people, continue to burn. our neighbourhood and our neighbours have been eviscerated, it's really devastating to see generations of people's lives and livelihoods completely wiped out. rachel reeves becomes the most senior uk official to visit china for 7 years. she says that agreements reached with china are worth £600 million to the uk over the next five years. a french woman whose father was convicted last month in a mass rape trial tells the bbc he should never be released from jail. i was so close from my father, you can't imagine how hurt it is, it was a nightmare.

firefighters in los angeles are still battling to contain the massive and devastating — wildfires, that are now known to have killed 11 people. these are some of the latest developments... california's governor has ordered a review into whether water shortages have worsened the crisis — with �*critical hydrants�* believed to have failed. president biden said the scenes in burned our areas resembled "a war zone" — warning the number of dead was "likely" to rise. about 10 thousand homes and buildings are either destroyed, damaged or at risk. a night—time curfew is in force in the worst—affected areas to protect abandoned homes. and police said anyone involved in what they called "despicable" looting would be arrested.

these are live pictures from the city — where high winds are forecast to return in the coming days — making things even harder for already exhausted emergency workers — who are being reinforced from as far away as canada. there are five fires still burning. the biggest blaze is still the palisades fire — which is only 8 percent contained. and the eaton fire — just 3% �*contained'. that's the area around which an effective barrier has been created to stop the fire from spreading. prince harry and his wife meghan have been meeting some residents in some areas have been warned not to drink or cook with tap water because of contaminants from the fires. social media has helped...

our first report is from helena humphrey in la.(tx)> they got out. that's what matters most. amid the ash and ruin, a hug from dad promises everything will be all right. even if this family doesn't yet know how. when the fires tore through altadena in the dead of night, daisy and keith bundled their young children into the back of the car. they had no official warning, just instinct. my husband was very positive, like, if we have to leave, we should be getting like a text message. we should be getting like some sort of alert. the sheriff's department will come with, you know, with the... loudspeakers and everything. they would they would tell us and i'm like, well, you know, i'm waiting for that. i'm waiting to get some sort of like urgency that we got to leave because it's getting more dangerous. but we didn't get anything. it was just my gut feeling that said, we have to go. it was 1.30 in the morning and when i saw more flame going up, i said, we have to get out. like so many here, all this family has left is each other. the dream home they worked day and night for gone in an instant.

it was absolutely terrifying to see that. 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, you know, on a distant ridge one minute and then ten minutes later, it was like right on top of us. it was crazy how fast it moved with the winds blowing it. traces of christmas still linger, but it feels like a lifetime ago. all the gifts are gone. the rare toy rescued from the rubble now seems like a miracle. i found this and this. and my brother found this. how do you explain to children so young that the only place they've ever known, a place meant to be safe, is no more? i loved that swing set and i wanted to play. with it every day. it's things like this swing set which is still smouldering, which really bring it home.

what the next generation has lost here. and with an ever—warming planet, what they'll have to worry about in the future. for now, authorities are focussed on the immediate crisis. california governor gavin newsom is calling for an independent investigation into reported water shortages that hampered firefighters efforts. and with the hardest hit areas still burning. president biden has warned that things could get worse before they get better. mr president, have you been told that the loss of life is likely to increase significantly in california? it is likely it will increase, whether significantly or not. we don't know yet. there are still a lot of people that are unaccounted for. we don't know where they are. i think the toll is likely to go up whether it's significant or not. pray god it's not. but it could be. the duke and duchess of sussex have visited a fire relief centre, where they met first responders and those impacted by the fires. we went to visit some -

of the families in the impacted area, and then they wanted to go visit the first - responders and personally thank them for their efforts _ to help our familiesl and our neighbours. forfamilies like daisy and keith's, all they can do is cling on to each other. looking for a glimmer of hope through the lingering smoke. 0ur north america correspondent david willis is in altadena. he gave this update on the fire that is continuing to spread — and what the firefighters make of it. they have been hoping for a break provided by a lull in those very high winds, and that break only really exists until monday night, when they're expected to return with a vengeance. but within the last couple of hours, the pacific palisades fire, the biggest fire that has been

