welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: 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 itself hitting two targets inside iraq. 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. facebook announces a ban on deepfake videos, but the policy stops short of prohibiting all doctored videos.

so we start with some breaking news. iran has launched a ballistic missile attack on air bases housing us forces in iraq. the pentagon says at least two sites were hit in irbil and al—asad west of baghdad. it says the missiles were launched from iran itself. iranian state tv says the attack was launched in revenge for the us assassination of the iranian general, qasem soleimani. the white house says president trump has been briefed and is monitoring events. our north america correspondent, peter bowes, joins me now. what is the latest on this and from there? well, we know from the ministry of defence that they are saying iran launched more than two dozen ballistic missiles against the us bases in iraq. what we are waiting to hear is the extent of the damage and weather indeed there have been any casualties. no confirmation

yet on either of those issues. we know the president has been huddled in the situation room at the white house with his most senior advisers, including secretary of state mike pompeo and secretary of defence, who we understand have now left the white house, leaving the president behind. there was some speculation, mike, that the president might address the nation over the next hour or so but that has now been denied by the white house who say there is no plan for the president to go on television and talk about this before the nation, which is something that, under circumstances like this, traditionally has happened and what's going on is they are still gathering information. it is all too crucial in terms of what the next stage is in this, any american response, to assess exactly what happened. peter, photon, context, there were incidents, on the face of it some of them serious, in the days leading up to the

assassination of qasem soleimani. any attack is serious and any assassination of a country's most senior military figure is serious but this looks like quite a contained response, perhaps deliberately? we have been expecting, the world had been expecting, the world had been expecting, iran to respond and it looks like this is that response. it could be a warning shot and there could be a warning shot and there could be a warning shot and there could be rain significant response coming down the road —— a significant. we don't know the details. there have been appeals from around the world and europe especially for both sides to take a step back from this to avoid a military confrontation, a conflict, indeed a war, that could go on for a very long time and president trump said he didn't want a war and at the same time some very bellicose language from the president in terms of he says if it is necessary for him to respond to any response from iran, he will do that and he will do

that with the might of the american military. we are waiting and a lot of people holding their breath to see what the next move is. more on this coming through gradually. peter, for the moment, thank you. rana rahimpour from bbc persian is here. welcome. what are you hearing from your contacts? it is only 5:30am local time in your contacts? it is only 5:30am localtime in iran your contacts? it is only 5:30am local time in iran and there hasn't been any reactions from the iranian authorities. we know many people are awake and they are monitoring what's going on. the state television is in rolling news, playing patriotic songs, videos of qasem soleimani and glorifying the attack. the same has happened in state news agency agencies in iran, using #greatrevenge, vocabulary many iranians authorities have used over recent days. state media were

aware. . . recent days. state media were aware... it looks like they had planned the attack. the question is weather this response will calm down those who are very angry over the last few days and have been asking for revenge, or weather they will ask for more. we don't know anything about casualties or damage at the moment but iran would know any attack would bring a massive response from the us? that is why eve ryo ne response from the us? that is why everyone is hoping no american has been killed or injured in these attacks, so that's a question many americans on social media are asking. cnn earlier reported a number of iraqis have been injured but there's been no news of possible american casualties so far. that has already been a sight of relief among many iranians, saying thank god no american has been hurt. these are the iranians, they are not looking for or. there are those close to the regime, at the same time, who were

very angry after the assassination of qasem soleimani, the commander of the quds force, and they have been asking for blood. they say the response has to be harsh. that is the section of the society that the supreme leader has to satisfy. that is his support base. the question is whether they will be pleased with this attack or whether they will push the supreme leader to take more action. as many people have queried, you have to wonder how well thought through this was in the trump administration. it is, in effect, as if iran had assassinated the head of thejoint chiefs of staff. for context, iran sees iraq as part of its back yard, part of its sphere of influence in the region, not america's? it is a shia majority country and iran has close ties with the iraqi leadership, and they were also unhappy about the us presence

