after three years of deadlock, power sharing returns to northern ireland. sinn fein agreed to re—enter devolved government, meaning the stormont assembly will sit again tomorrow. i believe that power—sharing can work. that requires everyone to step up. sinn fein‘s commitment is to do all in our power to make this happen. we believe this is a fair and balanced deal. we believe it is a deal that can form the basis for allowing us to go back into government and to deal with all of the difficult issues that we need to deal with. with the political stalemate over, it's hoped the deal will bring about much—need improvements to public services. also tonight... vigils in canada for the victims of the ukrainian plane crash, as iran rejects claims that it shot it down.

the gangs using pay—as—you—go phones to deal drugs. now a call to change the law. and on the eve of elections in taiwan, we look at why china's taking centre stage. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, chris wilder signs a new contract at sheffield united. he plans to be at the club until 202a. good evening and welcome to bbc news at ten. after three years of deadlock, power—sharing will return to northern ireland. a deal aimed at restoring devolved government was agreed by the main political parties, sinn fein and the democratic unionists, this afternoon. the northern ireland assembly will sit for the first time

in 36 months tomorrow after it was suspended in 2017 after a political dispute. the vacuum created has had a big impact on public services, affecting schools, the nhs and key projects. it's hoped the agreement will bring about improvement and reform. but sinn fein and the dup are warning that serious challenges remain. there's flash photography in this report by our ireland correspondent emma va rdy. after three years of resistance, the final steps to an agreement. faces from northern ireland's past here to witness a new future. i believe that power—sharing can work. that requires everyone to step up. sinn fein‘s commitment is to do all in our power to make this happen. it marks the end of a bitter stand—off between sinn fein and the democratic unionist party. it is a fair and balanced deal. i know there will be

challenges in the deal, not least we need to make sure that we have the finances to be able to deal with all of the issues in northern ireland that are present at the moment. events were set in motion when an ultimatum was given late last night in dramatic fashion. the british and irish governments chose to go public with the deal, saying, take it or leave it. but the gamble paid off. the new agreement contains wide—ranging promises. firstly, to tackle a crisis in the health service and resolve a pay dispute which has seen health workers on strike. there will be more money for schools after months of head teachers saying they face an unprecedented shortfall. and northern ireland will get around 800 more police to increase numbers to 7500. but the biggest ask was getting agreement for that much fought—over legal protection of the irish language. decades of conflict

in northern ireland, the issues over british and irish identity, often lead to tension. some unionists belief giving the irish language more prominence with new laws proposed in the deal is a step too far. i don't see how one identity can erode another. i think if you are secure enough in your own identity, it shouldn't be an issue. while the dup has agreed to the new legislation, some of their most staunch supporters have rejected it. they once said that every word spoken in irish was a shot fired for irish freedom. people would say that would be a blunt instrument to further irish unity. the secretary of state tried to reassure voters in loyalist heartlands today that the deal is fair. but in this city, compromise never comes easily. what is the problem with having laws to protect the irish language? none of us want it. we don't want the irish language. we have to protect it,

it has gone on for three years now. what other place would stick that? without a government, public services have been in steady decline. parts of the health service have come close to collapse. for northern ireland's nurses, who are striking for the first time time in their history, today's deal will bring an end to these picket lines. there is extra cash from the british government to raise wages and measures to reduce the crippling waiting lists at hospitals. but parties know the devil is in the detail and the new provisions for a change in northern ireland will mean plenty of rows to come. but now that can happen within a devolved government, not outside it. emma vardy reporting. vigils have been held in canada for some of the victims of the ukrainian plane crash on wednesday. iran has again rejected suggestions that the aircraft was brought down by one of its missiles, killing 176 people. the picture still remains unclear

but what we do know is the flight took off from tehran just after six in the morning, butjust two minutes later, the data on the flight stopped. the plane came down to the southwest of the capital, tehran. 63 of the victims were canadian. 0ur north america correspondent aleem maqbool is in toronto. 0n the one hand, yvonne is saying it is too soon to draw any conclusions about what happened to this plane —— iran. 0n the other hand it has com pletely iran. 0n the other hand it has completely ruled out one thing many western powers say caused the crash. while the controversy rumbles on, in community is dotted around the globe, particularly here in canada, they continue to hold vigils and remembrance for the lives lost. so this is about two weeks ago when they got to iran... the siddiqui family travelled to iran from canada to plan a wedding.

