the headlines on bbc news... hundreds of anti—british demonstrators protest outside the embassy in tehran. here, the government calls yesterday's detention of the ambassador "a flagrant violation of international law". completely unacceptable. i think you are right, a breach certainly of the vienna convention and a whole range of things. urgent talks between the queen and prince harry and meghan will be held tomorrow over the royal couple's future. 8,000 people are ordered from their homes and manila international airport puts all flights on hold after steam and ash erupt from a volcano in the philippines. in australia the terrible toll of the bushfires on the country's rich wildlife and many endangered species.

serena williams wins her first singles title for three years after beating jessica pegula in straight sets in the final of the auckland international. and at half past eight: transporting you to outer space in northern spain in the travel show. good evening and welcome to bbc news. good evening and welcome to bbc news. britain's ambassador to iran has been summoned by the country's foreign ministry, and accused of attending an illegal anti—government demonstration. rob macaire was arrested yesterday in the capital tehran and detained for three hours in apparent violation of his right to diplomatic immunity. mr macaire said he was attending

a vigil for 176 people who died on the passengerjet which was shot down by iran last week. today, hundreds of people gathered outside the british embassy in tehran, chanting "death to the uk" and burning the union flag. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. outside the british embassy in tehran today, an angry demonstration. men burning flags, crying, "death to the uk". an organised protest by hardline militia with links to iran's revolutionary guard, all calling for britain's ambassador to be expelled from the country. rob macaire was detained by police yesterday for what iran's foreign ministry described as inappropriate behaviour at an illegal gathering of anti—government protesters. the ambassador, seen here next to the former foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, was held for three hours until his identity

was confirmed and he was released. the foreign office said the ambassador had been paying his respects at a vigil for those who died in the ukrainian airliner shot down by an iranian missile on wednesday. something that has prompted angry demonstrations on the streets. in a tweet, mr macaire said... completely unacceptable. i think you are right, a breach of certainly the vienna convention and a whole range of things. iran is at a crossroads. they've got a decision to make and the point we are making, the foreign secretary has said just this morning, is we want to see things de—escalate. we want to see iran come back into the international fold and play their part but they are at a crossroads and they've got to make that decision. yet today, mr macaire was summoned

to the iranian foreign ministry to explain himself. he told them his detention was unjustified and a violation of international law. tensions have been high from the moment the us assassinated a top iranian general. iran retaliated against us bases in iraq and the ukrainian airliner was tragically shot down. but for a moment today, those tensions were calmed as world leaders gathered in oman to mourn the death of the country's leader. but the causes of the confrontation with iran remain unchanged and unresolved. today, president rouhani met the emir of qatar, who said both men agreed that de—escalation was the only solution. perhaps notjust for the region, but also on the streets of tehran. borisjohnson hasjoined with the french president, emmanuel macron, and the german chancellor, angela merkel, in a fresh appeal to tehran to return to complying with the international nuclear deal.

in iran, the british ambassador has strongly objected to his arrest during demonstrations last night. earlier our diplomatic correspondent james landale explained the deal and where it stands. this agreement that was made in 2015 between the international community and iran to say, look, iran, you stop producing your nuclear programme and we will lift economic sanctions. this has been at death's doorfor a sanctions. this has been at death's door for a number of years ever since 2018 when the americans pulled at their support, saying we do not believe this is working any more, iran is still destabilising the region and still has its missile programme. the europeans have disagreed. they say it is better than nothing, we need to maintain this dialogue and it is restricting the nuclear side of iran's capability. last week, donald trump made very clear appeal to the

europeans saying, look, you have to stop your support for this. today the europeans have responded and have put out a statement. the leaders of france, germany and uk have said we believe still in this deal. we have to keep it going as much as we can. the problem is the iranians are losing patience and are pulling out of their provisions with it and pulling out of their provisions with itand are pulling out of their provisions with it and are not complying with it any more, so there is a debate going on about whether or not the europeans should issue a formal complaint mechanism to try and put pressure on the iranians. the fear is within the confrontation taking place at the moment this deal might collapse and the diplomats think that would be a mistake, certainly on the site the atlantic. like you said in the context of what is happening at the moment it is all getting very messy. we have had our man in tehran, rob macaire, briefly detained. we have heard mention of pariah status from

