lines from thousands of australians escaped the wildfire sweeping the country by fleeing to the beaches to lives a lost soul source who struggle to keep the flames from hundreds of fires that also on the program. protesters in iraq attacked the u.s. embassy in baghdad chanting death to america i'm going to tie u.s.s. truxtun neck country. back calls for germans to be courageous and confident in confronting the challenges of a new decade. yet stressed also stresses the need to tackle climate change.

i'm sure welcome to the program. the australian city of sydney has welcomed the new year and a new decade with a massive fireworks display despite its many other parts of the country are not celebrating but a growing fears for residents and tourists in several coastal towns when are trapped by raging fires people have sought shelter on the waterfront and have prepared for possible evacuation by sea it's an unprecedented situation and worst affected have been australia's 2 most populous states new south wales and victoria now and the town of molecule down there on the coast that's where about $4000.00 people have gathered on the beach to try and escape the flames the blazes of also

claimed 2 more lives a father and son trying to protect their home several other people are still missing. stranded by the sea side. of tourists and locals being held hostage by raging wildfire in the town. to leave. along the beach for help to calm. the fires along. and we have a look at. those across the region have made the difficult decision to stay behind. on their own.

and. the communities. temperatures on tuesday peaked at 41 degrees celsius. in some places the places are so intense the thick smoke turnkey tonight and aerial reconnaissance and water bombing have to be halted the fires are causing dry lightning storms that themselves are starting fires. when fawaz arkwright in iran where i have. to run 4050 kilometers in the air it's not saif then there is obviously the the very common sense issue of not being out of the city. much so much impact in terms of moving around australia has been battling huge bushfires for several

months mostly on the eastern coast on tuesday almost $300.00 fires were registered and the places have consumed more than 40000 square kilometers of land. and to give you an idea of what emergency crews are facing new south wales fire and rescue service released this footage of one of its crews being caught in the blazing forest 170 kilometers south of sydney. like to say the crew did manage to escape not far from that residence of the said georges basin because the almost apocalyptic images they were preparing to see in the new year are those plumes of smoke come from the nearby coral one files. crowds of protesters attacked the u.s. embassy in the iraqi capital baghdad in response to recent u.s.

astronauts targeting iran backed iraqi militia u.s. president donald trump has accused iran of orchestrating the protests washington says all u.s. personnel of the embassy are safe and this additional forces will be sent to got the compound. hezbollah brigade supporters crossed the. river tigris in the morning and marched toward the u.s. embassy to demonstrate. their protests began after a funeral service for fighters killed in u.s. airstrikes on sunday. the militia officers had previously killed a u.s. citizen. the demonstrators broke through the embassies external security barriers and made it as far as the last security wall of the embassy building in baghdad among the demonstrators shiite clergy and a radical militia leader. the other look on the road this is the command center for the destructive operations it was from here that iraq's sovereignty was violated.

by the demonstrators managed to force their way into the compound in the afternoon they remained there until security personnel deployed tear gas to disperse them. washington says it's confident it knows who's backing the shiite militia as president donald trump tweeted earlier. iran is orchestrating an attack on the u.s. embassy in iraq they will be held fully responsible. it was only after several hours that iraqi security forces arrived to protect the embassy grounds. as guards was in there were joined a double years of bureau chief alexander welcome alexandra how seriously is washington taking this attack. very seriously i would say secretary of defense has announced that the pentagon is sending additional marines to protect you as personnel in iraq and according to media reports 2

apache helicopters were sent to fly over the embassy and a clear show of force additional secretary of state pale spoke with the iraqi president and the iraqi prime minister on the phone today and according to the state department he made clear that the you asked will protect and defend its people now the u.s. has invested millions in military aid in iraq since so tall old saddam hussein so how will the u.s. attack iraq you're talking the u.s. embassy those 2 incidents how's that going to affect their relationship well i think that it's fair to say that the strikes conducted by the last sunday against pro iranian leisha's have resulted in a serious political crisis for the united states in iraq iraq government condemned those airstrikes and iraq's national security council even threatened to rethink

