this is bbc world news today, i'm aaron safir. our top stories: australia sees one the worst days in weeks of devastating bushfires, as the prime minister returns home from holiday. violent storms bring floods and mudslides to large parts of western europe as they brace for even more heavy rain. facing the threat ofjihadist violence in west africa — regional leaders gather in nigeria to discuss what can be done. the international community needs to be mobilised to understand that this is notjust a threat this is bbc news, the headlines. the in west africa and sahel, government has approved the takeover but to the entire global community. of uk defence aerospace specialist carbon by a american company. and liverpool are the world club champions after scoring a man who confronted the fishmongers the only goal in extra time whole attacker with a nobel task has against brazilian side flamengo. described his deep hurt that he could not save the two people who

died. prince philip has spent the day in hospital in london to be treated for what is being described asa treated for what is being described as a pre—existing condition. there have been reports of a tornado in hello and welcome surrey, and almost 90 flood warnings to world news today. australia's prime minister scott remaining in force after forecast morrison has arrived home to deal this morning of more rain and bad with his country's bushfire crisis, weather over the coming days. and after cutting short liverpool have won the club world a holiday in hawaii. cup in qatar, with an extra time he'd been heavily criticised for leaving while the fires goalfrom roberto firmino continued to rage. saturday was one of the worst days in weeks of destruction, with strong winds fanning the flames. this a representation of all the current fires burning across australia and they're expected to worsen with more hot, dry weather in the forecast. christmas travellers are being urged to delay their journeys. here's our sydney correspondent shaimaa khalil. this was said to be one of the worst days australia's most populous state has ever seen, and it's lived up to every urgent warning. huge flames spiralling out

of control, moved by strong, unpredictable wind. this is the second time in less than two months that new south wales has seen catastrophic fire conditions. firefighters have been patrolling this area throughout the day. they have been keeping an eye out on the smoke just behind that tree line. this is where villagers have fires at an emergency level and they've been told to evacuate and they're concerned that embers will blow this way. elizabeth maclaren evacuated her house a few hours ago. she packed the necessities and a few other things she couldn't afford to lose. her family's ok, but she worries about those she left behind. i hope my house doesn't burn down but, ultimately, all of my friends stayed to fight the fires at their house. they can't get out now, so i'm just hoping that they're safe. i can replace my house — i can't replace lives, you know? helen has also evacuated her home,

taking all of her dogs and cats with her. where will you stay? in the caragain. at the car park? yes. we did it the other night. it is fine. uncomfortable, but fine. australia's prime minister, scott morrison, has cut short his holiday to hawaii, as criticism continued to mount of his leadership during the bushfire crisis. it's brought the divisive debate about global warning back to the fore. scientists have long warned that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to australia's fires becoming more frequent and more intense. west african leaders have been meeting in the nigerian capital abuja to discuss the deadly upsurge in islamist violence in the sahel region. just over a week ago, more than 70 soldiers were killed in an attack in niger. there have been international calls

for west african countries do more to end the bloodshed by extremists. meanwhile, the french president emmanuel macron has begun a visit to the region and revealed his forces killed 33 militants in an operation in mali. the bbcs is‘haq khalid reports. the west african leaders gathered here at nigeria's presidential palace are under local and international pressure to act decisively as violence by militants escalates in the sahel. fighters linked to al-qaeda and the so—called islamic state as well as boko haram are stepping up attacks. they have killed at least 200 soldiers in niger, mali and burkina faso in the last three months. thousands of civilians have been affected too, either killed or displaced, creating humanitarian crisis. the regional leaders say they're worried. terrorism remains the major threat to the peace and progress of our region. recurring attacks by terrorist groups remind us of the urgency

to build an enduring security partnership to confront and defeat the evil of cross—border terrorism. currently, there are thousands of regional and international troops in the sahel, backed by france. they've been battling the militants, but it appears they're making little progress. and recently, the us and uk have criticised the west african leaders for not doing enough, saying military action alone could not solve the problem. they urge them to focus on issues of governance, corruption and development, a view shared by many. for more on the latest violence in the sahel region, i've been speaking to the bbc‘s africa regional editor, will ross. it seems in recent months, that you had stepped up their attacks. instead of lots of fairly small hit—and—run attacks, what they have tended to do is combine their forces

