this is bbc news i'm julian worricker. the headlines at seven o'clock. thousands of people in south—eastern australia are forced to seek refuge on the coast after becoming trapped by advancing bushfires. elsewhere, a terrifying ordeal for fire crews who had to shelter inside their vehicles, surrounded by flames. in baghdad, protestors attack the american embassy in response to us air strikes at the weekend. the former nissan boss carlos ghosn flees to lebanon from japan, where he faces trial over charges of financial misconduct. 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. celebrating the new year — many countries have seen in 2020 with spectacular fireworks displays, while here, there's a promise that tonight's london celebrations will surpass all previous years. well, i don't want to ruin the surprise, but i can say, hand on heart, they'll be the best fireworks london's ever seen. and in half an hour, click presents highlights of its live show in dundee from earlier in the year. good evening. 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, including locals and tourists, prepared to flee into the ocean as a last resort. fire chiefs have warned that they face a "very long, difficult and dangerous night". in new south wales — where over 100 fires are now burning — 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. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, balmoral, new south wales.

there've been violent clashes outside the american embassy in the iraqi capital, baghdad. tens of thousands of militiamen attacked the complex, in response to us air strikes against its members on sunday. president trump has accused iran of orchestrating the violence, and criticised the iraqi government for failing to prevent it. additional us troops have been deployed from kuwait to baghdad to bolster numbers at the embassy. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, reports. chanting. furious crowds and an american embassy, the largest in the world, under siege. protesters and pro—iranian militiamen inside baghdad's protected green zone, venting their anger. attempting to breach the embassy walls. 0ne entrance is pushed open, but the crowd is forced back by tear gas fired from inside. a sentry post is attacked. this is a heavily fortified compound. the soldiers inside seem alert,

but not yet alarmed. fires are lit outside, the air thick with smoke and anti—american slogans. but the crowd is not huge. sources inside the compound say the situation appears to be under control. no—one has been evacuated. directing the protests are some of the country's leading shi'ite militiamen. they are backed by iran and deeply hostile towards america. translation: this embassy has been proved to be an embassy of plotting against iraq, the embassy of spying on iraq and the embassy of running schemes of sabotage in iraq. tensions rose dramatically over the weekend as american warplanes carried out air strikes against military targets in iraq and syria. at least 25 fighters were killed. the us blamed the pro—iranian group kata'ib hezbollah for a rocket attack on friday that killed an american civilian in the northern city of kirkuk.

donald trump points the finger at neighbouring iran. iran killed an american contractor, he tweeted this morning, we strongly responded and always will. now iran is orchestrating an attack on the us embassy in iraq. they will be held fully responsible. he also warned iraq to do more to protect the embassy. but iraq's government is in a bind. the us is still an ally in the fight against so—called islamic state, but its relationship with iran is much closer. the prime minister condemned america's air strikes at the weekend, but when the crowd moved on the embassy this morning, iraqi security forces did not stop them. paul adams, bbc news. earlier i spoke to washington correspondent joan foley about what the reaction has been from america. there has been outright condemnation, as you would expect, any attack on us military personnel or an embassy anywhere in the world, it is sort of the same old song.

the difference here is that there has been a short series of events, whereby the attack on a base in kirkuk which killed one american civilian and injured several us military and iraqi personnel, then very quickly the us decided a specific group was responsible for that, it is an iranian well—known group in iraq. it is a different thing altogether from the lebanese group. they retaliated and there were air strikes on the 29th of december that killed at least 25 of those militia members. and in the range of 50 others, as they have been described, were injured. part of the outpouring today of rage that you are seeing is the idea that, one, this was an attack on iraqi sovereignty, as the prime minister called it. secondly, that some of these injured

were simply bystanders. so, the mood is outright a us right to defend its people and personnel anywhere in the world. and it is a line we have heard before. a 10—year—old girl who was knocked down by an ambulance on an emergency call—out in nottingham has died. shaniqua loftman—smith was hit while walking in the bulwell area of the city three days before christmas. police are appealing for witnesses. the national living wage is to rise by 6.2%, more than four times the rate of inflation. the si—pence rise to £8.72 per hour will come into effect in april. the government says it'll be the biggest ever cash increase to the minimum wage. but small businesses claim they'll need government support to afford it. 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 has been explaining more about mr burgon. the third mp to confirm they are standing to replace tom watson, often on our screens, very loyal tojeremy corbyn. when a lot of the shadow cabinet members leftjeremy corbyn, when the mps deserted him, he stuck by him. and he has tweeted in the last couple of hours this afternoon that... well, in that article that he refers to there, he says abandoning labour's transformational policies would be a mistake. jeremy corbyn should not shoulder the blame, nor should their manifesto for that recent election loss. he said it was a brexit election and the problem was that that triumphed over party allegiances.

