‘nvery «very latest news, weather and other very latest news, weather and sport committee. enjoy your day, goodbye. this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 9.00. iranian mps chant "death to america!" as president trump warns the united states has a list of 52 targets that will be hit "very hard" if iran retaliates for the killing of its top military leader. royal navy warships are ordered to escort british—flagged vessels in the persian gulf and the prime minister is returning to the uk from his caribbean holiday. hundreds of thousands of people gather in the iranian city of ahvaz where after the body of general soleimani arrived from iraq earlier. the australian bushfires claim their 24th life — as a man dies helping defend a friend's home in new south wales. more than 2,000 homes have been destroyed and an estimated 500 million animals killed. the costs of hs2 are "out of control" and its benefits overstated, according to the deputy

chair of its review panel. hollywood prepares for the golden globes ceremony, as the awards season gets under way this evening. and our sunday morning edition of the papers is at 9.35. this morning's reviewers are dave wooding, the political editor of the sun on sunday, and the business commentator, josie cox. good morning to you and welcome to bbc news. president trump says the united states has a list of 52 iranian sites which will be hit "very hard and very fast" if there is retaliation for the killing of qasem soleimani. iran's most senior military commander was assassinated on thursday in baghdad in an american air strike.

mr trump said the targets were high level, and important to iranian culture. the british government has announced two royal navy warships will escort uk shipping in the persian gulf, and the foreign secretary dominic raab will travel to washington for talks later this week. greg mckenzie has this report. as britain ramps up its security in the middle east, donald trump has threatened to hit 52 iranian targets should iran strike any american or us assets in retaliation for the killing of its revered general qasem soleimani, whose death the nation has vowed to avenge. the number 52 relates to the 52 american hostages who were taken after the embassy was seized in tehran in 1979 and they were held for 444 days. the president posted on twitter — "iran is talking very boldly about targetting certain usa assets." he goes on to say, "the us has identified 52 iranian sites, some at a very high level

and important to iran and the iranian culture. and those targets and iran itself will be hit very fast and very hard." trump added, "the usa wants no more threats." the tweets came hours after at least four rockets were fired towards baghdad's heavily fortified green zone last night, where the us and british embassies sit. no one was injured. in response to the iranian threats of revenge, the us has sent 3,000 more troops to the middle east and advised its citizens to leave iraq. british warships have been ordered to escort merchant shipping in the persian gulf. the foreign secretary dominic raab has confirmed he will travel to washington on thursday to meet the us secretary of state mike pompeo, but not before meeting his german and french counterparts in the week.

downing street said the prime minister, who is due to arrive back in the uk from his caribbean holiday today, would speak to other world leaders in the coming days. greg mckenzie, bbc news. hundreds of thousands of iranians have gathered in ahvaz where the body of the assassinated general, qasem soleimani, has arrived ahead of his burial on tuesday. the centre of the city is full, with people holding pictures of the general and beating their chests in mourning, as the hearse slowly makes its way through the vast crowds. the procession in ahvaz marks the beginning a three—day ceremony. the general‘s body will be moved to tehran on monday, before burial on tuesday in his south—eastern hometown of kerman. let's ta ke take a look at some of president trump's treats this morning. "they attacked us and we hit

back", he wrote. "if they attack again, which i would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!" he went on to talk about recent us military spending on weapons, with the warning — "if iran attacks an american base, or any american, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way and without hesitation!" let's speak to the washington post's iraq reporter mustafa salim. he is currently in baghdad. thank you very much for talking to bbc news this morning. how would you characterise the mood in the city since the killing of qasem soleimani? the situation right now isa high soleimani? the situation right now is a high case of tension due to what happened in the last operation. iraq has always been in the middle of the tension between the usa and iran. and always knew that once there would be a war between the us and iran, iraq will be the

playground. these are only assumptions. the air strike was something big. qasem soleimani was the spiritual leader of many militias in iran along with a man who died with him, they died together. they are well respected by the militias and well obeyed. the people have the power and can do great damage. there were some demonstrations i gather to celebrate his death from a small minority there. it underlines the fact that there. it underlines the fact that the country is divided over the degree of influence of a rock. when iran has influence in iraq, there is a division. people are loyal to iran and anti—iran. the demonstration started in october here in iraq. that's why it was accused by

