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

is translated into action. hello and welcome to bbc news. the former head of renault—nissan, carlos ghosn, has unexpectedly flown to lebanon, despite being banned from leaving japan where he's been awaiting trial for financial crimes. mr ghosn denies enriching himself at his company's expense and misstating his income. before his arrest in november last year, he was one of the most powerfulfigures in the global car industry. prosecutors are investigating how he left japan. gareth barlow has the latest. carlos ghosn was one of the great tycoons of the car industry, known for turning around the fortunes of

some of the world was my biggest brands. at one point, nissan, renault, and mitsubishi were all under his control. this citizen of brazil, france, and lebanon, mr ghosn established himself injapan where he was considered a hero for transforming their son. he was a very powerful car executive who was particularly known for his efficient cost—cutting, which saved nissan, in essence, here. so a hard—nosed businessman who seems to have a very good touch in turning companies around. following accusations of significant acts of misconduct, including underreporting his pay and the personal use of company assets, ghosn was arrested in november, 2018, and is facing trial injapan. the former automotive executive who is subject to strict bail conditions has accused the japanese government of conspiring against him. now with

his appearance in lebanon, where he arrived on board his privatejet, which flew via turkey, carlos ghosn‘s story has taken another turn. where it will and remains unknown. gareth barlow, bbc news. firefighters in australia are facing another day of extreme conditions as the nation battles one of its worst ever bushfire disasters. the authorities are focusing their efforts on the coast of new south wales and victoria's east gippsland region. around 4000 people are stranded on the beach in a remote town called mallacoota. a short time ago the emergency services gave this update on the situation. and we've been talking for quite some time about the risk to east gippsland. and what we saw yesterday was, again, that dynamic and that they need —— dangerous situation, not just for community, but our firefighters and other emergency services. who again, from the

outset, will say again, have done an absolutely amazing job. and i think the most sincerely for the effort they have been putting in and continue to put in. and one as they continue to put in. and one as they continue to put in. and one as they continue to put in that is very much the case. because we've gone from just over 120,000 hectares down their bones, to well over 200,000 hectares and we have got going fires. so it is still a dynamic and dangerous situation. i mention corryong, now mention mallacoota, which is now under threat of fire. so we have embers going into malla coota so we have embers going into mallacoota at the moment, we have 4000 people on the beach there that are being very well protected by our firefighters. so whether you look from bairnsdale, you look right through to mallacoota, we've had impacts right across the whole of east gippsland. obviously a very serious situation there. john white is the mayor of east gippsland, and hejoins us from bairnsdale.

a note is a difficult time for your area. can you tell us about the people stranded on mallacoota beach? what has happened is mallacoota has only one road in and one rode out to reach the princes highway and two days ago it was told it was too late for them to leave so they needed to remain in their township, which is on the beach. and at this stage that's where they stay and at the moment they are still under threat, but they are not fully impacted. what is the situation in east gippsland generally? it's quite a large portion of victoria. how many fires are you fighting? what's actually happened is there are two main fires that we are fighting, but there were lots of smaller fires that have joined up and this is one of the largest fires we have ever seen. of the largest fires we have ever seen. it almost spreads the full length of our shire, which is around 300 kilometres, the length of our

shire. and they impacted private land yesterday with a catastrophic effects, because the weather was in the mid 40 degrees range and the wind was very strong from the north. and, at the moment, as people fight those fires, how many homes have you lost, how many people have been evacuated? look, many, many people have been evacuated. that was a choice that they were able to make via our choice that they were able to make via oui’ emergency choice that they were able to make via our emergency apps. and they did the right thing by evacuating from some of these areas because it was catastrophic. but i can't tell you how many homes have been lost because gnabry has had a chance to get back into the areas. roads are still blocked from fallen trees and there is still fire in the area. in fa ct, there is still fire in the area. in fact, the main fire is still burning in the forest and we can't put that out. it's just too in the forest and we can't put that out. it'sjust too big. so we

in the forest and we can't put that out. it's just too big. so we will expect that fire to continue burning four weeks and weeks to come, unless there is heavy rain. so i'd just need to thank the emergency services people for what they have done, because we have had losses, but the number of houses they save last night is unbelievable and the people who were evacuated will be most grateful to go back and find their homes still standing. it is an enormous effort to fight fires like this. it's currently midday where you are, what are you expecting to happen with the weather and the temperatures? we have two or three days of cooler temperatures from new year onwards, but saturday is going to be another very warm day, getting up to be another very warm day, getting up was to 40 degrees. so that will just mean we're back to we were yesterday and just watching and waiting and hoping that the winstone pickup, because the fire escape from the fire is by ember attack switchmen travel kilometres. with

