this is bbc news, i'm rachel schofield. the headlines at 8pm. us troops kill iran's top military commander in an air strike, general qassim suleimani was tehran‘s strategic mastermind. iran said the air strike was the us's biggest mistake in the region and promised to avenge the general‘s death. president trump said qassim suleimani was planning attacks to kill hundreds of americans. we don't seek war with iran, but at the same time, we are not going to stand by and watch this escalate and put american lives at risk without responding in a way that disrupts, defends, deters, and creates an opportunity to de—escalate the situation. jess phillips becomes the third labour mp to enter the race to become the party's next leader

saying it has to change to win back voters. i think that the labour party, just like i did, have the same values that i have, and wants to see change and wants to convince people that things can get better. relief for around a thousand people as australian naval ships rescue them from the country's bush fires. a judge rules that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief — and is therefore protected by law. guy ritchie returns to gangster movies with the gentleman, starring hugh grantand movies with the gentleman, starring hugh grant and matthew mcconaughey. see what james king hugh grant and matthew mcconaughey. see whatjames king makes hugh grant and matthew mcconaughey. see what james king makes a vet and the rest of this week's releases in the rest of this week's releases in the film review. —— makes of that.

good evening. one of the most powerful men in the middle east — iran's military commander — general qasem soleimani — has been killed by a us airstrike in iraq. the attack was ordered by president trump who said the general had been plotting to kill americans in the region. he also blamed him for being directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions of people. iran has threatened severe revenge and tens of thousands of people are holding rallies across iran denouncing what they call us crimes. meanwhile, america has said it will now send 3000 troops to the middle east as a precaution. here's our middle east editorjeremy bowen. this was the moment that the us assassinated qasem soleimani ——this was the moment that the us assassinated qassim soleimani and pushed the middle east into a new year and new decade of uncertainty and more danger. the pictures came from a tv

station controlled by iran. the attack, from a missile fired from a drone, hit his motorcade as he was being driven out of baghdad airport. the us and iran were already fighting a war in the shadows. neither side wants uncontrolled escalation but the chances of miscalculation and a lurch into a big war have increased. qassim soleimani was no ordinary foe put it for a generation, he was probably america's at most capable enemy. his death delivers a blow to the heart of the iranian regime. for many years, soleimani up iran's power outside its borders and made ——for many years, suleimani up iran's power outside its borders and made it and himself a major player in iraq, syria and lebanon. he was a talisman for iranian hardliners who have been rocked to their core. they will want to get even, perhaps more than that. last sunday, american air strikes

killed 25 members of an iraqi militia armed and trained by suleimani's quds organisation, after an american contractor was killed in a militia attacked pulled the midshipman undoubtedly on suleimani's marched on the us embassy in baghdad and attacked its perimeter. the militias he created were a vital part of the fight against thejihadists of islamic state, but they are also one way that iran projects power abroad. the huge american compound is a fortress and it was not breached but the attacks goaded and threatened the trump administration. the americans rushed in reinforcements to the embassy. it is not clear when the decision to assassinate suleimani was taken but when it happened, president trump tweeted in triumph.

the americans argue their motives are defensive. we don't seek war with iran but at the same time, we are not going to stand by and watch the iranians continue to escalate and put american lives at risk without responding in a way that disrupts and defends and deters and creates an opportunity to de—escalate the situation. in baghdad, some iraqis celebrated the killing put it for weeks, anti—government demonstrators had been demanding an end to iranian influence in iraq in tehran, ayatollah ali khamenei, qassim suleimani the iranian supreme leader, visited suleimani widow he said to revenge awaits the criminals. iranian hardliners are rocked to their core. the spokesman for soleimani's republican guard corpus was highly emotional in a tv interview. so were regime supporters

