and might not end the war. also tonight — we're with survivors of grooming gangs, as the government announces new inquiries — but do they go far enough? sir keir starmer pledges support for ukraine on a trip to kyiv, while a russian drone flies over the city. here in los angeles, as the authorities bring more of the devastating wildfires under control, attention turns to how they started. it's the town of twin peaks. and the maker of the cult classic twin peaks, david lynch, has died at the age of 78. on newsnight at 10:30 tonight we'll bring you fresh insight on the stories of the day with big interviews and our regular panel of newsnighters. and of course, look at what the papers are saying about tomorrow's news.

good evening. officials in the us say they are confident that a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas will go through — despite a delay after israel accused hamas of trying to alter the terms of the agreement. tonight, israel's security minister itamar ben—gvir, who is part of the hard—line right—wing faction of the government, threatened to quit the governing coalition if a deal were to go ahead. overnight, afterjubilant scenes in gaza at news of a ceasefire, israeli air strikes killed over 80 people, according to the hamas—run health ministry — a figure which includes women and children. this report is byjeremy bowen. just a few hours after the ceasefire agreement was announced, men in northern gaza were back digging through the rubble for the dead and wounded after an israeli strike. the ceasefire is not due to start until sunday. then they heard a small voice.

boy screams. he was alive. strong enough to wave for help. his name is assad fadel khalifa. his parents, sister, aunt and uncle, we're told, were killed in the strike. he's three years old. his mouth was full of gravel and dust. he was trying to pull it out himself. we went to nablus on the west bank, the other side of the occupied palestinian territories, to try to assess the mood. israel won't let us into gaza. nablus is a palestinian city with a long history of resistance to the israeli occupation. it's a toy gun. down the street, the faces of men killed using real guns to fight israelis, some from a militia known as the lion's den. heroic martyrs here, terrorists as far as israel is concerned.

amar has a stall selling sweetcorn. translation: peace is difficult, because you need to go back - to the religion and doctrine. but we would love for the bombing to stop and for them to leave gaza, and for the prisoners to get freed, and for everyone to go back to their homes and family, because they suffered a lot in this war. may god help them. at her stall, amina is desperate for the ceasefire to work. translation: it affected us a lot | here, both financially and mentally. we, especially women, are affected by what we are seeing. the children who are dying. we hope we could help, but we can only pray. a ceasefire, if it could hold, would be a considerable and an overdue achievement. but the sad truth is that it wouldn't end the conflict between palestinians and israelis. everything that has happened since the 7th of october attacks has

made the conflict about as bitter as it's ever been. just outside nablus is thejewish settlement of kedumim, home to leaders of the settler movement. daniella weiss has lived here for 50 years. now she's working through her list of right—wing connections, trying to overturn the ceasefire deal she says is a betrayal. for me, today is. a very difficult day. what government, what prime minister, with common sense, will give back the area _ from where thousands of gaza people attacked us, conquered our — parts of our country? - this is treachery. what does all this mean for israel? what does it add up to? in simple words, get. ready for another war. it's cruel.

dangerous, with many casualties. this is what it means today. itamar ben—gvir, minister of national security, shares her views, threatening to resign if the ceasefire is ratified. it is a reckless deal, he said, that releases hundreds of murderous terrorists, allows thousands of terrorists allows thousands of terrorists back to northern gaza and erases what he called the war�*s achievements. ben—gvir stalked off with supporters from his party, jewish power. ultranationalist opposition to the ceasefire is a major political problem for benjamin netanyahu. outside his office, israelis who want to bury the ceasefire deal held a fake funeral. they want the prime minister to keep his promise to destroy hamas and rescue all the hostages. for them, negotiating a phased prisoner exchange with hamas

and pulling out of gaza smells like defeat. police made some arrests. many israelis support the ceasefire. for now the anger of those who don't is cancelled out by donald trump's determination to take a diplomatic victory into the white house. but the coffins, intended to warn about the ceasefire's dangers, are also a sign to the ceasefire's supporters that it might not end the war. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. meanwhile, aid trucks are queuing at the southern crossing into gaza, waiting for the ceasefire — expected on sunday. aid has got into gaza from a number of crossings since the war began. before it, around 500 lorry loads of aid entered every day, according to the un. but that plummeted to nine a day in the period just after the war started. and since the beginning ofjanuary, it's averaged 51 truckloads a day.

