this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 2: hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in iran to mourn the assassinated military leader general soleimani. president trump warns the us has a list of 52 targets that will be hit "very hard" if iran decides to retaliate. the iraqi government has summoned the us ambassador over the airstrike which killed the general. 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.

thousands since the crisis began. have lost their homes. i did thousands have lost their homes. i did not see any flames, i saw this great white ball of fire. that is all i can describe it as, white hot, all i can describe it as, white hot, a ball of fire. the costs of h52 are "out of control" and its benefits overstated, according to the deputy chair of its review panel. and hollywood prepares for the golden globes ceremony as the awards season gets under way this evening. good afternoon. 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 who was killed on thursday in a us air strike in the iraqi capital, baghdad. the iraqi prime minister gas called the killing a "political assassination". here's our diplomatic correspondent, james robbins. tens of thousands of iranians are mourning general soleimani and apparently getting behind their leaders in promising revenge. the chants are familiar, including "death to america", but the circumstances are radically changed. the war of words is intensifying. president trump has tweeted, this threat of massive retaliation if iran strikes any americans or american assets, he says, we have targeted 52 iranian sites. some at a very high level and important to iran and the iranian culture. those targets and iran itself will be hit very fast and very hard. the usa wants no more threats.

under enormous american pressure, britain is adjusting its political stance. the foreign secretary is now sounding increasingly sympathetic to the united states, but still stops short of outright support. we understand the action they took, but we also need to be very clearly focused on what happens next. we want to de—escalate the tensions. we want to see a route through this crisis. we do not want to see a major war in the middle east. the only group or players that would benefit from that would be the terrorists and daesh. labour's shadow foreign secretary said she shed no tears for general soleimani. he had the blood of many people on his hands. however, to take him out at this stage, when there has been escalating tensions, seems to me to not be making the world safer, actually we are taking a major lurch towards war. in tehran, iran's parliament has ta ken up the chant of "death to america".

it's been familiar for many years, but it's now being shouted in very changed circumstances, as american reinforcements are sent to the region and both countries exchange threats of more violence to come. james robbins, bbc news. professor mohammad marandi is an iranian—american academic and political analyst at tehran university. speaking to my colleague shaun ley, he accused america of "arrogantly using its power" and said it will pay a heavy price for taking out general soleimani. —— for killing. if a foreign country was to assassinate a high—ranking british military official, what would 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. if from now on the

americans can be judge, jury and executioner, the iranians can tomorrow say the americans or the saudis are going to carry out an attack, we're going to attack the saudis, or the emiratis are about to carry out an attack, we're gonig to bomb the united arab emirates. that's the law of the jungle. if that's what western countries want, that's what they're 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 obama administration, not the trump administration, the obama administration, who said, look, this was at the time of the air strikes that were in retaliation for the killing of that american civilian, but they were also in retaliation for a series of incidents. there have been 11 attacks reported on bases in iraq. i see you smiling so 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 a drone so there have been a series of incidents in which iran was testing, this is the case he was making, how far america would go and, at some point, america had to hit back. arguably, iran overplayed its hand and the consequence is it's lost one of its most important military figures. the americans are going to pay a heavy price, no doubt about that, but basically what you're saying is that we have to trust what the americans say, what they say is the bible, what they say is the koran. if they say this is how it is, then international law, judge, jury and also the sovereignty of the iraqi government, all of that makes no sense any more. of course, i understand because that's how western mentality works, that's how iraq was invaded in the first place. they lied into iraq, there were weapons of mass destruction and an alliance with al-qaeda and they

destroyed the country, so no—one trusts the west when it comes to intelligence. in fact, pompeo, just recently, he said when we were in the cia, we had 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 it 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. sir richard dalton used to be britain's ambassador to tehran. he is joining britain's ambassador to tehran. he isjoining us now on bbc news. thank you for speaking to us. what is your assessment of the situation? first, we should remind ourselves that

assassinations have a record in starting worse, and a very poor record in changing the policies of the government of the person assassinated. secondly, it is law and international institutions that stand between us and anarchy, and the united states is not allowed to make the law and to set international institutions at not. it would be wise for the british government to retain some distance from the united states, if it wishes to play an effective role in the diplomacy which britain is calling for. the fact is, there should now bea for. the fact is, there should now be a comprehensive international initiative to address the root causes of these tensions, which include the united states setting aside its observance of the iranian nuclear agreement back in 2018, and include the anarchy across the region, in which innumerable

