this is bbc news at 11 o'clock. the headlines... president trump says he ordered the attack on iran's top military commander to stop a war, not start one. solemeini has been perpetrating acts of terror east for the last 20 years. what the us did yesterday should have been done long ago. and this is the scene in baghdad where funeral processions for qassem soleimani and the others killed in the attack in the attack are taking place. fears that the bushfires in australia could reach the outskirts of sydney with high winds and temperatures set to soar again. thousands of reserve troops are deployed. the fires that have raged in south eastern australia will be fanned by these winds,

making a dangerous situation even more perilous. labour backbenchers lisa nandy and jess phillips join the contest to become the party's next leader. no one to small to make a difference is the name of a book by a environmental campaigner called watch? sharon. when greta became sharon, the climate change campaigner gets in on thejoke and changes her twitter name. and coming up — the uk's leading foreign correspondents discuss their views on the week's international news — that's in dateline in half an hour. the chief spokesman for iran's armed forces has said his country has every right to retaliate for the death

of the country's military commander who was killed in a us drone strike. the funeral procession for qassem soleimani is under way in baghdad after he was killed at the city's airport on thursday night. president trump said he had taken action to stop a war, not start one, and was not seeking regime change in iran. the foreign office has warned against all travel to iraq, and all but essential travel to iran. david willis reports. american officials say the air strike that killed qasem soleimani was carried out in self defence. they say the man who's been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of americans in the middle east over the years was plotting a major attack on us diplomats and military personnel. at a rally last night in florida, president trump said that threat had now been lifted. qassem soleimani has been killed and his bloody rampage is now forever gone.

he was plotting attacks against americans, but now we've ensured that his atrocities have been stopped for good. they are stopped for good. iran has vowed revenge. and amid heightened tensions, the us is sending reinforcements to the region — 3,750 troops so far, and warning its citizens stationed in iraq to get out as soon as they can. qassem soleimani was one of america's deadliest enemies. but the us has yet to release intelligence information supporting its claim that he was planning a major attack. administration officials insist, however, that hundreds of americans could have died. neither the us nor iran favours outright war, but the trump administration's claim that taking out one of iran's most powerful officials will prevent further bloodshed may soon be put to the test. david willis, bbc news, los angeles.

speaking this morning, the former foreign secretaryjeremy hunt said he believes "the world is safer" when the us involves itself in matters outside its borders — but he was expecting retaliation from iran. it is clear they have to react and that will have been calculated by the united states. and, you know, this is a very difficult situation for allies of the united states like ourselves, because i happen to be someone who believes that the world a safer when america is involved in what is happening beyond its shores, and the uk cannot afford to be neutral if we want to be a serious global player, but this is a very, very risky situation, and i think the job that we have to do, as one of the us‘s closest allies, is to use our influence to argue for more consistent us policy. because sometimes the us seems

torn between a desire to appear strong and decisive and influential across every region of the world, and the other desire, which is to get its troops home. the shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry says the us needs to exercise caution. i have a long memory. i remember back 17 years to the iraq war, and the pivotal role that the united nations played at that point. i don't understand why britain is not calling for an emergency meeting of the security council. i think we are in very grave circumstances, i think there is a tremendous risk that we could end up in another war, and i think we have to do everything we can to pull donald trump back from this. i think that what he has done is a deliberate and reckless escalation of the conflict with iran, and we are moving from tit—for—tat, we are moving into a completely different scenario now, and i'm very concerned that we could get dragged into this.

well, sirjohn sawyers, who was head of mi6 when president obama was in the white house says iran's reaction may not necessarily be violent. the chances of negotiations now are much less than they were before. the iranians will respond to this carefully and in a calibrated way. they will seek to ensure that us troops are ousted from iraq, they will make the nuclear deal, which we signed five years ago almost untenable by breaking out further from it. and at some point, they will react against western interests in an asymmetric way. they are not going to kill american troops in the region, but there will be an asymmetric attack of some sort. thousands of people have gathered in najaf to take part in a funeral procession for general soleimani. lina sinjab is our middle east correspondent — shejoins us now from beirut.

