you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: iran denies a missile was responsible for this week's plane crash in tehran. western leaders believe the ukranian passengerjet may have been shot down by accident. the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an iranian surface to air missile. this may well have been unintentional. the duchess of sussex returns to canada, a day after she and prince harry revealed they will step back from their roles as senior royals. the bbc learns an inmate suspected of attacking guards at a maximum security prison in cambridgeshire was jailed for planning to behead a british soldier.

northern ireland's main political parties a are considering a draft deal to restore power—sharing at stormont. coming up: the latest from australia — nearly a quarter of a million people are urged to evacuate their homes, as the bushfire risk intensifies. and in sport: a blow for tottenham — striker harry kane is ruled out until april due to a hamstring injury. the england captain will return to training two months before euro 2020. good morning and welcome to the bbc news at 9am. iran has accused western leaders of lying about the cause of the ukrainian plane crash which took place near tehran on wednesday. both canada and the uk say

intelligence suggests an iranian missile brought down the passenger plane, killing everyone on board. canadian prime minister justin trudeau said he had received intelligence from multiple sources indicating the plane was shot down by an iranian surface—to—air missile. he called for a thorough investigation into the incident and warned "canadians have questions and they deserve answers". prime minister borisjohnson said there was a body of information that the flight was shot down by an iranian missile. he added it may well have been unintentional. the crash came hours after iran carried out missile strikes on two us airbases in iraq, but the chief of iran's civil aviation organisation said it was scientifically impossible that a missile hit the ukrainian plane and that the claims were illogical. an iranian government spokesman described the reports as "psychological warfare". iran has invited boeing — the makers of the aircraft — and relevant government agencies from the united states,

ukraine and canada to help investigate the crash. nada tawfik reports from toronto. us media say these images appear to show the moment the ukrainian airliner was hit by an iranian missile, minutes after take—off. a small explosion occurs and the jet, now in flames, tries to turn back towards tehran‘s airport. but within minutes, the plane's signal is lost and it crashes with 176 people on board. 63 canadians were among the dead. prime ministerjustin trudeau says the government's preliminary conclusions show iran's anti—missile system accidentally shot down the plane. we have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an iranian surface—to—air missile. this may well have been unintentional. also in canada, foreign secretary

dominic raab addressed the tragedy after borisjohnson confirmed the death toll now includes four british citizens. the iranian regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. the answers and evidence lie here at the crash site. iranian officials have ruled out a missile strike, calling the allegations illogical rumours and psychological warfare. across canada, more vigils are being held. people here are continuing to bring flowers and candles for the victims. the focus is very much on mourning their lost love ones. they do want to know what caused this horrific tragedy, but they are happy to wait for an investigation that is full and thorough. finding the answers

they are looking for could take months and even years as the investigation unfolds. nada tawfik, bbc news, toronto. let's go to the lebanese capital beirut and talk to our correspondent there, caroline hawley. there, caroline hawley. there, caroline hawley. head there, caroline hawley. head of there, caroline hawley. head of iran's there, caroline hawley. head of iran's civil there, caroline hawley. head of iran's civil aviatior authority the head of iran's civil aviation authority is seeing a short while ago but this plane was definitely not hit by a missile. why has he been saying that? if it was hit by a missile, obviously this would be highly embarrassing to iran. many of those on board were iranians. the head of a run‘s civil aviation authority has just finished a press conference in which he was cleared, his narrative, one thing is for certain, this plane was not hit by a missile. iran sticking to the story that there was a technical malfunction in the face of mounting intelligence. western officials say

otherwise. he also said that an investigation would probably take one or two years to finish. iranian state television has been showing pictures of the black boxes which are believed to be intact and the iranian official said it would probably take one or two months to get the data from those black boxes. iran wants to do this investigation itself but it has invited others to ta ke itself but it has invited others to take part and this is going to be very important how iran cooperates with the outside world. to find out exactly what happened to that plane. what exactly is iran saying about access for investigators given that there are concerns that the crash site has not been properly preserved? that is key and that is something that already there are concerns about. investigators

internationally, should they go they are, will want to have proper access toa are, will want to have proper access to a site that has been preserved. it may be too late for that. then they will be wanting to know what is in the black boxes as well. iran has said that canada, france, ukraine can take part in the investigation. interestingly the ukrainian seem to be being more cautious at this stage about what may have caused that terrible air crash. thank you. ukraine's president has asked western intelligence to provide evidence to support their claims. our correspondentjonah fisher is in the ukrainian capital kyiv. that intelligence has not been shared yet? that is rather surprising that this intelligence has been passed around between the united states, canada and the uk but has not apparently come here to

