this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at midday: 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. this is the scene live in the shi'ite holy city of mashhad in north—eastern iran where mourners have filled the streets. 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. the australian prime minister warns that the bushfire emergency could last for months. 2a people have now died since the crisis began. the costs of h52 are "out of control" and its benefits overstated, according to the deputy

chair of its review panel. and we review the biggest tech stories and trends of the past year, including space travel, electric cars and police facial recognition technology. that's in click in half an hour here on 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. mr trump says the targets are high level, with some important to iranian culture. hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of iran to mourn the country's most senior

military commander who was assassinated on thursday in baghdad in an american air strike. this is the scene in the iranian city of mashhad. we are seeing a high aerial view of the main centre part of the city. it is the second most populous city in iran and one of the cities where the coffin of qasem soleimani is being taken on a journey that began in baghdad where he was killed and will end in his hometown after what is likely to be the most important day of commemoration, which is tomorrow, monday, when it is expected that the country's supreme leader will be attending the funeral ceremonies

representing iraq and obviously sending a signal and undoubtedly using the opportunity to make some bloodcurdling threats to the americans who were responsible for qasem soleimani's death. here, the government says 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. from beirut, lina sinjab has this report. a sea of mourners across iran. thousands are out to bid farewell to a man respected by many at home and feared abroad. major general qasem soleimani's body arrived in iran early on sunday morning, three days of mourning begins here in ahvaz before moving to tehran on monday and then the burial in his home town in kerman. this is a moment of mobilising loyalty amongst

communities in the region. iran vowed to take responsibility —— revenge for the death of its top commander who influenced the region by force and blood. an earnest response could come at a time and place of its choosing —— iran's response. some of its proxy militias started reacting. two rockets hit american bases in the heavily fortified green zone in baghdad where the anti—isis coalition is based. no casualties were reported but that's a sign of warning for the nearly 6000 american troops in iraq. perhaps it is time to leave. instead, the us is planning to bolster its defences in the region, sending 3000 more troops. president donald trump warned in a tweet of harsh reaction to any attack on americans or us assets. he says the

us has targeted 52 iranian sites to strike if any escalation. the world is calling on self restraint, but the loss is big for tehran and the consequences could be severe for the us and adds tension to an already complex region. shortly after the president's tweets were posted, the website of a us government agency appeared to have been hacked by a group calling itself iran cyber security group hackers. a message on the american federal depository library programme site read: "this is a message from the islamic republic of iran. we will not stop supporting our friends in the region." the post went on to say "severe revenge" awaited those responsible for the killing of suleimani. here, the foreign secretary dominic raab described the late general soleimani as a "regional menace" but said it was important to de—escalate tensions.

the reality is iran has, for a long period, been engaged in menacing destabilising activity partly through the work of general soleimani. we've also had the flouting of international law when it comes to the pursuit of the potential to acquire a nuclear weapon. we've seen the appalling treatment of dual nationals, uk and others. the president of the us, the president of france, through the macron—trump initiatives, have left the door open to a diplomatic route through this to a better place for iran. the leadership have decided not to take it. i think the important thing now is to de—escalate the tensions to try and restore some stability and make sure, whilst we're containing nefarious actions iran is undoubtedly taking, that that door to a diplomatic route out from the international code is there for iran, but it's ultimately got to be for the regime and the leadership in tehran to make that choice. but the shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry says she has been worried about a hardline approach towards iran for a number of years. i raised it with the current foreign secretary, the previous

foreign secretary and the one before that, borisjohnson, and when i raised it with borisjohnson and said, "the president is going to tear up the iranian nuclear deal, what are we going to do about it?" he said that i should pay a bit less time reading the newspapers and be less worried. that kind of complacency and lack of attention to detail, of course, you know, in the iranian context, also resulted in nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe's sentence being increased. we have a sort of flippancy from this government and they have not been taking it seriously and it has been something which has been coming for far too long and now they respond by saying the iranians must de—escalate against a backdrop of the head of the defence force being killed and donald trump saying, "i'm not starting a war, i'm trying to stop it," but saying that he's about to attack all these sites. let's talk to our correspondent in beirut, lina sinjab. the focus in iran is obviously on

