welcome to bbc news — i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: at least three people have died in bushfires in australia as forecasters and firefighters warn that more dangerous weather is on the way. our real concern is moving into tuesday where we are expecting bridges in the high 30s, early 40s. humility is make humidity down to single digits and winds gusting up to 80 kilometres per hour. —— humidity. hello and welcome to bbc news.

we will start with those fires in australia and a warning... ‘leave your homes for safety or risk not receiving help‘. the severe warning from firefighters as bush fires continue to ravage the east coast of australia. at least three people have died and there are fears the number of casualties could rise. weather forecasters say more bad weather is on the way. 1,300 firefighters, backed by water—bombing aircraft, are tackling dozens of fires in baking temperatures. officials in new south wales say 150 homes have burned down. with me is our news reporter freya cole who has experience reporting on bushfires in australia. we know there are 1300 firefighters out there. they are entering their third day fighting this bushfire emergency. as we have heard from the rural fire service and as you have just said, tuesday is expected to be a holiday. let us take a listen to what ben shepherd said just a short

time ago. we are talking about a massive area here now that we're with. some six or 700 thousand had —— hectares of bushland that is a light so we are having to deal with at ahead of these worsening conditions on tuesday. we need people to understand that when they do ask for assistance that a fire truck may not be able to turn up. the winds, of those kinds of strengths, we might not be able to get you aerial support. we are trying to encourage everybody to use this weekend to prepare. an interesting morning. but interesting, too, that this isn't even the height of summer yet. exactly. we haven't even reached summer. exactly. we haven't even reached summer. traditionally, the bushfire season summer. traditionally, the bushfire season in new south wales starts on 0ctober season in new south wales starts on october the first budget this year they brought that forward to august they brought that forward to august the first. they did that again last year and last, was the hottest on record. we are seeing some are almost blend into winter back home in australia. let's take a listen to

that a stark warning again from ben shepherd about the weather that is to come. the actual weather conditions we have had over the last few days, it is typically what we would see in the middle of the worst parts of summer. we have had an extraordinary start to this fire season already. we will be approaching 1 million hectares of actual bushland that is being burnt and at this stage, the bureau of meteorology is predicting more of this weather over the coming months so this weather over the coming months so it doesn't bode well for the rest of the fire season. and you have been speaking to people affected? yes, there are still people staying with their homes and protecting from the bushfire. it is their choice whether to leave or not. as we heard from bushfire —— firefighters, they say to get out now. we had from bill robinson in red rock, a small town impacted by the fires on the mid north coast of new south wales. he said," the power is off, the power

poles have burned, he has been fighting spot fires all morning... the only road out of town is closed". the only choice for him is to stay and fight this bushfire. but in true aussie spirit, he said at the end of the phone call, its all 0k, though, and i can't reiterate that these small country communities, they come together in these times of crisis and really rally. they help each other out and there is that nice sense of community spirit. let us look ahead to tuesday. that is the big warning and the issue of the wind, moving embers around and actually not being able to, you know, helicopters not being able to fly. yes, yet -- tuesdayis being able to fly. yes, yet -- tuesday is another extremely dangerous day with strong winds combined with temperatures of around 40 combined with temperatures of around a0 celsius. that is incredibly severe, almost catastrophic fire conditions. the message is use this

weekend to get prepared, clean out your gutters, clean out the yard, do whatever you can to protect your property and get out because essentially, resources are spread so thin, it is such a large country that if you call for help, help might not be able to reach you. 0k, freya cole, thank you for bringing us freya cole, thank you for bringing us up—to—date. in california, firefighters are at the scene of a small fire in the hollywood hills. aircraft and teams on the ground are tackling the blaze, near to the warner brothers and universal film studios, but they say there's no threat to property or residents. the german chancellor has warned against taking freedom, human rights and democracy for granted. during a day of celebrations to commemorate 30 years since the fall of the berlin wall, angela merkel, said that the basic values on which europe is founded must be defended time and time again. saturday also marked the anniversary of kristallnacht —

