reports say the former boss of renault—nissan, who had been under house arrest, has left japan and arrived in lebanon by privatejet. carlos ghosn was due to stand trial on corruption charges and had been barred from leaving japan. he's denied any wrongdoing. one firefighter has died in new south wales as fires continue to rage across australia. weather conditions already described as catastrophic are expected to worsen. in north melbourne, residents have been urged to "act immediately to survive." a british teenager has been convicted by a cyprus court of falsely claiming she was raped by a group of israeli tourists six months ago. her lawyers say that she will appeal. the uk government said the case was deeply distressing and it has serious concerns. they are the headlines on bbc world news. now on bbc news, tom burridge revisits the collapse of travel firm

thomas cook and its far—reaching effects on customers and staff. all chant: what do we want? answers! when do we want them? now! it is a travesty, it has devastating our lives because of thomas cook airlines uk. the captain turned around to me and said to me, "it is gone." i went into the flight deck and cried. when do we want them? now! it has not been possible to save one of the most—loved brands in travel. after 178 years, it was all over. as i got to the airport, i started to cry, because i thought, "i'm coming here in a uniform and i've got nowhere to go." you can't just leave brits stranded abroad. i want to go home! bankruptcy, bitterness and rage.

i think it's been a national scandal to let a company of that size and that heritage in history just fall like that. they took millions of british tourists abroad every year. the biggest brand offering winter or summer sunshine. thomas cook was the uk's oldest travel business. also, the best—known travel brand on the high street as well. so it had a huge amount of love and respect from its customers and its employees. it changed the way people travel... two weeks in greece, late july. let's see! ..and created a new concept — the package holiday. four people...two weeks... don'tjust book it — thomas cook it.

trips to places like spain became the new norm as tourism boomed. and as our travel addiction took off, thomas cook grew and grew. exotic, enticing destinations were affordable for millions. but what the glitzy marketing didn't show was that thomas cook was in debt. we know we've been in the news a lot recently... the message injuly — all will be fine. keep booking! with thomas cook, your holiday is in safe hands. they were wrong. we just want to bring some breaking news now on thomas cook. we have just heard in the last few minutes that thomas cook has ceased trading. thomas cook, one of the world's biggest tour operators, has collapsed after last—ditch talks to save the business failed.

britain's oldest travel group, thomas cook, collapses. the company's fleet of planes was grounded in the early hours of this morning, wrecking the holiday plans of so many people. as its planes landed back in britain one last time, they were seized and impounded at uk airports. that name, a giant of uk travel, was bankrupt. it had taken people on organised trips for a century and a half, but the age of the thomas cook holiday was done. people sort of suspected that it would never happen, and then it did. so it was a very sad day and the repercussions are just continuing to spin out now. check—in at uk airports normally bustling on a monday morning, suddenly a sorry sight. people felt the impact

of the company's collapse straight away. i was told to come here now to find out my flight has been cancelled, with three kids. my son has adhd and autism, and his sister, and they're sobbing their hearts out in the car. i got in touch with thomas cook yesterday and they said everything had gone through and there was nowt to worry about. yesterday i got in touch with thomas cook to make sure everything was going ahead and they said under no circumstances the holiday would be cancelled. and we would be put on another plane regardless as to whether thomas cook went into liquidation or not. we got set off at 3am this morning, and we were given a duty of care number, and they said the holiday can't go ahead because there are no planes available. i was reporting at gatwick once the news broke. look at this. yesterday, check—in here would have been very busy. but with the company collapsing overnight, its airlines effectively vanished.

there was inevitable chaos, and you'd think that on a story that big, that everyone had seen the news, but people were still pitching up to the airport, probably, that they could somehow get on a flight, get on their holiday. we are gutted, disappointed. i mean, it meant a lot to us. it's our first holiday away together. i'm still angry. we met stephan and zoe, who were supposed to fly to the canaries to scatter her dad's ashes. with them on the trip, their young children. they're devastated, they've cried, you know, they're not themselves. they're quiet. they'd been looking forward to this for months and months. we didn'tjust decide to go, we've planned this. we had to get paperwork for the ashes. we've had to do everything. martin and gemma has been planning their wedding on a greek island, but they'd booked it all with thomas cook. itjust broke my heart. ijust couldn't believe it.

