good afternoon. the mayor of sydney has said the city 5 famous new years eve fireworks display will go ahead, despite a call for the event to be cancelled because of the bushfire crisis affecting parts of australia. more than a quarter of a million people have signed a petition urging the authorities to spend the money on fighting the fires instead. more than 80 fires are still raging across large areas of new south wales. a warning that this report — from phil mercer, in sydney — contains flashing images.

it's arguably the world's most dazzling fireworks display, but thousands of people want sydney to scrap its new year's eve spectacular. they say it would be an insult and could traumatise some of those affected by the bushfire crisis. sydney's lord mayor, clover moore, said she shared the deep sympathies of those who'd signed the petition, but stressed that the fireworks were planned months in advance and most of the budget had already been spent. so, barring catastrophic fire conditions in sydney on new year's eve, the event seems certain to go ahead. in—between now and then, the authorities are warning of severe—to—extreme fire dangers across much of south—eastern australia, much of the heavily populated parts of australia. that includes south australia, victoria, tasmania and new south wales, where more than 80 fires continue to burn.

volunteers are a vital part of the emergency effort. many have been fighting the flames for weeks. the government says they'll be able to apply for about £3,000 in compensation — for taking time off work to battle the blazes. good morning, ladies and gentlemen. this is a very prolonged fire season. this is putting additional demands on ourfirefighters in particular, and it means that the turnouts and the callouts have been far more extensive than in previous years, going well and beyond and above what is normally expected of those who are engaged in volunteer service. the money and the gesture from the government are broadly welcomed by the volunteers on the front line. it's tough. the payment isjust a recognition of what we're doing. it doesn't compensate us for what we're losing, but it's recognition. when your brigade is tired and exhausted and you're seeing

people going out again and again and again, and you're doing 12—hour shifts and it's really strenuous, hard work, you really do feel like you want to be helping, and you really do feel like you're obliged to do that. so, like, for me, it means i use my annual leave. their work is far from over. dangerous fire conditions and extreme heat are forecast for south—eastern australia from tomorrow. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. two people are in a critical condition in hospital in new york state after a man, wielding a machete, attacked people attending hanukkah celebrations. three others are also being treated for stab wounds. eyewitnesses said the attacker entered the home of a rabbi in monsey, with his face covered, and then began stabbing people. leigh milner has this report. it was supposed to be a night of celebration at this

rabbi's house in monsey, just north of new york city. then this happened. someone came in, face covered with a scarf, started stabbing people. five people in total were stabbed. two of them were taken from the scene in critical condition, including one of them, a senior, in a very critical condition. according to the 0rthodoxjewish public affairs council, one of the victims was stabbed at least six times. it comes just a day after new york city police said officers were stepping up patrols in heavily jewish districts like monsey, after a spate of anti—semitic threats and attacks. we were scared, but we were not surprised, because this is not the first incident in new york. this is not the first incident in rockland county. it's horrible. you know, my parents were survivors of the concentration camps and they told me how fearful it was to be jews and they always

said, we can't let it happen again, but i'm scared that it's happening again. shortly after the attack, the suspect fled, but was later taken into custody by the police. his motive is not yet clear. leigh milner, bbc news. the information commissioner is contacting all those named in the new year's honours list, after their home addresses and contact details were accidentally published online. the cabinet office has apologised and referred the data breach to the regulator. well, the list included the addresses of politicians, military figures and counter—terrorism officials, as well as celebrities such as sir eltonjohn. with me now is our correspondent, katy austin. huge embarrassing —— hugely embarrassing for the government, what has been a response to this? well, the reaction to it has reflected the seriousness of the incident. for example, the addresses of senior policing figures in the wrong hands does pose a security risk. now, the former tory party leader ian duncan smith, who was

knighted, has called this a complete disaster and said very serious questions needed asking. and among those calling for an independent police inquiry is the former civil service chief lord kerslake who express shock, particularly because the onus is such a well established process. the cabinet office has apologised for the error, it says the list was taken down as soon as possible and everyone is being contacted. although former taekwondo starjadejones told the bbc last night she had not been contacted yet. there are new stronger data protection laws in place at the moment and we know the information regulator is going to be making inquiries. but whatever it concludes, this whole incidentjust raises questions as to how, at a time when the importance of data protection is ever more in people's awareness, something like this can happen in the first place, even if the information was only up for a short time. yes, 0k, thank you very much indeed. cctv footage, which appears to show

a missing firefighter on the night he disappeared, has been released by police. 33—year—old anthony knott went missing during a work night out in lewes, in east sussex, on the 20th of december. sussex police are hoping the footage — which shows his distinctive walk — may help them to track his movements before he disappeared. sport now, and andy murray says he's "gutted", after being forced to pull out of next month's australian open because of a pelvic injury. the former world number one had hoped to compete in his first grand slam singles event since the same tournament 12 months ago, when he announced his career might be over. since then, he's undergone hip surgery and returned to competitive singles competition in august. england's cricketers have lost their first test against south africa in centurion.

