Here's our world affairs correspondent Paul Adams at the start of the year when Donald Trump hopes to be reelected the president who has repeatedly said he wants to get American troops out of the Middle East is sending an additional 750 in its top they'll fly to a base in Kuwait from where around 100 Marines were sent to the Baghdad embassy last night the fortified compound which was never in any real danger yesterday seems quiet enough this morning but the anger generated by last weekend's airstrikes has once again pitted the trumpet ministration against Iran and its proxies around the Middle East one of Mr Trump's last tweets of the year was a warning to Iran that it will be held responsible for any American lives lost figures collated by the b.b.c. Show the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats was more than 6 times higher in 2019 then in the previous year 283 people were intercepted by Border Force officials in December alone Simon Jones reports from Dover in 201-8297 migrants are known to have succeeded in reaching the u.k. In small boats at the end of the year the government declared a major incident but the crossings have continued more than $1800.00 people were intercepted by the border force in 2019 in the world's busiest shipping lane 3 people drowned after falling overboard and another man died trying to swim across the channel with floats made from plastic bottles the Home Office says the number of patrols on French beaches has doubled in recent months and 3 border force vessels are patrolling the channel it says it will seek to remove people reaching the u.k. Illegally but in 2019 only around 125 arrived by boat were returned to continental Europe. boris johnson has said 2020 can mark a new chapter for the country a lying at to turn the page on the division and on certainty of recent years in his new year's message the prime minister said he'd represent all voters and help britain to on leash its enormous potential our political correspondent nick arab league reports parliament will seem like a very different place this year with boris johnson's conservative government firmly in control at westminster but then his new year message for the prime minister continues to strike a conciliatory torn promising to govern for everyone whether they supported breck's it in the conservatives or not i know that you love this country nor less mr johnson says simply because you voted for another party or wanted to remain the yuki's the parcher from the e.u. Will of course be the priority for the government in the next month with a departure day say for the end of January for the prime minister also repeats plage is to spend more on the n.h.s. And skills and to meet it 2020 s. Pour he calls a decade of prosperity and opportunity that optimism however there's not shared by all with jeremy corben claiming the year ahead will be tough and pledging that labor will lead the resistance to mr johnson's government the archbishop of canterbury has used his new year's message to coal for the u.k. To start healing divisions the most reverent justin welby said he'd been inspired by the example of heroism out hope he saw provided by our an ally volunteers when he visited to dover life boats station recently Tens of thousands of people lined the River Thames last night as London kicked off the new year to the roar of football anthems the show looked ahead to the city's role in hosting some of the matches at this year's Euro 2020 football tournament our correspondent Seanad Gallagher was among the crowds a 100000 people packed onto the embankment to watch one of the world's most famous firework displays. The main attraction was the London Eye which had thousands of fireworks special from it at the stroke of midnight the theme was the your a 2020 football championships and the Games London is hosting you're right 2020 was house in fireworks while classic football anthems were played to the crowds. There of London City Carney said he wanted the display to celebrate London as a global city and despite Breck's it a European city too in Scotland the streets of Edinburgh echoed with old lungs I know has thousands of revelers from all over the world enjoyed their traditional Hogmanay street party performances from Idlewild rudimentary Mark Almond featured across stages throughout the city center while the d.j. Mark Ronson created a song track as the clock struck 12 These people said it had been a memorable way to see in the New Year absolutely fantastic I bought a copy of his drum we performed in the street but Elliott's night we don't do it which was incredible the best there was that you were. In a bright red. Rocks got a little bit of maize and yeah they love that just the cultures are 2nd in the whole city it's better to cut. They were enjoying themselves and repeatable who were not in work before 6 o'clock this morning and await his night or 9 minutes past 7 on this New Year's Day 3 small boats carrying 43 migrants were picked up in the English Channel yesterday nearly 60 more people have been rescued in recent days trying to cross from France into the u.k. Often in perilously small boats it's not the number it's making the journey are increasing sharply so why and what can be done about it well we can talk tonight to Lucy Morton the general secretary of the Immigration Service Union that's the union for the borders immigration and customs officials Good morning good morning why is it we're seeing such a huge increase do you think in people trying to enter the u.k. Across the Channel this is becoming very much a business as usual when this increased massively this time last year we had one secretary declaring a state of emergency coming home now this is something that we just expect the numbers of increased massive in the last week last couple of weeks we do normally see an increase in clandestine migration over Christmas that's been a pattern for decades but that's the 1st time that we've seen this quite so dramatically in small boats and I mean as you point out that this time of year there often is an increase over the last year though we've seen the numbers increase by 6 times I mean 1700 people are thought to have reached the u.k. Over the course of last year and yet only 125 of them were returned to mainland Europe you can see with numbers like that what people would be tempted to try Absolutely and it's one of them all successful routes across the number of efforts that you have to make to cross a smaller than trying to conceal yourself in a lorry or the back of a vehicle but it is also much much more risky and until very recently it's been the purview of organized crime these are things that people pay a lot of money to to be put on but as it becomes more and more successful it's more reported in the media we're now starting to see people that we think are trying