hello this is bbc news. the headlines... at least eight people are killed by bushfires in australia, in the deadliest day this is bbc news. since the wildfire crisis began. the headlines at 2pm... hundreds of homes are destroyed at least eight people and some communities cut off. are killed by bushfires in australia, in the deadliest day two men and a woman are killed since the wildfire crisis began. after a lorry collides with a car in stanwell in surrey on new year's hundreds of homes are destroyed eve. and some communities cut off. the mother of the british teenager found guilty of lying about being raped in cyprus says ..with a couple of isolated communities, where we got reports she believes the resort of ayia napa is unsafe. of injuries and burn injuries to members of the public. we haven't been able to get access in their new year messages, the prime minister says brexit via roads or via aircraft. will mark a ‘new chapter‘ for the uk, while the archbishop it's tough, it was scary. of canterbury urges people you don't really know what to do, to reconnect with each other. even if you've thought about it, it's hard to know what you will actually do or feel at that moment, for sure. two men and a woman are killed after a lorry collides with a car in stanwell in surrey on new year's eve. the mother of the british teenager found guilty of lying about being raped in cyprus says she believes the resort of ayia napa is unsafe.

in their new year messages, the prime minister says brexit will mark a new chapter for the uk, while the archbishop of canterbury urges people to reconnect with each other. for the first time, more than 100 billion music tracks are streamed online in the uk in a single year. and in half an hour, i'll be looking back at the best films of the year, films from around the world from spectacular blockbusters to hidden arthouse gems. that's all in review 2019: the year in film, with me, mark kermode. eight people are known to have died

in australia's bushfires in the past 2a hours — with more missing — in the worst loss of life since the crisis began. more military personnel are on the way to try to protect isolated communities in the south east of the country. many are cut off, without power, and some are running out of water. phil mercer has sent this report. these are extraordinary times in australia. the bushfires have brought terror into the lives of ordinary people. they are devastating and deadly. more lives have been lost and hundreds of homes have been destroyed. you walk around a bit of your house and you go, that was the bedroom, that was where my antiques were from my family history, all of my baby memories from the kids and just everything, just gone. i don't know what i'm going home to, so... ijust hope for the best. it's upsetting to lose your

memories, that very upsetting. memories, that's very upsetting. but you can't dwell on it, you know? if you dwell on it, you'd just be upset all the time and that doesn't get you anywhere, you've got to move on. help is yet to reach some residents who reportedly suffered burns. the authorities say it's been too dangerous to send in rescue teams by road or by air. we have a very real challenge at the moment with a couple of isolated communities, where we've got reports of injuries and burn injuries to members of the public. we haven't been able to get access via roads or via aircraft, it's been socked in or too dangerous and we simply can't access, nor can the people in these areas get out. conditions on new year's day have eased, but the danger remains. dozens of fires continue to burn across several states. bushfires have always been part of the australian story, but officials say this crisis is unprecedented.

dry and windy weather is forecast for saturday and australia will once again brace itself for another onslaught. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. people living in the path of ferocious bushfires in australia, have described the scene as "like the end of the world". it's feared hundreds more homes have been lost, as the fire continues to spread. billy tusker howarth is visiting family in new south wales and described the conditions. it's been tense and it's been, i guess rough in terms of not really know what's happening. we spend a lot of time sitting inside listening to the radio on repeat and trying to understand what's happening around us and even though at the edge of the town, where we are, just down the road was the evacuation centre, so we felt our house personally was quite safe but it didn't feel or look that way outside and you're still aware that,

20 minutes away, people are losing their homes and that's other people in the local community, so it's tough, it was scary. you don't really know what to do, even if you thought about it, it's hard to know what you will actually do or feel at that moment for sure. at that moment for sure. at times like today, you can see it is still smoky but it is nowhere near the red, orange kind of ferocious conditions we saw yesterday but we know that's coming again in a few days, so it means, yeah, thinking through what we'll do in certain circumstances. so our plan, if we were really under risk, would be to leave, so when will we make the decision, where will we go, what will we take? so we sat down as a family of the other day and wrote out answers to those exact questions, to kind of be ready and know what we would do to try and reduce the panic, if that comes up, which i think was really helpful because it also made us feel like we were actually doing something rather than just sitting and waiting.

