Today at 5 a state of emergency is declared as australias bush fires rage and the death toll rises. There are fears that a heatwave forecast for this weekend could make the crisis even worse. Australias Prime MinisterScott Morrison cuts short a visit to one devastated community as people there heckle him. How come we only had four trucks to defend our town and . We dont have a lot of money but we have hearts of gold, mr Prime Minister is julias army and navy are evacuating as thousands flee from the flames. The other stories on bbc news at 5. Delays and cancellations on the railways but fares still go up from today by an average
of nearly 3 . More accounts emerge of the deaths of the three family members who drowned in a pool in spain. Researchers say Artificial Intelligence can be better than doctors at diagnosing Breast Cancer from scans. Its 5 oclock our main story is that a seven day state of emergency declared in the australian state of New South Wales as the bushfires there claim even more lives. At least 18 people have died in the fires so far with many others missing. Australia is preparing itself for a weekend heatwave with high temperatures and strong winds that are expected to fan the flames. Tens of thousands of residents and holidaymakers are fleeing towns on the east coast and naval vessels and helicopters are rescuing some of those trapped by blazes. Our correspondent phil
mercer sent this report. The mass exodus from southern New South Wales is under way. It has been slow going and the evacuation has been hampered by a lack of fuel. Phone and Internet Networks have been disrupted, adding to the anxiety. The authorities are urging tourists and residents to leave while they can before the fire danger returns. We cannot guarantee your safety if you are a resident in these areas and do not have the means to stay and possibly defend your home, and your life, we strongly advise you to leave now. We just want to get our kids out of here. They are more important than anything. The authorities fear a repeat of the disaster on new years eve. More lives were lost
and hundreds of homes destroyed. Recovering from this could take years. In victoria, thousands of people in the seaside town are stranded. The main road out is cut but there is an escape by sea for some. The navy has been called in to carry out emergency evacuations. We have the opportunity today to potentially move about 500 people out of this town. The interesting thing about this is that some people may not want to leave. They may want to stay there until such time that we may be able to get out by road. That could be a number of weeks, that may be two or three weeks at this stage. The australian Prime Minister was heckled when he visited a small town. How come we only have two trucks defend our town . We dont have much money but we have
hearts of gold, mr Prime Minister. Thye accused him of mishandling the crisis. You are an idiot, mate. He has been accused of not taking Global Warming seriously. With donations and emergency relief, four trucks. If we were sydney, if we were north coast, we would be flooded with emergency relief. Four trucks Scott Morrison says his Climate Change policies are adequate and responsible. Our policies will both protect our environment and reduce the risks that we are seeing today and at the same time our policies will seek to ensure the viability of peoples jobs and livelihoods around the country. The Prime Minister has called for calm as dozens of blazes burn across the country. The scale of this disaster
is so great that smoke has drifted hundreds of miles across the sea to new zealand. There is no end in sight. More hot, dry and windy conditions are forecast in south eastern australia in the days ahead. As our science editor David Shukman explains, the government in australia says it has to balance the need to meet Climate Change targets, while protecting jobs in Industries Like mining which contribute heavily to Greenhouse Gas emissions. This government is trying to do a balancing act, of trying to sound like its taking chuck Climate Change seriously while at the same time fostering a very important employer, a very important part of economy. Australia is one of the largest exporters of coal in the world, most going to china and
india. The Australian Government response to this is to say, under the last Climate Change treaty, the kyoto protocol, we met our targets. In fact their targets were incredibly generous and even allowed an expansion of Greenhouse Gases, so its not totally accurate to say, it is accurate to say they have met their targets but not that they have contributed to a reduction of emissions. At the same time you hear Scott Morrison saying, we are only a tiny contributor to Global Warming, a percentage point or so. The answer is that as a developed country, australia like britain and america has been pumping out Greenhouse Gases for longer than lets say china or india, and therefore you could say theres a moral responsibility to take the lead in reducing those omissions. This has all been given a sharper focus because last month, at the annual un
climate talks in madrid, i was there, australia played a pretty dirty game, trying to get in the way of the negotiations, held up by many environmental groups as a particularly awkward member of an awkward squad who dont want to take action on Climate Change. They came out of it heavily criticised, on one example of double counting, trying to argue that if they sold gas to developing countries then those countries could rather burn australia burnt call and astray should get some kind of credit for that, for trying to argue that under the previous emissions scheme australia earn some credits and should be able to carry those forward under the paris agreement. It sounds technical but would allow them to keep burning more fossil fuel. This comes at a time where we saw Scott Morrison getting a lot of local criticism for a failure to act in the towns affected, but also globally, more and more countries
