this is bbc world news. our top stories: there are more catastrophic fire warnings in australia for saturday in three parts of new south wales, with temperatures set to hit the mid—forties celsius. facebook says it's closed down hundreds of accounts linked to a conservative news outlet that uses artificial intelligence to create fake photo profiles. poland's parliament adopts a law that makes it easier for the government to fire judges, despite a plea from the european commission to wait. and stuck in orbit — why boeing's mission to the international space station didn't quite go as planned.

more catastrophic fire warnings have been issued for parts of new south wales, with temperatures set to hit the mid—40s celsius. in south australia, one person has died in a blaze east of adelaide, while crews are also battling outbreaks in the west of the country and in victoria. the prime minister, scott morrison, who's been widely criticised for being on holiday during the crisis, is expected back in australia soon. dr sarah perkins—kirkpatrick, who is a climate scientist at the university of nsw‘s climate change research centre joins me now from sydney. thanks forjoining us here. personable, if i can ask, how unprecedented are these fires? these

fires are unprecedented in a number of ways, firstly in their size, there have been over 2 million hectares that have been burnt, and the time of year. we don't usually expect bushfires to occur and be this extreme at this time of year, so this extreme at this time of year, so particularly with this catastrophic fire rating, this is the second time we have seen this rating already in the sydney region. why are things so bad this year?‘ number of causes, part of that is due to natural cycles, so we have had quite a dry winter, three dry winters in fact, one after the other, which has prolonged the drought. we have a lot of high dry air into new south wales from the centre, and the monsoon has not had the northern part of northern australia allowing me to build up and lastly climate change is a common influence. we would not expect to have conditions so extreme

if climate share was not there to boost what is going on. how difficult is it for australians as a nation to deal with this? this could be the new reality, harder and harder bushfire season is coming up in the future. this is the scary thing. especially for me, living in sydney, working in climate science and working to make things happen, we have been saying that this is what climate change would bring, longer bushfire seasons, more intense players, less waiting time between extreme bushfires themselves, but it is happening now and people are starting to realise what we have been talking about is starting to happen now, and it is quite sobering and quite distressing as well. of course the prime minister has been criticised for this precise reason, that climate change is such a pressing issue, he has been criticised about his attitude towards it. he has a. i am not a politician so i am not going

to comment on politics on this particular issue, but it has been quite silent on climate change and what we can and should be doing, and we should be doing more, that emits a lot of carbon emissions from exporting coal, there is a lot more we can do, perhaps there is a lot more the world could do but we should do more as well. this is not just a problem for australia, it is a global problem. exactly. intense wildfires, longer wildfires seasons, it has been recorded in other parts of the world and it is exactly what we expect with climate change, especially with more heat in the system, and heat is a precursor to a catastrophic bushfire season, this is exactly what we expected. so good to have you on the programme, thank you very much. the united nations has warned of a rapid increase in hunger and disease amongst displaced people in syria. it follows the decision by russia and china to veto a measure to keep

aid flowing to civilians. fighting between the government forces and rebels in the north—western province of idlib has been intensifying, with thousands fleeing their homes. bill hayton reports. this is the bab al—hawa border post, one of four places where aid can cross into syria. but on friday it was the scene of demonstrations. thousands of people marched to protest what they see as turkey's collaboration with a renewed offensive in idlib province. chanting. syrian government forces, backed by russia, moving into the north—west of idlib, forcing tens of thousands to flee. the road towards the border is now full of trucks heading for safety. translation: they were bombing us. we couldn't sleep. they were using every type of weapon, including bombs and rockets. the latest exodus only adds to the numbers needing aid.

the un says it fed overi million people in october with cross—border supplies. but that programme will end onjanuary 10, unless it is renewed. on friday, russia and china blocked an extension, causing outrage from the american ambassador. this decision is reckless, irresponsible, and cruel. there is nojustification imaginable for any member of this security council leaving vulnerable syrian civilians with fewer means of securing vital aid. russia wants two of the aid crossing points closed — those from jordan and iraq. leaving only the two turkish routes. it also wants the mission length reduced to six months. its ambassador blamed other countries for blocking the aid renewal. translation: who won today? nobody. who lost? those who lost were the syrian people. do not attempt to shift blame for this on us.

