lebanon says the former nissan boss carlos ghosn entered the country this is bbc news i'm shaun ley. the headlines at two. thousands of people in south—eastern australia are forced to seek refuge on the coast after becoming trapped by advancing bushfires. lebanon says the former nissan boss carlos ghosn entered the country legally and will not face any legal consequences, after he fled japan where he was awaiting trial. thousands of iraqi militiamen attack the american embassy in baghdad, angry at us air strikes on theirforces. from today — mixed—sex couples in england and wales can finally enter into civil partnerships. new legislation comes into force tomorrow to make trains fully accessible for disabled users — but not all firms will make the deadline. i will be looking back on a year

when greta thunberg stall the world leaders on climate change. and this was a year we saw the first picture of blackhall. —— scolded. thousands of people in south—eastern australia have been forced to seek refuge on beaches and boats after becoming trapped by advancing bush fires. in the state of victoria, 4,000 people, locals and tourists alike, prepared to flee into the ocean as a last resort. military aircraft and naval ships are being deployed to carry out evacuations and support firefighters. in new south wales, two more people have been killed and dozens of properties destroyed along a stretch of coastline. 0ur sydney correspondent, shaimaa khalil, reports. this is what uncontrollable blazes pushed by strong winds have done to towns

across eastern australia. and this is what firefighters have been up against for weeks now. this crew trapped in their fire engine as they fight an impossible battle. in the coastal town of batemans bay in new south wales, residents have fled, taking shelter on the beach, desperately trying to escape the hellish fire conditions. 300 kilometres south in the state of victoria, thousands in mallacoota also escaped to the shores. at one point, people were told to jump in the water if the fire came their way. more than a dozen emergency level blazes, spanning 500 kilometres, have stretched across the two states of victoria and new south wales. several holiday spots along the coast have now been cut

off and the main road in the region is closed. military aircraft and vessels could be sent to help rescue efforts and to bring aid to those trapped in the worst—hit areas. time and time again, people have told us that the scale of these fires is unlike anything they'd ever seen before and so too is the extent of the damage. and as these blazes continue to rage across eastern and southern australia, many are dealing with the reality of going back home when they've lost everything. the village of balmoral in new south wales has seen some of the worst devastation in recent weeks. everywhere you look is a sign of how the blazes ravaged through the area. rosemary doyle lived in this house for 13 years with her late husband. she tells me she felt relatively safe, living just across the road from the local fire station. but nothing here has been spared. and then i stood across the road and just watched it burn, room by room, which was really, really difficult.

the last room to burn was where i'd left my husband's ashes. soaring temperatures, strong winds and relentless drought have made it impossible to stop the trail of these huge fires and with no rain predicted, australians will now head into the new year with the threat of more blazes looming over them. david jeffery normally runs a b&b in mallacoota and had to seek refuge on the beach when the fires struck. he gave us an update on the situation. well, it's evening now, so things are...

..people are settling a little bit. behind us, there's still active fire. that there is fire trucks filling up from the inland here, a bit of salt water and everything, still driving around trying to douse the fires. 0ccasionally, another house goes, unfortunately. not just another house, it's people we love and care about and it's their dreams going up in smoke. this is a beautiful, beautiful part of the world. we know the dangers when we live out in these areas. yes, it's been dry, but these are eucalyptus, these are forests, they're here because they've been selected by fires over many centuries. they're the only ones that survive, everything else has gone over those many centuries. so, we know the dangers, but the reality is we might know it but we don't really know it. when it goes off today, it's horrendous. i'm just thinking, i don't want to ever go through this again. i think i'll go and live in that time again. man, it was just... nothing prepares you for that bearing down of a fire front charging at a community. we're talking massive walls of fire, coming straight at you.

