welcome to bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: rockets van near the us embassy in the iraqi capital just rockets van near the us embassy in the iraqi capitaljust hours after thousands joined funeral processions for the remaining general qasem suleimani. australia suffers one of the worst bushfire days of the season as temperatures nudge 50 celsius 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've described 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 over final 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 from the southern coast of new south wales. 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 28 people have been killed and many others wounded in an air raid against a military school in the libyan capital, tripoli. it's thought forces loyal to the militia commander khalifa haftar may be behind the attacks. violence has intensified in libya since last month, when general haftar announced a new phase in his forces‘ advance on the capital, which is held by the un—recognised government. the death toll in the worst flooding to hit indonesia's capital, jakarta, in over a decade has risen to 53, according

to the kyodo news agency. indonesian authorities say over 170,000 people are taking refuge in shelters. the wet weather is forecast to continue until sunday with the possibility of more extreme rains in the coming weeks. let's get more on the assasination of iranian general qasem soleimani. sarah parkinson is assistant professor of political science atjohns hopkins university, in washington and joins me now. professor, where do you think this is going to lead, because everyone is going to lead, because everyone is talking about escalation but we could also be looking at some sort of de—escalation, possibly. what redwood we have to go down to get the de—escalation, do you think? it's a hard question to answer because it is unclear if the us is actually operating with any overarching strategy or

understanding. of what the situation on the ground is. at this point, iran is in a position where domestic politics and international politics make it feel like it has to respond in some way which will be taken by the us administration as an escalation but the other part of this, that not many people are talking about, is that there are all kinds of domestic politics that are being pushed to the side or put on hold in the interest of talking about this conflict between the us and iran, orwhat about this conflict between the us and iran, or what people perceive as and iran, or what people perceive as a conflict between the us and iran, when we have literally millions of protesters who have been out on the streets in multiple cities in iraq and in lebanon, who are watching forces that have been acting against them for the last couple of months now being put in a position to level at some serious symbolic power given what the us moves have been in the region, so this is a multilevel situation at this point, and it is

impossible to predict what will happen. also, of course, we have seen protests in iraq. what kind of impact would it have on what is happening in iraq right now because the government there has been put in a difficult position, hasn't it? absolutely. it's important to remember that certain forces have been put in a difficult position. the government has been faced with protests over the last couple of months. there have been dozens of protesters killed and many more wounded and these protests have been throughout the country in cities like najab were the iranian consulate was burned, so in many ways having an opportunity to mobilise the politics of shiaism, gives many of the measures that have

been working against these protesters an opportunity to sideline those in terms of how they talk about them, are they iraqi shias, au, as well as dispersing an emergency situation for the iraqi government, that is in an incredibly difficult position and from what i understand will be holding an emergency parliament tomorrow. the wider question is one of the middle east and where this leaves the people in the region and their worries for the future. at this point the way this has resonated with many people independently of how they feel about soleimani, there are widespread critiques of marketing in the region for a very good reasons including the policies he has forward in syria and yemen, but what people see right now, the way that people see this from what i am hearing is these are the elites

of two countries that are trying to distract from domestic politics. let's not forget that iran has been experiencing protests as well and potentially thousands of protesters have been killed and more have been imprisoned, and people feel like governments are working for their own interests and not for their people, that has been the point of protest in lebanon, iraq and iran, and what people are most worried about is another conflict in the region that affects millions of civilians who have no say in how any of these policies are played out. thank you forjoining us. 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 this afternoon, 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. earlier, our political correspondent jonathan blake had this update on how the leadership contest is shaping up. there are already some clear differences with sir keir starmer the latest to set out his pitch to labour party members arguing in a piece in the sunday mirror tomorrow that labour cannot hide its head in the sand and needs to rebuild fast but in an apparent pitch tojeremy corbyn's support base he says the party must not lose sight of his values or retreat from the radicalism of the last few years. there is no mention of brexit at all in his pitch, and as a leading remain campaigner and someone who argued hard for a second referendum, might be seen as out of step with labour's leave voting constituencies and voters who turned their back on the party at the election, and others in the running, prominent

backbenchersjess phillips and lisa nandy argue that the party must change direction and choose someone as leader more in touch with their working class support base. the shadow business secretary rebecca long—bailey has yet to declare but she has long been seen as a natural successor tojeremy corbyn, emily thornberry and clive lewis from the shadow cabinet also expected to be in the mix. the timetable has yet to be finalised. expect about 12 weeks now of debate about labour's future, and its future leader. 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. 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. it was reopened northbound, but police say the southbound carriageway will remain shut until further notice. this is bbc news, the headlines:

huge crowds take to the streets in iraq to bid farewell to iran's general soleimani. in the capital baghdad rockets land near the us embassy and an american airbase. meanwhile, bushfires continue to rage in australia. returning now to australia and the devastating fire season. and lets get an update on the situation from ben shepherd from the rural fire service who joins me from their headquarters in sydney. thank you forjoining us. can you give us an update on the latest on what is happening with the fires and the battle to control them? still across new south wales more than 140 fires continue to burn covering an area 3.4 million hectares. tha nkfully area 3.4 million hectares. thankfully today a bit more favourable weather but we continue to see the fires move, particularly

