i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore, the headlines: at least 6 rockets hit a us air base in iraq just hours after iran buries its general killed in an american drone strike. as the human toll rises in australia's bushfires, we hearfrom people trying to protect some of the country's precious wildlife from the disaster. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: we hear the story of how tensions between india and pakistan, have kept a family separated in kashmirfor decades. facebook announces a ban on deepfake videos — but the policy stops short

of prohibiting all doctored videos. good morning. it's 8:00am in singapore, midnight in london, and 3:00am in iraq where according to reports an air base housing us forces has been hit by a rocket attack. at least six rockets are said to have struck the al—asad base west of baghdad. it's unclear whether there have been any casualties. details are still coming in. we'll have more on that later. meanwhile in washington donald trump has declared that the death of qasem soleimani has saved a lot of lives. he said the iranian commander was planning a ‘big attack‘ when he was killed

in a us drone strike. in iran, 50 people were killed in a stampede as huge crowds turned out for the general‘s burial. it marked the end of an unprecedented three—day funeral in which it's thought millions took to the streets as his coffin made its way across the country from iraq where he was killed. let's have more on the breaking news this hour, reports of rocket attacks at an air base in iran. joining me now here in the studio is our news reporter gareth barlow. i know that that has been breaking on the past few moments that you have been across this story, bring us have been across this story, bring us up—to—date with the details that we do know. details are still coming m, we do know. details are still coming in, around two atm local time then western iraq at the al—asad airbase,

reports of incoming rocket fire, at least six rockets but other news agencies reporting possibly more rockets. it is a airbase in western iraqi used by us forces alongside iraqi used by us forces alongside iraqi forces. several news agencies in iran are saying that the iranian revolutionary guard corps are taking responsibility. this comes hot on the heels of the americans targeting qasem soleimani on friday. and we saw the iranian foreign minister saying only a couple of hours ago that iran would respond this looks like it might be part as well of a wider series of attacks, the united states believe that there are potentially multiple locations. iranian television saying that tehran has launched this. we have to

be careful with that because we are not 100% sure but that is what we are thinking? that is what it looks like at the moment, we know from the white house that donald trump is being briefed and is monitoring the situation and the pentagon and white house now will be trying hard to ascertain who is behind this copy we know that iran and especially the revolutionary guard corps have proxies operating in the region. is it one of those that has targeted airbase? is it the revolutionary guard corps itself? that will dictate the severity of the situation and what the potential response from the united states will be. if it has rocket attacks that suggest more that it may be some of the proxy militias that operate in tandem with iran. if it is political cruise missiles that will point towards tehran and the revolutionary guard corps itself. it is only three o'clock in the morning and western iraqi. that will make it a lot harder in the initial stages to determine and ascertain exactly who

is behind us, but the news agencies and around saying the revolutionary guard corps are taking some degree of responsibility. it is important to stress that we are unclear of any casualties in the damage and as you mentioned the possibility of multiple locations but we certainly do know that a number of rockets, possibly as many as ten, have been launched at this airbase and of course as they how us forces there, there is a lot of concern. the president has been briefed and he is aware of the attacks. yes, and he visited that airbase in december 2018, and also mike pence the vice president, he visited in november 2019, so only a few month ago. it has become an iconic airbase, it is huge, people who have been there described it as a massive and sprawling site. we don't know if there has been any casualties, we don't know the scale of the damage.

we know there have been at least missiles, maybe as much as 13 that have struck this site. there are also reports in a nearby city in iraq, the united states believe there have been potentially multiple attacks on locations and iraq's, including this us airbase. it is also housed coalition forces and the past as well and is being used by iraqi forces as well at the moment. we know that the us president has been briefed, we have had a statement from the white house, stephanie grisham saying we are aware of the attacks on us facilities and iraq's top of the president has been briefed and is monitoring the situation closely and consulting with his national security team. given that the various comments that he has been making recently, when it comes to

diplomacy this is a very tense situation. he described general qasem soleimani is a monster and claiming that many lives have been saved because he was killed. couldn't get any more tense at the moment? the tensions in the middle east are skyhigh, particularly between iraq and iran. donald trump describing a sinful money as a monster, for their part, the foreign minister said that it was an act of war, that targeted killing was an act of what. they would respond by targeting legitimate targets, legitimate united states targets. we heard donald trump respond and say that the united states had 52 sites that the united states had 52 sites that they had in mind if they would strike back and there has been a lot of talk over the sites that the united states might strike in response to any iranian aggression. we have seen a bit of a confused