we had 4,000 people... let me show you. all along here, along the wall, along here, everyone ready to dive into the water if it got here. it didn't. thank god we didn't get the fireballs hitting us here because we would have had mass casualties. but, yeah, thank god. it was answered, the prayer. thank you, jesus, you really answered us. even though it might not look like he has, there could have we have a lot to be thankful for, we've had a little bit of rain. we've got the authorities, here doing their bit, the government doing things with the militaryjust off here. they've been feeding us with pies and all sorts of things. but it's still going on. some people are trying to go back out there to their homes, i'm tempted to too,

because miraculously our b&b is still standing, i don't know if you can see in the distance. i thought i was watching it burn to the ground today. we would have if i'd had to, but i was finding it hard, emotionally, watching other peoples homes. people i know and care about and love. we're very close. in small communities, when you have a thousand people... you get that anywhere, there is love and care. it is gut—wrenching to go through. i don't know how i can look these people in the eye, that my home survives and theirs doesn't. i just feel terrible. mercifully the wind changed direction and blew the planes back inland. many people know waiting for help from the israeli navy. there were some people asking for

the traditional ceremony for new year to be abandoned. celebrations to usher in 2020 have already started in the southern hemisphere. auckland was the first major city to see in 2020 and what a vision. and in the last hour, the city of sydney has welcomed in the new decade — with famous landmarks like the harbour bridge and the sydney opera house. but not without contention. fires raging after five months and still no sign of the rain which is the

only thing the authorities says it will put them out. the former boss of the car giant nissan has fled japan. where he was facing trial over allegations of financial misconduct. once one of the most powerful figures in the car industry, carlos goan flew to lebanon to escape what he calls "injustice and political persecution". rupert wingfield—hayes is in tokyo — there's some flash photography in his report. last march, carlos ghosn disguised himself as a construction worker as he attempted to slip past the waiting media on his release from jail. now, he has succeeded in slipping out ofjapan, perhaps in another disguise. even his own defence team have been left dumbfounded, unable to explain how mrghosn did it. translation: it's a complete surprise and we are perplexed. his passports are with his lawyers. somehow, mr ghosn managed to board a privatejet and last night he landed here, in the lebanese capital, beirut. in a defiant statement he said he had not fled japanese justice but escaped from injustice.

"i'm now in lebanon", he said, "and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged japanese justice system, where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant and basic human rights are denied." carlos ghosn was born in brazil to parents of lebanese descent. in the late 1990s he helped save french car—maker renault. in the 2000s, he took on an even biggerjob, turning around japan's moribund car—maker, nissan. he rose to become one of the most powerful figures in the global car industry, but in 2018, he was arrested at tokyo airport on suspicion of financial misconduct. he was held in this tokyo detention centre for more than 100 days, facing daily interrogations. this is a conspiracy. since his release on bail, carlos ghosn has angrily proclaimed his innocence, accusing his former colleagues at nissan of conspiring with japanese prosecutors to manufacture a case against him.

the media injapan had been preparing for what was expected to be the trial of the decade. instead, carlos ghosn is now far away in lebanon, a country that has no extradition agreement with japan. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. andrew walker. it certainly was unexpected and the reports coming from lebanon as he arrived in a privatejet reports coming from lebanon as he arrived in a private jet coming from turkey and got into the country using a french passport despite the fa ct using a french passport despite the fact his lawyer injapan body had all fact his lawyer injapan body had aler fact his lawyer injapan body had all mr ghosn passports. is a possibility if you international traveller —like ears you may have another one to travel. he has an

lebanese identity card the lebanon government position as he is very welcome. the senses he has got very strong support within the establishment of lebanon. i remember when he was head of the car company one point he wanted to be interviewed for hard talk and the interviewed for hard talk and the interview didn't get done but he wa nted interview didn't get done but he wanted it done there. i think it will be very difficult for him to resume any major career in the international motor industry. his position should now be safe. he is not unable to travel around the world. 0bviously japan is not unable to travel around the world. 0bviouslyjapan is not on the agenda japan does have extradition treaties with south korea and the united states, both of which are important locations for the global motor industry. but might be has nationality of brazil and france, both of which are countries that do not extradite their own nationals. so he would be entirely free to go there and i imagine what some very