dominic raab. how will this help or not help? the arrest of an ambassador is a serious matter, the british have been very robust in saying this is not acceptable and it isa saying this is not acceptable and it is a breach of international law. both the germans and the french have put out separate statements themselves today supporting the british ambassador. they are saying this kind of apparent intimidation ofa this kind of apparent intimidation of a diplomat is not acceptable. equally there is an awareness saying, look, we don't want this incident to become yet another factor further incident to become yet another factorfurther in incident to become yet another factor further in an already tense situation. i think both sides are saying, look, we have to say our sides, but we do not want this to get caught up in the wider confrontation particularly between the united states and iraq. iran does not want to be seen as weakening its regime, what is the feeling of what will happen next?”

think iran is going through a spasm. it is reeling from this awful tragedy of the ukrainian airliner downed. different parts the iranian regime are saying who will get the blame for this? all the focus will be on that process of accountability. there will be a lot of introspection in iran at the moment, notjust looking out to the wider world and trying to deal with the americans. that is james landale. that is james landale. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are rob merrick, who's deputy political editor at the independent, and the defence correspondent for the times, lucy fisher. the queen attended church at sandringham this morning ahead of face—to—face talks with her grandson prince harry tomorrow about his future. it's understood it will be the first time 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. meghan is expected to join in the conversation on the phone. 0ur royal correspondent sarah campbell reports. the queen is a familiar face here on sundays and, this morning, she attended church as normal. but these feel like very unfamiliar times, with senior members of the royal family all making their way here for a summit unprecedented in its nature. her majesty will have her first face—to—face meeting with prince harry, her grandson, since he and his wife announced they intended to step back as senior royals. attending the meeting, prince charles, on his return from 0man, where he travelled to pay his respects following the death of the sultan. prince william will also be at the meeting. meghan, the duchess of sussex, is expected to join the talks via phone from canada, where she returned last week. there is much to discuss here at sandringham at the meeting tomorrow about the future relationship between the duke and duchess of sussex and the royal family. it is hoped that next steps will be agreed,

but officials are stressing that any decisions taken about their future status will take time to implement it. and money is likely to be the key sticking point. the couple have said they wish to seek financial independence but what does that mean? where will they live and will it continue to be the taxpayer who pays for their security? i think the british taxpayer should pay for the security of harry and meghan and theirfamily, as they do with former ministers. he has done great service, just on the basis of that. and i also understand that a young couple really ought to be allowed to make their own decisions about what their future should be and, if they decide they want to go to canada, of course, they must always be protected. 0pinion polls and this straw poll from sandringham this morning suggests finding a solution will not be straightforward. i think it's a bit rich, really. they have got married, being senior royals, and now, suddenly, it has been paid for, it's done and now all of a sudden they don't

want to be senior any more. that is the sad thing about it all, that he didn't think to speak to the queen first, i think that is a little bit unfortunate. after the shock of wednesday's announcement, this is a family trying to pull together. 0n the front page of one national newspaper today, a quote reportedly from prince william, "i've put my arm around my brother all our lives. "i can't do it any more". there is no precedent for what is being proposed, a part royal, part private role. the priority now, for the sake of the royal family, is that a way forward must be found. that was sarah campbell. here's royal biographer angela levin's response to the meeting at sandringham. i think it is so depressing, i think it is so sad. itjust shows you have to try and be tactful even at your worst moments. you have to think of others as well. you cannotjust be like a bull in a china shop, a