the failure was not honouring the referendum and losing the voters' trust that way and therefore they could not be trusted on their manifesto. he says, instead of going back to the future, presumably implying what tony blair did, he says instead they need to retain their popular commitments to end austerity, return rail, mail and water to the public ownership, and that he wants a more interventionist role for the state. so, very much also maybe a continuity corbyn candidate coming out there. he will be standing against dawn butler, the shadow equalities minister, and the birmingham perry barr mp, khalid mahmood. they have both announced they are standing. we are also expecting the shadow education secretary angela rayner to stand and the tooting mp dr rosena allin—khan. when will all this happen? we should find out on monday or tuesday next week when labour's governing body sets out the timetable. the former boss of the car company 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 called "injustice and political persecution".

lebanon said it had no prior warning about his arrival. rupert wingfield hayes' report from tokyo contains flash photography. 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: we didn't know anything about it. it's a complete surprise. we still have all his passports. somehow mr ghosn managed to board a privatejet and last night he landed here, in the lebanese capital beirut. he said he had not fled japanese justice, but escaped from injustice. i am 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. this is a truly extraordinary development in what was already an extraordinary story. japanese prosecutors will say by fleeing, carlos ghosn is admitting his guilt. but many others agree with carlos ghosn and his defence team that the charges against him were essentially politically motivated. and that carlos ghosn‘s real crime was trying to force a merger between a japanese company, nissan, and its french parent, renault. in the 1990s, carlos ghosn 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 have 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. a mother was taken to hospital after she was stabbed three times in front of her child, according to police in london. officers were called yesterday afternoon to a report of a stabbing in in streatham, south london. the 36—year—old was attacked from behind while pushing her child in a pushchair. the man did not speak

when he stabbed the victim, who was was taken to hospital but her injuries are not considered life—threatening or life—changing. the lone suspect is described as a black man, who was around 6ft and wearing dark clothing. there have been no arrests and police officers are appealing to witnesses to come forward. the headlines on bbc news... thousands of people in south—eastern australia have been forced to seek refuge on the coast after becoming trapped by advancing bushfires. thousands of iraqi militiamen have attacked the american embassy in baghdad, angry at us air strikes on theirforces. 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. from tomorrow, all trains in the country should be fully accessible for disabled users.

but around 1,200 carriages won't be — and ten train operators have applied for a temporary exemption from the law. the 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 8000 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. thousands of mixed—sex couples in england and wales are expected to enter into civil partnerships from today. it comes after a long battle against a 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 had always wanted, but until today, had been legally impossible. rebecca steinfeld, charles keidan, and their two young daughters, mark the occasion at chelsea registry office in london. i love you. this wasn't a wedding. they didn't even call it a ceremony. it was the registration of a civil partnership. giving the family the legal and financial protection that

a marriage provides. there are lots of reasons why people don't want to get married. they might have had a previous bad experience of marriage, their own parents marriage, they might have feminist objections like we do. and we feel thrilled and honoured that we have opened up the institution of civil partnership so that everyone can now form one regardless of whether they are in a mixed sex or same—sex relationship. it is just an amazing moment for us, it is the end of a long journey and the start of a new decade and the beginning of my 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 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 partnership was willed incompatible with their right to a family life. 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 and 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 are 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. celebrations to usher in 2020 are taking place in many parts of the world... auckland in new zealand was the first major city to see in the new year and a new decade, with the sky tower at the centre of celebratory fireworks.

in australia, a majorfireworks display in sydney centered on famous landmarks like the harbour bridge and the opera house. north korea got in on the action too, with fireworks lighting up the sky as the crowd watched on. and thailand celebrated with a 1.4 kilometre—long fireworks display along chao praya river. danjohnson has more... a quiet moment to contemplate what's been before embracing what comes next. a new year, a new decade, and new zealand kicked it off with auckland the first major capital to welcome 2020. sydney put on a spectacular,

despite calls to cancel the fireworks because of widespread bushfires. it's a global stage, after all, and the show did indeed go on. a big bong and a tub—thumping soundtrack saw the start of celebrations in japan, the first new year's eve of a whole new era. across the water, kim jong—un‘s resisted too many rocket launches this year, perhaps saving north korea's firepower for this display. and in hong kong, the fireworks echoed the firecrackers of protests that have reverberated through its streets. in london, it will be all eyes on the wheel that has become the icon of a global city and the focus for a nation waiting to see what 2020 brings around. dan johnson, bbc news. pope francis has presided over the year's end celebrations at st peter's basilica.

after celebrating first vespers, the pope greeted pilgrims in st peter's square. he also tweeted. .. let us give thanks to god for his grace, which has sustained us in this past year, and with joy let us raise a song of praise to him. 0ur correspondent charlotte gallagher is in central london ahead of tonight's fireworks. behind me, he london eye will be lit up behind me, he london eye will be lit up behind me. there are barges as well with 10,000 fireworks placed on them and they will be set off at midnight. this has taken months to prepare but they have only had a few hours to get those fireworks onto the london eye. they cannot put it on when people are riding around in it, so there has been a rush to get