careful legal advice he would have quite a lot of freedom to move around other places, as long as he avoids those particular nations i mentioned. this whole legal process was very mentioned. this whole legal process was very difficult to unravel. what do we know what do you understand about what was going on when he ended up being arrested by the japanese authorities at the height of his significance as a political figure in the car industry? now we're saying it was all a put up job. he puts a lot of birth playing on forces within nissan. suggesting there was some sort of collusion with the authorities. he was very much the figurehead of this alliance between renault and nissan and more recently mitsubishi and the had a mind moving toward some full—scale merger which the japanese side of the business really did not want and certainly his suggestion as they we re certainly his suggestion as they were trying to undermine his

position and ensure that nissan did not go down that path and fully joining forces with renault. until he camea joining forces with renault. until he came a cropperjapan you quite a reputation in the car business, and increasingly difficult business. similarly worry getting all these cuts in the car business. he had a pretty high reputation injapan as well. when renault and nissanjoin forces at the end of the 1990s nissan was losing money and had a rapidly mounting debt problem and was facing some very serious challenges. he came. it did come with some pain for nissan in terms ofjob with some pain for nissan in terms of job losses with some pain for nissan in terms ofjob losses and factory with some pain for nissan in terms of job losses and factory closures and change relationships in the supply chain which did not always make popular. it will never go down well in a country that has traditionally been quite sceptical. but nonetheless nissan did mention that in reasonable shape. and if you

look to the future i think it is safe to say electric vehicles will be an absolutely central feature of the motor industry future. and he has been quite an important force in driving nissan down that path. we have the nissan leaf which is an early pioneer in that technology and i suspected 20 years we may look back at it having been a very important stage in the transformation of the mortar industry and i think mr ghosn was an important figure in driving that change. get the he will not be setting by the beach. —— i get the feeling he will not be sitting by the beach. iraqi security forces have fired teargas at thousands of militiamen protesting at the us embassy in baghdad.crowds of demonstrators attacked the american embassy in baghdad, during a protest against us air strikes on an iraqi militia group. this is the scene live in baghdad.

the embassy guards and iraqi troops outside fired tear gas and stun grenades. the embassy is inside what is known as the green zone constructed by the americans after they toppled saddam hussein in 2000 and three. it feels like a lifetime ago. you can see a few aren't people wandering around. most of the crowd has gone and the iraqi authorities have said any attacks on the embassy will be dealt with by law. they are under pressure from washington to do that but they are still angry themselves of what we see is a violation of their sovereignty by the american decision to go ahead. few stu n the american decision to go ahead. few stun grenades being let off as well. some of the protest not going anywhere look of it. the ambassador was evacuated along with the staff a little earlier. i suspect it will be sometime before the return to the compound until they shirt is fully

secure. in the last few minutes a statement from the state depertment claims that the secretary of state mike pompeo was assured by the iraqi president and prime minister that staff in the embassy would be safe. the bbc‘s middle east analyst alan johnston explained the context to these protests in baghdad at the weekend the americans carried out a string of strikes on an iraqi militia group that has impact by iran. the americans say they are retaliating for attacks on their bases, one of which killed a us civilian recently. today there were funerals for some of those iraqi militia men killed at the weekend. they would have been highly charged and in the aftermath of them, ranks of angry iraqi militia men began to head towards the us embassy in the heart of baghdad. this is a building in what is called the green zone, a highly secure area in the heart of the capital but these marching militia

men seem to be pretty much waved through the checkpoint, suggesting there was government blessing for this protest. as they converged on this compound, chanting anti—american slogans, throwing stones, producing soon there we re columns of black smoke going up above the seam. a guard post on an outer wall had been set ablaze, a door was forced open, dozens of these protesters managed to get into the compound at that point, security forces defending the embassy fired tear gas in an effort to disperse them. president trump twitching that he held iran responsible for president trump tweeting that he held iran responsible for orchestrating the events this morning. ——tweeting. in a sense, these militia men are echoing some of the points the iraqi government made. the acting prime minister on the phone

