sta rt syne plays. new york new york plays. start spreading the news. i'm leaving today. i want to be a part of it. new york, new york. these many people filling times square and many people arrived very early to get their view. let's have a listen vagabond shoes. a longing to stay. in. 11, ten, nine, eight, seven, right through the very heart of it. six, five, four, three, two, one! new york, new york. i want to wake cheering and applause. auld lang up new york, new york. i want to wake up in new york, new york. i want to wake upina new york, new york. i want to wake up in a city that never sleeps. and find i am king of the hill. top of the heap. these little town blues. syne plays. new york new york plays. i'm melting away. —— are melting

away. i'll make a brand new start of it. in old new york. if i can make it. in old new york. if i can make it there. i'll make it anywhere. it's up to you. new york. new york. new york, new york. i want to wake up new york, new york. i want to wake up in new york, new york. i want to wake upina new york, new york. i want to wake up in a city that doesn't sleep. and find i am a number one. top of the list. king of the hill. a number

one. these little town blues! are melting away. i'm gonna make a brand new start of it. in old new york. and... ifi new start of it. in old new york. and... if i can make it there. i'm gonna make it anywhere. it's up to you, new york, new york. new york!

cheering and applause. celebrations in times square as the united states, the east coast of the united states, the east coast of the united states, brings in the new year. we saw that waterford crystal ball dropped to mark 2020 had begun. music was auld lang syne and then very quickly into frank sinatra's new york, new york, of course, you can see the mayor their greeting people, there is i can see the mayor their greeting people, there is! million people packed into the square and millions around the united states watching as well. you saw a lot of the confetti and streamers and ticketek being dropped, apparently one ton of

confetti thrown into the air during that celebration —— ticker tape. it looks like we have lost that connection but that was new york celebrating new year's eve and a new decade but those celebrations have been taking place around the world, many cities holding spectacular firework displays to welcome in the new decade. the celebrations in sydney went ahead, despite calls for it to be cancelled due to australia's bushfire crisis. and tens of thousands of people gathered in london to watch the fireworks over the river thames and hear big ben chime for the first time after a year of silence. gareth barlow reports. cheers on top of copacabana beach, a carnival of colour, new year brazilian—style. big ben bongs.

meanwhile, in london, big ben welcomed in the new decade, with the iconic london eye sparkling on the south bank. in france, saluts and salutations. parisians partied along the champs—elysees. the arc de triomphe triumphantly hailing 2020 had arrived. and in dubai, the world's tallest building, the burj khalifa, was transformed into a tower of lights and pyrotechnics. it was a similar sight in taiwan as taipei 101 sparked

into a kaleidoscope of colour against an inky night sky. as parts of australia are ablaze amid relentless wildfires, a political firestorm focused on sydney's display, but the fireworks did go off over the city's harbour bridge. bright lights amid dark days. and in scotland, an alternative take on new year's celebrations — a flaming, spinning spectacular, you shouldn't try at home. gareth barlow, bbc news. just taking you back to new york times square is around i million

people there are celebrating new year's, it just hit people there are celebrating new year's, itjust hit new york on the east coast of the united states, lots of people enjoying the ball drop at the stroke of midnight there. they would have been gathering for many, many hours to get a good view and we saw some fireworks there as well. people i'm sure would be celebrating into the night for new year's in the united states. and if you want to catch up with how the world have been celebrating the beginning of the new year, you can go to our website bbcnews.com. you can see what has been happening around the world. as well as the world leaders's new year's message. including, of course, from london — the new year message from the uk's prime minister boris johnson. that's at bbcnews.com. the united states has announced the immediate deployment of 750 troops to the middle east after militiamen and their supporters attempted to storm the american embassy in baghdad. the demonstrators were angered by us air strikes on sunday which targeted

an iranian—backed militia group in iraq and syria, killing at least 25 people. our 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. one entrance is pushed open, but the crowd is forced back by tear gas fired from inside. the sentry post is attacked. but 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 militia 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 embassy is not thought to be in any immediate danger but american reinforcements have already arrived. us marines, part of a special crisis response unit, making the shortjourney from a base in nearby kuwait. paul adams, bbc news. more later on that in the programme. both relation between iran and the united states. —— those relations between iran and the united states. the australian authorities have confirmed that seven people died on tuesday in bushfires that have ravaged the south—east of the country this week. more than a dozen emergency level fires are burning across a 500km stretch spanning two states — from batemans bay in new south wales to bairnsdale in victoria. the flames are being fanned by extremely hot and windy conditions.