they never came back. alvar and his wife negar, his sister sahand and her five—year—old daughter sufi all died in the crash. it's left close friends utterly dazed. first, it was shock and denial because, you know, you can't sense it, itjust doesn't make sense, you never hear of such a story but then as you keep reading and looking at the, you know, news and videos and there's this anger, like, why did it happen to these people? they are the nicest people. why them? the us, canada and britain say there is evidence an iranian missile hit the plane. tehran calls those "illogical allegations" and says it could take one or two years to complete its investigation. but these pictures show it's already chosen to clear much of the crash site,

potentially burying important leads. and even before the data's been analysed from the flight recorders, its officials already say they are sure of one thing. translation: an aviation authority cannot speculate. we aren't sure of the causes yet but what we can say for certain is that a missile did not strike the plane, but the fire and its causes we still need to work out. but this mobile phone footage does appear to back up the theory the plane was struck by a missile. a small outgoing speck of light suddenly exploding. with the impact following. the iranians insist if it really was a missile strike, the debris would have been spread over a larger area. it's not what us secretary of state mike pompeo thinks. we do believe that it's likely that that plane was shot down

by an iranian missile. he announced new sanctions on iran. we want iran to simply behave like a normal nation. we believe the sanctions that we've imposed today further that strategic objective. but forfamilies in iran, ukraine, britain and more than 60 in canada, the focus is on grieving. there is no question, though, that the sense this tragedy could have been a consequence of those regional tensions has only added to the anger and despair. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in toronto. meanwhile, iraq's top shi'ite muslim cleric condemned the confrontation between iran and the united states, saying it risked plunging the country and the wider middle east into deeper conflict. grand ayatollah ali al—sistani said attacks by both sides inside iraq in the last week showed a blatant disregard for the country's sovereignty. 0ur middle east editor,

jeremy bowen, reports from baghdad. chanting in baghdad, it was a day of protest, to show they don't plan to give up. their main target, politicians and a parliament they say have dragged the country to disaster. "get out," was the chant. "you corrupt people, leave our land." protesters have occupied baghdad's equivalent of piccadilly circus since october. iraq's trip to the brink of a new war this week has reinforced the desire for change. we don't want to be a place for war. we want to be free from all these things. we want to be a country that is separated from iran, from the united states. we want to be friends with everyone, enough of war.

0ther protests happened outside baghdad. this was karbala in the south. it's a holy city and in the mosque, iraq's senior shia muslim cleric also had hard words for the government. an aide read the message from the elderly grand ayatollah ali al—sistani. "iraq's leaders have let them down, failing to protect them "from aggression and repeated violations of sovereignty. "iraq should be independent and led by its own people, "not by foreigners." this country is fragile and violent. in tahrir square, baghdad, mohammed showed me where he'd been stabbed by masked men. hundreds of protesters have been shot dead since october. memorials are everywhere.

