good afternoon. britain's ambassador to iran has made clear that he was not taking part in anti—government demonstrations in the capital, tehran, when he was

arrested yesterday. rob macaire was detained for three hours after attending a vigil for the 176 people who died when iran shot down a passenger plane last week. the uk has said the ambassador‘s arrest was a "flagrant violation of international law" and has warned iran that it risks becoming "an international pariah". our world affairs correspondent caroline hawley reports. this morning in tehran the iranian authorities stepped up security. last night, protests. iranians voiced theirfury at last night, protests. iranians voiced their fury at the regime. after the military finally admitted it wasn't responsible. they chanted, deaf to the liars, and demanded iran's supreme leader resign. britten‘s ambassador to iran was is by the iranian media of fomenting the protests. reports that he left

the protests. reports that he left the scene as soon as the chanting started. dominic raab called his arrest illegal and warned iran against continuing its march toward pariah status. this morning the ambassador tweeted. .. com pletely completely unacceptable. breaching, you're right, certainly the vienna convention, and a whole number of conventions. iran is at a crossroads and have a decision to make. and the point we are making, which the secretary said this morning, we want to see things de—escalate, we want to see things de—escalate, we want to see things de—escalate, we want to see iran come back into the international fold and play their pa rt international fold and play their part but they are at a crossroads and they have to make that decision. it three days for iran to they had made a mistake by shutting down the ukrainian airliner with 176 people on board. senior iranian officials have apologised and promised lessons will learned, but iranians are still asking why iran didn't close its airspace when it was braced for an

american military response to attacks on response for the death of qasem soleimani, the country's second most powerful man. and the anger is not going away. this morning protests have erupted again. taking ona morning protests have erupted again. taking on a sacred tenet of the islamic regime... chanting here that their enemy is not america, but their enemy is not america, but their own leadership. that was caroline hawley reporting. caroline is in beirut for us now. what is being said about the tension with the british ambassador? iran's foreign minister has just tweeted that he was not arrested but picked up that he was not arrested but picked up as an unknown foreigner in an illegal gathering. he said when a man was arrested who informed me to be the uk ambassador i said

impossible, and it was only after my phone call that i identified him a big surprise and 15 minutes later he was free. now we big surprise and 15 minutes later he was free. now we are big surprise and 15 minutes later he was free. now we are getting reports iran may have summoned or asked for rob macaire and to explain his presence there. i had imagined that iran might want to draw a line under all this, because it is really feeling the heat, notjust internationally with calls for a thorough, transparent investigation into the crash, but also as was seen with the protests very much at home as well. caroline, thank you very much, caroline hawley in beirut. the queen has attended church at sandringham this morning, ahead of talks there tomorrow with senior members of the royal family on the future role of prince harry. it's understood it will be to be the first time that prince charles, prince william and prince harry will have met since he and his wife meghan announced they would be stepping back from their royal duties. our correspondent jon donnison reports. the queen arriving at church in sandringham on sunday is very much routine. what lies ahead on monday is very much not.

the queen's estate in norfolk is the venue for what's been described as the sandringham summit. she will come face—to—face with prince harry for the first time since he and his wife announced they intend to step back in their role as senior royals. also there will be the prince of wales and prince william and harry's wife meghan, the duchess of sussex, is expected to phone in and join the discussion from canada. officials have worked hard in recent days to understand what the sussexes want. there will, we understand, be a range of possibilities to review. it's hoped next steps will be agreed at the meeting. however, officials are stressing that any decision about the sussex's future status will take time to be implemented. the trickiest area could be money as the couple seek financial independence. this morning, the shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry made her views clear on the issue of security.

