Firefighters in the australian state of New South Wales were bracing for what are being termed catastrophic fire conditions. Temperatures well above a0 degrees, are set to fuel almost a hundred fires burning across the state. In south australia, one person has died overnight in a blaze east of adelaide. The Prime MinisterScott Morrison widely criticised for being on holiday during the crisis is expected back in australia over the weekend. Phil mercerjoins me now from sydney. Before we talk about anything else, update me on the latest in terms of the bushfires. We have a catastrophic fire warning for three large areas here in New South Wales, more than 100 fires are burning across australias most populous state. Roads have been closed, Rail Services have been disrupted, and what with just a few days left until christmas, summer holidaymakers are hoping to go north, south and west of syd ney hoping to go north, south and west of sydney have been urged to stay at home today, and delete their trip until tomorrow, because conditions are very very dangerous, until tomorrow, because conditions are very very dangerous, as until tomorrow, because conditions are very very dangerous, as you say, very hot temperatures in parts of New South Wales, we also have a prediction of very strong winds later, so that is a real menace for firefighters, hot temperatures, very dry conditions underfoot, and those winds will make those fires increasingly unpredictable. Fires burning as well in the state of victoria, also in south australia, and on the other side of the continent in Western Australia, fire crews battling blazes there as well, so crews battling blazes there as well, so it is another brutal day in australias summer. Amid all this the Prime MinisterScott Morrison criticised for going on holiday to hawaii, is on his way back now. He is, and one would imagine that he will get quite a reception when he gets home. Many australians very angry that their Prime Minister decided to take a holiday to hawaii asa time decided to take a holiday to hawaii as a time of crisis. Mr morrison has issued a statement saying that he deeply regrets any offence caused to those australians affected by the bushfires, and it is notjust the fa ct bushfires, and it is notjust the fact that mr morrison has gone on holiday during this emergency, many australians wondering about his attitude to Climate Change and the role that that they are playing in australias bushfire crisis mr morrison has acknowledged that Global Warming is a factor in australias emergency, so safe to say when mr morrison lands today here in australia, his handling of this emergency will come under immense scrutiny. And of course they have been doubts as well, including a couple of volunteer firefighters . We were down yesterday near the town of buxton, where these two firefighters died, a tree had a fire engine, causing the vehicle to roll over. Those two volunteer firefighters were men in their 30s, and once again, it does underscore the dangers facing firefighters, many of them are volunteers here in New South Wales, backed up by professional crews as well. We were quite close to a dam, a lake near the town of bargo, when this enormous helicopter, a water bombing aircraft came down with a giant hose, sucking up water, before going off to fight the fires, so in many ways it is a military style operation, boots on the ground supported by those squadrons of water bombing aircraft, tragically, the deaths of those two firefighters does illustrate the dangers on the frontline. And of course feel, this is the fire season. Why is it that the fires this year have been so bad phil . Scientists are telling us that this annual fire season is not only starting earlier, it is likely to last longer, and is more intense, so bushfires have always been part of the australian story, long before the europeans arrived. Bushfires are a fa ct the europeans arrived. Bushfires are a fact of life in this country, but what worries many scientists and other people is that they seem to be starting earlier and they are far more intense. Scientists cannot say that that particular bushfire west of syd ney that that particular bushfire west of sydney or a fire in Western Australia is directly caused by Climate Change, what what they can say is that Global Warming is making the conditions here dryer, and that isa the conditions here dryer, and that is a massive factor in these bushfires here in eastern australia for example, we have had a very long drought, so what you have our conditions of dry conditions, no rain, strong winds and hot temperatures, and those conditions do conspire to heighten the fire danger as we say here in New South Wales, three major areas facing catastrophic conditions, and that is bad as it gets. There are various levels of threat in this country, and catastrophic is right at the very top. 0k, thank you very much. Lets get some of the days other news. The International Criminal courts chief Prosecutor Says she believes war crimes have been committed in the Israeli Occupied palestinian territories. Fatou bensouda says she wants to