it is. saturday january through the gemini. this is deja vu news live from berlin tens of thousands are told to evacuate as fires burn out of control in the australian state if victoria firefighters are struggling against bushfires fan fires strong winds and scorching temperatures lightning started more than a dozen new fires overnight also coming out a gunman opens fire of a church in the u.s. state of texas killing 2 parishioners but churchgoers quickly returned fire and

shoot again death. also on the show the year 2019 in this force from triumphant football stars to a comeback on the green we'll take a look back at some of 29 teams topped sporting well. i'm brian thomas welcome to the show we begin in australia where a new heat wave is creating more bushfires increasing the toll those blazes are already taking across the country the latest evacuation orders include those for some 30000 people in the state of victoria now the high level fire alert has led to the cancellation of hundreds of fireworks displays for the new year. if

there's one thing that's considered a given at the end the feature here it's the images from across the world are flashy new year's celebrations and there is pride in being the ones to kick off the yearly affair. and you know a new save the world looks at city every single year and i look at vibrancy if i look at our passion i look at our success. but for the last 3 months australia has been battling some of the worst bushfires in decades the blazes are predicted to peak on new year's eve despite the growing forecast the city of sydney confirmed on monday it would go ahead with this year's fireworks show planned but i remember a time when we've had total fall bans in place in the grass in the region where we haven't been i would to accommodate the risk elements for conducting the new year's a fall works in the in the sydney harbor area particularly we just thought now level of of coverage to ensure a safe and effective. function denouncement just sydney's fireworks display would

still take place despite the bushfires has sparked outrage a quarter of a 1000000 people signed a petition to scrap the celebration plans is banned just for this here. this is all happening but this is the 1st time. that it's been like this in sydney and it's not going to be the next you know what does labor day here and do it again next here while the bigger ring over sydney's fireworks continues volunteer firefighters are battling the blaze with little success let's get the latest now from sydney we're joined by journalist roger maynard good day to you roger can you bring us up to date on the situation where you are including on these new fires that we're hearing about in the state of a. for brown we begin with an even more tragic news or news just seems that there's been another push by the tallet city law until a firefighter was killed and 2 of his colleagues injured when their vehicle

overturned it was apparently the result of strong winds which overturned the vehicle it had a lonely at all near allbery only new south wales victoria border and only and that will bring the total death toll so far this bushfire crisis to 10 so a very sad state of affairs there meanwhile of bushfires of continuing to break out of victoria there's news of a major push push by little in suburbs of melbourne but the main focus of attention of attention is east gets land which is sort of to the southeast of victoria and about 750 kilometers south of sydney there are multiple fires burning there and their revenue spreading across the region as you mentioned earlier that there are thousands of people living in this part of the world it's a key tourist attraction to spot it at this time and thousands well are asked to leave many disobey that all of that decided to stay there and take their chances

and tonight those fires are still burning roads have been closed so there's very little opportunity of to escape that particular part of the victoria into the other general genuine concerns for those thousands of people who are on holiday and who live in the east it's an area but the news is that the cool southerly wind is due in the next few hours and may will ease the crisis for the moment ok we've been following these fires for for weeks now and does australia have the resources to deal with these these new fires you just told us about in victoria are there enough men and women to fight them to go around. well there are thousands of volunteer fire as are about $3000.00 i think of each or alone and a similar figure here in new south wales but bear up against it it is a struggle there's no doubt about it here in new south wales there are still a 100 fires burning half of them out of control and the situation is like to get

worse in the next 36 to 48 hours with all with higher temperatures forecast and strong dry winds arriving this particular concern about the area south of sydney only coast of fires a broken out there already early on today many people again are on hold in this particular area so this on the sea concerns for their safety and you know the it will most impossible to predict what's going to happen next in this crisis so you know it's anybody's guess to be honest ok well what about the decision then to continue with the fireworks display in sydney in spite of the the public outcry to to not hold them the sear. is below it it was a lot of talk about the weather in the works in sydney not what should go ahead a lot i mean they are a major event here they're tracked a 1000000 people will argue for sure itself to watch the the other fireworks live and in addition to that you've got a 1000000000 people looking up live on television around the world how the flower

works and the celebration of the new year so there was a lot riding on whether or not these club work should go off well earlier today the rural fire service said yes the father works in sydney probably could go ahead but that's about the only one that will lots of other display public displays in other parts of sydney and in regional new south wales has been cancelled there's going to be a lot of attention all on the one and on city hall but all right roger thanks very much for that from senator. let's get you a brief down some of the other stories making the news at this hour the united states says it has bombed 5 locations in iraq and in syria controlled by a paramilitary group with suspected ties to iran secretary of state on pails of the strikes were in response to earlier attacks that threatened u.s. forces in iraq didn't rock the authorities were people killed by the u.s.

