this is bbc news. the headlines at 4pm... bushfires have killed at least eight people in south—eastern australia since monday and destroyed more than 200 homes. 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. 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 backs calls for tourists to boycott the country. 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 heal the divisions of recent years. # i was getting kind of used to being someone you loved.

for the first time, more than 100 billion music tracks are streamed online in the uk in a single year. join us, the brexitcast gang, in halfan hour to look back at the year that was in the world of brexit. 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 my 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'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've 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. our 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.

three people were killed and a fourth seriously injured in a crash involving a car and a lorry on new year's eve. the accident happened in stanwell in surrey. our news correspondent tolu adeoye is there for us now. tell us what is known about what happened here. horrendous news for the start of 2020, it was around 11:40pm last night, new year's eve, when this accident happened involving a lorry and a car carrying four young people. in the early hours of this morning, surrey police confirmed three people were killed, two men aged 23 and 25 and a woman who was 20 years old. we also know a second woman was taken to a london hospital where she is being treated for serious injuries. if we look behind me, the scene has been cleared but you can see where the trees have been flattened, we

understand the lorry ended up on the other side of the road in the longford road river which isjust over that bank. and what is known about the lorry driver? we understand the lorry driver wasn't injured in the accident, but was taken to hospital as a precaution. this afternoon, we have had it confirmed that the lorry belongs to the air services provider 0nata. it is an industrial area close to heathrow airport and the company has a base just a heathrow airport and the company has a basejust a couple heathrow airport and the company has a base just a couple of hundred metres further down the road. no arrests have been made in relation to the collision, police are very much still investigating. we know the next of kin of the victims have been informed about what happened but their identities have not yet been revealed. 0k, thank you very much for that. 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 a formerjustice minister in cyprus has called 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. john 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 i9—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'ad 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. 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 theirfamily. before celebrating mass, the pope confessed that he had lost patience with a woman 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 arrested on suspicion of murder remains in custody. detectives say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths. 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. though the gathering was largely peaceful, violence broke out in some areas and police fired tear gas. some protestors responded by throwing petrol bombs. today's demonstations follow clashes with riot police as the new decade began. police say around 400 people

were arrested over protests at the turn of the new year. pro—democracy demonstrations have gripped hong kong for much of last year. 0ur correspondent jonathan 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. paramilitary groups who have been protesting against us air strikes in iraq have

withdrawn 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 attacked 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, where 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 blames 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'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. the headlines on bbc news... bushfires have killed at least eight people in south—eastern australia since monday and destroyed more than 200 homes.

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 backs calls for tourists to sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. we start with the new year's day feast of football. brighton earned a draw against chelsea, thanks to a stunning late equaliser and jack grealish scored a goal to remember for aston villa, which proved the difference in their win over burnley. lydia campbell reports. at the turn of the last decade, aston villa were on their way to a sixth—placed finish in the premier league. now they lie in the relegation zone in need of a new year boost. jack grealish thought he had founded ten minutes in but var had its own say.

wesley offside in the build—up. but the brazilian made amends soon after, driving home through nick pope to give villa a deserved lead. and thenjack grealish did get his goal. no var intervention this time. villa have been known to surrender leads this season and a chris wood header ten minutes before the end set up a nervy ending. but they did manage to hold on and have leapt out of the relegation zone for now. in brighton, cesar azpilicueta gave chelsea the lead with a bundled finish. and it looked like that would be enough for lampard's men until an early contender for goal of the decade from alireza jahanbakhsh, forcing chelsea to share the points. three matches into the second half in the premier league. newcastle a re newcastle are losing at home to leicester. ayoze perez, and james maddison.

danny ings scoring for southampton. and no 2—1 to watford. in just over an hour's time, david moyes returns as west ham manager — as his side host bournemouth. and the big one this evening, arsenal versus manchester united at the emirates. lots of games in the football league too. in the championship, there are ten games today. earlier, millwall beat luton 3—1... they went behind, but three goals in a quick—fire spell in the second half — including this cracker from connor mahoney — moved them into the playoff spots before the other kick offs. luton lose their fifth match in six games. and could finish the day bottom of the table. in the championship matches starting at three... sheffield wednesday and preston are hoping tojump back above millwall, and finish the day in the top six.

the one to watch though is top of the table leeds, away at west brom. both sides are level on points, with leeds ahead on goal difference. that kicks off in less than an hour. jofra archer is a doubt for england's second test against south africa which starts in cape town on friday. the bowler is suffering with an elbow injury. he took a total of six wickets in the first test wickets in the first test which england lost — 11 players were hit by a sickness bug which affected preparations for that series opener. all players were well enough to train this morning. well, the matches in the current south africa—england series are , of course, five—day games but, yesterday, the england and wales cricket board "cautiously" gave its support to four—day tests — as a possible way of easing the strain on players and the international schedule. this month, the international cricket council is going to discuss bringing in four—day tests starting in 2023 . everyone has got to look at the best

way to preserve test cricket, it is the best form of the game and how can we maintain that and keep moving the game on, if that is the option of moving it to four days, i think it has to be looked at. i like it that it is five days, i think when you get the fantastic test match that finishes on day five with all three results possible, there is nothing else really like that in cricket, but, as with everything, times change, things change and the game has to evolve with that, so i think everyone has to be very open to change if that is what is needed. that's all the sport for now. you can keep up—to—date on the bbc sport website. 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. 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 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 hmv or indie 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. millions of people across the uk have been celebrating the start of a new year and a new decade, with fireworks and street parties. in london, thousands of people lined the thames, as big ben chimed 12 times to mark

the start of the new year. in edinburgh, up to one hundred thousand people were thought to have attended the hogmanay celebrations in the capital. in a new year message, borisjohnson said the uk was beginning a "new chapter" and promised to represent everyone, on all sides of the brexit divide. thousands of people have gathered in central london today for the annual new years' day parade. 9,000 performers from around the world have been taking part, from piccadilly to parliament street in westminster. now it's time for a look at the weather with phil avery. hello. at its best, the day really not too bad at all, there are some decent gaps in the cloud across the north of wales, the north of england and north—eastern quarter of scotland. elsewhere, a lot of cloud but a fairly settled start to the new year, although quite breezy across the north—western quarter,

a lot of isobars on that chart. 0vernight, some of the gaps may well persist, particularly to the eastern side of the pennines, the north—eastern quarter of scotland. if that's the case, temperatures will dribble away. not overly cold for the time of year and many of you will not be scraping the cars first up on thursday but the dramatic change on thursday is that we will see not one, but to weather fronts affecting but two weather fronts affecting northern and western parts of the british isles on what is going to be quite a noticeably breezy day across many parts, a lot of cloud again ahead of the weather fronts, you see the extent of the rain into the afternoon eventually rocking up into parts of wales. generally speaking, the further south and east you are, the drier your day will be. take care, goodbye. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... bushfires have killed at least eight people in south—eastern australia since monday and destroyed more than 200 homes. two men and a woman are killed

after a lorry collides with a car