>> very good morning to you. it's 930 on friday, january the 10th. live across the uk. this is britain's newsroom with me, ben, leo and nana akua. >> good morning to you. now could there be a split in the labour party over the grooming gang scandal? mayor of greater manchester andy burnham backs a limited national inquiry and in a gb news exclusive, charlie peters sits down with jayne senior, the youth worker who blew the whistle on britain's rape gang. >> epidemic is to go one step further and it needs to look at those senior professionals that were complicit, ignored this, covered it up, you know, because we sit here and you look at not just rotherham, but you look across the uk, i am not aware of any professional that's ever

been held to account. >> the chancellor heads to china despite growing market turmoil back home as borrowing costs spiral out of control . spiral out of control. >> and elsewhere, elon musk's tweets are probed by the home office counter extremism unit as the government raises the alarm over a risk to britain after the tech billionaires recent comments on grooming gangs devastation in los angeles as fires continue to rage. >> ten are now dead as thousands of homes are destroyed and almost 200,000 people ordered to evacuate the area as president biden promises to spare no expense to rebuild thousands of houses, schools and businesses burned to the ground, communities wiped out lives, lost, families forever changed. >> they're the worst fires to ever hit los angeles. ever. >> how's this for a change of mind? mark zuckerberg gets tough on trans as he updates metas moderation rules to unwind years

of free speech restrictions and farming protests continue today. >> for the third consecutive day, tractors will be taking to the roads in their fight against labour's family farm. inheritance tax. >> morning to you. thank you for your company. we're also debating whether, again, shamima begum should be welcomed back to the uk with open arms because nana trump's counterterrorism tsar sebastian gorka, a friend of this channel. he says britain should repatriate begum and deal with her on uk soil. >> yeah, he can say what he likes really, because he's not here. we are here and i don't think we've really got the expense to be policing and seeing where she goes, and she'll utilise it for instagram and all the other stuff that she can do, and i think she'll just make money off the back of this. i think as an example and a reminder to others, i think she should stay where she is and i'll just remind everybody as

well. >> shamima begum said from her refugee camp in syria. i think she said the manchester arena bombings were justified because of western airstrikes in the middle east. so make your own mind up gbnews.com/yoursay . mind up gbnews.com/yoursay. first, here's your news headunes first, here's your news headlines with sam francis. >> good morning to you from the newsroom. 933 the top story. the uk government's counter extremism unit is investigating elon musk over controversial tweets targeting senior politicians. it comes after he called safeguarding minister jess phillips a rape genocide apologist, and suggested she deserves to be in prison, while also accusing the prime minister, sir keir starmer, of failing to act on rape gangs. experts are warning musk's post could incite violence as threats against female mps like jess phillips, may, they say, constitute terrorism. it comes after a man was charged with sending malicious, malicious messages to jess phillips following elon musk's remarks.

meanwhile, sir keir starmer is under fire today after a poll has revealed 76% of the public, including 65% of labour voters, do support a new and national inquiry into grooming gangs. the backlash follows labour mps rejecting a tory led call for an inquiry. but there are party divisions among labour, with senior figures like greater manchester mayor, labour and andy burnham supporting a limited probe. he says an inquiry would hold authorities accountable, with survivors claiming that key issues remain unresolved despite an investigation in 2022. however, the government says it's focused on action, not delays, and downing street insists it is committed to leaving no stone unturned. guided by survivors demands. boosting uk trade or neglecting the economy? that's the row surrounding chancellor rachel reeves trip to china. she's meeting china's vice premier and uk firms , as

premier and uk firms, as government borrowing costs have hit their highest level since 2008. critics, including the conservatives, argue she should stay home to address the pound's fall and rising national debt. economists warn of spending cuts or possible tax hikes ahead of a fiscal update in march. while the treasury insists markets are stable. former chancellor philip hammond says reeves trip shouldn't be cancelled despite the mounting pressure. turning now to los angeles, where out of control wildfires have killed at least ten people and forced nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes. the pacific palisades fire has destroyed over 5300 buildings, making it now the city's most destructive blaze ever. meanwhile, a new fire in west hills has sparked fresh fears as police arrested a man on suspicion of arson, and insurance losses are expected to exceed well over $8 billion, with officials warning the crisis is far from over. and

back here at home, a very different weather picture. temperatures in the north of the uk could drop as low as —20 c tonight, with the met office warning of severe cold and icy conditions. yellow warnings for ice and snow remain across scotland, wales and northern ireland, but they are set to expire by midday today. freezing fog is expected, though, to cause travel disruption in england and in wales, adding to earlier chaos at manchester airport and on the railways. meanwhile, hundreds of schools in scotland and wales have closed as wintry weather grips the nation. that's the news on gb news. i'll be back with you for a full roundup at the top of the hour. now though, it's over to ben and nana for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts.

>> hello. good morning to you. thank you for your company this morning on britain's newsroom live across the uk. i'm ben lee. and of course this is nana akua. how's your week been? nana. >> it's been all right. actually. i've been really stuck into the news and seeing what's going on. it's all quiet, all the focus. what i find is this odd focus on oh, elon musk has said this. elon musk has said that i'm so upset with what elon musk has said. yet what elon musk has said. yet what elon musk is saying is you need to get a handle on the grooming gangs, and he's drawing attention to something. and i just feel it's very a lot of the politicians are drawing attention unto themselves, jess phillips included. and i don't think it's nice that anyone is saying nasty things, but i just think the focus should be on the people who are affected by this scandal, the victims. >> do you think the criticism of elon musk is the fact that they think he's getting involved where he shouldn't, or the fact that he's exposing and ripping the band aid off a topic which is going to cause a lot of sensitivities, indeed, and expose a lot of politicians as

well for, quite frankly, doing nothing, not doing their jobs. >> well, the problem is they don't like what he is saying. if he was saying something that they liked, they wouldn't have a problem with it. but what he is saying is something that i know a lot of the british public would like to say, but we don't have power because keir starmer has this massive majority, as he proved with the vote on whether we should have the national inquiry. and disgracefully, i have to say, all the labour mps all rallied behind him. >> and just on jess phillips as well. i mentioned to stephen and ellie just then she's complaining about death threats and so on off the back of elon's criticism, i say again, nigel farage has been getting those kind of death threats for, i'd say, decades now, 20 odd years or nearing on anyway, even as recently as the riots where they were called the farage riots, in my opinion, quite wrongly, he was getting so much stick from that and nobody sticks up and complains then not least labour mps. complains then not least labour mp5. i complains then not least labour mps. i know keir starmer says where are the tories sticking up for jess phillips? where are the, you know, the reform mps defending jess phillips? it's like, well, sorry you guys haven't been doing the same for

conservative politicians. >> well, and also i think it's you know, the strength of feeling is that we do need a national inquiry. the alexis aj report did not cover rotherham. that or oldham 1507