situation from the white house, the pentagon and other american sources as to where they might strike stopping there is a lot of concern that they might target cultural sites which would contravene many international laws. donald trump and many white house authors saying that they wouldn't do so, they would comply with international law but they would strike back. an awful lot of tension. we have seen that oil prices and gold prices have already started rising off the back of these sites at the al—asad airbase, as they did after the american targeted qasem soleimani, so this isn'tjust a military and security story, this has implications across the whole range of sectors across the world. thank you so much, i'm know you will be going back to monitor what is happening as this story develops, but the details that we have, it is important to stress we don't know of any casualties at the moment but iranian state television saying that they run has launched this attack on

an airbase, given the tension between the us and iraqi. this is something that we will be monitoring incredibly closely. as you heard from gareth as well, we still don't know the scale of the damage, or the casualties from these rocket strikes. president trump insists the us is ready to act against iran if provoked, but maintained any action would be within international law. nick bryant reports. today donald trump was observing normal, diplomatic protocols, a genial welcome for the greek prime minister. but he's the most unpredictable president ever to occupy the white house, an impulsiveness that sowed so much uncertainty amongst his foes, his allies and even those amongst his own administration. he defended his order to kill general soleimani, perhaps the most consequential foreign policy decision taken by a us president

since the invasion of iraq. he's been called a monster and he was a monster. and he's no longer a monster, he's dead. and that's a good thing for a lot of countries, and he was planning a very big attack and a very bad attack for us and other people, and we stopped him. the president stepped back today from his threat to deliberately target iranian cultural treasures, strikes that would have been a war crime. his reversal came after the pentagon and us state department had publicly contradicted their commander in chief by stressing they'd abide by international law. every action we take will be consistent with the international rule of law and the american people can rest assured that is the case. let me tell you who has done damage to the persian culture — it isn't the united states of america. it's the ayatollah. in parliament, it was the defence secretary rather than the prime minister who called

for calm on all sides. the united states is not seeking a war with the united states is not seeking a warwith iran, it the united states is not seeking a war with iran, it is seeking to end one. it requires the rating to come to the table with a goal of avoiding further bloodshed. today came a timely indication of the fast—shifting power dynamics in the middle east and russia's growing influence, as vladimir putin made a surprise visit to meet the syrian president bashar al—assad, a brutal dictator the iranians have helped to keep in power. it sometimes feels as if donald trump is pursuing a modern day version of what richard nixon called the madman theory. creating a sense among america's adversaries that he would be prepared to take the most extreme military options, casting aside the notion of proportionality. but he's also repeatedly stated he doesn't want to embroil his country in another middle east war, an objective made much harder by his decision to assassinate general soleimani.

america are sending more b—52 bombers to its base in the indian ocean, planes for decades that have symbolised its military might. will the perception that donald trump lacks restraint check the response from iran? nick bryant, bbc news, washington. and of course we are monitoring that situation on the strikes and will bring any more details to you. now lets get some of the day's other news and an update on australia's devastating bushfires. smoke from the blazes across australia has now reached south america, with haze seen over chile and argentina. that's 12,000 kilometers across the south pacific. weather experts at the un also say smoke has probably reached the antarctic. we'll have more on the australian fires in just a few moments. before that though, lets catch up with some of the day's other news. the venezuelan 0pposition leader,

juan guaido, has been sworn—in as speaker of the national assembly, after a stand—off with the armed forces. troops tried to stop mr guaido and his supporters from entering parliament, but they eventually forced their way into the building. mr guaido is accusing president nicolas maduro of trying to bring about a parliamentary coup. a state of emergency has been declared in puerto rico, after the island suffered its most powerful earthquake in more than a century. at least one person was killed in a series of earthquakes, including one with a magnitude of 6.4. numerous buildings have been damaged and a powercut has plunged much of puerto rico into darkness. now what looks like clouds are actually starlings. they've flown from russia and eastern europe to spend the winter in the skies over the holy land. they're creating what are called "murmurations", dark, shifting shapes that look like dancing clouds. they begin their dazzling display as the sun sets,

