this is the deed of you'd use live from berlin no letting up australia continues to battle wildfires in much of the country the government is sending in the army to help head about another extreme heat wave and strong winds also coming up. a passenger plane crashes in kazakstan killing at least 12 people shortly after takeoff air jet slammed into a 2 story building in the city of. despite the impact dozens walked to safety from the wreckage. and the race to mars is heating up nasa has presented its newest

probe to the red planet that is just one of 4 missions set to blast off in 2020. and to our viewers around the world thanks for joining us on nick spicer the australian government has called up the army to help fight wildfires burning out of control near the country's largest city sydney authorities are bracing for an extreme heat wave this weekend following a few days of cooler weather fire has destroyed vegetation on millions of hectares across of land across over the country over the last 6 weeks at least 9 people have been killed. not just thought you might expect that one of australia's most popular tourist sites visitors to the blue mountains west of sydney are forced to wear face masks as a smoke from nearby bushfires fills the air. the iconic rock formations

are barely visible in the haze it's really disappointing syria looking forward to seeing. you always want to see the flame out insert such a shame when we. all know it's like this. but that problem is small compared to the challenge firefighters in new south wales are set to face at the weekend after a brief response might securing a few days of damp or weather over christmas temperatures are again expected to soar bringing new risks. that's going to bring not just the heat out of the service we're going to see the temperatures up into the larger mid forty's across a lot of areas but it's going to bring a very dry air as well so that's going to elevate far beyond just and we know the winds are going to start turning around to the west in the northwest which is why so much work has been going on over this last week was conditions are more more out . some 70 fires are burning near sydney new south wales more than 1000

firefighters and now the military are in action across the state trying to contain the fires and prevent them from reaching more inhabited areas. where just putting it back in time and law in detroit prevent the fallout from hitting towards coastal villages already more than $850.00 homes have been raised in new south wales. authorities are also working to protect infrastructure surrounding a vital dam west of sydney that provides water to around 4000000 people in the city but which could be at risk if the fires spread. and for more on this journalist roger manor joins us from sydney roger the weather forecast for you is hot and windy what does that mean for fighting the fires well it doesn't bode well i must say as you mentioned just now those are sort of burning across new south wales alone and the hull of still yet to be contained and the situation will is certainly

get worse at the weekend as we see a return to those heat wave conditions we experienced earlier this week and also the strong winds which accompanied them so it's not a very good outlook at the moment it's a similar situation victoria where a massive part in there is forming at the moment the temperatures there are expected to hit 40 degrees a week in and again just the winds are expected to join them fanning the flames that already exist in parts of the torah especially in the east keeps land area and in south australia are actually much the same picture of firefighters there assented in the adelaide hills area which was so badly affected by the fires earlier this week the fire chiefs there are warning that if more fires breaking out over the weekend it will be very very difficult to suppress them so look additions of quiet and down a bit cool little in the past few days australia emergency services are on full

alert on the east and siegel as they prepare for what could be another major push luck process and it is there any way for the firefighters to prepare for the conditions they know will be worsening. well it's around the clock at to the t. at the moment during the school ish spirit they've been able to get some of the fires under control and to prevent them from spreading to other areas so that the relief of the past few days as allowed to them to get some kind of control over the far as but of course many fires are still burning out of control and especially in the country areas which are a very suffering really badly at the moment you mention the blue mountains earlier on in your report those fires are still raging in the blue mountains and also to the south in sydney as well many firefighters here hardly had any time the tools that were that them it's over the christmas holiday and so the stress and the exhaustion of it is certainly beginning to take its toll and you know those the

those fun and the fun of fighters who've managed to get a few days off are trying to conserve their energy for what might well plea another stability a serious situation developing particularly on sunday and monday ok i can only imagine the stress and fatigue with no end in sight as it would seem present roger many thanks for that. time now to take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world. russia's defense minister says its new intercontinental hypersonic missiles became operational on friday the kremlin says the missiles travel up to 27 times the speed of sound and can make sharp turns allowing them to evade missile intercept systems. in the gulf of oman iran has begun naval exercises with its russian and chinese allies the drills are taking place near a vital transit route for the world's oil tankers and iranian admiral says the

drills show the country cannot be isolated in his words on the seas. muslims in indonesia have been protesting outside the chinese embassy in jakarta demanding an end to the detention of an estimated $1000000.00 ethnic weaker muslims in government run internment camps china calls these prison camps reeducation facilities indonesia is home to the world's largest muslim population. authorities in the central asian country of kazakstan are trying to determine what caused an airliner to crash shortly after takeoff from. extends largest city the back arab jet was bound for the capital nor stilton with 98 passengers and crew on board 12 were killed in the crash more than 50 others were hurt the aircraft black box has been found and it's being analyzed. it's amazing that anyone survived

