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.

and a major search is under way for two sisters that went missing in aberdeen on tuesday. in los angeles, firefighters are still battling to contain the devastating wildfires — and there's no real sign yet that they're turning the corner. here are the key developments this hour. overall, at least least eleven people have been killed and the number of homes and structures that have been destroyed stands at 10 thousand. an evacuation orderfor the palisades fire, one of the worst — has actually expanded to take in the suburbs of brentwood and encino and the area that includes the getty museum. at least six fires are burning and the forecast is for more strong winds which won't help the situation at all. president biden has called it a �*war scene'. a public

health emergency has been declared for the los angeles area because of the risk from smoke. california's governor has called for an investigation into how critical fire hydrants ran out of water — impeding the firefighting effort. we are taking you to the live shot across los angeles where as we know the emergency situation is ongoing and as i was saying, los angeles authorities have declared a local health emergency due to the poor ella quality as fire, ash and smoke blankets this area. we begin our coverage with this report. 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, 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 on a distance ridge one minute — it was on a distance ridge one minute and then ten minutes leter— minute and then ten minutes later it — minute and then ten minutes later it was right on top of us, — later it was right on top of us, it_ later it was right on top of us, it was_ later it was right on top of us, it was crazy how fast it moved _ 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. 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. 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. our 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. we are going to go over to germany— we are going to go over to germany to speak to... we are going to go over to germany to speak to. .. linda ou germany to speak to. .. linda you started — germany to speak to. .. linda you started your— germany to speak to. .. linda you started your career- germany to speak to. .. linda you started your career at - germany to speak to. .. linda | you started your career at the firefighting force. this you started your career at the firefighting force.— firefighting force. this is a tra . ed firefighting force. this is a tragedy of _ firefighting force. this is a tragedy of immense - firefighting force. this is a - tragedy of immense proportions, this is a new type of fire that we've been seeing, also in european countries as well, just a very large fires being blown directly into a very urban areas with very catastrophic losses. just talk us through. _ catastrophic losses. just talk us through, the _ catastrophic losses. just talk us through, the firefighters l catastrophic losses. just talk i us through, the firefighters on the ground now, they are desperately trying to contain these fires, how do that? it’s

these fires, how do that? it's a combination _ these fires, how do that? it�*s a combination of tactics. first priority of cost saving lives, helping people get safely evacuated, that's what complicates particularly in urban situations versus a wild fire burning in an unpopulated area, there is a lot of first priority on life, which means that there is not directly a strategy yet on how to contain the fire itself, its very much focused on saving the lives and pivoting to saving property where possible and eventually now, we are in day four of this particular scenario, we are just as of yesterday focusing on containing the fire itself because as we see, how it's burning into the next residential areas, burning into the next residentialareas, or burning into the next residential areas, or coming too close to it. it's a very, very dynamic situation, quickly evolving all the time, particularly with high winds. when we talk about the major, biggest of these fires, the palisades fire is 80% contained, help is to

understand, we witness these unimaginable scenes, what that means intangible terms when its 8% contained. the means intangible terms when its 896 contained.— 896 contained. the containment numbers. _ 896 contained. the containment numbers. a _ 896 contained. the containment numbers. a very _ 896 contained. the containment numbers, a very conservative, l numbers, a very conservative, only wednesday had the fire contained. a barrier or confirmed extinguished along the flanks, do they start releasing higher containment numbers. it is always to be expected, particularly in a scenario where mostly it is properties that are burning to have a low containment like this because it was not the priority to contain the fire at first, i hopefully expect that containment is to go up in the coming days and certainly before the weather conditions worsened again. and, they are off to the races again if it is not contained but these fires usually take a couple of weeks to fully extinguish because it's an urban fire, in a sense, it's an urban fire, in a sense, it is almost like we expected to be out like putting out a house fire but these are