and environmental groups highlighting australia saying you area highlighting australia saying you are a victim of the changes climate scientists have been talking about. You as a government are failing to act. Despite delays and poor performance from some train operators, millions of commuters in england and wales will have to pay an average of 2. 7 more for their tickets from today. It means some passengers face a rise of more than £100 for their annual passes. Prices in scotland are also going up. The rail delivery group, which represents the Train Companies claims average fare increases have been kept to below inflation for the third year in a row. Our Business Correspondent emma simpson reports. This back to work today and not much to smile about. As usual, train fares are going up and it has become a january ritual. My travel in particular is affected every day because i have late trains every day and they are literally crawl into london waterloo, so it makes it very difficult for me
to plan so it makes it harderfor me to understand the justification of an increase in price, when i do not see any improvement. We have had a year of bad service, but i have just come to expect now. Ijust get on with it. The service has not been particularly good over the past two or three years, so i think youll find that a lot of people are annoyed about it. Todays increases are all about regulated fares which cover around 40 of journeys, including season tickets, for instance the annual commute from reading to london is going up by £132. From gloucester to birmingham, it is going up by £118. And edinburgh to glasgow, it is not that far behind. All these season tickets are now well over £4000 per year. Nobody wants to pay more for their fares, we understand that, but by keeping the increase just below the rate of inflation, it allows us to cover the day to day running costs of the rail industry, which then frees up billions
of pounds of public and private cash which is needed to upgrade the system. But it has not gone to plan. For Northern Rail commuters, 2019 saw another year of misery, delays, cancellations and overcrowding. The transport secretary says Northern Rail is no longer fit for purpose, and confirmed it may be stripped of its franchise. I do not think it is right that people are unable to rely on their train services, particularly in places like northern, where it has been notably bad. I will absolutely bring that situation to an end. Today he also announced two new trials on flexible tickets, including better value fares aimed at part time commuters. We think there needs to be an overhaul all of the system, easier to work out and also has to offer better value. That will include tickets that reflect we live now. Change could be on the way,
a big long awaited review of the railway commissioned by the government is due to be published in the coming weeks. A Youth Support worker who gave cpr to one of the three members of the family who drowned in a pool in spain has spoken to the bbc about the incident. 52 year old gabriel diya, his nine year old daughter comfort and his 16 year old son praise emmanuel, died on Christmas Eve in a Hotel Swimming Pool in the costa del sol. Josias fletchman, says he was one of a number of people who tried to help revive praise emmanuel. He described how his faith in god kept him going at the moment that he arrived at the scene of the incident. The bodies had already been pulled out of the pool at this point of time, Emergency Services were there, people are doing the cpr. I was
praying as soon as i got in there, a sign of faith straightaway and then after that, the lady asked me to help because she was getting tired, i helped the cpr, i carried on praying while was doing the cpr, the medics come, the medics were doing their thing, i was still praying, recognised a lady that was Walking Around praying, i recognise the daughter that was crying. Shed been comforted, and next thing you know id asked the lady, do you know these . And she said calmly to me, yes, these are my children and my husband. I was a bit stunned by how calmly she said it and it took me back for a minute and she said, yes,
all i can do is pray. So i said to her, iam all i can do is pray. So i said to her, i am in agreement with you right now and im standing in agreement and im praying now. She said, thank you, thank you. The headlines on bbc news. A state of emergency is declared in australia as bush fires rage and the death toll rises. As weve heard, delays and cancellations on the ra i lwa ys delays and cancellations on the railways but fair still go up from today by an average of nearly 3 . More accounts emerge of the deaths of three family members who drowned ina of three family members who drowned in a pool in spain. In sport, more bad news for england cricketers on their tour of south africa. Rory burns has had a scan after hurting his ankle playing football in a training session. Jofra archer is also a doubt for the second test. The arsenal defender Calum Chambers is out for the rest of the season. He has ruptured a cruciate ligament
in his left knee. During a defeat to chelsea last sunday. And that chaos will donate over £100 for every ac Service Industry in tournaments of the next month. Part of the Fundraising Efforts for wildfires in that country. Nick kyrgios. Researchers say a new Artificial Intelligence system has proved as good, if not better, than human experts at spotting Breast Cancer in scans. Than human experts at spotting as part of a Research Project a Computer System was trained to read x rays. It was more accurate than a single radiologist and on a par with two experts working together. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh has more details. This is painstaking work. It takes more than a decade to become a radiologist and have the skill to read a mammogram. This in the nhs, two doctors analyse every persons and x rays. Now, thanks to Artificial Intelligence, a machine can do it just as well as humans. Reading a mammogram is highly skilled work, this went far beyond my expectations. It will have a Significant Impact include proving the quality of treatment and allowing experts to focus on other important things. Women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for breast screening every three years. The study showed al was actually better than one doctor working alone at weeding mammograms. At reading mammograms. It produced 1. 2 fewer false positives, where a healthy mammogram is incorrectly diagnosed as abnormal. And there were 2. 7 fewer false negatives where a cancer is missed. And ai will only get better. This study shows us that in the future it might be possible to make that Screening Programme more accurate and more efficient,