militias and iran, being supported by the us. some of those people celebrated when qasem soleimani died because they were in charge for killing the protesters in the past three months, they killed more than 500 people. as a result of that also, right now, the number of people has been reduced day by day, so people has been reduced day by day, so there is a wave of revenge against them. as a result of the murder of those two people by the us forces. what do you think the prospectors of iraqi being able to contain this? to see a reduction of tension which president trump has said he would like to achieve, but his critics say this is the wrong way to achieve it? i mean, for iraqi people, they just want to way to achieve it? i mean, for iraqi people, theyjust want to be away from the struggle. i mean, they know they are in the middle but theyjust

wa nted they are in the middle but theyjust wanted to be away. the former prime minister said frequently, please don't fight in our lands. i quote him on that. right now, the militias in southern iraq wanted to respond by bombing the us forces in iraq. they also should have warned the iraqi forces to stay away at least 1000 metres from any base that has an american president, because they will all be bombed. the iraqi government is now saying that all the courses are under the control of a government which is not true. those militias are not under the control of a run. —— those militias are not under the control ofa run. —— iran. the concern right now in iraq is in case that they will be attacked by those militias against the us forces, the

responsible be also in iraq, and it will escalate day by day which will reach to a war. do you anticipate the iraqi government or at least the parliament asking for the american troops to leave? the session is supposed to be held today. until now, there is not enough mps to achieve the session. and even if they have the session they won't get enough votes. to get that, they will need the majority of votes. kurds will not vote. sunnis will not vote. she will not vote. —— shia is will not vote. any mp5 will be banned from entering baghdad. thank you from entering baghdad. thank you from the washington post for speaking to us from baghdad.

lina sinjab is our middle east correspondent. shejoins us now from beirut. good morning. this is a period of great uncertainty for the region. first of all, let's talk about what we are expecting today with the funeral service and the procession obviously continuing tomorrow too, in his birthplace. what is being reported about the atmosphere in iran at the moment? well, the pictures tell the story. there is a sea of people, a sea of angry people taking to the streets mourning the death over a person they see as a leader, as an icon, as someone who is second to their supreme leader in iran. thousands took to the streets and still walking in the funeral across the country, and the body of qasem soleimani has arrived this morning to iran starting in the city

of ahvaz and then will move to tehran before being buried in his home town on tuesday. we heard that, even the supreme leader is going to lead the prayers tomorrow in tehran where there will be another big funeral procession for qasem soleimani. this is a big loss for iran. a big anger among the shia community in the region, for those who follow a run and believe in iran, he is seen as the man who orchestrated the foreign policy and military influence in the region and his loss is going to be leaving a big void in the region. we've got three countries where iran has considerable influence, immediately surrounding it. lebanon, where you are speaking from at the moment, iraq and syria. is there a concern

about those countries becoming effectively proxy battle grounds for some kind of conflict with the united states, even if neither washington nor tehran actually declare war on each other? well, these three countries as you rightly mentioned are already a proxy alliance to iran. there are shia militias stationed there. in lebanon, there is has been arkham operating inside syria and the shia militias in iraq are also operating inside syria under the orders of iran and mainly under the supervision of qasem soleimani, so whatever iran decides on its retaliation and revenge towards american interests, it will order its proxy militias in the region or beyond to conduct what they see as the response at the time and the place of their choosing. so far,

this escalation in words, we have seen a couple of rockets that hit american bases with a coalition in the green zone in baghdad took place overnight. that's a message of escalation from a group that is closely affiliated to iran, so it's ha rd to closely affiliated to iran, so it's hard to see where things are going, but it's definitely a worrying sign in the region. thank you very much. this morning the foreign secretary dominic raab described the late general soleimani as a "regional menace" but said it was important to de—escalate tensions. i spoke to the iraqi prime minister just this morning and the iraqi president last night and i will be reaching out to the foreign minister ofa run reaching out to the foreign minister of a run with that same message. you asked about general qasem soleimani. let's be very clear, he was a regional menace and we understand the position that the americans find themselves in and they have a right to exercise self defence. they've explained the basis on which that is done, and we are sympathetic to the