really expensive china shop. i think it is deeply sad. i feel so very much for the queen and prince william and prince harry. prince charles is more resilient, he has seen charles is more resilient, he has seen much more of life, but for the two brothers who were so close with the unique experience of losing their mother very young. prince harry said to me when i was interviewing him that he found it very ha rd to interviewing him that he found it very hard to trust people but he knew throughout his life he could trust his brother. that seems very sad to lose that. seeing that headline on the front page of the day's sunday times widow sleet, not confirm, i want to translate comments from his brother prince william, that will not help, will it? i don't think it will make things worse actually. i think it will confirm the situation. what i think is interesting is how the both

brothers are going to turn up tomorrow, whether they are going to come feeling resentful and not wanting to make a decent deal, or whether they are going to look at each other and feel i can't let you go out of my life, let's try and build bridges. ithink go out of my life, let's try and build bridges. i think it is very difficult to know which one they are going to adopt. both of them want to maintain their own position and it will be very, very tricky and the whole thing could rely on that. plus, whether the queen thinks of herself as something she must do for the monarchy and behaves like the queen, or whether she behaves like a grandmother with one of her favourite grandchildren. what do you make of this rift between the brothers? many family siblings go their own way. why does it sound as if it is a divorce? yes, i can't see any reason why this has happened.

brothers fight and argue and they fought as little children. they can still be fighting now. they are very different. harry wears his heart on his sleeve. william is opening up now but he doesn't naturally open up to people. but they were so close. i fear that this is meghan‘s influence. that she feels very grudging towards kate and william and somehow she has got to take it out on them. but harry is equally responsible for following. he could say i will go with you anywhere in the world, i love you to pieces and let's leave and i think that is absolutely justified, let's leave and i think that is absolutelyjustified, but, let's leave and i think that is absolutely justified, but, please, let's leave and i think that is absolutelyjustified, but, please, i don't want to fall out with my family. they should have talked behind closed doors and, when they had sorted something with a joint statement between the palace and harry and meghan so it looks a bit more amicable even if it is not. it

just looks so bad. i can't think of anybody wanting to do that to their 94—year—old grandmother, not least because she the queen. she has had a terrible year. you said it was meghan‘s influence, what evidence do you have of that? meghan has got a lot of past where she cuts people off, shejust gets rid of them when she doesn't feel things are going right. she did this to herfirst husband, she was married for less than two years. he introduced her to lots of directors and producers of films and he was one himself. she went off to do suits in canada, this series, and she said that her engagement and wedding ring in an envelope and he was totally devastated and shocked. he had no idea. isn't that gossip? nobody knows really what goes on behind closed doors. divorces are very rarely amicable. shouldn't we be

dealing with the hard facts rather thanit dealing with the hard facts rather than it looks like we think that, because that is what is making all of this so messy? i think in theory we wa nt of this so messy? i think in theory we want to do that but in practice one does not. one looks at somebody‘s past and sees what they have done and i think meghan is much tougher than prince harry on this matter. he has wanted to leave the royalfamily matter. he has wanted to leave the royal family because he did not want to live in a goldfish bowl any more than he had to and he wanted to go to africa and were looking after animals, he told me. but he felt that his sense of duty to the queen and to his brother took precedence. he would know very well that this would be deeply upsetting for all of them. the headlines on bbc news: hundreds of anti—british demonstrators protest outside the embassy in tehran.

here, the government calls yesterday's detention of the ambassador "a flagrant violation of international law". urgent talks between the queen and prince harry and meghan will be held tomorrow over the royal couple's future. 8,000 people are ordered from their homes and manila international airport puts all flights on hold after steam and ash erupt from a volcano in the philippines. sport and a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre. sergio aguero became the premier league's leading foreign goalscorer, bagging a hat—trick in a 6—1 thrashing of aston villa. city were 4—0 up by half—time at villa park. riyad mahrez scored the first two goals before aguero got in on the act. his first, this powerful effort,

drew him level with thierry henry on 175 premier league strikes. goals two and three took him clear. the hat—trick, his 12th in the league, means he now holds that record too, one more than alan shearer. when these kind of things happen, how many had tricks and goals, it is not one season, two seasons, it is a long, long time. that is the real value, when you are consistent for a long time, like sergio aguero has done, scoring goals all the time with us right now, before and in the future. villa are now in the bottom three after watford beat bournemouth 3—0. they've climbed up to 17th. bournemouth are second bottom. manager eddie howe says they must come back stronger. arsenal women have gone three points clear at the top of the women's super league after thrashing brighton 4—0. arsenal controlled the game from start to finish.

