welcome to bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: as huge crowds take to the streets to bid farewell to iran's general soleimani, a call for a un investigation into the legality of the us air strike that killed him. australia suffers one of the worst bushfire days of the season as temperatures nudge 50 celsius and howling winds fan the flames. hello and welcome to bbc news. president trump has warned iran that the us has 52 potential iranian targets lined up — should tehran attack any of its citizens or assets in response to the

killing of its general qasem soleimani in iraq. meanwhile us—led coalition forces in iraq have confirmed that two rocket attacks have taken place near bases housing us troops in baghdad. it happened after the funeral procession for general soleimani took place. iranian officials have promised what they describe as severe revenge for his death. quentin sommerville reports. they came in their thousands to honour qasem 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 has been elevated to the rank of lieutenant general. in iran there were

more anti—western protests. president rouhani visited the soleimani 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 is 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 to karbala. after iraq, qasem 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 ayatollah khomeini, will preside overfinal prayers, mourning the death of his most influential general. quentin somerville, bbc news, beirut. the australian bushfires crisis shows no sign of abating. a number of new fires have taken hold in the state of new south wales, and some residents have been warned it's too late to leave. shaimaa khalil reports. it promised to be a day of danger and these bushfires have lived up to every emergency warning. the hellish combination

of high temperatures, strong winds and dry conditions have made some of these blazes too vast to control. in kangaroo island, a famous holiday destination, a couple died trying to escape the inferno. they were found near their car. in victoria, as blazes continued to rage in the east, 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 and at one stage we had 25 fire trucks with us. sorry... the prime minister, scott morrison, has said 3000 reserve troops will be deployed to help tackle the raging bush fires. the first time this has happened in australia's

history. but this video he posted on twitter, showing the government's response, accompanied by upbeat music, drew angry criticism. many accusing him of using this catastrophe as a pr opportunity. this gusty wind is now picking up very strongly and it is bringing heavy smoke to southern new south wales, here on the coast. this is what the firefighters are dreading, because it fans these blazes, making them unstoppable, but it also spreads those embers, making the fire behaviour quite unpredictable. the howling winds and billowing smoke were enough of an alarm for people in this holiday park in this coastal town. some were hosing their cabins. 0thers took to the beach to seek refuge. this woman did not take any chances. she gathered her family, her pets and her son's wheelchair and headed straight to the shore. ijust got a phone call from a friend, whose brother is a police officer and he said, get the hell out. we have just had the police come

up our street and said that they expected it to impact our houses in the next 20 to 30 minutes. the authorities have warned that the situation is still volatile and could get worse. a foreboding and now a familiar message to the people in australia. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, on the southern coast of new south wales. at least 60 people are now known to have died in indonesia, following heavy rains that started on new year s eve. the extreme weather caused landslides and flash flooding around the capital, jakarta and neighbouring regions. rich preston has this report. the new year rains were some of the worst in nearly a decade. tens of thousands in jakarta were forced from their homes and still are not able to return. roads and bridges were wiped out. locals were forced to use boats and makeshift rafts to get between houses and villages.

officials say more than 10,000 health workers have been deployed. medicines and disinfecting kits have been distributed amid concerns over a surge in waterborne and mosquito borne diseases. many have already sought treatment in makeshift clinics. landslides have made some villages inaccessible. emergency supplies had to be dropped in by air. jakarta regularly floods during the rainy season. but this week's flooding is the worst since 2013, and there are fears that more rain may be yet to come. the government says it'll start cloud seeding, spraying chemicals from planes to planes to try to prompt rainfall before approaching clouds reach the most populous areas, in the hope of preventing further damage or loss of life. and you'll find much more on the stories we're covering plus much more

on the bbc news website. returning to the bushfires gripping australia now. in new south wales alone, authorities are dealing with a fireground which spans over 3.3 million hectares. but nationwide — bushfires have destroyed almost 5.5 million hectares. to give you some context, that's almost double the size of belgium. let's get more now from ben shepherd of the rural fire service. this morning will be definitely an opportunity reallyjust to take stock of what occurred with a very dramatic southerly change, which moved across these fire grounds late yesterday afternoon and into the evening. there is no doubt that we have lost some property. there is the potential also, we may have seen further lives lost, so today will be just doing the restock, working out also where we can start pulling some of these fires up.