countries, from turkey, saudi arabia, the united states, israel and iran, are all meddling and intervening. we need international rules of the road and having wasted all the opportunities after previous worst to set in train regional security cooperation, we should be making a leap now towards addressing those fundamental questions through multilateral diplomacy. —— wars. what does the us one from iran? you mention the nuclear deal, and vice versa, what does iran want of the us? the us wants to overturn all the international understanding is achieved through the un security council on the treatment of the iranian nuclear issue. secondly, although they deny it, they want to change the regime in tehran. thirdly, they want to tell power in

the region decisively against iran and in favour of saudi arabia, israel and of course itself. those are generally stated objectives, but they do not amount to a diplomatic strategy, and we do not know what the diplomatic strategies, and dominic raab, while endorsing diplomacy, does not give us a clue as to what he thinks the regional diplomacy ought to be. i have made clear what i believe should now happen. it is down to european countries who have taken the lead on this in the past, together with the uk, and other interested parties, which include a whole range of countries, saudi arabia, uae, turkey, of course, to try to forge international understandings on the rules for international interaction in this volatile region. the us is highly unlikely to get what it once, so just looking at the worst—case

scenario, how far are both sides likely to go in this? well, you could envisage an all—out war. i do not think iran wants that, because they would come off worst. secondly, you could envisage a limited set of military exchanges. iran seeks revenge, kill some americans, and in turn, the united states seeks to ta ke turn, the united states seeks to take its revenge through these 52 strikes or some other combination of relatively limited military action, but my belief is that if the united states took any such action, it would not end at that, and we would be infora would not end at that, and we would be in for a very, very long period of turmoil, which is not in british interests. it is time for britain to stand up in favour of british interests in stability and that means not endorsing the united

states' current position. would you agree that donald trump has made a huge miscalculation by carrying out this assassination, and should allies of the us and the eu, is there a place for them to get involved? i think there must be a level of exasperation with the united states because the tensions which we see originated in part with the wholly unjustified, illicit american rejection of the iran nuclear agreement and the action that they have taken against the economic, the legitimate economic interests of european countries and the uk, and it is time for us to speak more openly about the fact that the united states is not always a good ally of the united kingdom in the middle east. of course, there is a place for the european union and britain, russia and china, because in accordance with the un charter,

it is everybody‘s responsibility when international peace and security is a seriously challenged as it is at present. that is what the united nations security council was set up for. we know that iran never acts directly and it is the threat of its proxies that many people are concerned about. how easy is it to control them when it comes to international diplomacy within the middle east? these so-called proxies sometimes act at the behest of iran, but very often they do not. for example, we are told that the 50s are backed by iran but the fact is iran advocated against the ta keover is iran advocated against the takeover in sa naa is iran advocated against the takeover in sanaa many years ago. this is a genuine problem because as the commander of the iranian revolutionary guard said yesterday, there is the point —— the possibility of independent action by

those, and there are many of them, they are notjust those, and there are many of them, they are not just the creatures those, and there are many of them, they are notjust the creatures of iran, who resist the american agenda for the middle east, and in which american support for israeli ta keover of american support for israeli takeover of territories which do not belong to them, that still plays a part, so these complex interactions and this complex set of problems cannot be dealt with one by one simply as crises, there has to be a more comprehensive effort to get at the roots of instability in the middle east and that means naming names when we have to, naming names, for example, about the turkish invasion of northern syria, about the saudi action in northern yemen, about the uae action in libya. there are many bad actors, including the united states, and some of the things that it does. ambassador, just to finish, if you still had

borisjohnson as your boss, what would be the first thing you will be telling him as he returned from his festive break? i am glad he has had a holiday because he has had a hard time. although i do not support many of his policies, we clearly want a prime minister with a clear head in his current circumstances and i expect we will hear from him in parliament on tuesday, but i would reiterate, the point i have already explained, a multilateral approach is long overdue. we have lost opportunities after previous worst to put in place better security arrangements in this volatile part of the world. —— wars. although it is difficult and there is much distrust, that should be a resort note to supplement immediate de—escalation activities. thank you for your time. thank you. australia's prime minister has

