this is bbc news. the headlines at 8: two mortar rounds [and near the us embassy in baghdad as huge crowds join funeral processions in iraq, for iran's top military commander, killed by a us drone strike. iranian president rouhani visited the dead general‘s family, promising that americans will feel the impact of their actions for years ahead. fears that high winds and temperatures will push australia's bushfires towards heavily populated areas — thousands of reserve troops are deployed. the shadow brexit secretary, keir starmer, enters the race to become labour leader. he'll launch his campaign in stevenage tomorrow. police appeal for information after a food delivery driver was stabbed to death in north london last night. and julia's journey to understand what family really means. that's my very

extended family in half an hour here on bbc news. two mortar rounds have landed near the us embassy in baghdad and rockets have hit a base housing american troops following the assassination of an iranian military commander. no casualities have been reported. general qasem soleimani was hit by a us drone attack outside baghdad airport on thursday. thousands of people have taken part in his funeral procession in the iraqi capital. tehran has vowed to seek revenge on the us for his death. here, the defence secretary, ben wallace, has said the royal navy will be accompanying ships through the strait of hormuz, a vital route for global oil supplies off iran's south coast. our middle east

correspondent, quentin sommerville, reports. they came in their thousands to honour qassem soleimani and they called him a hero. to many more in iraq and beyond, he was the region's principal villain. familiar chants rang out — death to america, death to israel. he served his iranian masters well. its regime has cast him as a proud shia martyr. in death, he's been elevated to the rank of lieutenant general. in iran, there were more anti—western protests. president rouhani visited his family and again warned of harsh revenge for the assassination of the general. he said, the americans are not aware of the big mistake they made. they will face the consequences of their crime, not only today, but also in the

coming years. president donald trump gave the assassination order. he's facing re—election. he was planning a very major attack and we got him. but already, doubts are being cast over the reason for the strike and there are fears that the us will cast the middle east into another war. i don't believe for a moment that he does want a war and i am sure he has calculated what the response is likely to be, but i think, if he is going to be effective, there needs to be a more consistent long—term approach. thousands of american soldiers are pouring into the region. other americans have been told to leave. britain and france is advising against travel to most of iraq. the funeral continued. after iraq, qassem soleimani's body will be flown to tehran and then to his hometown for burial. he did more thanjust

serve iran overseas — he was iran overseas. and in a rare honour, the country's supreme leader will preside over final prayers, mourning the death of his most influential general. quentin somerville, bbc news, beirut. let's talk to jarret blanc — he's the former state department coordinator for the implementation of the iran nuclear deal at the us department of state under president obama. he's now a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace and joins me on the phone from cape town. in terms of where we are now and how things de—escalated at this point, what needs to happen? it is very difficult to see. one of both sides need to stop making esca literary decisions. at every moment over the last couple of years, both sides

have chosen high risk strategy, that is certainly the case against qasem soleimani. so i did the iranians pin needs to step back or the us needs to absorb the retaliation without taking the next step. and when you we re taking the next step. and when you were within the state department, how much of a concern was qasem soleimani? i think that a mistake is being made here in the personalisation of him. obviously he was an important, influential operator within iran's regional policy and so to the extent there was concern about him. but the revolutionary guard said these are

institutions that can survive. so the real concern within the obama administration and everybody should be about the country's policy are not about a single individual who is important as he was is absolutely replaceable. but given this general‘s role in bolstering and in some cases orchestrating militias against the region, do you think that if you put aside the issues of revenge and retaliation, is the region a safer place, as president from pub use, without him? —— argues. his career and ability to influence the region largely stemmed from us failed interventions, most importantly the iraq war. if we had not destabilised the region, he

would not have had the feel he successfully played. —— field. further us interventions are likely to lead to a greater stabilisation. ido to lead to a greater stabilisation. i do not even think the trump administration can say with a straight face that they think the region are safer or more stable today. security arrangements to get out of the area, all of that is proof that they know that the situation is more unstable and more dangerous today than it was three days ago, and that certainly the case if you look further down to a few months as tensions between the us and iran go from a shutter conflict into a more open conflict. what i find really interesting about the situation is that this is just a matter of months since president

trump talked about pulling the us out of the bloodstained sands of the middle east, not being willing to police a region that was so far away from america, and yet here we are on the cusp of potentially having to bolster the presence there and defend its interests with greater military presence. notjust potentially. the trump administration has increased the us military footprint in the region by about 14,000 over the military footprint in the region by about 14, 000 over the course military footprint in the region by about 14,000 over the course of the last ten months. another 3500 have gone on over the last 2a hours. so absolutely we we are more military expose that then we were a few months ago. i have said before, i don't care whether or not donald trump wants a war with iran or whether or not he wants to and our other wars in the middle east, i only care about whether his actions

