welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: rockets land near the us embassy in the iraqi capital — just hours after thousands across the countryjoined a funeral procession for assassinated iranian general qasem soleimani. australia suffers one of the worst bushfire days of the season as temperatures nudge 50 celsius and strong winds whip up the flames. 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 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. let s get some of the day s other news. 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. china has sacked the official in charge of relations with hong kong, six months after large—scale

anti—beijing protests began in the territory. rumours had been circulating about wang zhimin‘s departure in recent weeks, amid reports that china was dissatisfied with his office's handling of the crisis. mr wang has been replaced by luo huining, formerly communist party leader in the northern province of shaanxi. police in florida have charged sir rod stewart with battery — after he was accused of punching a security guard on new year's eve. the rock star is reported to have been trying to get into a private event, at a hotel in palm beach, when the incident happened. you are watching bbc news. there's more on our website. let's get more on our top story now: negar mortazavi is diplomatic correspondent for the independent. he for the independent. can talk to us about the killin

of he can talk to us about the killing of the general in iran. we have had issues within the iranian government, in particular, the fear that the killing of general soleimani means that citizens in iran will close ranks behind the government and the hardliners against the moderates. is that a real danger here? after all general soleimani was part of the revolutionary guard and that is a major force revolutionary guard and that is a majorforce in a rainy repression. there were massive protests in november in iran, actually. and this wasn't the first repression that they did. so they are not popular across all portions of the population but within the political factions we have seen moderates and

reform ists factions we have seen moderates and reformists who have been critical of the hardcore, the core of the regime, of the revolutionary guard policies and actions, we see them rallying around a flag and using this as a unifying voice against the united states. qasem soleimani wasn't so much involved in domestic politics in iran, in repression, he was the foreign—based fighter and he spearheaded iran's fight against isis and for that reason you see lots of respect for him across the political factions. what is the way out of this, for iran? the supreme leader has vowed harsh retaliation against the american action. we see this reverberation across the hardline force of the political

structure. at the same time the moderate doses of the reformist camp are trying to calm the situation and asking for a de—escalation and while they condemn the us action, the assassination, they call it an act of terrorism and they call soleimani a martyr, and a hero, at the same time you see them promote de—escalation but at the same time i feel like iran has no option but to do some form of retaliation. this is just too big for them. everyone is so just too big for them. everyone is so shocked in iran. it is not something that they can let go unanswered. part of the problem for iran is that it wants to move forward with this foreign policy and yet its main foreign policy strategist is now dead. how difficult is it for them to move forward without general soleimani? he was a very central person, a significant person in the past

decade, more of a strategist than a specialfighter, decade, more of a strategist than a special fighter, but he decade, more of a strategist than a specialfighter, but he is not com pletely specialfighter, but he is not completely irreplaceable. his replacement will be his deputy. and the format of the force that he put in place, this al quds force, the format of that is very decentralised so format of that is very decentralised so it is not so much reliant on one person, although he was the mastermind it is not something that is going to stop, it is probably going to continue in much worse ways in terms of the proxies and the al quds force itself. what has been the reaction in the us? we see criticism from the democrats, that the president is starting a new war in the middle east. we saw president trump tweeting hard language, threatening to target sites, even

cultural sites, which some are calling a war crime, but it all goes back to how iran reacts and responds and whether they retaliate or not and whether they retaliate or not and whether they do it through the proxies or directly and then we will see how things unfold in washington after that. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. thanks for having me. 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 water 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. this is bbc news, the headlines: rockets land near the us embassy in the iraqi capital — just hours after thousands

across the countryjoined a funeral procession for assassinated iranian general qasem soleimani. australia suffers one of the worst bushfire days of the season as temperatures nudge 50 celsius and strong winds whip up the flames. let's stay with that story now: climate change has been central to discussions about bushfires in australia. let's speak now with dr imran ahmad, a climate scientist from the australian national university in canberra. but thank you forjoining us. let's talk first of all about the changes that have been brought by these huge fires, the fire ground, the area the fires, the fire ground, the area the fire is covering is so many millions hectares, now. what changed to the physical landscape will australia have to face in the future? australia is witnessing what was predicted by scientists and we are

seeing dangerous climate change in action. it has been there in the icc report. it is a widespread area. the hot and dry conditions and drought, and this year has been the hottest year on record, and it has really exacerbated the conditions. this is where we are also seeing climate refugees, people being evacuated, within australia, so we are really seeing now climate emergency in action and the government, the commonwealth government has now realised that climate change is part of the equation. initially they were not accepting that. so, there has to be significant climate action to deal with this over the longer term. the government has announced different emergency measures. the defence forces have been requested tojoin in with

defence forces have been requested to join in with the efforts. so defence forces have been requested tojoin in with the efforts. so it isa tojoin in with the efforts. so it is a huge problem now, and one that australia will have to deal with on a recurring basis, if there is no significant climate action globally as well and nationally in australia, also. do you think the australian people, the australian government, australian society is ready for what needs to change to bring about that kind of transformation?” needs to change to bring about that kind of transformation? i think this should be an eye—opener. australian people are very climate aware. however the working pattern has not really tra nsg ressed however the working pattern has not really tra nsgressed to however the working pattern has not really transgressed to people in government who are climate change conscious. there has been an initial denial, and australia has been a climate like art for many years. i feel from the social media and