wildfires and they do move as such, they are burning urban and wild areas, it will take many days if not weeks to extinguish follies.- many days if not weeks to extinguish follies. when you are working _ extinguish follies. when you are working for _ extinguish follies. when you are working for the - extinguish follies. when you are working for the us - extinguish follies. when you | are working for the us forest service, i wonder when it comes to these firefighters, the kind of skills that you need, are there enough of them because as i say, when we look at these images they just i say, when we look at these images theyjust are extraordinary. it images they just are extraordinary.- images they just are extraordina . extraordinary. it is january, at the time _ extraordinary. it is january, at the time of _ extraordinary. it is january, at the time of year - extraordinary. it is january, at the time of year where i at the time of year where thousands of seasonal wildland firefighters are laid off and they are not... we see resources being pulled away as far as idaho... resources being pulled away as faras idaho... even resources being pulled away as far as idaho... even from canada. clearly we need more resources in approximately seven or 10,000 federal wildland firefighters, they are laid off at the moment, with additional thousands of contract firefighters who work for other agencies and also the

aircrafts, some of these large aircrafts, some of these large air tankers have contracts with other parts of the world so they go down to the southern hemisphere to fight in the northern hemisphere winter. we are entering into this grey zone of fighting a wildland fire in a urban environment, we have wildland firefighters who are not used to responding and trained in responding in a natural environment, you have open firefighters who are trained and equipped differently. we have the convergence of factors which is creating a lot of challenges are foreshore.— creating a lot of challenges are foreshore. thank you very much for _ are foreshore. thank you very much for sharing _ are foreshore. thank you very much for sharing your - much for sharing your expertise. really appreciate your commentary on what we are monitoring in la, we do have that qr code you can watch the live page where we can bring you up—to—date with our correspondence who are on the

ground and we can cross over to la because my colleague is there, bring us up to date, where are you and just we are seeing those fires just continuing to burn, obviously it is a difficult situation for everybody on the ground. it’s everybody on the ground. it's extremely — everybody on the ground. it�*s extremely difficult and one moment there is a glimmer of hope because as you have been talking about, in terms of getting his fires under control, the containment percentages. these and not that everyone is looking out for, how much have the fires been contained, firefighters are convinced it is not going to be spread any further but those numbers are still very low. the big fires, the pacific palisades, the first to start on last tuesday still spreading and moving towards other densely populated areas, brentwood, to the west of los angeles, also the san fernando valley which is sprawling area to the north of hollywood and i

am right nowjust north of the san fernando valley, and there have been fires here to the west and to the east as well. extraordinary situation where you have all of these fires right across this greater sprawling city, at the same time. that's a big part of the problem in terms of resources being stretched to the limit. some political repercussions are beginning to start. we understand at the early stages there was no problem with the water supply, the fire hydrant were running out of water, now were running out of water, now we have the governor of california calling for an investigation into that and i can tell you, i've had a lot of people talking about this that there is a tremendous amount of people talking about this that there is a tremendous amount of anger and frustration. this is anger and frustration. this is way that the fire has been way that the fire has been dealt with and perhaps the dealt with and perhaps the attitudes of the authorities to attitudes of the authorities to some extent, having said that, some extent, having said that, equally i think a lot of people equally i think a lot of people understanding of the situation understanding of the situation that the firefighters that the firefighters themselves have been absolutely themselves have been absolutely stretched to the limit and in stretched to the limit and in many cases have simply been many cases have simply been helpless to put individual helpless to put individual

fires and the fires that fires and the fires of individual houses out because they simply didn't have the resources all the time to get to everyone. resources all the time to get to everyone-— resources all the time to get to everyone. and, at the scale of it is absolutely _ of it is absolutely overwhelming and making things even more complicated obviously now because of all that fire ash and the smoke as well, los angeles authorities are declaring a health emergency because of the poor air quality, peter.- quality, peter. that is understandable, - quality, peter. that is understandable, the l quality, peter. that is - understandable, the smoke is a constant threat to people now and as you said right across a

might be going in with breathing issues. all of these issues on top of the very immediate threat of the fires which is of course uppermost in people's minds that they have to get to safety, there are so many under evacuation orders, that means they have to get out of their homes, others are under evacuation warnings that means you have to be prepared to get out of your home. there will be a lot of people in the brentwood area, san fernando eyrie in that situation. with their cases packed in their valuables and their pets ready to get away and to know where they are going to. that is part of the procedure here, everyone has to have a plan to know where you will go if you are fast to it, will it be an evacuation centre, event, a relative term, a safer part of los angeles, and how to navigate to actually get there. that brentwood area one of kamala harris�*s home... when you look at the road upon road,

borough pond borough, the suburbsjust borough pond borough, the suburbs just abs