airstrike over the course of the last a chinese court has jailed a scientist who claims to have created the world's 1st gene edited babies whose young choir was sentenced to 3 years in prison for practicing medicine illegally last year he shocked the international scientific community when he announced that he had used the gene editing technology known as crisper to alter the genes of 3 babies. or ukrainian and russian backed separatists prisoners have been reunited with their loved ones after a major prisoner exchange between the 2 sides now among those released captives who have been imprisoned since fighting broke out in 2014 the move follows an agreement between russia and ukraine. home for the new year dozens of joy for unions played out on the key of airports tamaki many of the captives hadn't same friends or family fi jez on hand a visibly moved president flow to me is

a lens he great to the exchange during talks with russia's vladimir putin earlier this month. is that we deliver on our promises so these people will celebrate new year with their loved ones with their parents and children at home is determined. and this is the moment prisoners were afraid earlier on sunday russian backed separatists late ukrainian prisoners. at a checkpoint in the country's aist the men were lined up. to be collected by the red cross for some it was a chance to voice that anger over their treatment here you know i spent 5 years in a basement how can this happen in the 21st century in a european country where very doubtful about. heading home to dozens of separatists many of them have also faced hosh conditions in captivity. in this conflict

volunteer militias have often ignored the rules of war conditions in captivity and the tourists n.g.o.s say the ukrainian government too has violated detainees rights . which in that when they tortured me 5 times in jail on a good movie i did my they said he's dead take away his body but i survived despite them. and many of those have been released to the new year will bring horrifying stories with them. but whatever they've enjoyed now is still a moment to celebrate. for the families and others in a war torn country. in the united states churchgoers in the state of texas shocked at a gunman who opened fire the sunday service police say the man armed with a shotgun killed 2 parishioners but the attack ended quickly after 2 church members used their own weapons to shoot the assailants dead in september

a new law went into effect in texas allowing licensed gun owners to carry their own weapons in places of worship for parishioners at the west freeway church of christ 11 50 am on sunday morning became a time to kill a man dressed in dark clothing stood up from the pews and opened fire within seconds a volunteer church security officer had shot and killed the assailant moments later several of the churchgoers had also drawn their guns. but to day he will walk boldly among us but let me remind you good people raised up and stopped it before it got worse. 2 victims died in the attack more than 200 others were shaken but spared churchgoers said they were grateful for the presence of armed worshipers. well here in cairo i think it all congregations should have the people there are people prepared to give service to do so with. their faces very young and then

they're wonderful people they were there before anything got any worse a little bit. this year the u.s. has witnessed more mass killings than any other year on record. this country has seen so many of these that we've actually. gotten used to it to this point and it's tragic and it's this is terrible situation especially during the holiday season investigators say they are working to find a motion of so this latest tragedy. we have some sports news now in from football to tennis to golf sports fans are taking stock of the year gone by as they start to dream of what the new year may hold in store for their favorite teams and stars here's a look back at some of the sports highlights of 2090. a parade of champions

the united states won a record extending fulfillments football world cup and their stomach and pino so come every individual award possible as much for her passionate pleas for gender equality pass for her on field exploits in men's club football liverpool ring supremum winning the champions league and the club world cup in tennis the women's majors was shed 4 ways but french open winner ash party ended the year as number one. for the men it was 2 grand slam titles each for rafa nadal and novak djokovic the greatest comeback came in gulf where tiger woods won the masters age 4311 years after his last major victory following personal injury problems athletics had its usual up and down year kenya as cho gave became the 1st person to run a marathon in under 2 hours but it will not count officially. the world championships in doha were overshadowed by low spectator numbers and doping but

shelley and fraser pryce stole the show for the women adding 2 more to her record hole of 9 golds that world championships the russian doping scandal intensified with the country now banned from all major sporting events for 4 years after being accused of manipulating dates are clean russians may compete as neutrals must say these last formula one great mickey loud at age 70 and lewis hamilton secured an emotional 6th title underdog south africa beat england in the men's ruby world cup final khaleesi became the 1st black male captain to lift the trophy proving let repine know that politics and sport can go hand in hand. this is the revenues still to go are you traveling over the wall there might be problems i had a strike at lufthansa only german away started a few hours ago is that to last for 3 days of more laughter business news with mark

. don't forget there's more of these other stories as well or website dot com you can also of course follow are you trying i'm brian thomas helena humphreys will join you again at the top of the hour for the entire news team thanks. carefully.