beth mead's late goal completed the scoring. they stay clear of second—placed manchester city and four points in front of chelsea, who beat bristol city 6—1. after a three—year wait, serena williams is a winner again, taking the title at the auckland classic. the 6—3, 6—4 win over jessica pegula was herfirst since the australian open in 2017 and her first since giving birth to her first child. she donated her prize money to the australian bushfire relief efforts. it also ends a run of five straight final defeats. in the zone a few times, playing pretty well in new york, just not in the final. again, in wimbledon, just not in the final. yes, i am getting there. it isjust putting it together for the whole tournament. i am feeling pretty good, i am feeling fit, good matches, long rallies, short rallies, power players, elements, and this is exactly what i needed going into melbourne. it is good. former leeds rhinos legend rob burrow said he was overwhelmed and humbled as rugby league came out to support him in a sellout

at headingley for a special fundraising match. burrow was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year, and held back tears as he took to the field in front of more than 20,000 people at a special pre—season friendly featuring current and former players of the rhinos and bradford bulls. 0ver over the moon. 0verwhelmed, 0verthe moon. 0verwhelmed, humbled. all those words put into one. it was an absolutely amazing day and when i will certainly remember. you cannot really know what it feels like to do it. i have been lucky enough to win some trophies, but died today, bringing the kids out, was something which is beyond that, so i love it, and absolutely lovely day. in pool a of rugby union's european champions cup, northampton improved their chances of making the quarterfinals with a bonus point win over bennetton. in a game where the lead changed hands several times, the french side led

8—5 lead at the break. tommaso benvenuti crossing the line. the saints battled back with four tries after the break. fraser dingwall‘s score confirming the bonus point as his side eventually won 33—20. northampton are second in pool a. there's been a surprise in the opening round of snooker‘s masters with uk champion ding junhui beaten byjoe perry in the first round. the opening six frames were shared at alexandra palace but the 2017 finallist perry streaked away to reach the last eight for only the third time in his career. right now, three—time masters champion mark selby is also up against it. facing ali carter, he's lost the first two frames. you can watch this on the red button and on the bbc sport website and app. you're up to date. more in the next hour. i look forward to it. thank you.

there are less than 20 hours left for the six candidates in the labour leadership to gain the backing they need to get to the next stage of the contest. sir keir starmer, rebecca long—bailey, jess phillips 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 the 14th to the 16th of january to secure a vote by paying £25. the ballot will be open from the 21st of february until the 2nd of april. with the results announced two days later on the 11th april. well, our political correspondent nick eardley told me a short time ago that sir keir starmer is the clear favourite at this early stage to take overfrom jeremy corbyn. he is the man to beat in this race. in terms of mps, he has got the backing of around 68. i think that will go up quite a bit tomorrow.

and from the only poll we have seen so far, he is the man in front as well with members. i have got to say, though, rebecca long—bailey is the favourite candidate of the left. there is a good chance that when this campaign actually gets going, and when some of the pressure groups, like momentum, start lobbying for particular candidates, that she will pick up a lot of that ground as well. in terms of people who we think are going to definitely get through the next phase tomorrow, in fact, who we know are going to get through the next phase tomorrow, lisa nandy and jess phillips will be past that as well. so keir starmer, rebecca long—bailey, lisa nandy, and jess phillips will get onto the next stage. it is proving quite hard at the moment for clive lewis in particular. he has only got the backing of four mps. you need 22 to get through. emily thornberry, a prominent person in the shadow cabinet, only has ten as well. when she spoke to andrew marr earlier, she did say she was confident. let's have a listen. can you do it? yeah, i think so. i mean, what has happened has been