situation they find themselves, but there is a risk with a heightening of and we now want to see the de—escalation and the stabilisation of the situation, and a war, in fa ct, of the situation, and a war, in fact, is in no ones interest. the only people who would gain would be the terrorists who would exploit it. let's speak to the defence editor for the evening standard, robert fox who joins me in the studio thanks very much for coming in. well, he's gone, his dad, his significance in the region is hard to overestimate, isn't it? what are the implications of his death for the implications of his death for the stability of the middle east? his legacy goes on. this is why critics who question targeted assassinations always say that this is the logic of goodfellas, taking out an opposing mafioso, but in fa ct, out an opposing mafioso, but in fact, qasem soleimani had done the work of building this chain of has

blood type militias which is a relatively new phenomenon, partly political commissar social but also militarily in a sub—sophisticated way extremely capable and that's where they have got to look to the threat from now. the great thing that qasem soleimani showed was ingenuity. iran has been able to do things that were unexpected and principally you have to look at the attack on the oil fields, september the 14th and saudi arabia, relatively simple drones, relatively simple possibly, very reasonable short range cruise missiles and yet they did it. they beat the air defences. if we are looking at a response that's the kind of response we are going to get, plus cyber and the nasty assassination attack. that will obviously affect notjust america but its allies as well. at least the british have troops in the region. do you think that iran will

be willing to distinguish between the united states and its allies? no, there are two obvious weak point in the regional alliance and the western military alliance, and they are the uae rather than saudi arabia because it's so close to iran, and britain. britain has direct interest in the way america doesn't. gas from qatar, for example. so it's not only a military presence, it almost so small to be a few ships, a few thousand military marines, trainers ina thousand military marines, trainers in a rock, all told, but it's this thing we are in this game because we are serious and we need their gas from qatar and we need to support both them and uae in particular where there is a direct interest. and i think that is where there will

be the kinds of things we have heard from dominic raab. we support our old est from dominic raab. we support our oldest ally, but it's going to be a bit like vietnam and harold wilson. are we going to put troops in to lash out all over the place, 52 targets with his beautiful weapons of donald trump? the answer, i think, is very clearly no. harold wilson wouldn't even send bandsmen to give a fig leaf of being more than one country committed, butjust in terms of qasem soleimani mac bass departure from the scene, some in washington have been arguing, to be fair, some former administration officials have said america had to hit back somehow because iran kept pushing and pushing. they mention the attack on the oil installations and 11 attacks by iranian sponsored militias on military bases, the killing of the american civilian last friday, and in a sense, at some

point, america had to retaliate and maybe iran has overplayed its hand. i'm very wary of think tanks on this. some of the commentary in the papers this weekend has been quite close to drivel, because what you have to see is what's going on on the ground, and the israelis are very careful putting out briefs and they are very sharp, loquacious, and better for the they are very sharp, loquacious, and betterfor the americans they are very sharp, loquacious, and better for the americans on the hold and they have been pointing at this. there has been a quantitative improvement in these militias from hezbollah, and people realised through the syrian crisis, it is now a found army, and they have been supplying not only training, but it's a new range of equipment as well, and this is what the israelis are pointing out. it's now precision weapons. it's the same thing as

driving a car, gps. this is the thing which is so worrying. what is so thing which is so worrying. what is so worrying about where the british and americans are in their training bases and so on, across iraq, they are spread too thin, and i think the people, not only the troops of qasem soleimani, but the leader who was also killed of qatar, hezbollah and the popular mobilisation forces, they will be thinking through that what is so striking to me is did they think of the strategic sequences and consequences? yes, we ta ke sequences and consequences? yes, we take this guy out and then what? what are the recognisable intended consequences and what are the unintended consequences? the intellectual harvesting of the latter i think has barely begun. robert fox, good as ever to have you