the british taxpayer should pay for the security of harry and meghan and theirfamily, as they do with former ministers. listen, you know, harry's spent 20 years on the front line in afghanistan, through many tours of duty. he's done great service just on the basis of that, and if they decide they want to go to canada, of course they must always be protected. and underpinning it all is the human side. family divisions and, poignantly, a rift between two brothers. in the sunday times, according to friends, william is quoted as saying, "i've put my arm around my brother all our lives. "i can't do it any more." a bond which he feels is now being broken. jon donnison, bbc news. a dramatic release of steam and ash from a volcano in the philippines has led the authorities there to order 8,000 people to leave the area. this speeded—up footage of the taal volcano,

south of the philippine capital manila, shows the plume of white smoke that's one kilometre high. manila's international airport has put all flights on hold. more than 13,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the german city of dortmund after the discovery of four suspected second world war bombs. it's not clear when they'll be allowed to return. australia's prime minister, scott morrison, has expressed regret over his handling of the bushfire crisis following strong criticism over his government's response. in the state of south australia, many residents have returned to their homes in kangaroo island to assess the damage. almost half of the island has been scorched and scientists are worried about the fate of many endangered species. 0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil has been to the island, and a warning — her report does contain images of animals killed in the fires. it's an ecologically disaster so big the army have been called in to help. for the second time in less than a week, bushfires have ravaged

stretches of land here, destroying natural habitats and killing tens of thousands of animals. i don't think anyone would like to pick up, you know, deceased wildlife. it's not a fun task. there's been a lot of devastation. it hasn't been easy for people, and we'll be here as long as they need us, and will do whatever we possibly can to help out. this place is renowned for its rich biodiversity and native wildlife. now it's feared half of the island has been scorched. in some parts, the fires burned right up to the sea. going through kangaroo island you can see why nothing stood a chance in the path of these fires. the charred trees, the scorched earth, the burnt animal carcasses on the side of the road. but the full picture of the devastation is still unclear because parts of the island are just too dangerous to get to. scientists are extremely worried about the island's unique species, including the ligurian bees. nearly a quarter of the beehives are believed to have been lost to the bushfires. in this makeshift clinic,

vets have been racing to save as many animals as they can. nearly two dozen koalas were brought in after the latest fires. the sad fact is that we estimat of the thousands of koalas — probably 20,000, 30,000 koalas on the island — probably half have perished. anything that we can salvage and save, we'll certainly be doing that. it's going to take a long time for australia's iconic nature reserve to recover. the fear is that some of the wildlife it's famous for may have been lost for good, and that other animals will have to battle bleak conditions just to survive. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, kangaroo island. to tennis, and serena williams has won her first title in three years, beating herfellow americanjessica pegula in straight sets to take the auckland classic. it was the 38—year—old's first victory since becoming a mother. she said she would donate her prize money, and the dress she'd worn, to the australian bushfire appeal.

you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at quarter to six. bye for now. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel with martine. let's return to that meeting the queen has called at sandringham where the senior royals will try to find a role for the duke and duchess of sussex, who want to step back from their duties and spend more time in north america. david mcclure is an royal expert and author of "royal legacy", about the wealth of the royal family. i spoke to him earlier and he said a resolution won't be found quickly. we are going into totally new territory. it was tried maybe ten ago when prince edward tried to earn his own living,

set up his own tv company, his wife had her own pr company, but that did not work. there were conflicts of interest. there is a genuine problem of having working royals and having paid employment. the two don't seem to mix. we are told they want to come to a quick resolution in days, not weeks. what sort of hybrid role do you think will be possible? i don't think anything is possible quickly. there is no way on monday they will get everything sorted at sandringham. it is a very complicated issue, there are issues of, what does it mean being a part—time royal? how many public duties do you do? what sort of private work and income is allowable? lots of issues of security and taxation. if they spent time in america and canada, there are tax issues. a lot to be done in a very short period of time. they have said they want to become

financially independent which for a couple in their late 30s is probably rather risible to a lot of people listening and watching that sort of statement. where do they stand as independently wealthy people already? they are not short of a bob or two. we know definitely harry inherited about £7 million from his mother, diana's state. from his mother, diana's estate. various family trust funds, he gets money from prince charles. together they might be worth £10 million, £15 million. in the long term, if they are not going to be getting so much public money, they will have to be looking for other independent sources of revenue. if they do that, they are going to walk on potentially sensitive political issues, if they write books, go on lecture tours. the monarchy is supposed to be politically neutral. there are potential minefields ahead of them. give up your title, give up your