the night of broken glass — when thousands ofjewish homes, synagogues and businesses were attacked in nazi germany and austria in 1938. president trump says he's likely to release the transcript of a second phone call with the ukrainian president as early as tuesday. democrats have been asking for it as part of their inquiry to establish whether president trump violated the constitution, by pushing ukraine to investigate his political rivals. rescue crews are still working to evacuate homes across parts of south yorkshire, derbyshire and the midlands, after a month's worth of rain fell in one day. police have named the woman who died after she was swept away in a river near matlock as annie hall, former high sheriff of the country.

seven severe flood warnings are in place on the river don in south yorkshire — indicating a threat to life. one of the places worst hit there is the village of fishlake, near doncaster. here's fiona trott. the village residents are leaving behind. the roads in fishlake are like rivers tonight, unless you have a boat, the only way to travel is by tractor. at times like these, the local farmers are happy to help out. it's how emergency supplies have been reaching residents, all of them alarmed by how quickly it happened. i've never seen it like this all my life. apparently it did flood in 1933 or so. i've never seen it this bad. some people here have decided to stay, but for one woman that's not an option. the prospect of being trapped could not be more serious. we only moved in five weeks ago. i'm waiting for a transplant.

13 miles away in bentley, residents are counting the cost of the clear—up. all this has got to be replaced. diane cordon's family were flooded in 2007 and couldn't afford new insurance. they say they want help and the council isn't providing it. as soon as possible, we need skips. they're saying that the wagons cannot go through because of the water. cars are managing to get through, as you can see, so can a wagon with a skip on the back of it. what are we supposed to do with this? get on with it? leave you to it? what are we supposed to do with all this rancid, smelly, contaminated stuff? doncaster council has described the situation as highly complex and says it's been very difficult to predict and control future events. in derbyshire, matlock has been one of the worst—affected areas there. the woman who died after being caught in floodwater near darley dale has today been named as the former high sheriff annie hall.

she's been described as a great leader who will be hugely missed. it will be weeks before this village and others like it reach some kind of normality. in the meantime, the government says it's launched an emergency fund so that local authorities can help safeguard people's lives and property. this is the village of stainforth, just a mile away from fishlake, and the police are going to stay here throughout the night. they've got to stop people from crossing that bridge. the river don is a tidal river and it remains dangerously high. fiona trott, bbc news, doncaster. with me is our correspondent andy moore. we were just watching fiona there in and around fishla ke. we were just watching fiona there in and around fishlake. this is a place

that hasn't been flooded like this, evenin that hasn't been flooded like this, even in 20s —— 2007. in some places, the water is falling but not in fishlake. the fact it is tidal and the tides are quite high at the moment, the tides can't go away into the sea. floodwaters are remaining high there at the moment and the environment agency has this severe flood warning in place which means a threat to life. bring us up-to-date with some of the areas affected. certainly the lower reaches of the river trent. it area is still rising. around newark, the environment agency is wanting to potential flooding to properties. there is a caravan park, a home for mobile homes and some of the

residents were being urged to move their mobile homes to higher areas if they could. there is a raster centre that has been opened up at the sports centre so that flood peak is going down the river trent and some of the communities further down are being warned of possible flooding. and the bad news is more rain so the flood levels could fall a little and then rise again on monday. i want to pick up on that timeframe again. the most frustrating thing is for people who have had the damage and not knowing how long it will last, they will be peaks how long it will last, they will be pea ks and troughs, how long it will last, they will be peaks and troughs, is there a sense from anyone trying to predictjust how long this will go on? certainly, the environment agency is a saying in south yorkshire the flooding could persist until wednesday so thatis could persist until wednesday so that is obviously a long time scale for people in that area. the environment agency is saying for other areas like the river trent, it may peak later on today and then go away perhaps for a little while until there is more rain which is very difficult to predict, of