launch an investigation but needs the court to establish first if they have authority over these areas. Officials in russia say theyve established the identity of the gunman who opened fire at the headquarters of the countrys main security agency, the fsb. 0ne fsb officer was killed on thursday, while a second has died from his wounds in the last few hours. Another four people were wounded. The motive for the attack remains unclear. Polands parliament has passed a law that makes it easier for the government to fire judges, despite a plea from the European Commission to wait. Under the new legislation, judges can be dismissed, fined or demoted for dissent, including questioning the legitimacy of newjudges chosen by a government controlled body. A pioneer of International Development who founded the Worlds Largest ngo has died. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed was 83. He founded the bangladesh rural advancement committee, also known as brac, in 1972. Now operating in eleven asian and african countries, brac is said to have lifted 150 Million People out of poverty. There have been more mass protests in india today over a controversial new citizenship law. At least six people have been killed in the demonstrations. Critics say the legislation discriminates against the countrys 200 million strong muslim population, with many fearing they could become stateless. But the move by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is popular with his hindu supporters. From delhi, heres rajini vaidyanathan. Is this a moment of reckoning for the Worlds Largest democracy, as anger over a controversial citizenship law intensifies . Scenes of defiance, protesters ignoring cu rfews, police accused of heavy handed tactics. Hundreds of thousands across this vast and diverse nation have taken to the streets to oppose a law they say discriminates against muslims. It offers fast track citizenship for Illegal Immigrants from three neighbouring countries, except muslims. The government says it is to protect religious minorities fleeing persecution. India prides itself on its secular principles, the right to equality for all faiths. But many fear that, by making religion a condition of citizenship, that core fundamental principle is now at stake. Muslims say they are living in fear. The government is planning to publish a nationwide register of citizens, in which everyone would have to prove they are indian. Those who cant would be considered Illegal Immigrants, with only non muslims afforded protection under the new citizenship law. I dont trust the government, she tells me. If they dont accept my documents, which prove im indian, then what will i do . Pressure is mounting on indias Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, but he still has huge support for his hindu nationalist agenda. Tonight in delhi, a group of his supporters came out to defend the citizenship act. A lot of people are saying that it is against muslims, but it is not against muslims. It is only against only for. It is not against anyone. It is for minorities in three neighbouring countries, pakistan, afghanistan and bangladesh, where islam is a state religion. This weeks large scale protest represents the first real dissent against mr modis government. Some fear the country is inching closer to becoming a hindu state, and worry that indias secular soul is at stake. More now on the story from poland. Polands parliament has adopted a law which will see major reform of the countrys judiciary, making it easier for the government to fire, fine or discipline judges. Rich preston reports. The bill has been hugely controversial, as it was being debated, people took to the streets outside parliament in support of the judges, and judicial independence. The changes give the government the power to discipline judges for what it calls political activity. Including questioning the newjudges that the government appoints. In a marathon debate, the ruling party argued the changes are necessary to prevent chaos in the judicial system. Translation what we can see is the rule of more most is the mutation that is the date of ignores the principle of National Sovereignty that ignores the authority of the nation. The state of thejudges is authority of the nation. The state of the judges is the state in which thejudges decide what of the judges is the state in which the judges decide what is law and what is not. Opposition lawmakers say an attempt to gag judges. Translation the bill bill subject polish court and the polish judges to political control by the legislative and exacting bodies and reduce the level ofjudicial protection of individual rights. There are concerns such sweeping changes to pollens industry could contradict european law and force pollen out of the eu. Translation you are lying to the polls, claiming that these are european solutions, while the European Commission says clearly, please stop working on this shameful project. The bill will now be sent to pollens senate which can delay the new law, but not block it. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come we meet the italian engineer who makes sure that less well off children dont miss out on toys. The world of news has been paying tribute to George Michael who has died of suspected Heart Failure at the age of 53. He sold well over 100 million albums in a career spanning more than three decades stop with United States troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of manuel, and the pentagon has says it has failed in its objective to ca ptu re it has failed in its objective to capture him and taken to the United States. The hammer and sickle was taken away, in its place, the russian flag was hoisted over what is now low longer the soviet union but the commonwealth of independent states. Day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am made of the seas, nosedown in the soft earth. You could see what happens when a plane eight stories high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. Christmas has returned to albania after a communist band lasting more than 20 yea rs. Communist band lasting more than 20 years. Thousands went to Midnight Mass in this town where they were anti communist riots ten days ago. This is bbc news, the latest headlines there are more catastrophic fire warnings in australia for saturday in three parts of New South Wales, with temperatures set to hit the mid 40s celsius. Three and a half years after the uk voted to leave the european union, mps have resoundingly voted in favour of the governments brexit bill. The legislation now paves the way for Boris Johnson to deliver his promise, that the country will no longer be a member state of the eu, by the end of next month. The Prime Minister won the vote easily with six labour mps backing the government. Heres our deputy political editor, john pienaar. Were leaving were through the looking glass. Everything looks the same, but nothing will be the same again. The last, lonely protester was there, fighting a cause that today became officially lost. The ayes to the right 358. The noes to the left 234. Cheering. A thumping victory for borisjohnsons eu divorce deal. But from the start, today, his big win was guaranteed. He came with an appeal for unity, on his terms, to seek reconciliation in tones of triumph. This is the time when we move on, and discard the old labels of leave and remain. In fact, the very words seem tired to me. And so now is the moment to come together and write a new and exciting chapter in our national story, to forge a new partnership with our european friends, to stand tall in the world, to begin the healing. This moment in history was his. 3. 5 years after the referendum, the new pm felt Strong Enough to declare britain after brexit would set its own rules and standards, not follow the eus. The very essence of the opportunity of brexit is that we will no longer outsource these decisions. With renewed National Self confidence, we will take them ourselves. And that is what worried his beaten rival. We warned before the general election the Prime Ministers brexit deal was a terrible deal for our country, and we still believe its a terrible deal today. This deal will be used as a battering ram to drive us down the path of yet more deregulation, and towards a toxic deal with donald trump, and. What is new in the Withdrawal Agreement bill . The pledge to match eu workers rights, like other earlier compromises, has gone. Ministers now say a new uk law will guarantee those rights. 0n child migrants, no eu obligation now to take in unaccompanied minors with british relatives, but the pm says the uk will go on taking them in. And no extended brexit transition. The law will require the uk is clear of eu rules by december 2020, with or without a deal. So the pm winning the brexit war doesnt mean peace. The snp sees brexit as a spur to independence. The people of scotland must have their say over their future, rather than the broken Brexit Britain that he wishes to impose upon us. The election and brexit has left a bitter legacy, wounded brexiteers feeling vindicated, remainers defiant on their pro european values. Those values are now under threat from this trumpian, populist government, from right wing populism, and bigots everywhere. Were told we were fascists, we were nazis, were extremists. And what did we want . All we wanted was to honour the referendum. Brexiteer ministerjacob rees mogg kept a low profile during the election. Not today. At last, weve got the result that we need. We will now get brexit, a majority of 124, and the sun is metaphorically shining. And look at this at the bottom of your screen the uks celebrity pm signing autographs for tory mps. So reason for celebration in government tonight. We will leave the eu by 31 january at the latest. But defining and negotiating britains future relationship with the eu, and the world, could be tougher and take longer than Boris Johnson predicts. No doubt who is in charge now, or whosejob it is to make brexit work. Prosecutors in the uk have charged the wife of a us diplomat with causing the death by dangerous driving of a teenage motorcyclist in a road crash. After harry dunn died, Anne Sacoolas flew back to the United States under diplomatic immunity. Extradition proceedings are now under way but mrs sacoolas says she will not return voluntarily to the uk. Duncan kennedy reports. 