this is bbc news, i'm joanna gosling. the headlines at 12: a 19—year—old british woman is found guilty of lying after she told cyprus police she had been gang-raped by 12 israelis. her lawyer is planning an appeal. there was supporting evidence, we say, which goes to show that she was actually telling the truth. and it's very worrying for a court to rely upon a retraction statement. the world will face irreversible heating unless firms shift their priorities soon — a warning from the outgoing bank of england governor. i would say we're in a climate crisis, just like a financial crisis. i think what's essential on this topic, on climate change, is that we have a cross—party, nonpartisan approach to it. too late to evacuate. thousands risk being cut off

as scores of fires burn out of control across australia. a heatwave sees temperatures exceed a0 degrees in every state. the search continues for father of four and firefighter anthony knott — who's now been missing for 10 days. join us in half an hour to look back at the year that was in the world of brexit. a court in cyprus has convicted a british teenager of falsely claiming she was raped by a group of israeli tourists six months ago. the 19—year—old said she had been attacked in a hotel in ayia napa. she was arrested after police said she withdrew her accusation.

earlier we heard from our europe correspondent, kevin connolly. he explained the background to thejudgment. this revolves around a judgment on this young woman as a witness. the districtjudge in famagusta michalis papathanasiou has said that he has found her to be an unreliable witness and that in retracting her allegation of rape, she was effectively, in so doing, admitting that she had made up the allegation in the first place. so the whole affair revolves around the disputed circumstances of a night in a hotel room in cyprus in july. this young woman was having a holiday romance with one israeli. she says she was gang raped by a group of his friends. they have always denied that. after they were released, she was questioned. the police say she changed her story, and it is that change in the story which lies at the heart of today's conviction under

the cypriot charge of public mischief, which is in effect falsifying a legal claim. so no sentence today, but a criminal conviction and a long appeals process to follow, i think. her lawyers are going to focus on the human rights aspect of this case, which is not so much about the disputed events in that hotel room, but how the woman was handled by the police and criminaljustice system in cyprus afterwards. they are going to say she was questioned without a lawyer being present to represent her, that she was questioned for a long period of time, she was hungry, traumatised, tired and distressed. and it is in those circumstances, and because of all of that, that she changed her story. they will also argue that retracting an allegation is not the same as fabricating a charge. so they are going to explore all of that. they have said it may go as far as the european court of human rights ultimately.

today is certainly not the end of the road. michael polak is a lawyer who specialises in helping people caught up in legal difficulties while abroad. he's been working with the teenager during the case and said that they intend to appeal. it's a very worrying conviction for a number of reasons. it should be noted that none of the israeli youths were brought to court to give evidence about what happened in the hotel room that night. so what the court was left with was the evidence of the teenager about what happened. we say there was supporting evidence which shows that she was actually telling the truth. it is very worrying for a court to rely upon a retraction statement given after more than seven hours in a police station without any legal representation and without any interpretation from somebody who was suffering from ptsd. we have brought expert evidence from dr christine tizzard, a well—known psychologist in ptsd,

who said the teenager was suffering from ptsd and that people suffering with ptsd can make retraction statements just to get themselves out of the situation in which they find themselves. and it is ordinary and normal for them to do so. so you are planning an appeal on what basis? are you saying the trial wasn't correctly performed? well, there are a number of reasons for appealing the decision. that includes how the judge approached the evidence in the case. a number of times through the hearing in the trial transcript, he refused to hear evidence which went to whether a rape took place. he would say, "this is not abouta rape, iam not hearing a rape case, i'm not interested in that evidence". but to be guilty of public mischief, it has to be an imaginary offence. so it is clear to everybody that one of the elements must be that she wasn't telling the truth about the rape.