raging since earlier this week, took a turn and is now heading, as you mentioned, towards the san fernando valley and the densely populated cities of encino and tarzana, and as well the upscale town of city of brentwood, which is home to, amongst other people, the american vice president, kamala harris. that is a very bad sign if firefighters fail to get it under control. and as i say, there was a lot of hope today that they would be able to do so, that they would be able to make use of this break in the weather by virtue of the water dropping planes that have been brought in. they've been dropping water, gallons of it and flame retardant from helicopters and planes overhead, and it has clearly made something of a difference. but this was a crucial period, as i mentioned. and that turn of events isn't what the firefighters

had been hoping for, to say the very least. behind me and behind the burnt out cars and behind the burnt out homes that lie behind the burnt out cars are national guard officers, members of the california national guard, hundreds of whom have been drafted in here over the course of the last 2a hours to protect sites such as this from looters. and already we are told about 20 people. would you believe, have been arrested for looting. and in a bid to clamp down on that, they have also imposed officials here a dusk to dawn curfew. it's extraordinary to think that, given the heartbreak that some people here have experienced, that they could then eventually return to their homes to find that some of the most valuable possessions that remain have been stolen. so officials clamping down on that very hard indeed.

richard weintraub is a resident of la who was among those who battled to save his home. he told my collague nicky schillerr how his family were coping. i think we are in denial. if we were to go through the levels of emotion, it's been a tremendous roller—coaster. we've really blast that our home has been saved, it has tremendous damage to it, we will continue on but our neighbourhood and our neighbours have been eviscerated. it's really devastating to see generations of people's lives and livelihoods completely wiped out. it's really hard.— out. it's really hard. you've centred _ out. it's really hard. you've centred some _ out. it's really hard. you've centred some videos - out. it's really hard. you've centred some videos of- out. it's really hard. you've| centred some videos of how out. it's really hard. you've - centred some videos of how you defended your home which we are going to show, just tell us first what happened and what you did?

first what happened and what ou did? " ',': , you did? so, in 1993, my wife and i had _ you did? so, in 1993, my wife and i had lost _ you did? so, in 1993, my wife and i had lost our _ you did? so, in 1993, my wife and i had lost our home - you did? so, in 1993, my wife and i had lost our home in - you did? so, in 1993, my wife and i had lost our home in a l and i had lost our home in a fire in malibu, ironically. i saw how that played out and i didn't like the end of that story and so i decided against advice to stay and to fight the fire and i got three houses going with powerful nozzles to wet down all the foliage around us and to whet the ground and to put out the embers. the smoke was incredibly thick, you could not breathe, but i was there for many hours alone. by grace of god, and a lot of blessings and prayers, our home was saved. it was not without danger in doing so. we was saved. it was not without danger in doing so.— danger in doing so. we are seeinu danger in doing so. we are seeing the _ danger in doing so. we are seeing the pictures, - danger in doing so. we are seeing the pictures, and i danger in doing so. we are. seeing the pictures, and the flames are so close to you, why did you decide to stay? i flames are so close to you, why did you decide to stay?- did you decide to stay? i think when you _

did you decide to stay? i think when you get _ did you decide to stay? i think when you get to _ did you decide to stay? i think when you get to situations - did you decide to stay? i think| when you get to situations like this, being realistic... when it comes down to it, people can say, we feel so bad for you or whatever, but you are on your own, when you are on your own, you have to protect what is yours, and i talked to some firefighters, not in this neighbourhood who have said, keep the embers away from the house, you have a reasonable chance of success. so, that's what i chose to do. i was told by my wife and by our friends to get the hell out of there, excuse my language, but i realise that if worse came to worse, i couldjump realise that if worse came to worse, i could jump on a fire truck and get out of the neighbourhood. i'm not saying i did the smartest thing in the world but at the end of the day, our home is still standing and i stand by what i did. it was very, very hot. and it was actually quite painful when some of the embers came, and... briefly, where do you go from