many say the killers were iraqi militiamen directed by the assassinated general soleimani. punishing them for anti—iranian demonstrations. serious obstacles lie between these would—be revolutionaries and the change that they want. the men who have the big jobs, who control the political parties and the militias, won't give up power easily. and then there is iran. at a time when it's being hemmed in, isolated by american sanctions, it needs iraq as its window on the world. a place where it can do business. 0n the barricades, a poet warned them that politicians will outfox us. they couldn't be trusted. the protesters loved it, they are hopeful. across the middle east, young people especially are demanding change. but iraqis are trapped, caught up in a0 years of confrontation between iran

and the united states which, in the absence of a diplomatic breakthrough, will continue to slide towards war. jeremy bowen, bbc news, baghdad. the home office has requested a 42—year—old us woman to be extradited to the uk over the death of a teenager in a road crash. 19—year—old harry dunn died when his motorbike collided with a car allegedly driven on the wrong side of the road by 42—year—old anne sacoolas outside raf croughton in august. she returned to the states claiming diplomatic immunity. the extradition process will now be dealt with by the us authorities. us president donald trump has expressed sympathy for the queen, following the decision by the duke and duchess of sussex to step back as senior members of royal family. in an interview this evening, he was asked if had any advice for the british monarch. i think it's sad, i do. she's a great woman.

she's never made a mistake and if you look, i mean, she's had, like a flawless time. you think harry should go back, come back and... well, i think, i think... i don't want to get into the whole thing but i find it... i just have such respect for the queen. i don't think this should be happening to her. the metropolitan police is treating an attack on a guard at whitemoor prison in cambridgeshire as a terrorist incident. the officer was stabbed by two inmates carrying bladed weapons and said to have been wearing fake suicide vests. a convicted terrorist, brusthom ziamani, is suspected of involvement. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. this is brusthom ziamani, jailed five years ago for plotting to behead a soldier. he had been carrying this large knife and hammer at the time of his arrest. he is now suspected of being one of two men who carried out, in prison, what police say was a terrorist attack. it happened on a wing of whitemoor prison, a high securityjail which has a history of problems with terrorist prisoners.

yesterday, two inmates wearing fake suicide belts and shouting "allahu akbar" attacked an officer from behind, slashing his head and neck with home—made knives. it was only but for the professionalism of all the other staff there at hmp whitemoor that i'm not standing here talking about the murder of a prison officer. that is how serious this cowardly and vicious attack was. ministers and officials here at the ministry ofjustice and prison service headquarters are now urgently reviewing safety after what was the first officially designated terrorist attack in an english jail. the government has been repeatedly warned by a former senior governor about the risk that convicted terrorists pose to prison staff who are obvious targets for an inmate wanting to commit violent political acts. there has been a colossal failure of intelligence here in terms

of protecting prison staff from somebody who was clearly very radicalised and that is really important, because if we cannot recruit and retain and train and protect front line prison staff, who are dealing with some of the most dangerous and sophisticated terrorists in the country, we are going to have a very serious problem. whitemoor prison is where usman khan was also held. he was the released terrorist prisoner who carried out the attack on fishmongers‘ hall in november, killing jack merritt and saskia jones, people who had been trying to rehabilitate him. daniel sandford, bbc news, at the ministry ofjustice. the tv and radio presenter samira ahmed has won her equal pay case against the bbc. ahmed argued successfully that she'd been underpaid for hosting the programme newswatch, compared to fellow presenter jeremy vine, for his work on points of view. 0ur media editor, amol rajan, has the story. hello and welcome to newswatch,

with me, samira ahmed. samira ahmed claimed that there was no material difference between what she did as presenter of newswatch on the bbc news channel, which was also shown on bbc one... first this week... ..and whatjeremy vine did as presenter of points of view on bbc one. for the bbc, the repeat of newswatch on bbc one undermined their case. cheering and clapping samira ahmed always argued that this wasn't just about a single individual but a systemic injustice. now she's been vindicated. no woman wants to have to take action against their own employer. i love working for the bbc, i'm really glad it's been resolved. vine was paid £3,000 per programme for points of view, more than six times as much as ahmed for newswatch. we're doing a show. welcome to the first newswatch of 2020 and a happy new year. the burden of proof fell on the bbc to show that the difference was not explained by sex discrimination but other factors, such as skill or charisma.