to do this on their own the junkman in flipper. As to in a kayak that type of thing and of course we know there are more border force boats out in the channel but does that necessarily reduce the numbers trying to make the journey not at all. Primarily to ensure life once the vessels are in the water it's quite common for the migrants on it to threaten their own lives if they're approached particularly by a French vessel if approached by British vessel are quite happy but their aim is to get to the u.k. And the border force vessels that to deter them from setting sail that are to ensure that they reach the other side of life there are arguments around that but say the general rule is that life is paramount and these people have often been coached in knowing exactly what to say to the border force in order to say that they're claiming asylum absolutely they take. A particular If you've bought a package that tends to come with the fixed story of who you are while you're flying we do find there with small boats that just on the whole for the moment have extended to the song times elsewhere in Europe and your fingerprints so we do track you down now of course we know that France is that up security measures to try and stop people living there we've told by the fact that there are 10 border force vessels in the channel and what we don't seem to hear very much. Mistaken is prosecutions being taken against the people smugglers are making a fortune out of this and risking people's lives and fundamentally are behind the numbers of people who are coming here absolutely there are prosecutions and they do get reported the majority are in France but it takes a long time to get through the system and so where you have the arrests from last month from 6 months ago they will still be subject to some company reported so it does seem that there is a lag but certainly we're not able to prosecute sufficient to prevent this traffic this is traffic in human beings and Lloyd's new described as what is often an increase in traffic towards the end of any year 2020 will be a very pretty. You know one given that at the end of this month we will be leaving the European Union do you think there will be a rise in the number of people trying to get here before the 31st of January yes one of the drivers we're being told is that people smugglers and people traffickers are telling these folk that after Breck's it Britain will close in some way in practice of course this is illegal anyway and it will be as illegal on the 30th of January as it is on the 1st of February it doesn't make a difference but we do know that the criminals are using try and drive more business Lucy Martin thanks for talking to us this morning thank you it's 30 minutes past 7. And it's time for the business now with Dominick Yes we're looking back at some big names of disappeared from the high street Mothercare Thomas Cook and Karen Millen the u.k. Operations have all gone to ministration in the last year and if you look back of the past decade where the high street has changed completely have really reached the end of this clear out on the High Street or is there more to come will Judy Palmer is managing partner a managing partner a big beast trainer she specializes in restructuring companies like these agility might be a good place to start and just to ask why these companies are going into ministration . It's been a really really awful decade to reach a number of factors really obviously there's been depressed consumer confidence people just spending less than their cultural shift in the sense we're not a nation of shoppers that we once were at the national living wages kicked in so the $6.00 cost overheads return has increased all the laboring under a very archaic rate system and they. Put in your rent reviews for trajectory seen change so it's really still mostly because I think a lot of people assume or think oh it's just the internet it's Amazon and all the other online retailers who have eaten these these players lunch but there was a big period of overexpansion perhaps in the early years of the century and of course as you say other factors at play as well this rise and reach others to expand terminal out of private equity money code into retail and. Would have saved months if to open up an online instead and that continues year on year but that doesn't really sort of include that we are now seeing increased sons of distress on online retailers as well so I look at some of the figures and more in red flags stock shares about 9000 on reach and this on interest at the moment and that's a 7 percent increase on last and I was 65 percent increase over 3 years. Of good times those returns in general to expected to continue juvie or even we've reached the end of this particular clear phase of a clear out I think it will continue I think what we are seeing at the moment is a bit of a plateau particularly with bricks and water ridiculous as opposed to our mind so again figures are quite dramatic so last year we should 140 jobs in retail and that's a very long number and that we are seeing lots of the levels of stress in retail but I think it will remain high going forward there also secondary effects on that we see the the high street shops shutting down but the landlords who own those shops and the Councils who rely on those shops for business rates that are suffering as well. That's right I mean and retail units do nobody any good so the landlords and so if one of the it's empty they have to bear the burden of rates always as a reduced level but also they've got increased security costs all those sites it dampens in the High Street trend. Properties but some behind that all the landlords have been used to this long period of up with any rent refused a number of pension funds have his key investments in the pension from so long will to start and severely affected as I am and in France. Thank you very much Judy Palmer from big strain. It's 60 minutes past 7 the departure of colors going from Japan was certainly dramatic one television station in Lebanon claims that the former head of innocent was actually smuggled out any musical instrument case he had a south says that he left. Pan to escape from a rigged justice system them in space in charges of financial misconduct were caught a Qur'an is a Lebanese television host he's interviewed. Several times and is a friend of his he joins us now good morning. Good morning and Happy New Year and Happy New Year to you as well and you had to be seeing column. In shape and he's perfectly well and he's ready to tackle in your year a lot of enthusiasm and positivity Have you actually spoken to him then. Is find his find you're. Right Ok Joran conclusions from the that have been some very strange stories about how he managed to escape from Japan can you shed any light on that for us. To him he's