course. a worrying time ahead. cyclone bulbul has made landfall near the border of india and bangladesh, bringing heavy rain and winds of up to 135 kilometres an hour. up to two million people have left their homes for safety, but two deaths have been reported — one person was crushed under a tree in the city of kolkata, while another was buried under a collapsing wall in neighbouring 0disha. 0ur south asian editor, anbarasan ethirajan, explains how improved preparedness has helped save lives. in the past, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in cyclones in bangladesh but we have developed a radio system and are working with the un and other agencies and have enlisted thousands of volunteers. one of the first things they will do is send text messages to mobile phones, to various fishermen and villages across southern bangladesh.

and then they sent to different villages using loudspeakers to tell people that they now need to go to safety. otherwise they will also use army and security forces, physically putting people into shelters. so these are some of the methods they use and they also use television and radio, warning people about the danger. they have realised that, unless they moved to some safety, that their lives will be in danger and that was one of the reasons why people think they can tied over and sit on the top of the roof and, if we spend another few hours we will be fine but bangladesh has learned its lesson and disaster management for the last few years has been good. it's been a busy day on the election campaign trail, with the main parties unveiling new policy pledges. the conservatives have announced plans to train more gps, while labour and the liberal democrats are focussing on more support for childcare. here's our political correspondent, iain watson.

it's enough to raise your blood pressure. you know what it's like. try to get a non—urgent appointment with your doctor and you can wait days, sometimes more than a week. today, the conservatives promised an injection of more gps into the health service in england by 2025. the package will deliver 6000 more doctors in primary care and that will lead to 50 million more appointments. i know how frustrating it is when you cannot get a gp appointment fast enough. but hang on a minute — what happened to the 5000 gps the conservatives promised at the 2015 election? that target has not been reached. the reality will be seeing these delivered on. whichever government we have it a few weeks' time, we need them to recognise the stressed state of general practice and we need them to recognise that these promises

are solid and should be delivered on and they should be delivered on swiftly. labour claim public services have got worse since the conservatives came to power. jeremy corbyn was at a children's arts project in leeds but says many facilities have closed in recent years. he is pledging to set up 1000 preschool sure start centres and extending entitlement to childcare. he says we will be told how this will be paid for later in the campaign. we are determined to open children's centres so that sure start can be a reality, as it was in the past for so many of our children. all of our funding commitments will be clearly there in the grey book that will be published alongside our manifesto. not to be outdone, at a rally in london the lib dem leader had her own offer on childcare. a liberal democrat government will provide working parents with free, high—quality childcare from when their child is nine months old until their first day at school. there has not been too much talk of the b word for the politicians today although "stop brexit" is part of the official lib dem campaign slogan and jo swinson has tried to convince us — and, indeed, some of her own party members — that she has a much broader agenda.

usually at elections politicians never miss the opportunity to kiss a baby. today, though, it is the parents who are being love bombed — but high—quality childcare does not come cheap. certainly the government, whoever is in power, will have a struggle between making sure the funding rate is high enough that providers can deliver the high—quality care that they want to but at the same time keep control of the overall cost. there is clearly an appetite for policies other than brexit on the political menu. today, there was plenty of sweeteners for the voters. but there is still no such as a free lunch. iain watson, bbc news. in the run—up to polling day, we'll be bringing you an essential guide to the various campaigns in a daily electioncast. starting on monday night, adam fleming and the bbc‘s politics team provide a round up of the days events and will look at the twists and turns of the campaign so far. watch it here on the bbc news channel or listen to it on bbc sounds app.

