On australias 2nd largest city lightning strikes and extreme heat a big night in more than a dozen fires Emergency Services are struggling to contain blazes. Libyas embattled government could soon receive military help from turkey is lining up support to send troops into the north into the north african countries that are warnings of such a move could further stabilize the region. And 3 years in prison for the scientist who claims to have created the worlds 1st genetically edited babies caught in china accuses the professor of disrupting the medical. To the program. Ron have condemned u. S. Airstrikes against an Iraqi Militia supported by iran iran says the strikes violated sovereignty and that it will not review relations with washington u. S. Forces hit 5 targets belonging to a group called hezbollah as retaliation for a rocket attack that killed a u. S. Civilian contractor at an american base. This has been a base near the border between iraq and syria was one of 5 targets of u. S. Fighter jets they destroyed the iran backed militias weapon caches and command and control centers in iraq and syria the strikes are brutality ation for fridays killing of a u. S. Civilian contractor near the northern iraqi city of kirkuk. Irans foreign minister condemned the u. S. Airstrikes during a visit to moscow he said the targeted qatar youve hezbollah was part of an alliance against the socalled Islamic State terror Group Officially the iran backed militia is under the command of the iraqi army. But hello from because at the recent actions by americans in iraq are unacceptable while the u. S. Does this iran and russia are making efforts to establish peace both in syria and in iraq i mean it will check it but the u. S. Defense secretary views the operation as a success and hopes to discourage further attacks and i would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in selfdefense and we deter further bad behavior from militia groups or from. U. S. Soldiers and pro iranian fighters are in close proximity and politically unstable iraq. There are reported to be about 150000 pro iranian militiamen in iraq while the us has about 5000 soldiers deployed in the country. The iraqi Prime Minister has warned that a dangerous escalation could follow the most recent reprisal. Militia has vowed to retaliate. Straight to washington then well rejoin the job of Washington Bureau chief alexander welcome. So how is this u. S. Strike likely then to affect the regional security. Well 1st of all i think we have to say that a u. S. Response to an attack that killed americans its not unusual however. Sunday its retaliation involves direct strikes on the iranian proxies and that makes it very dangerous grounds we just saw it in the reports that the situation in iraq is very on stable there are many different for Iranian Forces operating there and they seem to be trying to take advantage of this unstable situation and they have increased their attacks on you as forces in iraq so i asked state Department Official if they are not concerned concerned that the earth strikes can leave or escalation and they told me that the u. S. Is not looking for any conflict but that it was necessary and important to conduct those strikes to protect you as personnel and they want to send a clear message to the Iranian Regime and one official told me that he thinks that the Iranian Regime understands the message so we know that the uber has received financial and military support from iran whats iran suspected of doing in iraq. So from the you ass perspective iran is using its proxies in iraq to expand or contract to continue its milan activities the Trump Administration puts the Trump Administration has accused iran of trying to destabilize iraq of supporting terrorist groups there and what is clear is that iran is seeing itself as the middle easts new superpower that is trying to expand its footprint across the region i mean while Foreign Ministers from iran and russia met in moscow on monday for talks on iraqs internal conflict what do we know of those discussions well here again we have to keep in mind that russia views in self as a polar full player in the region and that it wants to have a say in what is happening there russia just a few days ago conducted joint military drills with iran and china and now those talks in the most co of those ministers appearance to have talked about the situation in iraq as you said also about the Iranian Nuclear deal that the u. S. Has withdrawn from and russia has condemned you as strikes in iraq as saying they were unacceptable and counterproductive i also talked to a 2 state Department Official officials about those talks in moscow and they told me that they would expect any nation to try to isolate iran not to support the regime in tehran because any support of the regime is against the iranian people. To feel normal in washington thank you. Now to australia where 100000 people have been told to leave melbournes suburbs as the new heat wave ignites more bushfires this time in the state of victoria volunteer firefighter was killed battling a separate fire in the countryside the victim of the blazes that began in New South Wales the fires have led to the cancellation of hundreds of new years fireworks displays. If theres one thing thats considered a given at the end of each year its the images from around the world of flashy new years celebrations. And theres pride in being the ones to kick off the annual event. And you know our new save the world looks at city every single year and i look at our vibrancy if i look at our passion i look at our success. But for the last 3 months australia has been battling some of the worst bushfires in decades the blazes are predicted to peak on new years eve. Despite the grim forecast the city