out a potential organised crime element. of dollars this is bbc news, the headlines: the australian prime minister scott morrison has cut short a family holiday in hawaii after he'd been heavily criticised for leaving the country in hello and welcome to bbc news. the middle of a bushfire emergency. fires are burning across three i'm maryam moshiri. states and are expected to get worse. the australian prime minister, the death toll from a storm scott morrison, has acknowledged that battered spain, public anger at his decision to go portugal and france has risen to eight people, on holiday while his country faces with the affected areas a bushfire crisis. bracing for the arrival of more violent weather. a strengthening storm, given the name fabien, is expected to bring downpours mr morrison said if he could go and strong winds to parts back he would have made a different choice. the fires are expected to worsen of western europe. with more hot dry weather expected. tokyo's olympic stadium has gareth barlow reports. officially been opened. this is the remarkable, almost apocalyptic scene facing sixty thousand people were given firefighters tackling australia's a glimpse of how the 2020 opening ceremony might look, with traditional drummers deadly and devastating wildfires. and a parade of dancers in vivid colours. the first sporting event to be held fire chiefs described at the national stadium will be

the emperor's cup soccer saturday as an awful day. final on new years day. as thousands of personnel tackle raging infernos, the country's prime minister, scott morrison, has been heavily now on bbc news, it's criticised for being on holiday the clickmas special with bags in hawaii, of seasonal tech fun. but the pm has cut we hear from tim peake on the year short his trip to return home. in space and pitch man against robot i get it that people would have been to see who's the fastest driver upset to know that i was holidaying around an f1 circuit. with my family while their families were under great stress. they know that i am not ohohoh merry clickmas! going to stand there and hold a hose, iam not anyway, this festive a trained firefighter. week we have cars, dogs, i'm conforted by the fact that astronauts, and lots australians would like me to be herejust simply so i can be here. an areas the size of belgium has and lots of singing furbies. been torched by the fires. hundreds of homes have been destroyed and at least ten people killed. two firefighters are among those to have lost their lives. this week has seen record high temperatures repeatedly broken. with australia hotting up, the prime minister says the government would take action on climate change.

there is no argument # oh christmas tree... about the links between, in my view and the government's view, and any government in this # your leaves are so unchanging...# country, about the links between broader issues of global climate change and weather events around the world, but i am sure equally people would acknowledge that the direct connection to any single fire event — it is not a credible suggestion to make that link. so we must take action on climate change, we are taking action on climate change. arson, lightning strikes, even self combusting piles of manure, have been blamed for triggering the blazes. first though, the authorities have to try and take control of the flames before they can try and control the causes to prevent future fires. gareth barlow, bbc news. sixty thousand people have packed into tokyo's new national stadium, to celebrate its opening, ahead of next year's olympics and paralympics. they cheered the retired jamaican sprinter usain bolt as he jogged around the track.

mark eames reports. expect a few more drums when they do this for real next year. in just over seven months time, the tokyo olympics get under way and the stadium that will be the centrepiece for the games and also the paralympics has officially been opened. the success of the recent rugby world cup, aided by the host nation's run to the quarter—finals, has given sport injapan a big boost. the stadium, which cost nearly $1.5 billion, will hold 68,000 for the olympics. those lucky enough to get tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies will see more of this nextjuly but on a far bigger scale. if you are celebrating the opening of your olympic stadium you need a highly decorated 0lympian. they don't come much bigger and better than this man, usain bolt certainly knows a thing or two about winning 0lympic titles. the crowd delighted to welcome the eight time

gold—medallist and he was persuaded to take part in a relay race which used the olympic rings instead of batons. even though the jamaican has been out of the spotlight since his retirement he was impressed with the atmosphere. it was a great experience, actually, to be in here in front of so many people. i was happy and excited because i won't be competing at the olympics so the fact i got to run on the track was an experience in itself. the drums, the dancing in the spectacle. japan certainly knows how to put on a good show. stadium hosts its first sporting events, on new year's day. the first athletics comes in may with the test event for the games themselves. mark eames, bbc news 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. and you can find more on all of our stories on our website, just go to bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. let's get more now on our main story, the devastating wildfires in australia. the bbc‘s shaimaa khalil is in hill top, new south wales, she told me the latest. the weather has changed quite a bit here. temperatures have dropped but we're still getting quite a bit of smoke and haze. firefighters have gone out to do damage assessments in the worst—hit areas. here in hill top most homes were spared, but many people have been evacuated, we met them as they were on their way to shelters. the village next door has been quite devastated. even though the weather has changed and temperatures have dropped, firefighters are telling us it's still very dangerous for anybody to go there. many roads have been blocked.