with two weeks left until the current resolution expires, there's still time for agreement. but it looks as if compromise will be hard to reach. in the meantime, the situation in syria gets more desperate. bill hayton, bbc news. there have been more mass protests in india over a controversial new citizenship law. at least six people have been killed in the demonstrations. critics say the legislation discriminates against the country's 200 million strong muslim population, with many fearing they could become stateless. but the move by prime minister, narendra modi, is popular with his hindu supporters. from delhi, here's rajini vaidyanathan. is this a moment of reckoning for the world's largest democracy, as anger over a controversial citizenship law intensifies? scenes of defiance, protesters ignoring cu rfews, police accused of

heavy—handed tactics. hundreds of thousands across this vast and diverse nation have taken to the streets to oppose a law they say discriminates against muslims. it offers fast—track citizenship for illegal immigrants from three neighbouring countries, except muslims. the government says it is to protect religious minorities fleeing persecution. india prides itself on its secular principles, the right to equality for all faiths. but many fear that, by making religion a condition of citizenship, that core fundamental principle is now at stake. muslims say they are living in fear. the government is planning to publish a nationwide register of citizens, in which everyone would have to prove they are indian. those who can't would be considered illegal immigrants, with only non—muslims afforded protection under

the new citizenship law. "i don't trust the government," she tells me. "if they don't accept my documents, which prove i'm indian, then what will i do?" pressure is mounting on india's prime minister, narendra modi, but he still has huge support for his hindu nationalist agenda. tonight in delhi, a group of his supporters came out to defend the citizenship act. a lot of people are saying that it is against muslims, but it is not against muslims. it is only against — only for. it is not against anyone. it is for minorities in three neighbouring countries, pakistan, afghanistan and bangladesh, where islam is a state religion. this week's large—scale protest represents the first real dissent against mr modi's government. some fear the country is inching closer to becoming a hindu state, and worry that india's secular soul is at stake.

let's get some of the day's other news. the international criminal court's chief prosecutor says the completion of a pipeline set to supply russian gas to europe has hit a stumbling block, after donald trump signed off on sanctions against companies involved in the construction. the nord stream 2 project is almost finished and would link russia and germany. the us says it will give moscow dangerous leverage over europe, but the continent's leaders have condemed the move. one company involved in its construction has already halted work. the international criminal court's chief prosecutor says she believes war crimes have been committed in the israeli—occupied palestinian territories. fatou bensouda says she wants to launch an investigation but needs the court to establish first if they have authority over these areas. facebook says it has removed hundreds of accounts with ties

to a conservative news outlet that uses fake profile photos, generated with the help of artificial intelligence. researchers said the facebook and instagram fake profiles generate thousands of personalities who emphasise support for president trump and opposition to the chinese government. our north america correspondent peter bowes is following the story from los angeles. this is, say a lot of people, very worrying. and it shows what technology can achieve these days. in terms of generating these images, faces that look like profile shots of ordinary people, but they are fake, they are generated by algorithms. there's absolutely nothing real about them. they don't represent real people. but they have been generated by users in vietnam, say facebook, purporting to be americans. and they've removed several hundred of these facebook accounts, as you say, along with instagram sites and various pages as well that

carried with them messages that were anti—china, that were pro—trump, or generated conversations about family values or impeachment, a lot of those hot button issues that are in the news at the moment. what is the social media giant been saying about all of this and what it's doing to combat this sort of thing? well, this is an ongoing battle, of course, for facebook and it's faced similar problems of course, going back to the last american election in 2016, then the key threat was from russia. but this was coming from a different part of the world. and this is in part why facebook have been very open about revealing what they have found now. and they are digging into the technology. they are trying to find out and really get ahead of those people who can generate these kinds of images. the experts who have been looking at this say they have been essentially quite startled at how good they are.

how easy it is to generate these images. and they've never seen anything quite like it with these, i suppose, artificial faces being used to send out false information, disinformation in social media. peter bowes in los angeles. :'s : ‘s parliament has adopted a law reform making it easierfor the government to fire, fine or discipline judges government to fire, fine or disciplinejudges — government to fire, fine or discipline judges — poland's. government to fire, fine or disciplinejudges — poland's. the ruling just party says reform is unnecessary, but critics call it an attempt to stifle judges, and have been wide spread demonstrations. the bill has been hugely controversial. as it was being debated, people took to the streets outside parliament in support of the judges, and judicial independence. the changes give the government the power to discipline judges for what it calls political activity, including questioning the newjudges that the government appoints.