and target the military, the armies of the different armies in the sahel region. and they've had a lot of success region. and they've had a lot of success against those armies, you mentioned earlier on the 71 soldiers killed any share. in mali, there have also been attacks on military bases. it got so bad recently, some of the whites of the shoulders had been out on the streets demonstrating, calling on the authority is not to send their husbands to the front lines, saying it's too dangerous for them to go. it's really a dire situation and, despite the presence of a500 french troops and pointed his armies that are supposed to be working together, at the moment, it does seem to jihadists you have the upper hand. you mentioned the presence of french troops, the french president in the region too, not at this summit, he's revealed a french military operation killed more than 30 militants, as he describes them. what is the french role in all those? the french have

been leading the fight against the jihadists since 2012, where for several months, they took over the whole of the north of mali. the french troops are there not only working on their own, with ground troops and fighter jets, working on their own, with ground troops and fighterjets, they're also working with individual armies. and, yes, president macron has said that more than 30 were killed in an overnight raid in mali. there have been similar reports of success, but the french also lost 13 soldiers recently, who died when two helicopters crashed during an operation against the jihadists. so the french are also feeling the heat of this, and it's also political issue back in france as well. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. there's been an outcry in germany and russia after president trump approved new sanctions against firms building the controversial nord stream 2 gas pipeline. germany called the us sanctions a serious interference in german and european internal affairs. in a separate development,

russia and ukraine have struck a deal that commits moscow to sending gas to europe through ukrainian pipelines for the next five years. at least 18 inmates have been killed in an outbreak of gang violence at a prison in honduras. officials say 16 people were injured in the northern port city of tela on friday. the fight was one of the worst recent outbreaks in the country, where prisons are notoriously overcrowded. the trump administration has finalized a decision to overturn the phasing out of incandescent light bulbs. it says the requirements for energy—efficient bulbs would be costly to consumers. the standard was to come into effect next year. 16 states, including new york and california, have challenged the move. the death toll from a storm that battered spain, portugal and france has risen to eight people, with the affected areas bracing for the arrival of more violent weather. a strengthening storm, given the name fabien,

is expected to bring downpours and strong winds to parts of western europe. with more, here's david campanale. storm else hit the iberian peninsula on wednesday, with the following day seeing an increase in its intensity. the riverfront streets of porto were flooded. the deaths occurred when a tree fell, hitting a truck, killing the driver, while a second person died in the north of the country after a house collapsed with the force of the downpours. in the centre of portugal, the worst affected city appears to be here, where shops and restaurants in the centre were where shops and restaurants in the centre we re overcome where shops and restaurants in the centre were overcome by rising water levels. translation: we had to leave urgently, i never saw anything like this here. storm elsa flooded areas,

brought down power lines and disrupted travel across the region as thousands hope to travel in readiness for christmas. portuguese authorities have no issue to a red weather warning for a new frate, storm fabien. as well as inner cities, they say that coastal areas are bound to be in the path. in spain, authorities are also standing by for fresh spain, authorities are also standing by forfresh turmoil. spain, authorities are also standing by for fresh turmoil. the national weather office has put of the entire cosa glacier and the neighbouring area of mysterious under alert. britain's prime minister boris johnson has defended the decision to approve a £a billion takeover of the british defence company cobham by an american firm. speaking as he visited british troops in estonia,

mrjohnson said he was satisfied the deal didn't raise national security issues. lady nadine cobham, part of the family which set up the uk firm, has criticised the decision. our business correspondent katy prescott reports. one of the uk's oldest defence companies, a pioneer of air—to—air refuelling, critical to the uk military, providing high—tech engineering jobs at their headquarters. for the last six months, the government has been grappling with whether to allow its sale to the american private equity firm advent, which aims to buy companies, improve them and sell them on. borisjohnson, having christmas lunch with uk troops, defended last night's decision. a lot of checks have been gone through to make sure that in that particular case, that all the security issues that might be raised can be satisfied. and the uk will continue to be a very creative and dynamic contributor to that section of industry and all others. cobham started life in the 1930s

as a flying circus. shareholders voted for the sale. the daughter—in—law of the founder has been critical. she says... in a heavily redacted document in the run—up to the sale, the ministry of defence said this raised national security concerns because of access to information and ongoing defence projects. the home office said that they were concerned about access to the uk's emergency services radio systems, which they said could prejudice ongoing operations. to allay those fears, the government says advent has agreed to ensure that sensitive government information continues to be protected, to honour the terms of existing contracts and to give prior notice to the ministry of defence and home office if there any plans

to sell the whole or any parts of the business. but critics say the sale is a mistake. this is an amazing british company. a world—leading british company that has very important, nationally sensitive contracts with the ministry of defence. it is taken just a week after the election for conservatives to sell out to donald trump. the government says the agreement with advent is legally enforceable and any breach could be pursued through the courts. the low pound has made british companies attractive to american buyers, and this is a high—profile example of the latest sale. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: one of england's world cup winning heroes, martin peters, who scored their second goal in the final, has died at the age of 76.