on the streets. qassim suleimani was their hero. at a time when they see themselves surrounded by enemies. iran was already under severe pressure from us sanctions. donald trump might be gambling that he has so weakened iran that it will rage but not hurt the us badly. that assumption could be dangerous and wrong. jeremy bowen, bbc news. let's pick up on some of those points now with our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is in the afghan capital. great agreement on the fact that this is a high—risk strategy. great agreement on the fact that this is a high-risk strategy. you have heard the warnings from iran's top political and military officials, that there will be a crushing response of severe retaliation, in the words of the supreme retaliation, in the words of the supreme leader of iran, the big

question now is when will i ran respond and how will it respond to? it will certainly be a moment of its own choosing, and if wejudge by iran's previous operations in the region, including all of last year, when there was escalating tensions, iran will try to have what it will see as a carefully calibrated response. in other words, retaliation which is in equal measure to what it has described as an act of war by the united states, but it will also not want to be drawn into a direct military confrontation with america, and sent iran in the region into a dangerous and unpredictable spire of escalation. so, its next move could be through one of its proxies in the region, perhaps in iraq, syria, lebanon, it could even move in places like afghanistan, where i am now, next door to iran, where thousands of us forces are now stationed. he could even be much further in a different part of the world, because i ran‘s extensive

intelligence network has a very long reach. so, ithink intelligence network has a very long reach. so, i think it will be a very sharp intake of breath across the region as people wait, certainly will it be the people of this region who will stand to suffer the most if this escalation does continue. when we think of that wider sphere of influence and the knock on effect for the region as a whole, many people are asking the question what was president trump house strategy here? what was his wider thinking for his vision of foreign policy the middle east? many questions are now being answered. what was the chain of command, the decision making, the discussions which led to this extraordinary decision by the us commander—in—chief to carry out a targeted killing of qassim suleimani, it is being reported that previous presidents, including president bush, president 0bama, we re president bush, president 0bama, were also asked to consider possible targeted killing, but stepped back,

knowing what the consequences would be. there is also a report that the same goes with israel, who also at one time had qassim suleimani in its sights, but pulled back. this move by president trump comes after his repeated vows that he did not want to drag the united states into another war, his repeated statement saying that he came into power, promising americans that he would and what he called these endless wa rs and what he called these endless wars in the region in the middle east, and here now, we find himself with the biggest crisis he has faced since he came to power, and a crisis which seems to be of his own making. good to talk to you, thank you very much indeed. let's turn our attention to america now, our washington correspondent gary 0'donoghue has been explaining more about president trump's response to the attack. his initial reaction to it, or his initial, sort of, intervention, if you like. it

was simply to post a picture of the american flag, sort of pixelated picture of the flag, which was a little cryptic, let's say. but he has been talking today on twitter and talking about qassim suleimani as being responsible for killing thousands of americans, and millions of others, and for planning other attacks, and also saying, effectively, that he should have been killed before now. a criticism of his predecessor, which he often makes. there would've been opportunities, but he now seems to think this is the right time. that may have something to do with the us thinking that iran is particularly weak at the moment, but i don't think anyone here, certainly in the administration or elsewhere is going to assume that there is not going to be some kind of retaliation, because clearly, there is. given that, it's a rather odd situation when the secretary of state, mike pompeo, goes on airand secretary of state, mike pompeo, goes on air and talks about de—escalation and not wanting a war with iran. yes, it's ironic, isn't

it? de—escalation while sending another 3000 troops to the region on top of the 15,000 extra troops you've sent to that general region since may of this year. it doesn't look much like de—escalation, does a? so look much like de—escalation, does a?soi look much like de—escalation, does a? so i think those calls and mike pompeo his phone bill is going to be pretty high up there today, he's been calling everyone trying to ensure them that this is what the americans are doing, but the problem is he is certainly not owning it to the public at any rate, why did they choose this moment in time to hit suleimani? there's been sort of some guarded references to imminent attacks, but they won't say anything more about that. they are trying to win the public relations were over this, they are going to have to say more, because at the moment, it's basically israel who is backing them, and no one else at the moment. gary 0'donoghue there, it and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 11:30 this evening in the papers.