are likely to lead to us getting out of these walls all likely to us getting into more wars. sometimes it is certainly the case today, whatever it is he says he wants, his actions are pushing us towards war. with that in mind, are there any regional powers who could play the role of peace broker, do you think? that has been a surge over the last couple of years for some outside broker to solve the problem between tehran and washington, the japanese and the french try to play the role, the omanis are always willing to help, but the problem with that is that the challenger is not that the us and iran are not speaking to each other, the challenges that neither of the countries are willing to

make the on and concessions the other side is demanding in order to move from a military confrontation to a diplomatic one. and so, sure, if the us wanted to find a way, it would not be too difficult to pick up the phone and find an intermediary, but donald trump would need to be willing to walk away from his reckless cycle, both militarily and in terms of economic pressure, and so in terms of economic pressure, and so far he's not willing to do that. really good to talk to you, joining us really good to talk to you, joining us from cape town there. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are john rentoul, chief political commentator at the independent, and benedicte paviot, uk correspondent for france 24.

the queen has sent a message of condolence to those by the devastating wildfires in australia. in the message, she said she's deeply saddened by the devastating impact of the bush fires sweeping across many parts of australia. she goes on to say... ands she finishes by saying... nearly 3,000 army reserve troops are being called up to help fight the bushfires burning across the country. australian fire chiefs have warned that high winds and soaring temperatures could potentially push fires into heavily populated areas this weekend. since late september, 23 people have died. shaimaa khalil reports. the hellish combination of high temperatures,

strong winds and dry conditions have made some of these fires too vast to control. a couple dry cut died trying to escape the inferno, they were found near the fire. in victoria, as the blazes continue to rage, evacuees from mallacoota were getting ready to board the navy ship taking them to safety. a moment of relief after a harrowing few days stranded in the fire—ravaged town. our only option was to go down to the foreshore and sit it out. we had 25 fire trucks with us at one time. sorry. the prime minister, scott morrison, has said 3000 reserve troops will be deployed to help tackle the raging bushfires across the country. the first time this has happened in australia's

history. this is bringing heavy smoke on this coast. it found these places, making them unstoppable, but it also spreads the embers making the fire behaviour unpredictable. the howling winds and billowing smoke were enough of an alarm for people in this holiday park. some were hosing their cabins, others taking to the beach to seek refuge. this woman gathered her family, pets and some's wheelchair and headed straight for the shore. ijust got a phone call from a friend whose brother is a police officer, and he said, get the hell out. we've just had the police come up our street and they have said they expect it to impact our houses in the next 20—30 minutes. authorities have warned the situation are still volatile and could get worse. a foreboding and now familiar message to the

people in australia. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, on the south coast of new south wales. police have begun a murder investigation after a man was stabbed to death in north london. the man in his 30s was attacked in finsbury park yesterday evening. friends at the scene said he worked as a food delivery moped rider. no one has been arrested. two lorry drivers have died in a collision that closed the mi southbound for several hours, bedfordshire police have said. the road was shut between flitwick and milton keynes after the incident just before 7am. sir rod stewart has been charged by police in florida after he allegedly punched a security guard at a hotel. a police report says the row happened after the singer and his son sean were not allowed in to a private event on new year's eve. he'll appear in court next month charged with simple battery. the shadow brexit secretary, sir keir starmer, hasjoined the race to become the next labour leader. sir keir, who's a prominent remain supporter, will launch his

leadership bid in stevenage tomorrow, calling on the party to listen to voters in order to regain their trust. he's the fifth mp to enter the contest with prominent backbenchers lisa nandy and jess phillips also announcing their leadership bids in the past 2a hours. theyjoin the shadow treasury minister clive lewis and the shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry, who have previously announced their intention to stand. let's talk through all this with stephen bush, political editor at the new statesman. who out of these people are potential favourites? it is a crowded field at the moment and all the candidates will make it the hurdle to get on the ballot is large. it is very

obviously keir starmer at the moment. notjust because of his background, but he is fighting a very adept campaign, doing everything he needs to do to woo doing everything he needs to do to woo labour members, the most socially concerned, socially liberal, deeply liberal about the consequences of another five years of the conservative government and a return to what they see as bad all day, and at the moment keir starmer is saying to people, i can win, but i will not throw the baby out with the bath water. and thus far no one else has got close to coming up with the message that marries the need to win the labour leadership election but ina win the labour leadership election but in a way that leaves them