ukraine. there was a rather desperate statement put out this morning by the president in which he appealed for those three countries to share their evidence on their sweat ukraine. he referred to what has been coming out of the united states in particular that it was shot down by a surface to air missile, he said that was one of the options being considered but ukraine did not consider it confirmed that this point. there is a team of ukrainian officials and investigators in tehran at the moment and that may be the reason why ukraine is being quite cautious in what it says. it is hoping that those investigators, some of them with experience of the mh i7 crash in 2014, which with experience of the mh 17 crash in 2014, which was similar in some ways and that it was brought down by a russian built missile, some of those experts are part of the

ukrainian team that are in tehran seeking to get access to the crash site and key pieces of evidence. you say they are still seeking to get access to the crash site. why have they not been able to go there and what are you hearing about the preservation of the site? i mentioned that there are concerns that it has not been properly preserved. very little information has come from this ukrainian team thatis has come from this ukrainian team that is in tehran at the moment. we haven't heard definitively one way 01’ haven't heard definitively one way or the other whether they have been able to get what they want in terms of accessing the site. there seems to be something of a media blackout being put in place so i did what they are doing, but perhaps because they are doing, but perhaps because they do not want to upset the iranians. we know they have had consultations with the iranian investigators but how successful they have been has not been clear

and ukraine is hoping that by being patient and not jumping and ukraine is hoping that by being patient and notjumping to any conclusions it might enable its investigators to get better access inside iran. thank you. in the last few seconds we are seeing the foreign and commonwealth office change its advice for travel to iran saying it is advising against any travel to the country and the fco is advising against all air travel to, from and within iran. it says if you are in iran you should consider leaving the country. the prime minister borisjohnson has confirmed four britons died in the plane crash, up from earlier reports of three. the three known british victims included engineer

sam zokaei, a bp employee from surrey, saeed tahmasebi, an engineer from west london, and mohammad reza kadkhoda zadeh, from near brighton. it has also emerged a british teenager, named in reports as 17—year—old arad zarei, who lived in canada, was also among the victims. i'm joined by michael stephens, research fellow for middle east studies at rusi, the think tank on international defence and security. thank you for coming along to talk to us. the story is incredibly complex and we have these two narratives, the iranian civil aviation authority saying there was no way this plane was hit by a missile but the us saying it is entirely possible. i have spent a lot of time talking to my contacts in canada and the united states and some in britain and what appeared to be happening over yesterday and the course of yesterday's events was that it became more and more clear that it became more and more clear that this was not what it seemed to be and that they slipped to me like a shoot down of the plane, although

i think everybody is stressing that if that is 100% confirmed that it was accidental. the initial leaks of information coming out of the department from the defence in the united states have been clear to theatres accidental, we are not going to escalate as a result of this, the same is being said in canada. justin trudeau made it clear that that was not something they would use against iran. they would not use this to escalate tensions and to create further problems in a scenario which is already looking pretty u nsta ble. scenario which is already looking pretty unstable. we are hearing the head of the civil aviation authority say it was scientifically impossible for a missile to hit the ukrainian plane. why do you think the iranians are insisting on their stance rather than presenting a more open—minded stance? it could be scientifically impossible and that is true given

the technology that exists today how you are able to identify civilian aircraft against military aircraft but human error can creep in and of the iranians are going to admit guilt will have to admit there was human error in the process and then we will have to look at chains of command andi we will have to look at chains of command and i do not think the iranians are in a place where they would want to do that. there is an investigation taking place but the wet of evidence is showing that the iranians version of events does not seem to be correct and they will have to deal with that in due course. western states are not putting the iranians on the block. they want to cooperate and they want co—operation and it looks like they might get it and i do not think the iranians are going to be backed into a corner so iranians are going to be backed into a corner so it would be better if they came out and told the truth. do you think they will do that?” they came out and told the truth. do you think they will do that? i have no idea. we are dealing with the

middle east and sometimes these things take time if at all. the last timea things take time if at all. the last time a plane was brought down over ukraine, ifeel time a plane was brought down over ukraine, i feel sorry for the ukrainians because this is the second incident in five years, this is part of what happens and we are going to have to accept that. the international investigators who are in the country and those who have not arrived yet i've not been allowed to sort of access to the crash that they would want to get. they need to get full access to the crash site and there has to be no evidence of any tampering. let's hope the iranians are more cooperative. they have said they will cooperate and that is a positive step and we will wait to see what the reports reveal that i am afraid the initial reports coming from the americans, and the americans are the only country that would have the capability to work this out, do not look very good. thank you.