our guests joining me tonight are the head of politics for the daily mirror, jason beattie and deputy leader writer of the sun, 0livia utley. let's turn to british politics now. jess phillips, the labour mp for birmingham yardley, has announced that she is joining the race to replace jeremy corbyn as labour leader. she joins shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry and shadow treasury minister clive lewes in confirming her candidacy. 0ther mps considering a leadership bid include sir keir starmer, rebecca long—bailey and lisa nandy. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley is in westminster and we can speak to him now. tell us more. just phillips was one of the candidates who is been flirting with the idea of standing for leader, and in the last couple of hours, she's confirmed she is going to do it. she is going to put yourself forward to succeed jeremy corbyn, when that leadership process begins within the next couple of weeks, her pitch is going to be that

she can communicate with people quite frankly. she argues that one of the reasons labour did so badly in the election last month was because people had lost trust for the party. she thinks she can start to rebuild that. really interesting, that to launch a campaign today, she went to grimsby. an area where for 80 years or so, labour held the seats, since the 1930s, until the 12th of december, when the tories took it for the first time ever. pa rt took it for the first time ever. part of what just took it for the first time ever. part of whatjust phillips is saying is we have to focus on areas like that to make sure that we can rebuild those labour part lands. —— labour. take a listen to what she said when we asked her to explain why she should be labour leader. i'm standing because i think that we need more honesty in politics and the labour party has got to be honest with itself, it's got to be honest with the country. that if we can lose seats like grimsby, something has to change. more of the same won't cut it. and when we have a prime minister like borisjohnson who can blustar

and lie his way to the top, we need somebody who will truly speak truth to power. we will be able to take in mind, will be able to reach ——we will be able to take him on, will be able to reach people in the country, so that the labour party can win back grimsby and win back the rest of the country. so that was just phillips there, a lot more of that idea of straight talking politics over the next few weeks from her. she's the third candidate to officially declare so far, we have also got the shadow foreign secretary, emily thornberry, and shadow junior minister, , foreign secretary, emily thornberry, and shadowjunior minister,, they have both declared before christmas, you will start to see a lot more names in the next few days, watch over people like kier starmer and lisa nandy, rebecca long bailey all declaring as well. nick, thanks very much indeed, we will cut him off slightly there, because we want to join president trump, who is speaking live, following the death of qassim suleimani after that a us

strike on his convoy. let's listen in the. any american, we will find you, we will eliminate you, we will a lwa ys you, we will eliminate you, we will always protect our diplomats. service members. all americans, and our allies. for years, service members. all americans, and ourallies. foryears, the service members. all americans, and our allies. for years, the islamic revolutionary guard corps and its ruthless codes for us under suleimani's leadership has murdered hundreds of american civilians and servicemen, the recent attacks on us targets in iraq including rocket strikes that killed an american and injured four american servicemen very badly, as well as a violent assault on our embassy in baghdad. they were carried out at the direction of suleimani. suleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as new delhi and london. today, we remember and honour the victims of

suleimani's many atrocities and we ta ke co mfo rt suleimani's many atrocities and we take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over. suleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilise the middle east for the last 20 years. what the united states did the last 20 years. what the united states d id yesterday the last 20 years. what the united states did yesterday been done long ago. a lot of lives would've been saved. just recently, suleimani led the brutal repression of protesters in iran, where more than 1000 innocent civilians were tortured and killed by their own government. we took action last night to stop a war. we did not take action to start a war. i have deep respect for the iranian people, they are a remarkable people, with an incredible heritage and unlimited potential. we do not seek regime change, however, the iranian regimes

aggression in the region, including the use of proxy fighters to destabilise its neighbours must end, and it must end now. the future belongs to the people of iran, those who seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation, not the terrorists, warlords, who plunder their nation to finance bloodshed abroad. the united states has the best military, by far. anywhere in the world. we have the best intelligence in the world. if americans anywhere are threatened, we have all of those targets already fully identified, andi targets already fully identified, and i am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary, and that in particular refers to iran. under my leadership, we have destroyed the isys territorial caliphate, and recently, american special operations forces killed the