so we say that approach in itself means that she didn't have a fair trial because he had closed his mind to whether the rape had taken place. there are also other issues with regard to relying on a retraction statement when no lawyer was present. we say that is an important breach of both european union law, european union human rights law, and also the cypriot constitution. as her lawyer, what would you say was behind that retraction, then? well, she was taken into the station on a day when the female police officer who she had been dealing with wasn't available. and we say that wasn't by chance. she was taken by two male police officers to the police station and was told she couldn't leave. there are snapchat messages she sent to her friends saying, "they say they are going to arrest all of you. they say i'm not entitled to a lawyer here, i can have a lawyer in england, but not in cyprus. they say if i retract my statement,

they will let me go home. if i don't, the next time i see my mother i will be in the courtroom". so there was an enormous amount of pressure placed upon her to make that retraction statement. here's the thing. nothing in the police station in cyprus was recorded, and it is hard to believe a modern country in the european union doesn't record anything which happens in the police station. it's a choice cyprus has made not to record things in the police station. there's no audio recording or visual recording. so it means whatever happens in the police station can't be looked into by a court properly. i think her family spent time with her over christmas. she gets sentenced on the 7th of january. she could be going to prison. it's possible that she could go to prison. she spent four and a half months in nicosia prison in a shared cell, which is a very difficult situation for a teenager to be in. we hope that any prison sentence will be suspended, but we're not sure what the court will do.

the outgoing governor of the bank of england, mark carney, has said financial companies are failing to act quickly enough to curb their investment in fossil fuels. in an interview with the today programme on radio 4, he says some financial assets could end up "worthless" if investment firms do not adjust to a zero—carbon economy. mr carney is due to start a new role next year as the un's special envoy for climate action and finance. it's talked about 2020 being a decade of action absolutely necessary on climate change. we want action on the finance side. we want, on that disclosure, companies doing that disclosure. we want that to become the norm. it's important that you and i, people watching, can understand how our money's being invested. is it being invested consistent with the transition path that is the law of the land that is what our citizens want, which is that we're transitioning in a way that will stabilise the climate?

you will spend a lot of 2020 working on the climate as part of your un role in the run—up to the glasgow summit. i wonder why you choose not to use the term "climate emergency". i would say we're in a climate crisis, just like a financial crisis, where action needs to be taken. this is a slow—burn crisis, if you will, so it's more difficult to act because you don't have the public spectacle of a failing bank or queues outside a building society or those types or those types of tangible, the markets moving around, the tangible ways that force action. that's part of the challenge. that's the tragedy of the horizon. you have taken a fair amount of flak in this role on various different fronts, including from mps. i wonder if you think, as you look at this country, whether we have enough truth in our political debate, enough truth in our brexit debate? i think what's essential on this

topic, on climate change, is that we have a cross—party, nonpartisan approach to it, that the science is clear, that the type of transition that we have been talking about, that we get as specific as possible about what's needed. we can't afford, on this one, to have selective information, to have spin, misdirection, misleading. it needs to be absolutely clear, because we are all in on it. i'm also seeing it in the light of other challenges that we have, and i wonder how difficult you think the next stage of brexit might be, trade deals? well, i would like to think that we will turn a page as we move to the next stage. those deals will be developed in the context of a very shifting

global environment for trade. the global trading system is fragmenting. we should be clear about that. because of the us, and china? there's a variety of forces, but the nexus of that is because of that relationship. but it is absolutely broadening. the broadcaster and naturalist sir david attenborough has paid tribute to climate change activist greta thunberg in an interview for radio four‘s today programme. the 16—year—old and 93—year—old spoke to each other via the internet about their worries and fears over lack of action on tackling climate change. speaking to sir david, greta said she was inspired to make a change, by watching his programmes. when i was younger, when i was maybe eight, nine, ten years old, the thing that made me open my eyes to what was happening

with the environment and the climate was films and documentaries about the natural world and what was happening, what was going on. so that has been an eye—opener for me, and that was what made me realise the situation. so thank you for that, because that was what made me decide to do something about it. it's very flattering that you should say that. a lot of people didn't. the trouble is, politicians are just concerned about tomorrow and the day after. and when you say there's this big danger looming in 20 years' time and we have to do something now, they say yes, of course, we'll do it the day after tomorrow. and it's the same even now. here we are in britain, where we've just had a general election,