which means less worrying time waiting for patients results and Better Outcomes overall. Helen edwards has been clear of Breast Cancer for 15 years. She was a patient representative on the panel which approved google healths access to the Anonymized Health data. Initially i was concerned, google, what are we going to do this information, what are we going to do with the data . But when i thought about it, longer term it can only benefit women in having less recalls when you havent got a cancer. This is a breakthrough moment for Artificial Intelligence which seems certain to play a major role in the diagnosis of Breast Cancer in the year to come. A has already proved its ability to read other type of patient scans. It is as good as leading experts in diagnosing more than 50 different eye conditions. The nhs needs another 1,000 radiologists, so using al to replace one of the two doctors who read
mammograms would ease that pressure and speed up diagnosis. Just underlining some of the developments that would like to talk more about. And we can speak to professor lord darzi who were just heard in our report. He is the studys co author and director of the Cancer Research uk Imperial Centre and is in doha for us now via facetime. Thank you very much forjoining us, good to have you with hours. And here with me in the studio is dr rupa sarkar editor of at the lancet digital health. Thanks forjoining us, good to have you with hours. First of all, because you have been so involved with this, why dont you just tell viewers how excited you are by the findings on what the potential is . We started with the progress that this will go over something but in
the video we far exceeded our expectations. 30,000 mammograms, 26 from the nhs, and within a fairly short period of time, we have an algorithm there that as fergus mentioned as reporting as good as the first reader. It is actually better than the first radio because a radiologist will have some clinical details when theyre looking at that image whereas a machine doesnt have any clinical details and adding to that the potential being as good as the two leaders combined is very exciting. The video demonstrated, and Breast Cancer screenings it is the only imagingl cancer screenings it is the only imaging i know of that needs to radiologist to read and it is done for all sorts of reasons, because obviously we dont want to miss Breast Cancer, so the ability to
release one of the radiologists opens up and increases productivity, and secondly, and even more importantly, is reducing what we call the false negative which is the most cancers or the false positive, which is a serious issue in terms of anxiety and recall. So very excited and would really love to see this implemented within the nhs. Bear with us. Im just going to bring in doctor sarkar. In one of the questions as if you are a patient, are you going to want a machine or a computer involved at this level of diagnosis or are you going to be more reassured by a much higher profile human involvement, as we have been used to in the past . What is your thought on that . I think patients like convenience especially in health care so we are already seeing machines, many patients seek primary care or their gp service
through apps and video calling. Many patients with Heart Disease were heart rate monitors, so these machines have a lot of promise. What we really have to be careful with these kinds of tools, and the study is fantastic as are many others, but they need to be validated in clinical studies that show real world efficacy of these tools. I suppose lots of viewers watching will be wondering, this is fa ntastically will be wondering, this is fantastically exciting and got huge potential. Where does this lead us because we are talking here in terms of diagnosing Breast Cancer. Where could it be does eventually . First of all from this perspective i couldnt agree more. This is why we need a National Institutes of Health Research on Cancer Research uk, translating this into clinical practice. Where will this lead is . I think there are plenty of other opportunities in imaging. About a year ago we saw some of opportunities in imaging. About a year ago we saw some of the outputs
from moorfield hospital in partnership with local health looking at an early diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy and i think there are multiple applications, improving coordination of care, improving coordination of care, improving communication between primary care and secondary and tertiary care, sol primary care and secondary and tertiary care, so i think this is opening up for us, decades, the last excitement was keyhole surgery and robotic surgery. This is going to transform the way we deliver health ca re transform the way we deliver health care and improve accuracy and precision and its going to improve convenience from a patients perspective. I was Just Convenience from a patients perspective. I wasjust going to ask, it is an International Team involved as we said at the start, 29,000 damages from women. A resource question if you like given where we are. How do we compare with other countries in terms of investing in this technology and do you detect the political will is there to invest with its needed .