access to that kind of funding, whether the duchy of cornwall, the sovereign grant, gives you more freedom, surely? good question. ultimately, this hybrid royal role probably won't work. if you are going to step back, unless you can find a totally new system, you might have to step down. just finally, if they decide this isn't for them, how easy would it be for them to come back and assume the roles they have been in? it is going to look embarrassing. if you're saying, i want my independence, and you get bored and you want the royal stardust on your shoulders again, it will be embarrassing. ithink... probably no coming back from this. if you make a statement like that, saying you want to be semi—independent from the royal family, it is going to be very difficult to get back to where you were. borisjohnson has travelled to 0man following the death of sultan qaboos the longest

serving modern arab ruler who died on friday at the age of 79 after a long illness. prince charles has also travelled to the country — earlier he met with the new sultan. the prime minister willjoin the prince at a condolence ceremony today as part of three days of offical mourning. the defence secretary ben wallace and the chief of the defence staff will also be there. the prince will then return to the uk for that meeting with the senior royals in sandringham. the six candidates in the labour leadership havejust over 2a hours to gain the backing they need to get to the next stage of the contest. sir keir starmer, rebecca long—bailey and lisa nandy have the required number of nominations — leaving emily thornberry and clive lewis lobbying to get the backing of at least 22 of their fellow labourmps and meps. registered supporters — who are not full party members — will have 48 hours from 14th to the 16th of january to secure a vote by paying £25. the ballot will be open from 21st february to the 2nd of april, with the results announced two days

later on the 11th april. 0ur political correspondent tony bonsignore gave us this update. rebecca long—bailey, lisa nandy, jess phillips and sir keir starmer, who is way out ahead with 68 nominations at the moment. there are two struggling at the moment which is emily thornbury — she's got 10 — and clive lewis who's only got four nominations. emily has been speaking to bbc in the last hour or so. she's got 12 to go so not even halfway there, but she says she is still pretty confident that she can get over the line. can you do it? i think so. what's happened is we've only had a week to get those nominations in. there is a large number of mps who haven't nominated yet and many of them have wanted to speak to their party members and go to the hustings and think about this because it's obviously a very important decision. from the conversations i've had this weekend, i'm fairly confident that i'll be fine. i will get across the line and, you know, then we will move onto the next stage.

it is a long contest and it will have its ups and downs and i've been a slow starter but i did start from a standing start after the general election. she has been a slow starter, when you look at the numbers. she is confident she can do it and she says there is a lot of her local party and people talking to their constituencies and talking about who they are going to go for. if she's going to make it is going to have to happen in the next few hours. rebecca long—bailey is often labelled as the continuity candidate because she was very close to jeremy corbyn. how helpful to her is that? not hugely, is the honest answer. it's helpful in that she's got the support of the current leadership. it looks like she's going to get the support of momentum, this powerful grouping within labour who are behind jeremy corbyn, and also there are still an awful lot of labour members who are very supportive ofjeremy corbyn about thejeremy corbyn project.

in that sense, it's going to be useful to her but on the other hand, how far does she want to be associated with that catastrophic election defeat in december? she was asked about this today on sky news and she said, well, she regretted what happened, for example on anti—semitism and a number of other issues but when it came to the manifesto she was broadly supportive. here's what she had to say. the platform on which many of those policies was developed was a positive one and as i said it did deal with the reinvestment and reinvigoration of our economy and the shift of wealth and power away from those few minorities that have it to everybody and every single community. we didn't get that message through and we need to recognise that. members can vote in this leadership contest. when it was jeremy corbyn's time, when he was elected as leader, we saw a big spike in applications tojoin the party. quite a cheap thing to join

at that point, wasn't it? and there is a big variable this and this week is a big one for the labour party because not only do we have the deadline for nominations but after that there is a 48—hour window when people can sign up, pay £25 and become what is known as a registered supporter and then vote in that leadership contest from late february to the start of april. how are those people going to vote? even though at this stage sir keir starmer looks like the front runner because he's got the most nominations, that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to win. a lot of unpredictability in this contest. the government is urging more people to visit local pharmacies to ease pressure on gps and hospitals. figures this week show a&e departments in england have experienced their worst month since waiting targets were introduced. patients who call the nhs111 hotline are being directed to pharmacists for urgent medication