here. thanks very much. the number of people known to have been killed by the bushfires burning in australia has risen to 24. efforts are under way to help those who have had to leave their homes. australia's prime minister scott morrison is deploying military resources to help tackle the flames. the situation is constantly changing across the country. ben shepherd, from the new south wales rural fire service, says varying weather conditions have made it difficult to control the fires. what we saw yesterday is winds, westerly winds, which basically come out of the centre of the continent, so from that dry centre whipping up across the state and really the low humidity combined with those temperatures driving up the fire dangers into the top of what we know is the extreme fire danger ratings and that was causing fires to run very erratically. we saw a number of fires basically form their own thunderstorms. we saw lightning then as a result of that, so it was an incredibly difficult day and then on the back end of that we saw a dramatic southerly change move its way up the coast which then forced these fires in a more northerly direction impacting on further homes and towns, so it was

an incredibly difficult day. at this stage more favourable weather but what we really need is rain and lots of it. some rain hasn't started a fall but not up to extinguish the fires. phil mercer sent this report from kangaroo valley — 100 miles south of sydney. this is kangaroo valley. the fire would have torn through here about 16 or 17 hours ago and, as you can see, it's still smouldering and all around this area there is so much smoke. the trees, as you can see, have been left scorched and charred. it really does have this horrible ghostly feel about it and just listen. barely a sound to be heard. we've driven from the town of nara, that's about half an hour's drive away, and we've seen hardly anyone on the roads, so these fires have caused mass evacuations of areas, notjust here in new south wales,

but across the state of victoria as well. here in new south wales, there are dozens and dozens of fires. today, conditions are a lot cooler. they are helping the firefighting effort, but the emergency continues. the prime minister scott morrison is saying this crisis could last for months. it's being estimated that as many as half a billion animals may have died in the fires. christopher dickman is an ecologist from the university of sydney and joins me now. thanks for being with us on bbc news. how have you been able to estimate the numbers of animals that have been affected by these fires? what we did was to use average densities to calculate from various studies on mammals, birds and reptiles in various parts of new south wales, and once you know the average density of these groups in different habitats, you can then look at the area that has been

burned in the recent fires to estimate the numbers of animals that would have been affected. can you give us an idea of some of the numbers you are talking about? yes, ten days ago some of the numbers you just quoted, half a billion, was probably correct. that was when 3 million hectares of new south wales alone was burned. now that figure is nearer to 5 million hectares and that means the number of animals, mammals, birds and reptiles likely to have been affected is closer to 800 million. that'sjust new to have been affected is closer to 800 million. that's just new south wales. if you extend and make the assumption average densities of the various species are similar in other states, also burned, you are looking at even bigger numbers still, as many as a billion. what are the implications for the ecosystem in those parts of australia that have been most severely affected by these fires? it's quite likely that many

of them will recover in the long term, rather than the shorter term, because the fires have been particularly severe and extensive in their coverage, but it may be that for some species that have smaller populations, smaller ranges, mostly burned by the fires, maybe we are looking at, well, unless they have been refuge populations have managed to survive, we could look at species going extinct in these current files. that's a sobering thought, isn't it? quite understandably, the immediate effort is focused on protecting human life and protecting property as far as it's possible. although mostly property is allowed to burn. keeping life is the most important priority. is there anything which could be done given there are fires burning but they haven't entered into land and to protect the animals? firefighters are doing every thing humanly possible to stem the extent of the

fires. and there are lots of people who are picking up injured animals who are picking up injured animals who have been burned in the fires. and taking them to recovery areas. i think the major thing that we will be looking to do is to get in after the fires have gone through and to look for whatever populations, different species, are still there, and to make sure that their security is maintained. thank you very much for speaking to us. sir keir starmer is the latest candidate to announce that he's standing in the labour leadership contest. writing in the sunday mirror, the shadow brexit secretary says the party needs to "rebuild fast" to restore trust. he's the fifth person to put themselves forward after lisa nandy, emily thornberry, clive lewis and jess phillips. 0ur political correspondent tony bonsignore is with me now. good morning to you, tony. it's going to be a busy few weeks for labour, possibly a few months, we don't know the details of a