and you would think that if you think the same way that you and i do, that the most urgent thing is to deal with this problem. was it mentioned in the election? hardly at all. the only reason that it has been mentioned even that much is because of you. you have woken up the world, really. we need to highlight the gap between what the science calls for and what is actually being done. i'm not a scientist, in the sense that i have not devoted much of my life to climate science. what i want to do and what i have been doing all my life is making programmes about animals and natural history, because that's fun and that's what i like doing. and i'm sure you like sitting down watching creatures and natural world. we don't want to spend our time marching on the streets. but we have to, and you have shown great bravery in doing that.

i don't know why people are listening to me. i don't know how long it will last, ijust know that right now people are listening to me and i need to use that opportunity and to try to get out as much as i can during that time. but of course, it is a problem repeating these things over and over again. but that's what you need to do because they are obviously not listening, and you need to repeat it until people get it, until it is being understood. in australia, a volunteer firefighter has died and two others have suffered burns while helping to tackle wildfires in new south wales. in melbourne, bush fires are threatening homes and lives in the northern suburbs. briony sowden has this report.

temperatures above a0 degrees and changes in wind direction are pushing destructive fires towards towns and homes in already dry tinderbox conditions. the victorian authorities are concerned about two bushfires that have merged any popular tourist spot. the blaze is a few kilometres by the only highway into and out of the area and there is fears that can be cut off. it is hot and windy, there are a lot of fires going, i am best off down here until it is all over. we will prefer to be safe. if we got stuck in, it would be a big problem for us. the warm front has pushed mercury levels above a0 across south—eastern australia with fire warnings stretching from west to south australia and into tasmania. the

biggest blazes are raging in new south wales where to mega blazes have now encircled the country's most popular city sydney. in the blue mountains flames up to a0 metres high left a trail of devastation. it had escaped from the fire. thankfully, it wasn't burnt. the bushfires have had catastrophic impact on wildlife and their habitat. some experts estimate up to half a billion animals may have perished in the flames. all four paws are burned. her nose has been burnt. her ears are both burnt. all of that, i'm ok with. i mean, i'm sure she's not ok, but she's on pain meds, but she's ok with it. my biggest concern is the eyes. this eye closest to me, her right eye, looks like it certainly has smoke damage. in new south wales, the warm weather is forecast to peak on new year's eve, with some relief expected on wednesday.

there is controversy over the fact syd ney‘s there is controversy over the fact sydney's iconic new year's eve fireworks will go ahead after the new south wales rural fire service granted organisers and exemption from a total fire ban. our sydney correspondent shaimaa khalil has more. here in the sydney harbour, preparations are well under way for new year's eve celebrations. thousands of tourists have packed the place, getting ready for the events. however, this year it has been particularly controversial. the issue of fireworks in particular, and this is because more than 300,000 people have signed a petition saying this is not the right thing to do. this is not the time, given the bushfire crisis and given the fact that nearly 100 fires are raging across new south wales, with the biggest one surrounding sydney. this as well as temperature is being expected to rise above a0 celsius across new south wales into tuesday, which is new year's eve, and more fires are expected with the worsening conditions. elsewhere in southern australia, specifically in the state of victoria, more than ten emergency

fire warnings have been issued. the area that was under the most threat throughout the day has been the area of east gippsland on the east coast of victoria. we have seen temperatures soar. we have seen the wind grow stronger and change direction and people have been told it is now too late to evacuate the area. this is a popular tourist destination. about 30,000 people have been holidaying in the area. we are expecting temperatures to cool a bit towards the end of the day in victoria but for now, the authorities are saying the danger is not over. the headlines on bbc news... a british teenager is convicted by a cyprus court of falsely claiming she was raped by a group of israeli tourists six months ago. the world will face irreversible heating unless firms shift their priorities soon. that's the warning from the outgoing bank of england governor, mark carney. raging bush fires are burning out of control across australia, with authorities in the state of victoria saying it's now too late

