BBC News Briefing

10 January, 2025

Alex has short blonde hair and blue eyes. She is smiling and wearing a black turtleneck

Alex Binley

Hello. Lawyers for TikTok have appeared before the US Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to prevent an impending ban in America. While on the other side of the country, my colleague Lucy Sherriff shares her heartbreaking story of how her home was burnt to the ground in the Los Angeles fires. And in China, we spoke to the road-tripping 'auntie' who's become an unwitting feminist icon.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

TikTok in last-ditch effort to stop US ban

A crowd of people in Washington DC outside the supreme court. The are wearing coats and hats and one woman holds a sign which reads 'keep TikTok'

TikTok has 170 million users across the US. Credit: Reuters

Justices on the US Supreme Court appear likely to uphold a law that will either ban TikTok in America or force its Chinese owner ByteDance to sell it. Earlier, lawyers for the social media giant appeared before the justices in a bid to overturn the impending 19 January ban, in a case testing the limits of national security and free speech. The US government argues that without a sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation, posing a "grave threat" to national security. But TikTok rejects that claim, arguing it has been unfairly targeted and the measure violates the free speech of its 170 million American users, something the justices appeared sceptical of. A decision will be made within days.

GET UP TO SPEED

A screengrab of Donald Trump taken from a video during a court hearing. He is pointing at the camera, wearing a black suit and a red tie, with the US flag in the background

Trump avoids prison or fine over hush-money case

The charges stem from a hush-money payment to an adult film star in the waning days of the 2016 election.

More from court >

Nicolás Maduro raises his right fist in the air. He is wearing a black suit and a black tie, and has a red band wrapped around the wrist that is raised in the air. He has dark, short hair and a moustache. Next to him is a woman in a blue top and a pearl necklace.

US announces $25m reward for Maduro's arrest

It comes as he was sworn in as president of Venezuela for the third time, after an election he's not thought to have won.

Read more >

Two women are weeping and crouch down with a man. All three are looking underneath a pink blanket where there is likely to be a body

Gaza death toll could be much higher - researchers

A study estimates that up until 30 June 2024, 64,260 Palestinians died, meaning deaths were under-reported by 41%.

Read more >

Djokovic hits a tennis ball. He is wearing a blue T-shirt and has short, dark hair and facial stubble

Djokovic wants to 'focus on tennis' after poison claim

The 37-year-old gave no further details as he walked out of a news conference which ended in a bizarre fashion.

What happened >

AT THE SCENE

Los Angeles, California

'I have nothing to go back to'

Lucy Sheriff s wearing glasses and a white mask covering her mouth and nose. She is wearing a white T-Shirt and has long, ginger hair which is tied back from her face. In the baclground smoke billows in the sky

Lucy Sherriff fled the Palisades and returned to find her home destroyed. Credit: BBC

Lucy Sherriff has covered fires before for the BBC, but this time it is her life at the centre of them. Six months pregnant, she is one of almost 180,000 people who have had to leave their homes across Los Angeles as the most destructive wildfires in the history of the city continue to rage. She evacuated as the Palisades fire bore down on her house, only to come back later and discover that it had been razed to the ground.

Lucy Sherriff, BBC Studios reporter

My partner and I decided we'd go and check on our house and retrieve some of the irreplaceable belongings we'd left behind - photographs, journals and family jewellery.

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As soon as I saw the scene I doubled up like I'd been hit. Where about 20 condos once stood there was a pile of burning rubble. Firefighters, their faces covered in ash, kept apologising that they couldn't save our home. I was sobbing and thanking them for doing so much already. I had to call and tell all my neighbours that their homes were gone. I could barely get the words out.

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Most of my area, I'd say about 90%, has been razed to the ground. It's all gone. I'm reeling from the shock, from the devastation and from everything my community has lost.

Read more from Lucy

Latest updates: Follow our live page where we bring you the latest news lines as we get them.

Watch: How three days of fires and devastation unfolded.

In pictures: Powerful images show the loss, destruction and heroism as wildfires continue to tear through Los Angeles.

PICK OF THE WEEK

The road-trip 'auntie' who became an icon

Su Min wears a denim shirt and dark trousers and is standing in front of a large, silver 4x4 car. She has long black hair in a ponytail and she is looking into the distance

Su Min has captured the curiosity and awe of millions of Chinese women with her video diaries. Credit: Su Min

Su Min had no intention of becoming a feminist icon. The 60-year-old grandmother was only trying to escape her abusive husband when she hit the road in 2020. "I felt like I could finally catch my breath," she says, recalling the moment she drove away from her old life. Over the next four years, which saw her criss-cross China, she produced video diaries of her adventures in which she also detailed her decades of pain, garnering millions of cheerleaders online. They called her the "road-tripping auntie" as she inadvertently became a hero for women who felt trapped in their own lives.

More of Su Min's story

Two people sitting on a couch are pictured from behind. They are staring at a painting hanging from a dark green wall in front of them. The painting features three rectangles of different sizes and placements painted on a backdrop of pastel colours.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Time to focus

An art gallery with just three paintings is starting a mental health movement.

Here's how

And finally... in Australia

A woman has successfully petitioned to annul her marriage after realising that a fake wedding ceremony she took part in for a social media stunt was in fact real. The bizarre case began in September 2023, when the woman met her partner on an online dating platform. Read about how it unfolded.

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– Alex

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