there is a of cloud, but i think nothing if few a fireworks can't brighten things up a little bit later on. overnight, i think we will see those temperatures fall away to around three celsius. so, it's a grey end to 2019, a bit of a great start to 2020 as well. bye for now. good morning. welcome to breakfast with louise minchin and dan walker. our headlines today: the terrifying moment thousands of people took refuge on the shore in australia to escape bush fires engulfing their town. we were bracing for the worst, because it was black. like, it should have been daylight but it was black like midnight. and we could hear the fire roaring. the uk government says it's seriously concerned about a fair

trial for the british woman convicted in cyprus of lying about a rape claim. good morning. the minimum wage for over 25s is to rise by 51 pence an hour. it means a pay rise for three million workers, and comes into force in april. good morning. football's law—makers claim the use of the video assistant referee is being used too forensically as calls grow for changes in the use of technology why a seal that commutes between the isle of man and cornwall is getting marine biologists excited. good morning. it's the last day of the year. the weather is fairly quiet. in the south some fog, a fair bit of cloud, and we will see showery rain in the south—west. as we travel further north, it's frosty but you will have some sunshine. and i will have more details later. good morning. it's new year's eve.

our top story: thousands of people were forced to shelter on a beach to escape bushfires in the australian state of victoria. the seaside town of mallacoota, east of melbourne, was surrounded by a wall of flames as the sky turned red. there are multiple emergency warnings in victoria and new south wales. several people are missing. from sydney, phil mercer reports. stuck in a nightmare. the sky in mallacoota turned a grotesque red as strong winds pushed out of control bushfires towards the popular seaside town about 500 kilometres east of melbourne. thousands of people were trapped and sought shelter on the beach. some waded into the water to escape red hot embers that rained down. 0thers fled by boat, but most waited patiently for the danger to pass or for help to arrive. it's still a dynamic and dangerous situation, so we've got embers going into mallacoota at the moment. we've got 4,000 people on the beach there that are being very well protected by our firefighters.

the australian navy could be brought in to provide food, water, and power to communities isolated by the fires. once again, very hot temperatures and gusty winds have combined to make this another dangerous and destructive day. at least two people have died and several others are missing as dozens of blazes rage in south—eastern australia. the authorities say that many houses have been lost. the new south wales rural fire service commissioner, shane fitzsimmons, says this is the state's worst bushfire season on record. the crisis shows no sign of ending. for many australians the new year will bring more anxiety and fear. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. earlier on breakfast, we spoke to david jeffery who runs a b&b in mallacoota and was forced

to flee to the beach when the fires attacked the area. 0ne lesson is do not go back, under any circumstances, until it is 100% safe. the homes can be left, because, honestly, what's happened, we have had, not what house has been, it is what house has survived, it has been house by house by house by house. the bed and breakfast that we own, sarah and i, we own it, and it, over here, and i don't know whether it is there. they think it could be at the moment. but has been horrendous. we've watched fires are spread along this for sure, jumping the tea tree, and we've watched home after home. we will have more on those fires throughout the programme. the government says it will raise concerns with the authorities in cyprus about the fairness of a trial of a british woman convicted of lying about being gang raped.

lawyers for the 19—year—old insist she was pressured by police into changing her story. they say she wasn't given a fair trial, and they plan to appeal. katy austin has been following the story. the young british woman at the heart of this case hasn't been able to leave cyprus sincejuly. yesterday she was found guilty of making a false statement about a crime the country's law says was imaginary. her lawyers insist both the police investigation and the court process were flawed. they plan to appeal. the young israeli tourists who were originally accused of raping the young woman were freed and allowed to fly home after she retracted the allegation. she says she only did that because she was put under huge pressure by police questioning when she was vulnerable. unusually, the british foreign office has made a public intervention. a spokesperson said the uk was seriously concerned about the fair trial guarantees and what it called the deeply distressing case. it said it would be speaking to the cypriot authorities about it.

women's rights activists demonstrated outside court. they argue that the young woman is a victim, not a criminal. she told the sun newspaper the judgement was not a surprise, but she would fight it, saying one moment she was the victim, the next the accused. sentencing is due on the 7th of january. ajail term of up to a year is a possibility. katy austin, bbc news. we told you this morning, that the national living wage is set to rise by 620% from april next year. —— six .2%. the hourly rate for people under the age of 25 will also rise. ben is here with all the details. yes, that's right. about 3 million people will benefit from this higher level. £8.72 is the national living ray —— wage. that applies to anyone over the age of 25. there is a new rate for those under 25. people like apprentices.

