because according to various authorities, the main fireworks display, the annual display, has been cancelled for security concerns but as you saw a moment ago, there we re but as you saw a moment ago, there were hints of fireworks beginning to show. let's see what happens.

serene music. so, in hong kong, 2020 has struck.

you can see the laser displays, the fireworks have begun, the music and various buildings, spectacularly illuminated. what's not entirely clear at this point is whether this is the exact display that was previously planned. with a heavy police presence and talk of human chains forming at major sites across the territory, the annual firework display, we were told, had been cancelled because of police warnings about security threats. it may be that you're not watching what had been planned in advance but clearly there is a spectacular acknowledgement of the turn of the year, nonetheless. those are the scenes live in hong kong as 2020 strikes in that part of the world, at the same time as it does in beijing, taipei and other major cities. we may be able to show you pictures from their later.

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, 4000 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 theirfire 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. 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 ghosn 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. carlos ghosn was born in brazil to parents of lebanese descent. in the late 19905 he helped save french car—maker renault. in the 20005, 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. well, here with the latest is our economics correspondent andrew walker. this is quite extraordinary. absolutely. it's hard to... i can't think of any precedent for a major international business figure, and let's be clear, i don't think there isa let's be clear, i don't think there is a bigger name in the global motor industry, one of the biggest

industries on the planet, there is no precedent for someone being arrested in this way, and then fleeing the country... one couldn't say exactly like a common criminal, firstly because he protests his innocence, but also it must have taken considerable innocence, but also it must have ta ken considerable resources innocence, but also it must have taken considerable resources to organise this kind of flight from the country, from under the noses of the country, from under the noses of the japanese authorities. without a passport because they'd been taken away. taken away but it's possible to have more than one passport for a particular country. you may want to have a passport in hand while another is with the embassy to get a visa. maybe his authorities and lawyers thought they had his passport spite reports from beirut suggest that he came in on a french passport and using an identity card. you mentioned the stature of this man. his business pedigree is extraordinary. absolutely, yep. he

took over at nissan and renault at a time when nissan was really in serious difficulty, losing money, building up debt. there were some big questions over the security of its future. he did a lot of things that were pretty painful, reducing costs, shedding workers, closing factories and changing the relationships with other japanese businesses in the supply chain. the company came out of it in reasonable shape and it has taken a significant role in looking to the next stage in the evolution of the global motoring industry which i'm sure we'll have electric vehicles as an absolutely central element in it. mr ghosn was an important figure in that for nissan, which has the nissan leaf, which is going to be key in the next stage of development. he denies the accusations but what are the authorities saying that he was

allegedly doing wrong? that he misrepresented his earnings to the japanese stock market and that he had also misused company assets. the suggestion was there was inappropriate use of company resources to fund some of the properties, personal properties he owned. he had a number of personal residences in paris, rio dejaneiro, tokyo, amsterdam. and also suggestions that he financed family holidays. he denies all these improprieties but that's the core of the allegations against him. also suggestions that he used company resources to deal with a problem, a financial problem he had with some derivative transactions during the financial crisis, basically to ride through some losses that he'd made. all of this is denied. in doing what he's done and saying what he's said, he's done and saying what he's said, he's raised serious questions about the japanese judicial system. yes,

the japanese judicial system. yes, the suggestion, and he's not the only person to have said this, is that the criminal justice only person to have said this, is that the criminaljustice system in japan is very much weighted against the defendant. the conviction rates are very high. prosecutors do have extraordinary freedom to keep people in detention for long periods, and persist in asking questions that you couldn't get away with here if you we re couldn't get away with here if you were a prosecutor. thank you. 0ur middle east correspondent quentin somerville is in beirut. this is where carlos ghosn has gone. what is being said about it there? lebanese authorities say that he arrived by a privatejet lebanese authorities say that he arrived by a private jet on sunday, that he entered the country legally using a french passport and his lebanese id card. how he got out of japan, they‘ re lebanese id card. how he got out of japan, they're shrugging their shoulders and saying, we don't know,

that's not our concern. they say that's not our concern. they say that he's there illegally and that's the end of the matter. the lebanese media —— they say he is there legally. the lebanese media say that ghosn was smuggled in an instrument case that was played injapan. they then got him onto the private jet. they say that this plot was orchestrated by private security contractors, some of them former special forces operatives. now that he's there, because of the lack of any sort of agreement betweenjapan and lebanon, presumably he stays put? unless he decides to vanish again. he's pretty safe here. carlos ghosn was born in brazil. his grandfather was lebanese and moved to brazil many years ago. he's very