the reason for that is because the fires have been so devastating in these areas, there is a large number of trees that have been burned, and they are at a great risk of falling on either houses or cars, so people are not permitted in or out. those who are still in these areas, in their homes, have been told to stay indoors. so movement in those villages and in those areas that have been devastated by fires is quite limited. but now it's teams that are on the ground, firefighting teams and police investigators, who are looking to assess the damage to make sure everybody is accounted for and to essentially see how many homes have been destroyed. we are told there are smaller pockets of fire but not nearly as big as they were yesterday. and the problem is for so many of the firefighters, isn't it, is not only the number of fires but also the sheer size of some of these fires as well? do you know, it's interesting, i was just speaking to the division commander in this fire station, and he said something quite telling.

he said "we no longer use the word control." we can no longer control the fires. we can manipulate them to move into areas which are not densely populated, to limit the damage. that is how huge these fires are, how spread out they are, but also how unpredictable they are. he said wind changes are not ourfriend, and wind changes is what has been happening here. the problem with the wind changing is that it changes the behaviour of fires, small fires can merge with bigger ones and turn into fires that are very hard to control. it's also hard to know where it's going to hit next, and how big it will have to be to prioritise resources. that is why it has been quite challenging for firefighters. it's the fact that so many of the conditions that determine the size of these fires are not really in anybody‘s control, because are controlled by the weather. the prime minister has defended the decision to approve a £4 billion takeover of the british defence company, cobham, by an american

private equity firm. speaking as he visited british troops in estonia, borisjohnson said he was satisfied the deal didn't raise national security issues. the company employs 10,000 people here in the uk. lady nadine cobham, from the family which set up the company, is among those strongly criticising the decision. she called the takeover "deeply disappointing". 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 in dorset. 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 in estonia, defended last night's decision. a lot of checks have been gone

through to make sure that in that particular case, all the security issues that might be raised can be satisfied. 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 founder's daughter—in—law is 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 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 keep sensitive government information protected, honour the terms of existing contracts and tell the government if it plans to sell the business. but critics say the sale is a mistake. this is an amazing british company. it is a world leading british company that has very important, nationally sensitive contracts with the ministry of defence. yet it has taken just a week after the election for the conservatives to sell out to donald trump. the government says that 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. katie prescott, bbc news. let's look at some other stories in brief: the cuban president has appointed the country's first prime minister in more than forty years —

the tourism minister, manuel marrero cruz. the post of prime minister was scrapped by the late leader of the cuban revolution, fidel castro, in 1976. it has now been reinstated and awarded to mr marrero, who has overseen a major boost in tourism to the island over the past 16years. the american secretary of state, mike pompeo, has condemned russia and china for blocking a un resolution that would have kept humanitarian aid flowing to millions of syrians. the resolution would have extended an arrangement that by—passes the government in damascus. the groundbreaking model and activist, mama cax, has died at the age of 30. the haitian—american model died on monday after falling ill on a trip to london, herfamily said. she lost her leg to lung and bone cancer as a teenager, and was a powerful advocate for women of colour and disabled women in fashion. french president emmanuel macron has called colonialism

"a grave mistake" on a visit to west africa. speaking in the ivory coast, a former french colony, he said it was time to turn the page on the past. andy beatt has more. a whistlestop tour of west africa and president macron keen to break with france's colonial past. meeting stu d e nts with france's colonial past. meeting students in the ivory coast man city. translation: too often today france is viewed as having a overly aggressive view and the trappings of colonialism. it was a grave mistake and a fault of the republic. comments welcomed across africa but likely to prove more controversial at home. two years ago, mr mccrone

created a storm calling france's colonisation of nigeria a crime against humanity. —— mr emmanuel macron. but france's influence in the region remains a strong, visiting french troops and vowing to step up the fight against islamist terrorists. if we let the threat flourish it will impact us as well. in operation by french forces in neighbouring mali left dozens of jihadist fighters dead. while critics question france's continuing military role, economic ties forged after the second world war are loosening. the president and his counterpart announcing a common west african currency to replace a colonial era one. translation: this

