this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: anti—government protests after the iranian authorities finally admit accidentally shooting down the ukrainian passengerjet. as canada's air accident experts head to iran, prime minister trudeau demands a full and complete inquiry into the crash, in which 57 canadians died. the queen meets other senior royals on monday to discuss harry and meghan‘s decision to step back from their roles.

there have been angry protests on the streets of iran after the country's military finally admitted it did shoot down a ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board. iran says it made a disastrous mistake when it wrongly identified the plane as a cruise missile. demonstrators in tehran have been calling for iran's supreme leader to resign, as our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. almost from the moment the ukrainian airliner crashed, early on wednesday morning, officials in tehran furiously rejected the growing video and intelligence evidence suggesting it had been hit by an iranian missile. then, an abrupt about—turn. in a flurry of social media postings, iran's president spoke of a "disastrous mistake". the foreign minister

talked of "human error". the ambassador in london apologised for misleading the media with "wrong findings". a senior military commander explained that iran's air defences had been on high alert after the attack on us bases in iraq, and the aircraft was misidentified as an american missile. he said he wished he could die. translation: we are sorry. we share the sorrow with victims‘ families. we regret the incident. but this was the price we paid for the tensions and us activities in the region. in tehran, people gathered on the streets, notjust to mourn some of the 176 dead, but also to voice their anger at the government, shouting "death to liars". at one protest, the british ambassador was arrested and detained for three hours, in what the foreign secretary said was a flagrant breach of international law. ukraine's national security secretary told my colleague jonah fisher how iran simply

could no longer deny the evidence. translation: this photo shows us the first part of the plane where a rocket hit. it hit the cockpit from underneath. as canada continued to mourn its 57 dead, the prime minister demanded that iran cooperate with a full and transparent international investigation. iran must take full responsibility. canada will not rest until we get the accountability, justice and closure that the families deserve. the question now is how much access iran will give to the crash site and data from the wreckage. only then will we know if today's admission of responsibility will be enough to de—escalate the latest confrontation in the middle east. james landale, bbc news. president trump has tweeted his support for the protesters in iran,

saying: and, to help his message of solidarity across, he also been tweeting in farsi. i spoke to ali hamedani from bbc persian and asked him why president trump has been tweeting in farsi. twitter is blocked in iran. so people cannot have direct access to twitter. there are multiple ways people can get access to twitter, but iranian people inside iran follow news through the international media, including the bbc, so they know what president trump said, especially in persian. it was tweeted to attract my attention. i was checking the social media to see the latest reactions from the iranian people on twitter. what are they saying? well, i mean, iranians are divided. one group are thanking him, saying, thank you, you're standing next

to us against the iranians regime. a group of iranian people is actually blaming everything on president trump, saying that the sanctions made people poorer and killing of qasem soleimani, the iranian revolutionary guard general. so iranians are really divided into two different groups, with two different opinions. and of course, there was a big protest in tehran, which we saw in one of the reports earlier. how unusual is it for protesters to criticise the supreme leader? i think they were calling him commander—in—chief, but it was still aimed against him. yes, not only in tehran. we on the bbc persia service received footage from multiple cities all around iran. were they all saying the same thing? same thing. in november 2019, two months ago, there was another wave of protests all around the country. it started because of the very bad

economy and fuel price, then it became anti—regime. but now it started political. now they are challenging death to khomenei. is that not very dangerous? it is. in the last round of protests, two months ago, 1,500 people were killed because they were chanting against supreme leader of iran. the number of deaths attributed to australia's current bushfire season has risen to 28 after another firefighter lost their life. he has been named as bill slade, and had a0 years' experience helping fight fires in the state of victoria. he was killed by a falling tree, one of the greatest hazards in bushfire—affected areas of australia. the authorities say a predicted week of cooler weather will help them to continue containment measures to prevent the fires from spreading. a new ceasefire has come into effect in the syrian province of idlib, the last bastion ofjihadists and opposition fighters in the country.

but, in the run—up to the truce, the region was the target of deadly government airstrikes. the syrian 0bservatory for human rights says six children were among at least 18 people who lost their lives in the three air attacks. senior members of the royal family, including the queen, will meet on monday to discuss the future for prince harry and meghan. it follows their decision announced last week to step back from their prominent roles in the royal family. the summit will take place at the queen's sandringham residence, in norfolk, and is expected to look at a range of possibilities. the issue of funding is expected to play a central role. meghan is in canada. it is likely, though not certain, that she willjoin the conversation by phone. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell gave us a few more details about monday's meeting. now, i think officials now have a much better, not a complete idea, but a much better idea of what the sussexes want.

