both in victoria and new south wales, and iam in in victoria and new south wales, and i am in constant of both of those states. i'm also mindful of the emergency situation —— emerging situation in south australia devon in tasmania. and we will continue to work with those dates where the need arises. ata those dates where the need arises. at a commonwealth level, our task has been to fully support and provide whatever assistance is necessary through all the various agencies of the commonwealth. now, that has gone from the provision of disaster payments that have now exceeded something more than $21 million in new south wales alone. and we expect more that to continue in victoria is the full devastation of the fires the becomes more evident in the damage assessments that people able to make, the claims of those funds. that has been an important task for the commonwealth, working with the states, where the assistance has been triggered. to give those payments to people as quickly as possible and i want to thank all of those in services australia who have working to deliver those payments

fires in new south wales.ation continues to develop in both new south wales and victoria. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we'll have more on the us and plans to send reinforcements to help defend its embassy in baghdad. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today. and then we'll be in france and again, it will be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. reporter: it was just good? no, fantastic! that's better! big ben strikes the hour this is bbc news. the latest headlines: rio dejaneiro has welcomed in the new decade with over a million people gathering on copacabana beach to watch a spectacular fireworks display. we go b

this front then slides its way south and eastwards, getting into northern england, parts of wales, south—west0—60 miles an hour for northern and western scotland and 30—a0 miles an hour quite widely. so it's a wet, blustery day across northern and western parts of the uk, but mild for most, it will be in double figures. doesn't last long as those fronts push their way south and eastwards, behind it we start to see the blue colours returning. so, we're back in the colder air as we go into friday. but what that also means is clearer conditions, much more in the way of sunshine. cloud and rain clearing away from south—east england, some showers peppering the north of scotland, perhaps wintry in nature, but for much of the uk, on friday we'll end the week dry with much more sunshine. but it will be feeling a little bit colder again. as for the weekend, it's looking mainly dry. there'll be some spells of sunshine, little bit milder but potentially turning wetter and windier into next week. this is bbc news, the headlines revellers across the uk have rung in the start of a new decade, with firework

lucy hockings is in the state of new south wales for us. hi, of new south wales for us. lucy.e been readying themselves all week for today because hot and windy conditions are set to return to new south wales. there are 100 fires are still burning in the state. they are worried about the alpine areas and those near the state of the tory aware the state of emergency has been extended. south australia and kangaroo island are closely watching, where there is also a of emergency. i'm in a very beautiful pa rt emergency. i'm in a very beautiful part of new south wales, the kangaroo valley, and if i can show you some pictures of me arriving to where i am now, the kangaroo valley bush retreat. the currowan fire ripped through this property over the weekend and in 45 minutes, at the weekend and in 45 minutes, at the damage it did. the charred remains of buildings, trees, everything that you can see, and the trees are still smouldering. there are still embers in some of the trees and it is quite staggering. i am at trees and it is quite staggering. i amata trees and it is quite stagger

still across new south wales more than 140 fires continue to burn covering an area 3.4 million hectaresit more favourable weather but we continue to see the fires move, particularly in the south—east of the state, the far southern coastline of new south wales where we see fires across the border from victoria into new south wales burning in a northerly direction towards smaller villages and towns like eden where we are currently still advising people to leave and to seek shelter indoors, as a fire purchase. over the coming days we will see more favourable weather where we can start back burning on a number of these fires to try to bring them under control, but towards the end of the week it is likely we will see again hot, dry and windy conditions return to many parts of new south wales and we won't have all of those fires contain by that time. we have been hearing of temperatures hitting 50 degrees in some areas. that must make it incredibly difficult. it is the temperatures, humidity and extraordinarily strong winds. yesterday we saw westerly winds which come out of the centre of the