that goes up as well. that figure actually up to 51p an hour. a significant increase, more than four times the rate of inflation. it comes into force in april of next year. the government housing this is a big pay rise for the country, one of their big election promises. we should say this happens every year and is set by an independent low pay commission that looks at what the cost of living is for most people around the country and is adjusted accordingly. it has been announced a bit earlier than normal, coming in before the new year. but nonetheless a lot of businesses looking at this closely, working out how much it will cost them and whether, for example, they need to raise prices to pay for it. welcome for workers, not so much for business. there has been a dramatic development about the former head of nissan. this is an absolutely astounding story. you might remember november 2018, the boss of nissan was accused of using company money for his own gain, he

is accused of underreporting his salary, accused of embezzlement and fraud. he was arrested and he was sacked as the boss of nissan three days later. since then he has effectively been under house arrest. he had to surrender his passport, ask for permission to spend even two nights away from home. but this morning, he popped up in lebanon. big questions about how he managed to get out ofjapan given the scrutiny he was under and how closely he was watched stop we should say he denies all of these charges against him and has come out fighting, because he said when he was injapan he wasn't able to correct any of these allegations. he says it was a witch hunt against him. today he is saying he has not fled to justice, he him. today he is saying he has not fled tojustice, he has him. today he is saying he has not fled to justice, he has escaped injustice and political persecution. he says "i can finally communicate freely with the media and look forward to starting next week". he says he was held hostage by the japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination rampant, and basic human rights are denied.

so he is very clear that he is not guilty of these charges against him and he is now in lebanon. thank you. i'm sure you will update us. carlos ghosn, the former head of nissan. the rail minister has written to train companies saying he is unhappy that some operators are not running fully accessible trains for disabled users. new legislation comes into force tomorrow although ten companies have been forced to apply for temporary exemptions. the chief executive of the rail delivery group, which represents rail companies, has insisted the industry is committed to making the railway more accessible. more than 800 sightings of whales, dolphins and seals have been recorded in british waters this year. the wildlife trusts' review of the uk's marine environment reveals that thousands of people volunteered to clean beaches — amid growing concern over wildlife, climate change and pollution. forty one new marine conservation zones around england were also announced. thousands of heterosexual couples in england and wales are expected

to enter into civil partnerships from today. it comes after a long legal battle against the law that had previously only permitted same—sex couples to become civil partners. it'll offer the same legal rights as marriage, but without the religious links. actor sharon stone has been allowed to get back on to the dating app bumble after her profile was blocked when it was reported as fake. the actor commented on the restrictions, saying, "hey bumble, is being me exclusionary? don't shut me out of the hive". her account has since been restored and social media users have lined up to offer to date the film star. i saw quite a few people offering various dates. it is quite interesting that she went on there and a load of people reported her to bumble saying it could not possibly be sharon stone. but it was. 7:10.

we ta ke be sharon stone. but it was. 7:10. we take you back to one of our main story ‘s. "deeply distressing" — that's how the foreign office has described the case of a british woman yesterday convicted of lying about being gang raped in cyprus. 12 israeli men were arrested, but then freed, when the 19—year—old retracted her statement about the attack in ayia napa last july. but she says she was pressured into falsely confessing by the police. let's speak now to one of her lawyers, michael polak, who joins us from melbourne. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. tell us about your main concerns about this whole case. the case is very concerning in regards to the evidence that the court has relied upon to find her guilty, none of the israeli youths were brought to court to give evidence, so the court solely relied upon her retraction statement. anything with the retraction statement is that it was given after a seven hour ordeal in the police station where she did not have a lawyer, she did not have an interpreter, she was suffering

from ptsd. and there's all kinds of social media messages she was sending to herfriends social media messages she was sending to her friends explaining the pressure which was being placed on her at the time. now, we brought expert evidence to the court in cyprus, including a clinical psychologist, who explained how ptsd can psychologist, who explained how ptsd ca n affect psychologist, who explained how ptsd can affect the way people behave when put in a difficult situation and she found herself —— she found herself in the police station. we brought a frantic linguist from the university of manchester, he went through the retraction statement in his conclusion is that it is highly unlikely that this was the words of a native english speaker. so they are not her words in the statement. 0k, there was no surprise in some ways what happened yesterday, because that was the way people thought it would go. what are you going to do now, are you going to appeal, and how is she? we will be appealing to the supreme court of cyprus. and we hope to get an