think we do and we have seen signs of that as i made reference earlier. The Prime Minister when he was appointed, 250 million towards ai, so appointed, 250 million towards ai, so there is significant funding and let me explain why, because the nhs isa let me explain why, because the nhs is a unique system. We are a single payer. We have the whole population which will allow us to develop these different tools and technologies in a much more streamlined way than many other countries like the us who have Small Insurance Companies and certainly wouldnt have the volume of the images that you refer to, so in this study, 26,000 of these images came from the nhs, sol in this study, 26,000 of these images came from the nhs, so i think we are in the right place and with the Government Support and the support of the Research Entities that i mentioned earlier, i think we can really drive these improvements and make the nhs and example are of notjust and make the nhs and example are of not just discovery but the uptake of
these technologies. Im going to talk about the impact of notjust this investigation and this research, given that you are publishing it. What has been the impact so farand publishing it. What has been the impact so far and the level of interest in what has been shared . M is definitely the first study that showed Artificial Intelligence can actually improve the diagnosis of tomography of Breast Cancer. It is difficult to diagnose and to screen, especially where the images are often dense and difficult to pick out, so it is a big advance in the big help for radiologists and that is going to have an impact across all specialities, for the impact of ai all specialities, for the impact of al on diseases across many different professions is well within health care. Its a good story for us to be reporting, thank you. Congratulations on the work and thank you forjoining us. Thanks to
both of them forjoining us. The story explained to us earlier from fergus walsh, a medical correspondent. Just a bit of breaking news for you from the city of london. The foreign Currency Service travel x, a very familiar name, says it has taken all its sites off line because it says its sites off line because it says it has been attacked by a Software Virus and this attack took place on new years eve, but travelex, who serve millions of people in the foreign currency markets, lots of holiday makers, they say they have taken all of their sites off line because it has been subject to a cyber attack, and attacked by a softwa re cyber attack, and attacked by a Software Virus on new years eve. I will bring you more on that when i haveit will bring you more on that when i have it later on but that is the latest on the story. A man has been
charged with the murder of two people stabbed to death in the early hours of new years day. The victims have been named as helen hancock, 39, 48 year old martin griffiths, found ina 39, 48 year old martin griffiths, found in a house in the village of duffield. Talks to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland have resumed today in the hope of breaking three years of political stalemate at stormont. The talks were put on pause over the Christmas Holidays after the dup was accused by opponents of standing in the way of a possible deal. Devolved government collapsed in january 2017. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy is at stormont, and what chance is there of some progress . There is no doubt the pressure is really on the parties right now because if they dont reach a deal by 13th january they will have to
face Fresh Assembly elections, so that provide some real added incentive to focus the minds, because both the dup and sinn fein got hit pretty hard and got bruised by their vote share going down in the general election so it is unlikely they will want to face voters perhaps punishing them again quite so soon. 0ne voters perhaps punishing them again quite so soon. One of the big issues they are still wrangling over is something called the petition of concern. That is this mechanism used in the assembly, a bit like a veto if you get enough names you can block certain legislation. Critics say it has been misused far too many times by parties to block something they like. Same sex marriage legislation was blocked, one of many things because of it. That is one things because of it. That is one thing they need to get agreement on. Just to remind people the unique arrangement in Northern Ireland requires a mandatory coalition between unionists and nationalists. Why this fell apart as martin
mcguinness pulled out of the executive and collapse the assembly and one of the things being talked about is sustainability so that it cant be collapsed so easily in future. The dup were particularly talking about that and again and again they have accused sinn fein of Holding People to ransom and want to make sure the executive cannot be collapsed so easily again. We have had three years without a government. Three years of the people of Northern Ireland being held to ransom. Three years where key decisions were not being made that affected the people i represent and people represented by all of us and people represented by all of us and therefore we need to get this right. We cannot go for a quick fix solutions. We need to ensure we dont repeat mistakes made in the past, that we avoid getting into the kind of situation we have seen in the past where people can walk away. We have been through over 30 years of the troubles and our local government worked its way through all those 30 years and all the difficult issues that arose and we
wa nt difficult issues that arose and we want stormont to be the same. We saw sinn fein come out today and urge the team to make compromises and to get on with it. They say they dont wa nt get on with it. They say they dont want some sort of dramatic last minute agreement made just before 13th january. They believe there is something on the table right now that everybody could sign up right now that everybody could sign up to it pretty soon and just to warn you we will hear this clip which does contain some flash photography. Our objective has always been to restore credible, sustainable functioning institutions which deliver for everyone and have sufficient resources to deliver Public Services and are based on genuine power sharing principles of the good friday agreement, quality, respect, parity of esteem. That is the basis on which these institutions were designed and how they must operate. The last three years of trying to get the institutions working again. We think this agreement can be reached in short order. We dont see any need to run this down to the wire to 13th