more favourable weather at least for the next few days, albeit it does remain very dry. but start, really, working out where we can actually start containing these fires because we've got a massive effort ahead of us. we are currently dealing with over 3.3 million hectares on these fire grounds alone at the moment, so there is a huge body of work that needs to be undertaken over the coming days and weeks. climate change and its link to the severity of these fires is at the heart of discussion and debate in australia and as fires continue to burn many are looking toward the years ahead and how the country can better prepare. ken macclune is an expert in climate adaptation — he says there needs to be climate science needs to be central to preparations. we need to plan ahead of time and understand what the hazards might

be in terms of climate adaptation using climate projections to understand the impacts on key services and key infrastructure. then planning ahead of time to address those risks. it is said that for every dollar spent in preparation, $5 future impact is reduced. there are new building materials when people rebuild their homes or when they retrofit their homes or when they retrofit their homes that are somewhat more fire resista nt homes that are somewhat more fire resistant but, in general, it is not getting a lot of discussion right now. it is starting to but there's a need to think about climate reaction. can we rescue every community? can we adapt every community? can we adapt every community for the coming challenges of climate change? the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer has joined 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. two lorry drivers have died in a crash on the mi. the motorway was closed for hours in both directions between flitwick and milton keynes after the incident just before 7am yesterday morning. it was reopened northbound this afternoon, but police say the southbound carriageway will remain shut until further notice. 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 altercation occurred after the singer and his son failed to gain access to a private event on new year's eve. he'll appear in court next month.

councils in england have urged the courts to impose biggerfines to tackle the growing problem of fly—tipping. the local government association says there were more than a million offences last year, but only 5% of fines were above £1,000. richard galpin reports. this cctv footage captures a lorry dumping huge amounts of waste illegally in the middle of the night. the premises of a small company used by the fly—tippers to get rid of the rubbish. in recent yea rs get rid of the rubbish. in recent years fly—tipping has been getting steadily worse, blighting the environment, causing pollution and threatening public health and wildlife. it tends to be businesses trying to avoid paying the cost of this possible. rural areas are particularly affected, or public lands, people walking by quiet

places that are sometimes seem quite large lows. fly-tipping in england was at a comparative low ofjust over 700,000 incident to in the financial year to have —— 2012—13, but by 2018 they had been a sharp rise towards 1 million but by 2018 they had been a sharp rise towards1 million incidents, putting local councils under more pressure. that is because they are involved in clearing up and investigating the incidents. back to their frustration, they say that too many fly—tippers are getting away with light fines, when they should face heavy punishment. richard galton, bbc news. china has sacked its most senior official in charge of relations with hong kong. wang zhimin was the director of beijing's liaison office in the territory, which has seen six months of often violent pro—democracy protests. his dismissal is being seen as a sign of china's dissatisfaction with how events have been handled there. journalist isabel hilton says

it will interesting to see what happens to mr wang next. we can't claim to know too much about the inner workings of the party, but it seems to me there are two things to watch, here. one is, where does he go now? if he is demoted or if his career is brought to a premature end, he's only 62, so he's got some time to go, then you can assume that he is disgraced. but if he gets another decentjob, or carries on, piecemeal, until the end of his career, then i think you are looking at a situation in which something had to change because, clearly, we are a bit stuck. and no doubt somebody has to be blamed. and he's in the firing line. so i think, depending on what happens to him, and we will know relatively soon what happens to him, we can discern the degree to which he is carrying the can for a policy which actually came from beijing, and that is the dilemma, really. it is

beijing's policy. this is bbc news, the headlines: huge crowds take to the streets in iraq to bid farewell to iran's general soleimani. a top un official has called for an independent investigation into the legality of the us air strike that killed him. the us has justified the killing of qasem soleimani as an act of self—defence, with the pentagon saying that it was aimed at deterring "future iranian attack plans". dr agnes callamard is the un special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. she gave us her assessment of soliemani's asassination. under international human rights law, it is very unlikely that the killing of mr soleimani was lawful. indeed, the killing of the people around him are, for sure, unlawful. but the key question that i think we need to assess right now is,

first of all, whether the united states acted in self—defence. and second, whether we are in the middle of an international armed conflict between iran and the us. in terms of the notion of self—defence, the us so far has argued it was acting, that it had acted against an imminent attack. it has not provided any kind of details or evidence, so it is difficult to determine whether indeed there was an imminent armed attack against the us and whether the killing of general soleimani was a proportionate response to this imminent attack. so, at this point, me, in particular as an expert, looking at the issue, and i think others, as long as we don't have further information, we cannot make a proper assessment. now it's time