expedited appeal there. and if we can't get justice expedited appeal there. and if we can't getjustice within cyprus we will be taking the case to the european court of human rights. she isa european court of human rights. she is a very distraught —— she is very distraught, she spent over four week insausti already. she is on bail in cyprus, she missed christmas at home. when she is very disappointed. we are disappointed with the result yesterday but we're not surprised, given the way the trial was carried out. lets also talk about the foreign office, because they have talked about this, they say the uk is seriously concerned about the fair trial guarantees in this deeply distressing case and we will be raising the issues with the separate authorities. is that going to help her cause? we hope it will. and we are glad the foreign office is finally assisting with the case. the foreign office should, we say, help british people when they get in trouble at a much earlier stage, but

we do welcome the support of the foreign office with this case. we understand as well she could face up to one year injail if understand as well she could face up to one year in jail if this goes through. how is she responding to that news, for example? apologies. we seem to have lost the line there with michael polak, the lawyer assisting this girl's family. but we got most of what we wanted to out of that interview. interesting to hear from his point of view how she is doing, particularly, as well. the next date is the sentencing, the seventh of january. we shall of course continue to cover that. as he says they will appeal and take it beyond that as well. shall we find out what's happening with the weather? carol has that for us this morning. good morning everyone. it's a cold day to start, in scotland and northern ireland. we've also got some fog, in the m4 corridor, but

also kent, sussex and towards somerset. for today, also kent, sussex and towards somerset. fortoday, most of also kent, sussex and towards somerset. for today, most of us will be dry, it will be a little colder thanit be dry, it will be a little colder than it was yesterday, and we have all this cloud across wales and southern england and the south midlands. this is where we've also got some fog, but that would lift into the hills and the more is, for example, then we got some sari outbreaks sweeping across the hours of chilly, devon and cornwall police possibly south wales and the channel islands —— hours of chilly. we have some sunshine, cloud building across northern ireland so sunny skies will be in the morning, we will also have sunny skies in east anglia as well. as we head to the overnight, was how this cloud starts to build in from the west. we hang onto clear skies is parts of eastern scotland and eastern england do. we could see some breaks in a cloud in plymouth, we could also have brighter parts in

the midlands, but there is a lot of cloud. where we see the brakes on the cloud and these will be chilly, so the cloud and these will be chilly, so wrap up warmly. in northern ireland, western and northern scotland, also very cloudy. for the northern and western isles, also rather windy. if you're celebrating in aberdeen, cold, with some frost around and pockets of fog to watch out for tonight. if you are celebrating, do have a fabulous time. no heatwave in prospect, and as we go through new year's day itself, we have this transient ridge of high pressure across us. still quite busy across the northern half of the country. so we've translated that into charts, you can see the amount of cloud we have. there will be some breaks to the north and east of any be some breaks to the north and east ofany high be some breaks to the north and east of any high ground, north—east scotla nd of any high ground, north—east scotland will see some sunshine. breezy in the north, some picture ways we are looking at seven in aberdeen, eight in belfast and eight in cardiff. as we move from wednesday to thursday, a bit of a change in the weather. isobars right

the way across the uk, it is going to bea the way across the uk, it is going to be a windy day in the uk, and we have weather fronts coming our way. afair bit have weather fronts coming our way. a fair bit of cloud around, that will break the cloud up at times with the wind. then our two weather fronts coming from the northwestern and slip steadily southwards. so some of this trend will be heavy, particularly so in the north—west highlands, and temperatures 9— 12 degrees. so the weather remains fairly quiet until thursday when we do have that rain coming our way. thank you, carol, we will see you later on. the australian navy could be drafted in to help tackle wildfires that have destroyed more than a thousand homes. several coastal tourist destinations are currently cut off by huge blazes. luke heagarty, from the victoria state control centre can tell us more about the emergency response. if you were watching yesterday, you will know we spoke to luke on the programme then as well. thank you luke, for giving us the very latest.

what is the situation in victoria at the moment? thankfully since we last spoke we have seen a little bit of easing in the pig conditions, but it has been a difficult 2a hours for our communities in east gippsland —— peak conditions, especially mallacoota, right on the eastern super victoria, where we had over people sheltering on the foreshore and in the water around that coastal community is a large fire worked its way towards that community, and was burying embers into that community, blowing up a number of houses and creating a very eerie sensation for people in that part of the world. they would normally have seen the sun come up they would normally have seen the sun come up this morning, instead they saw an almost completely black sky due to the smoke from the fire. we've been speaking to some of the people on that beach. they are really in fear and watching the fire around them. can you give us an idea, luke, some of the difficulties

