♪ >> this is due to be news. world leaders are urging restraint after the u.s. assassinates a top military commander. washington says it ordered the drone strike against2 to prevent a future iranian attack. the killing marks a dangerous escalation as the international community braces for iran's retaliation. also on the program, devastating wildfires force one of the largest evacuations in australia's history, tens of

thousands fleeing the flames by land and sea. hot weather and a strong wind could lead to c catastrophic conditions thiss weekend. and computer programming can be child's play. how china's whiz kids are coding the future. ♪ phil: i'm phil gayle. welcome to the program. we begin with fresh fears of a war after u.s. joan strike killed a top iranian general. the attack at baghdad airport coded general qassem soleimani, the head of the qud f force cocommencing as s the architectf the military in the middle east. it also killed in iraqi military group leader with close ties to iraq.

the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei has a warning to the u.s. at that it faces harsh retaliation. the u.s. has ordered citizens to leave iraq and is sending thousands of extra troops to the region. correspondent: iranians took to the streets on friday in the tens of thousands. they chanted, no compromise, no surrender, fight the u.s. the news of qassem soleimani's killing sparked fury among protesters, who directed their anger at the u.s. >> the same thing should be done to them. their leaders should be killed. all of them should be killed. correspondent: military officials also spoke of revenge for the killing of the man who was widely seen as the second most powerful figure in iran. >> the americans should prepare themselves for a slap in the

face. the americans must know now that after this crime they have committed they will face no safety or peace anywhere. correspondent: this was all that remained of the vehicle carrying the iranian general and iraqi milititia leader after the american missile strike. soleimani had just landed at baghdad airport, and his friend on hand to welcome him. both were killed instantly, along with five others. the deaths are a major setback for iran, and for iraq, which loses an important military ally. the u.s. says the strike was necessary, claiming soleimani had been developing plans to attack americans in the region. but speaking to cable news, secretary of state mike pompeo said that washington wants to avoid further conflict with iran. secretary pompeo: the president has been clear, we do not seek war with iran,n, but we will not stand by and watch the iranians

escalate and continue to put american lives at risk without responding in a way that disrupts, deters and creates an opportunity to de-escalate the situation. correspondent: the reaction from tehran was swift and resolute. supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei issued a statement promising "strong revenge" and ordedered three days of nationol mourning. he also named a successor to qassem soleimani, his former deputy. the conflict was already escalating before the latest airstrike. on thursday, 750 american soldiers arrived in kuwait. now washington is directing u.s. citizens in iraq to leave the country immediately. phil: now to get the latest, we will go to washington to speak with alexandra von nahmen. why did the u.s. target the general, and why now? alexandra: the administration

has said it was necessary to kill qassem soleimani to disrupt an imminent attack that would've put american lives at risk in the region. to talk more about that and of the consequences, we are joined now by the state department spokesperson morgan ortagus. thank you for being with us. can you tell us more about this imminent threat? morgan: i think there has been a lot that has gone on in the middle east. let's look at the past week. we saw attacks on december 27 that killed an american contractor and also injured at some of our service members. and we have seen subsequent attacks in baghdad. these were sponsored and equipped militias that are in proxies of the iranian regime, specifically of qassem soleimani . over the past week, we have seen those, so we were dealing with those attacks. the president, his national

security team, got intelligence that they were more attacks coming. but it also must remind you, people are focused on the intelligence, which i understand because we did need to take defensive action, but people should look at what ayatollah ali khamenei was saying, what the regime said today, talking about how qassem soleimani was actively plotting and planning. there is no secret, everybody knew what he was up to and the u.s. has warned and warned and finally the president decided to take decisive action, because we felt the threat of keeping qassem soleimani alive was greater than the threat of taking him off the battlefield. alexandra: secretary mike pompeo also said that the u.s. remains committed to de-escalation, bubt in fact this attack on a high-ranking military figure is bound to escalate the situation, isn't it?