the duchess of sussex has returned to canada — amid the fallout from the announcement that she and prince harry intend to step back as senior members of the royal family. the queen, prince charles and prince william have instructed their staff to find a solution within a matter of days. simon jones has more. prince harry and meghan‘s first public appearance this year, a visit on tuesday to canada's high commissioner in london to thank the country for showing them warmth and hospitality during their six—week break over christmas. but now meghan has already flown back there while prince harry remains in the uk to deal with fallout of the shock announcement that they want to step back as senior royals and enjoy financial independence. in toronto, there's sympathy. i respect the fact that they are trying to make their own way in the world. they're a young couple. they are trying to do things differently. i think they wanted to go back

to being independent and private. that's what buckingham palace is now grappling with. the queen, prince charles and prince william have told their staff to find a way forward quickly but royal watchers are split on how easy that will be. i think it's really difficult to propose to be half in and half out of the royal family. it is a team and you are either a full member of the team or i think you have to leave the team entirely. they seem to be talking about going to live in canada which is actually a monarchy in its own right and i take them at their word. they don't want to be non—royal, they do not want to be semidetached royal. harry and meghan, on a new website they've launched, talk about finding a progressive new role but despite their announcement it's still not clear what will be. simon jones, bbc news. simon jones is outside buckingham palace for us.

it sounds as though there is a real sense of urgency to try to sort out these issues, which are undoubtedly very complex. yes, i think you get a sense of the better the change of mood at the palace. yesterday we we re mood at the palace. yesterday we were talking about the sense of hurt and disappointment by senior royals because they were not warned about this announcement from harry and meghan and it blindsided officials at the palace but today there is a realisation that officials need to roll up their sleeves and get this sorted so we are hearing talk they wa nt sorted so we are hearing talk they want some sort of concrete proposals for a way forward within days rather than weeks. this comes with a caveat, we are talking about the monarchy, and in the past they have been slow to adapt to change. what is clear is in the initial stages of discussions one person who is not going to be here in person is meghan

who has returned to canada after spending just three days in the uk. it is unclear how planned this was when she is going to return to the uk but it raises questions of how much at home meghan feels here and it seems that when the royal couple are talking about splitting their time it seems that part of that time will be in canada. thank you. after three years of deadlock, the main political parties in northern ireland are considering a draft deal to restore power sharing at stormont — potentially by the end of the day. the british and irish governments put forward the proposal last night, describing it as a fair compromise which contained something "for everyone". power sharing collapsed three years ago following a dispute between sinn fein and the dup. we can go now to our

ireland correspondent, chris page. the draft deal is called a new decade, new approach, so how is it proposing to settle some long—standing sticking points? proposing to settle some long-standing sticking points? this is the document that the governments say should unlock the dispute. in this document comes a whole range of issues, everything from reforming the health service, which is widely acknowledged to be in crisis in northern ireland, to resolving industrial disputes involving teachers, to improving infrastructure across northern ireland, but the main contentious issues, one has been the status of the irish language, so what the governments are proposing is they will be two commissioners, one that will be two commissioners, one that will protect the irish language and will protect the irish language and will be given official legal status and another commissioner that will

look at cultural elements more associated with british identity. the other big sticking point in the talks has been the rules as to how the stormont assembly operates and in particular in vitro mechanism that means a contentious measures have to be approved by a majority of unionists and nationalists to be passed, proposing to reduce the use of that veto. it is quite a bold move by the two governments. the northern ireland secretary and the irish foreign minister held a news conference quite late in the night at stormont and we can hear some of that. not all the documents are agreed by all the parties. some are commitments by each government. but i believe we have a deal that all parties in northern ireland can support. my message to the public is very direct. tell your politicians to take this opportunity. demand a better future that this deal delivers and we can create a more

tolerant, inclusive and generous place here in northern ireland. how is there any financial incentives to get this deal over the line? yes, the british government says it is going to provide a package of financial help, but there is no cold hard figures promised in the draft deal. the government says its power sharing executive does come back they will move rapidly in the coming days to finalise those figures. the dup say that is certainly something they want to look at, there resources that will be available for any new executive, but they dup crucially do seem to be on board. arlene foster says she thinks this deal is a fair and balanced approach and is the basis

by which power—sharing could come back. sinn fein so far a bit more coy in their response and say they are studying the document. there will be a couple of senior party meetings being held by sinn fein today. the second will be the ruling executive who will be meeting in belfast around lunchtime with delegates from all over ireland which will be important to determining whether or not the assembly comes back today. the british and irish governments want the five main stormont parties to buy into this and go into the chamber and nominate ministers and restore devolved government but the two that have to sign up to the deal at the dup and sinn fein. the dup seem at the dup and sinn fein. the dup seem to be prepared to do that so the focus for the coming others until the early afternoon will be on sinn fein and their response to the proposals. what is your gut feeling? will it happen? will it happen today? there is a deadline looming.