the embers attack, small fire started in multiple places all at the same time. and it was just amazing job that these firefighters could just get around and basically contain it once it got out, but it had done a lot of damage before they got it contained. john, thank you so much for spending time talking to us, especially as you work to co—ordinate that huge firefighting effort. that isjohn white, mayor of east gippsland there. the area is heavily affected by fires. we will keep the situation on mallacoota beach in our sights as well and keep an eye on that as things develop. don't forget, our website has all of the details on those australian fires. let's get some of the day's other news. the somali jihadist group al—shabaab has for the first time said it carried out saturday's bomb explosion in the capital mogadishu which killed more than 80 people. it said the target had been a convoy of turkish nationals and apologised for the deaths of civilians. the iraqi prime minister, adil abdul—mahdi, says us airstrikes on what he called "iraqi armed forces" were a violation

of sovereignty. iran has condemned the attacks, which it claims left at least 25 members of an iranian—backed iraqi militia force dead. facilities in iraq and syria were targetted on sunday in retaliation for attacks on bases used by american troops. bolivia is expelling the mexican ambassador and two spanish diplomats, accusing them of interfering in its internal affairs. the decision relates to an alleged attempt to extract a former aide to the ousted left wing president, evo morales, from the mexican ambassador‘s residence. dense fog has swept across parts of northern and western india. it's being blamed on cold weather combined with pollution. the conditions have led to disruption on roads and rail, and hundreds of flights have been cancelled. the country's meteorological authority says the north of the country, including the capital, delhi, is experiencing one of its coldest spells in well over a century.

federal prosecutors in new york have filed hate crimes charges against a man accused of stabbing five people at a hanukkah party on saturday. they claim the suspect, grafton thomas, keptjournals containing references to hitler. our correspondent michelle fleury has more details about the case. i think you've got the family speaking through their lawyer, michael sussman, who was representing grafton thomas, the man accused of essentially entering a rabbi's home of the weekend and stabbing five people. he's been saying that his client suffers from mental illness and hospitalisation and that that's what's behind the attack. that being said, if you listen to authorities, they take a different view. you've got the governor, andrew cuomo, who basically wa nts governor, andrew cuomo, who basically wants tougher sanctions on what he describes as domestic terrorism and now you've got federal prosecutors essentiallyjudging him with hate crime. basically they

filed fivejudges with hate crime. basically they filed five judges today in the southern district of new york accusing him of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs, involving the attempt to kill and use a dangerous weapon. this is in addition to state charges which grafton thomas pleaded not guilty to on sunday. this is a gentleman who lived about 20 miles from rockland county, it's a suburban area. and he, allegedly, according to investigators, had been researching places where there were jewish prayer houses, he was looking at places in staten island, in new jersey, and we're still trying to more of the motivation, but a journal that investigators recovered seems to be shedding some light in which he made references to hitler and to israelites. and so this is something investigators will be poring over and going over in more detail to try to ascertain his

motivation. michelle fleury there. a 19—year—old british woman has been found guilty by a court in cyprus of lying about being raped by a group of tourists. she was arrested after withdrawing a claim that she was attacked by 12 israeli men at a hotel in the resort of ayia napa injuly. jon donnison's report contains flash photography. when these legal proceedings began, the young british woman at the heart of the case was a victim making a complaint of rape. she came to court today to be found guilty of making a false statement about what the law in cyprus says was an imaginary crime. the lawyers say both the police investigation and the court process were flawed. we believe that there have been many violations in the procedure and the right to a fair trial of our client has been violated. we are planning to appeal the decision to the supreme court, hoping that our client will find justice in cyprus, at least from the supreme court.

these are the young israeli tourists who originally faced accusations that they'd raped the young woman. they were freed and allowed to fly home after she retracted the allegation. but she says she only changed her story about the young men because she was put under huge pressure by police questioning when she was vulnerable. the british government says it will be speaking to the cypriot authorities about the case. in a statement, a foreign office spokesperson said the uk was seriously concerned about the fair trial issues in what it called a deeply disturbing case. the young woman's lawyers are expecting to base her appeal on the way she says she was questioned by police for eight and a half hours without access to a lawyer before being coerced into agreeing that her claims were false. and in cyprus there have been questions about the way she's been treated.

women's rights activists demonstrated outside the court, arguing that the young woman was a victim, not a criminal. some wore scarves showing lips stitched together. a reminder, they say, that women's voices are not being heard. they say the case is not over. translation: we are here to show our support and solidarity to the victim of this process. a young woman at the heart of the case, who hasn't been allowed to leave cyprus sincejuly, has now been told she will be sentenced on january 7th when she could be jailed for a year. jon donnison, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the world's waking up to climate change, but needs to take action. we speak to teenage activist greta thunberg.