warned that the bushfires emergency could last for months. scott morrison announced the creation of a recovery agency to help those who've lost homes and businesses. there are fires around the country, but amongst the worst are concentrated in its most populous state, new south wales. some rain has brought a little relief, but not enough to extinguish the flames. phil mercer reports. the damage inflicted by australia's bushfires is immense. lives have been lost while a growing number of homes and businesses have been ruined. trapped by the fires under ominous orange skies, people in eden in new south wales have sought to escape by sea. there is stress, fatigue and fear. cooler conditions and some rain are helping the firefighting effort, but the danger is far from over. many blazes continue to burn and the land still smoulders. this long bushfire crisis

is inflicting deep scars on australia, and there's no end in sight. lives have been turned upside down. in kangaroo valley, ken stewart lost his home to the fires that raced through this part of new south wales. he's lucky to be alive. next minute, i looked up. i didn't see any flame. i saw this great white ball of fire. that's all i can describe it, as just a white hot ball of fire. i had to drive up that driveway and, by the time i got up to our bottom gate, the entire driveway was lit up with fire on both sides. parts of sydney have also been threatened. the fires are an unpredictable enemy. no—one knows for sure when, where or if they will strike. australia is fighting back, but it's impossible to tell when the battle will be over. phil mercer, bbc news,

kangaroo valley. the headlines on bbc news: hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in iran to mourn the assassinated military leader, general soleimani. president trump warns the us has a list of 52 targets that will be hit very hard if iran decides to retaliate. the iraqi government has summoned the us ambassador over the airstrike which killed the general. the australian prime minister warns that the bushfire emergency could last for months. 2a people have now died since the crisis began. 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. let's speak now to daniel cochlin from the northern powerhouse partnership, who joins us from salford. what do you make of lord berkeley's comments? i think he was part of an independent review set up by the government to investigate hs2 and how effective it would be. for whatever reason he chose to leave that process and reduce this somewhat patchy and one—sided report we are talking about today, it is another example of the north being told by a london based peer what the north deserves and wants, and if you speak to businesses and leaders and politicians, broadly speaking at the north of england, they are all full

hs2 alongside northern powerhouse rail, so today's report is a little bit frustrating because itjust adds to the argument around hs2 while we wait for the independent review that presumably and hopefully will settle this issue once and for all. some would argue lord berkeley is being realistic because those costs have spiralled, we have seen them double. let's just say... we should believe those figures, what do you think should happen, will still be for money? clearly, cost is very important. there is no point dismissing very large figures that are being bandied around but they are being bandied around but they are estimates. but we have to make sure this is value for money. the value for money we are talking about isa value for money we are talking about is a once in a generation opportunity to completely eradicate the north—south divide. we live in the north—south divide. we live in the most centralised economy in

europe, everything flows to london and the south—east, so it is about time our young people and businesses in the north start to see opportunities. let's be honest, lord berkeley has or has been anti—hs two and he was put on the panel to reflect that. this report looks at that from a very one—sided direction and we would rather speak to our businesses and leaders appear who think the hs2 is vital for the prosperity of the whole of the country, not just north prosperity of the whole of the country, notjust north of england. let's put lord berkeley to you, he said we do not necessarily need those trains to travel at that speed, that could reduce the costs, and also, would you agree that some of that money should be put into existing lines? he is not think investment should not go to north. 0n investment should not go to north. on that second point, money should certainly go into local connectivity. 0ne

certainly go into local connectivity. one of the things that lord berkeley has not much talked about is the capacity of hs2, and that will be unlocking local services and free up lines that are clogged and busy for commuters in the north of england. i travel day in and day out in our trains on the north and they're not that the purpose and do not deliver the returns we need, so while it is vital to invest in local connectivity it is also vital to invest in major infrastructure projects. we have not seen any new lines built in the north since the victorian era and it is about time the north had everything it needs. we need north—south, east—west and local services to make the economy balanced. so in what way would h52 be bringing those benefits to the north and the midlands? because it is not just about north and the midlands? because it is notjust about getting people out of london or down to london quickly. that's not the case. it is about linking the midlands and the north more effectively. currently it takes the best part of two hours to get from leeds to birmingham and no one

makes that journey, from leeds to birmingham and no one makes thatjourney, that could be down to a0 minutes, about connecting manchester airport is the international gateway to the north to the rest of the country, and it is about linking up strength in the midlands and the north currently do not have any real travel benefits or links. it is about creating a north of england that is fully connected, both to each other... itself and the other parts of the country. when is the final review coming out? we are not sure about that, that will depend on when the new government chooses to do so, but we would expect something in the next couple of months and it will be interesting to see what happens in that period. thank you very much indeed. sir keir starmer says the country needs a radical labour government after announcing his intention to run for the labour leadership. the shadow brexit secretary said the party had lost the public‘s trust as a force for good and change. this report from tony bonsignore contains flashing images.

