up by east gippsland water, and we also had drinking waterfill up points provided by gippsland water to full service. we are on restricted use but the tapwater is drinkable again. we don't know how long that will last if we can't get diesel into the town. food wise we have a bit more of a problem because we don't really have anything coming and other than what is already on the market shelves and what they have got an stock. we have two small supermarkets and town and they are doing the best they can to stay open for us but they will run out eventually. brendan, thank you so much for talking to us and the very best to you all there and mallacoota. the gender wage gap exists in many industries, but one sector that's particularly tough is hospitality. a recent report found that it's unusual to find women in the senior ranks of international hotel management. but one well known hotel here in singapore is making a difference, and i went to find out more. good afternoon, my name is grace, i'm your butler. she's not your stereotypical idea of a butler. she leads a team of 29 who serve some

farmer john white the mayor of the shire of east gippsland. >> it's been extraordinary and people who have knn the bush all their life have just described the fire behavior as something they've never seen before. i think, in terms of area, it has possibly burnt close to 60% of our area. >> reporter: mayor white is grateful his fellow countrymen have rallied to help farmers like him in this time ofreat need. on saturday, a convoy of trucks carrying hay rolled into town with a police escort to speed the way. depends heavily on tourism.rea but with the fire looming, authorits were for evacuate 30,000 people enjoying businesses on main street are hurting, but it's too soon toin te the tourists back. >> it's difficult to say we're hin recovery while we stie a fire that could burst out anywhere over the next six weeku and actually c a similar devastation wherit's not burned now. >> reporter: fire has always en a part of the landsca here in australia but this year, it's different. i>> the fire season of 20 australia is really a perfect storm of climate events, to be honest with you. >> repor

and the situation is just as dire further south along the coast in east gippsland and central victoria people in the small town of mallacoota have been evacuated by naval ferries to safety. and three emergency warnings are current in victoria. these pictures are extraordinary. these pictures here show the hundreds of residents who have been told leave their homes now before it is too late. for many australians, it feels like the entire south—east of the country is alight with fires. we are going to leave australia. we will be back with lucy later on. there is another major story today. the other major story today: iran has announced it has rolled back on its commitments under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, marking a further and dramatic escalation of tensions in the middle east following the assassination of the iranian general, qasem soleimani, by the us. general soleimani's remains have been returned to iran with enormous fanfare. james robbins has the latest. hundreds of thousands of iranians have been mourning general soleimani and apparently getting behind their leaders promising

primary producers and these businesses stopping there will be a big rebuilding effort here and east gippsland many other of the country as disasters have befallen them, and the commonwealth will play a key role in working together with state and particular local authorities in building those businesses back up, and building the infrastructure again and ensuring that we can see a recovery of the area, not just that we can see a recovery of the area, notjust physically but also economically, to provide those ongoing services that are necessary. 0ur concerns ongoing services that are necessary. oui’ concerns are ongoing services that are necessary. 0ur concerns are obviously now looking out over the next 2a or 48—hour period, this is a ferocious fire that is still out there, and the climatic conditions are going to be very difficult to contain that in the next 24—48 hours, that is why the next 24—48 hours, that is why the evacuation messages are so incredibly important. these fires are ata incredibly important. these fires are at a scale that has been said on many occasions 110w are at a scale t

victoria police say" there is currently no intelligence to indicate that the fires in east gippsland s will start earlier, end slightly later, and generally be more intense" "this effect should be directly observable by 2020." and so it‘s proved. yet, there are a minority of australians who continue to point to arson as a major factor. hello there. there will be some drier, colder interludes in the next 6—10 days, but on the whole, we‘ll be dominated by strong, atlantic winds, and that means more cloud. you can see the cloud gathering, the low pressure systems gathering on wednesday out in the atlantic — coming right off the eastern seaboard of the usa, and that‘s because the jet stream across the mid—latitudes have strengthened significantly. where it should be, really, at this time of year, it will be pushing those weather systems, those low pressure systems our way, because we‘re expecting the jet stream to become pretty powerful. so, for thursday, it does look as if it‘s a little further southwards, and we will see the wettest, windiest weather pushing across the southern half of