on friday, sunday, pleading with the defence secretary of the us not to do it and the americans went ahead anyway. what is the risk for the us in making this decision? it is a long time since the carried out attacks inside iraq? the background is that over the last six weeks or more there have been a number of rocket attacks on bases that house us servicemen in the americans say they were repeatedly asking them to take action to make sure these attacks stop, eventually after that us civilian was killed it would seem that the americans had had enough, they said they would hit back and they did on sunday. at least 25 militia men killed. now the iraqi government call this a violation of its treaty, these are iraqi servicemen after all. you saw a really outraged reaction from the militia men themselves as you might expect. they promised to avenge their dead and the americans have been watching

events in baghdad with great concern around their embassy but they will be worrying that at some point, the militia men may do as they say they will and start hitting again at bases and us servicemen will be in danger. a ten—year—old girl who was hit by an ambulance on an emergency call—out days before christmas has died. the girl was on foot at the time of the crash, which happened in nottingham at around 6:30 in the evening on the 22nd of december. the chief executive of east midlands ambulance service offered his deepest condolences to the girl's family. nottinghamshire police are looking for any witnesses to come forward. thousands of mixed—sex 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.

daniela relph's report contains flash photography. cheering. finally, civil partners — something they'd always wanted but, until today, had been legally impossible. rebecca steinfeld, charles keidan and their two young children marked the occasion at chelsea registry office in london. i love you. i love you too! this wasn't a wedding, they didn't even call it a ceremony. this was the registration of a civil partnership, giving the family the legal and financial protection that a marriage provides. when we came here five years ago to try and form a civil partnership it was a very different experience. today, it's been wonderful. we've been warmly welcomed and we've finally been able to say to each other, in front of our very close friends and family, everything we wanted to say and to have legal recognition and status and financial protection that we've sought all along, so it feels incredible. it's just sort of an amazing moment for us. the end of a long journey and the start of a new decade and the beginning of our life together as civil partners in law. i couldn't have wished for a better moment than that! for rebecca and charles, this is both a private family celebration, and a public recognition of a change in the law — something they have been fighting for through the courts for more

than five years. the couple took their challenge to the highest court in the land. the supreme court agreed with charles and rebecca — excluding different sex couples from civil partnerships was ruled incompatible with their right to a family life. i don't believe this change would have happened without charles and rebecca, but whilst, as of today, they are civilly partnered, this is something now which will affect thousands or potentially millions of people across the uk. one of the things people just don't realise until things go wrong in a relationship, is that unless they were married or now have a civil partnership, they're not legally protected. rebecca and charles were amongst the first but the government predicts as many as 84,000 heterosexual couples could become civil partners in 2020. daniela relph, bbc news, west london. the coastguard and uk border force are dealing with a number of small migrant boats in the channel following several other incidents over the weekend.six migrants

were picked up by french authorities this morning after their boat got into difficulty near dukirk. another three boats were picked up by uk borderforce. a home office spokesman confirmed that there were three ongoing incidents off the kent coast. 240 people have reached the uk this month, the second highest number since august. 0ur correspoondent simon jones has this report. wrapped in orange blankets, huddled together on the back of a border force vessel, the latest arrivals brought to dover this morning. their boat towed into port two. despite the government a major incident a year ago the crossings have continued. if i were the government would be very embarrassed. although they have drawn resources that it they have drawn resources that it the numbers have increased. they have got to re—evaluate what is happening with the french on their side and work together. this year more than 1200 migrants have been picked up by the french authorities attempting to cross the channel illegally in small boats but more

than 1800 people have succeeded in reaching the uk. around 120 pills have been returned to europe. the government insists it is doing everything in its power along with the french authorities to stop bourse setting out from northern france in the first place. says it wa nts to france in the first place. says it wants to see these crossings reduced to an irregular phenomenon by the spring. that looks like an ambitious target. now the dover mp is calling for anyone picked up in the channel to be returned to france safely to act as a deterrent. from tomorrow, all trains in the country should be fully accessible for disabled users. around 1,200 carriages, though, are not, and ten train operators have applied for temporary exemption from law. the uk government's rail minister has said it's very disappointing, given the industry has had a decade to prepare. 0ur disability news correspondent, nikki fox reports. do you need a ramp? yeah, ido.