it failed. we've always believed that samira and jeremy vine's pay was not based on their gender. presenters, female as well as male, have always been paid more on points of view than on newswatch. we are sorry the tribunal didn't think the bbc provided enough evidence about specific decisions in this case. gender and equality issues have led to many bad headlines for the bbc in recent years. this will add a fresh batch. the central issue here goes beyond the bbc. whether recognisability — in other words, fame or profile — has an economic value which justifies paying different presenters different amounts for equivalent work, regardless of their race or gender. the tribunal says it doesn't, which means countless contracts across the whole of the industry now need to be revisited. it's really important, because it demonstrates a failure within the bbc which is a common problem across the whole of uk industry.

and that is a failure to undertake job evaluation at the very beginning and to pay people according to a job evaluation scheme. can you just tell us how you feel? however, the tribunal found that, following changes to its pay structure in 2018, any difference in pay between ahmed and vine could no longer have been attributed to sex discrimination. amol rajan, bbc news. tens of thousands of people across australia have taken part in climate change protests as authorities continue to tackle the country's bushfires. residents have been told to leave their homes in parts of new south wales and victoria. nationwide, firefighters and military personnel are still fighting hundreds of fires. my colleague clive myrie is in the town of cooma, in new south wales. yes, we are at their main rural fire

service headquarters here in the town. lots of personnel milling around, it's been a busy night for them, along with the military, some army reservists have been here as well but everyone is feeling a little more confident about the next few days. the fear overnight was very strong winds, in excess of 100 kilometres per hour, along with high temperatures were going to cause more problems and put more people's lives in danger and, indeed, a number of smaller files did merge and what —— into what they called mega— fires, burning thousands of hectares but those mega— fires are a p pa re ntly hectares but those mega— fires are apparently being contained and the forecast for the next few days, well, lighter winds and lower temperatures. i should also say there has been a lot of speculation about the role of arson during this bushfire season. here in new south wales, the authorities say 1% were caused deliberately. in victoria, one incident out of hundreds and in south australia, none at all. the

vast majority of fires were begun by lightning strikes. with that, back to you. clive myrie in use south wales. —— new south wales. police forces in england and wales say the ability of criminals to buy pay—as—you—go phones, without any need to identify themselves, is hampering efforts to crack down on organised drug dealing. the phones are being used by so—called county line gangs who operate out of big cities including london, manchester and liverpool and sell drugs to people in smaller towns across britain. they use dedicated mobile phone lines, known as "deal lines", to take orders from drug users and often get children to help move and store the drugs and money. here's our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds. a warning his report contains flashing images. siren bedfordshire police move in on a brutal county lines gang involved in drugs, kidnappings, robberies, attacking rivals. police say anonymous "burner" phones were absolutely integral to what they were doing.

we're hiding tracy's identity for safety reasons. her son has been caught up with a county lines gang for years. one of the signs — the phones. there is a multitude of phones, multitude of sim cards, that suddenly turn up in your house. it's the means by which they are able to communicate with your child, secretly. and also, of course, it's what they need to actually run the line. and these days, it's so easy to get connected, anonymously, to the phone network. so, there we go. fora pound and no id, i've got a sim card. i can plug this into a mobile phone. there is no contract, i can top it up, and i've gota county line, which the police will find hard to trace. they do have a new power to get phone lines disconnected, used 15 times so far by bedfordshire police. but a report today by the police watchdog says, "we were told of one

example where a county lines network received and shared a new number within an hour of a phone being disconnected." it said, "criminal use of unregistered mobile phones is a serious problem for all law enforcement bodies." the watchdog and police want a government review. i think it needs to be looked at in a lot of detail. and we, and i, certainly, as the county lines lead, will work with the home office to identify the best way forward. but i think we need to understand the full consequences of doing that. after all, criminals know phones can provide evidence. they will change tactics. and registering all phones would affect everyone. but the pressure is growing. drugs gangs are grooming children, bringing serious crime to the doorsteps of some families. tracy's son is in his late teens. tracy, do you know where he is right now? sadly, he is currently missing. this is a national epidemic now.

