.
It was a Monday.
I received that call from my mom.
It was like an earthquake or like a tsunami in my own living room.
I was so close from my father.
You can't, you know, imagine.
It was a nightmare.
But we begin in Los Angeles, where the rolling threat from wildfires, which have caused at least 11 deaths and destroyed thousands of properties.
It is expected to pick up pace again, with new evacuation orders being issued for neighbourhoods surrounding the city.
In Altadena, this father and son told us how they watched their house burn to the ground.
I've lived through fires up in the foothills before that got really close, but never got into the houses so much.
But this one, it moved so quickly.
It was on a distant ridge one minute and then 10 minutes later, it was like right on top of us.
It was crazy how fast it moved with the winds blowing it.
And suddenly then our house fired and then it just burned and stuff.
It's so sad.