terrorist leader known as all that daddy, the world is a safer place without these monsters. good people, great souls. —— al bagdahdi. while speaking to —— seeking peace and harmony with all the nations of the world, thank you, god bless you, god bless our great military, and god bless our great military, and god bless the united states. thank you very much. thank you. mr president, mr president! president trump not pausing for questions there during that brief press statement in florida. he was paying tribute to american intelligence and american military. saying that this action was not to start a war but to stop a war. he spoke of his respect for the uranian people, and stressed that he was not seeking regime change, but rather peace, harmony, and friendship with

people around the world. plenty more to come on this throughout the evening, of course. first of oh, sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's tolson. good evening. after another dismal batting display, england's cricketers limped to 262—9 at the close on day one of the second test against south africa in cape town. yet again, england squandered the chance of building a formidable total, with ben stokes among those making decent starts, but failing to kick on. they made it to 221—5, but then came a familiar collapse, with four wickets going forjust13 runs. 0nly 0llie pope put up any real resistance, making an unbeaten half—century, to ensure his side were at least not bowled out within the day. england are trailing 1—0 in the four—match series in a tour that's been affected from the start through illness and injury. yeah, it's been a nightmare to her.

you know, the six weeks or whatever that we were off, the four weeks that we were off, the four weeks that they have been out there, i think everything has been thrown at them, it's quite a young group really, through the illnesses, the fit players, the performance on the pitch, it's not been quite as good as what they have expected from themselves. and i think us, as fans, we expect from them as well. i think, tomorrow will be a fine day. if they can keep these crop of players together, they want to have a tougher series than what they have had so far. staying with cricket. marnus labuschagne carried on where he left off in 2019 and will resume unbeaten on 130 on day two of the third test against new zealand in the coming hours. before play in sydney, there was a minute's applause for the fighfighters and all those tackling the bushfires across the country. labuschagne made it a fourth test century in his last five matches and looked untroubled as australia reached 283 for three against a depleted black caps side. the aussies already lead the three test series 2—0.

great britain have lost their opening group match at the atp cup against bulgaria. cam norrie put them ahead in sydney, but dan evans lost his singles match — and then jamie murray and joe salisbury were beaten by the narrowest of margins in the doubles — it went to two tie—break sets. and they threw away two match points, before losing on the champions tie—break. they need to beat both belgium and moldova to have any chance of making the quarterfinals. tottenham are likely to be without harry kane for several weeks, after it was confirmed he'd suffered a torn hamstring. he limped off during the defeat at southampton on wednesday — the club haven't given a timescale for his return but such injuries — depending on the grade of them — can take anything from four weeks up to three months to heal. kane tweeted "head up. tough times don't last, tough people do". scrum half rhys webb has been given special dispensation to play for wales in next month's six nations. he's leaving french side toulon to return to 0spreys, but the rules state that any player with fewer than 60 caps opting

to play outside wales cannot be considered for selection. webb only has 31 caps but the welsh rugby union accepted his appeal, so he's available for the first match of their title defence, against italy on the 1st of february. the bdo world championships get under way in london tomorrow with prize money being substantially cut this year due to a lack of sponsorship. former men's champion scott mitchell told us he thinks it may be time for the organisers to cut their losses. i think of the board needs to be bigger so there is more ideas coming you know? at the moment, the board is quite small, and i think that's you know, one person can have an idea and they can go with it and it's not seen as making the wrong decision, but, iam not sure it's not seen as making the wrong decision, but, i am not sure where it goes from here. if it's as toxic as people are saying, then, you know, is there a future for a? you know, is there a future for a? you know, it has to be coming to an end,

it's a question of, we can't answer at this particular moment in time. rachel, that's all your support for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at half past ten. looking very forward to that indeed. more now on our top story — the us air strike that killed iran's most powerful military leader. general qassem soleimani died in the attack on baghdad airport in the early hours of this morning. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has cut short a foreign visit and earlier voiced his support for the us drone strike. -- qassim suleimani. just as israel has the right to self—defense, the united states has exactly the same right. qassim suleimani is responsible for the death of american citizens and many other innocent people. he was planning more such attacks. president trump deserves all the credit for acting swiftly, forcefully, decisively. israel stands with the united states and its just struggle for peace, security and self—defense. thank you. 0ur middle east correspondent tom bateman joins us on the phone from jerusalem.