i think a range of possibilities will be suggested, a little bit of a reality check, perhaps, for the sussexes, and they will hope to agree the next steps. they need to pin down things like how much work do the sussexes really want to do, official royal work, and what will be the rules of the game for their non—royal work? what will be the protocols which will be there to prevent them, to be brutal about it, cashing in too blatantly on their royal status. it will be businesslike, i'm sure, but an underlying sadness, i would imagine. meghan clearly wants to do this, but has harry really thought through fully the implications of all of this, the distress that he's causing his grandmother at this point in her life, the potential loss of respect for the likes of the royal marines? he's captain general, and the general sense in the country, not universal, of disappointment. taiwan's president, tsai ing—wen, has won a second term in an election dominated by the question of how to deal with an ever more powerful china, which has long threatened to take the self—governing island by force. ms tsai said beijing should

recognise the will of taiwan's people, and promised jubilant supporters that she would preserve taiwan's sovereignty. 0ur china correspondent john sudworth has sent this report from her victory rally in taipei. not long ago, she was struggling in the polls. now, she is being swept to a second presidential term. her strategy — rallying voters to a single cause. to show that we can be against the communists. yeah, so this is really important to us. has china been a factor for you? i think yes. it's my reason to vote — to defend our country. beijing's attempts to pressure president tsai with renewed threats to take taiwan by force have badly backfired. do you think you have the chinese president, xijinping, to thank for this victory? translation: the taiwanese people

insist on protecting our democracy. i hope china gets the correct message as a result of this election. there is in fact a great irony to these celebrations — beijing's authoritarian vision of a greater china wholeheartedly rejected in the one place that actually gets to vote on it. she has promised to stand up to china. the risk is it will only antagonise it further. john sudworth, bbc news, taiwan. for more on this, i'm joined from taipei by charles chen, who has just been elected as a member of parliament for the kmt party, which favours closer integration with china. first of all, congratulations on

your own election, but your party's presidential candidate lost categorically. have you worked out why? well, i think the china factor is significant in this election, and i think the message that most voters, particularly those younger generations, deliver is that they are not happy with what beijing government has done, particularly in hong kong. so the hong kong issue dominates most of the news information in taiwan, and so i think it created strong sentiment, particularly among younger generations in taiwan, that they wa nted generations in taiwan, that they wanted to say no to beijing. and so i think people in taiwan, most of

them, they want to keep a safe distance from beijing, from china. that's the message received clearly from this election. though the kmt does not really keep very close standing to beijing, but i think this campaign strategy from dpp was successful in this election. essentially it looks like many people in taiwan believe that you are the people who say yes to beijing when they want to say no. actually, the problem is that the political discourse, the kmt lost the political discourse in the campaign. andi the political discourse in the campaign. and i think the sentiment and hong kong factor dominated issues in this campaign. so the economic issue, the government performance, again, less important when people go to vote. and i think... yes. sorry, just to interrupt, do you accept now that the people of taiwan have clearly chosen to keep their distance from beijing, and will you now support the president as she pursues that policy of distance? well, i have to

say that, of course, taiwan is not hong kong, and so the kmt‘s policy is also to defend taiwan's sovereignty, and our own institutions, and the value of democracy, and indeed, we support that. and you can see that in this election there is strong people, about 20%, which support the third force, two other little medium sized parties. they collected about 20% votes in their parties. so if you go to see the parliamentary vote, you can see the kmt and the dpp, they remain 40% versus a0%. and the reason why president tsai can win this election is because she presented 20% from the third force people. and yes, they are most younger generation people, and they

are affected younger generation people, and they a re affected by younger generation people, and they are affected by the hong kong factors, yes. thank you for interrupting yourjourney factors, yes. thank you for interrupting your journey to factors, yes. thank you for interrupting yourjourney to speak to us from your car. it's a great pleasure, thank you. thank you. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: is the end in sight for one of france's longest strikes, and the violent clashes? the prime minister offers compromise overproposed pension reforms. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attack since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry and one of its biggest, but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes. there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished, as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she had been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the

ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws passed by the country's new multiracial government and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9610th performance of the long—running play, the mousetrap. when they heard about her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: after days of denial, iran finally admits to shooting down a ukrainian passenger jet, prompting angry protests on the streets of tehran. and in the wake of harry and meghan‘s decision to step back from their roles, the queen and other senior royals will hold crisis talks on monday. let's get more now on this now. earlier, i spoke to jamie samhan, a vancouver—based royal commentator,

about how the royal couple will be received in their likely new home. everybody was very excited when the news first broke but it has been a few days now so it has actually really cooled down compared to how it is still very front—line in the united kingdom. there is the potential — meghan is over here right now with archie on vancouver island, so people are excited about the idea but until they actually buy a house, that's still to be said. and then, there is also the concern about who will pay for the security. if it does turn out that they are moving here and we will have to pay for the security, i think the attitude of canadians may change a little bit. 0rdinary canadians would not want to stump up for the bodyguards? no, not really. because to us, although the queen he still head of state, —— because to us, although the queen is still head of state, people see the royals more as a celebrity couple instead of an institution, so, yeah, they would not want to foot the bill for somebody who we don't really see as anything other than a celebrity. does canada have a celebrity culture? not really.

other than leave them alone. 0n vancouver island, pamela anderson and sarah mclachlan both live over here, as well as a number of other celebrities, and people leave them alone. even in the big cities, you may see them on the streets, you smile but you don't bother them. you wouldn't take a picture of them? you might from a distance but in general, no. harry and meghan were here for six weeks and there is not a single picture of them. people respect each other‘s privacy. how would harry and meghan fit into canadian society? she has, of course, lived in toronto before. i think they would go about their daily life. they have a lot of plans of things they want to get done, they have a huge charity endeavour that they plan on announcing soon, so i think they're just gonna continue on doing that. archie, i'm guessing, would go to a private school — but that's just a guess. and yeah, i think they would just fit in, go about their day. and who knows, maybe we would see meghan at the local grocery store. are they popular in canada? very popular. people are — you know, they're very young, hip, royal family couple, and people like seeing that.

meghan is a huge style influence for women across canada. one of the most popular blogs, actually, meghan‘s mirror, is a canadian company and north americans in generaljust love her style. what do canadians make of the fact that harry and meghan are, at the moment, taking a real hit in britain from the tabloids and from many commentators? i think a lot of people really feel for her, and both of them in particular. they are a newly—wed couple, theyjust had a baby and tabloids do operate different here — they are not in the major newspapers. they're on stands. they are in glossy magazines. so seeing some of the comments that go towards meghan, people cannot really understand why a national newspaper — that looks to a national newspaper as us — has headlines like that, that do really come across as racist. just quickly thinking about logistics, i'm imagining toronto may be a good base for a jet—setting couple, if they want to be halfway between los angeles and london. does anyone else do that? have toronto as a base

for such travel? not that i can think of. you know, there is not a lot of couples that i can think of that jet between toronto and london. new york and london, yes, which is not very far. i just don't see it being vancouver island. you know, they say they want to be eco—conscious, but to get off the island, you have to take at least one transfer to vancouver and then elsewhere, so as much as they are enjoying their holiday here, i do not see it lasting. lawyers and judges from across europe havejoined a major demonstration byjudges in poland. in a silent march in the capital, warsaw, thejudges — along with thousands of demonstrators — were protesting against proposed legislation which will give politicians greater control over the appointment and disciplining of judges. rich preston has this report. dressed in their legal robes, judges from across the continent joined their polish colleagues in solidarity, gathering at the supreme court before marching past the presidential palace towards parliament.

they are angry at legislation being introduced by the governing right—wing law and justice party. it will give politicians greater control over the appointment of newjudges and the power to discipline judges who question those new appointments. translation: this is a law which takes away the right ofjudges to take part in public debates and which silences us. this rivalry between the government and thejudges has been going on for months, but the government refuses to back down. it says the changes are needed to root out corruption and modernise poland's legal system. the judges say it's a clear attempt to stifle the judiciary, and poland's judges say they have many ordinary poles on their side. translation: we, thejudges, are supported here by thousands of citizens. we are here because we serve poland faithfully and we stand by the law.

the changes have angered european officials, too. they say the changes would be incompatible with european law, which say say could risk poland being thrown out of the european union. the bill is currently sitting with poland's senate, but the senate can only postpone the bill — it cannot block it completely. despite dissent on the street and on the international stage, the government could still push through the changes it says are needed. rich preston, bbc news. france's prime minister has offered a concession to unions in a bid to end nationwide strikes against proposed pension reforms. edouard philippe said he was willing to withdraw a proposal which would raise the retirement age to 64. there have been five weeks of protests against the government's plans — one of the longest strikes in french history. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. gunfire. in paris, as in other cities across france, this has become an all—too—familiar sight — riot police, tear gas, protests in the street.