the commemorations for general qasem soleimani, they are putting on a very big display of public mourning for him but how iraq intends to respond as no clear today than the day the journal was assassinated —— iran intends. no one has any confirmation on how or when iran is going to respond. are they going to respond directly, attacking american targets in the region, or through cyberattacks or use even proxy militias in the region or beyond? it's really ha rd militias in the region or beyond? it's really hard to tell at the moment. but all the options are open as the anger is mounting in iran because of this loss. it's the loss ofa man because of this loss. it's the loss of a man who shapes their policies, who fortified their presence in the region and who is considered as the second after the supreme leader. so the loss was huge for them and it's also a pride issue. iran sees itself

asa also a pride issue. iran sees itself as a strong and powerful country in the region that has influence and control that always opposed the us. to have this cross of redline, they need to respond, but when and how is unclear. in terms of the messages coming out from the iranian government, what have we heard? really its heated messages coming out from the iranians they are. all the messages of threatening and retaliation and attacking us interests and that's what also prompted a response from president donald trump in a series of tweets that they are not going to take any more threats, that they have 52 targets in iran that they could attack if there is any attack on americans or us assets so it's a

heated situation, the situation is very tense and dangerous at the moment and everyone is watching how iran is going to respond and when. the united states has talked of trying to de—escalate tensions. presumably it's trying to de—escalate tensions. presumably its argument is it ratchets them up because of the media impact of the general‘s killing but afterwards it will be a calmer, less threatening place. what evidence is there that the iranians are likely to heed the message? in other words, is this more about rhetoric and image that they are trying to project and the reality is they don't want a confrontation with washington any more than washington says it wants one with them? exactly, and that's what we just heard also from some officials in iran that they are going to respond and retaliate but they don't want to prompt war against their own people but it's hard to see how this kind of responses going to be

de—escalation rather than further escalation. some officials in iran blame the americans and say, if any escalation, it's the americans who are to blame and not them, but, of course, it's a troubled region. there is always tension in the region and any further attacks against us assets or even allies of the us is going to trigger the situation into a terrible place. let's talk to a professor. it's a beautiful day behind you, yet a sombre one because of the death of general qasem soleimani. for those in the uk who would not know much about him, how would you describe his importance to iran? well, he

basically, some were funding extremist groups in syria from 2011 according to the us intelligence agency documented 2012 and also the missions and a general who led those missions. extremist groups were fighting and admitted they were the main fighters against the syrian government is roughly 60 miss groups move closer to damascus —— after these extremist groups, he helped protect the city. so he is a key person who saved damascus from falling into the hands of isis and al-qaeda, the same al-qaeda attack

carried out september 11 and july seven, which was aided by those regions, so he helped save syria from collapse and he was also sent from collapse and he was also sent from iran to baghdad to defend the iraqi capital so again he prevented the black flags of isis from taking over iran's neighbouring country so people in iraq have seen the images of the funeral of qasem soleimani in several countries. the crowds were enormous and it shows how the iraqis feel for him and his companions and for the iraqi commander that the americans murdered as well, who was a senior military official that was also assassinated by the americans

along with general qasem soleimani. the argument that it is advanced by the americans is arguably a very straightforward one, it is that qasem soleimani, in pursuit of iran's strategic objectives was the organiser of a large number of attacks, one of which come on friday of last week, killed an american civilian. they were carried out by reigning militia groups operating in iraq but they were directed by the forces that he leads, the part of the iranian revolutionary garde.. problem that western media has come up problem that western media has come up with all due respect, is that anything that comes out of washington you accept, especially if we hearan unnamed washington you accept, especially if we hear an unnamed intelligence source who confirms that this was the case, then it is 100% true, but it's garbage, it's nonsense. the attack where one american was

killed, the iraqi prime minister asked the us secretary of defence to give evidence that it was these military groups who were attacked on the subsequent day, that they were behind him. the us secretary of defence refused to give the iraqi prime minister information. the iraqi pro—minister told him prime minister information. the iraqi pro—ministertold him not prime minister information. the iraqi pro—minister told him not to carry out the attack. he said, i'm not here to consult with you, i'm here to speak to you that we're going to carry out an attack. then the americans killed 30 iraqi soldiers who were on the front lines against isis. 500 kilometres away from where the single american was killed. then the americans, of course, want to empower isis on the border between syria and iraq because they want to strangle the syrian government because that is the long—term policy objective but then the americans have the audacity to subsequently go and murder a high—ranking iranian official. if a