going to give a press conference a couple of days to be talking about all those details and he'll be going through all of this journey how to start. Has Ended up in Lebanon and they do today before yesterday it has been a long journey and I think he's the only one who can talk about it. We'll be criticism of his actions in Lebanon because he was facing serious charges Wilson in Japan hiding him enriching himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East. Yes true but we heard we've read that we have followed your oath is. That he has been through through for the past 1415 months however. I'm going to recall what the French minister said yesterday you said that Mr Good is not above. The low. Altitude for it to hear from him in seeing that every man has a right to defend themselves they did so in Japan where he was due to be standing trial. If it wasn't an oppressive Lou and there was a presumption of guilt prevailed over the presumption of innocence and no one can admit to being held hostage and deprived of his most basic rights but the sole purpose of extracting confessions from him I would call that psychological torture . And acceptable system is that acceptable of psychological torture if it does occur as you know this man guilty or not I'm not. Debating or that was my rable we cannot fail to know that the French. Executive has shown into this in this matter. How how we made it to Lebanon in the books. Those are details. To Lose. Has been I believe facing a struggle between giant industrial interest. Today when we look at the share prices and the sun and we see what they have because we are tempted to see no one should govern if it is below the required intelligence even to. Escape injustice altogether if he's not standing trial in Japan he's not likely to face legal action in Lebanon is he. Sink it's going to go beyond that pretty quickly. 3 or 4 months ago he had tweeted Mr Goodwin that he was going to give a press conference and in Japan and you remember you know that prior to those 2 tweets he was imprisoned again and he was deprived against will be in touch with his family what are the issue let him say out loud the what he knows what has happened and what he did to defend themselves and what we will be saying to him when you meet him. Today Happy New Year Of course. But low income and very well is preciously preparing. This press conference and he knows that you don't have a long trial and is ready for the. Lows and with his journey and with this were to as a chief not somebody who accepts to be issues it is criminal is here to counter every single accusation and Levy is a fair. Legal system who will give it to the current Ricardi Qur'an thank you for talking to us time is now 21 minutes past 7. That can go late help to cut greenhouse gases by reducing how much cows phoned a farm in Lancashire claims to be cussing the levels of methane produced by its Kathlyn it wants to join in a carbon trading scheme will explain all is Jay tast sales manager at braids. In Lancaster Good morning and happy and Hello Ken Joe here still. Hoping we can get through to to he's not off duty with his couse that's a shame we're hoping to find out how he measures their meat but never mind luckily we do have them Cornelius licet with them I'm sure much more elegant news of the sport gathered more effective from me thing than communications obviously Hello morning happy New Year lives bought this New Year's Day includes plenty of football in England and a chance for Leicester and Manchester City city the team of the decade whatever anyone else says to close their manager Pep Guardiola to close the gap on Liverpool at the top of the Premier League without reply Liverpool don't kick off their 2020 until tomorrow night plus David Moyes takes charge at West Ham for the 1st time in his 2nd spell there at home against Bournemouth lives bought 2 at Alexandra Palace Sally Pylea in north London where Holland's defending champion Michael Van Gogh and takes on Britain Peter Wright in the p.c. World championship darts final live New Year's Day horse racing to the tips will follow shortly but let's stay on a racing theme for a few moments I'm starting today I think the 5th decade in which I work professionally in the sport and throughout that time female equality and a perceived man's world has been a talking point of some sort particularly in the last decade or so 2019 was considered a good year for female participants particularly jockeys wholly Doyle smashed the record for a number of wins by a female writer with 116 during the flat racing year but a report out before Christmas suggested it would take 100 years to reach a desired parity in all areas jockeys trainers officials cetera Let's talk to the race horse trainer Emma Lavelle who joins us from her stables. In Wiltshire morning happy new year happy if Cornelius So has it been a breakthrough year do you feel for her female participants 2019 I think it's actually been a great yes email participant. In 29 you know there's been a lot of people that have been successful and have had a lot of back on and celebrate on I think to say it's a break. I would be to be a Sabbat because I think that this has been going on for a while now and I think what's been great is that. Female juries have been getting on the good horses they've been delivering because of their talent not because of their sex. And I think that it's you know it's been it's RINGBACK been a year where plenty of women have shown so so do you see it as a man's world there are clearly more male participants in every area but that man's world caricature do you see that. Personally I don't and I never have done that thing about racing is it is it's an amazing sport to be involved in but it's tough whether you're a woman or a man and I think it is. It is it is a way to everybody else. And if you work hard you've got the opportunity to achieve it well you know I say whatever your facts and I know in 2020 you're real looking forward to running Paisley Park Sadly the clock has caught up with us as has chased us to the finishing line Thanks very much indeed for talking to us this morning. With views there on participants in a perceived man's world and she's the trainer Paisley Park the Top Tips today 235 number 11 Any time will do you muscle breath 325 number 2 pennies secret you say that was such a sorority colonialists my work entirely Unfortunately I will wait to see tomorrow thank you very much indeed and now today 6 minutes past 7 if you are disappointed that you didn't hear that item about fasting cans we can bring it to you now Joe towers the salesmanship rates farm dairy is bad with this and. Can you hear us all right yes very good morning Oh yes very well very well Happy New Year Anthony and this and this item has a serious purpose doesn't it because we know that one of the