i was gutted. i didn't want it to be true. it'lljust seems for nothing now. we are a bit confused and empty. don't really know what to do. all that planning and it's sort of...all gone. but the big challenge for the authorities was at airports abroad. when the company folded, there were 150,000 people already on thomas cook holidays in places like majorca. now, it was down to the uk government to get every single one of them home. we knew the scale of what we had to undertake. nothing like this has ever been done before. there's never been a peacetime repatriation that's been as big. so, yeah, we were pretty nervous and absolutely keyed up to do it. but, yeah, kind of biting our fingernails at the same time. the operation was codenamed matterhorn. the civil aviation authority

had been planning it for weeks. we really, really hoped there was going to be a commercial solution for thomas cook, because this really was not an operation we ever wanted to undertake. i mean, thomas cook — it's the world's oldest travel company, it's employees, it's customers, it's really sad. i think actually almost up to two days beforehand, we thought there was the possibility of a commercial solution but, of course, you have to prepare for scenarios that are very different. but even before the operation to bring people home had begun, hotels were, for a while, refusing to let customers leave — as my colleague gavin lee witnessed first hand in majorca. well, this is the main thomas cook—run hotel in palma, and we are being told by staff that everything is ok but the management will not speak to us. and if you look, they've got security here for the first time. they're quite nervous.

this is one of a number of hotels that we understand are waiting to be paid in arrears from thomas cook, and meantime, they are still having to look after the customers too. reception don't know what's happening. theyjust said, "yes, the hotel is open at the moment." we just feel like at any moment, like, we are vulnerable and we could be asked to leave. thomas cook customers had paid for their holidays, but many hotels, which were owed money by the company, were initially unaware that they'd be refunded by the uk's atol travel insurance scheme, and some were demanding people pay for a second time. we went out for dinner last night and came back to the hotel and we couldn't get into our room. so we had to go downstairs to the lobby and the lady said you basically — give us 340 euro and you can get back into your room. so that is what we had to do. it was up to the uk's civil aviation authority to reassure hotels

that they would be paid. we spoke, in the first three days, we spoke to 3,500 hotels, which — individually — and some of them were, reasonably, quite cross. there was a hotel in mexico that was owed over a million dollars. so they were not happy. but we did manage to reassure them that the atol—protected customers would be paid for, and that also calmed things down and allowed people to continue their holidays. to understand the scale of the company's demise, it helps to consider its rise, which began — yes — right back in the 1800s. one of its shops can even be spotted on the corner of st mark's square in venice in 1898. the firm then enjoyed a century of growth and success — a winner in the modern age. but in 2007, it merged with mytravel

to create a much bigger group. that's when its debt grew. other factors like competition from online travel agents, or 0tas, then pushed it over the edge. various factors. importa ntly, competition for thomas cook had increased massively in the last decade, so new players likejet2 holidays, the 0tas as well, have become really, really significant, taking millions of customers now away from the big tour operators. it had been a challenging market, with brexit uncertainty and a weak pound, but ultimately, thomas cook's problems came back to this huge debt they had been saddled with from a previous business merger, which meant that the business was not able really to be truly profitable because it had to put so much of its profits back into servicing the interest on the debt. in the wake of thomas cook's downfall, the immediate priority was to get the tens of thousands of tourists back to britain.

hi! the manchester flight's full, right? the compa ny‘s staff, who'd lost theirjobs, helped out. 0ur rep was really good. he came to that hotel two or three times today, didn't he, to make sure that we could get home and make sure that we knew what was going on. but with confusion inevitable, that first day at airports like palma, in majorca, was the hardest. to watch the operation matterhorn repatriation effort at first was chaotic. it did not go well at all. there were hundreds and hundreds of thomas cook passengers coming to the airport. they were anxious, they took cabs — they did not trust whether or not the coaches would turn up. they were told by thomas cook staff and also the civil aviation authority to stay in one corner of the departures lounge, and that built up and built up. there were some people there 18, 19 hours, sitting down, lying on the floor,

some crying as well, working out how they could get home. by day two, it was completely different. the big airlines had come in to help and it was really smooth from there. the civil aviation authority had experience to draw on when monarch airlines collapsed two years ago. then, it had to repatriate more than 100,000 people. but 0peration matterhorn, which cost the uk government £40 million, was significantly bigger. at the beginning of week two, i was allowed on board an airbus a380 tasked with bringing hundreds of people home. this airbus a380 is about to head to sunny majorca to bring around 400 thomas cook customers back here to rainy manchester. this plane, the largest in a fleet of aircraft assembled by the civil aviation authority to bring tens of thousands