this is bbc news, the headlines: at least three people have died in bushfires in australia as weather forecasters and firefighters warn that more dangerous weather is on the way. people in the north of england and the midlands are still being rescued, after a month's worth of rain has fallen in a single day. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has welcomed the supreme court's decision to award a bitterly disputed religious site in the northern town of ayodyha to hindus. he called for a new india, free of hatred between religious communities. 0ur correspondent rajini vaidyanathan is in delhi. they've waited decades for this. today hindus celebrated after they were granted land which had been bitterly contested. land here, in one of

the holiest cities in india — ayod hya. but muslims have also worshipped here for generations. it's in this town that the 16th century babri mosque once stood. until it was torn down by hardline hindu groups in 1992. the communal violence which followed killed at least 2,000 people across india. building a temple in ayodhya has long been a key plank of the ruling hindu nationalist bjp party's agenda. today's judgement is being seen as a key victory for the party, which is led by prime minister narendra modi. translation: india is known for unity and diversity and it's reflected in today's verdict. it is a golden chapter in india'sjudicial system. but some wonder where it leaves the secular values india was built on. translation: i think this country is on its way to becoming a hindu nation. bjp and its allies are driving this agenda. muslims will now be given a separate

plot of land to build a mosque. while many believe today's verdict hands something to both sides, will it make a lasting difference in healing this country's deep religious divides? rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, delhi. more now on the ceremonies that have been taking place in germany on the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, once a potent symbol of the cold war divide between east and west. this report from jenny hill. this city set the world alight 30 years ago. tonight, berlin is still on fire. cheering. the wall was loathed, feared, resisted. in the end, it couldn't hold them back. cornelia was 11 when communist east germany came tumbling down. i remember also when we could go to the west part, the smelling. i will never forget about the smelling in the shops because it was such an amazing

smell, i never had before. in 1961, the world looked on as brick by brick east berlin became a prison, its citizens sealed off from friends and family in the west, trapped in an oppressive communist regime. monika was among them. the wall, she told us, tore her family apart. she never knew her grandfather, who lived in the west. by the time the wall fell, he was dead. angela merkel, leading commemorations today, also grew up behind the iron curtain. it shaped her politics, her aversion to borders and walls. but even she admits divisions remain between the old east and west. the revolution was astonishingly bloodless. this, many declared,

the birth of a new world order, one which some warn is at risk today. translation: the values upon which europe is founded — freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, the preservation of human rights. they absolutely cannot be taken for granted and must constantly be defended. for germany, this is a bittersweet day. a commemoration of hardship endured, a celebration of freedom won, but a chance too to reflect on new divisions. but tonight, lit up with celebration, berlin will simply remember the day so many never dared to hope would come. jenny hill, bbc news, berlin. in japan — celebrations are continuing to mark the enthronement of the country's new emperor. on saturday — a national festival took place — including a parade through tokyo — which was followed by a series

of musical performances. emperor naruhito said he was deeply grateful — as the bbc‘s tim allman reports. this weekend marks the climax of a huge national party. and it looks like they've saved the best till last. a parade featuring traditional folk dancing... this weekend marks the climax of a huge national party. and it looks like they've saved the best till last. this weekend marks the climax of a huge national party. and it looks like they've saved the best till last. a parade featuring traditional folk dancing... ..plus marching bands from the tokyo police and fire departments. some of these things had to be delayed several weeks during to the impact of typhoon hagibis. but it was a sea of colour, noise, and excitement nonetheless.

then, as dusk fell, the emperor and empress emerged from the imperial palace. thousands of loyal subjects waving flags were holding up lanterns. translation: i am very grateful to everyone who was here today to celebrate this occasion. i am very happy with all the messages i've been receiving from the people. then prime minister shinzo abe paid his tribute. "the many people gathered here," he said, "the japanese citizens and i would like to once again celebrate the enthronement of the emperor." there was a special musical performance, including a new piece of music called ray of water, specially composed for the event. on sunday, the emperor and empress will travel in an open topped car through tokyo.