in the south—east of the state, the far southern coastline of new south wales where we see fires across the board from victoria into new south wales burning in a northerly direction towards smaller villages and towns where we are currently still advising people to leave and to seek shelter indoors, as a fire purchase. 0ver to seek shelter indoors, as a fire purchase. over the coming days we will see more favourable weather where we can start back burning on a number of these fires to bring them under control, but towards the end of the week it is likely we will see again hot, dry and windy conditions return to many parts of new south wales and we cannot have all of those files contain by that time. we have been hearing of temperatures hitting 50 degrees in some areas. that must make it incredibly difficult. it is the temperatures, humidity and extraordinarily strong winds. yesterday we saw westerly winds. yesterday we saw westerly

winds which come out of the centre of the continent, the drier centre, ripping up across the state then the low humidity has combined with those temperatures driving up the fires into the top of what we know as the extreme, causing fires to behave very erratically. we saw them causing thunderstorms and lightning asa causing thunderstorms and lightning as a result. it was an incredibly difficult days. on the back end of that we saw a terrific southerly change made its way up the coast forcing these fires in a more northern direction impacting on further homes in town so it was an incredibly difficult day, so we have some more favourable weather coming but what need is rain and lots of it. in terms of evacuating, you have mentioned it is too late for some people to evacuate but have other people to evacuate but have other people be leaving their homes and moving away from areas of danger, having found that easy or difficult, to persuade people to go? over the last few days leading up to this

weekend a number of people on the south coast of new south wales, a very big airy at this time for holiday makers, we saw tens of thousands of people move out of those areas ahead of this fire danger day which makes ourjob that much easier, not having to worry about people in isolated communities on headlands and beat france, where these fires were heading to, so we are seeing a great community response but also many land—holders ensuring that their homes are well prepared, but there is no doubt that over the past 24 hours, we have lost a number of homes. we will be looking to take stock over the coming days to work out how many homes and businesses and structures like churches, schools and all that may been lost in the firefight yesterday. how much pressure is the fire service under in australia, you have been getting help from other fire services, the new zealand wire service i sent you some help. how

much pressure are you under and how much pressure are you under and how much pressure are you under and how much pressure and support the unique? we have had support from the us, canada and new zealand, as they can release their firefighters. us, canada and new zealand, as they can release theirfirefighters. we have a large fire fighting for say, the rural fire service partner still needs to be that community assistance as well. chris wyles is a shared responsibility. we can have an extra 10,000 trucks and firefighters to go on them but it is still not enough to go across these broad areas and have a truck with every single home, so there is a strong emphasis on people to ensure that their own homes are well prepared, because we know that a lot of these homes have been lost because of embers landing on homes, so because of embers landing on homes, so despite all that, it is incredibly difficult time, but the community response has been amazing. but we have some months of this fire season still to go. why are fighters

are so season still to go. why are fighters are so tired that they still put their hand up to help and until we see way they will still want to provide that assistance to the community. —— until we see rain. thank you forjoining us. no problem. 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. 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 try to prompt rainfall before approaching clouds reach the most populous areas, in the hope of preventing further damage or loss of life. rich preston, bbc news. 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 we had in particular at rochdale. the league one side held newcastle to a 1—1 draw. their 40—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 and 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 in 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 40 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. he won spain's opening match of the atp cup beating nicolas 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 200 kilometres. yoweri museveni is retracing the route he and his supporters took when they seized power in a military coup. the march begins 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 same journey that he and his

guerilla fighters made, some 35 years ago. we ended up back in kampala, on the first, on new year's day of 1985. president museveni was sworn into office in january 1986. he had helped overthrow the dictatorships of idi amin and later milton 0bote. he has been criticised for alleged corruption and clamping down on political dissent. president museveni is one of africa's longest serving leaders and it is expected he will run for a sixth term of office in 2021. 0ne 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.

coming up, dateline london, but first the weather with matt taylor. hello there. for many it will be a cloudy day like yesterday bringing the odd, fleeting, like a shower in the west with the breeze starting to pick up, signs of something much windier next week. clear skies across eastern areas, there could be a touch of frost around, further west, the cloud thick and a fairly mild start. we will see some fleeting, like showers, with no persistent rain in the hebrides spreading into the highlands, 0rkney and shetland introducing milder weather compared with yesterday. the breeze will be picking up elsewhere. the best of the breaks for the east of wales in the breaks for the east of wales in the midlands, and the north—east of maine in scotland, and across the board, temperatures around 8—12d.

that rain clears in the north—west of scotland, and then other than a few showers in the west most will have a dry, mild night from sunday into monday. of course a return to work for many after the christmas break but look at what is waiting in the wings. the weather is set to turn livelier as we go into next week. an active jet stream blowing across the atlantic and these little dip in thisjet across the atlantic and these little dip in this jet stream will see subsequent areas of low pressure develop. the first one spreads northwards across iceland as we go through into monday. spreading is whether france southwards and eastwards into the uk and ireland, and with it, strong to gale force winds. that wet weather spreads through ireland that much of scotla nd through ireland that much of scotland during the day on monday, into wales and west england during the afternoon. parts of central and eastern england will stay dry were some spells of hazy sunshine, with brighter weather to finish with in northern ireland with temperatures roughly around 10 celsius once more.

heading into monday night, this more pertinent area of low pressure arriving from the north, this one much larger as well so the extent of the strong winds will be greater. the best of any dry weather to the south—east. a few showers here and there but heavy rain across the north and west of scotland and at times in northern ireland, and here, we will see the strongest winds, touching 80 mph in north—west scotla nd touching 80 mph in north—west scotland but wins elsewhere could cause travel disruption. and exceptionally mild, peaking at 16 celsius around the moray firth. 15 for northern ireland and the north—east of wales. even though we have at mild air, it will not feel like it in those winds, and the winds, to start the week could be pretty disruptive. stay tuned to the forecast.

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