january in some kind of dramatic way. The issues we have been dealing with are well rehearsed. What we needis with are well rehearsed. What we need is political will to resolve them very quickly and that will be a focus on the next stage. Just to explain four people there are really real consequences of not having a government as Northern Ireland has seen government as Northern Ireland has seen for the last three years. No ministers in charge to take decisions and move money around until you have an impact on peoples lives. Public services have deteriorated in that time and particularly a problem at the moment the crisis in the health service. The nhs is really struggling in Northern Ireland with the longest waiting lists in the uk and that crisis outside of this building is really helping to up the pressure on the parties. Next week, nurses are due to go on strike again in Northern Ireland, another factor playing into all of this, as well as the frustration felt very deeply by many the frustration felt very deeply by ma ny voters the frustration felt very deeply by many voters hoping to up the pressure on all the parties to try
and geta pressure on all the parties to try and get a compromise now. Now its time for a look at the weather. Thanks, a bit of a grey day for many but tomorrow promises more in the way of sunshine and a dip in temperature. These weather fronts bringing cloud and outbreaks of rain moving south east through tonight. Behind that we dragon cooler air. Through this evening and overnight cloud and outbreaks of rain gradually slipping slowly south. Clear spells across scotland and Northern Ireland than under clear spells the temperature falling away but holding up where we have the cloud and staying in double figures. A mild start across southern parts, the amounts of cloud, outbreaks of rain first the amounts of cloud, outbreaks of rainfirst thing. The amounts of cloud, outbreaks of rain first thing. That clears towards the south to give some good spells of sunshine. Showers to do north and west and it will be one day for the Northern Isles and take a look at those temperatures, a
noticeable dip with highs of around nine celsius. Into the weekend the temperature creeps up a degree or two and good spells of sunshine particularly further south and east with the chance of some outbreaks of rain in the north. This is bbc news. The headlines. A state of emergency is declared in australia as bush fires rage and the death toll rises. There are fears that a heatwave forecast for this weekend could make the crisis even worse. Australias Prime MinisterScott Morrison cuts short a visit to one devastated community as people there heckle him. How can we only had four trucks to defend our town . Because our town doesnt have much money but we have hearts of gold, Prime Minister. Delays and cancellations on the railways but fares still go up from today by an average of nearly 3 . More accounts emerge of the deaths of the three family members who drowned in a pool in spain. Researchers say Artificial Intelligence can be better than doctors at diagnosing Breast Cancer from scans. Sport now, and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, heres 0lly foster. More trouble on tour for englands cricketers. Theres another injury doubt for the second test that starts tomorrow against south africa. 0pening batsman rory burns went over on his ankle playing football during training in cape town today. He was seen by one of the team medics straight away and sent for a scan. They are going to make a late call on his availability. England lost the first test to south africa, and most of the squad have also suffered with a sickness bug since arriving in the country for the four test series. Jofra archer, who took six
wickets in the first test, is almost certain to miss out, hes had a scan on a sore elbow and has been unable to bowl in the nets for the past two days. I think all options are on the table at this point and i think having as much information as we can, see what results come back from the scan to see where he is. We dont really wa nt to see where he is. We dont really want to go into the game with him not being 100 and we also dont wa nt to not being 100 and we also dont want to potentially see him miss a lot more cricket through playing when hes not fit to play. Being really clear with where hes at and making a balanced decision on the side of the back of it all. Sportsmen are doing their bit to help with Fundraising Efforts for those affected by the australian wildfires. Nick kyrgios will donate just over £100 for every ace he serves in tournaments there this month. The australian and new Zealand Cricket teams will wear black armbands during tomorrows third test in sydney. Both the australian and new zealand teams were ousted by the australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, at his official residence here in syd ney his official residence here in sydney a few days ago. They said they would wear black arm bands in acknowledgement of the bushfire crisis that is sweeping Many Australian states. Cricketing authorities here also say that there will be Fundraising Efforts during the sydney test match. Similar to those that raised money for Breast Cancer the charity set up by glenn mcgrath. Australian cricketing charities well aware this test match is coming at a time of great crisis for the country and we also hear that in a practical way, the umpires will be allowed to suspend play if smoke from the bushfire sweeps
across the ground, as it has in syd ney across the ground, as it has in sydney many times during recent weeks. Arsenal defender Calum Chambers will be out for the rest of the season after rupturing a cruciate ligament. He was injured in last sundays defeat at home to chelsea, and hes had surgery today on his left knee. Theyll look to find cover for him in the transfer window. Liverpool will be looking to re establish their 13 point lead at the top of the premier league. Theyll be expected to do that at home against Sheffield United this evening but despite the incredible season they are having, the manager says that they have to work hard for every point. We know that for a really long time that we have really to fight with all we have to win football games. We are not the team with every game
