g starkly divided. it is true to 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 his

supporters appreciate that. thank you so much for the time being. we are monitoring everything that is happening and we have some new pictures coming into the bbc newsroom. these are light shots we believe this is an unknown location in qasem —— iraq but we believe it is near a base and i cannot confirm whether it is in fact the base that has been targeted with those us forces but these are just images that have come into the bbc newsroom. it might be worth reminding ourselves because of this of course has just been breaking reminding ourselves because of this of course hasjust been breaking in the pass our or so. gareth, remind us as the pass our or so. gareth, remind us as to what has been happening within the past 1.5 hours? this is a breaking story and this is middle of

the night local time in iraq. we think this is near a base in iraq and one would presume that it is one of the strikes that we have been talking about. let's take a pause and remind ourselves of what we do know. around an hourand around an hour and a half ago, to atm and erupt, the al—asad airbase, it houses iraqi troops and american troops, reports of at least six rockets striking that and the number being possibly even ten or 13. we don't know of any casualties or damage, we have seen reports from the pentagon saying that they will ta ke the pentagon saying that they will take all necessary measures to protect and defend us personnel, partners, and allies in the region and they are working on an initial battle damage and assessments saying

they believe ballistic missiles were launched from iran into iraqi territory. the news agencies say that the iranian revolutionary guard corps is taking responsibility for this. we know that the iranians considered the targeted killing by america of the top military general qasem soleimani as an act of war, and the iranian foreign minister said they would respond targeting legitimate targets. the state run newsagency is saying, we are warning all american allies who gave their bases to its terrorist army that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts towards iran will be targeted. we know that donald trump is being briefed and is following the situation in the white house. a few hours ago he was holding a press conference in the oval office and he said that the

time, if iran does anything they shouldn't be doing, they are going to be suffering the consequences and very strongly. the pentagon, the white house, and the department of defence will be working very quickly to try to ascertain exactly who is responsible, to what scale this attack has been, and also how and if the americans will respond. we have got reports that it is iran's revolutionary guard taking responsibility for the retaliation against the death of qasem soleimani, which makes sense. he fought as a young man, he was deemed to bea fought as a young man, he was deemed to be a hero of the. more than a leader, almost eight ritual figure within this organisation, so iran's revolutionary guard are saying that we warn all areas that are starting point of aggressive acts towards iran will be targeted. so, a

difficult situation at the best of times, but this potentially escalate it even more so. it does, it is not all that surprising. we are expecting some response from the iranians, they said there would be some. may be the speed and scale of this is faster than perhaps the americans and the international community were expecting. it is unsurprising. qasem soleimani was ironbank‘s man on the ground. he worked with allies and allied militia and live and on and syria, he was instrumental in the iranians fight against isis, he was in baghdad in iraq when he was killed by that american drone strike, and he was really the architect of teheran's influence and policy in the region but he was also the man that carried it out, that helps those relationships, that men toured many of the groups operating in tandem and on teheran's behalf. when

the united states targeted him and killed him, they said that he was a monster. that was donald trump's words, that he was planning a big, bad attack. from the iranian point of view they considered this an act of view they considered this an act of warand of view they considered this an act of war and the foreign minister saying that they would respond by targeting legitimate targets, united states targets, and what we are seeing now is this airbase in western iraq which has been visited by donald trump in 2018 and mike pence only a few months ago. at least six rockets, if not more. the united states pentagon saying at least a dozen ballistic missiles being fired from iranians territory towards airbase. this is a significant escalation and it was already very tense. we are seeing the markets responding almost immediately, the nikkei plunging several %, gold at its highest price in over six years. an excellent point on which to conclude our conversation. i want to cross over

to singapore because my colleague is monitoring the markets, there has been a lot of movement. took us through what is happening on the market in response to these attacks. a lot of movement. the one thing investors hate as uncertainty, and of course this rise in tension between the us and iran has been watched very closely since last rally, since that drone attack on qasem soleimani, and as you heard gareth say, gold prices rising to a high not seen since 2013. we are also seeing other safe havens, gold is seen as a safe haven, that's when investors rush into things like that stopping the japanese yen is a currency that is seen as a safe haven, that has also been rising, and as we saw, those asian markets just opening up here, japan's nikkei is already down well over 2%, in fa ct is already down well over 2%, in fact it is at its lowest level, it has fallen beneath the 2300 level just a little bit earlier and that