0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil is in new south wales — she says thousands of people whose homes have been ravaged by the fires are trapped and unable to move from the area. this part of the princes highway is the only access in and out of the devastated areas on the southern coast of new south wales. it's been completely cut off, this is as close as we can get. we are told there is a bushfire further down the road and firefighters are trying to control it, prevent it from coming closer and covering more bushland. what that means, though, is that thousands of people in the areas that have been ravaged by the blazes are still trapped there, unable to move. for example, in the coastal town of batemans bay, people there have been encircled by a ring of fire and they are unable to move anywhere. there are water shortages, food shortages, telecoms are down, power is down. they are unable to communicate with relatives and we saw family members on our way here that were really worried and trying

to get in but are unable to do so. now, the real challenge now is not just to control this huge fire front but also to get people out safely. two men aged 25 and 23 and a woman aged 20 have died following a collision between a lorry and car in stanwell in surrey last night. a fourth person is seriously injured in hospital. 0ur correspondent tolu adeoye gave us the latest from stanwell. yes, desperately sad news to start 2020. we know that this accident happened just before midnight yesterday, on new year's eve, involving a lorry and a car carrying four young people and, this morning, confirmation from the police that two men, as you say, aged 23 and 25, were killed, a woman aged 20. another 25—year—old woman was taken to a london hospital, where she's being treated for serious injuries. now, behind me, you can see where the trees have

been knocked down, where a lorry ended up in a ditch there. the scene, as you can see, has now been cleared. the police say the lorry driver was not injured in the accident but he was taken to hospital as a precaution. no arrests have been made and the investigation is very much continuing into what happened here. we know the next of kin of the victims have been informed but they have not yet been named. a formerjustice minister in cyprus has called for a british teenager — convicted on monday of lying about being gang—raped in the resort of ayia napa — to be given a "very lenient sentence". the teenager's mother has backed calls for tourists to boycott the country. the woman told the bbc that ayia napa — where her daughter had been on a working holiday — was unsafe. the foreign office has expressed what they call "serious concerns" about the case. jon donnison reports. it's two days since the young british woman walked out of a cypriot court having been found guilty of falsely claiming she was raped by 12 men.

her supporters say both the police investigation and the court process were flawed and her lawyers are planning to appeal. now, the 19—year—old's mother has told the bbc of the impact the case has had on her daughter's mental health. her words are read by an actor to protect both of their identities. she's suffering from ptsd. she spends a lot of time with hypersomnia at the moment. that means she's sleeping an awful lot of the day. she sleeps probably 18, 20 hours a day. she's also quite withdrawn, which is very sad for me to see, and she also experiences hallucinations and she needs to get back to the uk to get that treated. that's my absolute primary focus. these are the young israeli tourists who originally faced accusations that they'd raped the young woman. they were freed and allowed to fly home after she retracted the allegation. but she said she only did that because she was put under huge pressure by police questioning when she was vulnerable.

now, her mother is supporting a call for tourists to boycott cyprus. this is not an isolated incident. the place isn't safe. it's absolutely not safe. and if you go and report something that's happened to you, you're either laughed at as far as i can tell, or in the worst case, something like what's happened to my daughter may happen. the foreign office has called the teenager's case deeply disturbing and says it will be speaking to the authorities in cyprus. the cypriot government says it has full confidence in its justice system and courts. jon donnison, bbc news. several senior legal figures in cyprus have signed a letter written to the attorney general costas clerides asking him to intervene in the case, including formerjustice minister kypros chrysostomides. i must admit, it's a pity that this application of the law has led to this result.