kind of playing so we have to work, no problem with that. The chairman of the professional darts corporation, barry hearn, says the rival bdo the british darts 0rganisation, is in danger of collapse, because of the way its being run. Their World Championships start on saturday, but prize money has been slashed this week because of poor ticket sales and sponsorship problems. They are not good at what they do. There is no doubt that this applies to many amateur governing bodies. There is no doubt they love the sport but there is another level to go to. Loving the sport is fine but u nless go to. Loving the sport is fine but unless you can provide opportunities that change lives of sportsmen and women, your sport is never going to be perceived as upwardly mobile. The bdo, after a succession of abysmal commercial management, are now paying the price for not getting
their shop in order, not getting their shop in order, not getting their house in order. More on that story on the website. Dont forget we will have a round up for you at around 6 30pm. More now on the bushfires across australia and the state of New South Wales has declared a seven day state of emergency after at least 18 people have died in the fires so far. High temperatures and strong winds over the weekend are expected and tens of thousands of holidaymakers are already fleeing towns on the east coast. 0ur correspondent Shaimaa Khalil is in lake conjola, 70 miles west of canberra, in an area where the fires have claimed lives. The extent of the damage that these huge fires have caused here, in lake conjola, is all around. Homes have been ravaged, the earth is scorched, still smouldering, still hot. You can feel the smoke. Three people died in this small
community alone, one of them just up the street over here. This is one of the coastal towns where tourists have been given 48 hours to evacuate. Many of them have been trying to get out. It has been very hard for them to leave because the conditions around us are still quite hazardous. Residents are still in shock at what happened to their town. Some have left, when the fires hit, others stayed to defend their homes. And then we could see it coming and it wasjumping from house to house. There were plants, like, underneath the front or the front of the houses, and theyd just explode into flames, and then there was embers everywhere. And then that house just bang it just caught fire. They were going, like this one up here, it went behind, and then two down below, so we had nearly eight houses alight. You know, did we sort of cheat it . We survived. Yeah. Its pretty traumatic. Lets get more on this now from professor richard betts, head of Climate Impacts Research at the met office. Thanks very much forjoining us. Im just wondering at this point are we ina just wondering at this point are we in a position to say is there a particular combination of factors that you can explain to viewers which explains whats going on here . Yes, there is a coincidence of two particular weather phenomena. Probably made worse by Climate Change, Global Warming happening probably made worse by Climate Change, globalwarming happening in the background. There is a particular pattern of sea surface temperatures in the indian ocean which are known to bring drought to southern australia and that is in a strong situation at the moment, and then the westerly wind pattern are further south than they would be so
thatis further south than they would be so that is bringing High Pressure and high temperatures and drought. 0n top of that, the world is getting warmer because of Climate Change. We had one of the warmest years on record globally. Australia has had its warmest and driest year ever, so Climate Change happening on top of this unusual weather is conspiring to make these severe conditions. Are we in any position, do you think, you as experts, to say that this kind of horror could become the norm in like australia . 0bviously, norm in like australia . Obviously, you need to study each individual situation in detail but in general we see the world warming and it tends to dry out the landscape. We are seeing more severe heat waves so we can expect hotter conditions which will probably bring more fire in australia and other parts of the world. When you look at the level of
resources going into it at the moment in australia, at their lessons for other countries in terms of how they prepare and prepare for, for example, when fires like this affect major centres of population . Yes, i think it is worth making sure that people know what to do when severe fire weather is forecast. Some years ago, the australian fire grading had to be upgraded because they are experiencing conditions they are experiencing conditions they hadnt seen before and they are seeing them again now. Other countries need to be keeping an eye on their Warning Systems and make sure they know what to do when this is forecast. I suppose lots of viewers will be wondering, given that you mentioned Climate Change several times and weve mentioned as well, by the way, australias role in recent talks in terms of trying to get Climate Change under control. Ari in a position where unless action on Climate Change is taken very, very
soon, places like australia i dont want to overstate this but there could be areas of places like australia which eventually would become impossible to live in . I think thats the Million Dollar question really, is the impact on habitability. Humans live in a wide variety of places around the world, although australia is that the limits of where we can live at the moment. It will depend but i think Climate Change will continue and get worse unless we start to bring down emissions of Greenhouse Gases very rapidly, and already some new climate states are locked in for the future. Just a recap on the first question, richard, if i make so viewers are quite clear. Are you saying there is an unusual combination of factors this year which has produced this or are you saying this could well