for people to evacuate. temperatures are exceeding a0 degrees in every state. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn. in just a few hours' time, david moyes will hold his first press conference as the new manager of west ham after being appointed yesterday and says he has unfinished business at the club. m oyes ke pt the hammers in the premier league during six months as caretaker manager at the club two years ago. he's replaced manuel pellegrini who was sacked after saturday's home defeat by leicester. since leaving everton for manchester united six years ago moyes has struggled to establish himself at the clubs he has managed. he was sacked after 10 months at united, despite signing a 6 year deal to replace sir alex ferguson. he moved to spain to take change of real sociedad and only lasted for a year. and then returned to england with sunderland in 2016 but resigned

after they were relegated. he then took charge of west ham for the first time on a tempory basis, keeping them in the premier league. despite avoiding relegation, his record at west ham was not great. a win ratio of 29% with only 9 wins in 21 games. west ham are currently in 17th place in the premier league, so he has plenty of work to do. liverpool are 13 points clear at the top of the premier league after their 1—0 win over wolves at anfield yesterday. but once again, var proved a talking point with liverpool's goal initally not given due to a handball, only for that to be overturned by var. wolves also had a goal disallowed, this time for offside. on match of the day 2, ian wright and martin keown gave their thoughts on the technology.

the problem is it is making too many people unhappy, to many people are not happy with what is going on, something has to be done with revealing how we are dealing with off site. var isjust revealing how we are dealing with off site. var is just doing revealing how we are dealing with off site. var isjust doing itsjob. would you take off site out of var? would you take off site out of var? would you take off site out of var? would you prefer to go back to human error and then we all go right, we're not going to hammer them for getting it wrong, that is human error. would you prefer to go back to that? i wouldn't want to go to it. i wouldn't mind. they have overruled 21 goals. we want right from wrong and it is that grey area. you are talking about what we have seen with this wolves won but if you look at the percentage, you realise the guys are doing a pretty good job. i am sure that to be or ramble on during the rest of the season. ——

iam sure on during the rest of the season. —— i am sure that debate will rumble on. after defeat in the first test against south africa, england's cricketers are preparing for the second test in cape town which starts on friday. but the sickness which has affected the camp is still having an impact. here's adam mountford. the opener is the latest player to develop sickness symptoms making 11 members of the squad suffering from illness and six of the staff. it is worrying new cases continue to develop with the cape town test only four days away. chris stokes and jack reacher are out of quarantine whereas other players are said to be improving. route is reported to have no injury issues, he looked to be in pain yesterday. the second test sta rts pain yesterday. the second test starts on friday. michael van gerwen is a step closer to successfully defending his title at the world darts championship. he's through to the semi finals at alexandra palace after beating darius labanauskas 5 sets to 2. van gerwen now faces england's nathan aspinall. peter wright plays gerwyn price in today's other semi.

and after her success at the world championships, fallon sherrock will be the first women play in the world series of darts next year including the us darts masters in new york, that's all the sport for now. there's more on all those stories over on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport plenty of reaction to come with the david moyes press conference to come. police in sussex are into the tenth day of searching for a father of four who disappeared after a night out with friends. firefighter anthony knott hasn't been seen since the 20th of december. his fiance says she feels numb, not knowing what's happened to him. jon ironmonger reports. ten days gone, anthony knott‘s disappearance remains a total mystery. a firefighter with the london fire brigade, the 33—year—old went missing during a work night out in lewes in sussex

on the 20th of december. he'd been to various pubs in the town and was last seen leaving the lamb just after 7pm. he is a family man, he loves hisjob, he loves his friends, he loves his kids. it's christmas. this isn't something that he would intentionally do. he wouldn't want to stay away, so that's why we are extra worried because it's. .. it's just... it'sjust not like him. and we're thinking... we're just thinking the worst. search teams have scoured the nearby river ouse which was flooded in recent days, but have found nothing. police say there's no evidence to suggest anthony has left the town, or that his disappearance was the result of criminal activity. they have now released this cctv, which shows him walking with a distinctive bounce in his step, in the hope it could jog someone's memory. jon ironmonger with that report.