into the spotlight, the latest contender for the labour leadership. sir keir starmer is promising to restore voters' faith in labour whilst keeping some of its radical manifesto policies. but as a staunch remainer who campaigned for a second referendum, he faces questions after the party's election defeat. the argument has to move on, and the argument now is, can we insist on that close relationship with the eu, close economic relationship, but collaboration in other areas, and also, what is the framework now for future trade relations? it's becoming a crowded field. jess phillips, a long—standing critic ofjeremy corbyn, says she can communicate with voters who have abandoned the party. this has got to be about whether the labour party can speak and connect and be trusted by the public. none of it matters, about this fight with this person in the labour party, unless we can win an election

and labour values is what matters. and another backbencher launched her campaign, promising to reconnect with voters in the midlands and north. i think there is definitely a disconnect between the hierarchy of the labour party and the country. what we haven't understood is that "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. with emily thornberry and clive lewis having already declared, there are now five confirmed contenders. and shadow business secretary rebecca long—bailey is also expected to join the contest. labour's ruling body meets tomorrow to decide the rules for the election, an election which may decide the future direction of the party for a generation to come. 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. bill hayton has this report. the new year rains were some of the worst in nearly a decade. tens of thousands in jakarta were forced from their homes and still are not able to return. roads and bridges were wiped out. locals were forced to use boats and makeshift rafts to get between houses and villages. officials say more than 10,000 health workers have been deployed. medicines and disinfecting kits have been distributed amid concerns over a surge in waterborne and mosquito borne diseases. many have already sought treatment in makeshift clinics. landslides have made some villages inaccessible. emergency supplies had to be dropped in by air. jakarta regularly floods

during the rainy season. but this week's flooding is the worst since 2013, and there are fears that more rain may be yet to come. the government says it'll start cloud seeding, spraying chemicals from planes to try to prompt rainfall before approaching clouds reach the most populous areas, in the hope of preventing further damage or loss of life. bill hayton, bbc news. six people have been killed by a suspected drunk driver who crashed into a group of german tourists in a town in northern italy. 11 other people were injured, some seriously, in the small town in the south tyrol region. the 27—year—old driver of the car, who failed a breath test for alcohol, has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter. the 77th annual golden globes ceremony will take place this evening in los angeles as the hollywood awards season gets underway. the nominations received some

criticism due to the lack of any women, again, in the best director category. comedian ricky gervais will be making a comeback as host. 0ur los angeles correspondent, sophie long, reports. it's that time of year when stars align and sparkle on red carpets, and young british actors get a taste of tinseltown. they don't come much younger than roman griffin davis. why so happy? things are changing. he's been nominated for best actor in a musical or comedy for his part in the heartbreakingly funnyjojo rabbit. not bad for someone who's only 12. oh, the world will end? he's facing some stiff competition — up against fellow brit taron egerton for his portrayal of eltonjohn in rocket man, but also daniel craig and eddie murphy.

to be nominated along side them is lovely. it looks like it'll be a good year for the streaming giant netflix — it's behind three of the five films nominated for best motion picture drama. also nominated is 1917 — the first world war epic that follows the incredible journey of two young soldiers. we rehearsed for six months before we started shooting. there is no turnaround or setups with a camera, no lighting setups, so it is literally go, go, go! i think he has a little speech. i have a little speech that's building here. when it comes to the smaller screen, there could be more honours for the adored boundary—breaking flea bag. i cannot believe we're here. i mean, a year ago, we were previewing at the bfi and now we're stood at the golden globes.

yeah, i'm blown away. with no clear frontrunner set to sweep the board, it's likely there'll be a few memorable moments ahead. the golden globes are notoriously difficult to predict. the only real certainty is that champagne will flow — and probably a few tears, too. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. now it's time for a look at the weather. it is unseasonably mild. if you think it is mild now, wait until tuesday, really mild weather on the way. we have had great weather to contend with today. in most places, cloudy, but that will break up across north wales and the midlands. eastern scotland doing nicely for brightness but the north—west of scotla nd brightness but the north—west of scotland will see outbreaks of rain. temperature is above average for the time of year. this evening and tonight, rendell splashed across northern scotland. windy and the west,