foreign country was to assassinate a high—ranking british military official, what with the response in britain be? so what the americans have done is unheard of in contemporary history and this is the arrogance of power and i think there is no way that anyone in the world can justify this sort of action. from now on, thejudgejudy —— the americans can be judge, from now on, thejudgejudy —— the americans can bejudge, jury and executioner, if that's the case, they can just say someone is going to carry out an attack and bomb them. that's the lot of the jungle. if that's what western countries want, that's what they are going to get. let me put to you something said to me at the beginning of last week by a former undersecretary at the us state department in the 0bama administration, not the trump administration, not the trump administration, the 0bama administration, the 0bama administration, who said, this was at the time of the air strikes which

we re at the time of the air strikes which were in retaliation for the killing of that american civilian but they we re of that american civilian but they were also in retaliation for a series of incidents. they have been 11 attacks reported on bases in iraq. you might dispute those figures but they have been reported as attacks. there were the iranian attacks on the saudi oil facilities carried out by drones so they have been a series of incidents in which iran was testing how far america would go and, at some point, america had to hit back. arguably, iran overplayed its hand and the consequence is it lost one of its most important military figures. the americans are going to... but basically what you're saying is that we had trust what the americans say, what they see as the bible, what they see as the koran —— what they say is the koran, they are judge,

jury say is the koran, they are judge, jury and the sovereignty of the iraqi government makes no sense. i understand because that's how western mentality works, that's how iran was invaded in the first place, they lied into iraq, there were weapons of mass destruction and they destroyed the country, so no one trusts the west when it comes to intelligence. mike pompeo said in the cia, we are courses to teach us how to lie and cheat and steal and he laughed in front of an audience and the audience laughed with him. this is how the united states conducts itself. if they have evidence, they have to provide to the iraqi government. who is the united states government to just carry out attacks in iraq? this is the arrogance of the united states and us allies, which condone its attacks. trump said a few months ago he is willing to obliterate iran. we

will have to interact, forgive me. thank you very much for speaking to us thank you very much for speaking to us from tehran today. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. england are trying to put some distance between them and south africa in day three of the second test in cape town. james anderson got them off a flying start with two early wickets, one with the first ball of the day. england took a lead of 46 into their second innings, after south africa finished on 223. they're now 81—1, opener zak crawley the only man to fall so far. england can level the four—match series with a win. fa cup third round weekend continues today. there are 11 ties including a liverpool derby, and a chance for afc fylde of the national league to giantkill sheffield united. the non—league side have never made it this far in competition before and are the lowest ranked team left. they earned their place in round three with victory over kingstonian and they freely admit this is the biggest

match in their history. i think in this case it's going to be something special for our team—mates, afc fylde. we've not been to the third round before. when you get a chance to play a premier league game it's notjust a normal match on a normal weekend. we are really looking forward to it and hopefully there will be a good atmosphere as well. the merseyside derby takes place at anfield, kick offjust after apm. at goodison park they've seen a renewed sense of confidence since the arrival of new manager carlo ancelotti, and one man in particular seems to have benifitted more than others. striker dominic calvert—lewin has scored three times, since the italian's arrival. for me, as a young player, you cannot ask for anybody better to be in charge. he has worked at some of the biggest clubs in the world and with some of the best players and strikers in the world so pomade is an unbelievable learning experience at this stage in my career.

and to have the backing of him like i happened so far, you know, it fills me with a lot of confidence going onto the page and you know, as you can see in my current form, i have been hitting the back of the net. i would like to think that has helped. the wsl returns from its winter break today and one of the world's biggest names in women's football, sam kerr, is making her debut in the league. the australia captain signed for chelsea in november and has been named in the starting 11 to play reading this lunchtime. kerr has scored 38 goals for her country since making her debut at the age of 15 and is the all—time top scorer in us top—flight football. britain have won their deciding rubber against belgium in the group stage of the atp cup. jamie murray and joe salisbury taking their doubles match two sets to one on a tie break. cameron norrie lost the first match of the day. but british number one dan evans pulled them back into the tie. evans, produced an inpired display to beat world number 11 david goffin, winning 6—4, 6—4. tim henman's squad lost their first group game to bulgaria, so victory over belgium keeps them in the hunt still in australia.