the ceasefire deal allows for 600 lorry loads a day. our correspondent fergal keane has been travelling with an aid convoy from jordan, which has now been stopped at the israel border. horns blare. help is coming. down along the valley, the biggest aid convoy since the war began. solidarity from the kingdom ofjordan. in two deliveries, 120 trucks on the road to gaza, from a country that is home to many palestinians. "we are carrying aid like food and medication for our brothers "in gaza," says mustapha. "this is a good deed. "we are happy to be part of this operation." we can travel with this convoy as far as the israeli border, but since the war began, israel does not allow

the foreign media to enter gaza and report independently. but our bbc colleagues, living in gaza, have been filming every day, including today — the first real moment of hope. they're waiting for today's meagre charity. little wonder that tired tempers fray when you've lived this struggle every day. the aid from jordan is the tiniest fraction of what's needed here. but it does say to the people of gaza, by your neighbour, at least, you are not forgotten. translation: i used to shop and go to school, and my mum _ used to cook for me, and when i got back she would tell me to come and eat.

i dream every day about the ceasefire. i want to go home, and for my father to return to us. home — a word that holds so much in any language. a word that means dignity, for this girl, aged 16. translation: i never thought i'd be fed by a charity. _ this is so unfair. if i don't get meals from here, i don't eat, so i keep coming. my life as a young girl, dreaming of studying at a university or school, playing and having fun, has been reduced to accepting hand—outs. nearly 2 million people are dependent on aid here. less than three hours' drive away injordan, some of what they need. but when will it arrive? the un complains of repeated israeli delays, of criminal

gangs hijacking aid. the convoy we followed is still waiting to be allowed to cross into israel. fergal keane, bbc news, jordan. let's go back tojeremy, who is in jerusalem for us. the question everyone is asking, will this ceasefire still start on sunday? well, i think the people in gaza certainly hope that it will, after the severity of the bombing that they've endured since the announcement came. i think one question that has to be asked is the degree to which the israelis had a strong military rationale for that level of bombing and killing, or whether it was more about sending a political message to those right wingers in israel who feel they are effectively surrendering rather than ceding the victory they want over hamas. as for the wider ceasefire, there is every indication that it

will be ratified and it will start. the important thing to remember about it is it's a ceasefire phases, so the first one, 42 days, six weeks, in that phase there will be 33 hostages released, prisoner exchanges, the beginning an israeli withdrawal. now, the difficulty will be getting to the next stage, the second stage, which is all about ending the war, and ultimately pulling israeli troops right out of gaza. now, this is a very long process, more negotiations need to be done and a lot of things can happen and history in the past tense to show that when there is a long process like this sometimes events take on their own momentum, plus of course as you may have seen in the report i did, there is opposition of the hard right on israel to this ceasefire happening at all. so i think what we have to accept is that it's a fragile process and that it

may not work, but up to now it's the best option that there has been. jeremy bowen injerusalem, thank you. there will be a three month national review into grooming gangs, the home secretary yvette cooper announced today. it's a shift in the government's position on an issue that has become an international controversy following comments made by the billionaire elon musk. both he, and opposition parties here, have called for a national inquiry into the issue where witnesses can be compelled to give evidence. today's announcement does not go that far. there will be local inquiries into abuse in five towns, including oldham. our uk editor ed thomas has been speaking to four women who were affected by grooming in oldham. some names have been changed to protect their identities. as a child, it ruined my life, and it could have been prevented. a journey 20 years in the making.

