this is bbc news, the headlines... hopes rise for an israel hamas cease—fire, the two sides are us secretary of state antony blinken says a deal is "on the brink". treasury minister tulip siddiq resigns, after growing pressure over an anti—corruption investigation in bangladesh. los angeles braces for further destruction, with weather forecasts indicating a return to strong winds, that could again fuel the flames. the princess of wales announces she is "in remission" from cancer — as she visits staff and patients at the hospital that treated her. strong winds are forecast to return to los angeles, threatening to undermine the progress made against the city's wildfires.

forecasters are expecting gusts of more than 70 miles per hour — about the same force as a category one hurricane. these are the same type of santa ana winds that caused the initial spread of the blazes last week. you can see here the two largest firest — the palisades and eaton fires which continue to burn. firefighters in los angeles are warning that the strengthening winds may spread the flames further. president biden has warned that it will cost tens of billions of dollars to rebuild the destroyed areas of los angeles. and, after a spate of crime during the wildfires, prosecutors have charged nine people with offences including burglary and looting. emma vardy has more. this is the moment looters enter an evacuated home in the palisades. they were later arrested and charged with stealing $200,000 worth of property. the promise that we made when we started this, that these criminals would be arrested, they would be prosecuted and they will be maximally punished is a promise

we are keeping. it's just one example of the crime wave authorities are now tackling in the wake of the fires. joe biden has promised that la will get government money to help the massive recovery effort. it's going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get los angeles back to where it was. so we're going to need congress to step up to provide funding to get this done. despite talk of recovery, the flames are still spreading. this is ventura county, north of la, where a new fire broke out yesterday. crews battled through the night, but it's still uncontained. definitely on our territory. as well as the thousands of homes destroyed, in altadena alone, aix schools have also burned. in altadena alone, six schools have also burned. this one, 0dyssey charter school, you see the playground. this was the younger children's classrooms, all destroyed. and here, 800 pupils aged between 4 and 13 now have little idea

of where they'll go. with power and internet still down in large parts of los angeles, an idea by tesla owner elon musk has led to owners of his futuristic cybertrucks travelling to affected areas to provide wifi using the portable satellite system starlink. you can't even make a phone call out here. so there's certainly no internet out here, so just being able to provide that is, i think, a critical need out here. and help continues to reach la in many forms. more than 800 prison inmates being trained in firefighting skills have been working on the ground for days, and crews from mexico have also joined the unprecedented effort to deal with this historic disaster. emma vardy, bbc news, los angeles. a little earlier i spoke our senior north america correspondent gary 0'donoghue who was in los angeles. you have to remember that these

fires, the two main fires, are still burning and that while the the fire department has managed to contain a little bit more of each of one, there's still most of those perimeters aren't contained. now, fortunately, yesterday, we've now learned that the death toll has not risen from that 24. they've been searching through the remains of people's houses, and they haven't happily found any more, uh, corpses or dead people at this stage. but that could easily change. i'm going to bring in now sheila kelleher, who's a captain at the la fire department. sheila, we were expecting bigger winds this morning. starting to gust a little bit, but may get worse later on. yes, there's definitely potential for 45 mile an hour upwards gusts, so we're prepared for that. we have strike teams deployed out throughout los angeles county because this is an impacted area also north of the santa clarita valley and a few other areas that haven't started to burn yet. we're very concerned about those areas as well. and the key thing about the winds getting up is that then you can't fly with the the water, the water and the fire retardant.

once you get over about 45mph winds, it gets very tricky. and it's the decision has to has to be made because if they're sustained gusts, they can't get up there and fly. but for this fire, i know that our air operations has worked incredibly hard, striping those hills behind the flame front in order to pre—treat that in case that should happen. so a lot of fire retardant is down. crews are in there doing an incredible job making great work on that, that burn line. and everybody is in position and doing what they're supposed to be doing. i mean, you've got thousands of people down. there, right? yeah. on our fire alone, we've got over 5000 personnel fighting this fire. 500 engines, 115 camp crews, tonnes of dozers, lots of water tenders and plenty of aerial support. i mean, there's a lot of focus, obviously, on the people we want to get back to what's left of their homes, but it's just still too dangerous. the repopulation effort, they're working hard to get people back up in there,

