it is it is it is. something jenny. this is a deed of you 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 el massey 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 but 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 what you might expect at one of australia's most popular

tourist sites visitors to the blue mountains west of sydney are forced to wear face masks as the smoke from nearby bushfires fills the air the iconic rock formations are barely visible in the haze it's really disappointing siri looking forward to seeing if you always want to see the flame out in such a shame that when we. all know. that that problem is small compared to the challenge firefighters in new south wales are set to face at the weekend after a brief or spite securing a few days of damp weather over christmas temperatures are again expected to saw 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 by inches and we know the winds are going to start turning around to the west in the northwest which is war

so much work has been going on over this last week walking visions of 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 far from heading 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 the burning across new south wales alone and the heart of still yet to be contained and the situation will 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 in victoria where a massive force in there is forming at the moment the target is they're 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 victoria especially in the east keeps land area and in south australia 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'll be very very difficult to suppress them so all the conditions of quieten down a bit cool little in the past few days australian emergency services are on full alert on the eastern seaboard as they prepare for what could be another major push backcrosses and is there any way for the firefighters to prepare for the conditions they know will be worsening. well it's around the clock at tutti at the moment during the schoolish 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 fire 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 mentioned the blue mountains earlier on in your report those fires are still raging in the blue mountains and also to the south of sydney is world many firefighters here hardly had any time the

tools that were that them is over the christmas holiday and so the stress and the exhaustion of that 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 to try to conserve their energy for what my worldly another is to very 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 maynard 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 cannes extends the largest city in 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 is being analyzed. it's amazing that anyone survived d.s. . and it's a miracle that most of those on board made it out alive seconds off to takeoff something went terribly wrong on the early morning back after lie passenger side the plane struggled to kind of or chewed and soon came crashing down. the plane hit hard then the light came flooding in. i didn't know. 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 space relatives and patients we don't have any unnamed patients all of their names have been identified. it was 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 a 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 the

looking at whether pilot error or mechanical fault caused this plane to plummet out of the sky on a key a sunny 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 she ceased to make these in the mid ninety's the company went bust and various assets were sold off to other people and there is a fokker says in 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 would certified it 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 would suggest that it wasn't loaded properly there's quite a lot of people on board think it takes about $120.00 tops so they do $100.00 souls on board plus all the luggage it's a holiday period now if the 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 which is a that it could it 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 then 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 assessed

for motorists and the auto industry have always triumphed but their opponents have another argument climate protection a general speed limit what we do c o 2 emissions that's part of the social democrats recommendation to the transport minister. cunto 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 not 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 and 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 to 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 lainer that will be looking for something called bio signatures evidence of biological molecules on mars your europe's rosalind franklin rover from excell mars will be in 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 in astrobiology festival you know on in 2020 arced. 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 the top of the hour don't forget you can get all the latest news and developments around the clock on a website that's feet of you thanks for. small acts who can inspire change the people making it possible to go out for a fantastic right. join them as they set out to save the environment learn from one another and work together for a better future for. many cons to you all but seemingly.

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