its relationship with the ass led coalition and now the attack on the u.s. embassy in the havel the protected green zone so we have to assume that the protestant smile must have had at least a tacit permission from the iraqi security officials so we're dealing here with the serious political crisis didn't pass the potential of still king and american is in the country and handing an advantage to iran and its competition for more influence in iraq and as we heard the u.s. president donald trump he blames iran for masterminding the attack the relationship between the u.s. and iran is already fractious how does this affect. well i think so far and despite the existing tensions to ask strategy has been to rely on sanctions and more in last to miro iran's activities and president from has

repeatedly repeatedly said that your ass is not looking for a new and novel conflict in the middle east however we have to say that with this very unstable situation on the ground in iraq and i think it can happen if there is an hour incident and and i have a provocation to ask may be forced to respond and that means that the situation could escalate i was under phenomena in washington thank you and i will take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world right now next on boss carlos ghosn news in lebanon after skipping back in japan where he was awaiting trial for financial misconduct in a statement he claimed he was not fleeing justice but was escaping political persecution legal team said it was shot by the clouds. and gold has frozen the assets of the door for president of the move against isabel dos santos is part of an anti-corruption drive africa's wealthiest woman she

amassed a fortune few stakes in one golden company is joining her father's time in office as she denies any wrongdoing. musicians from the paris opera have given an impromptu performance on the steps of the city's famous deal opera as part of a protest against president micros pension reforms and union spokesman said the reforms would damage the quality of the troops before since. i'm going back all has called on jobs to be courageous and confident in meeting the challenges of a new decade the german chancellor also used to on you will a new year's eve address to stress the need to tackle climate change. it's the end of the year and the end of the decade the world is getting even more complicated but german chancellor angela merkel doesn't paint a bleak picture even if she clearly points to a pressing issue the key word climate. is

a global warming is real it threatens us it is caused by human activity as are the crises that arise out of global warming so we must do all that is humanly possible to combat this challenge to humanity there is still time it's just move. america says the recently agreed climate protection laws a step in the right direction even if young environmental activists say the law doesn't go far enough but merkel says the government must consider all citizens. by talking with stevie wonder guided by the values of freedom solidarity and respect for the dignity of every single person as well as the principles of the social market economy these values will also remain our compass in the next decade and. medical says it's the state's duty to defend these values against anti-semitism hate and violence and this also applies to refugees and migration merkel stresses that solutions are needed within a european framework where in their minds off the only within the community of the

european union can we assert our values and interests and secure peace freedom and prosperity europe must strengthen its voice in the world therefore will also stand up for this in the coming year during the german e.u. council presidency for example by holding a summit of all member states with china and a meeting with the african states. and so chancellor merkel concludes the year pragmatically with concrete plans for the future employer there is still much work left for her to do. a new year celebrations are well underway around the world to head off a festive asis we sent our correspondents our trust people in a number of cities about their hopes and wishes for. a long time i hope hong kong will become. hong kong has always been called a cultural it doesn't because we focus on economic development we young people should show hong kong's cultural uniqueness to the.

coming decades i wish for the lebanese people to wake up and become aware that their religious and political affiliations would you didn't know where and would never be and would never have been because. i would like lattimer putin to stop dollars he's been in power for over 18 years and i'm tired and i want change for russia. even just. obvious good good economic growth and i will. lead no wish for peace and prosperity and that we get along with our neighbors. i just want a balance for younger people i feel like a lot of the older people get more privileges and better everything and people do

say about life is up. by when it's my life i wish that venezuela will become financially stable and that those who have left the country can come home. in the next decade the united states really focus on the people who are really the benefits that we have a citizens here by. also ally i love being immigrants to enter the country is equal because that's what we're all about. out of course our major cities in many parts of the world are putting on spectacular fireworks displays to welcome in the new year new zealand was one of the 1st to see in 2020 where i work extra accounts in all cleaned. shortly afterwards taiwan's one i want towering taipei was this up in front of cheering crowds on closely by bangkok which burst into coming up at the stroke of midnight. in tokyo shoe boy

a district there were no fireworks with plenty of people crammed into the city's most famous are crossing when talking icesave more than 100000 just 2. update them all on the website of course t w dot com more of the top of the i have a defect the from. the adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. to celebrate comics on the front 250th birthday we were embarking on a voyage of discovery. expedition voyage on d.w. .