i'm tempted to say that that statement is not full of surprises there. no, i don't think so. but i think what is notable is the way in which we haven't heard, particularly, sort of bellowing rhetoric from the israelis over this. i think many more israelis as with many people across the region tonight are going to be feeling a sense of nervousness about what may transpire in the coming days, but as for that statement from him it was very short. and he said, ithink statement from him it was very short. and he said, i think as he would expect that he stood with president trump and called this a just act in the interests of security. he's also reportedly prevented any other members of a security cabinet from speaking publicly about this, which is something he's done in the past. i think probably try to keep control of what he said, and to prevent any

sort of rhetoric ramping up. meanwhile, what we had was the defence minister holding a meeting of senior military and intelligence officials in israel. in a statement after that to say that this was a situation all assessments, and the only thing that we know that's happened on the ground is that the israeli military closed mount herman, which is a ski resort in the occupied area, which borders the buffer zone between israeli occupied territory and serious. time, thank you very much indeed, tom bateman there injerusalem. here, an employment tribunal has ruled that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief and is therefore protected by law. the landmark case was brought by vegan jordi casamitjana who claims he was unfairly sacked by the league against cruel sports after disclosing it invested pension funds in firms involved in animal testing. i spoke to him earlier, and he told me that the verdict was a welcome surprise.

i could almost cry, i could not hold my emotions, because i didn't expect thejudgement today. i expected my emotions, because i didn't expect the judgement today. i expected the judge would go and think about it and receive the judgement another time, but it seems that the evidence was so compelling, we produce more than 1300 pages of evidence that seem to be sufficient. so it i was really, really happy. presumably, not everybody who is a vegan would have this sort of protection, it depends on how you hold those beliefs. welcome of the term ethical veganism, we added this term, we use this term to make a distinguish that those who follow the full definition of the beacon society, which is what an ethical vegan is. from those that only choose to apply that definition only choose to apply that definition on their diet alone, and this might be called dietary vegans, or many of them don't call themselves anything, they call themselves plant —based people, they have a plant —based diet, doesn't matter the term they use, but to be sure that nobody gets confused, we use this turn ethical

veganism to refer to the beacons that follow the original definition of the beacon society. well, i'm pleased to say that training you live now to explain a bit more about this is slater and gordon employment lawyer peter daly who represented jordi casamityana. thanks for being with us. for many people, this will be a little bit of a baffling area of law, it all comes down to the equality act of 2010, i think. but talk us through what makes something under the terms of that active philosophical beliefs. the equality act recognises sequences of separate characteristics, such as age, race, sex, disability and so on. one of the protected characteristics as philosophical belief. in the case will recognise —— case law will recognise that it can be quite tricky to define what that is. it is essentially a five state test which each belief is assessed against. it has to have it, it has to be a

belief, has to be genuinely held, it's not merely a viewpoint. it has to be weighty and have substantial impacts, and it has to be cogent, serious, and worthy of respect in a democratic society. the evidence that we placed before the tribunal today was successful in demonstrating that ethical veganism, and concept, in principle, it meets all of those requirements, and also that the belief that he has subjectively also meeting those requirements. what will now move on to in requirements. what will now move on toina requirements. what will now move on to in a subsequent hearing will be whetherjordi was discriminated against on the basis of the belief. cani against on the basis of the belief. can ijust against on the basis of the belief. can i just clarify, against on the basis of the belief. can ijust clarify, this is an employment tribunal, so am i right in saying that in this particular ruling, this isn't immediately creating a legal precedence around ethical veganism and philosophical beliefs stop to look back. well, what it does do is provides other ethical beacons with a written judgement with reasons why ethical