my wheelchair space is taken up by a catering trolley. apparently a train straight out of your depot doesn't have a wheelchair carriage on it. just some of the situations disabled people find themselves in when travelling by train, but it's supposed to get easier because in 2020, by law, all trains should be fully accessible. except, they won't be. around 1,200 noncompliant carriages will continue to operate into the new year. it's not like we are asking for special treatment. we are asking to have something approaching the level of access to public transport that non—disabled people take for granted. the simple right to go to the toilet on a seven hourjourney to morecambe, for example. this is not new legislation. it was passed back in 1995, which is why disability campaigners can't understand why the deadline's been missed. so, who is to blame?

late delivery of new accessible trains like these, delays modifying existing stock, and late decisions by government, are just some of the reasons. i think they call it a system failure, because there are so many people involved. politicians who initially didn't see it as theirjob, because it would be so far down the line, and then train companies struggling to get some permission to go ahead, and maybe even people within the companies initially not seeing how important this change in regulations is. the rail industry says it's rolling out 8,000 new carriages and upgrading hundreds of others, but ten companies have been forced to apply for temporary exemptions to run stock which doesn't comply. the government says it is disappointed that the rail firms will fail to meet the deadline. but even when there is a fully accessible fleet, there will still be a need for manual assistance at many stations and there is currently no deadline for that. nikki fox, bbc news. more than 800 sightings of whales, dolphins and seals have been recorded in british

waters this year. wildlife trusts across the country have collated the sightings using a network of specially trained volunteers. thousands of people have also volunteered to clean beaches — amid growing concern over wildlife, climate change and pollution. 0ur environemnt correspondent paul murphy sent this report from the east yorkshire coast where more than 300 whales, dolphins and porpoises have been spotted this year. dolphins, whales and poor policies appear to be thriving of the yorkshire post with numerous sightings last year ——porpoises. the appearances have been carefully recorded. we have a network of surveyors looking out for whales in dolphins and over 30 volunteers have recorded well over 300 individuals sightings of whales an dolphins. that includes making wills. whales

-- this survey would not have been possible without so—called citizen science. hundreds of volunteers who are now helping wildlife organisations to gather huge amounts of data. naturalist craig thomas was one of those lucky enough to spot our humpback whale in the autumn. one of those lucky enough to spot our humpback whale in the autumnm was immediately obvious where the animal was because he was cycling with garrett's overhead that is quite difficult when whales i'm in the area, birds will mail a them hoping to catch fish that we'll make a start. we're not sure if we seeing an increase in whales an dolphins in our area are just more people watching and i suspect it is a mixture of both. more eyes and ears

which is fantastic and you do get more sightings and more recordings. climate change means the marine environment needs more protection than ever in the data from the service will be used to short the strengths and weaknesses of the numerous species that inhabit these waters. now it's time for a look at the weather, with elizabeth rizzini. it is quite good news for the next day or so. very contrasting conditions around today. grey in the south under this cloud but rather england and northern ireland much of scotla nd england and northern ireland much of scotland will see of sunshine around. feels a bit more chilly than yesterday. temperatures ranging from three celsius in the central belt to double figures in the south of england. if you're heading out tonight for new year's eve all that clyde will push its way north—east. the weather should not give you too many problems but there may be a

mess and fog developing towards north—east england in particular stop it will be quite a cold night in the east, particularly eastern scotland. 0therwise dry and cloudy and staying that way till tomorrow morning. grey start to 2020. keep this cloud and the wind will pick up towards the north. the best of any bricks towards north wales and eastern scotland. feeling rather chilly underneath the client still mild in double figures in the south of england.