of people home. this shows you just how different running a repatriation mission is to operating a commercial an airline. —— commercial airline. the aircraft leave uk airports empty. but once in majorca, the authorities get as many holidaymakers as possible on board. before the company went bust, there were seven thomas cook flights scheduled to leave palma today for uk airports. with this giant aircraft, those seven flights become one into manchester. it's been absolutely fabulous. the holiday has been fabulous. the information was fabulous. we have to get to manchester — we live in brighton, so we've got to get a coach down. so what? people have lost theirjobs. it's all been fabulous. it was worrying but then things went

quite smooth. initially, yes, it was worrying. very lucky. very lucky, considering all of the staff who have lost theirjobs and people who have lost their holidays. we managed to finish ours, so you can't say any more than that, really. then, the flight back and the paper cups a reminder about who was supposed to fly them home. but some did travel in style for the first time. never thought i would see the day that we would be sat in business class, i think it's ace! we couldn't believe it when we came up the steps. we're in business class, aren't we? brilliant, we've never flown like this before! the civil aviation authority had to operate a complicated flight schedule over two weeks. overall, it was a job well done. the planning had paid off, some problems werejust hard to foresee.

silly things, in a way, would go wrong. for example, there were fourairports in cuba. because we only had one big plane, we thought it would be sensible to amalgamate everyone to one airport, great idea, but there wasn't enough fuel in cuba to bus all those people to one airport. so forget that plan! it was things like that that went wrong all the time. i was very, very glad when the last plane landed! it was, for many, notjust a job, but a dreamy lifestyle. travel, sunshine, and working for a powerful brand. but in a flash, it was all gone.

9,000 people in the uk had lost theirjobs. is it here we sign for the redundancy courses? they came together soon after at manchester airport. as i got to the airport, i started to cry because i thought i've come here in a uniform, but i've got nowhere to go. my colleague simon browning was there. people who i've spoken to, nobody expected it to happen. it was like the death, a death in theirfamily. they had always worked together and known the structure and suddenly, it vanished. my name is betty knight. i was cabin crew for thomas cook airlines for 12 years. our management seem to have disappeared into the sunset with millions and millions of pounds. while all of our lovely passengers and customers have been helped

by the civil aviation authority who have done an incredible job and they have been assisted, our cabin crew, members of our cabin team, have been stuck without even a word or a phone call, in really dire circumstances. what do we want? answers! when do we want them? now! what do we want? answers! when do we want them? now! within days, thomas cook staff had travelled from different parts of the country to westminster. we wa nt a nswers! we want it now! the impact of what had happened was still sinking in. we just cannot understand what has gone wrong. we've not been paid, a lot of us have children and mortgages, people have gone to food banks. it's unbelievable we are in this situation. we have just been pushed out. i won't get anotherjob, i'm too old to be employed now. it's a travesty. 0ur lives are ruined because of thomas cook airlines uk. but top of their minds were questions about how the business went under.

why did this company not go into administration but they went into liquidation overnight, in two hours. why? it's not on, we need answers and we need them now. all of the big ceos and their big bonuses, we understand they need to have bonuses but they must have known what was going on. peter fankhauser has a lot to answer for. peter fankhauser was in charge when thomas cook went bust. this is a statement i hoped i would would never have to make. it is deeply distressing to me that it has not been possible to save one of the most loved brands in travel. thank you. he was paid more than £8 million in the last five years. weeks later, he was grilled by mps. do you think that bonus should be paid back? i can say i worked tirelessly

for the success of this company and i'm deeply sorry i was not able to secure the deal. this man also faced questions. can we just ask, do you feel responsible for the failure of the company? manny fontenla—novoa was in charge during the period when the debt really grew. he insisted he was not to blame for the demise of the company. when we heard the news on the morning of the 23rd, i was still awake. i was watching it unfold. i was heartbroken, devastated. for about two weeks after that, i couldn't even get dressed. i couldn't face the world. got a bit anxious. suffered from anxiety and depression actually as well. it took me a good three or four weeks to be able to go back out there and start applying forjobs. when that came to an end for me and i realised i was no longer

involved in that industry, it was such a shock. the benefits, emotionally and psychologically, to fly are great. when that ends as suddenly as it did, it is a huge loss. people who weren't earning huge salaries at thomas cook are facing a new reality this christmas. i'm now near retirement. it is not likely i will get anotherjob. it's just... why did it finish in that way? that's not how i wanted to finish my career. it's a big feeling of loss. one of our friends, she ended up with her partner using her redundancy to live in a hotel, in a b8b and she was declared homeless. she has been on the waiting list. another friend was put out of her accommodation very quickly.