we have every sympathy for the young lady. she has been more than enough punished, therefore we suggest and we expect, actually, not suggest, we expect that the court on the 7th of january pronouncing the sentence will be very lenient and maybe issue a very minor penalty so that the young lady can leave cyprus and go back to england. she has already been in detention for four and a half weeks and she has already been prevented from travelling for about five months already. hope and reconciliation are the main themes in a number of today's new year messages. borisjohnson has said that 2020 can allow the country to turn the page on the division and uncertainty of recent years. he's pledged to represent all voters, and said that the new year means the start of a new chapter.

and the archbishop of canterbury has called for the uk to "start healing divisions" as our religion editor, martin bashir reports. it is a challenging day, weather—wise. although this is not his usual habit, the lifeboat rescue station in dover is within the diocese of canterbury, and archbishop justin welby chose to come here to deliver his new year's message. 0k. so, what we need to do, run ahead of that red one and then turn to starboard. 0k. that's it. that the right speed? yeah, you're fine. the station is staffed year round by 70 volunteers. it's notjust a group of people working together. it's a family. the seagoing crew includes a student, a train driver, a chef, an electrician. the youngest is 17, the oldest is 62. my wife made me a lovely christmas morning breakfast, and just as the knife was going into it, the pager went

off again and we were back out to the channel, yeah. justin welby said their commitment to service is the practical application of the most famous parable in the bible. when we hear someone described as a good samaritan, we think about that person taking the time to help another. but it's a story told byjesus about someone taking the risk of reaching out to another who was very different to them. dover also happens to be the closest place in britain to continental europe, and the archbishop concluded his message by inviting all of us to take up the challenge of healing divisions between individuals and communities. let's go for a heroic new year's resolution. let's resolve to reconnect, to reach out to just one person we don't know or from whom we have drifted apart. make that connection.

let's begin cementing our unity one brick at a time. martin bashir, bbc news, dover. the pope has used his first message of the year to defend the rights of women. speaking at a packed mass at st peter's basilica, the pope denounced the abuse of women in modern society and defended women's rights to migrate in search of a better future for their family. before celebrating mass, the pope confessed that he had lost patience with an admirer who grabbed his hand on st peter's square on tuesday. he apologised for what he said was the "bad example" he gave when he slapped the woman's hand twice to break free from her grip. he said, "we lose patience many times — it happens to me too." derbyshire police have begun a double murder investigation after two people were found dead. officers were called to a property in duffield at about 4am this morning

where they discovered the bodies of a man and woman. a man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of two counts of murder. police in hong kong have clashed with pro—democracy protesters during a new year's day march. 0rganisers of the demonstration say that more than a million people took part. police fired tear gas and some protestors responded by throwing petrol bombs. today's demonstations follow clashes with riot police as the new decade began. human chains were formed at major sites across the territory, as people chanted "liberate hong kong, revolution now!" pro—democracy demonstrations gripped hong kong for much of last year. 0ur correspondentjonathan head was there during the protests. he explains what he witnessed. this barricade that is blocking one of the main streets through wan chai in central hong kong is what's left of the first day of protests in the new year, and we saw, well, a big rally filling the streets just a few hours ago, organised by leaders of the protest movement

who've really been behind the anti—government rallies for the last six or seven months and they wanted a big turnout here on the first day of the new year. those people filled the streets ahead, we saw a rally including a broad spectrum of hong kong's population. there were old people, there were families and as that rally went on, after three or four hours, the police then withdrew their permission and declared it no longer legal. at that point, we saw the ha rd core protesters, the young men and women with their black face masks, coming up and taking up positions and building barricades like this. inevitably, at that point, we saw the police coming to clear them out. there were a few confrontations, we have had a little bit of tear gas today, probably a few arrests, all very much in keeping with what we have seen, really, for the last seven months and it is an indication that nothing really has changed in hong kong. the protest movement wanted to remind the government that they still have momentum behind them, they still have a large part of the population that backs their goals. from the government,