much seen as one of 11 on‘s success stories, despite the fact that he's gone through quite considerable legal and financial troubles. they've even put his face on a postage stamp. when he travels around town he has an escort from the security services. he is well plugged into the lebanese political elite and that will give him a lot of protection. especially as there is no extradition treaty with japan. japan isa is no extradition treaty with japan. japan is a country that gives a lot of money to live and on but if you're putting a man's face on a postage stamp, you're going to think twice about giving up, i'd say. that's where i was going to go in terms of whether there is any leveraged, pressure, anything that could arise in the coming weeks and months, given that the japanese are presumably angry and rather embarrassed by this? indeed. and also my carlos ghosn has been trapped in japan for about also my carlos ghosn has been trapped injapan for about a year now. for the past few months in

lebanon, since october, there have been countrywide protests against corruption, against the political elite and cronyism and against a burgeoning economic crisis. and the feeling among some of those people on the street will be, why are we letting a man who is accused of enormous financial crimes back into the country? carlos ghosn may have been spoken about by some in lebanon asa been spoken about by some in lebanon as a potential saviour, a possible presidential candidate, but this is a country in crisis. so he might not get the full welcomed that he perhaps expected here. thank you. the headlines on bbc news. 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. sport, and for a full roundup, from the bbc sport centre, here's 0lly. there's finally some good news for england ahead of the second test against south africa that starts on friday in cape town. 0llie pope says he's "ready to go" after recovering from the illness that has affected most of the squad. he, chris woakes and jack leach sat out the first test defeat, three of 11 players who've been hit by a sickness bug. couldn't have come at a worse time, really, with the test match, but luckily feeling all right now. been feeling good for the last few days, so, yeah, i'm on the mend and ready to go. i was a bit more feverish. for the first two days, i sort

ofjust stayed in bed, really. i think probably caught it off broady and jof and those guys who missed about a week of the warm—up games, which wasn't ideal. it swept through pretty much the whole camp, so there's not much we could have done about it. the manchester united manager, 0le gunnar solskjaer, says he has money to spend in the january transfer window but won't buy anyone just for the sake of it, with the worry that he could upset the team. i am optimistic we can keep players fit. and if the right ones become available we do have the resources. and i do have the backing from the board but it is also about getting the right ones, it has to be, there is no point suddenly thinking, bringing someone else in nowjust for the sake of three orfour months. if that can disrupt any... not good feeling in the group, but the chemistry in the group because the chemistry

is really good. the west ham captain mark noble has backed david moyes to turn things around. there has been a mixed response from hammers fans to the scot‘s return to the club. he helped keep them up two years ago but was then replaced by manuel pellegrini, who was sacked on saturday, with the club one point above the relegation zone. noble says moyes is the best person for the job and brought out the best in the players in his first spell in charge, so everyone should support him. ian holloway is the new manager of league 2 side grimsby, he'll also have shares in the club and take a place on the board. he led blackpool and crystal palace into rhe premier league but his last managerialjob was with qpr last year. he will take charge with the club 21st in league two and without a win since september. some arrows for you.

gerwyn price and peter wright have kissed and made up after their bad—tempered semifinal at the pdc world darts championship. both men goaded each other on the oche and price refused to shake hands after losing. price took to social media today. he went on to apologise for not shaking wright's hand, saying "i should've bit my tongue". wright, who won six sets to three, has also apologised for his conduct. he said he was a bit of a clown. he'll face reigning champion michael van gerwen in tomorrow's final. fallon sherrock, who last week became the first woman to win a match at the pdc world championship, has withdrawn from the bdo women's world championship next week. her decision comes after the bdo announced that they'd be reducing prize money following poor ticket sales. she says that was a factor.

maria sharapova will make her comeback from a shoulder injury in next week's brisbane international. it's kept her out for almost a year, with her ranking dropping to 133. the tournament is a warm—up event for the australian open, the first grand slam of the new year. five—time grand slam champion sharapova last played a competitive match in the first round of the us open in august. rhys webb has signed a two—year deal to rejoin the 0spreys from next season, which could see him back in the wales side. the scrum half has been at toulon, who have agreed to release him from the final year of his contract forfamily reasons. he left 0spreys last year to join the french side for three years, which ruled him out of international test selection, but his return makes him available to new wales coach wayne pivac. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website.