twisting and turning at high speed, creating dramatic, sweeping patterns in the sky. it's notjust mesmersising, they do this to help each other find food and to fend off predators. quite a sight. we've been hearing incredible stories of escape this week as the australian bushfires forced people from their homes. but there's one evacuation which required more coordination than most. nikki and steve hunter from new south wales had 45 animals, a mix of pets and wildlife rescues, until they were forced to flee. those animals have been given another chance at life, here's my colleague, lucy hockings, in nowra. deepfakes there is little sign of life in this charred bushland. normally it would be teeming with animals, from lizards to birds, koalas and kangaroos. but there are now estimates that half a billion animals

here in new south wales alone have died in this bushfire disaster. some are surviving, though. we met nikki and steve, one couple doing their best to make a small difference. nikki, tell me about these lovely baby bats. so these bats have really been struggling with climate change and the extreme heat temperatures we've been having. their mothers haven't been able to feed them enough so they've been abandoned. in the shoalhaven alone, we've had thousands and thousands of bats die. these guys are the lucky ones, they were saved when they were just 30 days old and we have been raising them ever since and they will go back out into the wild to hopefully reproduce and make more babies. and the worry for the bats is? with climate change, the bats aren't doing very well. alone in the last month, we've had thousands die. in the last year, they're just getting decimated. over the next few years, we'll probably see the decline of the bats and possibly the extinction of at least two species. these guys are threatened species as it is so any loss is a huge loss to the populations. they‘ re very important

for the australian bush. they're the most important long—range pollinators of the eucalypt forests and now we don't have many left from the fires. nikki, show me what you have in here, who we've got. ok, so in here, we have a baby mountain brushtail possum. he's had to be evacuated as well with us. he'll be released into the wild. these guys were in care for a very long time, we'll have him for close to a year. baby kangaroos and wombats are in care for about two years so it's a long term commitment. it's going to take decades and decades for the bush to regenerate properly. the impacts on the fire beyond what we see with the green tree leaves and all that, there are impacts to soil, impacts to the insects and all that sort of stuff. year after year you see less less frogs. less and less of those little species that can't handle big changes.

so yeah, it's really scary. and it's notjust native animals that have been affected. farmlands across the state have been decimated by these bushfires. farmers have been forced to bury their livestock in mass graves and that is devastating people, communities and local economies here in new south wales. as you heard in lucy's report, some 800 million animals have been affected. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the story of the family in kashmir who've been divided for decades following the 1971 war between india and pakistan. we will be live to the us for reactions over the strikes in ain al—asad airbase. the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged

on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief! after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl, in singapore.

at least six rockets have been struck at us airbase in iraq, hours after the funeral of the general killed in an american drone strike last week. as the human toll from australia's bushfire crisis rises the disaster is also having a devastating effect on its unique wildlife. let's get more details on the breaking news of rocket attacks on an airbase in iran. we are getting a few details but this is a breaking news situation at the moment. tell mea news situation at the moment. tell me a little bit about what the pentagon is saying because that will have impact on what happens next? numerous lights coming out of the pentagon. they are working out on an initial battle damage assessment

stop it is clear the missiles were launched from iran, more than a dozen against us military and coalition forces in iraq. the pentagon says it will take necessary just to protect and defend us personnel, partners and allies in the region. this is a developing situation for the pentagon and the forces in this ain al—asad airbase in anbar. at least six missiles have struck it. it is a developing situation. at the moment, no indication of the number of casualties or if there are any and what damage has been a flick. we have had some information that uranium television is talking about it. tyrone saying yes, iran is behind it. —— tehran.

it. tyrone saying yes, iran is behind it. -- tehran. the revolutionary guard taking responsibility for the attacks. if the rockets proxy militia that operate in on and on behalf of a run. the foreign minister of iran javad zarif say they would respond against the killing of the senior general, against american legitimate targets and it looks as though this might be the start of that response. it will be interesting to see what scale that will be. potentially multiple locations across iraq, and the us and the vatican working hard to ascertain to what degree. we know the president, donald trump, has been briefed. when we talk about the

revolutionary guard, general qasem soleimani woke through the ranks and became the head of ed, the kind of leader that was more than just a leader. given the situation, it is incredibly intense and it is difficult to ascertain what happens next but what we know at the moment, between six and possibly more and at more than one location which is of deep concern. deep concerns for the americans. donald trump took the killing of qasem soleimani to prevent further escalation of violence but what we're seeing now is potentially further escalation and violence. we know the iranians declared the targeted killing of qasem soleimani as an act of war and respond against legitimate targets. this is already having an impact on the markets. gold and is highest

point since 2013 and the nikkei vault 2%. a lot of nervousness. —— fall. it is a developing situation. it is just after 3am in the morning in iraqi, lots of implications. a difficult situation to appraise and understand. we do not know about any casualties and damage but this base is significant that both the president and vice president have visited in recent years. thank you so visited in recent years. thank you so much, gareth barlow, who will be continuing to keep us up—to—date on the situation. peter, we know the president has been briefed. they are working on damage assessments?