we have seen mourners gathering but what do we know at this stage about the exact funeral arrangements, are we clear about that yet? what we know is that what is happening today in iraq, the mourners have gathered in thousands for the funeral procession of both qassem suleimani and the leader of the popular mobilisation movement in iraq. but after the morning and the funeral possession today, qassem suleimani's body will be moved and there will be three days of mourning and funerals. he will be buried in his the supreme leader is said to be going to leave the funeral and the prayers in

tehran and the country has outlined three days of mourning they are to receive a reader that they have seen as the most powerful or second most powerful person in the country, who shaped the politics, the foreign policy and shaped the influence and presence of iran in the region. and we have seen one statement from the 2—step spokesman for iran's armed forces saying they will exact firm revenge, what are iran's options now? there are so many options on the table but following birth or in policy, they always have strategic goals, they work in cautions, they think and plan ahead where they have, like, strong effects of their steps. they are not going to have a quick and swift reaction, but actually, they are going to plan

their reaction to hit hard. they are definitely going to go after american interests in the region, but also american allies' in the region. they are going to use this situation, the killing of their top figure not only to mobilise internally, but also to send a message that they are still strong and despite the sanctions that the americans have imposed and violation of crossing a red line to kill one of crossing a red line to kill one of their top leaders, it is going to be reacted too strongly. let's speak to dr siavush randjbar—daemi, lecturer in modern middle eastern history at university of st andrews — hejoins me from edinburgh. what is your sense of the reaction festival from those in iran and the region to this killing? in iran we are having a very emotional reaction and we have seen the very senior state officials, politicalfigures from across the bitter divide inside

the islamic republic come together and praising and commemorating the general. he was seen as a national treasure after 2014, after the ca ptu re treasure after 2014, after the capture of moss by the irish. the claim was that he —— mike the ca ptu re claim was that he —— mike the capture of in the same way he was reviled in some countries like saudi arabia and israel is a very tough enemy, he was seen as a former protector of iran's national interests and the very hostile middle eastern region by many in the political divide in iraq. the funeral mansion that will happen tomorrow or monday in tehran will properly be the largest since the

founder obviously mick republic in 1989 and we will see an outpouring of grief from all walks of political life. then after that, the extended mourning period, iran will come to terms with the appropriate reaction. what might that be, bearing in mind that we are in a us election year and of course, iran was just given, took part in this massive deal brokered by obama, we could have cou rcy brokered by obama, we could have courcy a change in the white house by the end of this, how much will that be a factor in what iran does? there are many moving parts to this reaction. we are going to have a new election in ten months but from will be in office —— mike trump will be in office. that is one factor iran

will have to come to terms with. iran will probably try to have noticed the wedge between trump administration and the reaction of some prominent democrats likejoe biden to this whole event. having said this, even in the region, iran's allies are in complex situations. in lebanon for example, it is currently coming to terms with the lebanese political developments and crisis. in the weeks prior to the killing, we were hearing voices between saudi arabia and iraq and saudi arabia and yemen, we will have to see what the impact of the killing will be on all of that. they will probably be some frantic diplomacy by mediators such as 0man. it is one of the few countries that can still talk to all the sides involved. there will be a period in

which iran will have to assess all of these developments and of course assess what is going on in iraq as well. if, for example, suleimani was betrayed by somebody by the movements that were allied to himself, and will have to take stock of what the various options are. and this is why you might hear some hints of radicalism coming out of tay rann over the next few days. and what is your take over if the us is pushed out of iraq? what does that mean for the region? we have to see the way in which they push out from iraq. that would mean a series of large—scale attacks against the american military presence in iraq which is something that iran would not want to escalate to in the immediate term. having said that, it

is important to note that quite unlike the timing in which over high—ranking officials were killed, the kurds forces are still there. a replacement was nominated yesterday. the unit as a body is still active and will keep its network of allies and will keep its network of allies and keep its activities going in the foreseeable future. the australian prime minister, scott morrison, has announced he's deploying 3000 army reserves to tackle the bushfires burning out of control in several states. two more people have died in the fires on kangaroo island, a popular holiday resort off the coast of south australia. strong winds and very hot temperatures are expected to intensify the fire danger this weekend. our correspondent phil mercer

is in nowra in new south wales. in the last few hours, the wind there has got stronger and is whipping up dust, combining with the smoke to make the air turn a murky red. the wind of change has just come in and this hill near nowra in new south wales has been transformed by a southerly wind change. we can feel the dust and the ash that has been whipped up by these very strong wins. ——winds. and this is what the authorities have been so very worried about. it is the winds that have been the real enemy of the firefighting effort today. we have had very high temperatures and now we are having this ferocious wind and the dust is being whipped up from the land and the fires that have raged in south—eastern australia will be affected by these winds. they will be fanned by this, making a dangerous situation even more perilous.