in iraq. to countries our neighbours and the iranian leaders have been asking what business america has in the country. they have been repeating that over the past few days, saying the biggest victory is to push out the us. the question is whether these attacks we are seeing now will make president donald trump... make him make that decision to pull his troops out of iraq or not. many of his core voters would like to see him take us troops out of iraq, he campaigned on getting the us out of foreign wars. on the other hand, a he and his core voters like to him look tough? mark esper as well today said the military presence of the us is necessary in iraq because we have to fight isis, because isis isn't completely finished. it is an ideology and the

attacks are similar to al-qaeda and the taliban. the majority of american politicians think they have to stay in iraq. the fact is, the last few days, the iraqi parliament passed a resolution which said... it was non—binding but foreign troops had to leave the country. now this attack has happened, is that threatening enough for the us to pull out of iraq? if they do, that will be the greatest victory for iran. ironically, many ironies in this region, qasem soleimani was an american ally in a way against the so—called islamic state. american ally in a way against the so-called islamic state. that was a short period of working together. but the history between both sides goes way back. very complicated stop rana rahimpour, thank you so much for simplifying —— very complicated. rana rahimpour, thank you so much for simplifying. oil prices have risen sharply

as asian markets opened following the missile attacks. our asia business coresspondent, karishma vaswani, is in singapore. to some extent the markets must have factored in an iranian response? yes, i think they did, but certainly not so quickly and not to the extent we have seen in the early hours of this morning. asian investors waking up this morning. asian investors waking up today to this news and many a nalysts up today to this news and many analysts i've been speaking to have said to me that the priority for many these investors, both retail investors, people like you and me, mike, as well as institutional investors, is to take their money out of markets, put their money somewhere safe in assets they think might benefit from this escalation in tensions. those are things you typically see as gaining in times of political tension, things like oil prices, which we have seen jump political tension, things like oil prices, which we have seenjump by about 4.5 cent today, as well as gold prices and a strengthening in the japanese yen. these are seen as so—called safe haven assets.

meanwhile, conversely, you've seen share prices across the region fall and lots of commentary from financial as well as political leaders saying they expect more volatility in the days ahead as they try to figure out exactly what this means for economic ties as well as the market environment as well. much depends on what happens next on the ground? yes, and that's the key concern. there's no way of really telling what the next move for the united states is going to be in this, but that's why people are watching this so very closely and it's coming at a time, of course, where there have been so many other pressures on the global economy. the us and china still locked in this better trade war. asian investors thought this year could see somewhat ofa thought this year could see somewhat of a respite in that, but now they are ina of a respite in that, but now they are in a situation where emerging markets are seeing money coming out because of this political tension

and, asi because of this political tension and, as i was saying, many analysts telling me they expect this volatility to continue in the coming days. thank you so much. michael singh, managing director of the washington institute, joins me now. how are you seeing this? well, i think it will be viewed in washington as a significant escalation by iran by virtue of the fa ct escalation by iran by virtue of the fact you have direct missile strikes on us forces, or attempted strikes, from iran itself. i do think the building conventional wisdom now is correct that ultimately the us decision about how and whether to respond will be based on the extent of the damage and especially the casualties. iran surely... the iranians leadership must the under grave pressure to respond... to a greater extent. if you look at the millions on the streets morning the general and the people who died today in the crush around his funeral. and the people who died today in the crush around his funerallj and the people who died today in the crush around his funeral. i wouldn't say the response is motivated by

popular sentiment but i response was inevitable and unavoidable but the question is, is this the extent or is there more coming? in this way or coming later down the road in the form of terrorist attacks? we won't know that for quite some time. do you have a sense yet of whether mr trump has started something more serious, more long—term? trump has started something more serious, more long—term ?|j trump has started something more serious, more long-term? i don't know, and i would be surprised if because we anticipated this retaliation would occur, there wasn't already a good of thinking about how the us might respond. i would be surprised if there were no response whatsoever because, as i said, this would be seen as a serious attack in the us, because especially if there were no casualties, there certainly could have been in this kind of attack. the president does have room for manoeuvre if it turns out there were no casualties. we don't know about casualties or damage but nato and the us have said