water's edge as far as a series of town for life entrenched smell a crucial much of what's known as east gippsland where again a whole towns have been a rise by the fires they're now in victoria have a couple of towns that are entirely isolated they can't be accessed by road and deliveries of food and water by air has been very difficult because of the heavy smoke and fog that is now hanging over southeastern australia they're relying on shipments being borson by the australian navy to top up their food and water supplies and it's really on in the last 12 hours that they've been able to get some connections that have allowed people to be critical patients to be evacuated to hospitals in the cities like melbourne and sydney so that should give us a sense of just the sort of difficulties that authorities are facing in trying to look after both people who need critical care and to take care of communities that have been oscillated by the fire and also melissa we understand there's a heat wave in the forecast for this coming weekend i mean that must raise worries that this is actually going to get wor

thousands of people are trying to leave this region in the south coast of new south wales, and in the east gippslandbetween these two states. and authorities have basically warned people during this lull in the weather conditions, during these cooler temperatures, to get out now. and that process already started on wednesday afternoon and on thursday. however, there are so many people making their way out. and at the same time, there are outbreaks of the fire to or up and down these the princes highway and the monaro highway going back to canberra, moving along these highways that both the fire outbreaks and the fact that there's so much traffic is impeding people from getting out. so, you know, prime minister scott morrison yesterdayjust, you know, warned people and urged people to stay patient and remain calm — you know, we'll get you out. and while this is all playing out, to what degree is it disrupting day—to—day life in cities like the one you're in? these towns are so close to the major cities that it's having flow—on effects. and while the smoke at the moment from these massive fires hasn't

. >> these fires particularly in east gippsland overnight and throughout yesterday were creating their own weather. that's how fierce, that's how active those fires were. >> reporter: and while there have been lucky escapes with this car emerging just seconds before huge flames jumped this major highway linking sydney to melbourne. the fires have so far also claimed 12 lives. four others are currently missing. >> and so in the days and weeks and i fear months ahead it will continue to be difficult. i wish we had better news on new year's eve. but one news we can always take comfort in is the amazing spirit of australians. >>eporter: the prime minister will now send military aircraft and navy ships to assist with the firefighting efforts. >> schifrin: that report from sejal karia of independent television news. thousands of people in hong kong opened the new year with new protests, calling for democratic reforms and less control by mainland china. they formed human lines that stretched for blocks, and spilled onto key roads. they were chased away later by riot police using pepper spray.

these guys, that is going out to those isolated communities and all those communities across east gippslandt might see these fires grow in the next few days to get out while they can. so people here are watching and waiting and of course as dave says, this bushfire season is only just begun, as dave says, this bushfire season is onlyjust begun, the next few weeks, months. they're expecting these fires to continue. british soul singer, celeste, has won bbc music's sound of 2020. the award is given to artists who are tipped for success in the coming year. she joins a stellar line—up of past winners, including adele and ellie goulding. it's been a good year for celeste so far, as she's also just been announced as the winner of the brits' rising star award. so what next for the duke and duchess of sussex, as they reveal they're stepping down from their royal duties? an announcement that's said to have shocked senior members of the royal family. so how significant is this, and how might the queen have reacted to the news? let's speak to the royal historian, professor kate williams, whojoins us f

may be difficult to discern but the density of smokers been so bad, this part to the east of melbourne is called gippslandagery showing some of this has been carried to new zealand, recovered that last week, as far east as chilly but it has been bad again and we saw that poor air quality in melbourne yesterday but the best way to clean up the air was less rain but it came through with ferocity, we saw to the north of melbourne 70 millimetres of rain fall in a place cold albany in six hours and in one place 30 millimetres fell into ours so that is over an inch of rain coming down at that pace and some magnificent hail, this is the radar which doesn't dojustice magnificent hail, this is the radar which doesn't do justice how intense the rainfall was. the other amazing thing, this is the afternoon in melbourne, really hot to start with, this is 1pm, 30 degrees, in comes the rain and in two hours a 15 degrees temperature drop so nothing too chilly but down to 22 is a marked change but for many the response was relief with the air clearing and a temperature dissipating. air clears, but where does pollution go?