our top stories: australia orders a mass evacuation from coastal areas of new south wales, as bushfires close in. the country's prime minister, scott morrison, calls for calm. i understand the frustration, i understand the anxiety, i understand the fear. but what i also understand is the need to allow the professionals and experts, who plan and then operationalise these responses, to do theirjob. pro—iranian militia and their supporters pullback from the us embassy in baghdad, after a second day of violence. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, seeks immunity from prosecution over charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. hello and welcome to bbc news. thousands of holidaymakers have been fleeing coastal areas of new south wales, after being warned it is not safe for them to stay in bushfire—hit parts of eastern australia. there are traffic jams on major roads, although the evacuation is hampered by a lack of fuel. the authorities are urging tourists and residents to leave while they can. saturday is forecast to be another punishing day in southeastern australia, with more

and we will be monitoring that for you here in south wales. —— new south wales. -- new south walestralia and the bushfires on bbc world news. the fugitive businessman, carlos ghosn, has been banned from leaving lebanon after he fled there from japan last month to avoid trial for financial misconduct. the former nissan boss, who dramatically skipped bail, said he was prepared to face justice in lebanon if neccessary but that he would not return to japan. he has been talking to to our world affairs editor, john simpson. hello. very nice to see you. thank you. even though the lebanese courts have said he can't leave the country, carlos ghosn has lost none of his bounce. i'm free to receive my family, i'm free to see my wife, to live with my wife. these are all things which were forbidden when i was injapan. he's consistently refused to talk about his escape from japan by private jet, hiding in a box for musical equipment. even so, i gave it my best shot. it must have been a pretty unpleasant experience, mustn't it? i don't know, you should ask somebody else. have you ever been in a bo

there are positive both victoria new south wales which been com pletely victoria new south wales whichcompletely devastated with the loss of power, loss of communications, every absolute effort is been ——in train to make sure those things can be stood up as villages ——as quick as possible. we have been able to get tankers in to restore fuel supplies, that is now greatly assisted. there are other places which are difficult to get the supplies into but we'll be able to do that as soon as possibly can. phil mercer is in sydney. another pro minister talked about staying calm but he also very much seems to be defending commonwealth response and he has been much criticised over it. what he said was that it's largely in first instance the responsibility of australia's state government to manage these crises. he was saying the federal government would offer and would give any assistance required of it so mr morrison as we have heard, said that he understood the fear and frustrations and the anxieties of those people who were not only stranded in certain communities but who are having trouble l

well that was 5 victims in the village of cobol go in at the south east of new south wales confronting australian prime minister there scott morrison tearing his visit there on thursday 2 people are reported dead in the village whose historic sent a bone to the ground on new year's eve this is how the prime minister responded to the residents and. i understand the very strong feelings people have that i've lost everything and there's still you know some very dangerous days ahead we understand that that's what we're going to do everything we can to ensure that i have every every support but by removing. now the response and i was not an isolated incident a firestorm of anger is raging across the country with many. citizens fed up with what they say is a lack of leadership from the australian government. many here in the studio with more call we just saw that much of that anger was directed at the australian prime minister scott morrison that yeah that's right i mean and much of this really comes from missteps on his part of and you probably remember just a couple of weeks ago morrison w

earlier, he was heckled in cobargo in new south wales. people died there this week, many homes have been lost. here, the guardian compares its main street before and after the fires. and its residents wanted to talk to the prime minister. you're out, son! you are out! beep. bye! beep. what about the people who have nowhere to live! here he was meeting another angry resident who wanted to talk about more support for the rural fire service. how are you? i'm only shaking your hand if you give more funding to our fire service. so many people have lost their homes. we need more help! so, there's the prime minister walking away as one resident says they need more help. he then encountered a firefighter who was equally unenthused at the idea of shaking his hand. all right, how are you? after those encounters, scott morrison said he's "not surprised people are feeling very raw". this crisis bringing incredible pressure on many australians. these are some of the latest pictures. this is victoria. you can see the scale of the fires. the volume of s