that we have only had a week to get the 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, they wanted to go to the hustings, and think about this, because obviously it is a really important decision. but from the conversations i have had this weekend, i am fairly confident that as long as i don't get any slippage, i will 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 have been a slow starter, but i did start from a standing start after the general election. now one of the issues that has been discussed is this point about proximity to jeremy corbyn and that being an issue? absolutely. it is a bit of a tightrope for all the candidates to walk, to appeal to the membership, which has undoubtedly gone more to the left under mr corbyn, without being seen to be too close tojeremy corbyn, because of course, he had that disastrous election result back in december. we have seen sir keir starmer

try to do that by saying some of the policies are right, thatjeremy corbyn was right to make the party anti—austerity but also saying that tony blair was right as well. it is a difficult issue for rebecca long—bailey because she is seen by some as this continuity corbyn candidate. that was put to her earlier on sky news. have a listen to her response. the platform upon which many of those policies were 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, but we didn't get that message through, unfortunately, and we need to recognise that. so tomorrow we find out who gets through the first hurdle, which is the nomination from mps. there is another one. every candidate who remains in the race needs the backing of 5% of constituency parties across the country or unions and then it is down to members. one member, one vote. three months left, all to play for.

the department store chain beales has warned that it could collapse into administration. has warned that it could collapse beales, which has 22 branches across the uk, is negotiating with landlords over rent and is holding talks with potential buyers. the company has been around for almost 140 years but poorer than expected christmas trading is threatening its survival. police in gibraltar have arrested dozens of people accused of smuggling migrants into europe by fraudulently obtaining uk tourist visas. officers say the gang trafficked more than 130 people from morocco into spain and other eu countries and charged them around £6,000 each. sir roger scruton, one of the country's most prominent conservative philosophers, has died aged 75 after a six—month fight with cancer. the prolific intellectual,

author of some 50 books on morals, politics, architecture and aesthetics, died earlier today. the family said in a statement that they are "hugely proud of him and of all his achievements". he was knighted for his services to philosophy, teaching and public education four years ago. a dramatic release of ash and steam 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. 0ur correspondent howard johnson is in the capital, manila, and he said the effects of the eruption are already being felt. yeah, shaun, i've just been out on the streets and saw lots of people wearing masks to cover up with this ash

that's falling down. you can have a look here. if ijust swipe my hand here, you can see there is dirt all over the place and there is a sulphurous smell in the air. the authorities are advising people to wear masks to protect themselves. this has gone up from a level three alert to a level four alert. that means a catastrophic explosion could happen any time soon. that means lots of people in the area are being evacuated. some three major towns nearby, thousands of people are currently moving away from the volcano. we have seen a lot of volcanic activity in this region and seismic activity in the last year or so. this pacific ring of fire has been incredibly noisy and busy, lots of rumbles today and booming sounds, local residents say. what is happening tonight is people are moving away, moving towards manila to make sure they are a safe distance away and the authorities are warning people, even the president's spokesperson told

people to get out of the area as quickly as possible. what is the history of eruption with this volcano? this is the second most active volcano in the philippines. the most active is mayon. last year, that erupted and we saw a similar situation where it went from level three to four and there we saw a similar massive plume of ash and steam rising from it. then it moved on to this pyroclastic display with lots of lava flowing from it, like a fountain from the top. that has not happened here in taalfor a long time, but there have been lots of tremors since march of last year, lots of warning signs that this volcano was active. residents have been on a state of alert since they found that out. let's not forget, this is the area that had one of the most destructive volcanoes of all time, pinatubo, in 1991, blew up killing some 350 people at the time and lots of people were affected by the mud flows and the dust in the air, lots of respiratory diseases.

hundreds more died as a result of that. so the people in the philippines are on a state of high alert tonight, waiting to see what happens with taal volcano. australia's prime minister, scott morrison, has expressed regret over his handling of the bushfire crisis, following widespread criticism of his government's response. 0n kangaroo island, in the state of south australia, almost half the land has been scorched and scientists are worried about the fate of many endangered species. 0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil‘s report from there contains images of animals killed in the fires. it's an ecological 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,