the legal deadline for an agreement is midnight on monday. julian smith has made clear this time there is no bluffing, he will call a fresh election to the stormont assembly if there is no executive in place by then. what we have learnt is that until everything is signed and sealed you cannot be sure it is going to come off so until assembly members are back in the building behind me and ministers are nominated and in office nobody can be sure things are going to stick. that said, i don't hear anything at the moment that suggests there is any huge problem looming. nobody is saying there is a major obstacle in the way of this deal being worked out, although the most important event of today as far as i can see will be that meeting of sinn fein‘s ruling executive at lunchtime. if the party rubber—stamped the deal at

that meeting we are on for power—sharing to be restored pretty quickly and if not we are back to a world of uncertainty. thank you. five prison staff have been injured — one seriously — after they were allegedly stabbed and slashed by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts at a maximum security prison in cambridgeshire. one of the attackers was jailed for planning to behead a soldier. counter—terrorism officers are investigating. will batchelor reports. hmp whitemoor in cambridgeshire is home to some of the country's most dangerous criminals. among its 450 inmates is this man, 24—year—old brusthom ziamani, an islamic convert who was jailed in 2015 for preparing an act of terror — he plotted to behead a british soldier. yesterday, it's understood that ziamani, along with another inmate, launched an alleged attack on an officer with a makeshift blade whilst wearing fake explosive belts. shouts of "allahu akbar"

were reportedly heard. the guard was allegedly stabbed and slashed, suffering serious but not life—threatening injuries. four colleagues who rushed to his aid, three guards and a nurse were also allegedly attacked and needed hospital treatment. the met police said they were keeping an open mind about the motive for the attack but confirmed it was being investigated by counterterrorism officers. a prison service spokesman paid tribute to the brave staff and said they'll push for the strongest possible punishment. will batchelor, bbc news. joining me now in the studio is former prison governor, ian acheson. thank you for coming along to talk about the issues arising from this incident. we heard from prison officer representative saying that as an officers need more training in how to identify when this sort of behaviour might be imminent and how

to deal with it. that was certainly one of the conclusions from my 2016 investigation for government into the threat posed by islamist extremism but training is not enough. the specifics of this incident, we know that this was, had all the hallmarks of a premeditated terrorist attack on prison staff. it also suggests given the circumstances and the fact that these two assailants were apparently wearing suicide belts and had created improvised weapons, a colossal failure of intelligence and security and safety in what should be one of the most secure institutions in western europe. very profound questions need to be a nswered profound questions need to be answered about how these two jihadists were able to operate and prepare and carry out an attack which came within millimetres or seconds of a member of prison staff

being battered on duty by a terrorist. in general terms how is extremism being dealt with? —— being murdered. my report, which was originally to the then justice secretary, made 69 recommendations and he accepted 68 of them. i do not know exactly what has happened to a large number of those recommendations, which relate specifically to improving the service was not response to the tactical threat posed by terrorists against prison staff. i was very concerned about it. i spoke with prison staff in whitemoor in 2016 who were dealing with terrorists and spoke to prison staff across high security institutions and one of the most telling things was the matter of fa ct most telling things was the matter of fact way they talked about how

they would protect themselves from being murdered or assaulted by terrorists inside prison. i am very concerned that recommendations i made have not been fully or properly implemented and i would urge the justice secretary to do an audit of how far those recommendations have been implemented and look at what the new threats are because we cannot expect prison staff, who are british citizens obviously going to work, to be subjected to this level of threat, because how can you recruit and retain people if that is the case? that brings me to my final point. i have done many interviews with prison officers and their representatives on the common theme is they are saying there are not enough of them and when they are at work they are only able to form the basic functions necessary to keep

the person running and present are safe, there isn't really the room to do anything else, to deal with these sorts of programmes you are talking about to improve the lot of people who are in there. over the last 24 hours, approximately nine prison staff have been assaulted in two incidents, one seriously by a convicted terrorist. whether we are talking about the rehabilitation of non—terrorist offenders or the protection of national security and how terrorist offenders are being managed, there is one truth, if you do not have order and control as a primary foundation nothing else is possible, and it looks as if despite the government's efforts to recruit additional staff, and they have done, there is also something to be said about the removal of thousands of years of experienced staff that we have witnessed over the last number of years and it is that gap which has contributed to the very dire situation we have seen evolving

at whitemoor over the last 24 hours. firefighters in australia are trying to contain blazes which are threatening to advance again as hot weather returns after a five—day cool spell. on another day of high temperatures and strong winds, more than 100 bushfires are still burning in the south of the country. in the state of victoria, authorities are urging almost 250,000 people to leave their homes or risk being trapped. in neighbouring new south wales, fears continue that blazes could combine to make a mega fire. and our correspondentjonathan head is in eden for us now — that's a town in new south wales. tell us about the situation they are as concerns are intensifying. it is very smoky, the wind changed about half an hour ago to the