scotland, and then through wednesday afternoon we start to see cloud and rain starting to nudge into wales and southres here, but much colder further north again with those wintry showers across scotland. thursday is a very messy day, most of us will see some spells of rain, still some wintry showers across scotland. that will ease away and briefly on friday, this ridge of high pressure building, bringing quieter, drier days. so for the end of the week, further rain, particularly on thursday, the winds easing, then drier and colder on friday. i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story. huge crowds packed the streets in iran in honour of the military commander qasem soleimani whose assassination was ordered by president t0rump. the procession has reached its final stage, as his body is taken to his hometown of kerman in south—eastern iran, where he will be buried in the coming hours. officials in australia have warned that blazes will take off again after a brief respite. they also said huge fires could meet to create a larger mega blaze. pictures from harbin, china show how thousands of cub

new south wales has dec sred a weeklote of emergency. at is partly because of the calculatio that the threat level is likely to increase. another way of viewing the scale of this is this satellite image which shows the volume of smoke. or you can look at the crisis in terms of figures. the amazon bushfires of last year burned 900,000 hectares. the california wildfires of 2018, 800,00hectares. in just new south wal, re than 4 million hectares have been burnt in the last six months. that has brought devastating hun cost and devastating environmentacost. ologists are estimating 480 million anils hav been killed by these fires. koalas have been terribl affected 8000 estimated to have died. that is around one third of the kabbalah population in new south wales. let's hear more from australians who have been caught up in the story. >>e the fireball just c through, if the house, and we n and all the embers and everything were hitting us. we were there for about an hour before we got rescued. >> it is very frightening. i would like to thank ever

welcome to nowra in new south wales. it's midnight in london and ham here in new south wales.'m in the town of nowra the nerve centre for the regional response to the bushfire crisis here. the fires are right around the country, but among the worst are here in australia's most populated state, new south wales. there are still 150 fires burning gci’oss there are still 150 fires burning across the state. 2a people have now died in this bushfire disaster, thousands of homes have been destroyed and it's been estimated that half a billion animals in this state alone, have perished. australians are waking up to another day of devastation and emotions are running high. there is some reprieve for firefighters here today though because it s been raining. that is a psychological boost for people here, to have a cooler day and rainfalling. but people here, to have a cooler day and rain falling. but you need about 200 millilitres of rain initial space of time to effect the fires. so it is not enough, but it is providing a bit of reprieve for people battling the flames. as i mentioned ther

you can see new south wales is taking the brunt of this. there was arief respite over the weekend, lig city rain well received in sydney. theering] ros: i'm afrai hot, dry weather is due to return and the prime minister warns that the emergency could last months. here a some of the latest pictures we have. extraordinary, from a militg plane tryo land in victoria amid a haze of bush fire smoke. the military is involved in evacuation efforts. we have aerial pictures shong th devastation to one community in new south wales. there are terrible environmental consequences of what's happening, too. kualas get theirat intake from leaves and are gettingat hp he moment. this is home to several threatened species, with the fear that several coulde wiped out. next, let's focusn the coastal town of eden in the far southeast of new south wales. many residents have had to evacuate. reporter: iedem north became a makeshift evacuation center this weekend. people sheltering in boats and cars andome in the open air. we have a lull in the weather now. haveratu

shaimaa khalil reports from the southern coast of new south wales.ed to be a day of danger and these bushfires have lived up to every emergency warning. the hellish combination of high temperatures, strong winds and dry conditions have made some of these blazes too vast to control. in kangaroo island, a famous holiday destination, a couple died trying to escape the inferno. they were found near their car. in victoria, as blazes continued to rage in the east, evacuees from mallacoota were getting ready to board the navy ship taking them to safety. a moment of relief, after a harrowing few days stranded in the fire—ravaged town. our only option was to go down to the foreshore and sit it out and at one stage we had 25 fire trucks with us. sorry... the prime minister, scott morrison, has said 3000 reserve troops will be deployed to help tackle the raging bush fires. the first time this has happened in australia's history. but this video he posted on twitter, showing the government's response, accompanied by upbeat music, drew angry criticism. many accusi