for things like asthma and diabetes, as well as those with mild conditions such as sore throats and earache. the health secretary says accident and emergency departments should be only for the most seriously ill patients. i want our a&e services to be treating people who really need that full— blown service, and want people going to their gp and able to get good access to their gp when they need the gp service, but if you have a minor illness that can be treated by a pharmacy, then why notjust pop round the corner to the pharmacy instead? it takes pressure off the nhs and it is more convenient for patients. we always hear about the impact of carbon dioxide on the environment but methane is actually a more potent heat—trapping greenhouse gas and there are huge quantities of it locked away in ice under the seabed. so a key question for climate scientists in cambridge is what would happen if some of it gets released when that ice melts. here s oui’ science

correspondent richard westcott, correspondent richard westcott. to find answers to global issues, you start small. in a lab in cambridge university, they are trying to understand how methane moves. so, these days everyone is talking about carbon dioxide. methane, if you're thinking about a 20 year scale, if you release methane into the atmosphere, it's 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, over 100 years it's 20 times more potent. vast quantities of methane are locked away in an icy cage below the sea bed. it's thought to contain as much carbon as oil, gas and coal put together. as temperatures rise and some of the ice melts, it is important to understand what happens to the released gas. hence this dye. it shows how the gas will move through sea water. so, by knowing where methane has travelled in the water column, using fundamental mathematics and physics, engineers can use that knowledge to design solutions that will work in the real world to stop the methane from getting

into the atmosphere. in the same lab a different experiment, to model how the gas moves when it's still trapped in the icy ground. what we are trying to understand here is how much gas might get released, if any at all, so actually there is huge quantities of methane hydrates but most of it is under a very stable condition. it's not going to get released. the concern is in certain areas if the ocean might get warmer than these conditions might be perturbed and destabilised and that might cause the gas to escape. down here, over time, organic matter slowly decays. creating a volcano of methane gas. some see methane as the saviour. it is the key component in natural gas and it's cleaner than oil and coal. china and japan are among countries looking to tap into their reserves,

but some scientists fear we may pay a price. we are dealing with huge quantities of methane in the form of methane hydrates and even if a very small percentage of it gets destabilised, released into the water column and potentially the atmosphere, we could be looking at potentially catastrophic consequences. 20 years after the end of the ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual people serving in the armed forces, the royal british legion is calling on all lgbtq+ veterans and those currently serving, to join its "allies branch". the aim is to recognise and remember the contribution of gay personnel to the armed forces as well as raising awareness of the legion services available to them. trevor skingle, who served in the army from 1974 ? 1979, described to me, what life was like pretending to be straight during his time in the military. it was a bit like living a dual life, except half of me was gone. ifelt like half a person. it wasn't always like that.

when i firstjoined the services, the initial basic training phase and the trade training phase, i was so busy, i couldn't think about anything else. but in the working unit, i suddenly started to realise i really could have done with having a relationship with somebody and my preference would have been with another guy. but obviously, at the time, the ban was still in place. that was a no—no. it was almost like having a split personality, having to hide myself from everybody. hide my real self because i could have gone to prison... i could have been interrogated. i could have been given a dishonourable discharge. you knew that, i imagine, before you signed up. yeah. but the reality much harder to bear. i come from a military family, so my aspiration was to join the services almost

from the word go. ijoined in spite of the fact i knew that i was gay at the time ijoined. the royal british legion is celebrating the first anniversary of this particular branch for the lgbtq+ community. why was it so important to you to join that? i had been in touch with friends, now veterans, former colleagues, but about a year ago, i kept my ear to the ground about what was going on in the military, particularly as i initially started a group called rank 0utsiders with other veterans, and together we were trying to kick off a lobbying process in 1991. i kept my ear to the ground to see what was going on. the ban was lifted in 2000. i still kept my ear to the ground and because i was still occasionally getting homophobic comments on social media, not i might add from serving personnel.