repeat itself . The weather conditions are unusual but the background Climate Change which is making them more severe will continue to get worse, so the point is we do get extreme weather from time to time but when it happens, its more severe in terms of hype temperatures because of a woman of hype temperatures because of a woman in terms of high temperatures because of the warming climate. Floods in indonesias capital jakarta are now known to have killed at least 21 people and left large areas of the city under water. Torrential rain has triggered landslides and the authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of residents to temporary shelters around the city. David campa nale reports flooding injakarta is among the deadliest in years, causing chaos in parts of southeast asias biggest city. The capital is well used to dramatic weather events in the rainy season,
but not like this. 0ver new year, jakarta had over double the rainfall its Weather Agency considers extreme, with 377mm falling in one day. The highest on record. A major rescue operation across the city saw rubber boats being used to reach residents stranded in the submerged houses. So far, 62,000 people have been evacuated from 90 neighbourhoods. The victims range in age from eight to 82. Some people died of hypothermia while others drowned or were killed by landslides. The clear up is only now just starting. Translation when the rainy season comes, we already know what itll be like, so we wait to see if the water is flowing fast, then we have to move our stuff and evacuate immediately. But usually the water level isnt this high. Residents are now bracing
for another influx of water from nearby dams, and the National Disaster agency says that intense rainfall is due to continue. Jakarta is one of the fastest sinking cities in the world. Experts say it could be entirely submerged within three decades. David campanale, bbc news. The headlines on bbc news. A state of emergency is declared in australia as bush fires rage and the death toll rises. Delays and cancellations on the railways but fares still go up from today by an average of nearly 3 . More accounts emerge of the deaths of the three family members who drowned in a pool in spain. The army has launched a new Recruitment Campaign with an advert all about self confidence. Social media addicts and gym goers are being targeted with the slogan
Army Confidence lasts a lifetime. Its the latest attempt at boosting falling troop numbers. Heres our defence correspondent jonathan beale. Advert where does confidence come from . How you look . This, the latest in a series of high profile Recruitment Campaigns is aimed at young people, many of whom Research Suggests lack self confidence or feel inadequate when comparing their lives to others. Quick hits. Yes, brother you are coming out tonight the bold claim from the armys £3 million appeal for new soldiers is Army Confidence lasts a lifetime. In contrast to the quick fix hits of, say, social media and fast fashion. Some fresh heat. Take those dusty cast offs off your feet, man. The army hopes to build on the success of last years
campaign, which saw a Record Number of applications, though still only 10 of those made it through to basic training. Come on, mate, nearly there. In the past, theres been Harsh Criticism from mps over the decision to outsource recruitment to a private contractor. Capita and the army say theyve dramatically improved the system. The army has also introduced new training programmes to help prepare young people who may struggle with fitness and literacy to meet basic entry requirements. We are about 95 on our current target with three months of the recruiting year left. So the marketing campaign, along with the hard work between the army and capita, and the hard work that goes on out in the careers offices, is making a real difference. But despite claims of progress, the british army is still well below its target strength. And the problem is not just about recruitment, but retention too. Jonathan beale, bbc news. Some of the other stories making the news this evening. Tributes have been paid to three British Airways cabin crew who were killed in a crash near Heathrow Airport on new years eve. Dominic fell, Joseph Finnis and rachel clark died after their car collided with a lorry in stanwell, near Heathrow Airport. Friends and colleagues have been paying tribute, describing them as beautiful young angels. The former nissan boss carlos ghosn who fled to lebanon earlier this week says that he alone arranged for his unauthorised departure from japan. In a statement, mr ghosn played down speculation that his wife, carole, and other members of his family, had arranged for him to escape house arrest. He was awaiting trial in tokyo on financial misconduct charges. A Welsh Conservative Assembly member has been suspended from his party. Its understood that nick ramsay, whos 44, was arrested last night following an incident. Mr ramsay, who represents monmouth, is the shadow finance minister and chairs the public accounts committee. The foreign Currency Service travelex has taken all of its sites off line after being attacked by a softwa re off line after being attacked by a Software Virus on new years eve. The group said it immediately took down its online systems to protect data and prevent the virus from spreading after discovering the attack on tuesday. And it has been forced to provide foreign Currency Services manually. They can do it manually in the branches. The investigation so far suggests no personal or Customer Data has been compromised but the company is confirming that it has been the victim of a virus attack, a cyber attack, and its sites have been taken off line for the time being. The number of children in england who have been temporarily excluded from primary schools for racism has risen sharply over the last decade. While exclusions for racist incidents have fallen across all schools in total, incidents in primary schools have risen by about a0 , with the north west of england seeing the biggest increase. Frankie mccamley reports. Naim loves football but at primary school, five times in the last year, often when hes playing, he has faced racist abuse. He was being referred to by another student as a black midget. I was shocked and sad in the same time. He was, like, my friend and i didnt expect any of my friends to call me that name. A few months later and he was told by a female student he was playing with her brother and it was, mummy said youre not supposed to play with black or brown kids. I was very upset. I actually cried when i spoke to his teacher. Naim lives in the north west of england, which has seen the biggest increase in temporary exclusions for racism in primary schools. Numbers have more than doubled injust over a decade from 36 to 76 exclusions each year. Across england, figures have also risen from 350 to nearly 500, up by a0 . Its up to schools as to whether or not they document incidents of racism in the classroom or out on the playground. So the reality is we dont know how widespread this problem is. The only National Figures we have are exclusions, and some campaigners say those are just the tip of the iceberg. This is about it being 0k to be different. This school in liverpool is trying to tackle the problem. They say the racism they once heard has now been eradicated. It wasjust things, as i say,