so how old were you both when the exploitation started? 11. i was 12. sam and jane, survivors of oldham's grooming gangs. i was described as a criminal, a prostitute. now on the road to meetjess phillips, the safeguarding minister. i want her to listen to survivors. and what is the one thing you'll say tojess phillips? please give us a government inquiry. we need this. from morning to afternoon, separate survivors came to birmingham from oldham to ask why jess phillips rejected a government—led inquiry into abuse in the town. hiya, hayley, nice to meet you. but at the same time... nothing matters more... a major announcement. yet for too long victims were ignored, perpetrators were left unpunished and too many people looked the other way. action on grooming gangs — and relief for some.

none of the survivors we've been speaking to knew this was happening today. the home secretary announcing a new national rapid audit of grooming gangs, examining the ethnic background of abusers, and also, it will support five victim—centred local inquiries, including one in oldham. a lot to take in for these survivors. i feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. i'm satisfied for now, but actions speak louder than words. let's see what happens now. let's see if they actually act on what they've said. from oldham to international rage, pressure onjess phillips has been relentless. tweets from elon musk, even death threats. today, with the victims, there was no animosityl between me and them. what the home secretary has| announced today is a process, like what happened in telford, of victim—led, independent -

inquiries, and actually, the sense of relief of what i was talking - to them about, of most of the victims i've been| with today, was very clear. but not enough for sam and jane. are you happy with what you've got? no, not at all, no. they wanted a statutory government inquiry with power to compel witnesses. we're survivors. we've been through what we've been through. it's the children now and other people that are going through it, we don't want them to be let down and that's the whole point of what we're fighting for. ed thomas, bbc news, birmingham. the conservatives have said the plans are "wholly inadequate" and have questioned why the local inquiries would not have the power to compel witnesses. our political editor chris mason is here. what has the government achieved in announcing these inquiries? i think their rationale, _ announcing these inquiries? i think their rationale, in _ announcing these inquiries? i think their rationale, in the _ announcing these inquiries? i think their rationale, in the words - announcing these inquiries? i think their rationale, in the words of- announcing these inquiries? i think their rationale, in the words of one seniorfigure to me

their rationale, in the words of one senior figure to me tonight, was, their rationale, in the words of one seniorfigure to me tonight, was, we simply couldn't leave it. the sense that the political reality prompted by that kind of blaze of rage we have heard from the conservatives and reform uk and elon musk on his social media site x, demanding that national public inquiry, had to be addressed. now, this isn't that but they hope it might dampen or, if not extinguish, may dampen that sense of a cover—up. whilst at the same time acknowledging there are prominent and respected voices in this discussion, not least the chair of the previous independent inquiry, that sort the testimonies of the 7000 people over the years, who argued that another inquiry would be counter—productive and that the focus should be on action. and there are plenty saying, and have been saying for a few weeks, that there has been, in their view, a horrible politicisation of all this, where at the centre of all of this there are survivors and their are victims and they should be the focus. and there has been some opportunism. but it is

also true that without the prominence, i think of this over the last few weeks, that the government would have not been compelled to act as speedily as it has.— as speedily as it has. thank you very much. _ as speedily as it has. thank you very much, chris _ as speedily as it has. thank you very much, chris mason, - as speedily as it has. thank you very much, chris mason, our i very much, chris mason, our political editor. and adam fleming will have more on this story on newsnight on bbc two shortly. high, picking up on what chris said on the politics of this, we have some fresh insight on what actually changed behind the scenes in government. plus we will hear from the boss of one of the uk's biggest businesses on the hunt for economic growth. that's newsnight at 10.30 on bbc two, bbc news and iplayer. the prime minister has visited ukraine for the first time since the general election. sir keir starmer was greeted warmly by president zelensky as he restated the uk's continuing commitment to the country in its war against russia, as sarah rainsford now reports. this was a show of solidarity for a country that's paid a huge price for defending itself.