usually, i have to say, and this might seem controversial, but it's older veterans who are stuck in their viewpoints about lesbians and gay men. but then, about a year ago, i suddenly saw this advert for the royal british legion lgbtq+ group, so ijoined. what impact has it had on your life? how have you got involved with them? it has been incredibly cathartic. last year, at pride, i marched as an openly gay man for the first time under a military banner, albeit that was the royal british legion and as a veteran, and i can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up now... i just felt so proud. this particular weekend, the 20th anniversary, the commemoration of the lifting the ban, it has been a pivotal moment in my life. particularly with the apology made byjohnny mercer on behalf of the government.

that was a real pivotal moment in the house of commons when he said that. although i held it together at the time, the following morning, when i saw the first news item on my news feed, i burst into tears. briefly, how much does it alleviate those sad, difficult and probably traumatic memories when you were serving? it has alleviated it immensely. this morning, i woke up and i thought about what has been going on this week and what has happened and i woke up instead with a smile on my face. trevor speaking to us earlier this morning. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn. the england cricket squad has been hit by illness yet again. this time it's captain joe root, who had to miss training in port elizabeth this morning, due to a stomach bug. with the test series

against south africa level at 1—all, the 3rd and deciding test starts on thursday. england s tour has been badly affected by illness and injury from the start, with 17 players and support staff laid low by flu—like symptoms, and rory burns and james anderson forced to return home through injury. hopefully it is just today. 0bviously hopefully it is just today. obviously it is a frustration because nobody misses training more than him. it has been a bit of a story of the tour so far, guys getting ill, but i'm sure he will be fine and luckily we have a few more days before the game so i'm sure he will be fine. serena williams has won her first title for three years. she beat jessica pegula in straight sets in the final of the auckland international and donated her winner's cheque of around 33—thousand pounds to the australian bushfires relief fund. williams will have another shot at a record—equalling 24th grand slam title, when the australian open starts a week tomorrow. played pretty well in new york.

just not in the final! again in wimbledon, just not in the final. yeah, so i'm getting there. it'sjust putting it together for the whole tournament. i'm feeling good and fit and i feel like i've got some good matches, long rallies, short rallies, power players and elements so this is what i needed going into melbourne. it's good, it's really good. karolina pliskova held on to her brisbane international title, despite a spiritied performance from madison keys. pliskova said the tough three—set win was the ideal preparation for the australian open. the former world number one reached the semi—finals in melbourne last year, but she's yet to win a grand slam singles title. novak djokovic took the atp cup final to a deciding doubles rubber, with victory over rafael nadal in sydney. spain went 1—nil up thanks to roberto bautista agut‘s victory in the morning singles, before the world's top two players took to the court.

djokovic broke nadal twice in the opening set to take it 6—2 but nadal didn't go down without a fight, forcing a tie—break in a much tighter second set, only for djokovic to hold on. nadal said he didn't have enough energy to play in that deciding doubles but had complete faith in his team. they appear to be missing him though because djokovic alongside viktor troicki have taken the first set 6—3, leading pablo carreno busta and feliciano lopez. 16 points clear in the premier league following a record number of wins this season — liverpool manager jurgen klopp feels there remains room for improvement. no other team has started a season as well as liverpool in europe's top five leagues — a one nil win over tottenham gave them their 20th win from their opening 21 matches —not that they'll sit back and rest on that record run

0ur contenders are so strong so city will not give up, whatever pep guardiola says, they will not give up. we have to play there and then stuff like this and that's how it is. i know that, it's no problem, i would do the same. but so far, so really good. another record could fall today if sergio aguero scores twice for manchester city in the late kick off against aston villa, the argentine would become the highest foreign goalscorer in the premier league. thierry henry is the current record—holder, with 175 goals — aguero isjust one behind. arsenal are set to go clear again at the top of the women's super league — they're playing brighton and they lead 2—nil at half time, jill roord with their second. it's tight at the top with manchester city winning yestreday to pull level.