there are people in the southern parts of new south wales who don't wa nt to parts of new south walesto leave but have heard in the last couple of hours of fire authorities are extending this evacuation zone to go further inland to ta ke evacuation zone to go further inland to take on more mountainous areas and also national park as well. and we also hear that from friday a state of emergency will be imposed across new south wales for seven days. that gives the authorities, fire authorities additional powers to cope with what they expect to be more ferocious conditions. and it's ha rd to more ferocious conditions. and it's hard to comprehend when we not there. just how tough these conditions are for the fire services, for those who are facing the threat of the fire. took us through the pressure on the government, the prime minister scott morrison, as he tries to handle this situation. i think this pressure on the federal government, on the said government, and the fire authorities to the firefighting effort in so many instances has been truly erotic, that emergency line is being stret

coast of new south wales we called the nation today of the deaths of 3 more people we know that among those who died was a father and son from a dairy farming family on the south coast the 2 men died together defending their property news today too that another man's body has been found just a few kilometers away from the major highway and they're also fears for the safety and life of a 72 year old man who is also missing in that same region of the south coast so 200 homes now i have also been lost in this region many communities as we heard remain without power and mobile phone connectivity and as we know the fire authorities are telling us that this is just placing more and more pressure on them and making it so much harder for them to get access to these communities because we do know that entire populations now engulfed by flames many tourists of course have flocked to these popular holiday destinations it's peak summer holiday season here and 6 of the major highway in and out of the south coast of new south wales remain stuck down in victoria felicity lightning started fire

that's right, thousands of people are heeding the official warning to leave those parts of the new south wales south coast while they can. the authorities are extremely nervous about conditions forecast for saturday here in eastern australia. as you say, more hot, windy, dry conditions on their way and given what happened on the part of eastern australia, across the state of victoria and new south wales on new year's eve, you can understand why people are anxious to leave as quickly as they can. what is hampering the evacuation, lack of fuel and also in many areas, a lack of mobile phone and internet

but inland in parts of in new south wales as world to be truthful nobody really knows how extensive this fire is going to be but it's obviously going to be extremely dangerous. journalist roger may not in sydney many thanks i grant and. hong kong's chief of police has defended his office's actions against protesters during a new year's day rally question when's comments come amid allegations of disproportionate use of force to restrain the crowds activists are eager to support the pro-democracy demonstrations but fear for their future reporter ts bootlegger has been speaking with one of them we've changed her name to protect her identity. the new year in hong kong has begun just like the old year ended with hundreds of thousands of people marching for political reforms the less said choice has been active in the pro-democracy movement since the outset i'm. now did see how yeah it's changed my life shouldn't be a moment the protest movement has let me move forward and become a positive i had seen how i am like i am that if i missed this i wouldn't have another chance to experience al

but inland abuse in parts of in a new south wales as well to be truthful nobody really knows how extensive this fire is going to be but it's obviously going to be extremely dangerous journals roger may not in sydney many thanks and grant and. now to some of the other stories making news around the world people in the indonesian capital jakarta have begun returning to their homes after severe flooding forced tens of thousands to evacuate at least 30 people were killed others are still missing monsoon rains and rising rivers inundated thousands of homes and cut off electricity of world wide area. cattle and separatist party has agreed to help break the deadlock in spanish politics and abstain in a confidence vote in parliament next week allowing spanish prime minister pedro sanchez to win sanchez the socialist party reached a coalition deal last month with another left wing party but parliament still needs to confirm him as prime minister. police in paris have used tear gas to disperse protesters from a man room party headquarters as the standoff over the president's planned pensio

victoria we have a fire line 100 kilometers long traveling east across east gives landlords a new south wales border which is a fire within traveling to the south coast of new south wales to be fanned by that that strong wind at the same time so people are being very nervous at the moment about one or may not be happened it may be that we escaped any group the danger but there the fire service the fire chiefs are saying you know that the chances of you know catastrophic conditions emerging are very high and the people are extremely nervous and we are reading about these mass evacuations that have been taking place is it feasible that all the people who need to get out of the way of these fires will actually be able to. well i think most of them who want to go have got we've had about 50000 people trip down to the south because of new south wales over the past few days now a lot of those were tourists on the thousands of people have meant to get out our understand this morning the road to quite clear so obviously not many other people had to get out of this state the people staying behind or t