was its lowest since november 2019, so asi was its lowest since november 2019, so as i said there, markets really reacting stopping the australian markets are also lower. the hang seng and the bombay markets are not open yet but we are expecting a dramatic move when they do open in reaction to this. the only thing is doing particularly well are both safe havens, and oil prices as well, i should say, they have been rising in reaction. many thanks, my colleague monitoring the markets and there has been a lot of reaction and movement on the markets as they come to grips with what has been happening, and just to remind viewers joining happening, and just to remind viewersjoining us, happening, and just to remind viewers joining us, and happening, and just to remind viewersjoining us, and airbase housing us troops in iraq has been hit by a number of rockets. run's revolutionary guard confirming that they fired these rockets at the airbase in revenge over the death of

qasem soleimani. he was the figurehead for the revolutionary guard. we know that these were ballistic missiles, so we believe that with that kind of technology, it was the revolutionary guard, and at the moment, details coming in, we don't have much details. what we don't have much details. what we don't know is the level of casualties. this is the middle of the night in iraq, so it is difficult to get confirmation, but the pentagon is monitoring the situation, the president has been briefed. we have got some nighttime images that we believe are targets, strikes on and airbase in iraq, but i can't confirm that this is the airbase that is housing those us soldiers, and at the moment we are struggling to bring those pictures up struggling to bring those pictures upforyou, struggling to bring those pictures up for you, but we were watching... then they are. those images of a

strike, but it is unclear exactly where strike was, but we do know that the white house is across this. gareth, just briefly if you would, we don't have much time but of course the tensions have been escalating between the united states and iran, but this is happening extremely quickly given that we have just had qasem soleimani's funeral. the procession and the various events taking place across multiple cities and around, but time and again we would see people walking over american flags and pictures of donald trump on the streets of iranian cities, a lot of anger against the united states for the targeted killing of qasem soleimani on friday. the iranian foreign minister said it was an act of war and they would strike legitimate targets. we are now seeing a run's revolutionary guard caught

confirming that it fired strikes at revenge of the killing of general solar money. he was an instrumental figure throughout the middle east. the united states considered him a monster, not the case in iran, and the tehran authorities have been very quick it seems to strike back. gareth, thank you so much. gareth will continue to monitor this fast moving development. mike pompeo and the defence secretary have arrived at the white house following this attack on an iraqi airbase and of course concerned because there are us troops within this, and escalation of tension between the united states and around, we will continue to monitor all of the details for you on bbc news. the

winds have been a realfeature across the northern parts of the uk, particularly scotland still pretty blustery but not as windy as it has been. how about wednesday for most of us? there is sunshine and rain in the forecast, so here is the big nature, across our neck of the woods. there is a big picture, pushing some clouds in our direction, and it looks like it is going to be pretty cloudy across southern parts of the uk but this is also where we have the milder air, so to areas of whether the uk on wednesday. the mild, cloudy weather in the south, the more brisk weather with fresh atlanticare north stopping those snow showers across the hills of scotland, giving a little covering here and there, clear goals across the central swathes of the uk and to the south we have got the cloudy mild weather, you can see 12 degrees, that is the starting temperature in london early on wednesday. wednesday's forecast itself, three areas of weather, the cloudy and eventually wet weather

reaching south—western parts of the uk stopping the bit in the middle here, from belfast to liverpool, it is around about yorkshire, some sunshine, then the stronger winds, blustery showers around western and north—western scotland, and that is pretty much how things continue as we go through the course of wednesday evening, but the rain in the south turns heavier, it looks like it will be raining all the way to east anglia. thursday is giving us to east anglia. thursday is giving usa to east anglia. thursday is giving us a bit ofa to east anglia. thursday is giving us a bit of a headache in terms of what the weather is going to bring. it certainly looks like there will be some rain around, a real of weather, you can see that wet weather, you can see that wet weather earlier in the morning, snow falling across southern scotland stopping there could be some strong winds around as well but at this point it looks like of the weather will be out in the channel and actually some of us may end up having some sunshine around on thursday. still mild and that southern south—eastern part of the country, 13, maybe 1a, a lot colder there in scotland, only three or