but it's going to take a bit for that very reason. these winds have got to stop for sure. we've got gas mains, we've got water power downs. we also have like you said, they're they're looking for the remains of loved ones. so those are kind of active what they would call crime scenes. and they don't want anybody, you know, walking where they don't belong. so they're working as hard as they can to get the people up there. there's a website out that lets you actually pinpoint your house to see what type of damage is done. 0ur damage assessment team has put out an incredible map for that. so that's on recovery dot la county.gov. unbelievable work that they're doing. you mentioned it's crime scene. there's also still a lot of people getting arrested for looting and for setting fires. so for sure, yeah we did have one person. they couldn't hold him. they didn't have enough evidence that he actually did set fires. but there are people that are being pulled over for curfew breach as well as looting. so they're just, it's like, come on, stay out of here. so that they're just really trying to deter anybody being where they're not supposed to be while we do this recovery. but the majority of people in los angeles and southern california have come together and from all over the world. it's like, it's amazing

the support people are sending through food supplies, not only for us, but for the victims. captain kelleher—burger, thanks so much. and of course, one of those arrests that has been made is someone impersonating someone from the fire department, looking to do some looting in one of the palisades areas. so very upsetting, i think for a lot of those people around here that that kind of thing is happening. but later on today, we're expecting those winds to get up again. and that's really going to be a crucial moment for the people here at this control centre as they try to battle the biggest of the two fires. let's speak to someone closely involved in the firefighting efforts — the lead pilot of the "super scoopers", pascal duclos. he joins us from california. thanks for being with us. just explain exactly what you and your colleagues do.- your colleagues do. actually what we are _ your colleagues do. actually what we are doing _ your colleagues do. actually what we are doing is - your colleagues do. actually what we are doing isjust - what we are doing is just putting water over the fire, right? we are just trying to do our best to protect the line

and poured directly on the flames. �* , ., and poured directly on the flames. �* i. ., , , ., flames. are you dropping water orthe flames. are you dropping water or the pink _ flames. are you dropping water or the pink fire _ flames. are you dropping water or the pink fire retardant - or the pink fire retardant we've seen?— or the pink fire retardant we've seen? ., ., �* we've seen? know, what we're doinu we've seen? know, what we're doing with — we've seen? know, what we're doing with the _ we've seen? know, what we're doing with the cl— we've seen? know, what we're doing with the cl 415 _ we've seen? know, what we're doing with the cl 415 we - we've seen? know, what we're doing with the cl 415 we are i doing with the cl 415 we are scooping water out of the reservoir or even the ocean and dropping water to protect the retardant line were the people on or anything we can protect so we can go directly on the flame. that's a little bit different with the retardant. so how do these fires compare with other areas that you've worked in, what are the particular challenges that facing her?— particular challenges that facin: her? ., , , facing her? yeah, the biggest challenae facing her? yeah, the biggest challenge we _ facing her? yeah, the biggest challenge we have _ facing her? yeah, the biggest challenge we have last - facing her? yeah, the biggest challenge we have last week. facing her? yeah, the biggest. challenge we have last week was the strong wind we had here, with the mountain around here. there was many bumpy and there was lots of turbulence in the fire. i've been working in the palisade fire and it was really

turbulent there. about the scooping as well in the ocean, it was, we had a big wave there so we had to skim on the top of the wave to be able to get water out of the ocean. find the wave to be able to get water out of the ocean. and are ou water out of the ocean. and are you working _ water out of the ocean. and are you working tonight, _ water out of the ocean. and are you working tonight, are - water out of the ocean. and are you working tonight, are you i you working tonight, are you continuing to work over the next few days?— continuing to work over the next few days? continuing to work over the next few da s? ., .,, , next few days? today was my day standb . next few days? today was my day standby- we _ next few days? today was my day standby. we are _ next few days? today was my day standby. we are to _ next few days? today was my day standby. we are to crew - next few days? today was my day standby. we are to crew on i next few days? today was my day standby. we are to crew on the i standby. we are to crew on the plane, each plane, so today was my day of standby so if somebody started or is sick or whatever, i'm going tojump in. otherwise i'm going to work otherwise i'm going to work tomorrow morning. we cannot fly at night, that's the operation, the company have a chopper that can work at night. find the company have a chopper that can work at night.— can work at night. and we are no there. _ can work at night. and we are up there, what _ can work at night. and we are up there, what have - can work at night. and we are up there, what have you i can work at night. and we are | up there, what have you seen? because obviously you are at, you know, a phenomenal impression there what's actually going on on the ground. can you see people