0h, ijust hope and hope that its going to be the right choice today. Harrys parents, charlotte and tim, travelled to london not knowing what today would bring. But, at the cps headquarters, they were told the main suspect was being charged with dangerous driving. Harrys family have spent four months waiting to see if charges would be brought in his case. We really do feel its one huge step towards that promise to harry, and that in itself is one hell of an achievement, as a family, to have. And, as parents, we cant be any more satisfied with ourselves. Harrys dad, tim, was also moved by todays events. Bit speechless at the minute. Im still in shock from the meeting, and, uh. Im sorry. No, its alright. Anne sacoolas, here on her wedding day, has been interviewed by british police. She has been staying at a house outside washington. Although there was no one in today, her lawyers said. Todays decision to charge Anne Sacoolas comes nearly four months after harry died here on this road in northamptonshire. In statements through her lawyers, she has already admitted driving but they say she will not return voluntarily to face a jail sentence for what was a terrible and unintentional accident. Now, harrys family say it is time for her to return to britain. It was near this american air base the accident happened. Harry was killed last august. Two weeks later, Anne Sacoolas left the uk, claiming diplomatic immunity. Last month, the family launched legal action against the Foreign Office for its handling of the case. They were so upset, they went to washington to plead for Anne Sacoolas to return. Dominic raab today called on the American Woman to return and legal experts say the chances of extradition were good. It is extremely positive because as far as ican extremely positive because as far as i can see every request that has been sent by the uk to the us has been sent by the uk to the us has been successful. Harry dunns family and their supporters have fought this case together and have been told the home office will launch proceedings in the next week. His pa rents say proceedings in the next week. His parents say they will now put up a Christmas Tree for the sun they refused to give up on. The duke of edinburgh husband of Queen Elizabeth is spending the night in a london hospital. Royal Officials Say the duke, who is 98, has been taken there as a precautionary measure for a pre existing condition. The queen is at her sandringham estate in the east of england where she arrived on friday morning. Nasa hopes the boeing starliner could be used to ferry passengers to and from the International Space station but a test flight in florida failed to go as planned. Jonathan amos reports. And lift off for the starliner, a new era in human space flight. A new era perhaps, but notjust yet. Boeing launched its starliner capsule on time from Cape Canaveral in florida, but the automated ship then failed to carry out its commands properly. When it came off the top of the rocket, it was supposed to fire its engines to increase its height. It did, but at the wrong time and for too long. The starliner put itself in the wrong part of the sky. It can no longer reach the space station and will have to come home. The American Space agency has been overseeing the development of the capsule. Nasa has provided milestone payments to help boeing bring the vehicle into operation. And despite the setback, the agency is staying positive. If we wouldve had crew in there, number one, they would have been safe. To be very clear, our crew would have been safe. And in fact, had they been in there, we very well may have been orbiting or docking with the International Space station tomorrow had they been in the spacecraft. So a lot of things went right today, and i want to be really clear, a lot of things went right and this is why we test and because we are now in orbit and because in fact elevating our orbit, we are going to get a lot more data and a lot more information in the coming days. So this is all very positive. Nasa has not been able to launch its own astronauts to orbit for nearly nine years. When it retired the shuttles in 2011, it ceased to operate space vehicles. And it bought seats to the space station in russian capsules instead. Nasa would rather spend its money handling rides on american built space taxi services. Another enterprise, the California Space x company, has already completed a test flight of its astronaut capsule. The dragon craft made a flawless trip to the orbiting lab in march. Space x looks set to start flying astronauts for real in the next few months. Quite how far behind todays events put boeing is unclear. Engineers will need to inspect the starliner when they get it back on earth. Nasa is determined that it should have a choice of capsules in the future. Boeing is certain to try again. Jonathan amos, bbc news. Christmas is coming ready or not. All around the world millions of