to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. it's fa cup third round weekend. we've seen two top—flight sides knocked out and some great comebacks. what a story had in particular at rochdale. the league one side held newcastle to a 1—1 draw. their ao—year—old substitute aaron wilbraham scoring the equaliser that earned rochdale a replay at st james's park. and he was almost ready to play that game straight after today's 90 minutes. it was a great feeling, obviously. just happy to come on and be involved. i was dying to come on at the second half seem to go so quick, i could have carried on playing for another hour, to be fair. when they put the injury time up, i wasn't ready for that. no, i enjoyed it and it was great to get the goal, like you say. championship side sheffield wednesday knocked out premier league opposition in brighton. adam reach blasting them into round four with that deflected long—range strike. and aston villa are also

out. an absolute cracker, this from harry arter, giving fulham a 2—1victory at craven cottage. and ca rlisle united almost caused an upset. really struggling in league 2, but they were leading cardiff city 2—0 at half—time. harry mckirdy getting their second. but, the championship side came back. gavin whyte earning them a 2—2 draw and a replay. league 1 tranmere pulled off a stunning fightback at watford. they were 3—0 down until the 65th minute when connorjennings pulled a goal back. it was initially 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 all of today's matches are on the bbc sport website and app. coming back from 3—0 down

against any team is an upset and a comeback, but today it's even better. it's a special moment against a premier league side to get the replay and get them back to prenton park on a tuesday or wednesday night. we had them on the ropes and momentum in football is massive and we used it to our advantage and after the first goal, it was a snowball effect and i thought we could go on and win it. but obviously, they kept the ball a bit better after that and realised what had happened. they are a good side, so it was hard to get it off them. and cricket, 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. 0ur cricket correspondent, jonathan agnew was watching. well, it all happens when you have fragile batting line—ups up against top—class bowling attacks. and that's what this series seems to be all about. both england and south africa, their batting is so unpredictable, every run is crucial. you get these collapses, it's all very exciting, but frustrating sometimes if you love your test cricket, you want to see real

flowing batting techniques. but it does make for exciting cricket. four—day test matches has been talked about a lot recently. of course, if the batting is going to be like this and like england's was on the first day and indeed the first test match, you can see why some people are arguing that four—day test cricket is the way to go. for england, today was all about their oldies to start with. james anderson and stuart broad taking the first three wickets. dom bess did a terrificjob bowling his off—spin, containing, getting the crucial wicket of elga and then sam curran taking two wickets before the new ball. what will happen tomorrow? england batting under pressure, who knows what sort of lead they will start off with, but may be a0 to 50. but they have still got to nail down that third innings and you see many a test team losing it from there. next, the tennis world number one, rafa nadal, has got his year off to the perfect start. even spain's opening match of the atp cup beating basilashvili in straight sets, as they eased past georgia in perth.

nadal, winning his match in straight sets 6—3, 7—5. and in brisbane, novak djokovic beat kevin anderson in two tie—break sets to give serbia their first victory at the event. it was close all the way in this one. eventually for djokovic, seeing it out, but serbia winning their tie 3—0. and that is all your sport for now. the president of uganda has begun a six day march through the jungle — a journey of nearly 200km. yoweri museveni is retracing the route he and his supporters took when they seized power in a military coup — beginning near the capital — kampala. critics have dismissed the move as a stunt. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. for his supporters, this is a chance to relive a moment of national

liberation. for his opponents, it is merely a cynical piece of electioneering. yoweri museveni will spend the next few days retracing the past, the samejourney spend the next few days retracing the past, the same journey that he and his guerilla fighters made, some 35 years ago. we ended up back in colombia, on the first, on new year's day of 1985. president yoweri museveni are sworn into office in january 1986. he had helped overthrow the dictatorships of idi amin and later milton mccarty. he has been criticised for alleged corruption and clamping down on political dissent. president yoweri museveni is one of africa's longest serving leaders and it is expected he will run for a sixth term of office in 2021. then opposition mp

said that ugandans deserve better than a president walking through a jungle. this may be a chance to remember days gone by, but some want to focus on days to come. tim allman, bbc news. more than 100,000 people have held a protest rally in the indian city of hyderabad against a citizenship law. many were chanting slogans against the hindu—nationalist prime minister narendra modi. the protest was organised by an umbrella group of muslim and civil society organisations. critics say the law is anti—muslim and against the values of india's secular constitution. 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 on friday night. friends at the scene said he worked as a food delivery moped rider. no—one has been arrested. let's return now our story