this. and it's a miracle that most of those on board made it out alive seconds after takeoff something went terribly wrong on this early morning back if lie passenger side the plane struggled to get an average chewed and soon came crashing down. grew up with the plane hit the ground harder than the light came flooding in. i didn't know if i was dead or alive. cried out then i saw a man next to a door i told him to open it and we got out through that over the wing of the jet. where it was going. but many went that lucky passengers at the front of the plane suffered the woods to injuries for their loved ones the white outside the emergency room was agonizing both families and survivors a traumatized. psychologists

a working with base relatives and patients we don't have any unnamed patients all of the names have been identified and you would see the scale of this disaster has touched kazakhs. many stood in long lines to give blood at clinics and hospitals with people donating on behalf of the injured. the government has also responded with a moment's silence. and promises to help survivors and the victims' families as from the families of the deceased and injured will receive financial assistance the government will deal with this issues. but many kazakhs want to know how this accident could have happened that's the task of investigators to find out they'll be looking at whether pilot error or mechanical fault caused this plane to plummet out of the sky on that key a sunday morning. earlier we asked aviation specialist julian bray about

the safety record of the airline and the plane involved both talk of $100.00 they out he ceased to mate these in the mid ninety's the company went bust and various assets were sold off to other people and there is talk of servicing company that actually controls or so the thing of the remaining aircraft so i'm not too worried about that i think the aircraft would be maintained to a certain level otherwise it wouldn't get certified they wouldn't certified it would be taken out of service rather like the max a in the extends a boeing are going through at the moment if it doesn't meet certain requirements it's not going to fly what i am concerned about is that when it was taking off people have been say that the tail hit the runway a couple of times now to me that was suggests that it wasn't loaded properly

there's quite a lot of people on board think it takes about $120.00 tops so maybe a 100 souls on board plus all the luggage it's a holiday period now if their luggage isn't stowed properly and the loading of the aircraft isn't right then of course that could affect the whole trim of the aircraft so we're not necessarily saying this is pilot error is a that it could they could is another factor that has to be taken into account and hopefully the black boxes will actually tell us whether we are right or wrong on that and there was julian brain aviation specialist speaking to us from cambridge. speed limits could be coming to the autobahn germany's famous highway system if the country's social democrats get their way the party's new leadership says a majority of german support putting on the brakes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to improve road safety germany is the only european country without

speed limits on most of its highways the subject has long been a contentious issue here people come to germany from all over the world to hit the highways and step on the gas germany is the only country in the e.u. without an overall speed limit. but an uproar ensued after tensile america's coalition partner the social democratic party made a u. turn the new party leader wants an overall speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour the transport minister a conservative is against it we have far more outstanding tasks than raising up this highly emotional topic again and again for which there is no majority support . in october a parliamentary majority voted against a speed limit. the issue has been debated in germany for decades. not be asked for motorists and the auto industry have always triumphed but their opponents have

another argument climate protection at general speed limit what we do c o 2 emissions that's part of the social democrats recommendation to the transport minister. that he could win a point this way just by doing something small and easily achievable for climate protection it would increase road safety improve traffic flow and we'd be in line with all of europe and most countries in the world. the social democrats want to continue government discussions about a speed limit but for now more than 2 thirds of german highways will remain full speed ahead. and we turn our attention now to a slower vehicle in california nasa is showcasing a spacecraft is scheduled for a launch to mars next summer the u.s. space agency wants to send the unmanned rover to the surface of the red planet partly to look for signs of past life nasa says the rover has already passed its 1st driving test all goes well the craft could land on mars by early 2021 it's one

of 4 launches the planet slated for next year. earlier we spoke to keith cowing an astrobiologist formerly with nasa he told us what the 4 missions heading to mars in 2020 are trying to achieve the u.a.e. spacecraft will be looking at mars whether china is going to be launching an orbiter but also is going to be putting a small layer that will be looking for something called bio signatures evidence of biological molecules on mars your hopes rosalind franklin rover from excell mars will be on the same thing as will the mars 2020 rover so those 3 rovers plus the mars science laboratory going for rovers on mars all of them are looking for evidence of past and possibly present life so it's going to be sort of a in astrobiology festival you know one in 2020 we don't really arsed. i was keith cowing an astrobiologist formerly with nasa speaking to you there. and a reminder of the top story we're following for you the australian army has been

called in to help fight wildfires raging near the country's largest city sydney forecasters expect an extreme heat wave in the next few days to raise the fire risk . we have more news coming up at the top of the hour don't forget you can get all the latest news on developments around the clock on our web site that's dot com thanks for watching. in the height of climate change. for cosmic. what's in store for. joining us today for the future. com we're going to go city hall to get insight. counter. to you know that 77 percent. are younger than thinks it. cuts me and me and you.