timetable, but we know what is on keir starmer mac boss timetable today, a lot of interviews. a lot of interviews, yes, speaking to andrew marr right now, he will be in steve na g e marr right now, he will be in stevenage later today, which voted 59% to leave the eu. his picture is quite interesting and it has two parts to it. as you said at the start, pa rt of parts to it. as you said at the start, part of it is a fresh start, rebuilding trust in the party, and a similar message we heard from elsewhere because he needs to represent a fresh start after that election defeat, that come on the other hand, is also saying today we must not abandon these radical policies we have had over the last few years, things like social security reform, greater trade union powers, the new green deal on climate change, so i think it's a delicate balancing act. 0n climate change, so i think it's a delicate balancing act. on one hand he needs to show he is different. 0n the other hand, he needs to appeal to labour members and a lot of them are supporters ofjeremy corbyn. 0ne thing he has not mentioned is brexit. that's the love that dare

not speak is known for some in the party now because they are being hammered by some of the candidates who said, look, we were listening too much to the kind of pro—brexit argument and we lost a big part of our traditional vote in places like wakefield for example which went tory for the first time since 1931. where does that leave the other candidates because it's a crowded field and some of them have been putting out their pitch, as well, this morning? he's not got the field to himself even on the sunday programmes. five already declared and one more potentially to come, rebecca long—bailey, thought to be a favourite ofjeremy corbyn supporters. it's interesting when you talk about brexit. there is a key dividing line. people are angry at keir starmer and another candidate, emily thornberry, saying they are too attached to the brexit policy which they believe went down really, really badly on the doorstep. another candidate who has been talking is lisa nandy. wigan mp. she does not have that taint of

the brexit policy. she was very much in favour of getting brexit done, even though she was a remain supporter. she's been very critical about the way the labour party is run for them here's what she had to say on sky news a few minutes ago. run for them here's what she had to say on sky news a few minutes agolj think there is definitely a disconnect between the labour party and the country and people in towns like mine. when brexit happened, we immediately went straight to a discussion about free movement, single market, customs unions, all of which are very, very important to people right across the country including wigan, but what we haven't understood is to take back control resonated like no other slogan in my lifetime. why did it resonate? because people lack the means to effect change in their own lives. we get details of a contest and how long it will run, five possible six contenders and it will be a crowded one. it is going to run and run.

thank you very much. there is now "overwhelming evidence" that the costs of hs2 are "out of control" and its benefits overstated. that's according to the deputy chair of its review panel. in a damning assessment, lord berkeley said the high—speed rail line, which is due to link london and northern england, is likely to cost over £108 billion — almost double the original price of £55 billion, which was quoted in 2015. the government said the report is lord berkley‘s own personal view. my my report suggests that the project is completely out of control financially. it doesn't actually do much on the term, because it doesn't benefit the north and the midlands in the way that upgrading existing lines could. and also they fiddled the figures to improve the benefit cost ratio by allowing for 18 trains an hourto go cost ratio by allowing for 18 trains an hour to go where nobody in the world runs more than 1a, so the revenue is shot to pieces really.

that lord berkeley talking on sky this morning. let's speak now tojoe rukin from stop hs2, the national campaign against the project, who is in kenilworth in yorkshire. good morning to you. this is exactly what you want to hear, and i suppose the problem as it comes from somebody who's been a long—standing critic of the project. well, tony bla kley critic of the project. well, tony blakley spent a decade at eurotunnel and was part of the rail freight organisation, so this is someone who was very, very much pro—rail, and also knows what he's talking about. ijust also knows what he's talking about. i just need to also knows what he's talking about. ijust need to correct you. you said this is almost double the original cost. actually, it triple the original cost for the original cost of hs2 was 32.7 billion. 2010. and now we are looking at over three times that amount. the other thing is, back then it was meant to connect to heathrow airport, the channel tunnel, and those things have gone, and yet are still

ra m pa ntly have gone, and yet are still rampa ntly out of have gone, and yet are still rampantly out of control and basically, what