away from that as well that are facing firefighters at the moment? 0ur facing firefighters at the moment? our real challenge now is twofold, the first challenge is to understand just how far these fires have spread and what damage they have done, so undertaking the important assessments of properties that have been damaged and providing that information back to residence, that is something we believe the defence force would be able to assist us with in a process of impact assessment. the other challenge that we've got is that these communities are now isolated and potentially going to be isolated for a number of days. it's not just going to be isolated for a number of days. it's notjust mallacoota, it's a variety of communities throughout that region who at the moment, without some essentials, we've got significant disruption to telecommunications in the area, some places are without power and they are very concerned about their survival in terms of being able to get a ccess survival in terms of being able to

get access to necessary supplies. that is again something that between the emergency services in victoria and the defence force, we believe we will be able to handle. but that is a plan we are working on at the moment so we can give the support to those communities as quickly as we can, because the roads throughout gippsland are likely to remain closed for some time. luke, we're looking at the pictures of some properties and cars and some of the damage that has been caused in that particular area of australia you are talking about with us this morning. we know some people are still missing, can you give us an update on that? four people unaccounted for? in victoria, at the moment, we believe there are four people unaccounted for, and it will be part of our process over the next couple of our process over the next couple of days, working with police and the emergency services as they work their way through to those areas that have been most significantly impacted by the fires and trying to work out the location of these

people and hopefully come up with some good news. luke, also hearing possibly the military may be drafted in. is that still a consideration? you are seeing the situation has eased a little. we can certainly is the there are already plans in place to utilise members of the defence forces to support our impact assessment process, and we also believe they will be able to assist us believe they will be able to assist us with ensuring that supplies are provided to all of these isolated communities, and potentially may be be able —— may be able to assist us with moving people in communities as we ta ke with moving people in communities as we take on the work of regaining assets through roads and getting those communities back on track —— access. that is something we're working on at the moment but certainly the prime minister has indicated his strong support for the support of the defence forces undertaking those tasks, and that is not just undertaking those tasks, and that is notjust in victoria, that will be

continued to be supported into new south wales, who are today having another serious day of fire danger. the weather we experience in victoria yesterday is now moving through new south wales, and so they are seeing their own challenges today. luke, always good to talk to you. that is luke heagarty from victoria state control centre with the very latest there. and if you we re the very latest there. and if you were watching about an hour ago, we we re were watching about an hour ago, we were speaking to david jeffrey, one of those with other people luke was talking about, sort of crammed onto this beach, the whole town crammed onto the beach of mallacoota as they saw the fires burning in the distance, coming closer towards them. closer and closer. that's reverse the bed. we will talk about christmas again. —— lets reverse a bit. it turns out the perfect gift isn't always waiting under the tree on christmas day, with many of us wanting to take things back for a refund or an exchange. but what exactly are your rights? ben is here. i feel like a cynic talking about this. if you didn't quite get what you wanted from father christmas,

choose the wrong size, jumper is the wrong colour, you're not alone. 0ne research company says one incentive us research company says one incentive us will take back stuff we received for christmas. we spoke to some shoppers in manchester to ask if they got what they wanted, and if not what they are going to do about it. i think it was an iphone eight? i have a —— an iphone nine already. it wasn't ideal. i returned one of dad. he pretended he was ok with it but you could tell he wasn't. dad. he pretended he was ok with it but you could tell he wasn'tm dad. he pretended he was ok with it but you could tell he wasn't. it is the biggest waste of money to give someone a present that they don't like and keep it. i would much rather think that if i give someone a present, and they honestly didn't like it, iwould rather they a present, and they honestly didn't like it, i would rather they would tell me so we could spend the money on something else. i think i got a wine glass that or something. i didn't necessarily like what was in it so didn't necessarily like what was in itsoi didn't necessarily like what was in it so i took it back. re-gifting?

some of that advice is useful. if you don't like it, just tell them and the chances are you could swap it for something else. you just have to smile and sorted out privately. i think this is wrong. you can't say it is rubbish, get me something else. it's so against the spirit of giving and receiving. else. it's so against the spirit of giving and receivinglj else. it's so against the spirit of giving and receiving. i mean, it's hard. if you don't have receipts and things like that it is difficult. as a general rule, shops don't have to acce pt a general rule, shops don't have to accept returns unless the item is faulty, not as described, doesn't do the job it is described to do or is unfit for purpose. so that is interpreted in many different ways but that is the general rule. many are taking on a goodwill gesture is and will let you take it back around christmas. if you bought it online or who ever did for you online, that includes doing it on the phone, mail order or online, you can basically