trying to leave?— ground. can you see people trying to leave? what i see the first da , trying to leave? what i see the first day, tuesday, _ trying to leave? what i see the first day, tuesday, when i trying to leave? what i see the first day, tuesday, when we i trying to leave? what i see the | first day, tuesday, when we get the call from what i've seen is burning houses, big trafficjam on the road under us and it was like a... it'sjust on the road under us and it was like a... it's just a really big tragedy here. like a... it'sjust a really big tragedy here. and obviously this hue big tragedy here. and obviously this huge population _ big tragedy here. and obviously this huge population density i this huge population density there, in terms of the wins, is that the key risk for tonight as we've been hearing, because obviously that spreads the flames further and faster? yeah. personally, ijust hope the wind doesn't get how strong as predicted. and if not, we are going to do our best to do the best work we can do it here and we just the best work we can do it here

and wejust get the best work we can do it here and we just get the plane back online, that's good news for today and tomorrow. to help. 0k, today and tomorrow. to help. 0k. well. _ today and tomorrow. to help. 0k, well, pascal, _ today and tomorrow. to help. 0k, well, pascal, thank- today and tomorrow. to help. 0k, well, pascal, thank you l today and tomorrow. to help. | 0k, well, pascal, thank you for the work you and your colleagues do. and best of luck for the next two days.— for the next two days. thank ou, so for the next two days. thank you, so much. _ for the next two days. thank you, so much. and - for the next two days. thank you, so much. and of- for the next two days. thank you, so much. and of course there is— you, so much. and of course there is more _ you, so much. and of course there is more online - you, so much. and of course there is more online if i you, so much. and of course there is more online if you . there is more online if you want to keep up with what's going on in the los angeles region, because the winds will be very high and that will be hard for the cruise on the ground there. president—elect donald trump s pick to lead the pentagon, pete hegseth, has been appearing before a congressional confirmation hearing, where he's called for what a return to "a warrior culture" in the us military. he's been grilled by senators of the last couple of hours of a range of which we will hear more of in a moment.

here's some more of what mr hegseth has been pete hegseth knows he has to put up a fight he if he is going to get to lead the american military, he is facing cover trove is that could stop the senate confirming him. he does have supporter but there is a long list of allegations against him. a variety of sources including your own writings implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassments and other troubling issues. mr hegseth blamed the left—wing media for stories he said were not true. he is concentrating on thejob he hopes is ahead of him. when president trump chose me for this, the primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the department of defense. he, like me e wants a pentagon laserfocussed, on lethalty, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness. shouting.

protestors angry about the war in gaza interrupted the hearing several times. pete hegseth has vowed to get what he calls the woke out of the military. saying women should not serve in combat, claiming mums have no place in the military. you don't want politics in the dod, everything you have said in public statements is politics, i don't want women, i don't want mums, what is wrong with a mum by the way? republicans believe that political correctness unfairly targets the us military. if confirmed and you issue an order saying we are going to rip the biden "woke yoke" off the neck of our military and focus on more fighting how do you think the troops will react? senator, i know the troops will rejoice. mr hegseth was a fox news tv presenter when donald trump picked him to lead pentagon.

he did serve in the army in afghanistan but he has no experience of running a huge organisation like the american military. washington's preparing to make donald trump president next week. after the ceremony, once he is sworn in, he cannot be prosecuted for any criminal offences. today, a major report has said if he had gone to trial, mr trump would have been convicted of encouraging violence, leading to the january 6th riot as well as trying to overturn the 2020 election results. while the president—elect said he will pardon many if not all of the people who have been convicted for their roles in the attack on the capitol. sarah smith. bbc news, washington. of course we will be bringing you live coverage of donald trump's inauguration with a special programme from washington, that starts 12 gmt on monday the 20th of january. still to come on the world today... spain announces a tax on property use a by non—eu residents in a bid to solve its housing crisis. around the world and across the uk. this is the world

today on bbc news.

in a bid to tackle its housing crisis, spain is planning to introduce a 100% tax on properties bought by non—eu residents. 0ther proposals being put forward include a tax exemption for landlords providing affordable housing, and tighter regulation on tourist properties. marty cousteau is a spokesperson for the gothic quarter of barcelona, we asked for his reaction on that. i think these measures are not enough. now, in our big crisis we face in spain in terms of housing. now, one of the main problems of this crisis is that many of the transactions we have in housing in spain are made by investors that want our homes not to live in, but to speculate and to make business and to put them into seasonal rentals or into short term rentals or other types of houses that are not accessible to residents.