biggest and contributing fact is to global warming to climate change is the levels of me thing in any atmosphere produced by the kind of cows that you have on your farm. You know 1st have to correct serious. They fasten cows issue it's 90 percent of the may think are from the cows it's in the form of. I thank you I stand corrected on the baps. So tell me how do you measure the me thing so we had a trial period for 3 months last year or 20 eight's in our society now or a team came down from a so you see it at Emory University and they used a laser which they point to the nose of the cow and it matches the parts or service the past 2000000 or 1000000000 of May say between the laser the child's nose so we had a. Trial period where we start with the baseline whilst the cows were being fed the superman. And then again. Also they were being fed for the supplement and this is an image which is it eases garlic to try and come back to me thin and you find it made a difference it did reduce the mesa you know enough ridge of 30 percent in the cows and the cow sampled and as a result of that if you want to get involved in carbon trading didn't choose just explain to us how your idea of a cow credits might work well so the company has developed the sofa. Has since done some work to to convert the revulsion made on file that derives from feeding the supplement into a carbon credit. Which has recently been approved the methodology has been approved . To cover the reduction reasoning to come increase which would be a. Tradable on the voluntary carbon market. And the only only thing body call Vera has recently approved that methodology. Will be able to use the. Use of methodology to retrospectively can the the. The reduction in me said emission is a bitch a for feeding Mitchell to our cows. Into a carbon credit which will be able to trade in 2. On the village cover market and would that help making small economically viable because obviously using a supplement must must cost you money. Yeah I think the idea is obviously the the more we can scale up the use of this product across the dairy industry the greater impact to house the greater potential impact the house on on reducing the environmental impacts of dairy farming. And in order to do that it needs to be. You know as many things feed into the sort of economic model to drive the as possible. For many dairy farmers involved in Quartz production where the there wouldn't necessarily be. An obvious opportunity. To do have some some sort of financial benefit. From feeding the product by way of for example marketing the option is to convert the production research into a carbon credit could could Korea financial incentive. Which could be recognised hopefully quite quite quickly by the wider what it very industry which is certainly see if we can find out what happens in the future to this idea of cow credit is Gerrard's has many thanks indeed Well let's hope to learn something new on this program this morning is the different environmental impact of cows burps rather than are far. And away it's a new year so it's new 630 comedy guess what's back oh this is. Give you a hint oh we just counted Ok this is a typical look at the news right I suspect this is and it's a quiz cornucopia of possibilities Well it's the news quiz back for 2023 new hosts across the. Good news quiz beginning with mission to modern times now so I brought a young girl to put her. To starts with a look back at 29 teams best bits funny Breaks the News Quiz very nice radio for 630 comedy for Friday nights can we tell you to. Look at the weather now and it is a grey start I'm afraid to the new year for most but not the Scotland North Wales and northeast England will be brighter You're listening to today on Radio 4 with Sarah Smith and Martha Carney It's 29 minutes to 8 is the summary of the news from Cathy Claxton the mother of a 19 year old British woman found guilty of lying about being raped by a group of Israeli men in Cyprus has warned parents here that the resort town of iron up is unsafe. Told this program she supported a boycott of tourism to the country and was worried about the impact of the case on her daughter's mental health. Australian officials say 8 people are known to have died yesterday as a result of the bushfires sweeping across the states of New South Wales and Victoria scores of homes have been destroyed and the number of fatalities is expected to rise. The u.s. Has announced the immediate deployment of $750.00 troops to the Middle East after militia men and their supporters attempted to storm the American embassy in Baghdad President Trump praised the swift action of the u.s. Military and thanked the Iraqi government for its response. The North Korean leader Kim Jong un says Pyongyang no longer considers itself bind by its moratoriums on nuclear and long range ballistic missile tests Mr Kim is said to have told party officials that North Korea would soon introduce what he called a new strategic weapon. More than 800 people were intercepted by Border Force officials last year figures collated by the b.b.c. Show the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats was more than 6 times higher in 2019 than in the previous year. Boris Johnson has painted an optimistic picture of the year ahead in his New Year message saying that the u.k. Is on the verge of a new chapter in British history he's promised to finish the job by delivering brags that within the next few weeks meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury has called for the u.k. To start healing divisions in his New Year message the Most Reverend Justin Welby said he'd been inspired by the heroism and hope he saw demonstrated by our an ally volunteers on a recent visit to the Dover lifeboat station. Celebrations have taken place across the country to see in the 1st day of 2020 in London the fireworks display give a present to the euro 2020 football tournament and tens of thousands of revelers sang Old Lang Syne after traditional Hogmanay party in Edinburgh Thanks Kathy this year will mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations there will be a year of commemorative events later in this program we'll be asking about the UN's future role but 1st let's take a look back at one of the organizations darkest moments in Rwanda the conflict began on the 6th of April 994 when a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down killing everyone on board and human family reminding everyone that president didn't tell you and the appearance he returning from a meeting of the conceded in Tanzania at 9 30 in the evening with a full time tonight explosions were heard and the plane carrying them and 6 other people crashed in saying the same can find grenade explosions going off in the sense of justice for joining and our continuing United Nations forces combined into one