we've heard very little this new year apart from yet another expression of regret from chief executive carrie lam and another promise that she will listen, but no sign of any concessions and, so, hong kong starts 2020 very much the same way that it ended 2019. this protest movement goes on and we are expecting to see probably a great deal more of this through the rest of the year. the headlines on bbc news... at least eight people have been killed by bushfires in australia, in the deadliest day since the wildfire crisis began. two men and a woman are killed after a lorry collides with a car in stanwell in surrey on new year's eve. the mother of the british teenager found guilty of lying about being raped in cyprus says she believes the resort of ayia napa is unsafe. paramilitary groups who have been protesting against us air strikes

in iraq have begun to withdraw from the perimeter of the american embassy in baghdad. the demonstration took place amid anger over us air strikes that killed 25 members of the militia — that was in response to attacks on american military targets. jonathan josephs reports. the bitter struggle between the us and iran is once again playing out on the streets of iraq. protesters and iranian—backed militias setting fire to the american embassy in baghdad. as they attack it for a second day. again, they've been pushed back with tear gas and stun grenades. many spent the night camped outside, determined to stand up to the us, which still has thousands of troops in their country. translation: this is not the first time the us have hit us. we will never move from here. i swear on god and my life, until they leave here.

translation: we are holding a sit—in for the souls of our martyrs until the departure of the american occupiers. but america shows no sign of backing down. it's released these images of marines preparing to leave their base in kuwait. around 750 additional soldiers have been deployed to the region. and this group have already arrived at the embassy in baghdad to reinforce its defences. amid his new year celebrations, president trump warned he wouldn't allow a repeat of the 2012 storming of the us consulate in the libyan city of benghazi, when four americans were killed. the marines came in, we had some great warriors come in and do a fantasticjob and they were there instantaneously, as soon as we heard. i use the word immediately, they came immediately and it's in great shape, as you know, this will not be a benghazi. benghazi should never have happened. this will never ever be a benghazi.

president trump blamed iran for the death of an american contractor at an iraqi military base last week. he responded with these air strikes against the iranian backed militia, kataib hezbollah, at the weekend. 25 people were killed. that's drawn strong condemnation from iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei who said president trump is my threats president trump's threats were hollow and that his country would defend its interests. these protests come amid a us—iran relationship that has deteriorated since washington pulled out of the nuclear weapons deal in 2018. and, all the while, iraq finds itself stuck in the middle, trying to help the us see off the so—called islamic state group but, at the same time, trying to protect its relationship with neighbouring iran. north korea's leader kim jong—un has suggested the country could restart nuclear and long—range missile tests. he said north korea was no longer

obliged to suspend those tests, as had been agreed during talks with the us. mr kim made the announcement at a government meeting two days ago — but appears to have cancelled his traditional new year's speech. paul adams reports. is kim jong—un losing patience with diplomacy? no traditional new year's address this time. instead, state television detailed the contents of the speech two days ago in which the north korean leader threatened to unveil a new strategic weapon. north korea, he said, was no longer bound by its promises to halt nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. sanctions have not been lifted, that they are no longer testing or improving their strategic weapons as much as they would like and so this is, in part, a signal to the united states that they don't plan to continue waiting. on top of renewed tensions with iran, it's a new year's

challenge for president trump. he did sign a contract, he did sign an agreement, talking about denuclearisation, and that was signed, number one sentence, denuclearisation, that was done in singapore and i think he's a man of his word, so we're going to find out, but i think he's a man of his word. the president has made much of his relationship with the leader he used to call little rocket man, flattering and praising the north korean dictator over the course of three face—to—face encounters. lastjuly, mr trump became the first us president to set foot inside north korea. it seemed to herald progress. in 2017, the world looked on with dismay as north korea tested a succession of ballistic missiles, each more powerful than the last. when kim jong—un said he would stop, mr trump said the crisis was over, but talks have gone nowhere. mr kim wants america

to lift its crippling sanctions. he said he wanted concessions by the end of the year. he hasn't got them. as the north korean capital saw in the new year, the threat of confrontation loomed once more. mr kim has warned at what he calls shocking actual action and says the united states will pay for the pain sustained by his people. could another test be imminent? paul adams, bbc news. the pacific nation of palau has become the first country to ban sun cream that is harmful to corals and sea life. it covers the sale and use of lotion containing any of ten common ingredients. several other countries have also announced plans to ban the pollutants. for the first time, more than 100 billion music tracks have been streamed online in the uk in a single year. it comes at the end of a decade that saw more of us ditch the cd and embrace the digital download.