they were chasing a target of 376, but they were bowled out for 268. craig templeton reports any year of special moments for england's cricketers, could they squeeze in one more before we move onto the next? 376 runs will be england's highest ever successful run chase. joe denly set about putting a in it. the man that south africa really wanted was rory burns. they were not too far away from getting him. his innings yesterday had given england a chance, but with a swipe and a grab, he was out. no century in century on, but still a valuable 8a. like a lot of his team, joe root has been struggling with illness. here, he worked on the road to recovery. but he was about to lose hisjoe. joe to recovery. but he was about to lose his joe. joe denly to recovery. but he was about to lose hisjoe. joe denly lbw by dwayne pretorius. that meant the arrival of the hero of headingley, ben stokes. what was still left in the tank? it turned out to be themes. reactions of the south

africans and of stokes show how crucial this could be. becausejonny ba i rstow crucial this could be. becausejonny bairstow was about to follow and it was starting to feel like south africa's test match. joe root had been providing assistance, but his dismissal only made that feeling stronger. with the captain gunn, england's lower order was exposed and the result is now inevitable. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 5:30. bye for now. you're watching the bbc

news channel with, it's 1.10. let's get more now on how over a quarter of a million people have signed a petition demanding that sydney cancels its traditional new year's eve firework display — and spends the money on tackling australia's bush fires instead. i spoke to the women behind the petition — linda mccormick. she told me why she started it and was critical of the lord mayor of sydney clover moorse. it is the most iconic fireworks in the world and we are the first to see it. ijust feel it's a sign of respect, they have to have some respect for the people of australia that are really suffering. it's not ideal to send more smoke into the air. i am really getting angry.

clover moore. i understand money has been spent 15 months prior to planning this, so just have some respect for the people who are suffering. you don't have a heart, as far as i'm concerned. you have only got to cancel these fireworks if it is not safe to do so because we will have 35—40 degree temperatures throughout new south wales. i live in north queensland, but have a heart. that's a the sign of respect to show that you care about our fellow australians. in your view, this is not about the costs because presumably the money has already spent on the fireworks.

that is correct. let's be world leaders and show a sign of respect for fellow australians. there is so much more technology these days and you could have laser lighting or do all sorts of different things to celebrate new year's eve and the coming year ahead. we don't need to send more smoke up in the air. the organiser of the petition calling for the sydney fireworks display to be called off. let's turn back to the calls for an independent inquiry after a data breach — which saw the addresses of more than 1000 people on the new year honours list made publicly available online. i spoke to the former head of the civil service, lord bob kerslake, and i asked him what his reaction was, when he first heard about this data breach. i was very shocked.

it is a serious breach and that deserves to be taken very seriously. i found it quite extraordinary because this is such a well established process, it happens regularly of course and there are well—recognised processes for handling it so for this to have happened is quite extraordinary. and it does need careful examination notjust as to who was responsible and how it happened but how were staff properly trained, and were there proper understandings of the expectations on this? it is crucial to the whole honours process that personal data is handled sensitively and clearly something has gone seriously wrong like here. seriously wrong here. iain duncan smith described it as a disaster. how dangerous could this be in terms of all the celebrities and politicians whose addresses have been made public?

it's not good for anybody‘s personal details to be released in this way but there were, included in that list, police and security personnel where there are potentially serious ramifications and i'm sure they are being looked at now in considerable detail. but that is a significant issue in its own right so it's not just the famous people, it is people that won't be known and shouldn't be known truthfully. what do you think could have gone wrong? including not very well trained staff, this is something that does happen every year, you would say it's a pretty well oiled machine when it comes to the new year's honours. it certainly was in my experience a very effective team, a small team that handled the work with great professionalism so it's important we must not condemn everybody in this process. it looks like a human error.