general very good to say that it wasn't it wasn't Thanks it was fighting jointly fighting 8 extend decided well in the next 100 days an estimated 800000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda most of them by Hutu militia at the time there was a small number of un peacekeepers serving in the country but the mission was not given a mandate to see. Stop the genocide it is viewed as one of the biggest failures in the history of the United Nations in 1904 Romeo Dallaire was the force commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force far under the un was in gauge to in peace process and was very much under pressure to bring a resolution to that civil war that was going on for nearly 3 years until they produced a peace process that was impossible for an organization like the un to implement because it needed people deployed within 37 days needed the implementation of the new interim government within a couple months and that's nowhere near the capacity of the un and if you want to deploy a mission in new un We're talking 6 months so that's where I believe it failed it wanted to bring a solution and in so doing push that through the other side however where the un is often accused of having failed and I think that's not correct is that when the genocide started we screened for the support of the new mandate for forces to be able to stop it in its tracks it wasn't the u.n. Secretary that was at fault at that point it was very much the individual nations that had the capacity to do something who refused and I mean it came even on the grounded because it's in refuse me to give me the assets I needed because the damage was a tribal problem it was a local problem in and probably go away fast and you were there on the ground watching this happen what was the consequence of the failure to act the overt one is within 100 days well over 800000 human beings were slaughtered close to 4000000 were rendered either internally displaced or if you gee didn't a region. And ultimately the. Concept of genocide actually being able to happen was proven in as much as never again didn't work and so we've been destroyed this hope that we would never see something like a genocide happen again what was the impact on you personally of having to watch this happen. The impact. Wasn't as much a trauma one although the horrors and so on the terror it was the moral dilemmas the ethical and moral dilemmas and even legal don't have as what are refused legal orders that created what ultimately was assessed as an acute case of post-traumatic stress disorder and I was medically released subsequently from the forces because of that and I've been under therapy for the last 20 years and what happened in Rwanda is widely understood to be one of the un says great failures do you think the organization has learned lessons from that and change so this couldn't happen again I think that it's a failure of the organization to be able to convince nations to engage that's the primary fair however it did have inherent problems there's no power I made mistakes in the field and so the day of the sectarian The big lesson that was learned was the creation of the responsibility to protect in 2005 that said it was the individual who's the sovereign element and not the state and that meant we could intervene when massive abuse of human rights happened but nobody is that the guts to do it in any real way the remaster of disconnect that still exists from the u.n. And it's incredibly complex mandates and ambiguous mandates that it has around the world is the fact that. Bolton was the u.s. Ambassador at the time vetoed nearly 100 reforms that Kofi Annan was going to present in 2005 and those those reforms have never been picked up significantly by any nation and unless those reforms happen we will still see the u.n. Being the easiest scapegoat for many countries who don't want to do anything because when u.n. Peacekeepers to turn up in a country they're often welcomed. The beginning but generally what do you think the experience is after they've spent quite a lot of time there well one of the terrible things is that as will happen with me is that the population is often you will advise and inform at what the u.n. Can do that is to say what is really in the mandate the rundowns thought I was coming in there to protect them and that was never in the idea of the un we were there simply as a referee to help implement the peace agreement without a red card and so we ended up observing and the bait on whether or not you take casualties in the humanitarian mission is still raging in many countries and so that holds people back from actually doing their job properly we're reflecting on 75 years of the un if we look forward to the next 25 are you optimistic that the u.n. Can play a role globally that will bring more peace or do you think it's fundamentally not equipped to do what we expect it to I think it will remain flawed unless some of those significant reforms of coffee and then put together in 2005 are actually implemented and that means we are in dire need of some nations states to build the desire to bring those significant reforms into play General Dallaire thank you very much for that. It's 22 Asian time for a look at the morning papers and news websites and many of them are fascinated by the way the former boss of Nisson managed to get out of Japan where he was awaiting trial for fraud the Guardian reports that Carlos Ghosn fled house arrest hidden in a musical case which of course calls and out days his Hollywood movie style escape he described it describes the process orchestrated by his wife with the assistance of a good Korean music group The Times says it was the nicest tycoon used a band to go on the run Bloomberg News says that Mr Gaines right to Lebanon would be hard for Japanese authorities to live down it's also highlights how the event sparked a lot of wordplay on Twitter including going with the wind and go again go home the political website answers Donald Trump's policy of pressuring Iran is blowing up in Iraq it follows the storming of the Us embassy in Baghdad by a large number of protesters which the u.s. President has held Iran responsible for the New York Times believes the growing crisis has strained Mr Trump's version to war with Iran as well as his distaste for Middle East entanglements it believes the president is facing pressure from hawkish allies in Washington to confront Iran forcefully The Washington Post agrees that Mr Trump is being pulled towards what it calls a tinderbox he was hoping to avoid the Sydney Morning Herald reports on the continuing ran our weather the traditional New Year fireworks extravaganza over the city should have been cancelled because of the Bush foreign merchant sea sweeping large parts of the country it adds that the New South Wales Rural Fire Service