morgan: we were de-escalating. we have not just seen attacks on americans, but in the past two months america has experienced more than 11 attacks on our facilities in the middle east from iran and their proxies. we have seen the downing of an american drone, attacks on saudi arabia, not only on oil facilities, but numerous attacks on their airports. we have seen attacks on ships in the persian gulf. so we have seen time and time again where america has exercised restraint. we have reached out our hand of diplomacy, but we warned the regime, mike pompeo warned publicly and privately, do not attack american citizens, do not go after our interests, our soldiers or allies. they continued to do it, so we needed to take a step that would deter americans from being killed and we took out a terrorist. alexandra: democrats in congress say they should have been consulted before the action, do they have a point? morgan: not really.

alexandra: now how are you , prpreparing for an onslaugughy the iranian forces or proxies in the region, what are you doing to prepare? morgan: that is a great question. the safety and security of americans is the highest priority for secretary pompeo. and is certainly for president trump, when he was weighing this a very important decision. we at the state department are working closely with our colleagues in the department of defense to take as many actions as humanly possible to protect our diplomats, our military can -- military, you saw the department of defense announced more troops going to the region. they announced it yesterday. there have been several announcements over the past week. so we will do everything within our power to protect americans, and certainly the safety and security of americans was always at the forefront of our mind whenever making this incredibly tough decision. alexandra: thank you. back to you. phil: alexandra, this is the second time the united states has sent missiles against

targets in iraq, which is supposed to be its ally. what does this tell us about america's attitude toward baghdad? alexandra: well it is telling us , first and foremost that iran is the centerpiece of the u.s. foreign policy and that it was a priority foror the trumpmp administraration to strike on iranian proxies in iraq and to kill soleimani, even though it meant they would be risking the ir relationship with baghdad. phil: alexandra, thank you. the u.s. drone strike has drawn a variety of responses from across the international community. russia was critical, saying "this step could have grave consequences for regional peace and stability. in our view, such actions do not contribute to the finding of solutions to the complicated

issues that have accumulated in the middle east." another said "the u.s. military , operation has a follow dangerous publications from iran however this action has not , made it easy to reduce tensions." he continues "further , escalation, which could set the whole region on fire, must bebe prevented." but israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has spoken in support of the killing, saying just as israel has the right to self-defense, the u.s. has the same right. qassem soleimani is responsible for the deaths of american citizens and many other innocent people. now we will take a look at other stories making news around the world. a man with a knife has gone on a rampage at a park in a suburb of paris, stabbing people before running away. police officers chased and shot him dead. one of the stabbing victim's has been confirmed dead two others , are injured. police in turkey have detained seven people for questioning over the carlos ghosn case.

a private jet company has admitted that one employee helped him flee for lebanon on one of their planes. he had been awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges, but he jumped bail and escaped. at least four people are dead after a hotel collapsed in cambodia. after about 16 people have been rescued from the rubble the , search is continuing for other survivors. the hotel came down during construction. cambodia's hotel industry has been booming but is plagued by , safety problems. now to australia, where deadly wildfires are prompting one of the largest evacuations in the country's history. more than 200 blazes are burning across the heavily populated states of victoria and new south wales. the fires have already killed 19 people and have burned thousands of homes. officials say the conditions are expected to worsen this weekend. correspondent: nightmarish scenes like this have driven

some people to the sea, where they are now being evacuated. many roads are impassable, and water is sometimes the only solution. the decision is wrenching. survival, but at a price. a home you may have lost. meanwhile, the government is coming under criticism from the public and of emergency service workers for not providing enough relief, or doing so too late, or both. but now there is no middle ground. the weather forecast for the next few days is even worse. the call for a major evacuation for parts of victoria and new south wales is loud and clear. >> this is a ferocious fire that is still out there, and the climatic conditions will be very difficult to contain in the next 24-48 hours. that is why the evacuation messages are so incredibly important. the fires are at a scale that

has been on many occasions unprecedented, especially at this time of year with the length of the fire season and absence of rain. correspondent: ecologists at the university of sydney fear the death toll includes hundreds of millions of animals. the blazes have destroyed more than 1300 homes and have scorched an area far g greater than the netherlands. phil: now we will speak with angela, who is with the fire service in new south wales. welcome. we have seen footage of congested and closed roads of of -- out of residential areas affected by the fire. peopople have got to be askingn, will p people be ablble to leave areain t tim angegela: over r the last 48 hos here, , rticularly in the south coast areas, we have asked a number of peoplele to leave thoe locations because the conditions today are not favorarable for people to bebe in place down