of sydney confirmed on monday it would go ahead with this years Fireworks Show as planned but remember a time when weve had total fall bans in place in the greater sunni region where we havent been i would accommodate the risk elements for conducting the new years a far worse in the in the sydney harbor area particularly we just thought now level of of coverage to ensure a safe and effective new years eve function the announcement that sydneys fireworks display would still take place despite the bushfires has sparked outrage a quarter of a 1000000 people signed a petition to scrap the celebration plans. I think they should spend up to speed this is here this is all happening but this is the 1st time. That its been like this in sydney its not going to be like the next 2 years so you know what does labor day here and do it again next year well bickering over sydneys fireworks continues volunteer firefighters are battling the blaze with little success. Journalist raja main audience sydney has been telling us more about the debate around whether the citys world famous new years fireworks display should take place well theres little or to it. Because you know its not really a good look at a lot smoke its been playing a lot of new south worlds and sitting alone. But at the same time the full works display also. A key major tourist event for australia a 1000000 people real the 4 shorts if you know what to watch that was the flower. Themselves and also the forwards are seen by an estimated 1000000000 until it isnt around the world is a very very important occasion you know the same time Little People feel that its insensitive these fireworks at the moment and you know even the deputy premier. Tweeted today that the we shouldnt take the risk that these fires fireworks this flow is displayed should simply be cancelled on the structure of may not in sydney a german is also debating what its about new years eve fireworks buying them is allowed for 3 days following the Christmas Holidays and cities around the country met up with pyrotechnics on the big nights critics argue they cause serious injuries and air pollution and harm wildlife the berlin night sky lit up by cascades of fireworks over the Brandenburg Gate the new years eve display has drawn legions of locals and visitors for decades some wonder if fireworks are still appropriate but many want to keep their tradition. This is if they say we have to wait until 10 pm that might help a lot but if they limit or ban the whole thing thats wrong. Thats finished and he said mr thought i dont think the environmental harm is severe enough to ban the fireworks from force its terrible i dont care if i cant see the stars id rather look at the sky some other day when there is no fireworks so im against the ban. Fireworks in germany are big business at new years 100000000 euros worth. Some people like these fireworks fans near cologne are so passionate about them that they camp out the night before to make sure they can buy the biggest and the best but this year in germany over 30 cities have placed either a partial or a total ban on new years fireworks. Health experts warn that fire crackers and rockets release over 4500 tonnes of fine particle emissions on a single night. Fine particles are extremely harmful to the lungs especially for small children and people with lung problems asthma patients and the elderly they can experience acute shortness of breath. But for the foreseeable future fireworks will continue to pollute the air while they dazzle the eyes its no use holding ones breath until eco friendly rockets and firecrackers are available. All right lets take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world a Islamist Militant Group alshabaab says it was responsible for a deadly bombing in the somali capital mogadishu at least 90 people were killed in the explosion at a busy intersection authorities believe the attackers were helped by as yet unnamed country. A court in sudan has sentenced 27 members of the countrys National Intelligence services to death for torturing them. The protest this year its the 1st time Sudanese Court has 100 down convictions related to the crackdown against prodemocracy demonstrators this year. The family of the man accused of stabbing 5 people in a rabbis home in new york say he has a long history of Mental Illness in a Statement Issued by their lawyer Grafton Thomas family also maintains he had not expressed any antisemitism. The turkish government is rushing a bill through parliament that would approve the deployment of troops to libya Turkish Foreign minister. Match with the opposition to discuss the legislation which is expected to pass without difficulty the government says it is answering every quest for military assistance from libyas un recognized government in tripoli libya progovernment forces seen here are struggling to fend off an offensive from rival forces in the east of the country led by a militia leader khalifa haftar. Is going to correspondent dorian jones in a stumble welcome dorian whats behind this turkish move. Well turkish president type herd one says turkey has in a store called a link with libya given it was part of turkeys then Ottoman Empire and president one says that they are committed to supporting the internationally recognized Libyan Government of national of called and that government is feeling face for the prospect of being overrun by forces of fatah and turkey says they are committed to prevent that from happening but there is also a strategic interest in support of this government because in November Chris sign an agreement with the government government of national called they gave it control of a large swathe of the Eastern Mediterranean a part of an area that is being contested by several countries