talking to people there is a wide awakening because this is something that people haven't experienced in the past, and i hope that this is going to be a turning point for australia, for a political and policy response to climate change. the issue in australia has been very much that these fires happen every year, but this time it is different. this time it is a lot worse. what kind of changes need to happen? what does the government need to do, now, to make the change? apart from doing all of the things that are necessary to be done in dealing with unnatural disaster, and extreme weather event, they need to have a strong firefighting force. that needs to be looked at in terms of putting in more financial resources and looking

at climate regime planning. at the global and national level to climate change policies have to be reset. australia is one of the wealthy countries of the world, but it is heavily impacted by climate change compared to other wealthy countries, sir, it needs a major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and to get a global response it has to up its own climate action so pieces of all these policies put together, increasing and not relying on massively changing the economy structure towards the greener pathway. that is the longer term pathway. that is the longer term pathway to look at and solve this problem on a longer term basis. good to have you on the programme, thank you very much. thank you.

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. for more on this, i'm joined from hong kong by dr trey menefee, founder of open source intelligence hong kong — an online project monitoring the protests in the territory. first of all, why do you think wang zhimin was fired? for bad information and bad performance. he was not delaying correct information back since the beginning of this movement that goes back tojune, but i think the catastrophic thing was the recent district council elections, where the opposition parties won up to 90% of the seats. what do we think about his

successoi’, what do we think about his successor, what do we know about him? not a lot. he seemed to be on the verge of retirement. he came out of xaanxi where he was part of the anti—corruption purges, but he has very little collection to hong kong. so we don't know what to expect of him yet. will he be a change in policy or a tougher implementation of the old policy? i think, i wouldn't be surprised if we see more. i don't think that carrie lam's position is very tenable. i predicted about a month ago that this would be about the time that they would stop rolling heads for they would stop rolling heads for the terrible performance, here. do you think the beijing leadership has a good sense of what is happening in hong kong, or are there arguments that the leadership in beijing has

been misled by misinformation or not the right information?” been misled by misinformation or not the right information? i think they have always been reacting to things up have always been reacting to things up to have always been reacting to things uptoa have always been reacting to things up to a month late. this entire thing would not have happened, honestly, had they been a few days earlier at some points in time but they always had the timing wrong. it is also about who is calling the shots, but it is carrie lam or harley as an officer or whether it goes all the way up to beijing but the overall performance has been pretty bad. i don't think a provincial leader in mainland china would have lasted as long as carrie lam. what you think will happen next in terms of the protests and how the beijing government reacts? prediction is always very hard, of course, especially in this environment. i think it will be more

of the same. we have seen something of the same. we have seen something ofa of the same. we have seen something of a de—escalation order with the hong kong police force, they are now allowing larger marches, they have not been using tear gas quite as they used to, so i would expect may be more of that, permitting more marches, trying to make them less violent and i think less fiery than they have been, with the presence of molotov cocktails, but increasing arrest, and things like that. thank you for talking to us. thank you for having me. 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. 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 attacking 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. cape town has celebrated its traditional ‘second' new year. the mixed race community in the city prepares for months for the cape minstrel carnival — which includes around 13,000 performers and draws huge crowds of spectators. but the carnival has a deeper significance, as gail maclellan reports. tweede nuwe jaar, "second new year" is one of the biggest

events in cape town, turning the centre of the city into a huge street party. these minstrels spend all year preparing for the carnival, a celebration of culture and freedom in what south africans call the coloured, that is, mixed—race community. it's easy to get caught up in the dancing and the music and forget the deeper significance of the carnival, which began over 100 years ago when slaves were given permission to hold their own new year festivities. during the apartheid years, the government tried to kill the tradition and it was made all the more difficult when residents were forcibly removed to areas far from the centre of the city. isolated out on the cape flats, they've struggled with unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse and gang violence. which is why community leaders are determined to keep the tradition of the carnival going.

they practise evening, after evening. it is really keeping the people of cape town busy, keeping the youngsters in our communities busy, keeping them away from the drugs, away from gangs. the minstrels event year after year, playing a significant role in transforming the society of cape town. the annual carnival is testament to the survival of the community and an uplifting beginning to each new year. gail maclellan, bbc news. now 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 through the night 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. finishing the day with 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 during the day, into wales and western 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 with 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, to start the week could be pretty disruptive. stay tuned to the forecast. this is bbc news, the headlines: huge crowds have joined funeral

processions in iraq, for iran's top military commander and other officials 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. in the capital baghdad rockets landed near the us embassy. 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 celcius in some parts with winds spreading the fires and making their paths even more unpredictable. the death toll from the new year flooding in indonesia hasjumped to 60 with fears growing about the possibility of more torrential rain. tens of thousands in jakarta are still unable to return to their waterlogged homes after some of the worst flooding in years hit the enormous capital region. now on bbc news, click.