gunfire. another day of demonstrations descending into violent clashes. earlier, the marches were peaceful and colourful, thousands angry over proposed reforms to the country's pension system. ministers say they have to introduce changes to make things fairer and more affordable. union leaders insist workers will lose out. up until now, stalemate. but then the government came forward with what was described as a constructive compromise. in a letter to the unions, the country's prime minister edouard philippe said: namely, the increase in the retirement age from 62—64.

some unions welcomed the move, calling it a victory, but others remain far from convinced. translation: we don't care about the retirement age! we want a full withdrawal, pure and simple. chanting. more talks are expected next week. so, too, are more demonstrations and more strikes. an agreement still looks a long way off. tim allman, bbc news. the portuguese city of lisbon has won the european green capital award for 2020 — a title bestowed by the european commission. lisbon, they said, shows how to turn environmental challenges into opportunities. gail maclellan reports. a new day — a new era, perhaps — dawns over the portuguese capital lisbon. as the city began its reign as european green capital, the president made clear what it actually means.

translation: portugal is betting on green! portugal is betting on environment! portugal is betting on facing down climate change and global warming! starting its journey to sustainability during the 2008 global economic crisis, lisbon showed — according to the awards judges — that sustainability and economic growth go hand in hand. the city promotes public transport, achieving a 50% reduction in co2 emissions within 12 years, has connected networks of green space, and launched a bike—sharing scheme with electric bikes encouraging people to tackle the city's huge hills. the european green capital award aims to promote sustainable living, but critics have pointed out that the actual performance of the cities is not measured, and the $100,000 reward may be in danger of being a gesture.

but the un secretary—general underlined the importance of making the journey. translation: this year, in 2020, we must prove that we want to end the war that humanity has launched against nature. and this war that humanity has launched against nature is a suicidal war. nature responds, as we have seen many times, with hurricanes, fires, dramatic droughts in many parts of the world. nature responds in a devastating way. already, so early in 2020, we know exactly what he means. gail maclellan, bbc news. more on all of our stories on our website. if you would like to contact me, you can get in touch on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews.

please do stay with us. plenty more in the hours ahead. hello. saturday was another mild and a wet and windy day — rather like january has been thus far. and the reason for it — the jet stream has looked like this. and you'll notice as i take you through the next few days, it will continue in similar vein — pretty strong, firing in from the west and south—west, and in each kink, we will see a succession of low pressure systems delivering yet more wet and windy and mild weather towards the british isles. and that's rather how we start the day across a good part of england and wales, although i suspect that once the cloud and rain has quit the scene, by around about lunchtime on the east coast, it will be a glorious afternoon. plenty of sunshine around. dry for the most part too, save for a peppering of showers across the north and west of scotland, urged along in this

neck of the woods by a noticeable south—westerly wind. but nowhere near as windy for many of us as was the case on saturday, and those temperatures still hanging onto double figures down across the southern half of britain. and then, as the sun sets, the temperatures will tumble away underneath relatively clear skies. yes, one or two showers still coming through on the breeze, but things will cloud up in the west to finish off the night. but further east, it could be a chilly start to monday. a dry one for many of us, too. that, however, will not last very long. notice the number of isobars here, squeezing up all the while as a very vigorous area of low pressure throws this active weather front in towards the western side of the british isles not very far into monday, so don't be fooled by the dry start because it will turn increasingly very wet indeed from the west to many parts of northern ireland, certainly scotland, the west of england, then into wales. and the gusts of wind willjust keep on building, such that at some point, we could well see gusts of wind to around 60, 70, if not 80 mph

in extremis across the north—west of scotland. not a cold day by any means at all, but one to watch out for, particularly if you're on the move. and then as that area of low pressure quits the scene, itjust makes room for another spell of wet and windy weather to pile in on tuesday from this south—western quarter. so again, many of you start the day dry and chilly and bright. but it doesn't stay that way, and as this mild air rushes up towards the scottish borders, there'll be a conversion, we suspect, of rain to snow across the southern uplands, then north of the central belt across the higher ground. very mild indeed in the south. so disruptively windy, really quite wet at times in the first half of the week. mild, perhaps a tad drier, later in the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: iran's admission that it accidentally shot down a ukrainian airliner, killing all on board, has prompted angry protests on the streets of the capital, tehran. some demonstrators are calling for the country's supreme leader to step down. president trump has expressed his support for the protestors. air accident experts have flown from canada to iran to help in the investigation into the crash, in which 57 canadians died. prime minister trudeau has demanded a full and complete inquiry and says many more steps need to be taken. in total, 176 people were killed. the queen is to host crisis talks with princes charles, william and harry at sandringham on monday. it is in the wake of a decision by harry and meghan to step back from their prominent roles in the royal family. the summit is expected to look at a range of possibilities.