she is having to be supported. it happened so quickly, overnight. what do you think the overall impact has been on you, in the three months since? simon has discovered many people still out of work have struggled to get financial support from the state. i think the system has failed me. it isn'tjust me. loads of ex—colleagues going through the same situation and the system has failed us. we paid tax and national insurance all our working lives to be given nothing. it makes me angry and frustrated with the system. i've paid my tax.

i've worked hard and i've done everything that has been expected of me to contribute to our society. we put all of these claims to the department for work and pensions, they have said they are sorry and are urging all former thomas cook staff to keep in touch with theirjob centres so they can urgently try and fix these claims. thomas cook staff are also perplexed by the fact that the company's german airline, condor, was kept afloat and is still operating today. the government was forced to defend its decision not to save thomas cook's uk airline. whilst i hear people saying, why didn't you just put the money in, the answer is, all you would have to do is open their books and realise, if you have £1.7 billion of debt, if you lost £1.5 billion in six months alone, if you issued another profit warning, this is entirely different to the condor situation which was a fundamentally profitable airline. but a positive turnaround for some staff, who went back to work.

hays travel announced it was saving around 500 thomas cook stores. i'm sat with all of my team now, they would all be happy to come back to the branch. nicola and her colleagues, who thought they had lost theirjobs, were with the bbc‘s colletta smith when they got a call to say that they were now not unemployed. they are opening and we just have to contact them. clapping it wasjust incredible, for me one of the most amazing moments as a journalist to be in the room at that moment when someone's life is turned around in seconds. they thought they would be made redundant. they were already looking for other jobs, looking for other work but then to be told they got theirjobs back was incredible. they were in tears, hugging each other. we were joining in. you couldn't not, in a room like that. it was so exciting and emotional.

just incredible to be there. as travel evolved over the decades, thomas cook navigated huge change and reaped the rewards. but, in 2019, that romanticjourney came to an abrupt end. thomas cook employees and thomas cook customers, whether they had their holiday or were waiting for the insurance to pay out, and our staff and all the people who help, it was something like 1 million people affected. it's an enormous number and on top of that, you've got all of those hotels abroad and in some areas, these hotels were really relying on thomas cook passengers to revitalise the economy. certainly the biggest story i've ever covered in 13.5 years of travel trade journalism. something we will continue to write about for years, if not decades, i am sure. i think it has been a national

scandal to let a company of that size and heritage and history just fall like that. life has moved on, and i don't think you ever actually know or get the answers to questions that the crew and people who work for thomas cook would seek. the oldest brand in british travel is gone. and those who were the heart and soul of the company will be picking up the pieces well into the new year. we want answers, we want them now! what do we want? answers! when do we want them? now!

hello, we'll start new year's eve on a chilly and fairly clear note across much of northern england, northern ireland and scotland. further south and west, milder with more cloud and that cloud could be thick enough to bring some patchy, light rain into the far south—west of england and the channel islands through new year's eve. for much of the uk, though, we'll end the year mainly dry, the best of the sunshine the further north and east you are, quite a breezy day for the northern and western isles, and a cooler—feeling day for many, just a high of single figures, maybe 10 celsius across south—west england. through new year's eve evening and night the cloud will increase from the south and the west, clearest skies across eastern scotland, north—east and eastern england, where it will start to turn fairly chilly. but as we see in the new year, most will be mainly dry. fairly light winds away from north and western scotland could see some patchy mist and fog, particularly over the hills. still, quite a breezy day across the northern and western isles on new year's day, but for most we're going to start 2020 mainly dry. with a lot of cloud, the best of any breaks or brightness to the north and the east of higher ground, and temperatures again 6—10 celsius.

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this is bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: former renault—nissan boss carlos ghosn unexpectedly leaves japan, where he's been under house arrest, arriving in lebanon. blazes continue to rage across australia. weather conditions, already described as catastrophic, are expected to worsen and thousands are trapped in one coastal town. us prosecutors file hate crime charges against the man accused of stabbing five jewish people during hanukkah celebrations in new york. and why waking up the world to climate change isn't enough. we speak to greta thunberg. i'm being listened to and we, climate activists, are being listened to, but that doesn't mean that what we are saying