south—west. that was what was expected. it is blowing very hard, you will see from the trees behind me, and broughta you will see from the trees behind me, and brought a massive shroud of smoke right over this town and across the whole area. we know that there is one big fire about 20 kilometres over there, about 150,000 hectares, huge fire that's been burning through the week. now this wind has picked up the smoke from that and blown it over here, and presumably will be fuelling that fire as well. to give you an idea of how the view has changed, i will get the cameraman to move off and he will try and pick up the navy ship hms adelaide that is somewhere out there in the smoke. we could see it clearly two hours ago, there had been helicopters going on and off there with exercises, they have been very involved in supporting the assistance efforts and indeed preparing for an evacuation of this town a week ago when the fires came through here. everyone in this town 110w through here. everyone in this town now has bracing themselves for the possibility that with these winds the fires may come close to here, and a lot of other communities

around here are likely to be affected by those fires today. as you say, serious fires further inland along the state border between new south wales and victoria. lots of residents being evacuated and helicopters being used there as well. many people being told now it is too late, now you have to try and make yourselves safe and a lot of people are staying behind because they hope that with the help of firefighters they may be able to use sprinklers just to save their homes from the fires that are likely to surround them. it illustrates just how dire and desperate the situation is, if people are having to make the choice to stay and fight to save their lives and homes, or know that possible way of escape is via the sea. yes, that's always the big worry. at least here in the sea eve ryo ne worry. at least here in the sea everyone knows that if things get dire here you can go down onto the beach and go into the water if there is what they call an ember attack, where you get massive amounts of burning, glowing fragments of

burning, glowing fragments of burning trees and with this wind that could happen. that's the option if you don't want to get out. most people here in eden are pretty philosophical. they are a bit depressed about facing the possibility of evacuation again a week after they were confronted with that last week. but it's on such a vast scale, this, therejust that last week. but it's on such a vast scale, this, there just aren't that many places to go and i think people feel they just have that many places to go and i think people feel theyjust have to battle through with this. talking to people here today, one of the things that comes through is their realisation that this is the beginning of the hot season. they may be facing these conditions with evacuations and periods of cool going on for the next three months and that's a long time to be dealing with an on emergency situation. ok, jonathan, hoping you and everyone else at their stays safe. thank you very much, jonathan head in eden. in a moment we have the weather forecast but first let's find out from joanna gosling what's coming up on the victoria derbyshire programme at 10am.

good morning. en today's programme, woman who say she was raped in iron napa in cyprus after having her drink spiked tells us she was discouraged by police back home from pursuing the case. and we speak to a mother two who won an implement tribunal after being made redundant when she was eight months pregnant. join us at 10am on bbc two, the bbc news channel and online. that will be at 10am withjoanna. now it's time to look at the weather forecast with matt taylor. i heard you mention a wolf moon earlier, what's that about? the first full moon of the year, anita. good morning. full moon status around 7:20 p m. they will be clear skies for many of you cross england and wales and eastern scotland, enjoy it. much drier and brighter than it was yesterday. you will already know if you have been out so far this morning it is a bit chilly. patchy rain has been across east anglia and the south—east clearing, there is a strengthening breeze but the bulk of

the main plant will be in the west of northern ireland and the west of scotland, in the afternoon heading into the rush hour gales developing. this afternoon temperatures down on yesterday, 5—10dc but still a bit higher than they should be for this time of year. this evening, i said you would see the full moon in england and wales, but lots of cloud and outbreaks of rain in scotland and outbreaks of rain in scotland and northern ireland continuing throughout the night with gusty winds. rain in northern england at times and to night temperatures higher than they will be by day, may every frost in southern areas during the middle part of the night but on saturday morning a mild start, mild but windy on saturday, gales in places. more rain at times across the northern half of the uk. sunday looks brighter, a mixture of sunshine and showers but turning cooler once again.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines: the foreign office advises against all travel to iran — as the country denies a missile was responsible for this week's plane crash in tehran. the duchess of sussex returns to canada, after she and prince harry reveal they will step back as senior royals. an inmate suspected of attacking a guard at a maximum security prison in cambridgeshire was jailed for planning to behead a british soldier. northern ireland's main political parties are considering a draft deal to restore power—sharing at stormont. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing.

firstly our lead story today — iran has accused western leaders of lying about the cause of the ukranian plane crash which killed 176 people on wednesday. the leaders of canada and the uk have called for a full investigation, saying intelligence suggests an iranian missile had brought down the passenger plane. here's the canadian prime minister justin trudeau speaking last night. we have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an iranian surface—to—air missile. this may well have been unintentional. this new information reinforces the need for a thorough investigation into this matter. now — the iranian's have denied the allegations saying that the plane crashed because of mechanical malfunction. this is what the country's top civil aviation chief had to say.