to do with skin colour or, you know, your skin colour is maybe different to mine or go back to your own country because they were from a different country. Things like that. The school has had help from a charity thats tried to get to the root cause. Theres that unconsciousness of where people hear things or things, things or see things, the wrong things, and they just follow the lead. Racism, discrimination is a problem that affects the whole of society and it doesnt matter how old people are. Back in manchester, naim and his family are working with the school. I want him to not run from it so when he asked to move schools i absolutely refused and i assured the school he would not be pulled out because unfortunately, its a part of life. The nine year old says he wants to tackle the problem head on, just like his football heroes. The new pdc world darts champion says hes still coming to terms with his achievement. Scotlands peter wright beat Michael Van Gerwen at Alexandra Palace last night. Our Sports CorrespondentNatalie Pirks reports. Peter wright the cheers turned to tears but finally, peter wright got his hands on the trophy. From his first set of darts at 13, to becoming the oldest first time winner at a9, last night saw him become £500,000 richer, and realise a lifelong dream. I didnt sleep at all last night. As it settled in, it was terrible. So ive had no sleep. So its actually sunk in that i am world champion. And im just over the moon. 96 players came and two remain. Wright knew he had a job on his hands. World number one and reigning champion Michael Van Gerwen had long been a thorn in his side
but it was snakebite who looked more comfortable on the big stage. Wright had nearly given it all up five years ago and had lost ten major televised finals, but at the 11th time of asking, all that stood between him and the trophy was a double ten. And this time, peter gets it right. It was all so different when he first came on the scene back in 1995, as plain old pete. Since then, the bright clothes and the mohawks, designed by his hairdresser wife, have seen him become a huge character in a sport awash with big personalities. It gives me confidence, im a very shy guy away from the sport. Whenjo puts it all on, i become the character of snakebite on the stage that you see in the loud outfits and the crazy hairdos. Its been a memorable World Championships, not least for the emergence of fallon sherrock, the first woman to beat a man in the tournament. Peter wrights win with
decades in the making. A great lesson for sherrock and other newcomers to never give up. Natalie pirks, bbc news. Congratulations to him. Time for the weather forecast. Tomorrow will bring brighter skies but a tomorrow will bring brighter skies buta dip tomorrow will bring brighter skies but a dip in temperatures. Bright skies were in short supply today. This photo was sent in early of weymouth. Plenty of cloud overhead. As we going into tomorrow we will see the shift to brighter conditions. Temperatures dipping off. We see the temperatures dipping off. We see the temperatures dipping off as we go through tonight but its thanks to this fresh air mass that we start to drag in behind these two weather fronts sinking their way south east, bringing cloud and outbreaks of rain that opening the gate to the fresh air mass from the gate to the fresh air mass from the north and west. We have seen some rain already today with the first band pushing its way
south east. The second working its way into the north west but also pushing south west as we go through this evening and overnight. This evening we will see patchy outbreaks of rain gradually sink south and east and behind it are some clear spells coming through. A few showers. Windy but take a look at the difference in temperatures where we see the clear spells developing, temperatures falling away. Double figures in the south where the cloud remains. A mild but cloudy stud across southern parts of england with patchy outbreaks of rain. Clearing towards the south and east and plenty of sunshine to be had. Further showers coming in on the north westerly breeze, wintry over high ground. Temperatures dipping off from what weve seen today, between six and nine celsius are high. Temperatures dipping away in the south after a cloudy and mild start. High pressure is generally in
charge into the weekend. In the north there is a greater chance of seeing a little bit more in the way of cloud and rain. Saturday the best of cloud and rain. Saturday the best of the brightness to be found in southern and eastern areas. Scotland and Northern Ireland seeing more cloud and if few spots of rain. Temperatures nine or 10 celsius, sew up temperatures nine or 10 celsius, sew upa temperatures nine or 10 celsius, sew up a touch on what we will see tomorrow. Into sunday and there isnt a great deal of change. The greatest chance of seeing some wet weather the further north you are, more in the way of cloud in scotland and Northern Ireland. The far north of the england. The best of the brightness in southern and eastern areas and temperatures similar to saturday, highs of ten or 11. We will see temperatures dipping off and then a fairly settled weekend. This. Tonight at six a state of emergency in south east australia amid warnings of more bushfires. The largest forced evacuation New South Wales has seen thousands are fleeing the path of the flames. The fireball just came through at about 80kph, hit the house, and then we ran into the lake and then all the embers and everything were hitting us, burnt our hair a little bit. Theres anger over the governments handling of the emergency as the Prime Ministerfound out when he toured the area. How come we only had four trucks to defend our town . Because our town doesnt have a lot of money but we have hearts of gold, mr Prime Minister well be looking at australias changing climate and what thats got to do with the fires. Also tonight millions of rail commuters face more
expensive journeys