2025-01-11
26 分钟This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK hello and welcome to World Business Report from the BBC World Service.
I'm Roger Hearing, and on this edition, what it's been like to live through the Los Angeles wildfires.
Plus, Venezuela's President Maduro sworn in for a third term as his country faces tougher sanctions over elections widely seen as fraudulent.
The latest from TikToks appealed to the US Supreme Court and what high tariffs could do to California's almond exports.
But first, this week has seen extraordinary scenes in Los Angeles as large areas of the city were burnt by out of control wildfires.
Nearly 200,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes.
At least 10 people have died and around 10,000 properties have been destroyed.
But beyond the stark numbers are individual stories of lives upended and desperate dashes for safety from the flames.
Julia Polak is a voice that you'll have heard often on this program.
She's an expert on U.S.
jobs.
But when we caught up with her today to talk about the latest employment figures, we realized she'd been caught up in a very different drama.
I looked out of our balcony window and said, oh my goodness, the smoke is right there and coming towards us fast.
I grabbed a suitcase and said, let's get out of here.
But before packing it, I thought, wait a second, I've got to have my priorities straight and go pick up my 9 year old from the school next door.
It took forever to get him out and at that point I was kind of so hysterical as the black clouds were getting closer and closer and I was seeing flames jumping into our neighbor, into our immediate neighborhood that we just left as soon as we could.
Where did you, where did you head to?
So our first friend who called and offered to take us in was in the Palisades Village.
In the heart of the village.
His home eventually also burned down in the fire that kept spreading and spreading further south.