thejob finished. earlier it, so there has been a rush to get the job finished. earlier i spoke to the job finished. earlier i spoke to the mayor of london, sadiq khan, and got more details about the display tonight. well, i don't want to ruin the surprise, but i can say, hand on look, we may be leaving the european union, but we're not leaving europe. tonight's fireworks will celebrate us as a global city, european city but next year we are really lucky in london to have the european 2020 finals, seven games, the final, the semifinals and four other games. so there will be a football theme with the fireworks tonight but it will be a great night. yes, so expect a football theme tonight, perhaps some of the three lines being played. we will also have stormzy and the bastille showcasing music. 100,000 people

have been lucky enough to get the tickets to come down to the embankment to watch the show as it goes out. the police are warning that if you have not got a ticket, please do not come down. the area will be full to capacity, so watch it on tv. if you live in london, there are other advantage points across the city where you can get a fantastic view of the fireworks. —— vantage points. thank you for that update. let's go to edinburgh now preparations are under way for the hogmanay celebrations. lorna gordon is there for us. hogmanay celebrations. lorna gordon is there for usm hogmanay celebrations. lorna gordon is there for us. it is the calm before the party. very shortly the street will be gently cleared of people, and then those who are here for the official street party are let in. with me is ed from the organisers. not just party are let in. with me is ed from the organisers. notjust one event, there are three days here in edinburgh. yes, it started last night with the torchlight

procession, 20,000 people walking down the royal mail to kick it. we have just finished the family fireworks show and the next one starts at 7:30pm. it will be an amazing capacity crowd, 75,000 people here. more than ever before? it is the same capacity that has beenin it is the same capacity that has been in place for a number of years. how much organising, what is the biggest challenge of an event the size? i think there is a huge amount of infrastructure and sites and event spaces. it is a real collaboration between ourselves, the event operator and the council, who owi'i event operator and the council, who own the event. and the police, and it isa own the event. and the police, and it is a good challenge and it works well, and it is such a great event, both for scotland but also the uk. it isa both for scotland but also the uk. it is a collaboration, and of course there has been some disquiet running up there has been some disquiet running up to the event this year. some locals a little bit unhappy with the way it has been handled. and the council indeed saying that perhaps

the organisers could have communicated better. what do you say to that? the system that is in place, which is to allow access to residents and as many passes as they want, it has been in place for a long time and was introduced by the council. the wording was agreed on that and how we would communicate that. i think we will always review things and if they felt the wording was wrong we could change that for next year. the overriding thing is that any resident is allowed access, of course they are, to their properties. we have worked hard on that and that system has been in place for years and it will again be in place this evening. many acts on tonight, run me through them? mark ronson headlines the concert. i was at the sound check earlier, amazing. he has in the soundtrack to the fireworks, so he has done a special mix of his biggest hits for the fireworks. we have mark almond, some great scottish bands, cat, idlewild, street performers, over three

hundred st performers, jugglers, acrobats, dancers, stilt walkers. it isa acrobats, dancers, stilt walkers. it is a really animated party and it is a coming together of locals, of which thousands come to this event, thousands. and international visitors, that is what hogmanay is about. it is a community. did you get any sleep ahead of this? how much does it take it a view to do something like this?” much does it take it a view to do something like this? i have not had that much sleep and neither have my crew, it is a real team effort, over 2000 people work on the event. they have all been working incredibly hard. but we are excited to get it going this evening. you have talked about the acts and the street performers but there are the fireworks. yes, they are a big thing. you do not have a better backdrop arguably than the castle and the designers have been working oi'i and the designers have been working on it for months. we have been working with mark ronson in terms of the soundtrack. it will be pretty special.

lorna gordon looking ahead to events in edinburgh and 11.5 hours' time. we remain in scotland with the records... the met office says it's provisionally recorded its highest ever december temperature in the uk. it reached 18.7 degrees celsius at achfary in scotland on saturday. we stay with the weather because darren bett has the forecast. hello, the early days of the new year will bring in some milder air and it will be windy at times. right 110w and it will be windy at times. right now it is quite cold. we'll be have had to clear skies and earlier sunshine across parts of england and scotland. we have more cloud further south, an altogether different working day for wales and much of the midlands and the south of england, that cloud moves northwards. pockets of light rain and drizzle affecting the channel islands. elsewhere, generally dry, quite chilly for the north—east of england and the north—east of

scotland, a touch of frost here. there may be some patches of mist and fog around, too, particularly for yorkshire and then because your. for the first day of 2020, the winds will pick up any north—west of the uk, and that one brings in some pockets of rain for the channel islands, but it should move away. elsewhere, probably dry. lots of cloud, may be brightness at times but the best of the sunshine for the north—east of scotland, where we will be more sheltered from the refreshing breezes. we might make double figures in the north—west of scotla nd double figures in the north—west of scotland and the south—west of england where it should be drier and brighter than today. we tap into some milder air that is coming from the azores on thursday. that is ahead of these weather fronts here. those will bring some rain from the north—west. we will get some outbreaks of rain affecting northern ireland, into scotland that rain could be heavy over the hills of the west of scotland on thursday. and this band of rain heads down towards the west of england and wales later. dry and bright, some sunshine at

times, but a windy day everywhere. strong to gale force