WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Grooming gangs row, drama in South Korea, and a record year for renewables

 
Today's POLITICS story

Calls for national inquiry into 'rape gangs scandal'

What happened
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a "full national inquiry" into the UK's "rape gangs scandal" after it emerged that the Home Office turned down a request to lead a probe into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

Who said what
From Rotherham to Bristol, "numerous investigations into the systematic rape of young women by organised gangs" have taken place around the country, said the BBC. But "no one in authority has joined the dots", said Badenoch. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the broadcaster a "proper national inquiry" was needed to "look at all of these issues across all of the towns affected". 

The demands from the Conservatives came after a report from GB News that Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips had rejected a call from Oldham Council for a government inquiry into local child sexual exploitation.

US tech billionaire Elon Musk suggested this was done to protect Keir Starmer, who was director of public prosecutions between 2008 to 2013, although it was actually Starmer "who began the prosecutions of the Rochdale grooming gang", said Indy100. And Reform UK leader Nigel Farage pointed out that the Conservatives "had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry".

What next?
Former chief constable and national lead for child protection Simon Bailey said that "so many recommendations" had already been made across a number of reviews into organised abuse. "I am just not sure what another statutory inquiry would achieve," he told BBC Radio 4. "What we need more than anything else is a co-ordinated response."

 
 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Impeached South Korean president resists arrest

What happened
Anti-corruption officials have suspended their attempt to arrest the "embattled" President Yoon Suk-yeol on insurrection charges after a "dramatic" hours-long stand-off with his security forces, said CNN.

Eighty police officers and investigators entered the presidential compound to detain Yoon following his short-lived declaration of martial law last month, but safety concerns made his arrest "impossible", according to investigators.

Who said what
The warrant is "illegal and invalid", said Yoon's legal team, and many of his gathered supporters were holding "Stop the Steal" signs. But according to a recent poll, more than 61% of South Koreans want to see Yoon's impeachment upheld. South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party said Yoon's blocking of his arrest was tantamount to "a second attempt at insurrection".

What next?
Officials must detain Yoon by 6 January. If they fail they will have to get the warrant extended.

 
 
TODAY'S CLIMATE STORY

Renewables climb to new highs

What happened
The UK's electricity was the cleanest on record last year, said the latest annual assessment by Carbon Brief. A record high 45% of the country's power was generated by renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

Who said what
Over the past decade the UK has more than halved electricity generated from coal and gas and doubled the output from renewables, according to the climate news website. But gas-fired power stations still generated nearly 28% of the UK's electricity last year, making it "the single largest source".

Labour's target to create a 95% low-carbon grid by 2030 is still possible, according to the UK Energy Research Centre, but there is "very little room for error".

What next?
Labour plans to increase production of wind and solar power over the next few years. Wind is on course to overtake gas this year as the biggest single source of power.

 
 

It's not all bad

Workers installing a drain filtration system at a National Trust property stumbled across the remains of undiscovered buildings thought to be more than 300 years old. The complex on the grounds of Castle Ward in County Down does not appear on any maps or records of the estate and is thought to pre-date the castle's construction in the 1760s. Archaeologists believe the remains – uncovered while workers were digging a ditch – could be the site of a former stable yard or dairy.

 
 
under the radar

The rising demand for nuclear bunkers

Private nuclear bunkers – "from small metal boxes to crawl inside of to extravagant underground mansions" – are in high demand and the market is increasing, according to The Associated Press.

Some experts believe they are unnecessary and unhelpful against blasts or nuclear fallout, and that they "create a false perception that a nuclear war is survivable", but "buyers say bunkers offer a sense of security", said AP. That's partially why manufacturers are seeing a spike in sales.

The US market for bomb and fallout shelters is expected to hit $175 million (£139.3 million) annually by 2030, and other countries are also seeing a spike in demand. In Spain, "fears of the growing threats from war and a rise in catastrophic natural disasters" like floods have bolstered the market, said the i news site.

Spain is formulating a new national security plan that will tell citizens what to do in case of war. Meanwhile, "wealthy clients" across the country are buying under-home bunkers, with one company saying a "middle-class family" took out a loan in order to have one installed.

This surge in bunker demand comes as Swiss leaders start to upgrade the country's stock of 370,000 nuclear shelters. Residents of Switzerland are entitled to a place in one of these and this £200 million project will ensure that all existing shelters are operational.

"The country already has bunker space for each of its nine million inhabitants – a situation long dismissed as paranoia by its neighbours," said The Times. It is now planning to "update and improve old structures".

 
 
on this day

3 January 1987

Aretha Franklin became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. This year's inductees include Mary J. Blige, Cher, Big Mama Thornton and Dionne Warwick, taking the number of women artists honoured with a spot in the Hall of Fame to just over 80 – still less than 10% of the total.

 
 
Today's newspapers

The Daily Telegraph leads on the government's rejection of an inquiry into grooming gangs, claiming Keir Starmer has dodged scrutiny of his role as head of the Crown Prosecution Service between 2008 and 2013. Reform of the social care system is being "pushed back again", says The Times, with change not likely to be delivered until 2028, after the independent commission reports back. Health and care leaders feel that a "crisis" is being "kicked into the long grass", says The Guardian.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Lego find comes with a catch

A Penzance fisherman landed an unusual catch last summer – a Lego shark that had been lost at sea for the better part of 30 years. The toy was among almost five million Lego pieces set adrift when the container transporting them was washed off a cargo ship by a freak wave near Land's End in February 1997. Hundreds of other pieces from the shipment washed up last year, but that was the first ever shark.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Sarah Collins, Hollie Clemence, Chas Newkey-Burden, Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, Rebecca Messina, Harriet Marsden and Abby Wilson.

Image credits, from top: Jack Taylor / Getty Images; Philip Fong / AFP / Getty Images; Justin Paget / Getty Images; CSA Images / Getty Images.