this is bbc world news. our top story: in australia, the worst weekend of bushfires yet has seen hundreds of homes destroyed. the prime minister, scott morrison, has warned the bushfire emergency could last for months. he says he's sending in the military following accusations that he has been slow to deal with the crisis. france, britain and germany have asked iran to reconsider after it said it would rollback more commitments made under the international nuclear deal. tehran‘s announcement follows the american assassination of general qasem soleimani on friday. hollywood's awards season is under way. the 77th annual golden globes are taking place in los angeles. the traditional studios are once again facing a challenge from the big streaming services. that's all. you're watching bbc world news. and the top story in the uk —

the labour party is to meet to agree the rules for its leadership contest. five mps — sir keir starmer — pictured here — clive lewis, lisa nandy, jess philipps and emily thornberry have so far entered the running to succeed jeremy corbyn. more on our website, bbc.c0.uk/news and the news app. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. oil prices sizzled. how high will they go as tensions reach fever pitch tween the us and iran. australian bushfires rage on. we find out how to months of deadly blazes are exhausting sources and its economy. hello and welcome to this monday addition of asia business report. we

start with a growing conflict between the us and iran. oil prices have been rising even here in asian trade, and that is after tehran announced it would pull out of a nuclear deal with world powers. this is where they are trading at the moment as you can see, like crude at $64 moment as you can see, like crude at $61; a barrel. the move comes after the death of a top iranian military leader and several officials from iraqi militias act by tehran were killed in us drone strikes in baghdad last friday. an agility —— and energy alice has said it has invested on the edge. we have seen threats issued from both the us side under iran side, we have seen around com pletely under iran side, we have seen around completely withdraw its commitments under the 2015 nuclear treaty and we have seen open threats issued in terms of iran identifying the targets that it has on its site, the

us presence in the region, and the us presence in the region, and the us doing the same against iran. so i think we are probably going to say oil prices continue to creep up, factoring in all of these risks. the last time we saw oil prices spike like this was in september when iran was blamed for targeting saudi oil infrastructures, the motion they might still target infrastructure like that, or shipping lanes, a p pa re ntly like that, or shipping lanes, apparently there was 21% of the world public oil passed through in 2018 saw all this is going to keep investors on tenterhooks. iran or its proxies in the region attacking oil infrastructure and we are talking about a region that supplies nearly a quarter of the world public oil needs, or blockading the straits of hormuz. whether it actually goes ahead and does that remains to be seen. i think that will keep oil on

tenterhooks. what about iraqi oil, we know the iraqi militia were also targeted. how is that going to impact that region? the very first an obvious target is iraqi and it is an obvious target is iraqi and it is a major oil producer, the second largest after saudi arabia in opec, pumps largest after saudi arabia in 0pec, pumps nearly 11.5 million barrels a day. if that gets targeted, deliberately or a collateral damage gets targeted, then we are looking at major outage of supply from the markets. if oil prices should start to spike, what happens next to 0pec commitments, for instance, to limit production —— production? will we see that united states ramping up oil production? the worst-case scenario which case millions of barrels per day of oil is removed from the market, 0pec will be

helpless. again, the us will naturally ramp up because when prices are higher, the us will print “ pump prices are higher, the us will print —— pump more. could they pump enough to compensate the worst case scenario? that is very much in doubt. now over to australia where firefighters are getting little relief on containing deadly bushfires due to the strong winds there. a global appeal for funding raised more than $17 million on monday. that is as large parts of the country suffered extensive damage and the death toll from the long—running continues —— crisis continues to rise. more than 1000 homes have been destroyed. peter maguire spoke to me earlier and he says the government is playing catch up. the general sentiment is the government needs to move quicker than what it has. the prime minister is back in australia and leading the charge, but it is all about

leadership and all about working together to try and attack these fires as quickly and as strongly as possible. we know australia has faced devastating fires like this before. in your experience how much ofan impact before. in your experience how much of an impact as it had on the nation? how long do you think it will take to rebuild from this? these are quite devastating. you have townships that have been absolutely ta ken apart, have townships that have been absolutely taken apart, and from a social and economic cost, and the infrastructure. it can take years, it can take a decade. what happens if you have the social cost, and what happens with older people, they may move to other parts of australia, migration and so on. there are many moving parts. he talked about leadership. scott morrison not taking a very strong sta nce morrison not taking a very strong stance on that. how do you think thatis stance on that. how do you think that is going to impact australia public policies long—term ?|j that is going to impact australia public policies long-term? i think you have the strong undercurrent of people saying, they need to be

action taken place, then you have the other side saying it all comes down to the drought and all of the energy that was there as far as ground and trees going into that natural inferno that was created and these bushfires are feeding. there are mixed camps and it will be interesting from a political standpoint who ends up being the champion. peter mcguire there. let's head over to india now where the former head, this gentleman here says he will not return as chairman of india by the biggest conglomerate despite winning a court case against his removal. however, he says he will seek a board seat to improve its government standards. for mel, i am joined by my colleague in delhi. more can you tell us about this? this is a significant development in the long legal tussle. making it very clear that he is not interested