about the forthcoming labour leadership contest. earlier, our political correspondent jonathan blake had this update on how the leadership contest is shaping up. in an apparent pitch tojeremy corbyn‘s support basis as the party must not lose sight of its value is a retreat from the radicalism of the last few years. there was no mention of brexit at all in his pitch and is a leading remain campaign, someone who argued hard for a second referendum, he might be seen as out of step with labour's lee voting constituencies and the voters who turned their back on a party at the last election. 0thers turned their back on a party at the last election. others in the running, prominent backbenchers just minutes and lisa nandy argue that the party must change direction and chew someone as the party must change direction and chew someone as a the party must change direction and chew someone as a leader who is more in touch with their working—class support base. the shadow business

secretary rebecca long—bailey is yet to declare officially but she has long been seen as a natural successor to jeremy corbyn. long been seen as a natural successor tojeremy corbyn. emily thornberry and clive lewis from the shadow cabinet have also declared. expect 12 weeks of debate now about the future of the labour party and its future leader. and you'll find much more on the stories we're covering plus much more on the bbc news website. there's detailed coverage of the american killing of iranian general qasem soleimani and on the australian bushfires. some incredible pictures of those bushfires. first the weather with matt taylor. good morning. once again there will be some

sunny breaks across parts of the country through today. but, for many, it will be a day like yesterday with the odd, fleeting light shower in the west with a breeze starting to pick up, signs of something much windier into next week but with light winds into the morning, clearer skies across eastern areas could see a touch of frost. to the west, a fairly mild start, but we will see some fleeting light showers in the west during the day with more persistent rain in the hebrides, spreading into the highlands, 0rkney and shetland introducing milder weather compared to yesterday with a breeze picking up elsewhere. for the best of the breaks, east of wales, the midlands, and the north—east of mainland scotland. across the board, temperatures around 8—12 degrees. some heavy rain to finish the day in the north of scotland. that clears away. other than some showers in the west most should have a dry and mild night from sunday into monday. the return for many to work after the christmas break but look at what is waiting in the wings. the weather is set to turn very lively as we go into next week. an active jet stream blowing

across the atlantic and each little dip in the jet stream will see subsequent areas of low pressure develop. the first one spreads northwards across iceland as we go through into monday. spreading its weather fronts south and eastwards into the uk and ireland, and with it, strong to gale force winds. the wettest weather across ireland on monday morning. it will spread through much of scotland and ireland during the day, into wales and west in england during the afternoon. across central and eastern england it should stay dry, sunshine at times and bright sunshine to finish in northern ireland with temperatures of around ten celsius once more. heading into monday night, a more potent area of low pressure arrives from the north. this one much larger as well, so the extent of the stronger winds will be greater. a very windy day across the board. the best of any dry weather to the south and east of a few showers here and there but some heavy rain across the north and west of scotland and at times in northern ireland.

here we will see the strongest of the winds touching 80 mph in north—west scotland but the winds elsewhere could cause travel disruption and will bring in some exceptionally mild air, peaking at 16 celsius around the moray firth. 15 in northern ireland and the north east of wales too. it will not feel mild in the winds, though, and those winds, could be pretty disruptive.

this is bbc news, the headlines: huge crowds have joined funeral processions in iraq, for iran's top military commander, killed by a us drone strike. crowds chanted "death to america" as qasem soleimani's coffin travelled through iraqi cities on its way to iran. there are calls for the un to investigate the attack. the premier of new south wales

warns that australia is in what she called, "unchartered territory" after the worst night of bushfires since they started two months ago. temperatures have nudged 50 degrees celsius in some parts with winds spreading the fires and making their paths even more unpredictable. sir keir starmer has confirmed he is standing in the contest to replacejeremy corbyn as labour leader. the shadow brexit secretary, seen as a frontrunner in the contest, has written in the sunday mirror that labour needs to "rebuild fast" to restore trust. he's among five labour mps vying for the job. i'll be back at the top of the hour but now on bbc news, the travel show. i'm paul carter, i'm a journalist and i have come here to tokyo to experience its culture, its sights and smells. like a lego cityscape, it doesn't look real.