they play modlova next on tuesday. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport 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. it's estimated that up to 500 million animals may have died in the flames, with some species facing exctinction. ken stewart ran a conservation area which has been completely wiped out. we operate what was known as the wildlife refuge. we use take an

injured wildlife and rehabilitate them and it is classified as a wildlife refuge. we have, or had, what is known as a voluntary conservation ground on a total of 16 hectares or a0 acres and two thirds of that is under a conservation agreement. unfortunately at the moment, there's not much left to conserve, but it was... it contained a lot of rare species of wildlife and flora and fauna, and we lived there for about 25 years. we had a reasonable house, we were in the process of building another house, and we had several sheds, all of metal construction, all scrap metal

now. we've got a separate residential unit for guests, which we call a retreat. had to set up some hosing system for that. i was in the process of doing that and embers started to fall around and i could hear the roar coming from the west, which i knew what was coming, and next minute i looked up. i didn't see any flames, i saw this great white ball of fire, that's all ican great white ball of fire, that's all i can describe it, just white hot ball of fire to the west of us, heading my way. that was barely 100 metres from me. 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 said sir keir had two main elements to his campaign. keir starmer today, coming out all guns blazing, he was on andrew marr a short while ago, we will come to that in a moment, but also this article in the sunday mirror, a campaign video. two bits to the message. one is about how labour cannot bury its head in the sand, it needs to reconnect with voters. but also, interestingly, keir starmer saying that labour mustn't get rid of all of those radical policies likes social security reform, that sort of stuff. you know, a green deal on climate change, more powers for trade unions. i think he will have two questions to answer, though. one of them is whether he is a bit too london and whether labour need somebody from outside of the capital. and also brexit.

he was very, very closely linked to labour's brexit policy. here he is on andrew marr a short while ago on that labour brexit policy. people wanted clarity and leadership, but i actually... what was coming up on the doorsteps and what the teams were telling me, in my own experience, was not so much people saying to me, "i don't much like labour's position," but they had bought the idea that if you voted tory, you would get brexit done. we didn't knock it down hard enough in the election, and i would have liked the opportunity to knock it down hard because that was coming back. people were saying to us, "that will get brexit done." we hadn't destroyed and wrestled that phrase to the ground. sir keir starmer, not the only labour mp putting themselves forward over the last few days. we have had two backbenchers, lisa nandy and jess phillips, we have also had clive lewis and emily thornbury and we are also expecting rebecca long—bailey, who is thought to be a favourite ofjeremy corbyn and the existing labour leadership.

the deputy chairman of the panel reviewing the hs2 high—speed rail project says he's found "overwhelming evidence" that its costs are "out of control". lord berkeley suggests it will take £108 billion to complete the network — double the initial estimate. hs2 limited says it's determined to deliver value for money. a little earlier lord berkeley told me why he thinks the hs2 project has gone so over budget. i believe that hs2 knew a long time ago and ministers knew probably five years ago that the cost and the budget was much higher than they had said and much higher than parliament had approved as part of the phase one legislation, but they have chosen to cover it up by multiple ndas and denials and everything

until the new chairman of hs2 produced what he called a stock—take report which put the cost up to 88 billion, which is halfway between the figures you've quoted. i think it's 107 now and it probably will go even higher than that. you don't need to go a00 kilometres an hour or even 360 in a country as small as ours. nobody else in the world does it. maybe china, but nobody else. that's a very big country by contrast. quite honestly, the higher the speed, it makes a big difference on the cost. obviously you have to have a straight line, you have to go in a straight line because trains don't like going around corners fast, but it's also the construction, the type of construction, whether it is balanced, and things like that. it does make a great difference to the cost, which i don't think was taken into account. cut it down to the normal tgv

speed or even lower." 0ther railways are much more important to be improved, in particular in the north between manchester, leeds, sheffield and places beyond, and around birmingham, nottingham, around there. that's where the really bad—quality railways are and it stops people commuting. it's not express, but it needs to be reasonably fast trains, not a00 kilometres, but they also have to have slower trains for stopping trains and freight, and all that needs to be done and it can be done at a cost, probably half the cost of hs2. the 77th annual golden globes ceremony will take place in los angeles this evening as the hollywood awards season gets under way. the film to get the most nods is marriage story, with the irishman and once upon a time in hollywood

following close behind. comedian ricky gervais will be making a comeback as host. we can speak now to the entertainmentjournalist and broadcaster caroline frost. you wish you were in los angeles, but you are in london. yes, but ealing is a pretty good substitute! tell us about the awards, the decision first of all for wreckage of —— ricky gervais to host it. not everybody will be pleased. of —— ricky gervais to host it. not everybody will be pleasedlj of —— ricky gervais to host it. not everybody will be pleased. i think all of these actors and actresses will have to put their best performances on tonight as they perfect their grins