granted the 12 minute display an exemption from the total fire ban is in place across much of the state the Brisbane Times said the decade closed in an inferno with holiday makers huddled on beaches whole towns devoured and several lives lost on the deadliest day of the worst bushfire season on record many of the u.k. Papers use their editorials to urge Britain to reunite after the big. Divisions over break that the Daily Mail hopes that after a fractious and bad temper 12 months the principal argument is over and the healing can begin the Daily Telegraph believes that Boris Johnson knows he won't unite the country if those on the losing side feel they're having their noses rubbed in it and is already reaching out to them in his New Year message the Son cannot recall feeling as hopeful for Britain's future and believes will enjoy a golden decade the Daily Mirror says it's a new beginning and the chance to get things right hoping the new decade will be the tremendous twenties finally as livestock own a huge charges $32.00 pounds for tea parties with a sheep not house I should hasten to add is featured in The Daily Telegraph Apparently he ran it came up with the idea at a property in central Scotland to make it stand out from her competitors on air b.n. B. The paper says her sheep hay machine Dougal Benny and Lucky have become a hit with stress millennial is looking for a meditative experience this Routledge is said to be booked out months in advance even in winter time is now 17 minutes to 8 the Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice irreparably damage our planet or innovate That's the warning from Prince William as he launches a new multimillion prize the shot will be given to 5 winners who come up with new solutions to tackle climate change Cullen but failed is the executive director of the World Wildlife Fund and has been working with the g. On developing the prize Good morning good morning and the idea of what is is based on the the moon shot that was launched by and Jeff Kennedy. Exactly States takes inspiration from that if you like President Kennedy said within a decade we'll put a man on the moon so a very simple idea obviously behind it required huge collaboration across different fields of science business public support in of Asian entirely fields a science as well as different applications of existing ones and the inspiration really thought what if we really applied ourselves to these challenges of climate change and loss of biodiversity over this decade what if we drew together ideas from the best of different fields of science of engineering of finance of civil organization to try and tackle them and applied the same sort of scale of an optimism and determination as was was laid out in the original idea to try and save the planet and indeed make future better for humanity as well and so many areas which are facing pressure from climate change will you be setting out categories that you want people to explore exactly so the science is fairly clear on the really big things that we need to do and it's particularly the intersection between tackling climate change and of course preserving the natural world which is a key dependency also for tackling climate change restoring oceans tropical forests fresh water systems and things like that will help us both tackle climate change and and manage ourselves through transition as as climate change happens so there will be in these broad categories but critically over the decade we really hope that you will get winners of the prize in each category that come from different fields so no one challenge is going to be solved purely by technological innovation though that will of course be needed Similarly no challenge will be just done through a particular society group city doing something so we hope will be groups it will be individuals it will be new ideas it will be technology and and society organizations all over the world in each of those categories and not just as scientists No no definitely not just for science of course of course the there is a huge scientific element here but it will be particularly things that can actually really change and change its. Gale over that decade so perhaps other prizes that reward a completion of a body of work and end of a body of work this is about accelerating new ideas so things that perhaps have been proven at a level that cannot be accelerated over decades be given by funding attention public support to make them go much much bigger and further so it's entirely possible and indeed we very much hope it might be for example a city that's done something particularly innovative and a group of people within that city just as much as it could be a scientist or an engineering team how person involved has Prince William himself been in this. Extremely personally involved I mean he's been working on it for about a year and if you can imagine the for the next decade he's laid out this prize His name is very much attached to and indeed one of the unique things about him and his involvement in it is he has a convening power across the world the few others have so he's very personally got involved in terms of drawing together the people that are going to need to make this prize enormous last over the decade and all of the recipients and awards become scalable so extremely personable is extremely committed to what we're trying to achieve here and what is it what do you been saying to you about. I think what particularly change you saw for the beginning of the year when he got when when he 1st started thinking about it was the idea that 1st of all realizing that 10 years this is absolutely pivotal whether we tackle climate change and the loss of biodiversity we will know whether we succeed or fail or fail at this decade but secondly a lot of the solutions were out there the more he took spoke to scientists the more he spoke to engineers and problem solvers the more he realized that actually a lot of the solutions probably do exist and we just haven't applied ourselves to that with the same focus as with Pabst on to other problems across the world so I think fundamentally he and all the team behind this are optimistic that humanity can do this it's a case of moving at speed focus and accelerating over this decade Cullen but failed from the world and thank you for talking to us now at 12 minutes to 8 it's time for thought for the day the speaker in our London studio this morning is Reverend Dr journals Fraser who is the rector of St Mary's Newington Good morning from sometime around the middle of the 12th century throughout the late middle ages and all the way up to 1752 New Year's Day wasn't officially celebrated on the 1st of January at all but on the 25th of March Christian scholars in ancient Alexandria and on the basis of some quite extraordinary logic as to be said decided