take a listen. translation: the thing that is clear to us and that we can say with certainty is that the plane was not hit by a missile. as i said last night this plane, for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the air and the location shows that the pilot was attempting to return. moving away from that story, another one many of you are still talking about is the decision by the duke and duchess of sussex to step back from being senior royals. the headlines today are mixed, for a couple who have already talked about the strain of being in the public eye. prince harry has been praised previously for his openness in discussing his own mental health, and the trauma he suffered after his mother's death. dr susie 0rbach is a psychoanalyst. she told radio 4's today programme she wasn't surprised by the couple's decision. i'm looking from the outside, i'm not really a royal

watcher but what i can observe, or kind of think about when i work with families, is that you're having a very strong identification with the vulnerability of a child, and if you're being assaulted by the press, which i think is what's happened, it would trigger or stimulate your own history of remembering your mother being assaulted by the press, or being under the glare. and i think any parent wants to protect their child. that is completely obvious. another story people are discussing online is that today brings the first full moon of the year — and the new decade. the january full moon is generally referred to as a wolf moon because it's linked to the time of the year when wolves are more vocal ahead of the february breeding season. lots of people have been tweeting about it, including bbc weather watchers who say clear skies permitting, the full moon will also coincide

with a penumbral eclipse. you'd better go and check your terms if you want to make sure you know what that is. celebrities are also getting involved with the singer christina aguilera saying the first full moon of the new year and the new decade is a special opportunity to set your intentions wisely. and my favourite. the former astronaut and moonwalker buzz aldrin tweeted he would bejoining the wolves in howling at the moon on friday. and finally, one of the most watched videos online this morning is about the thousands of animals who've been left orphaned by australia's bushfires. many of them are in need of constant care and volunteers around the world have been helping by knitting and sewing special pouches and wraps. 0ne australian mum and her daughter who live in singapore are among the people doing their part to keep orphaned baby bats warm — let's take a look.

my name's kris parkinson and this is my daughter paisley. we live in singapore and ourfamily are in australia and we're making these lovely knitted pouches for the little orphaned animals. i came across a facebook website. that's what gave us this idea. the fires have really caused a lot of destruction and there's been so many animals orphaned. so these little pouches just give the babies that the carers are working with and trying to save, a similar sort of environment, i guess, to their mum. this parcel has come from singapore. people have been really kind. i've been getting parcels of absolutely amazing stuff from all over the place. isn't it pretty?

my sister, she was recently evacuated in the fires. it's pretty awful and it's times like this that we really feel like we need to do something. although we're not there and that we can't actually pitch in and help the animals, this is something that we can do. if one of these little pouches can help save a baby, then awesome. you are loving that story on the bbc

news app because it's at number two on the most watched list. let me ta ke on the most watched list. let me take you through the most read. at number one, the news that meghan dutchess of sussex has returned to canada, as we are told the royal family seeks a solution to her and prince harry's desire to split their time between the uk and north america and to step back from being senior royals. the number two most read story is the continuing investigation into what happened to that ukrainian plane shortly after take—off from tehran. and number one on the most watched is, did x nissan boss carlos ghosn really escape japan ina boss carlos ghosn really escape japan in a box? you will know he was under investigation in japan japan in a box? you will know he was under investigation injapan and was being detained, but managed to leave japan and make his way to lebanon. this is investigating how he actually did that. and as i mentioned, number two, orphaned bushfire baby bats wrapped with love. that story from australia. now

it's time for the sport. holly is at the bbc sport centre for a full round—up. we start with worrying news for england and spurs. with harry kane out of action until at least april. kane injured a hamstring in spurs‘s defeat at southampton on new year's day. he needs surgery and isn't expected to return to training untiljust two months before leading england at euro 2020. here's how his manager at tottenham reacted after the injury. everybody knows, again, the importance of harry in the squad. he is irreplaceable. but we have to try solutions in relation to the players that we have. and the headline writers have been creative on this morning's back pages. "harry pain" say the mirror, with a picture of him holding his hamstring. "kane injury shock rocks spurs", they add. the sun go with "wince harry",

and another shot of kane after that injury at st mary's. kane gets a mention on the back of the guardian, who focus on chess champion magnus carlsen, and a report on former england cricket captain andrew strauss saying there needs to be a "compelling argument" for four—day test matches before it's considered. speaking of cricket, ireland were just edged out in the second one—day international against west indies in barbados. despite an impressive 63 from paul stirling, the home side won the match by one wicket, to take an unbeatable 2—0 lead in the series. they'll meet again in grenada on sunday, before a three—match t20 series. the young darts player beau greaves from doncaster will bid to make the women's final at the bdo world championships in london tonight. she marked her 16th birthday by beating aileen de graaf to reach the semis yesterday. and she celebrated with a birthday cake in the shape of a dart board