in singapore, 1am in london, and 12pm in south—eastern australia, where the fire service in new south walesned people to leave the south coast if they don't need to be there, ahead of possibly more ferocious fires that are forecast on saturday. the bushfires in that part of the country have now killed at least eight people since monday. phil mercer has the latest from sydney. i think there is one figure in particular, sharanjit, that sums up the scale of this crisis in the state of new south wales. for example, the authorities estimate that almost 1,300 homes have been destroyed in this fire crisis. as you say in the last few days, we know that eight people have died. so there has been a significant impact on life and property, and the danger is far from over. there are milder conditions today and probably tomorrow, but on saturday we are expecting a return of those hot, windy conditions that are so devastating and do conspire to whip up the flames that raced through so many communities on the new south wales south coast. and the authorities are so worried about the conditions over the week

he was speaking and new south wales.day in mallacoota. thanks so much for waiting good to hear what the australian prime minister had to say they're stopping you were talking about 30 or so homes lost, can you put into words some of the devastation you have seen first hand, people you know who have lost everything. the main problem is that there are so many of them now that it is hard track of them, but basically we had a friend who has lived in this area for 44 years and is well established, family hair even longer than that, and she was well prepared and she was prepared to be defend her home, they were ready, they were there until midnight and then they saw the state of the fire and they packed up and came back to this shelter before they realised that their efforts we re they realised that their efforts were in vain. we saw them when they came in at about two in the morning and my partner went over and talked to her, and she wasjust completely shellshocked. vomiting, stressed out of their heads, and i think a lot of

response is matching the need jessica washington has this update now from batemans bay on the new south wales south coast. conditions have eased in many parts of this trailer but of course crews are still battling 5 in new south wales in south australia and in victoria but they are making the most of these cooler temperatures and live to wind to take control of some of the fires which of burning across the area now yesterday here on saturday and it's really a was described as a horrific day the damage is yet to be assessed but it's estimated that at least hundreds of homes would have been destroyed this particular region if it's really or it's not just new south wales which is suffering but victoria south australia there are also fires burning in queensland and many although not as severe as what is happening in the 3 key states now we do understand that conditions all favorable in most of these states there's even a bit of rain here in new south wales and victoria but it's along the south coast region that the situation is still incredibly dangerous and this is an issue which will go on for

at least here in new south wales, people are waking up without the feeling of panic. ave some coverage here on bbc news coming up. my colleague clive myrie is here with me on the south coast of new south wales. he's been speaking to victims who were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge. look at that road. this bushfire season is like no other in modern australian history. i mean, this is unprecedented, what we're having here. i mean, the whole country is alight. within half an hour it was, "get out, it's too late to leave." you know, "you should seek shelter." this is a thousand times worse. this is catastrophic. like, all the fires up the coast are catastrophic. worry etches the faces of those who fled to this hotel from the small town of bundanoon. their homes encircled by two monster fires. the smell of smoke is present even here. by 9:30, i thought i was ok. judy coverdale is one of those who escaped with her life. it was just like a volcanic plume, just growing and growing, red. so, it's getting closer and closer and at this stage you're thinking, i've got t

difficult day ahead with erratic conditions now we do know that those warnings are in place across new south wales victoria and south australia kurz are expected to have a long night ahead at the moment these crews behind me are on standby preparing to be called out they are expected that they are expecting that the situation will worsen as winds pick up later in the evening now this crisis has been going for months now we've heard recently for. the prime minister of australia scott morrison that once this crisis is all over he is open to the possibility of some sort of investigation into why this push by season was so much worse than previous years. malaysia has released audio recordings of former prime minister najib razak asking abu dhabi's crime prince to help cover up corruption they're part of the anti corruption commission's investigation into the one and the corruption scandal in one conversation that you've asked the crime prince to help clear his hollywood producers son of money laundering accusations. i've. got. 'd something very very. 'd very old or you're sorry. that. we. close we nee