0ur entertainment correspondent, colin paterson reports. # these are the moments that i'm going to remember most, yeah. # just got to keep going... oh, how a decade has changed how we consume music. 2010 started withjoe mcelderry‘s the climb at number one. at that stage, cd singles were being phased out as paid—for downloads dominated. # there's always going to be another mountain # i'm always gonna wanna make it move... subscription streaming services for music were so in their infancy that no official figures were collated, and they wouldn't even count for the charts untiljuly 2014. # now the day bleeds into nightfall... fast forward to the end of the decade. 2019, the first year in uk history when more than 100 million when more than 100 billion tracks were streamed. # i was getting kind of used to being someone you loved...

the most listened—to song, lewis capaldi's someone you loved, which was streamed more than 228 million times. that's the equivalent of every person in the uk playing it three and a half times. gennaro castaldo from the bpi says this decade has seen a total transformation in our relationship with music. there has been a huge shift from analogue and physical product through to streaming and digital, although we've reached a point now where we're enjoying the best of all worlds, where we tend to go online and we stream and 75% of us now stream for our day—to—day needs and access to music and discovery, but the beautiful thing is that when we come across an artist or album that we love, we'll actually still go out to our local store or online and buy that album on cd still, box set, and increasingly on vinyl as well. # it's comin' round like a shock wave... the result is that we as a nation

now stream 30 times more music than we did in 2012, when the figures were first compiled. however, a couple of old school oddities remain. sales of vinyl lps increased for a 12th consecutive year, with liam gallagher's why me? why not topping the year—end charts, but to put that in context, it only shifted 29,000 copies on vinyl, far fewer than will see him injune at his hometown heaton park show in manchester. # christmas time, christmas time, merry christmas. # and a happy new year... and then there's the cassette revival. sales have increased by 600% in the last three years, with acts such as robbie williams choosing to release on their favourite ‘80s format. # so here it is, merry christmas... the rather large caveat —

cassette sales account for 0.1% of overall recorded music, so things are not going to be spooling back that quickly any time soon. thousands of people have gathered in central london today for the annual new years' day parade. 9,000 performers from around the world are taking part, entertaining the crowds lining the route around the capital. the duke and duchess of sussex have released a new photograph of their son archie, in a new year's message posted on instagram. the picture of archie, who's now seven months old, came at the end of a compilation summarising his parents' year. here he is being held by his dad, with mum meghan likely to be behind the camera. now it's time for a look at the weather. all overall. don't you just hate creative people!

this is the ebb and flow, people spreading their happy new year wishes to all and sundry and some of you will probably think it has been a fairly cheery start to the new year. the favoured few have seen skies like this, the north—eastern court of scotland, eastern side of the pennines has done quite well and generally the north of england today and one or two other sports. it hasn't been that way then into the far south—west, murky and really miserable and overnight, not a great deal changes. some keep the gaps and therefore temperatures and dribble away, especially the central parts of the british isles. the weather front will bring a change to the weather across all parts eventually but through the course of thursday, we will see the rain initially into scotland, northern ireland and increasingly the north—west of england in towards wales. as a compulsive rain getting laid on into the north—west of scotland and wherever you spend the day it will bea wherever you spend the day it will be a gusty old do. a further survey,

the driver you are likely to stay through thursday and with the south and south—west illegal steady wind —— gusty wind, railways could lead more of us will stay in double 00:29:13,885 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 figures. —— more of us.