in a competition to find hydrocarbons and that area is also seen as key to any future pipelines from already discovered gas fields in Eastern Mediterranean so turkeys intervention is many ways is seen as securing a key Strategic Interests and so how would a turkish deployment affect this conflict in libya. Well there is a growing concern at the prospect of any major deployment by turkey all of turkeys opposition parties are opposed to such a move saying that turkey risk getting called in talk one could even escalate the conflict and that is a concern being voiced by many regional countries saying that any significant deployment by Turkish Forces in support of the government government of national called could see reciprocation all countries supporting. Forces notably moscow if it already has deployed russian mercenaries there egypt is also wanted he could possibly step up its intervention if turkey intervenes and the fear is that turkeys intervention could spark a major escalation and broadening of the conflict among critics dismissing those concerns saying its within its rights to support the internationally recognized government and its promising that it will not step back and next months meeting between earth one and the russian president Vladimir Putin is expected to see the future of libya being discussed and that could be key to turning turkeys final decision on whether deploys or not into libya thank you for that dorian jones and istanbul. To china where a quarter is jailed the scientists who claim to have god created the worlds 1st gene edited babies to Weather Research is involved in the project received lesser sentences and fines last year who jan quite shocked the International Science community by announcing he had used Gene Editing Technology to alter the genes of 3 babies in claims of manipulating their data to stop them from contracting hiv the move was widely condemned in china and around the world. We get more on this from 5 in schmidt from d. W. Science department welcome. What was the principal objection to who john. Work. Basically the point is is that he intervened in the whats called. The basically its a genetic make up of the babies and he he did to kind of. Design a baby creation and that is something that is considered an absolute no no and among bio physicists and medics and so on because it basically what open a pandoras box full of designing your baby was genetic engineering and you never know whats going to come out of it also one has to consider that the genetic changes that one does in these embryos and these babies and these later adult humans will be passed on to future generations so as i understand it he was trying to make these children immune to hiv did he actually achieve that. There is some question about it there was a study published since then in summer that actually said that its not certain that these kids are now all these once they are adults that they will actually be immune to age. Is immune to each of the one also has to understand that nowadays with and to retroviral medicine it is possible to actually prove and children born to parents who had h i. V. From actually contracting hiv so the point is are other medical ways around it so. Basically interfering was the. Genetic makeup as most of the interesting thing now we are where we are is that he has undertaken this unethical and banned research what are scientists and do with it do they look at the at this what do they try and build on it or do they just leave it alone. Oh i think that basically its a question of what the chinese are going to do with it they want to i think get out of the headlines as soon as possible with this story theyre probably going to look at housing these. People these children develop over time there was some Research Suggesting that they have a lesser life expectancies then than they would otherwise have but this is based on. On basically a producer epidemiology call studies on the basis of data of british. Patients 400000 british patients and they looked at who had these kind of genetic defect differences and what that means now if one doesnt really know how healthy these people will be in the long run but obviously the sentencing of says by a physicist what he is. Means that the chinese authorities are interested in getting out of the headlines as soon as possible i dont think that were going to see more research being done or much more research being done in this case were talking to thank you for joining us adventure yet from the w science. An ambitious project to preserve the memory of Holocaust Victims has reached a milestone saltbush dyna german for stumbling stones in place all over europe the newest brass plaques in the southern german town of miming bring their number to 75000 so far. House number 11 was home to the jewish married couple the rosenbaums until it was seized by the nazis in 1038. Fled with her husband to live in exile he later committed suicide the familys fate was long forgotten now to stop a diner or stumbling stones have been laid in their memory the latest installation brings the number of stopper steiner to 75000. 00 the projects founder going to deming laid the stone sim self each marker is crafted by hand they are now found in 26. 00 countries visible reminders of the crimes of the nazi regime and the families and Everything Else that took place that never stops being shocking things that happened which are just unbelievable. But the project is not without controversy in munich the city council chose a different type of memorial in response to criticism. Here. Here in munich some of the names have been deliberately smeared with dirt and dog feces. And thats why we decided to place the memorials and eye level. But munich is an exception for many people the stumb