with plenty of room for manoeuvre in terms of winning a general election afterwards. what is interesting about the range of potential leadership candidates that have declared so far is it is impossible at this stage to know which direction the labour party will go m, direction the labour party will go in, depending on the outcome of this race, because we have some who were london based and others who are making a virtue of being away from london and speaking to voters further into the country, and then we also have across the political spectrum those who are closely allied with jeremy spectrum those who are closely allied withjeremy corbyn and further left and more centrist candidates. the london stuff is a red herring. islington is the borough of tony blair and jeremy corbyn, stoke newington is the constituency of diane abbott and a radically different home secretary and labour leaders, but we do not yet know what the direction of the

labour party will take. not least because all of the candidates that i would consider to have a decent chance of winning are in different ways fighting, saying, i will not jump ways fighting, saying, i will not jump many of these policies. but in different ways from keir starmer. the candidates i can plausibly see. clive lewis has the potential to do well if he gets onto the ballot but i cannot see... he is running a campaign to say, i ought to be in the shadow cabinet. he is a big asset to the left of the labour party but i do not think you will get onto the ballot this time. thanks very much indeed. the headlines on bbc news: two mortar rounds land

near the us embassy in baghdad as huge crowds join funeral processions in iraq for iran's top military commander, killed by a us drone strike. the queen sends her condolences to the people of australia as fears grow that high winds and temperatures will push bushfires towards heavily populated areas. the shadow brexit secretary, keir starmer, enters the race to become labour leader. he'll launch his campaign in stevenage tomorrow. sport and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here's chetan. good evening. it's fa cup third round weekend and we've seen two top—flight sides knocked out, and some great comebacks and what a story we had at rochdale. the league i side held newcastle to a 1—1 draw, their ao—year—old subsitute, aaron wilbraham, scoring the equaliser that earned rochdale a replay at st james' park and he was almost ready to play that game straight after today's

90 minutes! it was a great feeling and happy to come on and being involved. the second half seemed to go so quick, i could have carried on playing. i was not ready for it. i enjoyed it and it was great to get that goal. championship side sheffield wednesday knocked out premier league opposition in brighton. adam reach blasting them into round four with a deflected long—range strike. and aston villa are also out — an absolute cracker from harry arter giving fulham a 2—1 victory at craven cottage. league i tranmere pulled off a stunning fight back at watford. they were 3—0 down until the 65th minute when connorjennings pulled a goal back, it was initally disallowed for offside but var overturned that decision and paul mullin completed

the comeback from the penalty spot in the final minutes of the game. all the goals from today's games are on the bbc sport website and app. england have the edge over south africa after day two of the second test in cape town. the hosts slipped from 157—3 to 215—8 at the close of play and it was ben stokes again who was the star of the show with four superb catches. adam wild reports. in cape town, a beautiful warm day, watching on, english knights were heating up too. into battle once more, jimmy anderson, but after yesterday's batting problems, today's opening stand was england's last. and anderson didn't — not for long anyway. all out for 269. now, it may be one of the world's most picturesque grounds, but right then for england, things were not looking great. that was until stuart broad found

the edge of peter milan's bat. the ball, the game suddenly moved at quite some pace. time then to get a grip of it. ben stokes and another brilliant catch from him. hamza, the latest batsman to wonder just how he does it. and while south africa were still working it out, stokes caught hold of another. england's day brighter by the moment. another player caught by an england hand, but wait. replay showed a no—ball. south africa with the roar of reprieve. the player along with dean elgar added more than 100. still, fortune remains fickle. and with stokes, england really are in great hands. here he finally got him. moments later, he caught dwayne pretorius as well. four catches — quite a day for him and for england. jimmy anderson striking with the final ball and celebrations really started. england's day for england's knights. adam wild, bbc

news. to rugby union's premiership now and gloucester had an excellent 29 points to 15 win over bath to move up to third place in the table. bath led at the break, but gloucester put on a show of force in the second half, scoring three tries — this from gerbrandt grobler — to secure the bonus point. that's their biggest win over bath for nine years. england fly—half george ford scored a try and added 11 points with the boot as leicester tigers beat bristol 31—18 for only their second premiership win of the season. and saracens ran in ten tries as they thrashed worcester warriors by 62 points to five to continue their recovery from that 35—point deduction at the start of the season. glasgow warriors ran in six tries to see off benetton in an enthralling proili contest. george horne touched down twice as the warriors won by 38 points to 19 to stay in