the 25th of March was the day on which God had created the world and so many argued he must also be the day in which Jesus was conceived Jesus being the new creation that's why Christmas Day comes exactly 9 months later the 25th of March was taken to be New Year's Day because for Christians that day was absolutely pivotal in the great story of salvation. But the problem with the old calendar was that it had miscalculated the length of the year by 11 and a half minutes and so important dates like Easter kept on shifting about so in 1582 the Pope ordered a new method of calculation which included moving New Year's Day to January Catholic countries quickly fell in line behind this new a new way of doing things those countries that didn't like being told what to do by the pope including of course the Protestant British under Elizabeth the 1st decided to ignore him it took another 170 years before we officially changed to the 1st of January these days it's only the British tax man that follows close by the old way of doing things and though it slightly pains me to say this I'm rather with a chairman Revenue and Customs on this one for once the 25th of March is rich in theological resonance the 1st of January is not the ancient Romans began the year with January because this was when new consuls took up office historically there's nothing particularly Christian about today is New Year's Day apart from the fact of course that this is still Christmas but even so last night around my way the churches were packed just a few years after the 1st of January officially became New Year's Day Methodists began to hold what night services over this period in part as a resistance to the idea that New Year had become little more than that great festival of getting wasted John Wesley developed these services as a way for Christians to renew their commitment to God and to sobriety and later still black Christians in America would celebrate the 1st of January is the day on which Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation came into effect in $863.00 it was the day many slaves found their freedom and one of the reasons why my church was full of clapping and singing into the small hours last night this morning as some traditions die new ones develop but the same fate is being celebrated throughout Happy New Year and happy Christmas that was thought for the day with the Reverend Dr John Fraser. It's 9 minutes to wait at the u.s. Embassy in Baghdad the crowd was chanting Death to America yesterday when a guard tower was set ablaze. A crowd reported to have managed to penetrate the compound before tear gas was fired to try to disperse them the American compound in Iraq was attacked by an Iranian backed militia angry over the deaths of their members killed by u.s. Airstrikes on Sunday President Trump tweeted last night that Iran will pay a very big price for any damage or loss of life this is not a warning it's a threat he said later the u.s. Defense secretary announced that around $750.00 soldiers would immediately be deployed to the region Well let's talk now to Emma Sky She was an advisor to the commanding general of u.s. Forces in Iraq and author of a widely acclaimed book in a time of monsters Good morning good morning they used to live in that very embassy when you were. Serving as a diplomat there how heavily fortified is it. The embassy is very very well supplied it was built obviously in Moore and in the Middle East things can be earned embassies can be attacked people remember what happened in Iran in 1700 or in but also more recently what happens in Libya. When the American ambassador Chris Stevens was killed. So presumably this is why the defense secretary took that decision to deploy more troops in the region. Yes I mean they've sent in extra Marines it's u.s. Marines that are inside the embassy that provide the security there's some private security around the the outer cordons but inside it is Marines and they meet at least sent over 100 Marines to reintroduce force and this sending some soldiers from the 82nd Airborne about 750 of those are being sent to the region now it's a complex situation in Iraq has been for many years and just explain to us the role of these Shiite militias with this particular militia type his boner is warm which has got very very strong links to Iran Iran supports a number of different Schimmel issues inside Iraq and has been doing you say for many years they were formed in the side of the u.s. Forces or well since 2003 rhythmic trying to fight against ISIS the sheer militias played a role in pushing back ISIS in that fight they were on the same side as u.s. Forces so to speak they didn't work with them directly but indirectly they were fighting against ISIS together. But now that has clearly changed changing dynamic and what we're seeing here the kind of strains that there are in the relationship between the United States and Iran. Yes I mean what we've seen over the last sort of 24 hours has really been very deeply shocking one medals for the last 3 months Iraq in some pain in the streets and squares across Baghdad in the south of the country protesting against their government accusing the government of been cropped and being incompetent and protesting against Iranian interference they've torched the wailing consulates and madge after and Cardona that been chanting Iraq free Iran. And the pressure was really being put out by the Iraq people on to Iran. Now obviously over the last isn't the us pulled out of the nuclear agreement with Iran and exerted more and more pressure maps and pressure Trump could it on Iran Iran has been responding we saw you know attacks on Gulf shipping shooting down of the Us troops are then the attacks on around Colonel in Saudi Arabia and all these things happened without a u.s. Military reaction there was a cyber attack on a more sanctions but it wasn't a u.s. Military response and this made Gulf countries such as Saudi and the Emirates and the concern that the u.s. Wasn't reliable and they started reaching out to Iran to deescalate and I think Iran is really being pushing pushing to test America to see where the lines are I think Iran understands that Trump really wants to get out of the Middle East and they've been pushing and pushing and they have been attacking u.s. Troops inside Iraq of the past 2 post few months attacking bases where u.s. Troops are stationed but very recently they you know they killed a u.s. Contractor in Coke and worn and wounded 4 u.s. Military and I think that was just too much a match what led to the response on Sunday when the u.s. . Attacked bases of Kotite Hizbullah in Syria and inside Iraq and killed 25 m. a Sky thank you and now battling through a soft night in order to talk to us this New Year's Day. The time is now 3 minutes to 8 and that means it's time for a look at the