here? ~ ., , here? we have friends, we went to their homes _ here? we have friends, we went to their homes in _ here? we have friends, we went to their homes in the _ here? we have friends, we went to their homes in the hills, - to their homes in the hills, fortunately we were evacuated from there, we have our three dogs with us, our kids are in couege dogs with us, our kids are in college that we aren't as concerned with them, we were evacuated to a house in hollywood, a couple of hours later we were evacuated to a house in beverly hills, where we were able to stay the night and now we are down in the coachella valley which is around two hours away, which is well known as palm springs, palm desert area which is where we are now, where we go from here i am not sure.— here i am not sure. that was the description _ here i am not sure. that was the description of _ here i am not sure. that was the description of how- here i am not sure. that was the description of how he - the description of how he fought to save his home. extraordinary tales coming from california. stefan doerr, professor of wildland fire science at swansea university, gave his assesment on the fires. yeah. the main problem here has

been the combination of meteorological conditions. so we've had these really strong santana winds. they're not unusual this time of the year, but they have been very strong. but the more critical factor here is that we haven't had any winter rainfall. this is a mediterranean area. this is drought is normal in the summer. but this time of the year, you would have expected winter rains to wet the vegetation. and this hasn't happened. so essentially we are dealing with a tinderbox and these conditions that make it extremely difficult to fight the fires, like we've heard. and in previous years, there was a lot of rainfall, which arguably ensured that that vegetation that you're talking about grew very, very strongly. but then with the drought and with the lack of rain, as you were saying, it made that really dry and just a tinderbox. and this is what we're seeing now, the flames of all of that vegetation. yes, that's exactly right. so we basically had two relatively wet winters that allowed very good growing conditions. and we're actually seeing this more around the world, these seesaw conditions where we have very strong rainfall and very wet conditions. and then later on we have very dry conditions. and that combination

is essentially the worst case scenario you can imagine for fires. and unfortunately that is increasing notjust in california but in many places around the world. and so arguably the consequence of that is that we're seeing just the unimaginable pictures. of course, this is an area that they're used to wildfires. but what's your assessment of the scale of what we're seeing? of course, in this case the scale is almost, as you say, unimaginable. the number of evacuations, the number of buildings destroyed. in fact, the number of buildings destroyed isn't actually greater than what we've seen in 2018, in california. but, of course, you know, a lot of the buildings are very expensive here. so the insurance losses are likely to be the greatest, at least in this century. but in terms of the overall movement of the fire, we do see this in other areas as well. for example, in australia, we see this in eucalypt forests. we've seen this in greece, in mati and the disaster some years ago. we've seen this in hawaii. but of course we have that combination of a lot of buildings

and an interface between vegetation that is very flammable and many, many houses that lie in the path of the wind. so really, again, it's the worst case scenario we have here. much more of a course of the la fires on our website, we've got a life page there with the latest updates. also, will be coming back to this here on bbc news, i wanted to bring you a bit of breaking news which is coming from president zelinsky, we are reporting from the afp news agency, it says that the ukrainian president, ukraine has captured two north korean soldiers, they are describing them as prisoners of war, and president zelinsky is a saying that investigators are questioning these two captured north korean soldiers. apparently, these were north

korean soldiers, we know that north korea has been sending soldiers numeral... numerous numbers of soldiers to bolster the russian efforts in following the full scale invasion by russia of ukraine. apparently, these two captured north korean soldiers were fighting according to president zelinsky in russia's kursk region, this follows an offensive that ukraine has made into that russian region on the borders of ukraine. the moment we get any more on that we will bring it to you, that latest line from president zelinsky saying that two north korean soldiers are being questioned by ukraine following their capture in russia's kursk region where ukraine is currently doing an assault on that region. much more when we get it.

