Locals in bethlehem to celebrate christmas in the holy land. Hello and welcome to bbc news. Its Christmas Morning in australia but hundreds of families are spending the day in emergency shelters, unable to celebrate in their homes, as the country battles one of its worst bushfire disasters in years. Figures released by firefighters in New South Wales reveal nearly 1,000 houses have been destroyed. Conditions have eased, but another extreme heatwave is due later this week. Prime minister Scott Morrison was criticised for going on holiday during the bushfires. Hes since returned and apologised for being away. He says volunteer firefighters who work in the federal Public Sector will be given an extra four weeks paid leave. Phil mercer reports from New South Wales. Koalas and other Australian Animals are the unseen victims of the fires. Much of their habitat has been destroyed and the survivors need all the help they can get. The true extent of australias bushfire crisis is gradually emerg
Here is a live look at the scene outside the courthouse in newark, new jersey where we are awaiting for a news conference. We have also contacted the governor Christies Office for a comment and are waiting to hear back, again, two former christie allies were found guilty in the lane closing scheme, known as bridge gate. Stay with Eyewitness News for very latest on then breaking story. Our other top story, end of the workweek has arrived and there is still to resolution in the contract dispute that is keeping septa bus, subway and will trolley operate are off the job and on the picket lines. We have reached day four of the strike, that has left people struggling to get to work and school. Good afternoon, im jim donovan. Im jan carabao. Eyewitness News Reporter alexandria hoff is live outside headquarters in center city with more on how those negotiations are going along, alex. Jim, jan those talks went late last night and early this morning. They are expected to resume again shortly but
the neighborhood has been hit nine times, hitting schools, homes and neighborhood cars. you feel violated. you feel like, what s going on, and it just makes you nervous that, you know, things like this are happening. reporter: one neighbor s surveillance camera captured video that appears to show the suspect s car leaving the scene of one of the attacks. we were hoping that the public will recognize the vehicle or kids will start talking or people who are involved will start talking and someone will call the police department so we can put an end to this. reporter: a mother of the one-year-old says she s praying the culprits are caught. she won t feel at ease until they re behind bars. if they were just going out having fun, they could have killed my daughter. they could have really hurt me, they could have done a lot of damage that they don t even realize just being idiots. reporter: fortunately, for that baby and her family, they were away for the holiday week
down on crime may come at a price that some bay area drivers are not willing to pay. good evening. i m lisa kim. and i m jessica aguirre. an important crime fighting tool or a violation of your rights? get ready either way for scam cam. cops already record your speed, but soon they ll be reading your license plate, too, looking for stolen cars. george is here with a high-price boost for cops. the time is now to crack down on stolen cars. car thefts are up 13% from the year before and that s why they re hoping these license plate readers will be the answer to this problem. but not everybody is happy about this idea. i think that s invasion of privacy, straight up, that s it. michael bostitch is not happy that the city plans to install license plate readers. they re cameras with scanners designed to pick out stolen cars on the spot. bostitch doesn t feel comfortable with this. every car that comes down here is stolen, come on. where is the owner? is he going to say my