five degrees. we are fairly confident that friday is going to bring some sunshine. it should be for most of us a good end of the week in terms of the weather, a lot of sunshine in—store. later on friday it does look like it is going to turn wet and windy again across western scotland and northern ireland. that's a hint of things to come as we head into the weekend. if we look at the weather maps through the weekend, big low pressure close to iceland sending weather fronts in our direction so it does look like through the weekend into next week it is going to be very changeable stopping by. this is sports today, live from the

bbc sports centre. coming up, halfway there as manchester city would three against manchester united in the semi—final. a classic in cape town. and event that carella continues to shush the rally continues. welcome to the problem to the semi—final. after 45 minutes, it looked like the semi—final was already over. now at the midway point, united are clinging on after marcus rashford scored the only goal of the second half. but the per that

shush first half performance! bernardo silver scored the first from 25 yards. united are all over the place. an own goal. then it looked like the game was up. now, they are still in but onlyjust. the justice city manager, dick wandella expected his side's opponents to fight back. they are united, it is normal the reaction they had in front of these people. a good result tonight for us. we know that they area tonight for us. we know that they are a dangerous team but hopefully they can support us like manchester united support the team and qualify

again stop we let them play. we just made decisions we should not. that may be sorted at halftime and second half was a good response and we are still, even though it is a steep mountain to climb, we can still climate. and winning the champions league escorting 30 goals has owed him player of the year for mane. real madrid will play on wednesday as a spanish super cup gets under way. on wednesday as a revamped version of the spanish super cup gets

under way. zinedine zidane will be without karim benzema and gareth bale for the match injeddah while barcelona take on atletico madrid on thursday. previously the super cup featured the league winners against the cup winners. the new format features both copa del rey finalists and the remaining highest ranked teams in la liga that have not already qualified through the cup final. but asjuan castro of spanish newspaper marca explains, not everyone is happy the fans are not happy because they wa nt to the fans are not happy because they want to watch the super cup in spain. i mean, it is a spanish competition so they want to watch it in spain. right now, the polemic is not so big, so high but, still, people do not want to go that also. january, after christmas, people have no money. the super cup should be always at the beginning of the season. all these things together and people because of that, that do not travel to saudi arabia. onto cricket and there was a dramatic end to the second test

between south africa and england in cape town on tuesday. england won by 189 runs in the final hour for a first victory at newlands since 1957. ben stokes proved the difference yet again taking the last three wickets in just over four overs helping to dismiss the hosts for 248. on debut pieter malan top scored with 84 from 288 balls for the proteas who resisted until the end with the four match series level at 1—1 ahead of the third test starting at port elizabeth on the 16th of january. south africa's captain admits the better side won the challenge that we had in our group last night and this morning is that we would fight them with everything in us to try and make england to everything and everything to beat us and they have. they have framed the kitchen sink at us and just was the end of the day, u nfortu nately just was the end of the day, unfortunately they needed to be a loser. it has been a fantastic five days of cricket. both teams on top in some sessions, some sessions on

par, but probably for the majority of the test match in were better than us. fast bowlerjames anderson could be a doubt for the third test though, after england's all—time leading wicket—taker struggled with a side injury, bowling only two overs after lunch. but captainjoe root was non committal about the 37 year old's chances. it could be just a little it could bejust a little niggle. i have to wait and see. it could be a 24-48 have to wait and see. it could be a 24—48 hour thing. until we have any more information, we treated as best we can and hopefully it is not another casualty of the two. india won the second twenty 20 match of their series against sri lanka in indore to go 1—0 up after the opener was washed out. india won the toss and sent sri lanka into bat limiting them to 142 for 9, before virat kohli helped lead his side to victory with an unbeaten 30. the third and final match is in pune on friday.

while west indies have cruised to a 5 wicket victory over ireland in barbados to win the opening match of their three game one day international series. the hosts reached the victory target of 181 with more than 16 overs remaining thanks to an unbeaten 99 from opener evin lewis whose attempt to hit a six to win the match and reach a century at the same time saw the ball finishing agonisingly short and go for 4 runs instead of the maximum. the international shooting federation has welcomed a proposal to stage their competition in delhi rather than miss out on being included in birmingham's commonwealth games. the unprecedented idea has been put forward by india, who had threatened to boycott the games in two years' time after shooting was excluded. archery would also take place in india, both some months before the games in england. here's austin halewood to explain all. this really would be a ground breaking move. one we have not seen the like of before. birmingham 2022 announced a sports bustier and shooting and archery were not included. they have been involved in every games by one cent 1966 but