that was when 3 million hectares of new south wales alone had burned.5 million hectares and that means the number of animals, mammals, birds and reptiles likely to have been affected is closer to 800 million and that's just new south wales. if you extend and make the assumption that average densities of various species are similar in other states, you're looking at even bigger numbers still, perhaps as many asi billion. what are the implications, then, for the ecosystem in those parts of australia that have been most severely affected by bushfires? it's quite likely that many of them will recover in the long term rather than shorter term because the fires have been particularly severe and extensive in the coverage, but it may be that for some of the species that have smaller populations and smaller ranges that have been mostly wholly burnt by the fires, unless there have been refuge populations that managed to survive, we might be looking at species that actually go extinct in these current fires. that's a sobering thought. quite rightly and understanda

it was an order to leave that stretched from batemans bay on the new south wales south coast to the victorian'm gavin ramjaun and this is your latest sports news. england will make a late decision on whether to play fast bowlerjofra archer, in their second test against south africa — which starts in cape town tomorrow. archer was unable to play a full part in training after suffering with soreness in his right elbow. fellow fast—bowler mark wood is yet to return to match fitness while spinnerjack leach has been ruled out through illness. i think all options are on the table at this point and i think having as much information as we can, making sure that we see what results come back from that scan, seeing where he is. we don't want to go into a game with him being not 100% and we don't wa nt to with him being not 100% and we don't want to potentially see him miss a lot more cricket when he is not —— when he is playing and not fit to play. we need to make a balanced decision of the back of it. australia and new zealand's players will wear black armbands, in tribute to those affected by widespr

here in new south wales and victoria but it's along the south coast region that the situation is feel incredibly dangerous. which will go on. ahead. along the south coast region in between and new south wales that whole town has just been evacuated so an incredibly volatile situation. too much of it. has brought the worst flooding and landslides in decades and communities have been buried i mean 60 people have died and more rain is on the way. a torrent of munt sweeping through homes destroying roads bridges and some. these are in the nation. in more than a decade's styluses of people are caught from the outside. some still buried under heaps of mud has is a rising but it's too slow and just not nearly enough for those. we've lost everything i thought i would look up i was someone i didn't manage to evacuate anything i lost my small stall my house remains but the windows and doors are gone . torrential rain began on new year's eve triggering landslides and causing rivers to break their backs. slides and bad weather are making it hard for rescue workers to reach those stranded in remot

right across the state border out sorry home north face of victoria parts of new south wales that are really suffering from a security far as look a getting in melbourne thank you and you time now to take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world from around on this embossed callus going is in lebanon after skipping bail in japan where he was awaiting trial for 5 financial misconduct in a statement gone claimed he was not fleeing justice but it was a scathing political persecution its legal team said it was shocked by the client skate lebanon up. and goal has frozen the assets of the daughter of the former president the move against isabelle to santos as part of an anti corruption drive known as africa's wealthiest woman she in asked a fortune taking stakes in angola companies during her father's term in office she denies any wrongdoing. musicians from the paris opera have given an impromptu performance on the steps of the city's famous bel steal oprah as part of a protest against president emmanuel pension reforms a union spokesman said the reforms would da

clive myrie has been surveying the damage in southeastern new south wales.ushfires have come and gone here for centuries. but nothing as intense as this. walls of heat and fire, 10, 20, 30, a0 kilometres wide. inconceivable. so you could be out here at night and little feathertailed gliders would come down the trees and look at you. used to wake up every morning to hundreds of birds, big birds, little birds, birds on the ground, birds up the trees and there's nothing any more. samantha calls this state forest home, living among the wallabies and kangaroos. and unfortunately it almost seems like an extinction event, because there haven't been any dead bodies, any injured animals. anything living was incinerated. some now believe these fires may be a turning point for australia. its people forced to confront mortality on several fronts. this is a game changer. people are seeing the tangible effects of a drier climate. a majority of australians now rank climate change as the top threat to australia's vital interests, above other more conventional threats to nat