tom symonds, bbc news. in taiwan, voters are preparing to go the polls in a presidential election that's being closely watched by china. the relationship between the two has long been a fraught one — with china's president xi jinping making no secret of his desire to claim the territory. taiwan sees itself as an independent, sovereign nation and its current president has described china as a "grave threat" to its freedoms. 0ur china correspondent john sudworth has sent this report from taipei. forget the stiff, communist formality of china's state media. this is election coverage taiwan's style. coverage taiwan style. irreverent and mocking, a sign ofjust how far apart the two societies have grown. translation: actually, me and all my friends think we are taiwanese. no one sees themselves as chinese.

it's a sentiment taiwan's president, once struggling in her bid for re—election, is now using to her advantage, with a simple message. is taiwan's democracy really under threat or are you fear—mongering for political gain? no, this is absolutely no political gain here, it is a real threat. china is here, everywhere, and its influence is here as well. and why has it been so central to this campaign, though? because of the lesson we learned from hong kong. that lesson, she says, is how easily freedoms can be swept away under chinese rule. these scenes have brought beijing's long—standing threat to take taiwan by force to the centre of the election campaign. there are concerns about meddling. groups like this one are working to debunk a barrage of fake news. some of it known to

originate from china. if you can influence what people are thinking, if you can influence how people vote for their future, you can make democratic society do something you want. china is said to favour this man, president tsai's main opponent, who argues that taiwan needs to stay on good terms with its biggest trading partner. taiwan's vibrant democracy is facing a fundamental question. is it better to stand up to china or, as these people believe, is it best to tread softly for fear of provoking the prickly giant next door? nice to meet you. are you in in beijing's pocket? later, too many people now. but, on the eve of the vote, time may be running out to persuade voters that it's the economy, not china, that should

be their main concern. john sudworth, bbc news, taiwan. and, finally, stars from across the sporting world have been donating to help those affected by the australian bushfires. australian cricket veteran shane warne sold his baggy green cap to an anonymous bidder for1 million australian dollars, that's just over half a million pounds. brighton goalkeeper maty ryan, who is from new south wales, says he will give £260 for every save by premier league goalkeepers this weekend. nick kyrgios is among a number of australian tennis players fundraising — he has pledged to donate more than £100 for each ace he hits. while world number one ashleigh barty gave her winnings from the brisbane international. that's it from me and the team. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night.

hello and welcome to sportsday, i'm chetan pathak. sheffield united beat west ham to move up to fifth in the premier league. we also hear from former premier league referee bobby madley, talking about the video that lost him hisjob. i cannot apologise enough for it. this is not me being blase about it, andi this is not me being blase about it, and i let myself down and let a lot of people down. stress that i should not have done. and a day shy of her 19th birthday, boxer caroline dubois tells us how she feels about stepping up

to the senior ranks. welcome to sportsday, thanks forjoining us. sheffield united remain this season's surprise package and are up to fifth in the premier league after beating west ham 1—0, it was thanks in part to a controversial var decision which ruled out an equaliser late on. before tonight's game the club announced manager chris wilder had extended his stay at bramall lane until 202a. adam wild reports. sheffield united's rather an expected success this season is due to chris wilder and knees of his

extension was welcomed. though perhaps to celebrate properly against west ham and it would have gotten started nice and early if he kept his header down. the worries that they had been this season, the no prep —— more pressing goalkeeper are able to continue. 0ne no prep —— more pressing goalkeeper are able to continue. one of his first contributions was to launch downfield a ball that would eventually find its way into felipe anderson and a lighter effort might have soften the blow. the next contribution, a badly misjudged in this paste pask. 0ne contribution, a badly misjudged in this paste pask. one that they take full advantage of and one burning with the finish of bromelain. west ham had not spoil the move, squeezing in an equaliser but wait the ar again called and a final judgement. the sheffield united celebrations before kick—off and will continue long after it tonight.