in a marathon debate, the ruling party argued the changes are necessary to prevent chaos in the judicial system. translation: what weakens the rule of law most of the mutation that we call the state ofjudges, the state of thejudges is call the state ofjudges, the state of the judges is the state which ignores the principle of national sovereignty, that ignores the authority of the nation, the state of thejudges is authority of the nation, the state of the judges is the state in which thejudges decide what of the judges is the state in which the judges decide what is law and what is not. opposition lawmakers say an attempt to gag judges. translation: the bill will subject the polish court and the polish judges to political control by the legislative and exacting bodies and reduce the level of judicial protection of individual rights. there are concerns such sweeping changes to poland's industry could contradict european law and force poland out of the eu. translation: you are lying to the poles, claiming that these are european solutions, while the european commission says clearly, please stop working

on this shameful project. the bill will now be sent to poland's senate, which can delay the new law, but not block it. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we meet the italian engineer who makes sure that less well off children don't miss out on toys. the world of music has been paying tribute to george michael, who's died from suspected heart failure at the age of 53. he sold well over 100 million albums in a career spanning more than three decades. the united states' troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon says it's failed in its principle objective to capture noriega and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. in its place, the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no

longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am's maid of the seas, nosedown in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass in the town of shkoder, where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: there are more catastrophic fire warnings in australia for saturday in three parts of new south wales, with temperatures set to hit the mid—forties celsius. facebook says it has closed down to hundreds of accounts linked to a

conservative news outlet which uses artificial intelligence to create fa ke artificial intelligence to create fake photo profiles. the former boss of france telecom and two former executives have been jailed over a restructuring policy linked to suicides among employees in the 2000 ‘s. hugh schofield reports. former top executives at france telecom arrive in court to hear a france telecom arrive in court to heara damning france telecom arrive in court to hear a damning verdict. they and their company were guilty of moral harassment, bullying starting to anxiety and depression and in the worst cases, suicide. forfamily members of those who died, the judgement was a vindication of ten yea rs of judgement was a vindication of ten years of campaigning. translation: we are satisfied because of what the president of the court said. she said that the procedures used by the management of france telecom were forbidden. this answers the one question that was the fundamental question that was the fundamental question throughout the whole process. should we be able to do these sorts of things? at least the first response of the court is no,

it is not acceptable, and if you do that you will be convicted. it all happened when france telecom, formerly a state monopoly, was having to transform itself to face the competition. the old ways were going. what was needed was fewer staff and new skills. but in pressurising workers to adapt or leave, the court found france telecom had used methods that were unacceptable. this is seen as a case which could have important implications for business in the future. it is the first time a major french company has been found guilty of bullying. not by the actions of individual managers, but through its general economic strategy. lawyers for the plaintiffs said the implications for businesses in france but want to restructure and showjobs now were very important. translation: in this case we had management methods that did not comply with regulations and the law, and with this decision we now understand how employees should be treated, and it is a token but the wrongdoings in the france telecom

they will not be happening again. lawyers for the convicted manager said the court had more interested in reaching a crowdpleasing verdict than in following the letter of the law. they plan to appeal. families are happy their cause has been recognised. french businesses will now be wondering how this widens legal concept of corporate harassment could affect them. one of the pioneers of new approaches to international development, sir fazle hasan abed, has died. he was 83. he founded the bangladesh rural advancement committee also known as brac, in 1972. it's now one of the world's largest ngos, operating in 11 asian and african countries. brac is said to have lifted 150 million people out of poverty. nicholas kristof is a columnist with the new york times who knew sir fazle. he told me more about his legacy. so i think it's a few things. one is that when he began in the development space, it was really about westerners sitting around conference rooms in places like london and washington and deciding what was best for people in villages

half a world away. and that never really worked terribly well. and abed was a leader in the developing world's own responses to poverty, and the truth is that when there was local ownership, it worked a lot better. you know, the us did a lot of projects in afghanistan. they were not vastly successful. brac did work in afghanistan. when american—built tools were blown up, brac‘s continued. so i think one is the local ownership development. i think another is his emphasis on education and on empowering of women and the returns you get from that and in recent — i don't think it was really something he really with began early in his career, but over the last 15 years or so he was increasingly involved in using randomised controlled trials to test interventions and see how well they worked, as if they were a pharmaceutical trial. and that has been a pioneering step in development — the nobel prize for economics went to three economists who worked on them, in some cases with brac or brac—inspired programmes, so i think he, you know, he leaves a huge legacy at the top tiers of development,

but also in villages around the world — kids who otherwise would have died who are here because of his work. america's progress towards being able to return to putting its own people into space has hit a hurdle. nasa hopes the boeing starliner craft could be used to ferry passengers to and from the international space station, but a test flight in florida failed to go as planned. jonathan amos reports.

