hello and welcome back to newswatch with me, samira ahmed. has bbc news been taking too much holiday over christmas and new year, with fewer and shorter news bulletins, shown later than normal, and more repeated features?

and what is it right to fly a presenter to interview the climate activist greta thunberg when she herself shuns air travel because of its impact on the environment? welcome to the first newswatch of 2020 and a happy new year. the traditional celebrations featured widely on bbc news this week — for instance, in the headlines of tuesday's early evening bbc one bulletin. and dazzling displays light up the night skies across the globe to welcome in the new decade. but is this, in fact, a new decade, as was repeated several times across the bbc this week? a viewer called amy said not, begging:

and alan mcintyre reiterated that. that same new year's eve programme contained another error — though this time it was corrected in time for the late bulletin. new year — a new decade and new zealand kicked it off, with auckland the first major capital to welcome 2020. sue barnard pointed out: on wednesday, when the new year arrived in the uk, there were more fireworks on our screens, this time with helena wilkinson

reporting on the crowds by the thames in london. tens of thousands watched from the banks of the river as the capital's skyline burst into colour. in his new year's message, the prime minister, who is on holiday in the caribbean, said, "we can start a new chapter in the history of our country in which we come together and move forward, united, unleashing the enormous potential of the british people." the image used in that graphic caught the attention of lynda from solihull, who wrote:

for some over the past couple of weeks with the suspension of most domestic political business and a lighter news agenda. the move away from the westminster bubble prompted a different style of output, which pleased nigel tinkler, writing on wednesday: there have, of course, been fewer and shorter news programmes on over christmas and new year, and fewer staff on duty at bbc news, as is usual at this time of year. paul hedges objected to this custom, e—mailing:

and when bbc one's late news bulletin returned to its full half—hour length this week, it wasn't in its normal slot, appearing at 10:30pm on wednesday, thursday and friday, after the channel's new drama show dracula. the reaction of alex curry: plugging some of the gaps on the news channel over the past fortnight have been a series of one—off specials and features. some of them were shown several times, including this extended

interview by media editor amol rajan with the editor of private eye magazine, ian hislop. how do you come up with a private eye cover like those? well, this was when theresa may, who — do you remember her? she was around at the beginning of the year. she used to be prime minister. anyway, she left and we had to think "how can we pay tribute to mrs may?" so i thought perhaps a blank page would be good, and so we had the theresa may memorial issue — her legacy in full. john grimes was watching the news channel on wednesday and had this response: do let us know your thoughts on any of what we are covering on this programme, or any other aspect of bbc news. details of how to contact us at the end of the programme.

now, for some more of your other concerns this week, and one of the biggest stories over the holiday period has been the bushfires that have been raging across australia. there's been a week—long state of emergency declared in the state of new south wales, where at least seven people have been killed and 400 homes destroyed by the fires. but liz fawcett wanted to hear more about a natural disaster elsewhere in the world. she tweeted: in addition to those fires in australia, the climate more widely has been featuring strongly of late on bbc news with, for example, michelle hussein interviewing the swedish environmental activist greta thunberg on many bbc outlets on monday. i hope i don't have to be a climate activist any more. i am really looking forward to going back to school and to just

be like a normal teenager. but, of course, this isn't a normal situation. and we must all do things that... ..that we may not feel comfortable doing and we need to step out of our comfort zones. that interview took place in greta thunberg's home city of stockholm, and some viewers were unhappy about how michelle hussein had got there. hazlewood asked: —— hazle wood asked: the interview was initiated by radio 4's today programme, of which greta thunberg was guest editor on monday, and in which, as mentioned, she spoke to sir david attenborough via skype as she avoids air travel

because of environmental impact. but michelle hussein did indeed fly to sweden to meet her face—to—face and today's editor sarah sands admitted that that decision had caused some debate and discussion, saying: the decision to invite the teenage activist to guest edit the today programme produced reactions more widely, with chris clode e—mailing: but others had a different view, such as rosemary wild:

and for geoff swindlehurst: finally, it's notjust what's on the news which elicits comments from newswatch viewers, but also the bits in between the news. like this: bbc news theme plays that countdown sequence familiar to all viewers of the bbc news channel is a pet hate of rosy bubb. she explains:

thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions on bbc news and current affairs or even appear on the programme, do e—mail us, and do have a look at our website, where you can watch previous discussions and interviews we've broadcast.

that's all from us. we will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. hello there. despite some strong winds in the far north of scotland on friday was a better day in terms of sunshine across the country. you can see this from the weather watch picture in surrey, hardly a cloud in the sky. those clear skies by day, they have stayed with us through the night so it means a chilly start to saturday morning, particularly in the south—east — something we have not had for a time — word and they could even be light, patchy frost. modify the north and west because there has been more of a breeze and more cloud around. that is because these weather fronts are trying to push in

across the top of the highway. still running the risk of a few scattered showers. high pressure really is the dominant feature for most of us for the start of the weekend and it means the best of the sunshine will be in sheltered eastern areas as well. thicker cloud up to the west, thick enough of the odd spot or two of drizzle, and more persistently unlikely to the far north—west here, we keep more of a breeze. in terms of the feel of the weather, 8— io degrees, that is down a touch on where we have been but still not too bad for this time of year. as we move out to saturday into sunday, the high pressure is going to drift its way further east stop these weather fronts continue to creep in across the top of the higher, the isobars squeezed together, the winds strengthen, but at least the winds are coming from a milder south—westerly which will continue to feed in a lot of cloud across west facing coast and a rather murky afternoon here and maybe the cloud again thick enough for some drizzle but more persistent rain pushing into the far north—west and the winds likely to strengthen further. in terms of the feel of things, 9—

12 degrees, the best of the sunshine again looks likely to be across eastern and south east england. but as we move into the new working week when things start to get back to business as usual, we have to look to the jet stream to see what is going to happen with the forecast. it looks as though the jet will strengthen. a strong fast moving jet means strengthen. a strong fast moving jet m ea ns low strengthen. a strong fast moving jet means low pressure strengthen. a strong fast moving jet means low pressure is being driven across the uk. not one, as we start of the beginning of the week, but another one waiting out in the wings. plenty of isobars on the chart as well, so this means things are going to turn pretty unsettled. if you have got plans outside, please bear in mind gales, may be severe gales, in the north for a time on tuesday and some of the rain could be quite heavy at times as well.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: president trump defends the killing of iran's top military commander in an airstrike. the us says general qasem soleimani was actively plotting an attack — and their decision saved hundreds of american lives. we took action last night to stop a war. we did not take action to start a war. as iran vows revenge, tens of thousands of iranians take to the streets in protest. in other news: safe at last — relief as the australian navy