vast areas of southern new south wales are being evacuated. e spent some time today on the main highway, the princes highway between the south coast and cities like sydney to the north, and for quite some time it has been bumper—to—bumper. but in the last couple of hours the highway has become quite quiet, so it seems those people who are leaving have decided to do so by today. the authorities say it is simply not safe for residents and holidaymakers to stay in that part of new south wales. you might be able to see around me some of the devastation that these fires have caused. the trees are blackened, the earth is that horrible ghostly grey colour, and through the trees you will be able to see one of the buildings that has been destroyed. this is as close as we are allowed to be in the fire zone. so this is one of 125 fires burning in the state of new south wales and as we say, conditions in the next 2a hours are expected to be brutal. the last decade was the second hottest in the past 100 years, according to analysis by the met office. in the

this fire is new south wales is something that is unprecedented.20 and burned 2.3 million of a huge area. typically of 280 hectares burnt over the last couple of years, blurred that out and seen devastating impacts from these fires. it's been a hard season and we've still got a long way to go. >> right. which over here is roughly the size, as we said, of west virginia. we've been monitoring twitter, angela, and australia's bureau of meteorology in victoria tweeted firenados are making conditions more dangerous. what is a firefirenado? >> seen serious plaimplications from these fires. new year's eve, south coach of new south wales flames putting up flames essentially they create their own weather system which can have devastating impacts as it causes havoc for firefighters on the ground. unfortunately, due to one of those fires, where these took place, the down burst and the winds a result of that weather event ended up causing one of our fire trucks to be literally turned on its head and unfortunately one of our own firefighters lost his life in th

that's just new south wales.average densities of the various species are similar in other states, also burned, you are looking at even bigger numbers still, as many as a billion. what are the implications for the ecosystem in those parts of australia that have been most severely affected by these fires? it's quite likely that many of them will recover in the long term, rather than the shorter term, because the fires have been particularly severe and extensive in their coverage, but it may be that for some species that have smaller populations, smaller ranges, mostly burned by the fires, maybe we are looking at, well, unless they have been refuge populations have managed to survive, we could look at species going extinct in these current files. that's a sobering thought, isn't it? quite understandably, the immediate effort is focused on protecting human life and protecting property as far as it's possible. although mostly property is allowed to burn. keeping life is the most important priority. is there anything w

fast moving wins more than 200 fires continue to consume australia's south eastern 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 loss a lot of communities where we've got reports of injuries and burn injuries to members of the public we have been out to get access of our roads all of our 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 they smoke turned day into night the fires are causing dry lightning storms that themselves are starting fires. and it's pretty scary that wall of fire that we saw earlier i don't know whether we'd be trying to save the house and you're always worried that it's more important save your family on that property itself there are. some people who have returned home have found there's not much left. this is the other you know. i'm on the roof trying to stop. us trillion has been ba

fill in at nowra in new south wales. thank you.res are also going to have a little bit more on the royal family and going to have a little bit more on the royalfamily and mental health stop see you soon. the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief! after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil, as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai

clive myrie in use south wales. —— new south wales. —you—go phones, without any need to identify themselves, is hampering efforts to crack down on organised drug dealing. the phones are being used by so—called county line gangs who operate out of big cities including london, manchester and liverpool and sell drugs to people in smaller towns across britain. they use dedicated mobile phone lines, known as "deal lines", to take orders from drug users and often get children to help move and store the drugs and money. here's our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds. a warning his report contains flashing images. siren bedfordshire police move in on a brutal county lines gang involved in drugs, kidnappings, robberies, attacking rivals. police say anonymous "burner" phones were absolutely integral to what they were doing. we're hiding tracy's identity for safety reasons. her son has been caught up with a county lines gang for years. one of the signs — the phones. there is a multitude of phones, multitude of sim cards, that suddenly turn up