weather with Susan Po thank you very much good morning very grey prospects to take us into the start of 2020 not a cloud across the u.k. Today tomorrow is also looking pretty good right now we some rain for Scotland Northern on and through the day getting into England and Wales overnight but behind that finally something clearer and brighter for Friday so it's the end of the week when you finally will get to see some more extensive sunshine today well we're really struggling to pick out that brought to spots for many the picture will be over solid cloud England and Wales we have a southerly or south westerly breeze so favored to see some sunshine today the east of the Pentagon's North Wales East Anglia a few breaks elsewhere but the closer to the south coast you are probably a great chances of solid cloud and some drizzly rain for the southwest of England said it looks to be the case and for South Wales highs today of 6 to 8 to crossing the new Wales Northern Ireland guess what cloudy as well little bit of drizzle here brightness Well some possible for the north and east coast increasingly breezy as the day goes by highs of 7 or 8 on to Scotland windy here to the north and west with gales for the Northern and Western Isles it's chilly start in the Northeast but that is because we've actually got clear skies here we've had a frost overnight but here we will get the best of the sunshine I think for the whole of the u.k. Today across the northern Highlands and around the Murray Firth for the remainder of Scotland Yes it's the cloud to contend with and some drizzle towards the northwest temperatures across Scotland this New Year's Day 6 to 9 degrees Celsius overnight tonight it's relatively moderate cloudy it's murky more clouds promise but to more a reminder there finally brighter on Friday the foot of my day thank you Radio 4 was just a few days continue over on b.b.c. Sounds. Mixed news with the lies from side to her you should do things like that after. Christmas pudding is in. Time for the radio treats you missed over Christmas so there's a lot to catch up on where you. A celebrity's then there's probably rubbing shoulders with the general pubic. The joke is like an antique watch you have to tinker with the mechanism to get it just right remember t h a n k y o u yes don't forget to thank you letters. Take time for Radio 4 on b.b.c. Signs. And the next hour of this program will speak to the mother of a British teenager in Cyprus has been found guilty of lying about a rape by a group of men we'll look at the future of the United Nations and do some crystal ball gazing with some of the B.B.C.'s editors you're listening today on b.b.c. Radio 4 with Sarah Smith at the colony. It's 8 o'clock on Wednesday the 1st of January the headlines this morning the mother of a 19 year old British woman controversially found guilty of lying about being raped by a group of men in Cyprus has told this program about the huge physical and mental toll the cases had on her daughter at least 8 people are now known to have died yesterday in the bush fires raging across parts of Australia and at his New Year message Boris Johnson has said the u.k. Can look ahead to a decade of prosperity and opportunity after the divisions of recent years the b.b.c. News is read by Cathy Clarkston the mother of the British teenager found guilty of lying about being raped by a group of 12 Israeli men in Cyprus has warned parents in the u.k. That the holiday resort of Ai another is unsafe in an interview with this program the 19 year old's mother you cannot be named for legal reasons said she supported an online campaign which is calling on tourists to boycott the country saying she doesn't trust the police our correspondent Jon Donnison reports it's been 2 days since the young British woman was found guilty in a Cypriot court of falsely claiming she was raped by 12 Israeli men Her lawyers say both the police investigation and the court process were flawed and that they're planning to appeal now the 19 year old's mother has told this program of the impact the cases had on her daughter's mental health her words are read by an actor to protect both of their identities she severing from p.t.s.d. She spends a lot of time with hypersomnia at the moment that means she's sleeping an awful lot of the day she sleeps probably 1820 hours a day she's also quite withdrawn which is very sad for me to see and she'll say experiences hallucinations and she needs to get back to the u.k. To get that treated that's my absolute primary focus the teenagers mother is supporting a call for tourists. Boycott Cyprus saying she doesn't believe resorts like a safe or that the police there can be trusted the young woman is due to be sentenced next week and could face up to a year in prison and you can hear the full interview after this bulletin officials in Australia say its people died on New Year's Eve as a result of the bushfires sweeping across the state of New South Wales and Victoria scores of homes have been destroyed and the number of fatalities is expected to rise the emergency services have warned that conditions are still too dangerous for them to reach people in some areas including those who've reportedly suffered burns one firefighter who's been working in New South Wales David Inskip said the fires were nothing like he'd seen before there's just so much happening all over the state this far as burning out in the north in the south so the resources Estridge points in the fire is moving so fast and why is that we're not used to survey the worst orders in 20 years or so. I'm going to say like an. The u.s. Is sending 750 extra troops to the Middle East after demonstrators attempted to storm its embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad yesterday the protesters had been angered by American air strikes at the weekend which targeted an Iranian backed militia group and which killed at least $25.00 people here's our world affairs correspondent Paul Adams at the start of the year when Donald Trump hopes to be reelected the president who has repeatedly said he wants to get American troops out of the Middle East is sending an additional $750.00 in its thought they'll fly to a base in Kuwait from where around $100.00 Marines were sent to the Baghdad embassy last night the fortified compound which was never in any real danger yesterday seems quiet enough this morning but the anger generated by last weekend's strikes has once again pitted the trumpet ministration against Iran and its proxies around the Middle East one of Mr Trump's last tweets of the year was a warning to Iran that it will be held responsible for any American lives lost large crowds are expected to mark New Year's Day in Hong Kong by marching against the government the latest in a series of pro-democracy protests that have been going on for more than 6 months.