earlier, i spoke to a former bbc journalist julian lorkin who lives in kellyville in the hills district of sydney. he told me that the fires in the blue mountains are getting ever closer to sydney. they are only about 12 miles or so away from me. you could see a distant glow away from me over my shoulder and that is why they are burning. although we are seeing a dense column of smoke from the forests that surround this region. just a few years ago, this was farmland and bush that went all the way up to the blue mountains. now it is the suburbs of sydney. above me we have the blue mountains. a wonderful ring of mountains which until now have been totally pristine. these fires started burning in september and we can see it burning away furiously today. there has been quite a lot of smoky which has made it far worse for the temperatures. we got up to 44 degrees in the centre of sydney,

some part hit 50 degrees and even though it is now late evening, the temperature has only come down to 38 degrees and we are starting to feel the wind that phil mercer was talking about. the cold front is coming through and we are waiting for those strong winds to hit yet again with more strong ash. the backbench labour mp, lisa nandy, has become the latest person to join the party's leadership contest. her announcement came just hours afterjess phillips launched her campaign. i've been getting the latest from our political correspondentjohn 0wen. in terms of the pictures —— pictures, jess phillips has a reputation as a critic of the current leadership, so i think she will appeal to those within the labour membership who are looking for a clean break from labour membership who are looking for a clean breakfrom the labour membership who are looking for a clean break from the current leadership. some fresh thinking. she will approach as an independent

backbencher who will be able to be the fresh blood that labour needs to rebuild after that disastrous election result. four lisa nandy‘s party, she will be focusing on what are referred to as the labour heartlands, the areas in the loving and where labour didn't perform as well as expected and conservatives made gains. she will want to emphasise herself as somebody already representing those communities, she is somebody well placed to reposition labour and position labour to that part of the electorate. speaking to bbc early today she said the next labour leader will have to heal the divisions. the last years have been riven by division and have been a difficult few years for every member of the party. but i am someone who comes traditionally from the left of the party, iwork comes traditionally from the left of the party, i work with child refugees and homeless teenagers

before i came into parliament. i worked for a member of a parliament who was a housing worker. no one person has a monopoly on wisdom in the party. this likely thing of this contest so far as the two people widely considered the frontrunners have not yet formally declared that they will be standing. the shadow brexit secretary keir starmer and rebecca along bailey, it is widely anticipated they will declare their leadership over the next few days. councils are calling for increased powers to fine fly—tippers after figures showed incidents increased by 50% in england over the last six years. more than a million cases of illegal dumping were recorded last year, which cost councils £58 million to clean up. the local government association, which represents councils in england and wales, says tougher sentences are needed to tackle the offence.

the climate change campaigner greta thunberg has changed her name to "sharon" on twitter, in honour of a celebrity game show contestant who appeared to have no idea who she was. the casualty actress amanda henderson was appearing on celebrity mastermind when she was asked to name the famous activist. the 2019 book entitled no—one is too small to make a difference is a collection of speeches by a swedish climate change activist, what's her name? sharon? greta thunberg. well, this was how the climate change activist responded last night, clearly seeing the funny side of the story. she's since changed her name back for her 3.9 million followers on twitter to the more predictable greta thunberg. a portrait of the queen and her three heirs to the throne has been released to mark the start of the new decade. the photograph, which was taken the week before christmas, shows the prince of wales, the duke of cambridge

and prince george standing alongside her majesty at buckingham palace. it is the second official portrait of the four generations of royals together. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin good morning. batting line up england are making headway into the south african batting line up as they hope to stay in contention, in the 2nd test. they finished this morning on 269 but have taken 3 south african wickets in reply. stuart broad with two of the wickets, and james anderson with the other. they're at lunch in cape town — with south africa 72—3. you can follow the action with the cricket social via the bbc sport website. what a weekend for football fans. it's the start of the fa cup third round. 20 matches in total today, and it's a chance for the smaller

teams to get one over on the bigger sides. premier league teams come in at this point. holders manchester city — could they be on the end of a shock later? that's where league two side port vale are heading this evening. they enjoyed a comfortable win over cheltenham in the last round, but they won't recognise the etihad stadium. because the last time these two sides met was more than 20 years ago. a year later, port vale's most famous fan — robbie williams — had a hit album "sing when you're winning", but he's not expecting to this time. port vale will be able to go up there and have a great night and day out. miracles do happen, but maybe this is expecting a miracle a bit too far. who knows? pep might put out hisjunior squad. too far. who knows? pep might put out his junior squad. please. it'll be a sentimental day for many players today — one of those will be peterborough midfielder george boyd