birmingham said they focus on trying to attract a younger and more diverse audience. these games are going to cost over $1 billion, the most expensive event in the uk sent the 2012 olympics. they are supposed to be an advocate for britain post brexit. but in doubt to pull out of the games after hearing the news and thatis the games after hearing the news and that is because of their success in the two sports but particularly in the two sports but particularly in the shooting. on the gold coast, india 116 medals. in the commonwealth games, they have one 134 and 63 gold. india have proposed that they host both of those events. some 6000 kilometres away from birmingham. the events will take place in either the capital, new delhi or in another city. india have agreed to pay but this would create

agreed to pay but this would create a whole host of logistical changes but christian schofield, the team leaderfor england but christian schofield, the team leader for england shooting at the last commonwealth games told me it is manageable. i think we have seen other sporting events taking place where they had two venues. i think there is a precedent set by other sporting events and we are used to having teams compete all over the world so i think these are not problems that are insurmountable. the changes will be considered over the next few weeks. if accepted, it will be put to a full vote of 71 member association. nothing is confirmed just yet but we should hear more in the next month or so. great britain secured their place

in the quarter—finals of the atp cup where they'll face hosts australia. dan evans secured a 6—2, 6—2 win over moldova's radu albot in sydney to seal their place in the last eight, and after belgium beat bulgaria 2—1 it meant great britain finished top of group c. world number five daniil medvedev sealed russia's spot in the quarter—finals by clinching victory over group d rivals norway. russia have won all their group ties, having already beaten italy and the united states. carlos sainz leads the way in the car category heading into wednesday's stage 4 of the dakar rally. the spaniard and his co—pilot lucas cruz recovered after being almost five minutes back in second overall at the end of stage two, with defending champion nasser al—attiyah finishing second in tuesday's third stage to move up to second overall.

six games in the nba. the raptors hosting portland. later the lakers play. until next time, by by. the winds have been a real feature across the northern parts of the uk, particularly scotland still pretty blustery but not as windy as it has been. how about wednesday for most of us? there is sunshine and rain in the forecast, so here is the big nature, across our neck of the woods. there is a big picture, pushing some clouds in our direction, and it looks like it is going to be pretty cloudy across southern parts of the uk but this is also where we have the milder air, so to areas of whether the uk on wednesday.

the mild, cloudy weather in the south, the more brisk weather with fresh atlanticare north stopping those snow showers across the hills of scotland, giving a little covering here and there, clear goals across the central swathes of the uk and to the south we have got the cloudy mild weather, you can see 12 degrees, that is the starting temperature in london early on wednesday. wednesday's forecast itself, three areas of weather, the cloudy and eventually wet weather reaching south—western parts of the uk stopping the bit in the middle here, from belfast to liverpool, it is around about yorkshire, some sunshine, then the stronger winds, blustery showers around western and north—western scotland, and that is pretty much how things continue as we go through the course of wednesday evening, but the rain in the south turns heavier, it looks like it will be raining all the way to east anglia. thursday is giving us a bit of a headache in terms of what the weather is going to bring. it certainly looks like there will be some rain around, a real of weather,

you can see that wet weather earlier in the morning, snow falling across southern scotland stopping there could be some strong winds around as well but at this point it looks like of the weather will be out in the channel and actually some of us may end up having some sunshine around on thursday. still mild and that southern south—eastern part of the country, 13, maybe 14, a lot colder there in scotland, only three or five degrees. we are fairly confident that friday is going to bring some sunshine. it should be for most of us a good end of the week in terms of the weather, a lot of sunshine in—store. later on friday it does look like it is going to turn wet and windy again across western scotland and northern ireland. that's a hint of things to come as we head into the weekend. if we look at the weather maps through the weekend, big low pressure close to iceland sending weather fronts in our direction so it does look like through the weekend into next week it is going to be very changeable. bye— bye.

i'm kasia madera in london. we start with breaking news. iran launches a ballistic missile attack on a us air base in iraq, iranian tv says it was in revenge for the american killing of general soleimani. the pentagon says the missiles were launched from iran there's no word yet on casualties. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore, the headlines: 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. we hear the story of how tensions between india and pakistan,