on his first visit to kyiv as prime minister, keir starmer paused to remember the ukrainians who've died fighting since russia's invasion. he came too to pledge more support from britain than ever before. moments later came a message from moscow — a russian drone. then we heard ukraine's air defences — a reminder of the daily danger here. by then, volodymyr zelensky was hosting talks at the presidential palace, signing a treaty pledging a 100—year partnership. the timing is important. in eastern ukraine more territory looks like this every day. slowly, and at great cost, russian forces are advancing, and next week, the united states has

a new president. i wondered how concerned you are that as donald trump returns to the white house, us support for ukraine is going to stop. we will continue to work with the us on this. we are working today, we will work tomorrow, we will work into the future. in the end, the steps that we need to take must be robust enough to guarantee ukraine's security. president zelensky told me that still includesjoining nato. "if not today, then when?" he wants to know. "or will it happen at all?" both men say ukraine can only talk peace with russia from a position of strength. but will donald trump agree with that? sarah rainsford, bbc news, kyiv. the liberal democrat leader sir ed davey has called on the government to negotiate a new customs union with the eu to improve trade with europe. in his first major speech of the year, sir ed said the incoming president trump

would be an unreliable partner — and that closer eu trade ties could help mitigate any tariffs the new us administration might impose. he also said that britain should offer a state visit for mr trump as leverage — but only if he signs up to continuing us support for ukraine. a teenager who repeatedly stabbed a 15—year—old outside a shopping centre in croydon as she was on her way to school in south london has been found guilty of her murder. elianne andam had been a promising student who wanted to be a lawyer. the jury rejected hassan sentamu's defence that his autism meant he didn't know what he was doing when he attacked her in september 2023. elianne was friends with semtamu's ex—girlfriend and ran off with some of his possessions, as he'd refused to return a teddy bear to his ex. the 18—year—old will be sentenced at a later date. the verdict today is a first step towards justice for elianne,

but also a message that violence and knife crime, especially towards young women, will not go unanswered. the suspended labour mp mike amesbury has pleaded guilty at chester magistrates court to assaulting a constituent last october. a video emerged showing him punching a man to the ground in the early hours of the morning in his cheshire constituency. amesbury and his 45—year—old victim had both been drinking and got into an argument. amesbury apologised outside court. he'll be sentenced at a later date. improving weather conditions and slower winds across southern california are giving exhausted fire crews some respite as they continue to try and contain the devestating fires across los angeles. to try and contain the devastating fires across los angeles. the fires began more than a week ago and have killed at least 25 people. let's join clive myrie,

who is in los angeles for us now. we are in altadena. it is a suburb, part of greater los angeles. we are about 1k miles from downtown, and this is one of the areas that was very badly hit by the wildfires, but it's also a closed area now. people still cannot return to their homes. why? well, the construction crews working up there, they are trying to of the blaze is still going on. at that thankfully did not hap trying to sort out the gas and electricity working up there, they are trying to sort out the gas and electricity supplies, make them safe. we've got supplies, make them safe. we've got members of the sheriff's office members of the sheriff's office here. you've also got the national here. you've also got the national guard. and police keeping an eye out guard. and police keeping an eye out for looters. but there is also for looters. but there is also another grim reason people can't another grim reason people can't return to this area, and it's partly return to this area, and it's partly because there may still be bodies of because there may still be bodies of some of those people who are some of those people who are missing, still in the wreckage of missing, still in the wreckage of some of the buildings that were some of the buildings that were destroyed by the fires. there was a destroyed by the fires. there was a fear that there would be winds fear that there would be winds picking up on tuesday and wednesday picking up on tuesday and wednesday this week. that might fan the flames this week. that might fan the flames of the blaze is still going on. at of the blaze is still going on. at

that thankfully did not happen, that thankfully did not happen, so no attention is being turned to how the fire started in the first place, and investigators have their work cut out. —— now, attention is being turned. oh, no! this is the story of an american tragedy. another sunny day in southern california is about to turn very dark.