the british chancellor has been defending her visit to beijing which coincides with the cost of government borrowing soaring in the uk. at a news conference after talks with the chinese vice—premier he lifeng, rachel reeves said many of the challenges facing governments could not be tackled by individual countries working alone. rachel reeves is the most senior british official to visit china for seven years. she described the trip as a significant milestone and has said it's in challenging times that practical cooperation between the world's major economies was most needed. 0pposition parties had urged her to cancel the visit to focus on problems at home. the visit comes as as borrowing costs in the uk hit a 16 year high, and the value of the pound fell to its lowest in over a year. following the first session of the uk—china economy and finance dialogue in beijing, rachel reeves spoke about the outcome so far. the outcomes we've agreed today represent pragmatic cooperation in action. they represent common ground being found

on areas like financial services, trade, investment and the climate. they support secure and resilient growth, providing mutual benefit for both the uk and china while safeguarding national security. as the first duty of government, the total value of what we have agreed today is worth £600 million over the next five years for the uk economy. overall, this government's re—engagement with china already sets us on course to deliver up to £1 billion of value for the uk economy. this includes across our financial services in which the uk is a global leader. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent, shelley phelps and asked her what the chancellor has achieved on this visit. so one of the things

that was talked about was a lifting of barriers on market access, on things like agri food. another area we were told there would be more cooperation was on financial services, for example. so it was quite a short press conference. so we'll have to wait to get more details on those. but the chancellor will certainly be pleased to have some concrete outcomes that she can point to. you know, some people had been questioning, well, how much was really going to come out of this trip. and of course, she said it was all about boosting the economy and trade. and i thought it was interesting. it was quite warm, wasn't it, that press conference. and under the new labour government, they do seem to be, you know, taking a different approach on china, wanting to engage more. they've talked about what they call the three cs. so that is cooperation where they say that that's the right thing to do, competition where necessary. but they've said they'll challenge where they must because tensions had been quite strained with china in previous years. yeah, they definitely wanted to improve that relationship. but of course, ok, that may have felt like a warm press conference. but when it when it comes to the criticism that rachel reeves received for.

even going there, given the turbulence in the uk markets, that hasn't died away. yeah, that's right, this trip was very controversial before she had even set foot on. the plane. you were just talking a moment ago about some of the issues, the turbulence that we've seen in the uk. markets, markets rise in the cost of government borrowing fall in the value of pound. experts saying it's going to be unusual that these two things you are happening at the same time. 0pposition parties had called for her not to go. the shadow chancellor, mel stride, has accused are her ofjumping on a jet when she should be getting a things in gear at home. the liberal democrats, for example, are saying that she should be coming up with a plan b for how she plans to address market volatility. and of course, for the chancellor who's out there trying to sell uk plc. she is facing these questions at press conferences like this about these issues at home. but she has defended her budget. she said her fiscal rules are non—negotiable and she's talked about how important economic stability is. but i'm sure when she gets back on monday,

there are still likely to be a lot of questions for her. a former thai soldier accused of killing a cambodian opposition politician has been handed over to the authorities in thailand. he's suspected of shooting dead lim kimya after the former legislator stepped off a bus in bangkok. the suspect, ekkalak phaenoi has apparently confessed to the crime, but his motive is unclear. he then fled to cambodia, from where he's been repatriated. the 27—year—old will take part in a two—day summit in islamabad focusing on girl's education in islamic countries, she was evacuated from pakistan in 2012 after she was shot by the pakistani taliban on her

school bus.— the pakistani taliban on her school bus. she is a return to the country — school bus. she is a return to the country only _ school bus. she is a return to the country only a _ school bus. she is a return to the country only a handful. school bus. she is a return to the country only a handful of| the country only a handful of times since. it was the biggest rape trial in french history. gisele pelicot waived her right to anonymity and became a global icon. dominque pelicot was found guilty of drugging and raping his wife, and inviting 50 men into their home to abuse her while she slept. gisele's daughter caro—leen darian stood alongside her mother in court and told her father that he would "die alone like a dog." caroleen believes that her father also drugged and abused her. she's spoken to the bbc in herfirst broadcast interview since the trial. anna collinson has more. don't really remember the father that i thought he was. i looked straight to the criminal, to the sexual criminal he is. caroline darian received a phone call from her mother in november 2020 that changed her life forever. she's been speaking to the bbc�*s emma barnett. it was like an earthquake