in being reinstated, despite the tribunal order which drew in his favour heavily saying his dismissal in 2016 was in fact illegal. he made it also very clear that details yesterday released was it was never being reinstated to that position. it was a battle on principles, about minority shareholders versus majority stakeholders. in his arguments, legal arguments in the past, he made it very clear that all his battle was in fact against what he called oppressive by oppression by the majority stakeholders against the minority stakeholders. he said that the battle for him will continue. shape that takes it to be seen. continue. shape that takes it to be seen. they have also moved the supreme court, and some of the hearings will be coming up later this week saying that the earlier tribunal order was erroneous and unsustainable. significant to watch

out, what shape this legal battle ta kes. out, what shape this legal battle takes. the legal battle is affected to continue. quite a power struggle there. thank you for updating us on that story. now, if improving your fitness is one of your new year's resolutions, like many of us, here is some technology that might be able to help. our report has been trying out some of the latest fitness apps at the annual consumer electronics show in las vegas, which kicks off this week. let take a look. these three new apps are designed to help with your fitness goals using image recognition, machine learning and motion sensors. are any of them advanced enough to replace a personal trainer mr mike i have come to the gym to find out. first up, this is image recognition and the camera to make sure you are doing

the exercises properly. 0k, great. i can see you. get into the starting position so i can see you at all times. based on what the camera sees, it gives you feedback to correct your form. your hips are too high. at the moment it only works with body weight exercises musso to move to weight training, i am trying a virtual personal trainer you can talk to. i am done. rest for two minutes. how many did you do? ten. well done. still another set. the app creates a bespoke workout tailored to your goals and remembers how you did last time. tailored to your goals and remembers how you did last timelj tailored to your goals and remembers how you did last time. i want you to add another five kilograms on each side of the bar. to relax, i am finishing off with some yoga. this uses motion tracking sensors to detect my position and correct my form, which fair warning is going to be terrible. not quite... i am doing

it! iam be terrible. not quite... i am doing it! i am not sure whether setting up these sensors every guy will take some of the zen out of yoga, though the company says it is more accurate than using image recognition. while they cannot face the encouragement you get from a human personal trainer, they do add a layer of interactivity, which can make the workout more interesting. not quite. 0h, workout more interesting. not quite. oh, come on! tough taskmasters. we have lots more all this week. let's take a look at the markets. as we have been talking about the geopolitical concerns around tensions rising between the us and around is leading a lot of the markets lower here in asia today. that is it for the programme. thank you for watching. this is bbc news. our top stories this hour:

australia's prime minister, who's been criticised for his slow response to the country's bushfire crisis, has warned the blazes could last for many months to come. iran for many months to come. says it will not abide by limits iran says it will not abide by limits banning its central commitment —— commitment under the international nuclear deal reached in 2015. the latest labour mps to enter the race to become the party's next leader have warned that it must focus on regaining public trust. jonathan blake reports. back on the campaign trail, sir keir starmer launched his bid to lead labour in stevenage, a conservative seat, which voted to leave the eu. he says the party's recent radical policies are needed to win here and beyond, but after a long time making the case for the uk to stay in the eu, he now says it's time to look beyond brexit. 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? labour could one day argue to rejoin the eu, says another contender for leader, and claims that she is best placed to reconnect with voters. 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. another backbench mp putting herself forward says those at the top of the party are out of touch, and only someone from labour's former heartlands, like her, can lead it to success. 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 affect change in their own lives. with emily thornberry and clive lewis also in the running, there are now five confirmed contenders. the shadow business secretary, rebecca long—bailey, long seen asjeremy corbyn's preferred successor, is expected to join the contest soon. labour's ruling body will meet tomorrow to finalise the rules and timetable for the leadership election, which will determine the party's future. a winner should be known in around 12 weeks. jonathan blake, bbc news. that is it from me. marion will be back with you at the top of the hour with the latest on iran and the bushfires in australia of course. in the meantime, you can get me on twitter at any time. you are watching bbc news. thank you very much for your company. coming up next on bbc news is sport today.

hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: teenage kicks for liverpool as curtisjones scores a brilliant goal to beat everton in the fa cup. brescia's mario balotelli slams lazio fans after alleged racist abuse in serie a. and fernando alonso gets his first ever dakar rally campaign off to a solid start in saudi arabia. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the fa cup. the merseyside derby between premier league leaders liverpool and near neighbours everton on sunday was arguably the biggest. jurgen klopp started a younger side as he rotated his players making nine changes from their last game against sheffield united. with all the details including a wonder goal from curtis jones,