touch of the play—off places. there were also wins for dragons and zebre. that's all the sport for now. there are calls for a review of surrogacy laws to allow a child's intended parents to be recognised as such at the time of their birth. currently, parents have to apply to the courts for a child to be legally recognised as their own, which often doesn't happen. bbc scotland's carole erskin reports. really cute. for laura and stephen, penelope is their medical baby. ten years ago, laura was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia. she manages her illness with daily chemotherapy tablets, but knew she always wanted a family. in 2016, she began trying for her own child. when i was first diagnosed and i went to hospital, i had a list of questions i wanted to ask. you know, am i going to die? am i going to lose my hair?

will i be able to have children? and the cancer increased and increased quite rapidly and, when i went to hospital, a nurse she said to me, "if you did get pregnant, and the cancer continued to increase, it could get to five or six months into the pregnancy and we would have to decide whether we save your life or save the baby's." and that was the most devastating blow. i felt really, really useless, and that cancer had not only taken a kind of chunk of my life — because obviously it plays on your mind that what is my life expectancy going to be? — but that it had played with my chance of having a family. and, yeah, thankfully, there was someone there to help with that. that someone was her sister—in—law, jayne. i am blessed to have a family and i know what the feeling is like to have your child and i wanted that for my brother and sister—in—law and we would do anything, as we have done, to make it happen for them.

i don't see her as my child. ithink, if i had had issues and had the baby blues or post—natal depression, then, as we talked with the councillor, then maybe surrogacy may not have been a good option for me, but i have had no problems before. penelope's special book of herjourney. i think we always felt it was important to do so that we could write down everything we were feeling and all of the states we had gone through so that when she is old enough, maybe five years old or so, we would be able to tell her how she came into the world. baby penelope jayne tessa was born on november 23 after being conceived by ivf on the nhs. penelope is biologically ours, so i had to go through ivf and have my eggs removed. jayne had to have injections herself as well, so there were two of us going through that and, for me to watch jayne having to go through that and know it is for us

as well was really tough to take. we had a lot of ups and downs. it's not easy at all. it did not work the first time, there was a lot of upset and, actually, at the point whenjayne came to tell us that she was actually pregnant, i think i had given up hope. i really thought it was not going to happen. jayne arrived at our door with a positive pregnancy test and that was just the most incredible moment of my life. in the eyes of the law, jayne is penelope's mum and laura and stephen can apply to change this when she is six weeks old and officially become recognised as a parents. for them all, the long journey to get to here has been worth it, and it means laura has more reasons than ever to stay positive about her own health. it gives me something to live for, more than ever now, so i am determined to just carry on and stay as healthy as i can for her. it's honestly been the most wonderful, wonderful thing,

so we're eternally grateful forjayne, sorry... but we all love her, so... you know... she is special. yeah. 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. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. good evening. a breezier day on the way tomorrow. still fairly cloudy for many, too. the cloud in the west through tonight will produce the odd spot of light rain and drizzle. some heavier bursts across the outer hebrides, orkney and shetland but milder air pushing in here after a bit of a chilly night. where we see clear skies across parts of eastern scotland and eastern england, we could see temperatures drop

low enough for a touch of frost but, in the west, milder conditions to take us into sunday morning. like today, lots of cloud around for sunday. best of some breaks in the northeast of scotland, maybe through parts of east wales, the midlands and the south developing through the day. the cloud in the west still thick enough to produce the odd shower and across the hebrides and also the northwest highlands, more persistent rain expected. a breezy day and temperatures up a little bit as that breeze comes in from the southwest, 8—12 celsius. warmer air pushes into next week, but at a price — the winds will pick up widespread gales. winds may be touching 70—80 miles an hour in parts of northern scotland and we'll all see some rain at times, too. bye for now.

hello, this is bbc news with ben bland. the headlines: two mortar rounds land near the us embassy in baghdad as huge crowds join funeral processions in iraq for iran's top military commander, killed by a us drone strike. iranian president rouhani visited the dead general‘s family, promising that americans will feel the impact of their actions for years ahead. the queen sends her condolences to the people of australia as fears grow that high winds and temperatures will push bushfires towards heavily populated areas. the shadow brexit secretary, keir starmer, enters the race to become labour leader. he'll launch his campaign in stevenage tomorrow. police appeal for information after a food delivery driver