is an historic day for our country and the whole of west africa. this reform represents a big step in at —— our determination for prosperity. it is hoped eight countries will use the new currency as soon as the stash soon. the rebranding of franco african relations taking three days. it will take much longer to see how successful he has been. andy beatt, bbc news. detectives are linking a fatal stabbing in hertfordshire and the discovery of a man's body in a car in london. a 30—year—old man was found with stab wounds in the boot of a car in barnet, in north london on thursday evening. he died a short time later. a 35—year—old man was also discovered with stab wounds in elstree in hertfordshire on friday and was pronounced dead at the scene. police say they believe both victims

are eastern european and cannot rule out a potential organised crime element. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the australian prime minister cuts short his holiday as devastating bushfires continue to rage across three states. martin peters, one of the all—time greats of english football, and one of the goal scorers in the world cup—winning side of 1966, has died at the age of 76. peters won 67 caps for england and made over 700 appearances for clubs throughout his career. west ham, the club he first joined as a 15—year—old, said he passed away peacefully after "a long and courageous battle with illness". our sports correspondent natalie pirks reports. with all eyes on hurst, the danger from martin peters went unnoticed. commentator: and a chance on goal!

peters! little wonder they called him "the ghost." there's martin peters, the man who scored the goal which could well win the world cup for england. it didn't, of course. geoff hurst claimed that accolade. but though many called peters' strike the forgotten goal, he had a different take. if i hadn't scored, we would have lost 2—1. so, yeah, it was an important goal because of the situation. his journey to world cup greatness had begun seven years earlier. instead of following in his father's footsteps to become a lightmerman on the river thames, west ham came calling. he made his debut for the hammers in 1962 and won the european cup winners' cup in ‘65. sir alf ramsey said his style and ability was ten years ahead of his time, yet, amazingly, he didn't receive his first cap for england until the may of 1966.

peters has scored! by 1970 his legend at west ham was secure. he left for spurs in a deal that made him britain's first £200,000 midfielder. oh, what a beautiful goal! what a glorious header that was from martin peters! with tottenham, he went on to win the league cup twice, the uefa cup, and he became club captain. he lived and breathed football. his family said they would find him practising headers in his sleep. but there are fears heading the ball helped cause his disease. like some of his former team—mates, he had been suffering with alzheimer's. in the last few years he had withdrawn from public appearances. dementia had robbed him of many of his most precious memories. but he remained one of only two englishmen to ever know the joy of scoring in a world cup final. the emotion wasjust like being struck with lightning. it was just unbelievable. hurst's hat—trick may have made history and bobby moore may have lifted the trophy, but peters also

left his indelible mark on footballing history. president trump has claimed the united states and china will very shortly sign the first part of their trade pact. it was announced earlier this month, in a bid to end the tit—for—tat trade war between the world's largest economies. under the deal, the united states would agree to reduce some tariffs in exchange for an increase in chinese purchases of american farm products. we also took the toughest ever action against china. and as a result, we just achieved a breakthrough on the trade deal, and we'll be signing it very shortly, they are already buying billions and billions of dollars of products, agricultural products. the trump administration has overturned the phasing out of old —fashioned, incandescent light bulbs in the us. it says replacement energy efficient bulbs would be too costly to consumers. the regulation was to come into effect next year.

16 states including new york and california have challenged the move, saying it would harm state efforts to reduce emissions. back to our main story and those bushfires devastating parts of australia. david bowman is professor of fire science at the university of tasmania. he gave us his opinion on whether the fires are being tackled in the right way. ‘s in the immediate term, yes, because there's no choice now. this isa because there's no choice now. this is a historically significant fire crisis and, basically, theyjust have to use whatever resources they've got and hope that eventually they've got and hope that eventually the rain will come to stem this. but all of the indications are that this event is going to continue for at least another month, possibly longer and it's important to stress that

it's not just new and it's important to stress that it's notjust new south wales that is being impacted by the fires, there are fires in south australia, victoria, western australia, and indeed tasmania, as well as in southern queensland. it has been going on since october. it probably will continue right through to the end of february. what did you think needs to change in the way that australia confronts these types of fires? because clearly they are getting a lot worse, aren't they? that's right. it has been said that the best way to fight a bushfire is to fight it five years in advance. and what that means is you have got to do and what that means is you have got todoa and what that means is you have got to do a lot of preparation, both in the housing stock to make the houses less prone to being burned down, better garden design, and then a better garden design, and then a better interface with the bushland to reduce the fire hazard in the

bushland by using various techniques, including burning the fuels under controlled conditions, mechanical removal, and then, in some cases, using herbivores to eat grass and other combustible vegetation. so there's a big programme ahead of us, i think, to really get on top of fire preparedness and that we can'tjust continue expecting to be able to manage these fire crises with just these incredibly amazing efforts of firefighters, particularly volunteer firefighters, particularly volunteer firefighters, who are putting themselves in grave danger. there has already been loss of life of firefighters. we can't expect that to bea firefighters. we can't expect that to be a norm. we have to do something different. and what you think australia can learn from, for example, other countries that suffer similar bushfires and forest fires?