damage assessments is what officials are working on. at the moment details are scant. we have been hearing from the department of defence who were saying a dozen ballistic missiles against us military and coalition forces in iraq have been lodged by iran and, of course, this is what the united states and the world had been racing for with iran promising retaliation over the past few days over the events of last week and the killing of one of its most senior generals stop clearly, the details will be important significantly in terms of precisely the kind of weapons that have been used. in the last few hours. and the extent of casualties and damage. those assessments will have a bearing on how much ranking up have a bearing on how much ranking up of the tensions this is. is this the major force of retaliation threatened or is it perhaps a

warning shot. those details will become apparent over the next few hours. it comes as we have had various different rating back of state m e nts various different rating back of statements by president trump stop he was describing the cultural sites that could potentially be hit by the united states but that has very much been ran back by other us officials? i suppose you could say difficult bellicose language from president trump, specifically on the weekend when he talked about potentially attacking cultural sites, uranium cultural sites, —— iranians. depending on what the iranians did but he has pulled back on that and fallen in line with what senior us officials, including the secretary officials, including the secretary of state, have been saying, that it

would be in contravention of international law and the president saying he will obey the law. when it comes to the way this works, the pentagon is talking about damaging... assessing the damage. what is the procedure that happens with something like this is happening? clearly, as you have been referring to the fact that it is in the middle of the night and it will ta ke the middle of the night and it will take a little bit of time and a lot of negotiations and discussions going on between washington and those people on the ground at these military bases that have been attacked in terms of assessing the damages. there will be channels, tried and tested systems, to assess the damage and share the information so the damage and share the information so washington to make an assessment. the department of defence not rushing into anyjudgements and they

have been relatively cautious so far but, clearly, very clearly, this is a serious situation and a situation perhaps involving a little bit faster than some people had been expecting. given that the funeral was taking place just hours earlier, the us would not have been expecting this to happen so quickly but when it comes to the responses we're getting from the pentagon and the white house, bring us up—to—date on what they have been saying and how they are managing assessing all of this? well, the response ever since last week from the pentagon, the white house and indeed president trump, using different degrees of stronger language, has been that america reserves the right to strike back, to strike back against iran if it deems necessary and, of course, all of this has been depending on the kind of response from iran, what

we're and talking about right now could be the response or they could be more to come, that will determine what the us does. it believes it has a major say and a major role in iran's development of nuclear weapons. that is just one of the issues and it is determined and resolute in its stance that it will not be pushed around. president trump been very, very clear on his sta nce trump been very, very clear on his stance that he will use all means necessary , stance that he will use all means necessary, often talking about the might of the american military to deal with a situation like this. the undercurrent, in terms of the debate, unless in the last couple of days, has been that these things may ta ke days, has been that these things may take time, that the iranians response may not come immediately, it could be days or weeks and that is often out of the rain is a deal with the situation like this. perhaps a slower, more thoughtful,

precise determination on what they are going to do. whether this is the bigger response to the killing of general qasem soleimani, i think we will see and determine that and the defence department response and how engages the damage and the potential casualties. they will be making that determination in the next few hours. when it comes to the way that the us, whether public opinion sees action or decision that donald trump has taken with regards to general qasem soleimani, some saying these attacks a retaliation for his death. how will the poles see how his foreign policy seen across the us? 0pinion foreign policy seen across the us? opinion on these, and it is to do with a lot of things and decisions and policies from president trump,

is starkly divided. it is true to say there has been a lot of support and largely republican support for the president was make action in this case and detractors are saying that, than prevent further war, which is what the president says he wa nts to which is what the president says he wants to do, the actions of the united states in the last few days have actually increased the chances of warand have actually increased the chances of war and the divide, when you hear about public opinion polls or talk casually to americans, you see that divide every day. it has been palpable really how many people i have spoken to here in los angeles, how nervous they are about the situation that this country and indeed the world finds itself in because of the actions of the president. some are more relaxed and saying he's a president who is resolute, determined and single—minded and believes he is

doing the right thing and