veganism meets the bully. subsequent claimants will be able to use that judgement as something of a road map to plead their own cases. and we saw today from the speed of the judgement that it's ethical veganism that it judgement that it's ethical veganism thatitis judgement that it's ethical veganism that it is so comfortably meeting that it is so comfortably meeting that requirement that it's highly unlikely, i think, that requirement that it's highly unlikely, ithink, that that requirement that it's highly unlikely, i think, that it will subsequently be overturned. to think their wider implications about this, i'm wondering whether there are other strongly held beliefs, perhaps around climate change and so on that might also start to come under this piece of legislation and lead to applications for employers and business owners. climate change is already recognised that the leading case which defines what constitutes a philosophical belief, in the case of granger and nicholson is actually case about environmental and climate change. in terms of whether this will have impacts for employers, i thank you

can impacts for employers, i thank you ca n ofte n impacts for employers, i thank you can often get some quite extreme reporting of philosophical beliefs, when they are first established. the reality is most employers understand that their employees are individuals with their own sets of beliefs, and they can easily be accommodated in they can easily be accommodated in the workplace. 0k, interesting stuff, good of you to talk us through that. thank you very much indeed. thank you. coming up... i would like you to consider an offer. i am not for sale. not for 20 years after snatch, guy ritchie returns to the realms of the criminal underworld with the gentleman. see whatjames king made of this and the rest of this week's cinema releases in the film review. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. good evening. many parts of the uk got to see some great weather during today. there were a few showers around as well, they are cold enough across stratman for a time tonight

to bring some of those showers in the form of even to quite low levels. ——showers in the form of snow, even to quite low levels. some rain for the most part across northern and western scotland. some cloud and patchy drizzle through northern ireland, wales, in the southwest of england as well. further east, we hold onto some clear spouse, further east, we hold onto some clear spells, and where the skies stay clear for longest across the south and the southeast of england, while some spots might get all the way down to freezing out in the countryside. so, for saturday, the best of the sunshine to be found across southeast scotland, and particularly the eastern side of england, whereas further west, western england, wales, northern ireland, western scotland, keeping a lot of cloud. some outbreaks of rain. but the temperature is just showing signs of creeping upwards in the west, 10 degrees there in plymouth, for example. and to even further east, looking at heights of 8—9. looking at highs of 8—9. a little bit milder on sunday. dry for most of us, cloudy in the west, and a bit of rain across the northwest of scotland.

hello, this is bbc news with rachel schofield. the headlines... tensions escalate between washington and tehran after us troops kill iran's most powerful military commander. donald trump says he is prepared to take whatever action is needed to protect americans. he has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilise the middle east for the last 20 years. what the united states did yesterday should have been done long ago. iran said the air strike was the us's biggest mistake in the region and promised to avenge qassem soleimani's death. donald trump said the general was planning attacks to kill hundreds of americans. jess phillips becomes the third labour mp to enter the race to become the party's next leader, saying it has to change to win back voters. relief for around 1,000 people, as australian naval ships rescue them from the country's bush fires.

a judge rules that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief — and is therefore protected by law. a man has appeared in court charged with murdering his estranged wife and her new partner after they were both found fatally stabbed at a house in derbyshire on new year's day. the bodies of helen hancock and martin griffiths were found in the village of duffield in the early hours of the morning. rhys hancock, who's 39, has been remanded in custody. one person has been killed and two others have been seriously hurt in a knife attack in france. the incident happened around lunchtime in a suburb of paris. detectives say the victims appear to have been targeted at random. police have shot dead the suspect. around 1,000 people trapped by bushfires on the south eastern

coast of australia have been rescued by the australian navy. tens of thousands of others are being urged to move to safety amid fears the fires could worsen in parts of victoria, new south wales, and south australia. the death toll for this week has risen to eight and a50 homes have been lost on the south coast. this map shows the spread of the fires since the begining of the week — as you can see, they are concentrated in the eastern coastal areas. 0ur correspondent shamai khalil reports now from sussex inlet, just over a hundred miles south of sydney. for the first time in days, nearly a thousand tourists and residents can breathe easily as there finally moved to safety. the navy has stepped in to rescue those who were stranded on the beach when they were encircled by an uncontrollable fire on monday. a state of disaster has been declared in eastern victoria ahead of tomorrow's extreme conditions.