so this big crisis, we need stronger measures from the government. for example, what we're asking is to ban all the transactions or the purchases of houses that are not made to live in this house, in these houses, but not only to non residents, not to non—eu citizens, eu citizens, sorry, but to everyone because now many people also use eu. but to everyone because now many people also... also europeans sorry are using these facilities to buy houses in spain to speculate and to make business. so we have to extend this measure of paying 100% taxes to everyone, not only to non—eu residents. are you not concerned that international money will simply leave spain and go elsewhere? and that will damage spain's economy. no, this is destroying our economy, is that we cannot pay our houses with our salaries. and this is because of this use of houses to speculate,

to make business instead of living in, and instead of guaranteeing, guaranteeing the the right of housing to everyone. i mean, we think housing is a right. it's not a business. and we have to guarantee this for the wellbeing of our economy that is now very, very in crisis. most of the people is very impoverished and cannot pay house. is this in focussed injust the big cities? i mean, which are the areas that you're most worried about? 0r where are you hearing most concerns about? yeah, these problems are especially affecting big cities like such as barcelona or madrid, but also other areas. and it's spreading. we have a lot of, uh, empty houses that are stocked by many investment funds that theyjust have it to make business and to make, uh, increasing their values into the next years. and we have to put all these empty houses into the housing market by obligating all these investors to put them into the housing market for residents and to ban, as i said, uh, more transactions only to, uh,

drive houses to seasonal rentals or to short term rentals. this is what's happening in spain. but again, you know, we're seeing a world where people want to be able to move around the world to spend time in other countries. and if this idea catches on, not only in spain but elsewhere, you're going to really limit global flows and global investment. and that will affect jobs of people in spain too. no, we're not saying that you can go to spain. you can rent a flat without any problem. but if you are a person, that is what's happening in spain right now, that a few a few hands, a few companies, a few, a few rich people is earning more and more and more homes to speculate. this is not guaranteeing the right of housing for the residents in spain. and this is the main economical problem we have right now. so we have to stop it, as the netherlands, for example, did in 2022. they did this exactly same measure to ban or to tax a lot the purchase of houses.

but to everyone that wants to buy a home to make profit and not to live in. so we're asking the same. and this is not what the spanish government announced yesterday. and activists of their in barcelona. let me take you to lose some live pictures coming into us from south korea, the capital of seoul come up because authorities there investigating the impeached president yoon are at his official residence today to execute an arrest warrant of accusations that related to his martial law deck —— declaration last year. this is been continuing for some time, hundreds of presidential security guards and military guards also there and we are seeing reports that some south korean ruling party lawmakers

are forming a human chain to resist the arrest of president yoon. he has been suspended, we will keep you across events there in south korea. you're watching bbc news. rachel reeves was speaking in the commons after the fall of the commons after the fall of the value of the pound, and the cost of government borrowing to its highest level since 2008. here's our deputy political editor, vicki young. political opponents said rachel reeves shouldn't have gone on this trip to china, and should have been at home, dealing with the fall out from volatile financial markets. but today, there was no apology. to grow the economy we need to help great british businesses export around the world. that includes to china. the conservatives are trying to pin the blame for the country's

economic problems on decisions taken by the chancellor. business confidence has fallen through the floor. the party opposite talked down the economy, they crippled businesses with colossal taxes, breaking off their promise. this is a crisis made in downing street. leadership is not about ducking these challenges, it is about rising to them. the economic headwinds that we face are a reminder we should — indeed we must — go further and faster in our plan to kick—start economic growth that plunged under the last government. this is a tricky time for rachael reeves. global instability is causing problems, and she is under pressure over decisions she made in the budget, but there is no serious move to oust her, nor any suggestion she is at odds with the prime minister over strategy. but if those government borrowing costs stay high,

there will be tough decisions to make. 0n budget day, the chancellor surprised businesses with a big rise in their taxes. she said she won't do that again, so spending cuts could be on the cards if she needs to balance the books. you don't turn to cuts, certainly, because not only will that i think would be politically suicidal, it would undermine the political support on which labour got elected, but in addition to that you would be taking demand out of the economy, and you would be looking at, in doing that, turning a crisis into a recession. john mcdonald is currently suspended from labour, but his unease will be shared by some of his former colleagues. the chancellor is relying on growth, and will announce more details soon on how she hopes to make that happen. vicky young, bbc news, westminster. the comedian tony slattery has died at the age of 65. he was best known for his regular appearances on the