who played in the 2014 fa cup final for hull when they lost to arsenal. and this lunchtime he's returning to face his former club burnley where he made more than 100 appearances. it's a reunion he's looking forward to despite the gulf between the premier league team and his league one side. it will be nice, the kids and family are going to come and watch and when the draw was happening, it was the one we wanted, to go back to burnley. i thoroughly enjoyed my three years there and it will be nice to see some old faces and hopefully we go there and get the win. he's a man used to the limelight and it hasn't taken zlatan ibrahimovic, to get back on the scoresheet at ac milan. the former man united striker re—signed for the italian side on thursday and yesterday he was playing in a friendly. ac milan won the game 9—0, with ibrahimovic scoring one goal and providing an assist. the 38—year—old could make his serie a return against sampdoria

at the san siro on monday. sale sharks are up to third in rugby union's premiership after scoring six tries in a 48—10 bonus point win over harlequins. sam james took advantage of a hamstring injury to quins' tom lawday to score, as he pulled up trying to block him at the line. it was a feisty game withjoe marler, marland yarde and matt symons all sent to the sin bin in the second half. in the pro14, ireland winger jacob stockdale scored his first club try for a year as ulster continued their unbeaten run at home this season. they picked up a bonus point 38—17 win over munster in belfast. and three penalties from leigh halfpenny helped scarlets to go top of conference b — they only scored one try, through gareth davies, but it was the turning point in their 16—14 win at cardiff. that's all the sport for now. you can find more

on all those stories on the bbc sport website. lots of build up there ahead of the 32 fa cup third round ties this weekend. let's bring you up—to—date with how we see the rest of the weekend unfolding across the british isles. a lot of cloud in the forecast having said that, there isn't an awful lot of rain to speak of. many of you will stay dry. there is a notable exception to what i've said so farand it notable exception to what i've said so far and it comes in the shape of these weather fronts. very close by to the north—west of scotland and here the cloud is at its thickest. it will come and go during the course of the day. but generally speaking, the further north and west you are the more likely you are to rain. leeson started the day but you may well lose your sunshine across the afternoon. lots of cloud around but with gaps around. it mayjust p0p but with gaps around. it mayjust pop through here the sunshine. eastern sides of hill sides are the

more favoured spots to see fleeting sunshine. similarly in the evening, lots of dry weather around. in the east, if you pop that cloud for any length of time, to all three or 4 degrees. elsewhere, 8 degrees. again, a lot of cloud around, some gaps to be had. the south and south—west with more flow. still a lot of dry weather for many others and because there is more of a southerly in the breeze, many more will get to ten or 11 or even 12 degrees. let's start you off in the first part of the forthcoming week. isobars squeezing up, especially so over the north and west of scotland, northern ireland too perhaps. you also have to contend with a weather front. increasingly, around about

lunchtime and early afternoon, it will be into the cumbrian fells, through lancashire and into wales, the west midlands perhaps and into the west midlands perhaps and into the south—west of england. that means a the south—west of england. that meansa dry the south—west of england. that means a dry prospect for east anglia, the south—east and perhaps the east midlands and drying up later in the day across northern ireland under a little ridge of high pressure until on tuesday, we bring a real humdinger. very wet and windy conditions widely across the british isles but especially so across central and northern part of scotland.

hello and welcome to dateline london, the programme that brings together some of the uk's leading columnists with foreign correspondents who file

their stories for the folks back home with the dateline ‘london'. 2019 ended with two events that underline the folly of prediction; bush fires raging out of control across parts of australia forced the government to acknowledge some link between the claims of scientists and the humanitarian and environmental disaster unfolding around it — just nine months after winning re—election on a climate sceptic ticket. the other was the assassination by the united states of qasem soleimani, arguably the second most powerful man in iran. an act that re—writes the rules of middle east conflict—by—proxy or the kneejerk response of a thin—skinned leader with unwelcome consequences? certainly it was a decision that had not been predicted. undeterred, our dateline panel predicting 2020: abdel barri atwan, who writes on arab affairs, us journalist stryker mcguire from bloomberg, stefanie bolzen, from germany's die welt and polly toynbee, columnist for the uk's the guardian. welcome to all of you.