there, so over the l last couple daysys we have wororked oselelyh other agencies to be able to open roaoads to allow those peoe to move from those locations to a a safer spotot, for example en sydni city, -- sydney, before the conditions flare up today. phil: we have been hearing from forecasters the conditions are sasaid to get worse. from a firefighting perspepecti, if things get t worse is t there anything morore you can do? angela: the conditions we will see today are incredibibly fffficult fofor our firefighters on the ground. in many cases, t there are huge flame heights, i it is hot and very dififficult to directly attack, so in many cases firefighters have to actually fall back dd protectct life and property as a priority. in many y cases, they are supported by aircraft and water bombing helicopterers and plane, but sometimes s the smoke put ot

by the large fires actually prevent the aircraft from being able to access the fire grounds, so it is difficult conditions for all involved. phil: tell us, if you would about this sort of conditions , your firigighters are e in afr all these weeks. i know you actually suffered more than one fatality there. angela: ththat is right, as you said, we have seen devastating impacts from these fires, including loss-of-life and even the loss of life of our very own firefighters, which has been devastating for us to lose one of our own. we have now lost three of her own firefighters. so it is certainly taking a toll. our firefighters are hurting, everyone in our agency is hurting. but i guess the thing is that we have to get on with the job because we still have hard weeks ahead d of us, where we will sea repeat o of these weatheher patterns. we have a slight reprieve for a

couple days, but then things will heat up a again and we will see the strong winds that will threaten communities again. phil: we wish you well. thanank you for r joining us frm the new south wales royal fire service. now to columbia, which is beginning the new decade amid ongoing protests against their president's right wing government. a host of issues are fueling the demonstrations including , corruption and drug finance, to name a few. often overlooked however are the growing calls to reform the country's health care system. dwindling services and overworked doctors with low pay are a few of the problems. our correspondent has more. correspondent: juan manuel loves a working at the hospital. he loves to take his time with patients, making sure that they

feel safe and understand their conditions and treatments, but doing the job with such dedication has become difficult for many people working in colombian health care. > one out of four health care professionals are unhappy. one of our system's shortcomings is the pay that physicians receive. some of them have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. correspondent: overworked and underpaid doctors and nurses are not the only ones feeling let down by the health care system. even in the capital, where there are plenty of hospitals and clinics, patatients are findingt impossible to get even the most urgent appointments. > i call the hospital every y but theyey do not hahave time fr me. i tell them, please i suffer , from multiplple sclerosis, i need special treatment. they never have time.

>> they give you an appointment may be in n one or three months. it is horrible.. the healthcare services of -- are awful. correspondent: such problems are related to structural weaknesses. columbia's health care system is dominated by private insurance companies, numerous intermediaries have hit the headlines for embezzlement and corruption. the president of bogota's medical association says it was their greed that caused this. >> the less services these companies provide, the more money they make. so the insurance company denies treatment or takes a long time to authorize them, allowing the condition of the patient to deteteriorate, or they refused o cover therapy altogether. correspondent: necessary treatments denied without explanation. it almost destroyed this young woman's family. her brother had alarming symptoms, but his doctors were not allowed to run the tests they needed toto diagnose him.m. >> it took them seven months to

authorize a cat scan, from january until august. whwhen they finanally got ththe results, thehey saw he hadad a n tumor. when we found out he had a tumor, he had already lost his hearing and suffered irreversible brain damage. correspondent: mariaiana is a nurse herself and has been participating in the protests, suffering from the health care system's shortcomomings as a patient and a professional, she urges fellow colombians to keep fighting for change. >> i am confident that there willll be change someday. maybe not exactly how we want it to be. that would be perfect. i do not believe that will happen. but some kind of change. no matter how small. correspondent: for the time being, it does not look like the government will heed the call, but in the waiting room and on the streets, colombians have run out of patience.

phil: in germany, the krefeld zoo has a reopened days after a fire killed at least 30 animals. authorities say it is almost certain illegal sky lanterns triggered the new year's eve blaze. as people arrived to express their grief, zoo officials have described the reaction as an overwhelming wave of compassssi. cocorrespondent: a sea of candls awaits visitors at the zoo in western germany. doors are open two days after a fire destroyed an enclosure, killing around 30 animals. it is anything but business as usual. the staff is struggling to cope. >> the past 48 hours have been a nonstop nightmare for us. i can hardly keep from crying. what happened is horrible and unbelievable. we are trying to do our work. everyone is doing a great job.