troops and various equipment was being redeployed in anticipation of revenge attacks? sure, there's been very precautionary steps taken by nato and the us and by other countries. i think there have also been some pretty clear messages from washington and other capitals, of course, expressing a desire for deescalation and for this to essentially be the end of it. it will be interesting to see how that desire plays out. i suspect even if there is a response, you might have a message reinforcing that desire for deescalation. do you think we are in a long—term move at the moment that will see the us pull out of iraq? you will hear the analysis, and you hear it from iranians, that the us invasion of iraq demolished the sunni power base in iraq, is actively handing dominance to the shia and the shia superpower in iraq, iran, and

seeing... qasem soleimani was using it as seeing... qasem soleimani was using itasa seeing... qasem soleimani was using it as a route to get supplies to iran's ally, president assad. there have been strong iranians influences in iraq since the toppling of saddam hussein, for sure, but iraq isn't a wholly—owned iranian proxy and i don't think it will become one any time soon. unless it pulls out? i don't think the us wants to pull out, the administration has been clear about that. there's been a political backlash in iraq and we see the iranian indifference to iraqi lives, which won't sit well with the iraqis either. the us will remain in the region in some way shape orform remain in the region in some way shape or form because we have such strong interests in there and there isn't anything iran can do to push us isn't anything iran can do to push us out. we would have to choose to leave ourselves and i don't think thatis leave ourselves and i don't think that is coming. you say the administration has been clear about that, president trump campaigned for the presidency on a

promise to end foreign wars and many of his core voters would like to us troops, 5000 also, out of iraq.|j think they're asked some who would like to see us out of iraq, afghanistan, syria, yet we remain in those places and in fact president donald trump has added us forces to the middle east over the course of the middle east over the course of the last several months. it is because i think when a president ultimately comes into office and they looked at the challenges and they looked at the challenges and the interest the us has in the middle east and the tools at our disposal, the logic for maintaining forces in these places is quite compelling and the drawbacks of pulling out are quite severe. thank you very much your insights. thank you. let's ta ke let's take you straightaway to live pictures, general soleimani's home town, this is the actual burial taking place. millions have been

mourning on the streets across the country, while there was a stampede that has killed 50 people and injured 200 more, it began early on tuesday, it attracted massive crowds. the streets were not wide enough to hold the number of people who turned out, with other roads closed off copy there was nowhere to escape to which seems to have been how that crush happened. this burial had been delayed but it restarted later in the day and it had been unclear whether it was completed but tends to be under way right now. and you can find much more on our website, including breaking news, the latest from our correspondents and an analysis of president trump's warnings to iran. just log on to bbc.com/news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we hear from the australians trying to protect some of the country's precious wildlife from the bushfires

by bringing them to their home. 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 bbc news, the latest headlines: iran has launched 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. a state of emergency has been declared in puerto rico after a series of earthquakes on monday and tuesday caused widespread damage. a third of the us caribbean territory is without water and power supplies have been disrupted. one person is confrmed dead. the country is still recovering from the effects of a powerful hurricane in 2017.

joining me now is dr luchones, a seismologist who's been active in earthquake research for decades. thank you very much for your time. today's quake is very close to land, still offshore but closer those events ? still offshore but closer those events? that correct. puerto rico is ina very events? that correct. puerto rico is in a very active area but historically most of the biggest earthquakes have been far enough offshore to not have a big effect. being nearby makes a big difference, so this may be some of the strongest shaking they have ever received. and it is the largest earthquake possibly to occur this close to the island and more than 120 years. that island and more than 120 years. that is the time that we have records. as we look back, we know there are some big earthquakes but they are often quite a ways off short. the country has taken a terrible battering. quite a ways off short. the country has taken a terrible batteringm really has. think about it, when los angeles had a magnitude .7 right

underneath us 25 years ago, we also lost power more 2a hours over the whole city, disruption of water for a couple of weeks. this is coming in and already weakened system, still struggling to recover from the damage of hurricane maria. what impact do you expect it to have? we have seen quite a bit of damaged buildings, although it is not too extensive, there is one confirmed fatality but if we had seen the widespread loss of buildings it would have been more like years ago when there were tens of thousands dead. the buildings are better in person rico than in 80. ——in puerto rico. it means that life is going to be very miserable for a while coming