improvisation show whose line is it anyway. but spoke about his struggles with addiction and his bipolar disorder. he had a heart attack and died sunday morning. hello. welcome to great failed prototypes of our time. come on, cheer up! let's dance. tony slattery. in the 80s and 90s, he was one of the most familiar faces on television. tony slattery. his energy, the speed of his comic brain, saw him become a mainstay of whose line is it anyway? in the event of rambo's biceps exploding, his liver and most of his internal visceral organs will be situated there. the boy who had grown up in a north london council estate, was one of a golden generation from the cambridge footlights, who won the first ever perrier award for comedy alongside stephen fry, hugh laurie and emma thompson. and then, he disappeared from our screens. some 20 years later,

he returned to the stage to explain what had happened. mental illness is a highly democratic disease. it can hit anyone. no—one in their right mind decides to be mentally ill. but after years of depression and isolation, he had begun to perform again. he had dates lined up in the next few weeks, but on sunday he suffered a heart attack, and died earlier today. among those paying tribute, the comedian helen lederer, who said he'd been her best man twice. he was, she says, her best friend in laughter, wit, absurdity and love. the comedian tony slattery, who has died at the age of 65. let's get to whether or not, here's elizabeth rossini.

hello there. good evening. generally dry for most of us today with more low clouds, some outbreaks of drizzle towards some western coasts, but also some sunshine. the mild air of course helping the snow to continue melting where we still have it. and it's more of the same as we head through the rest of the week. a mixture of cloud but also some sunny spells. it's largely dry, mild, particularly in the north and the west, and there will be some areas of mist and fog developing too, and that's most likely across the southern half of the uk underneath this area of high pressure, where the winds stay light, the high deflecting these weather fronts out towards the north and the west, but here it's breezier and also much milder too. you can see that mild airjust sweeping in on the south—westerly wind, marked in the dark yellows and the ambers. so for the rest of tonight, then, a mixture of cloud and some clearer spells, a few outbreaks of patchy rain for the western isles, for the time of year — perhaps, and it's going to feel mild too, for the time of year — particularly mild out towards the far north and the west. double figures hanging on,

but as the mild air passes over the cold ground still, we're likely to see mist and fog start to form, particularly likely across the southern half of england and into wales, and where the fog forms it could be quite slow to lift and clear, so could linger on for much of the day, lifting into low cloud. but more in the way of sunshine, i think for northern ireland, southern, eastern scotland, northern england and into north wales, with a slightly drier feed of air. less moist temperatures double figures apart from where we keep the mist and fog for much of the day. it is going to feel cooler than that. as we head through wednesday and into thursday, the high starts to drift off. thursday morning could be quite a cold start to the day, particularly where we have the early sunshine, maybe even a touch of frost. it's a windy looking day as well for north west scotland, the western isles and up through northern ireland generally for these irish sea coasts. but there will be quite a bit of sunshine around on thursday. cloudier in the far north and west. also mild here still and also cloudier out towards east anglia and generally across central southern england too. so as we go into the weekend,

we'll start to see a slight dip in temperature as we draw in some continental air. the high gradually drifts eastwards, allowing for these weather fronts to approach, but they are quite weak and they are going to fizzle out. but nevertheless, as we head through the rest of the week, generally dry. a slight dip in temperature. a few outbreaks of rain in the west on sunday, bye—byey.

hello, i'm annita mcveigh. you're watching the context on bbc news. we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from preventing a dealfrom happening, we have language and

it has to be discussed between the two parties. to be discussed between the two arties. , , ., ., to be discussed between the two arties. ,, ., ., . parties. pressing hard to close this and the — parties. pressing hard to close this and the deal— parties. pressing hard to close this and the deal was - this and the deal was structured will free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide _ hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to israel and allow— provide security to israel and allow us _ provide security to israel and allow us to significantly bring humanitarian assistance to the palestinians. if hamas excepts, the deal is ready— if hamas excepts, the deal is ready to _ if hamas excepts, the deal is ready to he _ if hamas excepts, the deal is ready to be concluded - if hamas excepts, the deal is ready to be concluded and i ready to be concluded and implemented. _ ready to be concluded and implemented. i— ready to be concluded and implemented. i believe i ready to be concluded andl implemented. i believe we ready to be concluded and i implemented. i believe we will -et implemented. i believe we will get a _ implemented. i believe we will get a cease—fire. _ it's been another day of diplomatic work on a deal. for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in gaza with egypt, qatar and the united states mediating between israeli and hamas officials. it's been described as the final round of negotiations and all sides have expressed hope that a deal can be achieved.