someone has posted more information than they should have done ahead of the announcements and that's something we can see. what we cannot see as to what extent was it properly checked and were staff trained and how much were they aware of the consequences of data breaches? which are now very serious following the european regulations that have been implemented in this country. the cost can be significant here. lord kerslake, former head of the civil service. cbs correspondent marc liverman has filed this report. 0n the attack in new york state in which a number ofjewish people have been stabbed at the house of a rabbi in monsey in new york state and

local officials talking about a concerning rising anti—semitism. of hanukkah and end of shabbat, the end of thejewish sabbath. it is hard to fathom what they were going through when a man came through the door and started stabbing people with a machete. what we have seen since early this morning are people out in the front lawn area here holding and comforting each other as they try to make sense of how this happened. we were scared but not surprised because this is not the first incident in new york or rockland county. it is horrible. my parents were survivors of the concentration camps and they told me how fearful it was to be jews. they said we can't let it happen again but i am scared it is happening again. word is coming out this happened

in a house of worship, it's extremely troubling and it is what the principles of our country are founded on, you can practice your religion, worship freely, that cannot be jeopardised or intimidated. that is why we have to be in one collective voice saying enough is enough, we have to take action. we are still working on trying to get an update of the condition of those five victims. yossi gestetner of the orthodox jewish public affairs council was on the scene shortly after the incident happened and told me how events unfolded. last night at about 9.50 local time there was a hanukkah celebration at the house, the home of a rabbi, with about 50 guests. suddenly someone with a masked face, probably covered by a scarf, came in with a machete or butcher knife and started stabbing people indiscriminately. there was obviously

big chaos and mayhem. people rushed in from the scene. he ran outside towards the synagogue which is next door and his vehicle was parked basically in front of the synagogue. he got into the vehicle and took off but not before someone who was in the house had in mind to chase him and look at the plates and the plate number was given to law enforcement, they sent it out to the whole region and in less than two hours the new york city police department arrested this person and local detectives went to new york city to pick him up. and the police department actually towed back to vehicle from the city back to rockland county, 30 miles north of new york city. we gather five people were stabbed. is this in your view part of a pattern of anti—semitic attacks in new york state?

it is certainly an attack which is a targeted attack. and i guess law enforcement will need to decide the exact classification. but if someone, let's say for example someone goes into a congregation of a mosque or a church and wants to settle a score with someone, let's say, and then decides to indiscriminately stab other people, that makes it a quintessential bigoted attack. we've been hearing from the mayor of new york saying we will not allow this to become the new normal. we will use every tool we have to stop these attacks once and for all. do you welcome that kind of response from the authorities?

obviously it is important for your viewers to understand that new york city, the way it works in the united states, you have the 50 states, and within each state you have counties, within each county towns, within towns and villages and hamlets. monsey is a small hamlet. it is not new york city. 30 miles north. there has been a fair share of attacks on 0rthodox jews in new york city. when the mayor says it can't be the new normal, it is also about concrete steps. iran has said a british—australian woman — who's reported to have gone on hunger strike in prison — must serve her sentence. kylie moore—gilbert, who was jailed for spying,

is being held in the same prison as the british—iranian woman nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and two french academics. police in london are investigating a racially motivated hate crime in the hampstead area during the jewish festival of hannukah. it follows the appearance of offensive graffiti in a number and shop fronts. the images include a reference to 9/11 and an anti—semitic conspiracy theory over the new york attack. the conservative councillor for hampstead, 0liver cooper, said he was sickened to find such anti—semitism in his neighbourhood. no arrests have been made. boats carrying 31 migrants — have been picked up as they attempted to cross the english channel. two have been taken by french authorities to france and the british border force intercepted a third. all of those found — including a pregnant woman are thought to be in a safe condition.

the scottish author and artist alasdair gray has died, aged 85, following a short illness. a graduate of the glasgow school of art, his murals feature in many public buildings in glasgow while his debut book, lanark, has been described as one of the masterpieces of 20th century fiction. first minister of scotland nicola sturgeon paid tribute to him as one of scotland's literary giants. this month's general election saw 12 new women being elected as mps. while it might appear that there are more females in parliament, it's still nowhere near an equal 50—50. if the figure rises at the same rate at each election, it will take decades to get as many women in parliament as there are men. but there's a movement that's already trying to change that. i've been speaking to dolly theis who is a co—founder of the 50:50

campaign called #ask her to stand, and wendy chamberlain from fife. she's one of seven women who joined the campaign and was elected as an lib dem mp earlier this month. she's also the first women to be elected to represent the constituency of north east fife. they both explained the importance of the campaign. we were set up as a petition really to spark a debate in parliament and then we realised it would take far too long for us to achieve the 100,000 we needed to get that petition to spark the debate. so we started the ask her to stand campaign to really go out ourselves to inspire, encourage and actively support women to stand for parliament. for us, it is about drawing on the widest possible pool of women and really make parliament representative, which as an institution it is supposed to be. wendy, let me turn to you. as a newly elected mp, how important do you think it is for there to be more women in parliament? and at least 50—50 ? i think we need to think about diversity across the piece and gender isjust one part of that.