up to 100,000 residents are being told to be as bad as, if you can leave, you must leave. that's the only safe thing for you, yourfamily, that's the only safe thing for you, your family, and indeed that's the only safe thing for you, yourfamily, and indeed for others who may be called to your assistance. we cannot guarantee your safety. in new south wales, the message is the same. fire authorities have said that saturday's places could be as bad as, if not worse than, those of new year's eve. in the coastal town of bateman's bay, firefighters are bracing to protect those who have decided to stay. despite the warnings, jeff and pamela have decided they are not leaving their small town of sussex inlet. hopefully it is not going to be as bad as they are predicting. we have the hoses ready and we will just hose the houses down. if the fires do hit hard, we have

about here, we willjump in the boat and go out to sea. i'lljust take the family and the dogs, and away we go. jay martin is also staying put to defend his house. and to help friends and neighbours. he tells me the anticipation of disaster is what worries him. waiting is the hardest part. we have been out there for two weeks and we're just waiting. i've just been waiting and helping out. just get there tomorrow. hope it all passes and there will be rain on monday. the blaze has just started on the bush in this area just beyond that tree line. firefighters are watching closely here, their concern is that with the wind picking up, this could travel very fast, and they are making sure that properties here are protected. that's really the main aim. politically, this is been a rough ride for the prime minister, who's been regularly criticised for how he has handled the fire crisis. and it's not just has handled the fire crisis. and it's notjust the residents who have made their feelings clear. scott

morrison said he understood the angen morrison said he understood the anger, but was focusing on the task at hand. our concerns are obviously now looking at over the next 24—48 hour period. this is a ferocious fire that is still out there, and the conditions are going to be very difficult to contain in the next 24-48 difficult to contain in the next 24—48 hours. that's why the evacuation messages are so incredibly important. there is a real sense of dread here about what can happen in these coming hours. at a time when many had planned family holidays, australians now wait for yet another firestorm to blaze through. three energy companies have agreed to pay more than £10 million in penalties after a major electricity blackout last summer. a lightning strike last august caused two large generators to go down — more than a million customers were left without power, and there was severe travel disruption. our business correspondent emma simpson reports

remember this? the biggest blackout in a decade. this is bbc 5live with steven nolan. the major power cuts which affected hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses, hospitals and transport networks today... michael wilson was one of thousands of passengers caught up in the chaos on the railways. he told me how he was stuck on a train for an extra eight hours with his daughter, travelling from newcastle to london. when you've been on the train for that long, there were babies crying, there were people getting quite upset. there was one point where there was a member of staff who quite clearly was in tears over the tannoy because people were getting quite agitated. so, who's to blame? two power stations hundreds of miles apart — hornsey offshore wind farm and the rwe—owned little barford gas—fired gas—fired power station. they are supposed to cope with lightning strikes, but didn't last august. 0fgem says their equipment failed,

triggering the wider shutdown. both the owners have agreed to pay £45 million forfailing to stay on the grid. a third company, uk power networks, who run the power lines in the east and south—east of england, is also paying £1.5 million for reconnecting customers too early, a technical breach of the rules. national grid keeps the lights on in the uk, balancing our electricity supply and demand. 0fgem says it is not responsible for what happened but it is not completely off the hook. what we're saying today is, we want to look closely at how that part of national grid is governed and run, to make sure it stays fit for purpose as our energy system changes. ultimately, they could be stripped of their role. we are just starting the work, and i don't want to pre—empt any conclusions, but all options are on the table. lessons, then, to be learned. the government said today it will implement an action plan to help prevent future power disruptions. emma simpson, bbc news.