and a party with herfamily. greaves takes on the defending champion mikuru suzuki later. mo farah says he'd have quit his relationship with alberto salazar earlier, had he known the coach faced a ban from athletics for doping violations. farah left the nike oregon project headed by salazar in 2017, the same year in which his former coach was charged by the us anti—doping agency. farah has never failed a drugs test and has always denied breaking any rules. as an athlete, i believe in clean sports. i continue to enjoy my sports and do what i do. at the same time, had i had known the news, what salazar did, it's taken four years, had i known that sooner i would have been the first one out. that's the bit that's kind of annoying — i wish i'd known quicker. the brighton goalkeeper matty ryan is the latest sportsman to offer a donation to the australian bushfires

fund. ryan is from plumpton, not far from sydney, and he's also australia's number one goalkeeper. he's pledged to give $500 — that's about £260 — for every save registered by a premier league keeper this weekend. back to football now, and the former premier league referee bobby madley has been speaking to the bbc about his fall from grace. he was sacked for filming a video in which he appeared to mock a disabled person. he said it destroyed his reputation and his family life. madley is now based in oslo and trying to rebuild his career. i'm embarrassed of myself, i'm embarrassed. this isn't an embarrassment because i got caught. now i look and think, 0k, embarrassment because i got caught. now i look and think, ok, i didn't have social media then, we were not allowed social media accounts. i have a social media account now. i'm very, very conscious of everything that i put on there, every word i put on there, everything i like on

there because i now know anything taken out of context can there because i now know anything ta ken out of context can reflect there because i now know anything taken out of context can reflect on me as taken out of context can reflect on measa taken out of context can reflect on me as a person. as i said, i let myself down. the tough thing for me as well as i have a brother who is a referee as well. i don't want that to reflect on him. he is an incredibly professional person, we are two very different people in terms of career wise, so i knew that my actions could also reflect on him and have an adverse effect on his career. luckily it didn't and he's been promoted to the premier league. but as i said, i can't apologise enough for it. and you can see the full interview on football focus tomorrow at 12 noon on bbc one. here's a bit of role—reversal for you — 15—year—old coco gauff telling off her dad for swearing. he was giving her some on court coaching during her defeat in the auckland classic yesterday. let's have a listen.

coco gauff keeping her dad in check there. there's sport on the bbc later, with commentary from the premier league match between sheffield united and west ham on radio 5 live at eight o'clock. and don't forget sportsday at 6:30pm here on bbc news. that's all the sport for now. back to you. holly, thanks very much. a develop for you in the investigation into the plane crash in iran. -- investigation into the plane crash in iran. —— development. an iranian official news agency is reporting that the black boxes of that plane which crashed killing 176 people will be opened today. but no

additional information was provided on who would be examining the data from the black boxes, with obviously many countries having an interest in being party to that investigation. a new analysis of mental health services for children has found that more than a quarter of those referred to specialist services in england were rejected in 2018. 2019. the study has been carried out by a think tank, the education policy institute. but the nhs says it's flawed, and that many children are referred to other, more appropriate services. this comes at a time when the latest figures available from the nhs show a rise in mental health issues in children aged between 5—15. well the executive director of the education policy institute natalie perera — she joins us now to explain. natalie, why do you think, according to your study, a quarter of referrals are rejected, and why is there a lot of regional variation in this? good morning. a common reason

we heard in response to our request for information were that either the conditions were not suitable for specialist treatment or that they didn't reach the eligibility criteria. we can't say for certain whether every single case requires specialist treatment but our concerns are that when children are turned away we don't know where they go or what kind of help they get and we don't know if those decisions are being taken in the best interests of the child. you also have concerns, as i've looked at your report, about the length of time children are waiting to start treatment, an average of two months, which is double the government target, you say. and also, something i picked up on was the minimal, according to you, provision by local authorities for young people who are moving from child mental health services to young adult mental health services.

why do there seem to be these gaps in provision? have you been able to identify that? one of the things we found is that provision and support across the country both in terms of access, referrals and waiting times and the age at which children can access the support varies significantly depending on where you live. that in itself is a crucial concern. and we also find that for different groups of vulnerable pupils, services can be really patchy as well. so as well as those making the transition into adult services, those with conduct disorder and looked after children are particularly vulnerable. is this to do with a lack of money, a lack of resources, or people who are making decisions on these provisions of services, that not being very joined up? what lies behind it all?