if we can't get to 50—50 on gender, which is one of the most obvious diversity statistics, we are failing as a society. and from a political perspective, we absolutely need to look like and sound like the communities that we wish to represent. as i was saying there to dolly, we've seen women leaving parliament because of the way they have been treated on social media amongst other things. are you nervous about that? are you apprehensive about that? i wouldn't say i was nervous about it. i was a police officer for 12 years so i have been in circumstances where i have dealt with poor behaviours. it is something i am conscious of, i am a parent as well. i do believe that we have to stand up, we want to make sure that our voices are heard. i am sorry to have seen many well qualified and committed women leaving parliament but it is encouraging that we have increased our numbers overall, albeit, as dolly said, not by the increase we would like to see.

but we need to keep doing that, we need to keep encouraging women to stand accordingly. talking about social media, dolly, do you think it is not only about getting more women to stand, but also about treating our representatives, whether mps or councillors or whatever, better, and in a different way? yes. we work actually with other organisations like thejo cox foundation to address those problems as well. and it is about us showing that women can support women and it can be a wonderful place to be. and we have plenty of stories of it being positive. but really our big message is anyone out there listening who is a woman who could stand, and we really mean that, from whatever background, because that is the point. it is supposed to be representative. you don't have to know everything about politics, your experience is valuable. we want women to feel like they can stand and they can go on to the website and sign up or you can ask a wonderful woman you know to stand and can actually nominate them on the website

as well, hence our hashtag the ask her to stand hashtag. we want everyone to be thinking about, who do they know around them that they can inspire? the debate about how to get more women into parliament. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's jane dougall. england have lost the first test against south africa by 107 runs. they had a target of 376 to win on the fourth day but suffered a middle order collapse. it had looked promising with rory burns top scoring with 84 before he fell to anrich nortje in the morning session. ben stokes, who's been england's saviour a few times before couldn't do it today — gone forjust 1a — bowled by keshav maharaj. and joe root went for 48. anrich nortje with his second wicket of the day. rootjust edged it and quinton de cock was there.

a loss for england in the first test. it's half—time in the old firm derby in the scottish premiership and — as expected — it's been explosive. if celtic win they'll go eight points clear. rangers desperate for three points to bring them within reach of their bitter rivals. it's 1-1. after 36 minutes ryan kent put rangers 1—0 up with a volley from just inside the box. but it hadn't been going rangers way up till then. celtic were awarded a penalty but ryan christie's shot was saved by the rangers keeper allan mcgregor. not long after that steven davis had to make a clearance off the line. but then just before half—time celtic equalised through a callum mcgregor strike which deflected into the net off 0dsonne edouard. replays showing it hit his hand. no var in scotland. david moyes is meeting with west ham today and is said to be almost

certain to take over after the club sacked manager manuel pellegrini. west ham are just above the relegation zone following their defeat at home to leicester city. pelligrini's dismissal ends a turbulent 18 months at the london stadium as patrick gearey reports. long before the statement was published, you could see this decision coming. you could hear it in the boos, as west ham lost their ninth match in 12. by evening, manuel pellegrini's departure was announced. this black—and—white fate came courtesy of a man named gray. commentator: it's demarai gray! 2—1 leicester! the winner for leicester left west ham just one point above the bottom three. the prospect of playing second—tier football in the former olympic stadium unthinkable for the owners. they planned so much more when they hired manuel pellegrini, who won the premier league with manchester city in 2014. he spent big on the likes

of felipe anderson and led the hammers to tenth in the table last season. but after a promising start, the bubble burst by late autumn. speaking yesterday, he acknowledged the fans had reasons not to be cheerful. they deserve a better performance. we are trying to find which is the way to do it. i think that the players want to do it, but i repeat the pressure and the lack of confidence and the lack of results is difficult. it's the time of year for taking stock of where you are and where you're going. as well as soul—searching, west ham will be looking for a new guide. so as we mentioned david moyes looks set to take over at west ham but where did it all go wrong for pellegrini? here's the bbc match of the day analyst danny murphy. lack of energy and fitness, either the fitness regime at the club or

lack of belief in the manager. plenty of ability in the squad but the performance i saw today was a group of players not playing for the manager. they have lost more points from winning positions than any other team, and that is not acceptable. the busy festive schedule continues today with a london derby at 2 o'clock. arsenal — who are 12th — host 11th place chelsea. liverpool — who are ten points clear at the top of the table are at home to wolves at 11.30, while defending champions manchester city host sheffield united at six. three—time grand slam winner andy murray is out of next month's australian open. he had only recently returned from almost two years of hip problems, and then a pelvic injury troubled him towards the end of the season. although murray is back on court, he's decided not