cancel your purchase 14 days after making it. you've then got another 14 days to return it. you don't have to give any reason either, you can send it back as long as they have agreed to take it back. i suppose that needs to be the person whom made the order in the first place, which makes it a bit difficult. can you take the present you got for me back, please? can you pay for the postage for me? it does get a bit more complicated there. if you don't have a receipt... i save all the receipts accept the one they need. it's like that. usually you won't have the receipt because it was a present. —— the one i need. you don't have an automatic right for a refund without a receipt but most retailers are good on the whole about this was that they would probably give you an exchange or a credit note. it's basically a receipt but without the price on it, it's much easier to get a refund and haveit it's much easier to get a refund and have it put on your card or cash backin have it put on your card or cash back in that case. if you have a gift receipt, that is always a safe

bout. there is a time limit, usually 28 days from when the purchase was made. they might have been really organised and then... that is the problem. it comes down to individual retailers' policies but this would give you some more time around christmas. some people are super organised and may have bought it in october or on christmas eve. so it may give you a sense of how organiser person is. in the next hour or so organiser person is. in the next houror so i'm going organiser person is. in the next hour or so i'm going to get some top tips from a retail expert who took us tips from a retail expert who took us to some of this. so we will try and answer some of your questions for you. if you do want to get in touch, send us your questions and queries about it. can you make that website a little bit smaller? it's right there. also contact us use the

hashtag. don't name names or tell us exactly what is wrong. you are encouraging the awkwardness. if there is anybody who has gone through this? why do you want the receipt? 0h, through this? why do you want the receipt? oh, i through this? why do you want the receipt? 0h, idon't through this? why do you want the receipt? oh, i don't know... just put the gift receipt in the box when you send it to them. prevent the whole problem. thank you very much. my my grandmother needed me —— knitted ajumper my grandmother needed me —— knitted a jumper with my grandmother needed me —— knitted ajumperwith an my grandmother needed me —— knitted a jumper with an incredibly long arm. there are you couldn't take that one back. please i need this for me. —— un—knit this for me. that one back. please i need this for me. -- un-knit this for me. good morning. welcome to bbc london on

the last day of 2019. i'm tarah welsh. on the eve of a new decade, one of our most famous landmarks turns 20. built for the millennium, the london eye was only supposed to be in place for five years but is now a permanent fixture on our skyline. it was designed as part of a competition with its 32 capsules representing each one of the london boroughs. we wa nted we wanted the catches on the outside so when you are on the top you had a 360 degrees view, like being on top ofa mountain 360 degrees view, like being on top of a mountain in the middle of a city. we then had to figure out how to make that work, how to keep the ca psules to make that work, how to keep the capsules horizontal while the wheel went around. that was complex. well, the landmark will be one of the key attractions in tonight's event on the south bank. 12,000 fireworks will be let off from three barges in the thames and on the london eye. and the team only has a couple of hours to rig the display. it's around about half nine, ten o'clock, when we fianlly get the eye into lockdown. so with two hours, 2.5 hours to go until midnight, that's when we find out

when we've got some of it, all of it or not of it. so, fingers crossed it will be all of it. but it's a very anxious moment when we run that test at 10pm in the evening with two hours to go, just praying that — green, green, green across the board. tonight is a ticketed event and tickets are sold out. if you don't have a ticket, you will be turned away. don't worry, you can always watch the coverage right here on bbc one. let's take a look at the travel situation now. there are minor delays on the bakerloo line and the piccadilly line is closed between spreads and renders lane. great western railway is running a reduced service today because of major engineering works. well, because a preparation for tonight's event, westminster bridge will be closed from 2pm and waterloo, lambeth and blackfriars bridges will also close earlier this evening. so, will the weather hold out until the new year? hello there! well, the final day 2019 is here and it's a very misty

and murky start. there's a lot of low cloud and fog around this morning, so do take care, it's also going to be a cloudy end to the year. we are hanging on to that cloud, this is the scene this morning. plenty of cloud around, a very grey and overcast day on the whole. it's a little cooler than yesterday, we're still hanging onto double figures — just. top temperatures of ten degrees. but the good news — if you've plans tonight for new year's eve it should be dry. there is a of cloud, but i think nothing a few a fireworks can't brighten up a little bit later on. and overnight, i think we'll see those temperatures fall away as well to around three degrees celsius. so, it's a grey end to 2019, and a bit of a grey start to 2020 as well. it will still be feeling mild, we're hanging onto those temperatures as we get to the end of the week. but it is going to be a very overcast to 2020. have a very happy new year, i'll see you soon. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half—an—hour.