That’s a wrap – thank you for reading the Need to Know blog today. These were some of the main stories:

• Trump says emergency authority is ‘getting in the way of everything’: President Donald Trump says he wants to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency, claiming it is “getting in the way of everything” as the US faces the daunting task of rebuilding after storm damage in the southeast and devastating wildfires in California.

• 50,000 people under threat as new fast-moving wildfire menaces north LA: More than 50,000 people were under evacuation orders or warnings on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) as a huge and fast-moving wildfire swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles.

• Pentagon begins deploying 1500 troops to Mexican border: The Pentagon says it has begun deploying 1500 troops to help secure the southern border, putting in motion plans Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration.

• No backwards step on big tech levy: Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government is not taking a backwards step on a proposal to hit big tech firms with hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes.

• Labor to spend $50m bailing out Rex investors: The Albanese government will gift the Asian private equity house, whose backers are the subject of an ASIC investigation, $50 million to bail them out of their bad investment in airline Regional Express.

• Trump administration cancels travel for refugees already cleared: Refugees who had been approved to travel to the United States before a deadline next week suspending America’s refugee resettlement program have had their travel plans cancelled by the Trump administration.