james waterhouse is in lewes and has been following the story. police themselves have said this case is unusual because a, the sheer amount of time that anthony knott has been missing, ten days now, it was the 20th of december, that was when his christmas do was taking place and secondly, that it was out of character. you heard there injohn's report that his family say he loved both his family and his work, he seemed happy at the time of him being dropped off and you see him carrying about his normal business on the cctv. so police are saying they are keeping an open mind frankly, they have to because all possibilities are being explored. he apparently walks on the balls of his feet so he's very light, if you like, so they are urging members of the public to keep an eye out for that or recollect their memories to see whether they saw him at the time of his disappearance. there are posters dotted all around lewes with anthony's image

and a message underneath urging him to get in touch and what we've got to bear in mind is around the time of his disappearance, the area around here, the river ouse, were all affected by heavy floods at the time. so now, as those waters subside, the police are thanking members of the public for their support. they said the response has been outstanding but they are urging people to stay safe as they try and help with the search because they are now searching an area just north of lewes, where the flood water has now subsided, for any further clues that there might be. but this has been, for his friends and family, this has been ten days now he has been missing over, of course, the christmas period. coming up — the brexitcast gang look back on the key political moments of 2019 now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz schafernaker. in the short term the weather is looking pretty quiet across the uk, very mild especially across northern

areas in the last day or two and in scotla nd areas in the last day or two and in scotland yesterday at night it was around 16, 17 degrees. the air has come all the way from the subtropics. the weather front is still across northern areas so that means there are still light rain to come for parts of northern ireland, southern scotland and the lake district. this is the weather front stretching across northern ireland all the way into scandinavia and what is going to happen is this weather front will move further south and it will let some of that quarter air from south and it will let some of that quarter airfrom the south and it will let some of that quarter air from the north atlantic to swing into the uk. drier air will clear the skies and we are expecting a frost in this portion of the uk, belfast, edinburgh, newcastle. in the south, where we have got the cloud it is not going to be so—called. this is new year's eve, there is big area of low pressure

but we high pressure in the middle, a small fish in big pond. it is circling may be bringing chance up to cornwall and south devon and possibly bringing thicker cloud to the south—western quadrant but the vast majority of the country is into a fine new year's eve, daytime and evening looking clear. as the winds start to sing in from the south, a little bit more cloud is expected to ci’oss little bit more cloud is expected to cross these western areas. on the whole compared to some other years, at the stroke of midnight it is looking fine, perhaps a bit of a mist and fog by the early hours of the 1st of january but that is it. this high pressure in charge of the weather across much of europe. the thinking is for some of us the 1st of january will be a little bit cloudy and gloomy in some places, that quite often happens after the

fireworks. a tad cooler, maybe five in newcastle, double figures across the south. let's summarise the start of 2020, the first couple of days, this is the main message. for most of us it will be dry but for some north—western areas it is expected to bea north—western areas it is expected to be a little rainy. that it, goodbye. hello, this is bbc news, with joanna gosling. the headlines... a british teenager is convicted by a cyprus court of falsely claiming she was raped by a group of israeli tourists six months ago. her lawyer is planning an appeal.

there was supporting evidence, we say, which goes to show that she was actually telling the truth. and it's very worrying for a court to rely upon a retraction statement. the world will face irreversible heating unless firms shift their priorities soon. that's the warning from the outgoing bank of england governor, mark carney. i would say we're in a climate crisis, just like a financial crisis. i think what's essential on this topic, on climate change, is that we have a cross—party, nonpartisan approach to it. raging bush fires are burning out of control across australia, with authorities in the state of victoria saying it's now too late for people to evacuate. temperatures are exceeding a0 degrees in every state. the search continues for father of four and