anne clark has been forced to evacuate from her farm on the new south wales south coast with her family. i asked her to explain what made her decide to flee. we are actually literally evacuating now out of the area where ourfarm is. yesterday we could not do that. we had an emergency warning coming from the rural fire service very early in the morning and we could evacuate so, we are very near the beach, we packed our bags and got ready to go to the beach, basically. but it was genuinely terrifying. it was like the day never happened yesterday — there was no dawn, it was just red and and dark and smoky the whole day, and we did not know what was going to happen. it was very, very movable and very scary. do you have any news on the situation at your farm, in your property? yeah, well, we'vejust left now. today is a much easier day. a southerly wind came through so we were actually saved at the farm yesterday. very fortunately, although, of course, that means that other people were not so lucky. it was coming directly, you know,

in our direction and the southerly came through so pushed the fires away for now, so we had a safe moment today to leave, but we're not sure howlong that will last so we've decided to leave. —— but we're not sure how long that will last so we've decided to leave. can you describe what those fires were like as you were leaving? i know it is very difficult and frightening... yeah, today is pretty, you know, today a calm day...the fire is still hitting...but it's relatively sedate and certainly a smoky day but not like yesterday — it was very scary and very dark. we woke up to the sound of burnt leaves falling on the roof, like the pitter patter of rain but it was black — absolutely black — and the sky was blood red and we just did not know what was going to happen. australia and the state

of new south wales are relatively used to bushfires but have you seen anything quite like this before? this is extraordinary. it's so dry. we've got dams on our farm that have never been dry, that are dry this year so it means there is just no surface water, so no firefighting can be done in a way because there is nothing to fight the fires with. the bush is extraordinarily dry and it is going up in a way that people just have not seen it like that before. what are your plans now in terms of evacuating and staying safe until you can go back to the property? —— and a clerk there. —— anna clark. the authorities in lebanon say the former nissan boss, carlos ghosn, entered the country legally. mr ghosn was on bail injapan, awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges, and his passports had been confiscated. reports in lebanon suggest a group of musicians who played at his house in tokyo smuggled him out in an instrument case.

rupert wingfield—hayes has more. 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 mr ghosn 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.

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 mr 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. today in nissan... 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. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the photographer who is helping foreign workers find love in singapore. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today. and then we'll be in france

and again, it will be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. reporter: it was just good? no, fantastic! that's better! big ben strikes the hour this is bbc news. the latest headlines: revellers around the globe have rung

in the start of a new decade, with spectacular firework displays lighting up the skies. the us is sending reinforcements to help defend its embassy in baghdad, having repelled an attack by protesters angry about american airstrikes. let's stay with that story now. president trump has been speaking about troop deployments. this will not be a benghazi. benghazi should never have happened. this will never, ever be a benghazi. but we have some of our greatest warriors there. they got in there very quickly. as soon as we saw there was a potential problem they got in and there was no problem whatsoever. they also want to thank the iraqi government, they really stepped up. i spoke to the prime minister today, i thank you. but they stepped up very nicely. professor abbas milani is director of the iranian studies programme

at stanford university. he told me what he thought of the latest plans. i've think it's fairly clear that the groups that were directly involved in these attack are very, very close to iran. they would not do anything like this without abbas milani's prior approval. i think there is a direct link. a paper in iran, which is a spokesman for them, in october. he said the way out these demonstrations, that they thought was instigated by the us, is the occupation of the us embassy. and said the same way we got rid of the us by occupying their embassy a0 years ago, the young fighters in iraq should do the same. it is a complicated picture that's