we don't really know. the government has invested an extra 1.4 billion since 2015. what we don't know, because there is no consistent or national data, is how that money is being spent, what kind of services is it being spent on, and what happens when children are turned away from specialist nhs treatment. picking up on that point, the nhs is querying whether what your report saysis querying whether what your report says is an accurate representation of what is going on. they are saying, yes, some children's referrals may be rejected but actually they might be referred to another more appropriate service. so is the picture you are showing in this report truly accurate, do you think? well, the nhs needs to provide evidence that those young people are able to access other services. what we found in our report last year is that many local authorities told us that they had cut or decommissioned those lower

tier services. if nhs england have data on that they should publish it. natalie perera from the education policy institute, thank you very much for your time. the nhs is campaigning to encourage more men to give blood. nhs blood and transplant say more men need to donate because there's a serious imbalance between the sexes in new donors. only 41% of new blood donors in england last year were men. the high level of iron present in male blood makes it especially helpful to patients who rely on regular life—saving transfusions. well, joining me now to discuss all this is jon latham, assistant director at nhs blood and transplant. thank you forjoining us. i didn't know until today, and a lot of my collea g u es know until today, and a lot of my colleagues chatting to them outside didn't know either, that gender matters when it comes to blood donations. all blood is important but from a transfusion point of view there are certain transfusions where we can't use blood from female

donors, so in particular cases of neonatal, pre—having a baby, we cannot necessarily transfused with because there are antibodies produced by female donors who are becoming pregnant or are pregnant. we have a problem that we need to make sure we have enough blood coming from male donors who don't produce that, and also there is a high level of iron content that you mentioned in male donors than there are in female donors meaning we can ta ke are in female donors meaning we can take more donations from male donors than we can from female donors over the year. one of the stories on our news app today is about a woman from bristol who would lose her sight because she has an autoimmune disorder were it not for donations from male donors. so why is there this imbalance between the number of men and women coming forward to donate, do you think? for every 100 women who come forward to donate for the first time we only get 70 men coming forward so there is obviously an issue of trying to attract more male donors to come forward. some of theissues male donors to come forward. some of the issues are around our media strategy which tends to be we tend

to recruit of social media, that's the big thing at the moment everywhere, but actually more female people come through in social media than mail, it seems to be more attractive in terms of that messaging. some of it is related to the fact that we have moved away from workplace collections. the reason for that is it is so inefficient because people tend to come ina inefficient because people tend to come in a lot at lunchtime are not around any time so it is very inefficient for us. but that tended to attract more males than females so we are rethinking that in terms ofan so we are rethinking that in terms of an approach. in your new campaign, whatare of an approach. in your new campaign, what are you trying to do in terms of reversing that and what is the message that you are sending to people if they want to donate for the first time? what do they need to do? what we are doing to reverse of thatis do? what we are doing to reverse of that is coming out of the bbc and other news channels to try and educate people why we need it, because once people realise the importance of it then they act on that. we are doing a lot of work with sports agencies and sports media channels, we have a big tie—up with the rugby at the moment. these tend to be more attractive to male

viewers and hopefully it will get the message through that particular route. if you want to become a new donor and you have any concerns, the best thing you can do is go to bloodstock code at uk which is our main site and there we have all the appointments available across the country for you to be able to book. but there you can also register to become a new donor. lots of information about what will happen on yourfirst donation information about what will happen on your first donation and where you go to yourfirst on your first donation and where you go to your first donation we have staff there to make sure it is a good experience first time around. and very briefly, you have had help in this publicity from a man called bob downes. tell our viewers about him. he is a great man, is the record, since 2000, who has given us the most transfusions for neonatal patients, he saved up to about 450 babies. 450 babies have been saved because of his blood. yes. every unit of blood from a male donor can ta ke unit of blood from a male donor can take up to six babies in terms of that, so it is a big number he has done. i don't think he realised that until we told him that he's pleased

about it. we are using him a lot in publicity now. john, good luck with the campaign. jon latham from nhs blood and transplant. time for a look at the weather forecast with simon king. hello, good morning, relatively quiet day weather—wise today, for many of us, dry and bright with a bit of sunshine and a bit of cloud floating around across england and wales, gradually, though, the crowd john macleod increases across northern ireland and scotland, rain moving in later in the day and the wind strengthening from the south—west with gales developing —— the cloud increases. maximum temperature is around 659 celsius, chilly in southern areas compared to yesterday. this rain continues to move its way in, still accompanied by some strong winds but it is going to stall across scotland, northern ireland, a bit of rain in northern england and north wales, staying dry towards the south—east, but temperatures will start to rise across northern parts, ten or 11 celsius by saturday morning. temperatures even in the south will

start rising on saturday. saturday is quite a wet and windy nay particularly in the north and west. by particularly in the north and west. by sunday it will be dry and bright, although those temperatures will start dropping a bit, so not as mild as it will be on saturday. bye for now.

hello. it's friday. it's10am. i'm joanna gosling. a 21—year—old woman who says she was raped on holiday in ayia napa tells us exclusively that she was "discouraged" by police in scotland from pursuing the case. we'll be talking to her live about her experience, both in cyprus, and with authorities when she got back. new video emerges showing the moment a ukranian passenger plane was shot down in iran. the uk, us and canada say they believe it was hit by an iranian missile — iran says they're lying. the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an iranian surface—to—air missile. this may well have been unintentional.