correspondent: staff opened the doors to visitors with mixed feelings. >> of course we thought about whether or not it was the right thing to do, but our animals still have to be cared for and normalcy helps. we also want to give the people a chance to visit their zoo again. correspondent: fire destroyed the enclosure just after midnight on january 1. more than 30 animals were killed, including orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas. the fire was caused by a burning paper lantern. it is more in atmosphere of mourning than a pleasant family outing. the people are still in disbelief. >> i also came here when i was in kindergarten and in school. when we found out, we were shocked. it is deeply painful. >> i knew these animals. which makes this experience even worse for me.

>> we want to donate money to support the zoo and rebuild the ape enclosure. correspondent: the aim is clear, a new structure will be built. the krefeld zoo has housed apes since the 1970's. >> it would be a pity to let all this knowledge go unused. it is clear that even if we do not know how it will look or which types of animals there will be, at least we will have primates again. correspondent: tens of thousands have already made donations to build a new enclosure, but it will be years until new apes will be here at the zoo. phil: evidence of climate change is mounting in the world's highest mountains. in the himalayas, rising to temperatures have been rapid and alarming. the lack of snow and the rate of glacial ice retreat is a real climate emergency. factor into that the b billion peopople downstream m who depenn

the himalayan snowmelt. correspondent: this glacier, one of many in the himalayas losing snowmass at an alarming rate. swarmi, a hindu yogi, has lived here for most of his life. he has seen firsrsthand the impt of global l warming. swarmi: there should be 10 feet of snow here in november but there is not e even a foot right now. it will not snow for months.s. may be ththe end of or m mid december january. correspondent: over the past00 years, t the glacier has r retrd more than 2.5 kikilometers. and d glaciology experts say the is no sign of it slowing down. >> the glaciers melt in summer and accumulate snow in winter, but because of climate change or global warmiming, the summers extended and winter is shrinking.

it means the snowfall period is shorter and the melting period is longer. correspondent: that is happening across the himalayas. it is also disturbing the ecosystem as the ice recedes year-over-year. >> the change is h happening, the glaciers are putting pressure on biodiveversity in tt topography and in that climate. swarmi: new spececs have statard showing up here. last year, there was a mosquito and a bedbugug. new creatureres are popppping u. therere are leeceches d d snakes have b been found at the riverside. 20 or 30 years ago they were not here. correspondent: the himalayan glaciers stretch for 2500

kilometers across asia, feeding major river systems. the loss of ice could mean a devastating future for the region. phil: now with more daily tasks help to buy computer tasks, coding has become more markrketable. but imagine learning to code as an eight-year-old boy. correspondent: he makes it seem like child's play. this developer is so good at programming, he teaches it online. his channel has over one million views. vita learned coding when he was only five years old. now he can fix bugs and lead much older students step-by-step through a coding app called swift playgrounds. >> i have to pass all the levels in order to teach. otherwise, if i cannot spell it out when recording the lessons,

how would that be ok? correspondent: dad taught him the code that has made him an online sensation, but wants to keep him down to earth. >> i have told him, you have not done anything remarkable. you have only recorded some videos and the content is not so extraordinary, just the basics in programming. correspondent: parents without a computing background can send their children to classes like this, and demand is booming. china's i.t. education market is expected to be worth 4.8 billion euros by next year. the push for kid friendly curriculum comes from the chinese state, which wants to develop a new generation of a.i. and robotic experts, like this coding whiz, and make china a dominant force in the world's cyber future. >> in the future, i hope to use

code based on the chinese language, so we can do more in this computing language. correspondent: vita is already leading the way. his advice to his fans, coding is a long-term challenge, so start learning now. phil: this is dw news. coming up next, a closer look at the big stories of today on "the day," and world news at the top of the hour. have a good day. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

france twenty four and france twenty four .com. iran called the assassisination of general soul money in act of international terrorism this is hundreds of thousands of iranians protest to demand revenge against the united states. a knife attacker south of paris kills one and leave to others in critical condition no word yet on motivation the police have opened an investigation. and australia's raging wildfires prompt one of the largest evacuation in the

country's history