World-famous actors, musicians and celebrities were among the tens of thousands of people affected by terrifying wildfires tearing through Los Angeles on Wednesday.The world’s entertainment capital was besieged by out-of-control blazes that were burning on multiple fronts, spread by hurricane-force winds that had left hundreds of firefighters almost helpless.Dozens of homes were known to have been lost in the swanky Pacific Palisades area, a favorite spot for celebrities where multimillion dollar houses nestle on beautiful hillsides.Emmy award-winning actor James Woods posted a video on X showing flames engulfing trees and bushes near his home as he got ready to evacuate, and shortly afterward said all the fire alarms were going off.”I couldn’t believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long. It feels like losing a loved one,” Woods said.”Star Wars” star Mark Hamill told his followers on Instagram that he had fled his Malibu home on Tuesday.”Evacuated Malibu so last-minute there were small fires on both sides of the road as we approached PCH,” he wrote, referring to the Pacific Coast Highway, a scenic road that connects seafront settlements.The Luke Skywalker actor said he and his wife Marilou York, along with a pet dog, had gone to their daughter’s Hollywood home to escape what he dubbed the “most horrific fire since ’93.”Steve Guttenberg — star of 1984 comedy “Police Academy” — was among those helping get people out of Pacific Palisades as the fire began spreading on Tuesday.The “Cocoon” actor expressed frustration at how some of those fleeing the blaze had abandoned their cars on one of the only roads in and out of the ritzy neighborhood.”If you leave your car… leave the key in there so a guy like me can move your car so that these fire trucks can get up there. It’s really, really important,” he told a live television broadcast.”This Is Us” actress Mandy Moore was also among those who fled, taking her children and pets with her, according to an Instagram post.”Praying and grateful for the first responders,” she wrote.Reality TV personalities Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt from “The Hills,” an MTV show that ran until 2010, said they had lost their house after evacuating.”I’m watching our house burn down on the security cameras,” Pratt wrote on Snapchat.

Joe Biden thinks he could have won reelection if he had stayed in the White House race, he said in an interview published Wednesday — while conceding he was unsure if he would have served another full term.The 82-year-old Democrat, who leaves office on January 20, was asked by USA Today if he believed victory over Republican Donald Trump was a realistic prospect last November, and he pointed to unspecified polling and said: “I think yes.””I really thought I had the best chance of beating him. But I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old. And so I did talk about passing the baton,” Biden said.”But I don’t know. Who the hell knows? So far, so good. But who knows what I’m going to be when I’m 86 years old?”Biden, the oldest US president in history, faced persistent questions about his mental fitness before withdrawing from the election after a calamitous televised debate against Trump in which he looked incapable of making the case for another term.He has given fewer sit-down interviews and press conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan, and USA Today was the only print outlet scheduled for a one-to-one before Biden leaves office.Biden was asked about regrets from the last four years but did not mention the presidential debate, or his decision to break his promise to be a single-term president and a “bridge” to next generation.Instead, he complained about misinformation — pointing to falsehoods to spread by Trump and others about two New Year’s Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas — and to the glacial pace of infrastructure projects.”I think we would’ve been a hell of a lot better off had we been able to go much harder at getting some of these projects in the ground quicker,” he said.Washington has been abuzz with discussion since Trump’s victory over potential preemptive pardons for those who may be in the Republican leader’s crosshairs when he returns to office.Biden confirmed that he was considering the idea but had not yet come to a decision.He described how he told Trump during their Oval Office meeting shortly after the election not to go after perceived enemies, warning that it was “counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores.”Trump listened but did not offer a response, Biden said.  For his legacy, the veteran Democrat said he wanted to be remembered for having a plan to restore the post-pandemic economy and reestablish American global leadership.”That was my hope. I mean, you know, who knows?” Biden said. “And I hope (history) records that I did it with honesty and integrity, that I said what was on my mind.”

The US private sector added fewer jobs than anticipated in December, payroll firm ADP said Wednesday, with hiring and wage increases both cooling.Private sector employment rose by 122,000 jobs last month, said ADP, missing a consensus forecast of 131,000 according to Briefing.com.”The labor market downshifted to a more modest pace of growth in the final month of 2024, with a slowdown in both hiring and pay gains,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson.She added that health care added more jobs than other sectors in the second half of the year.The figure for December was also a slowdown from November’s employment gain of 146,000.In particular, hiring in manufacturing contracted for a third consecutive month, the report said.Most job increases were in the service-providing industries, with education and health services adding 57,000 roles.The bulk of job gains were also driven by companies employing 500 people or more.This adds to “evidence that small businesses are under the most financial pressure,” said Samuel Tombs, chief US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.Analysts cautioned that ADP’s data is not always an effective gauge of the government employment report due Friday, although it helps them understand the big picture.”Right now, that picture is one of still substantial increases in jobs by a fast-growing economy but a slowing trend in job creation,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.”Today’s figures do not upset that trend,” he added.According to ADP, wage gains slowed in December, with those staying in their jobs seeing pay growth ease to 4.6 percent.This was the slowest pace since July 2021.For those who changed jobs, pay growth was 7.1 percent, slightly below November as well.Weinberg added that he expects the US economy to keep creating jobs until next year, stressing that “slower job growth in a slower-growing economy is not a recession.”He also said that the Federal Reserve “should not rush its rate-cutting agenda based on these figures.”

The effect of new tariffs under consideration by US President-elect Donald Trump is unlikely to be “significant or persistent,” a senior Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.Trump has floated several proposals, including a plan for sweeping tariffs on all goods entering the United States — drawing criticism from many economists concerned about possible negative ripple effects. But in a lecture at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, Fed Governor Christopher Waller — who did not refer directly to Trump — suggested he thought some of the concerns about tariffs may be overblown.”If, as I expect, tariffs do not have a significant or persistent effect on inflation, they are unlikely to affect my view of appropriate monetary policy,” said Waller, who is a permanent voting member of the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee.”I don’t think these draconian tariffs that everybody’s talking about are necessarily going to be implemented,” he added in a nod to Trump’s threats to impose across-the-board tariffs.Waller also addressed the Fed’s likely rate cut path, following a flurry of votes that lowered the US central bank’s benchmark lending rate by 100 basis points in a matter of months.At their most recent meeting in December, Fed policymakers penciled in just two rate cuts for 2025, suggesting they expect a slower pace of cuts ahead.US inflation has fallen sharply since it hit a four-decade high in 2022, but recently ticked higher, creeping away from the Fed’s long-term target of two percent.At the same time, economic growth has remained resilient, and the labor market has stayed relatively robust, raising concerns the Fed may have to keep rates higher for longer to tame it.Higher interest rates indirectly affect borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, affecting the cost of everything from mortgages to car loans. Speaking to the OECD on Wednesday, Waller said he believed that “inflation will continue to make progress toward our two percent goal over the medium term and that further reductions will be appropriate.”If the outlook for the economy evolves as expected, Waller said he would support continuing to cut rates this year.”As always, the extent of further easing will depend on what the data tell us about progress toward two percent inflation, but my bottom-line message is that I believe more cuts will be appropriate,” he said.Futures traders currently see a probability of close to 95 percent that the Fed will remain on pause at the next interest rate meeting later this month, according to data from CME Group. They also assign a probability of around 80 percent that the US central bank will make no more than two quarter percentage-point cuts this year.