a short film narrated by the duke of cambridge will be played at fa cup matches this weekend — encouraging football fans to look after their mental health. it features some of the game's biggest names and will be shown just before kick—off at every third round match. it's the start of a campaign by prince william to use football to get men talking about mental health. katy austin reports. in life, as in football, we all go through highs and lows. morecambe footballer kevin ellison knows exactly what that's like. i couldn't control it. i describe my little bit as, it was a dark cloud. i'd be happy and bubbly, then all of a sudden, literally, bang, it's like a dark cloud come over me and i'd be a totally different person. i could feel that coming on me, but i had no control over it whatsoever. we can all sometimes feel anxious. he's given his backing to a new film that also features england stars and is narrated by the duke of cambridge.

its focus, keeping your mind healthy. but we can all start to change things. over the next few days, 32 fa cup third round matches will be played at grounds across the country. all of them will start one minute late while the film is shown, a chance for millions of fans to pause to think about their own well—being. men are less likely than women to take action to do something about it, whether that's stress or for feeling low or difficulty sleeping, so the film asks football fans to take a minute to learn about what they can do to improve their mental health. every mind matters and heads up will show you the simple steps you can take to look after your mental health. that includes downloading a mind plan which can give guidance on coping with common issues such as feeling anxious or sleeping badly. prince william is president of the fa, and ending the stigma around mental health struggles is a goal he has championed.

he discussed it with high—profile footballers for a special bbc programme in october. through this campaign, he hopes to bring those passions together again and use football to start the largest ever conversation around mental health. katy austin, bbc news. the met office says the last decade was the second hottest in the uk in the past 100 years — with eight high temperature records being broken. last year alone, four new records were set, including the highest winter and summer temperatures ever recorded in the uk. the met office says it is a consequence of our warming climate. here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. the uk's hottest day on record came in cambridge lastjuly. the heat there felt punishing, like the tropics. 38.7 celsius. transport struggled to cope with fires by train lines. it was one of eight temperature records set in the last

decade, a record number of record temperatures. meanwhile, it looks like achfary in the scottish highlands so the uk's highest winter temperature, recorded on 28 december. by contrast, there was just one low temperature record, the beast from the east in march last year. 0ur climate changes naturally and we see fluctuations from year to year and month to month sometimes, but because of man—made climate change, you have that extra level of warming, so when you see heatwave events coming, that extra level of warming means we get more intense heat waves and more extreme temperatures within those, so itjust adds that extra layer, leading to greater impacts from the weather than we would normally see. 2019 was wetter than average, the met office say. they say rising temperatures are likely to bring more extreme rain to the british isles. what we are seeing in the uk and the climate records

is consistent with this wider picture we are seeing in other parts of the world, so we are seeing increases in certain types of weather extremes across different parts of the world, including here in the uk, and that's part of this wider picture of our changing climate. overall, this decade was the second warmest since 1910. last year was the 11th warmest year, and all the uk's warmer years came this century. globally, this year will either be the second or third hottest on record, as pollution from our societies continues to heat the planet. roger harrabin, bbc news. the liberal democrat mp layla moran, has come out as pansexual after beginning a relationship with a woman. the mp, who announced the news on social media, said coming out in the context of being a politician had been "slightly more difficult" than telling her friends and family and criticised parliament

as a "weird, backwards place" for lg btq people. earlier i spoke to claudia carvell, the women's programme coordinator for the charity the lgbt foundation. she said a key message from ms moran's coming out is that everyone's experience is very different. incredibly important point to take away from this. not nobody democrat everybody has a scene coming out experience, but everybody should be able to come out when they feel co mforta ble able to come out when they feel comfortable doing so. we need to see leadership across all levels in all sectors and all areas for people to be who they are, so they can be the best possible person for themselves and for people that they represent. and they can excel in their role as their true selves. and i wonder finally, i was looking at the tweet she put out, she said, "last year i fell in love with a wonderful woman, something i never even considered before the sun" i don't know how old she is now, but probably in her 30s.

how freeing