sirens blare. by now, word was spreading very quickly that danger was approaching from the canyon. neighbours went banging on doors, raising the alarm. david stover was in the middle of dinner. when the neighbours came calling. we came out and we could see the fire, you know, from here. j do you think they saved your life? they gave us a head start. right. you know, about five minutes. so that makes a difference. please, god. please, god, save us. save our house. five minutes — precious extra time to escape. given thatjust a few minutes later, as jeffrey and cheryll fled their home, the fire had turned into a monster, becoming one of the largest that's now devastated the metropolitan los angeles area — the eaton fire.

eaton wasn't the only monster burning. there were multiple fire fronts and the authorities were struggling to cope. then a stroke of luck. hurricane—force winds that had fanned the flames died down, which meant the cavalry could now fly in. an aerial armada was pressed into service to douse the flames, some dropping fire retardant, coloured pink to show where it's landed. it's a round—the—clock operation, flying low at night to beat the flames. while down below, thousands of men and women are standing their ground in the face of the enemy. it's an ir map of all the heats around here. but even when the flames are extinguished, danger still lurks. so, right down in this drainage, there's a few heats. it's all around us. this team of firefighters are heat spotters. theirjob, to prevent the burning

you can't see below—ground, where the root systems of trees can smoulder and die, leading to catastrophic landslides. this crew are from oregon, part of a resolute national response to this crisis that has gripped the world. and it's the stories of loss and pain that resonate. homes and livelihoods destroyed. wow. a landscape scarred. look at that. a people traumatised. the house behind me was burning. the house on the right was burning. the house on the left was burning. michael haynes is a writer and when he ran out of water to save his own home, he improvised. you don't think... your logic turns off. i started peeing. you know, that's one little fire i could put out. - you peed on the fire? yeah, and i've talked to a few other people who did same thing. - the fires fizzled out

on the edge of his property. he was lucky. so many others were not. how does this community, los angeles, america, all of us, how can we better prepare for a similar catastrophe? that is a question we should all ponder. this is the most beautiful place in the world to me. j and now it'sjust gone. just, i mean, it's gone. a little bit of you dies with it. i don't know. i was just talking to one of the fire marshals here, he says that look, of course people are anxious, they want to get back to their homes, but safety is their priority. all these... the mess, dealing with the trees there, that is a danger. so people have to be careful. and there is still going to be time, before they get back here.

next monday donald trump will be sworn in as the next us president. we over in the east coast on washington. you can watch it here live on the bbc. i, donald john trump, do solemnly swear... it's always nice to win. ..i will to the best of my ability... make america great again. ..preserve, protect and defend... i raised my right arm and started shouting, "fight, fight, fight." crowd: fight, fight, fight! ..so help me, god. congratulations, mr president. join us monday for live coverage of president trump's inauguration on bbc news from midday, with a special programme from 3:30pm on bbc one and on iplayer. that is all to come. now from the team here in los angeles, it's back to you, reeta in london. thank you, clive. the american film—maker david lynch has died at the age of 78. he was best known for the surealist series twin peaks

and for films including mulholland drive and the elephant man. oscar—winning actor nicholas cage said he was unique and was the main reason he fell in love with cinema. our arts correspondent david sillito looks back at his life. twin peaks was a tv landmark. a murder mystery unlike anything that had gone before. i carry a log, yes. is it funny to you? laura palmer. strange, surreal, disturbing, and very david lynch. his first love was painting. he had a feel for surrealism, the hidden. and his childhood had many echoes of the white picket fence perfection of his film blue velvet. # she wore blue velvet #. but in his movies there was always something lurking in the undergrowth.

the elephant man. eraserhead. you were left wondering what sort of mind created this. but in person he had a folksy charm, all good cheer and passionate about meditation and positivity. negativity is the enemy, i say, of creativity. if you are super angry, you're... you're poisoning yourself. and while perhaps not everyone's taste, a poll of critics declared his mulholland drive the greatest movie of the 21st century. a surreal thriller that was very david lynch. dark, fantastic dreams. david lynch, who died at the age of 78. and if you want to continue watching the bbc news at ten, please turn over to bbc one or you can watch on iplayer. next it's newsnight.

take a look at this. beautiful january