the final event, the final celebration. the new imperial age begins. tim allman, bbc news. peace corridor has opened between india and pakistan, meaning that the shrine that venerate the famous and well—regarded guru can be visited. for many of those here, today is a dream come true. this temple of gurdwara is believed to have been built where the founder of sikhism, guru nanak, spent his final years in the 16th century. now pilgrims from india will be able to travel directly

here from the border, just a few kilometres away. translation: we used to go to a town in india on the border and looked at the gurdwara with binoculars from very far away. i used to pray that one day i would visit it myself. now it's come true. it's a rare moment of cooperation between the neighbours. but it comes amidst continued tension over the disputed region of kashmir. pakistani officials say there needs to be a resolution on that before further dialogue can happen. nevertheless, this is a historic moment. the border here between pakistan and india was the scene of horrific bloodshed between the two countries were first divided into separate states following the end of colonial rule. 0ne leading pakistani politician told me this faith corridor across that border could be to asia

what the fall of the berlin wall was to europe. amongst those attending, including the sikh diaspora, there is the hope that this could bring together more ordinary people from the two countries. everyone here in pakistan has shown us so much love everywhere we've been. we've felt like we've been at home. there's no difference. and it's been really amazing. and each one of us — we've felt loved here. and, yeah, it'sjust been amazing. up to 5,000 pilgrims will be able to travel here every day. sikh leaders in india say there'll be no shortage of those making the journey. secunder kermani, bbc news, kartarpur. hello. the weekend got off to a cold, frosty start. more rain followed for many of us on saturday. notjust rain, more of the uk had its first know of the season into the welsh hills, the higher parts of shropshire. but it's the effect of recent rain which is still causing major flooding, particularly into parts

of south yorkshire and derbyshire. there are many flood warnings still in force. do head to our website for the latest details about flood and weather warnings. now, sunday getting off to a cold, frosty start. for northern england, scotland, northern ireland there is a risk of ice on untreated surfaces, especially in northern ireland where saturday was so wet. further south, more cloud most of this area of low pressure. it is pulling away but keeping temperatures above freezing. look, there's a gap between weather systems, but these wet weather bearing weather fronts will be coming in towards western parts at the end of sunday as we'll see a moment. this is how remembrance sunday is shaping up. still outbreaks of rain for southern england and south wales, clearing away, a few fog patches around as well. but for many of us you see the extent of the dry, sunny weather during the day. the odd shower clipping easternmost

parts of england around the moray firth. a chilly day but where you're changing saturday's rain and snow for sunshine it will feel a bit warmer. but look at this. these weather fronts coming in from the west at the end of the day. a very wet evening into northern ireland. here comes the rain pushing east across the uk going into monday morning. some snow to the higher parts of pennines, southern uplands, but particularly into the highlands north of the central belt in scotland where could be quite tricky on some of the higher routes going into monday morning. temperatures do head up a bit over night into monday after a chilly start of the night. the good news is, if there is any, about this latest weather system, it is moving on through, so the wet weather doesn't hang around too long in any one place. the rain clearing south part england by the end of monday morning. and then a blustery day following the sunshine and showers, the showers most frequent towards the north—west of the uk, wintry in places, especially the hills. it's going to be a colder feeling day, particularly because it will be a windier day. tuesday, low pressure then towards the north sea, around that and some bands of wet

weather moving through. notjust showers, but longer spells of wet weather sinking southwards on wednesday. drier, brighter zones around these too. still be a chilly day. don't expect anything warmer as the week goes on. low pressure close by during the remainder of the week. a little gap early wednesday. and more weather fronts coming in from the atlantic. chilly start to wednesday, turning wetter from the west. as mentioned earlier, low pressure staying around for the rest of the week.

iain watson, bbc news. this is bbc news, the headlines: at least three people have died in bushfires on the east coast of australia. weather forecasters and firefighters have warned that more dangerous weather is on the way, and told people at risk to leave for safety now as they might not be able to provide help. ceremonies have been taking place in germany to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, once a potent symbol of the cold war divide between east and west. chancellor angela merkel, who grew up in east germany, called on europeans to stand up for freedom, tolerance and human rights.