well, my concern is that we are going to go down the american path of industrialising firefighting and there is a very good need for industrial firefighting and specialised aircraft and so on, but thatis, specialised aircraft and so on, but that is, it's only one part of a broader strategy. we have to see really significant reform and investment in our firefighting capacity and building up the capacity, particularly in the community and individual landowners, we really need to empower them so they have at a situational awareness, better resources so they can make better judgements awareness, better resources so they can make betterjudgements into the lead up into the fire seasons and then a fire crisis, like the one thatis then a fire crisis, like the one that is unfolding. the worst thing we can do is simply invest in more kit. it has to at least be a 2—pronged strategy. investment in specialised firefighting, but also

investment in preparing the community to withstand these relentless fires. in the majority of christian countries, a real christmas tree is one of the most important items to have at this time of year, but while they may look great for the big day, come twelfth night they tend to look a bit sorry for themselves. for the eco conscious, having to throw them away seems rather wasteful. now a business in the united kingdom has come up with an environmentally friendly way to have a real tree. joe campbell has more. for those who love a real christmas tree, it is the burning question — what to do with it once the festive season is over? remember to give your tree a mug of water. well as long as customers take care of the trees from here, they can send them back in the new year. have a fabulous christmas and we will see you... and if you want, you can have it to stay again for christmas 2020. and 21, 22, 23... for me, the fact that you own a tree that goes back into the ground is amazing.

they look after it for you for the entire year so, the fact that there is zero from an eco point of view it seems like the best decision to make, really. the trees are contained in pots to protect their roots. there will come a time when they are going to get pot bound, and need to be repotted but we will do that as part of the maintenance throughout the year. so the window that we want it to go into is like a bay window. for mum claire ramage, the idea of sharing christmas with the same tree year after year has a particular appeal. she picks one out to take home and decorate with her daughter. it's one of those things that every year when we get the tree we're going to see that growth and it's almost like the tree is growing with her. so that's quite a magical thing, that we can see that happening. and if you want a christmas tree you can use again and again,

well it's pretty much the only option unless of course you opt for one like this — which goes back in the box, and back in the loft pretty much as soon as the last mince pie has been eaten. joe campbell with that report. 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 itself is the world's deepest, but the tree is a mere three metres below the surface.

going to freezing from very wet weather. the weather now with helen willetts. hello. fog is again a concern throughout the rest of the night and into sunday morning, lingering for some all morning. and the flood warnings are numerous across england and wales with weather warnings out that you can get on the website and it has been so wet this december as the rain makes its way into the river systems we expect those flood warnings to increase. certainly spray and standing water. look at this area of cloud. that heavy rain easing away through sunday. but this area of low pressure to the north—west still driving in showers. it is likely we will have fog issues as i said earlier, particularly northern ireland, but some of the south as well around this area of rain and ice on the north because temperatures are below freezing here. fog could be just about anywhere. the rain really drags its heels in clearing and once it clears away, brighter spells to come through, sunshine once the fog lifts and there will be a scattering

of showers around that risk westerly wind continuing in the south taking the edge of this temperature here. decent spells of sunshine around through the second half of sunday. however, as we go through sunday night, it will continue to blow this westerly wind in, that area of low pressure close by so nothing too mild over the christmas period and nothing too chilly either. but with the westerly wind the showers continue. as i mentioned, we will see many of them gathering across northern ireland and scotland and a wintry element to them, hail and wonder through the day ahead in the showers and certainly so through the night and into monday. that continuation of heavy showers, particularly in the north. the south will he's off ahead of that next area of rain. the timing on that are still uncertain but likely to come in, we think, through monday night and into tuesday. so that gives us another period, wet period of 5—10, possibly 15 millimetres of rain. again on the saturated ground, nowhere else for it to go. further north, fog with lighter wind as well and it mayjust linger on christmas eve, that tailback of cloud and patchy rain but we are hopeful it will be a decent day for christmas eve with a lot of dry weather to be found as well.

not especially warm. as we get into christmas day, the next area of low pressure starts to wind itself up and later in the day and into boxing day it could potentially bring more rain, hill snow and strong wind as well. 00:28:11,158 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 stay tuned.