this is the interview news live from berlin the world rings in a new year and a new decade berlin welcoming the 2020s with all the fireworks display down the brandenburg gate celebrations also taking place from new york city to auckland we'll bring you some of the images from around the globe also on the show. no end in sight to australia's bushfires sweeping through coastal towns after this hour at least another 3 laws of the last hundreds of homes have been destroyed authorities

are struggling to get supplies into communities cut off by the fires. and the u.s. and $750.00 new troops to iraq that after prorating protesters stormed the perimeter of the u.s. embassy compound in baghdad the violence coming after american airstrikes targeting a rainin backed militia in iraq. i'm brian thomas great to have you with us to start the new year people around the world have been ringing in the start of this new year and a new decade just about an hour ago the crowds in new york saying hello to 2020. countdown in times square one of the globe's most watched new year's spectacles. i

or here in berlin thousands gathering at the brandenburg gate to welcome in the new decade here's a look now at how the world saw out the old year and welcome then a new one. i. the final countdown of the decade and the 1st few seconds of the 2020. thousands of berliners welcome the new year at the iconic brandenburg gate which fireworks accompanied by bass have been some 9 symphony have. 12 hours earlier the new zealand was the 1st major city to see in the new year with pyrotechnics erupting from the city's sky tower and over the water. in australia the fireworks from sydney's harbor bridge went ahead despite calls for

the show to be cancelled because of the devastating bushfires the country is experiencing i in hong kong the traditional fireworks display was replaced with a toned down light show this year with authorities citing security concerns following months of pro-democracy protests. in the north koreans were treated to a televised spectacle from the capital pyongyang thousands of people had gathered in kim il sung square to usher in the new year i ended by the world's tallest building the best khalifa was the center of a display featuring fountains projections and fireworks from the 800 meter tower. london's big bend rung in the new year in the british capital the familiar chimes were accompanied by an elaborate pyrotechnic display. from the london eye lighting

up the river thames and the thousands of revelers celebrating the arrival of 2020. well the new year coming on a somber note in australia where a further 3 people have been confirmed dead at least 200 homes have been raised by fires over the last few days in the states of new south wales and victoria authorities are now delivering food and water to thousands of people taking refuge on beaches and the danger is far from over we'll go live to sydney after this report. fields by searing temperatures and fast moving wins more than 200 fires continue to consume australia's southeastern states of new south wales and victoria a fire forced these rescue volunteers to take shelter in their truck as flames surrounded them the crew made it out safely. we also have a very real challenge at the moment with

a couple of also lied to communities where we've got reports of injuries and burn injuries to members of the public we have been out to get access via roads or aircraft it's been socked you know to digress and we simply can't access nor can the people in these areas. and some places the blazes are so intense that the smoke turned day into night the fires are causing dry lightning storms that themselves are starting fires. it's pretty scary that wall of fire that we saw. i don't know whether we be. the house and you're always worried that it's more important save your family than the actual property itself. some people who have returned home have found there's not much left. bert dorn this is the other unit that as i'm on the roof now trying to stop it. a stray you

had been battling huge push fires for some for a month mostly on the east coast but every state has battled blazes that have raised more than 40000 square kilometers of land stranding people and displacing wildlife. so is help getting through to stranded people right now under these conditions let's go straight to journalist roger maynard in sydney good day to you roger or what's the latest on on the thousands of people trapped outside malika on the beaches on this very difficult new year's day for australia well most of the law still the only. roads it closed because there's nowhere to go late the same situation in the marshes of the south coast of new south wales to thousands of people remain in small ball of the resorts in tiny communities and all the beach and didn't serve to try and try to find some temporary accommodation until they're rescued that might be some days away because the roads are likely to

remain close to some time and in the meantime the. air force and the levy trying to get to these people are either to evacuate them by sea or to bring them out by helicopter but that is taking some time to organize and it may well be that these people who stay there until saturday if they can't get out of all are ok you mentioned the australian norm terry roger are they going to be playing a major role now what are they going to be doing to help alleviate the situation in the country. well too this was hope departed in the past few hours one from sydney and one from jervis clay which is south of sydney they're heading down towards the north you self worth the tour of the border so that they can closely evacuate these people at miller cooter there was a taking supplies as well and supplies it very very important at the moment because of these people running short of food and water and the only way to get laws lot of

food supplies in is own up by by you know by sea so the of the the the league are playing an important role and also the the efforts of playing an important role to with 2 or 3 helicopters being sent from new south wales and queensland to you know to bring in these extra supplies and if necessary to take people out particularly those people who have been injured or who are suffering from burns ok briefly if you could roger is this unprecedented has the north terry ever been used in australia on a scale to evacuate people well the the yes the military is always standing by in the case of a crisis like this in floods and fires and no manner and cycle and all manner of situations in the military is standing by ready to help so it's not unprecedented but. it's very good they're also playing a bit over important role particularly in this case in this particular crisis it's

just bush leon president it and you know it's becoming almost a humanitarian disaster roger maynard for us in sydney roger thanks very much. as a preview now on some heroes stories making news at this hour north korean leader kim jong un says the world will soon see what he calls a new strategic weapon he said his country was no longer bound by a moratorium on nuclear and missile testing but he left the door open to further talks with the u.s. . angola has seized the assets of isabel the santoso the billionaire daughter of the country's former president the move is part of an anti corruption drive to santos who's thought to be africa's wealthiest woman amassed a fortune during her father's nearly 4 decades and power she denies any wrongdoing . british police charge a man with criminal damage were allegedly slashing

a painting by the spanish master pablo but also the incident happened at the tate modern over the weekend the damage work is worth more than 23000000 euros. balls to iraq now where crowds of protesters have attacked the u.s. embassy in the iraqi capital baghdad that in response to recent u.s. airstrikes targeting an iran backed iraqi militia u.s. president gul trump has accused around of orchestrating the protests washington says all u.s. personnel at the embassy are now safe and that it will deploy more than $750.00 additional troops in response. has been 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 live even though this is the command center for the destructive operations it was from here that iraq's sovereignty was violated. i 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. yron

germany all america was calling on germans to be confident in meeting the challenges of a new decade the german chancellor also using her annual years 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 keyword cloyd it. 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 no it's just nuclear. medical 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

cargo and stevie are 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 the meeting with the african states. and so chancellor merkel concludes the year practice magically with concrete plans for the future employed there is still much work left for her to do.

and now to a rare scene at st peter's square where a woman who made it through pope francis is entourage cause a scene that led to a papal slap and a rebuke pope francis had been shaking hands with people in the crowd and was turning to leave when a woman suddenly yanked him from behind the abrupt physicality appeared to cause the 84 year old pope some pain he slapped her hand away gave her a good scolding before moving away visibly annoyed. now within moments francis was back to wishing people a happy new year and kissing children. this is deja vu news live from berlin up next markets will have something to celebrate in the new year a new trade deal between the united states and china has all the details coming up in business after the break and don't forget you can always get more on these and

other stories or website news dot com i'm brian thomas with the entire news team. called me printers. defeat in the. dark for the.