children will be hoping for a visit from santa. Some less well off youngsters may miss out on getting a toy. But a retired engineerfrom rome is determined to do something about that as the bbcs tim allman explains. But a retired engineerfrom rome is determined to do something about that as the bbcs tim allman explains. His name is guido but it may as well be geppetto. A former engineer with an italian airline, he now devotes himself to repairing and restoring toys. Lots and lots of toys. Anything up to 70 a day, in fact, and it is all in a good cause. Translation take this one for example. Some toy shops give us the faulty toys that they cannot sell. This one, i have repaired it and it works now. And these new toys we send to hospitals. Notjust hospitals. This charity also provides playthings to the children of refugees or kids whose parents have lost their jobs. Any youngster who wants a moment ofjoy and a toy of their own. Translation we call these objects reloved since they are loved twice. First by the parents of the children who donated them and then they are loved by the children who receive them. So we reuse objects and avoid wasting plastic. They distribute around 20,000 toys cars, action figures, teddies, toys, dolls, guido tinkers away at them all. H is greatest reward, he says, are the smiles on the childrens faces. You can reach me on twitter im bbcmaryam. Good morning. What a miserable week of weather it has been for many of us, with some relentless rain, and that has brought localised flooding. In fact, friday afternoon, these were fairly typical weather watcher pictures across parts of central and southern england in particular. In fact, by close of play on friday, there were over 90 flood warnings in force, and with more rain to come through the weekend, well, do go to the bbc weather website for the latest updates on the flood warnings and also any met Office Warnings as well. Over the next few hours weve got this miniature weather front which will enhance some showers, some of them heavy, with hail and thunder. Windy conditions following on behind, before another weather front makes its presence felt by the end of the day on saturday. Saturday morning, we start off with a few sharp showers still remaining. But they are easing away. The best of the sunshine perhaps on saturday, likely to be for the far north of scotland. Slowly brightening up as well across parts of england and wales for a brief time, before yet more wet weather starts to push into the south west by the end of the day. A cooler feeling in scotland, five or six degrees. Double digits quite widely further south. That rain will continue to drift its way steadily east, but it is going to clear off into the near continent through the early hours of saturday night into sunday morning. Then behind, with some clearer skies, it will be a chilly start in sheltered eastern areas of scotland, maybe a touch of light frost. Too much cloud further south and too much of a breeze for any issue. And still some bits and pieces of rain first thing on sunday morning. Sunday will be quieter for many. A case of sunny spells and a few isolated showers. Still quite windy across the exposed coasts of the south. 40 50 mile an hour gusts of wind not out of the question. Cooler again in scotland, five or six, higher values of nine or ten further south. It looks as though that quieter theme is set to continue for a time. Showers will ease away on monday and by tuesday, Christmas Eve, it will be drier and quieter. What on earth is happening, you may ask . It looks as though father christmas might be granting us our wish and giving us a brief lull in the weather story at the moment, with High Pressure building on Christmas Eve into christmas day, which will quieten things down quite nicely. It means the chance of a White Christmas is very remote indeed. But it does mean a good deal of dry weather in the forecast. So our christmas week looks like this. A showery start, drying up nicely on Christmas Eve and christmas day. The potentialfor more rain arriving late in the week. Take care. This is bbc news. The headlines there are more catastrophic fire warnings in australia for saturday in three parts of New South Wales, with temperatures set to hit the mid 40s celsius. The australian Prime MinisterScott Morrison has apologised for going on a family holiday to hawaii while his country was dealing with the bushfire emergency. At least six people have been killed in india, as police tried to contain a further day of protests about a new citizenship law. Police used tear gas and batons but denied firing on demonstrators. The law allows fast track citizenship for religious refugees from neighbouring countries but excludes muslims. The british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson has won the support of the house of commons for a second reading of his brexit bill. The vote brings britain nearer to departing from the eu at the end of january. Parliament, now dominated by the conservatives, passed the bill with a large majority. A funeral and a Memorial Service have taken place for the two victims