led up to this point. we've had a few incidents in the last week or so. but at its core, is this essentially a proxy war that's developing between iran and the us in iraq? or is it still very much at the diplomatic stage? i think it is a proxy war. and i think iran needed this confrontation because the headlines, both in iraq and around the world in the last few weeks have been very much detrimental to iran. in iraq, there were massive demonstrations against iran, there was a boycott of iranians goods. ayatollah sistani, easily the most influential shi'ite cleric in iraq had issued statements that were aimed at iran, asking iran to stay out of iraqi politics. all of that has now changed. the other headline that was bothering the iranian regime was about the regime's brutality domestically. a0 days ago there were massive demonstrations in iran, and the regime has killed several hundred demonstrators, arrested several thousand. those were headlines that needed

to be off the first pages, and this has completely changed the discourse. it has changed the discourse in iraq. ayatollah sistani just issued a statement, this time clearly first and foremost against the united states. he then goes on to say everybody should stay out of iraq. but they want to change the discourse, the iranian regime, and by instigating these two groups to attack, they succeeded. professor abbas milani there. now to a small business in singapore helping migrant workers find their perfect match. the firm's found success by doing things the old fashioned way to suit a culture of arranged marriages.

new year celebrations have been taking place around the world, with many cities holding spectacular firework displays to welcome in the new decade. a short time ago, celebrations in new york began. a very happy new year wherever you are. we leave you with these pictures.

hello. we've ended 2019 on a fairly quiet note. the best of the sunshine through new year's eve was across northern and eastern england, parts of scotland we saw some spectacular sunsets to end the year and the decade. and this quieter theme continues through new year's eve underneath this area of high pressure. but notice that the isobars are closer together across northern ireland and scotland, so, a windier day here. and also, a cloudier day across the uk to start 2020. that cloud could be thick enough for the odd patch of drizzle. for most it's mainly dry through daylight hours with some brightness or sunshine across eastern counties of scotland, north—east england, perhaps north wales for a time and maybe into east anglia, too. light or gentle winds for most away from the western and northern isles of scotland, where the winds will be strengthening through the day, perhaps gusts of 40—50 miles an hour. still, quite a cool feel to the day across the uk, 5—9 celsius, the top temperature, perhaps 10—11 for northern scotland and south—west england. cloud cover stays with us through the evening and overnight.

again we could see some patchy drizzle. for most it's dry, although rain will start to approach the far north—west of scotland and the west of northern ireland as we head towards thursday morning. but underneath the cloud cover, temperatures are going to stay above freezing. and actually, as we go through thursday, it is a milder day. these yellow, and in places orange, colours just indicating the milder air flooding across the uk. but with it comes a set of fronts, and that's going to bring some wetter, windier weather initially across scotland and northern ireland, and slowly it slides its way south and eastwards through the day, but weakening as it does. but potentially some very heavy rain across the highlands of scotland, maybe 40—50 millimetres here, gusty winds as well. this front then slides its way south and eastwards, getting into northern england, parts of wales, south—west england, driest the further south and east you are, but some gusty winds, perhaps 50—60 miles an hour for northern and western scotland and 30—110 miles an hour quite widely. so it's a wet, blustery day across northern and western parts of the uk, but mild for most, it will be in double figures. doesn't last long as those fronts push their way south and eastwards, behind it we start to see the blue colours returning. so, we're back in the colder air as we go into friday. but what that also means is clearer conditions, much more in the way of sunshine.

cloud and rain clearing away from south—east england, some showers peppering the north of scotland, perhaps wintry in nature, but for much of the uk, on friday we'll end the week dry with much more sunshine. but it will be feeling a little bit colder again. as for the weekend, it's looking mainly dry. there'll be some spells of sunshine, little bit milder but potentially turning wetter and windier into next week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: revellers around the globe have rung in the start of a new decade with firework displays held in london and other major cities. and in new york around 1 million people watched as the city's traditional new year's ceremony, the ball drop, took place in times square. the united states is to send more troops to protect its embassy in baghdad which has been attacked by thousands of protestors,

angry at american air strikes. president trump has blamed the attack on iran. the australian authorities have confirmed that a third person has died in bushfires that have ravaged the south—east of the country this week. more than a dozen emergency level fires are still burning across a 500—kilometre stretch spanning two states. those are the latest