us about the other states i was going to emphasize that was the worst of it seems to be in new south wales victoria and south australia getting hit as well. that's right it is this particular region of the strayer it's not just new south wales which is suffering but victoria southeasterly there are also 5 burning in queensland and has many although not as severe as what is happening in these 3 key states now we do understand that conditions all favorable in most of these states there's even a bit of rain here in new south wales and victoria but it's along the south coast region that the situation is still incredibly dangerous crews. this is an issue which will go on for some weeks ahead there's just been a town that's not true paul from here along the south the south coast region in between victoria and new south wales that whole town has just been evacuated so still an incredibly volatile situation extraordinary stuff isn't it jessica washington. new south wales thank you now hong kong health authorities have activated their most serious response level after an outbreak of a new type of v

prevented major loss of life but just got washington joins us in batemans bay that's on the new south wales south coast just again so just bring us up to date how are things looking than now. well daryn conditions as you have just said have improved we are seeing these cooler temperatures and very lives winds that is helping crews who are on the ground there are still a number of fires burning as emergency levels in new south wales victoria and south australia that's 3 israeli and states authorities very much keeping an eye on that east coast region. because while the seas a day of of cooler temperatures and well favorable conditions the crisis is far from over we have actually had a bit of rain today which many people are quite happy about it certainly not enough to bring this crisis to an end and jessica the australian prime minister scott morrison has come under more criticism for his handling of the disaster how has he been responding. there and it's quite interesting when you think that just a few months ago this prime minister was being an election by a landslide you wouldn't think th

and victoria claiming 8 lives in new south wales me 2 in victoria and we do we have had an update recently from victoria to say that 28 people are missing still unaccounted for in victoria so the only thing is forced evacuation is to get people out of harm's way it's all about the preservation of life in the advance of these forecasts for potentially catastrophic conditions tomorrow peter we played that videotape felicity of the prime minister being heckled how strong is that feeling clearly very strong in that one particular location but across the entire region all the regions the states affected by the flames. be able to tempers and anger is is flaring in astray people are suffering $500.00 pages because these fires have been burning now since october in that particular town that scott morrison the prime minister visited yesterday kabongo they had lost 2 of their local residents in those new year's eve fires so locals were angry and the prime minister certainly received that event of of their anger which he said was understandable he said that that's the reason why he'd gone th

well the weather had got a little better in recent days the been quite a lot of rain in new south wales and across victoria but on thursday the very hot weather and the winds return has been more than 40 degrees celsius here in sydney hotter still south the camera where that plane was heading when it crashed now this plane we filmed ourselves a couple of weeks ago fighting the fire it's been on active service throughout a big tragedy here no one killed directly as a result of the fires but 3 crew members killed fighting those fires just a sign of how desperate the situation here still is and how easily the fires reignite and how quickly tragedy can strike. all right andrew thomas there from sydney. still ahead on al-jazeera we'll tell you why i'm in miles government has been taken to the international court of justice us. i want to go occur in the far west reaches of alaska where the once in a decade u.s. census begins we'll tell you why it's important why it starting here and why it's a potential lifeline for the native people of this state. hello there still some pretty good condition

this is from a journalist who tweeted, happened.re the crash this is in new south wales.'s ve on closer to the coast. firefighters stillin bat this is a new outbreak of bushfires whipped up by high temperatures and strong winds. and there are moreha homes have been lost. other towns are now focusing on recovery effts. ke a look. donations have come in from all around the world to help. as you probably heard. hundreds of millions has been raised, some going to local fire services and others to animal welfare organizations. but a lot has gone to the red cross. edra79 million u.s.lv ion army, $30 million. st. vincent de8 paul,llion. the charities have been accused of drip feeding donations and stockpiling money for future emergencies. here is a government minister from new south wales. >> the money is sitting in a bank account and earning intere so theyan do their marketing and administration. bux the red css defendant -- >> the red cross defense their process, saying it is their plan now -- we ao know it costs 5 million australian dollars tome keep ourency teams in the fiel