the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today. and then we'll be in france and again, it will be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. reporter: it was just good? no, fantastic! that's better! big ben strikes the hour

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the former boss of renault—nissan, carlos ghosn, has left 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. democrat presidential contender joe biden says he would consider a republican running mate if he won the nomination, though he did say he couldn't think who it might be. the former vice—president leads other democrats in the polls. but it's unclear how his comments will go down with the party. steve herman is white house bureau chief with voice of america news. he's in cincinnati, ohio.

good to see you. thank you so much for your time. first of all, steve herman, is joe for your time. first of all, steve herman, isjoe biden serious? you're making says he is, although he didn't name any republicans when he was asked about this at a campaign eventin was asked about this at a campaign event in new hampshire. but it seems a bit premature to put out a comment like this because whatjoe biden obviously needs to do right now in the primary campaign is appealed to democratic voters, if he gets the nomination, that would be where he would want to broaden his base and make a comment like this to appeal to the small number of republicans who are not keen to support donald trump, or do independent voters, especially in swing states, that could determine the outcome of the election. is this a matter ofjoe biden being undisciplined, or is it joe biden trying to bejoe biden,

unplugged, just be his authentic self in order to attract more voters ? self in order to attract more voters? well, this is very much in line with the authenticjoe biden. however, if you talk to campaign advisors, not from his campaign but those who advised other campaigns, they always want to see more discipline in what their candidates are saying. of course we can just go back to 2016, where it was the unconventional, the candidate who ignored all advise, who had no political experience, who mowed down that line up of republican candidates and won the nomination and presidency, donald trump. that's look ahead to 2020. it's nearly new year's eve. the presidential election will happen. what is happening around the country? you've been travelling and visiting different states. is it still a very polarised america, will it still come down to the ski electoral

couege come down to the ski electoral college states? absolutely. i've beenin college states? absolutely. i've been in about eight dates in recent days, mainly in the south where the bible belt as we call it is very much trump country. i detected no softening of support of the president in those states. the economy was strong and even in those that were hurting, the farmers believe trump will be their saviour, so to speak, and they are willing to ta ke so to speak, and they are willing to take some temporary hurt for what they believed to be long—term game. getting into midwestern states like ohio, here, there is more of a split and there are more people who don't wa nt to and there are more people who don't want to see president trump re—elected, but you get outside of urban areas such as cincinnati and there are very much people in the trump camp. we aren't seeing too much change there. it's going to be

places like wisconsin next door and pennsylvania perhaps, and michigan that could really determine the outcome in the 2020 election. that could really determine the outcome in the 2020 electionm that could really determine the outcome in the 2020 election. it is going to be upon us very soon, i'm sure. is coming very soon. steve herman, thank you for your time. a chinese scientist who claimed he'd created the world's first gene—edited babies has beenjailed for three years and fined more than $400,000. he jiankui was condemned as unethical when he announced his experiments last year. he said he was trying to make two twin babies, lulu and nana, immune to the hiv virus. the body that decides the laws of football says it will issue updated guidance on the video assistant referee system, or var. the board of the international football association says the system should not be "too forensic" — and should only reverse "clear and obvious" errors by referees. var has been heavily criticised for disallowing goals as offside.

three killer whales have been spotted in the section of sea that separates italy from the mediterranean island of sicily. it's the first such sighting in these narrow straits. marine biologists believe the orcas are from the same group that originally came from iceland, seen off the coast of north—west italy earlier this month. it's not clear why they made such a long migration. you can just see them there in the pictures. the 16—year—old campaigner greta thunberg has said she wants to go back to school as soon as she can. she's been talking to the bbc at the end of a year in which she became known around the world for spearheading a youth movement pressing for more action on climate change. mishal husain went to stockholm to meet her. she's the girl who galvanised the children to go on strike

from school, and people of all ages to march, pushing for more action to control a warming world. it's a mission that's taken greta thunberg around the globe, becoming a distinctive but also a divisive figure. i haven't really grasped what's happened during this last year. i'm being listened to, and we, climate activists, are being listened to, but that doesn't mean that what we are saying is translated into action. she spoke at the recent cop25 un climate talks in madrid, part of the system under which countries make pledges to cut carbon emissions. with the next summit taking place in glasgow, she wants the british government to make sure it succeeds. since the cop25 failed, that just puts co p26 into a different light. we, and they, must do everything they can to make sure that it doesn't fail. it was outside the swedish

parliament in stockholm that greta's activism began as she sat with a sign saying, "school strike for climate." when she decided to do this, we said, you know, quite clearly, that we would not support it. we... "if you're going to do this, you're going to do it by yourself." why did you say that? well, obviously, we thought it was a bad idea, putting yourself out there with all the hate on social media... you wouldn't want that as a parent. greta was 12 when she was diagnosed with asperger‘s. she's also suffered from depression. her father says her activism has transformed her. i can see greta is very happy from doing this, and i saw where she was before. i mean, she didn't speak to a single person. she could only eat in her own home. she changed. and she could do things that she could never have done before, and now she's just like any other...