or like a tsunami in my own living room. caroline's father, dominic pelicot, had been drugging and raping her mother for over a decade and had encouraged dozens of other men to abuse her, too. i was so close from my father. you can't imagine how hurts it is. you know, it was a nightmare. that nightmare became even darker when police told caroline they'd found semi—naked pictures of her on her father's laptop. and i was shown two pictures of me totally unconscious. with her pants, which is not mine. so, you know, i was in shock. as the world watched france's

largest rape trial unfold, she hoped herfather would finally admit he'd sexually abused her. but he's always denied it. i'm convinced that he raped me. yes. the only difference between my mom and me, i don't have any evidence like she did. gisele pelicot has been hailed as a feminist icon, while her ex—husband, along with dozens of other men, is in prison, including for the indecent images he took of his daughter caroline. he was always a sexual pervert. always. there's no way you can wake up in the morning saying, "0k, i'm going to drug my wife for rape her". he should die in prison. he is a dangerous man. he is dangerous. caroline is now working to raise awareness about chemical submission, where drugs or alcohol are used to assault victims. she says she will never see

pelicot again or call him dad. i don't want to think that i'm dominique's daughter. i want to be proud of our of the rest of our family. i think we all have a responsibility to speak up. that's documentary will be available on bbc iplayer. let's return to the fires in los angeles — we will show you a time lapse of the palisades fire, this is from the tenth to the 11th of january, it shows you the intensity of the largest fire burning in the area. hello again.

it was a bitterly cold night across many parts of the uk. temperatures widely below freezing and we had scenes like ths, a hard frost on ground and again the continuation of ice for some of us this morning as well. in fact, it was the coldest night of the winter so far. in northern scotland, the thermometer went down to —18.9 celsius. it will gradually get milder or less cold as we go into the early part of next week. for this afternoon, a bit of rain moving into scotland, northwest england and wales, that could fall temporarily as a bit of snow over higher ground. sunshine in eastern areas. still a really cold day for most of us, temperatures up to four celsius but less cold in northern ireland, west wales and southwest england, temperatures here up to six celsius. tonight, some cloud moving eastwards, temperatures dropping quickly but perhaps recovering slightly into the early part of sunday morning. regardless, towards eastern areas, another hard frost expected, temperatures

widely below freezing. not as cold again towards western areas because we have this milder, south—westerly wind bringing in some higher temperatures through the next few days. so for sunday, we will see those temperatures higher again for northern ireland and northern and western scotland. sunshine for most at first, perhaps more cloud in central and eastern areas on sunday afternoon, compared to this afternoon. and temperatures a smidgen higher than today, about four degrees but in the west again, up to nine celsius. on monday, those south—westerly winds affecting more of us. it will bring a lot of cloud to scotland and northern ireland, into northern parts of england. outbreaks of rain here but temperatures rising. notice the greens and oranges, whereas the far southeast of england still holding onto the colder conditions. through next week, this is the temperature compared to average. it iniitally starts off below average by the blues there but gradually, the oranges and reds here,

above—average temperatures spread further southwards across the uk. so, temperatures coming up to around 12 celsius throughout the week. it will be gradual but with that, some risk of melting and thawing snow which could bring some flooding issues. bye— bye.

a this is bbc news, the headlines...

a night—time curfew is in force in parts of los angeles worst—hit by devastating wildfires which have killed at least eleven people. new evacuations have been issued in the area of the palisades fire as it continues to burn. the supreme court appears poised to uphold a law that bans tiktok in the us over national security concerns unless its china—based parent company sells the platform ahead of a 19january deadline. a major search is under way for two sisters who were last seen in aberdeen city centre on tuesday. eliza and henrietta hoostee's brother has told the bbc they seemed "fine" in the days running up to their disappearance. let's return to our top

story and those fires in los angeles, where a night time curfew has come into force