this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: australia is continuing to suffer from devastating bushfires, as the prime minister returns home from holiday. let's get more on that story now and look more widely at the criticism australia's prime minister scott morrison has faced for leaving the country while so many bushfires are burning. let's speak tojohn mcternan, who acted as political adviser to both tony blair and the australian labour prime ministerjulia gillard. thank you forjoining us. it sounds like quite a basic question, how could a prime minister see such a

huge cataclysm going on at home and decide to go on holiday? it beggars belief, doesn't it? the latest figure on the circumference of the fire that's nearing sydney is hundreds of thousands of miles, the distance between sydney and anchorage and back again. it's a huge national disaster and that is moments when the premise tries to drop everything and focus on that and the people affected and make sure everything that can be done is done to deal with the consequences of the fires. but what could be going on in the prime minister's mines and the people surrounding him ata time mines and the people surrounding him at a time of crisis to ignore that and because written something else? this has been an election year in australia, very, very tough election year, and scott morrison won a surprise victory against the labour party, so he no doubt thought he had

earned a well earned rest. the problem is, the prime minister may wa nt to problem is, the prime minister may want to go on a break, but his staff should have brought back immediately, this is a basic judgment and leadership question. when people are in peril of their lives like this, when the crisis is so lives like this, when the crisis is so gigantic, you can'tjust leave an acting prime minister in charge. i think that's what scott morrison assumed, that the deputy acting as prime minister would be enough, but that was a misjudgment by him and his staff, and he should have come back as soon as he knew it was serious, though it probably was serious, though it probably was serious enough before he left to defer his holiday. he's not back in australia yet, but he has apologised and that he regrets any offence caused by not coming home sooner. i just wonder, is there a risk of things like this backfiring? we have

floods in the uk not too long ago, the prime minister went up to visit the prime minister went up to visit the affected areas, some people were happy to see him, some said, what are you doing here, get back to london. i don't think you can ever say that being present backfires, because you go there, and as you say, some people were pleased to see the prime minister, others were angry, the point is that the people we re angry, the point is that the people were angry, they have been dislodged from their homes, they have a right to express their emotions and sometimes part of being a leader is taking that emotion and being there to show empathy, sympathy, social solidarity. emotional intelligence is what you're shown by being there, and people are angry, if they can be angry at you and that makes him feel better, that is a contribution you can make. you can better, that is a contribution you can make. you can occui’ better, that is a contribution you can make. you can occur stop the fire, you can't stop the dam from breaking, you can't divert the river, you need to show that you are

paying attention and really care, while diverting an ounce of energy and effort being put into tackling a natural disaster. thank you for sharing your time and expertise with us. now all the sport. hello and thanks forjoining us. we start with the death of martin peters, one of england's heroes of ‘66. he was a west ham legend and the club say that he passed away peacfully this morning at the age of 76, after a long illness. sir geoff hurst stole the headlines with his hat—trick in the 1966 world cup final, but for a while it looked like martin peters' goal might win it, before west germany equalised. peters also won honours at west ham and spurs in a career that spanned more than 20 years. one of peters' former team mates at west ham is sir trevor brooking. everyone will be very sad, martin lived locally and i was except like

lucky as a young apprentice to join west ham in‘ 65 when they won the cup winners' cup, the epoch of the year before, and then in‘ 66, they all say that west ham won the world cup because of the three lines there. they were key people and i was exceptionally lucky to be an apprentice at the club when they we re apprentice at the club when they were training and everything and i made my debut up at burnley with all three of those still in the team. people like martin, we were intrigued how it grew in more important. martin never revelled in it or anything, he was very low—key, but very humble and good company. but never went looking for any headlines. liverpool have won the fifa club world cup after beating flamengo1—0 in extra time. the main incident of the 90 minutes came in injury time, when the referee awarded liverpool a penalty after sadio mane was brought down.