you think, er, she's...not ordinary now, because she's special and she's very famous and all these things, but to me, she's now an ordinary child, she can do all the things like other people can, and she's happy. it's an honour to meet you... but some of the most prominent advocates for the planet see her as extraordinary, the person who has brought urgency to the climate debate. i'm very grateful to you. we allare. it's now on the front line, and you've put it there and the motto, which is, "the world belongs to young people," is a very powerful one, and you have made it an argument that people haven't been able to dodge. she is still only 16, and her high profile has meant scrutiny and criticism. some see her as unrealistic, a teenager who ought to be in school. on that, she can agree. i hope i don't have to be a climate activist any more.

i am really looking forward to going back to school and to just be like a normal teenager. but of course, this isn't normal. . .situation. and we must all do things that we may not feel comfortable doing — we need to step out of our comfort zones. before we go, let's take a look at some footage of a narrow escape for a couple of pedestrians in turkey. strong winds ripped through istanbul on monday, in this case, bringing down a tree which crashed onto a one—way street. cctv caught the moment it was uprooted, almost crushing two men walking down the road. i'm sure you just saw them jump out of the way. no injuries have been reported. two vehicles were damaged, the red one taking the brunt of the impact. that is a lucky escape. much more on the website and you can reach me on

twitter. i'm @regedahmadbbc. hello. the final day of the year and the decade will get off to a fairly chilly note across much of northern england, northern ireland and scotland. this weakening cold front which has been moving its way southwards over the last 24 hours, introducing some colder air. to the south of this, still something milder and actually much more in the way cloud and perhaps even some patchy light rain across south—west of england and the channel islands through new year's eve. quite cloudy skies for much of wales, central, southern england, but the further north and east you go, here is where we will see the best of the sunshine. and away from the far south—west of england and the channel islands, it should be mainly dry. quite breezy for the western and hte northern isles, and a colder feel for many — 6—10 celsius typically the high on new year's eve.

this takes into new year's eve night, where for most it will be dry, fairly light winds. we're going to see some mist and murkiness, particularly over higher ground and certainly the cloud already in place across wales, central, southern and south—west england will be slowly pushing its way further north and eastwards as the evening and night wears on. clearer skies across east and north—east england and eastern scotland. but here's acloser look at midnight. most places will be dry, light winds, quite a lot of cloud and, as i mentioned there could be some mist, some patchy fog in places. clearer skies across eastern, north—eastern england and eastern scotland where temperatures by midnight will be getting closer to freezing, and actually falling a little bit lower as the night wears on. where we've got the cloud, temperatures will easily stay above freezing. so here's how new year's day looks — a fairly quite affair across much of the uk, thanks to this area of high pressure. isobars slightly closer together across northern ireland and scotland so a breezier day here and fronts never too far away from the northern and western isles, so thicker cloud here, maybe some light rain. but for much of the uk

on new year's day, it is a dry day, but with a lot of cloud. any brightnes or sunshine really at a premium. the best of it probably to the north and east of high ground. and again, quite a cool day. temperatures for many will not get into double figures. as we go into thursday, these frontal system i've talked about, to the north and west of the uk, will come ever closer, sliding their way south and eastwards, so a wet, fairly windy day across much of scotland and northern ireland and eventually that rain will start to settle into northern england and the far north of wales by the time we get to thursday afternoon. further south and east, it stays dry. again quite a lot of cloud but for all of the uk on thursday, it is a windier day but starting to push up some milder air again, so we're looking at highs eaily in double figures, 10—12 celsius. through friday and saturday, we are back to something drier, a little bit colder and also a return of some sunshine. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the former boss of renault—nissan — who had been under house arrest — has unexpectedly left japan and arrived in lebanon by private jet. carlos ghosn was due to stand trial on corruption charges and had been barred from travelling abroad. he's denied any wrongdoing. 4,000 people have sought refuge on a beach in the australian state of victoria as bushfires approach. a fire rescue spokesman said the town of mallacoota in east gippsland was under attack. four people in the state are unaccounted for. weather conditions — already described as ‘catastrophic‘ — are expected to get worse. a man accused of stabbing five people during hanukkah in new york state, has been charged with federal hate crimes. federal prosecutors claim the suspect, grafton thomas, keptjournals containing references to hitler. his family say he has a long history of mental illness.