ground control: and lift-off. the rise of starliner and a new era in human space flight. a new era perhaps, but notjust yet. boeing launched its starliner capsule on time from cape canaveral in florida, but the automated ship then failed to carry out its commands properly. when it came off the top of the rocket, it was supposed to fire its engines to increase its height. it did, but at the wrong time, and for too long. the starliner put itself in the wrong part of the sky. it can no longer reach the space station and will have to come home. the american space agency has been overseeing the development of the capsule. nasa has provided milestone payments to help boeing bring the vehicle into operation. and despite the setback, the agency is staying positive. if we would've had crew in there, number one, they would have been safe. to be very clear, our crew would have been safe. and, in fact, had they been in there, we very well may be orbiting or we may be docking with the international space station

tomorrow, had they been in the spacecraft. so a lot of things went right today. i want to be really clear — a lot of things went right, and this is why we test and because we are now in orbit and in fact, elevating our orbit, we are going to get a lot more data and a lot more information in the coming days. so this is all — this is all very positive. two, one, zero... nasa has not been able to launch its own astronauts to orbit for nearly nine years. when it retired the shuttles in 2011, it ceased to operate space vehicles, and it bought seats to the space station in russian capsules instead. nasa would rather spend its money hailing rides on american—built astronaut space taxi services. another enterprise, california's spacex company, has already completed the test flight of its astronaut capsule.

the dragon craft made a flawless trip to the orbiting lab in march. spacex looks set to start flying astronauts for real in the next few months. quite how far behind today's events put boeing is unclear. engineers will need to inspect the starliner when they get it back on earth. nasa is determined, though, that it should have a choice of capsules in the future. boeing is certain to try again. all around the world, millions of children will be hoping for a visit from santa. some less well off youngsters may miss out on getting a toy. but a retired engineerfrom rome is determined to do something about that, as tim allman explains. his name is guido but it might as well be geppetto. a former engineer with an italian airline, he now devotes himself to repairing and restoring toys. lots and lots of toys. anything up to 70 a day, in fact, and it is all in a good cause. translation: take this

one, for example. some toy shops give us the faulty toys that they cannot sell. this one, i have repaired it, and it works now. and these new toys, we send to hospitals. notjust hospitals. this charity also provides playthings to the children of refugees, or kids whose parents have lost theirjobs — any youngster who wants a moment ofjoy and a toy of their own. translation: we call these objects re—loved, since they are loved twice. first, by the parents of the children who donated them and then, they are loved by the children who receive them. so we reuse objects and we avoid wasting plastic. they distribute about 20,000 toys a year. dolls, teddies, cars, action figures — guido tinkers away at them all. his greatest reward, he says — the smiles on the children's faces. tim allman, bbc news.

what a lovely story to end the programme on. thank you for your company. headlines coming up in a couple of minutes. goodbye for now. good morning. what a miserable week of weather it has been for many of us with some relentless rain, and that has brought localised flooding. in fact, on friday afternoon, these were fairly typical weather watcher pictures across parts of central and southern england in particular. in fact, by close of play on friday, there were over 90 flood warnings in force, and with more rain to come through the weekend, well, do go to the bbc weather website for the latest updates on the flood warnings, and also any met office warnings as well. so, over the next few hours, we've got this little mini weather front which will enhance some showers, some of them heavy, with hail and thunder. windy conditions following on behind

before another weather front makes its presence felt by the end of the day on saturday. so saturday morning, we start off with a few sharp showers still remaining, but they are easing away. the best of the sunshine perhaps on saturday, likely to be for the far north of scotland. slowly brightening up as well across parts of england and wales for a brief time, before yet more wet weather starts to push into the south—west by the end of the day. a cooler feel in scotland, five or six degrees. double digits quite widely further south. now, that rain will continue to drift its way steadily eastwards but it is going to clear off into the near continent through the early hours of saturday night into sunday morning. and then behind, with some clearer skies, it will be a chilly start into sheltered eastern areas of scotland, maybe a touch of light frost here.

too much cloud further south and too much of a breeze for any issue. and still some bits and pieces of rain first thing on sunday morning. but sunday will be quieter for many — a case of sunny spells and a few isolated showers around. but still quite windy across the exposed coasts of the south, 40—50 mile an hour gusts of winds not out of the question. cooler again in scotland, five or six degrees, but highest values of nine or ten further south. it looks as though that quieter theme is set to continue for a time, though. showers will ease away on monday and by tuesday, christmas eve, drier and quieter. what on earth is happening, you may ask. it looks as though father christmas might be granting us our wish and giving us a brief lull in the weather story at the moment with high pressure building on christmas eve into christmas day.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: there are more catastrophic fire warnings in australia for saturday in three parts of new south wales, with temperatures set to hit the mid—40s celsius. the australian prime minister scott morrison has apologised for going on a family holiday to hawaii while his country was dealing with the bushfire emergency. facebook says that it has removed hundreds of accounts with ties to a conservative news outlet that uses artificially generated faces to spread messages in favour of president trump and against the chinese government. the social media network said the fake profiles are linked to the us—based news outlet, the epoch times. mps in poland have adopted a law making it easier for the government to sackjudges. the legislation also allows them to be fined or demoted for dissent and has been adopted despite a plea to wait from the european commission. a funeral and a memorial service have taken place for the two