he then reversed his decision after looking at the var monitor. but then roberto firmino, who scored the winner in the semifinal, did the same again. it's the first time liverpool have won the competition in their history. liverpool remain ten points clear at the top of the premier league table after a battle between their two nearest rivals saw manchester city fight back from a goal down to beat leicester 3—1. jamie vardy silenced the etihad stadium when he scored the opening goal in the first half. but city hit back with strikes from riyad mahrez, a penalty from ilkay gundogan and then a third from gabrieljesus. pep guardiola's side stay third despite this victory, a point behind leicester and 11 behind the leaders, who have a game in hand. so is the manchester city manager taking some time off for christmas? tomorrow's off, we train two days, and then on the 25th in the

afternoon, we will train. not the 26, then we have difficult opponents in this premier league in wolves. in the rest of the day's premier league action, norwich are looking vulnerable in the bottom three. they were beaten at home by wolves, who came from a goal down to win at carrow road. rauljimenez scored his 16th of the season. norwich are now six points from safety in the premier league. meanwhile, victory for wolves moves them up to sixth. a good win for southampton though, who beat aston villa 3—1. danny ings with the first two goals. villa's consolotaion goal was a stunner from jack grealish. he may have lost his job at spurs last month, but mauricio pochettino certainly hasn't lost his magic touch. take a look at this. he's got a lot of time on his hands at the moment, he's currently in qatar for the club world cup as a guest of fifa's supreme committee, but he found time for a game of footgolf. and as you can see, nailed a hole—in—one.

that's all the sport for now. thank you. the duke of edinburgh is continuing to be treated at the king edward vii hospital in london after being admitted on friday for a pre—existing condition. prince philip — who's 98 — was taken there from the sandringham estate in norfolk. buckingham palace officials said the admission was a precautionary measure. he's expected to remain there for a few days. the man who fought off the london bridge attacker using a narwhal tusk has given a dramatic account of how he was able to stop the knifeman and pin him to the ground. two people died in the attack last month. civil servant darryn frost has described how usman khan was running towards people with knives raised above his head and wearing what looked like a suicide vest. this report from rich preston. this is the dramatic moment

passers—by attempted to stop convicted terrorist usman khan. his attack had begun at fishmongers' hall, where he had just killed two people. it was there darryn frost, a civil servant, took on khan with others attending a prisoner rehabilitation event. describing for the first time what happened, mr frost told the press association that he took a narwhal tusk to defend himself after hearing a commotion from the floor below. he described the moment khan ran at him with knives raised above his head. he went on to recall chasing khan onto london bridge, where a group wrestled him to the ground, stopping him attacking anyone else, or set off what they thought was a suicide vest. talking about jack merritt and saskia jones, who were both killed by khan, mr frost said he will always feel the deep hurt of not being able to save them. he said he hoped speaking out would urge people to unite against terrorism and raise money for the victims' families.

just before we go, a group of intrepid russian swimmers has planted something which looks quite a lot like a christmas tree at the bottom of lake baikal. you can just about make it out in the murky water here, with a star on the top. it's an artificial fir and it's actually to celebrate new year's eve. the trio had to cut a hole in the thick ice. the lake which they're driving into is the world's deepest, but the tree is the world's deepest, but the tree is three metres below the surface make. not sure what they got up to next, hopefully a sauna and got nice and warm. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @aaronsafir. you can get all our top stories on the bbc news website, thanks for

watching. good evening make my quote we have numerous flood warning still in place following what has been a very wet a very wet few weeks. in fact if you want is here in the uk, and the resort a rain falling in england and wales. flood warnings are in force, we are anticipating further flooding through the night and into sunday as well as this area of low pressure rushes in off the atlantic. up to 10 million litres of rain, but in some places, double that. the ground is so places, double that. the ground is so saturated, given all the rain we have had, spray on faster routes, low cloud and hill fog, certainly, we've had through last night

inserted this morning. dense fog around, icy patches in the north, where temperatures are close to freezing and it has been damp it might grow fog could be the main hazard, rain lingering in the east first thing tomorrow morning. this array of low pressure drives our weather through sunday. the westerly showers on the coasts and downs of the channel islands, but this rain may drag its heels into the morning to clear away from eastern england. we have low cloud and fog as well, struggling to clear. we will see that link are not quite as long through the day. temperatures similarto through the day. temperatures similar to today, but chilly are in scotla nd similar to today, but chilly are in scotland to. in the run—up to the christmas week, a similar air mass across the uk, so warmer temperatures to the south and culture to the north. about average,

temperature—wise, the rain will macaque for many, except in scotland, while elsewhere, a good deal of dry weather, this area taking away the activity. plant tonight, monday during the day, sorry, looks dry for many. then rain on monday night, but the return to dry weather by tuesday. though more rain later other than sooner on 00:28:34,059 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 christmas day.