up. it is a us territory of course but it has been hard to get the attention of washington. what are the chances? i think washington is rather busy with other things at the moment and i think it is going to be harderfor moment and i think it is going to be harder for them moment and i think it is going to be harderfor them to get moment and i think it is going to be harder for them to get all of the attention they need. of course, fima is an important organisation to provide support and relief and they won't be involved in the other washington problems right now so hopefully they will be able to deploy for them and help them quite thank you so much. 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 — as lucy hockings reports. 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. just one other piece of news, book are saying that it will remove deepfakes from the platform. the company says these videos distort reality and present a significant challenge for the tech industry stopping many say the move doesn't go far enough stopping many say the move doesn't go farenough in stopping many say the move doesn't go far enough in terms of removing all misleading content. let's take

you back to the breaking news on just the past few hours, we can give you some live pictures as well. iran has launched a ballistic missile and something like a dozen ballistic missiles on airbases housing us forces in iraq. according to the pentagon, at least two sites were hit, and says the missiles were launched from iran itself. according to iranian state tv, the attack was revenge for the american drone strike on qasem soleimani. according to the white house, president trump has been briefed and has been monitoring events. both nato and the us have said that troops and equipment were being redeployed in iraq in anticipation of response attacks this is beginning to look like something deliberately quite contained, because a run would have been aware the american response to something bigger would have been enormous. and these pictures from

kerman whether burial is under way for the general. there was a stampede here which killed 50 people and injured 200 more on tuesday. thank you for watching. well, the winds have been a real feature of the weather across northern parts of the uk, particularly scotland. still pretty blustery out there but not as windy as it has been. how about wednesday for most of us? well, there is both sunshine and rain in the forecast. so here is the big picture across our neck of the woods. there is a big storm just south of iceland, pushing still some clouds in our direction, and it looks as though it's going to be pretty cloudy across southern parts of the uk during the course of wednesday, but this is also where we have the milder air, so two areas of weather, really, across the uk on wednesday. the milder, cloudier weather in the south, and the more brisk weather with that fresher atlantic air across northern parts of the uk.

and this is what it looks like through the early hours of the morning — even some snow showers there, across the hills of scotland, giving a little covering here and there. clearer spells across this central swathe of the uk, and then to the south we have got the cloudier, milder weather. you can see 12 degrees — that is the starting temperature in london early on wednesday. and wednesday's forecast itself, so kind of three areas of weather. so we've got the cloudy and eventually wet weather reaching south—western parts of the uk. the bit in the middle here, in fact, from belfast, say, to liverpool, to around about yorkshire, some sunshine. and then we've got the stronger winds, some blustery showers there around western and north—western scotland, and that is how pretty much things continue as we go through the course of wednesday evening, but the rain in the south turns heavier, and it looks as though it will be raining all the way towards east anglia. now, 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 mix of weather. you can see that wet weather earlier in the morning, even some snow falling

across the pennines and southern scotland. there could be some strong winds around as well but, at this stage, it looks as though probably the wintriest 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 in that southern south—eastern part of the country, 13, maybe 1a, but a lot colder there in scotland, only three, 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 around, especially around england, but later on friday it does look as though it will start 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, again, another big low pressure there, close to iceland, sending weather fronts in our direction so it does look as though, through the weekend into next week, it is going to be very changeable. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: iran has launched a ballistic

missile attack on air bases housing us forces in iraq. the pentagon says at least two sites were hit in irbil and al—asad west of baghdad. it says the missiles were launched from iran itself. iranian state tv says the attack was launched in revenge for the us assassination of general soleimani. more than 50 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a crush at the burial of the iranian general qasem soleimani. a huge number of mourners had gathered for the ceremony in kerman, the general‘s home city, with many carrying pictures of him. the venezuelan opposition 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. now on bbc news, today in parliament.