just some news coming in from the met office, some breaking news about a possible new record, high temperature for december. 18.7 degrees was recorded in scotland on the 28th of december. it will be quality controlled. they must carry out further checks to make sure the equipment got the figure right but if validated it would be the highest temperature officially recorded in the uk during december. 18.7 degrees on the 28th of december. the united states is expected to temporarily send additional troops to its embassy in baghdad, following violent demonstrations outside the compound.

crowds of demonstrators attacked the american embassy in baghdad, during a protest against us air strikes on an iraqi militia group. with me now is bbc middle east analyst alan johnston. a bit more context firstly. what is behind this? it was a dramatic day in the heart of baghdad. it began with funerals of iraqi military men who had been killed on sunday in us air strikes who had been killed on sunday in us airstrikes —— iraqi militia men. after the funerals, they went over the bridge to the tigris, to the us embassy which is in the green zone in the heart of the city. normally difficult to penetrate this small army of militiamen seems to be able to walk through the checkpoint, suggesting official blessing for this. as the militiamen gathered at the gates, you can imagine the

scene, chancing anti—american slogans, throwing stones. eventually two thick columns of black smoke rising above the compound. the guard post had been set on fire. it seems that dozens of protesters had managed to scale one of the outer walls, getting into a reception area before forces defending the compound fired tear gas, apparently dispersing them and then there seem to bea dispersing them and then there seem to be a winding down of this. as we speak i think there are some protesters outside the embassy but the situation seems to have calmed down. we mentioned in the introduction the american reaction so far. this plays into the wider narrative of relations between the us and iran. those acute tensions between america and iran, very much in the background to this. over the last two months or so, americans we re last two months or so, americans were coming under attack in bases that they use in iraq and they

blamed one particular iraqi militia group backed by iran for this and on sunday in those strikes in which dozens sunday in those strikes in which d oze ns of sunday in those strikes in which dozens of iraqi militiamen were killed or wounded, the americans we re killed or wounded, the americans were sending a signal, saying that if provoked like that they would hit ha rd if provoked like that they would hit hard at iran's proxies in iraqi. we might be able to show a tweet from donald trump illustrating what he's saying to the millions of people in iraq who want freedom and don't want to be dominated and controlled by iran. clear where he's coming from. as always! what he's alluding to there is that we've had months of anti—government protests in iraq with demonstrators making clear that they are very much against the large amount of influence that iran has on the iraqi political system. we've had two cases of iranians consulates

being attacked in iraqi cities. what mrtrump is saying, being attacked in iraqi cities. what mr trump is saying, if you want iran out, rise up against them, effectively. and perhaps they will be iraqis who are quietly pleased that the americans have struck against these iran backed militia groups but doubtless there are many iraqis who don't have any good feeling whatsoever to america. i'm sure many iraqis feel that the iranians and americans have brought them a lot of trouble over the yea rs. them a lot of trouble over the years. information coming in from the pentagon. it talks about having taken appropriate force protection actions to ensure the safety of american citizens, sending additional forces, american citizens, sending additionalforces, as we american citizens, sending additional forces, as we said, to support personnel. it says as in all countries, they rely on host nation forces to assist in protection of personnel in the country and they call on the government of iraq to fulfil its international responsibilities to do so. it says the us supports the iraqi people and

a free, sovereign and prosperous iraq. a difference in terms of what they say about the people and what they say about the people and what they say about the people and what they say about the government. that's right, the americans will have looked at events around their embassy with grave concern but there may be yet more to come. those angry militia men have promised that the date of sunday will be avenged and that they will hit back —— that the dead of sunday. i'm sure that in the bases used by americans across iraq, those us service personnel are going to be ona those us service personnel are going to be on a high state of alert and it cannot be ruled out that the militiamen might launch attacks which would be even more serious than what we've seen in baghdad today. thank you. 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. the government has announced that the national living wage will go up in april for workers over the age of 25. rising by 6.2%, the living wage from april will be £8.72 an hour — that's an increase of 51p an hour on the current rate. there's also a rise to the minimum wage for 21 to 2a years, going up to £8.20, an increase of 6.5%. 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 labour mp richard burgon has announced that he will be standing to be deputy leader of the labour

party. the mp for east leeds and shadowjustice secretary made the announcement on twitter this afternoon. 0ur political correspondent mark lobel is here with me now. this is the vacancy left by tom watson. that's right, in november that explosive moment when he quit the party, for personal reasons, when campaigning begun. the party, he said it was the brutality and hostility in the party that forced him out. step forward the shadow justice secretary richard burgon. the third mp to an ounce to replace tom watson. he stuck byjeremy corbyn and has been tweeting this afternoon that after discussions with mps and party members...