For a jailed separatist leader spains state Attorney Says catch one politician. Should be free. A state of emergency in parts of australia as bushfires burn out of control forcing a rethink for new years eve celebrations im paul race with all the days sport including Le Bron James celebrates his 35th birthday he wakes them all starting on the court as well. Unacceptable and vicious is how iraqs Prime Minister is describing u. S. Airstrikes in both the rank and syria however washington is warning of further action to protect its personnel if necessary the strikes targeted 3 camps of an iranian backed group in iraq 2 in syria as well at least 28 fighters were killed and 51 injured. We are warning the United States as we warned before that their legal presence means they are standing against the iraqi people and the iraqi people have the right to confront them with all types of resistance. Plenty of reaction as you can imagine iraq has warned of dangerous consequences iran says its a terrorist act the u. S. Says the strikes were what it describes as a decisive response to threats by iranian backed forces against american personnel well a similar fulton reports now from baghdad the strikes risk further destabilizing a country already reeling from 3 months of antigovernment protests. And unprecedented confrontation between the u. S. And iran on iraqi soil for the 1st time u. S. Airstrikes targeting the bases of an iranian backed armed group killing and injuring dozens the operation in response to a series of rockets that struck military bases where u. S. Personnel are stationed a u. S. Contractor was killed in the most recent attack in care coke what we did was take a decisive response that makes clear what President Trump has said for months and months and months which is that we will not stand for the Islamic Republic of iran to take actions that put american men and women in jeopardy a type hezbollah is part of the Popular Mobilization forces a Paramilitary Group set up to fight eisel its integrated into iraqs armed forces though the u. S. Has accused some factions in the pm of taking orders from to hand rather than baghdad until recently the us and the pm are fought side by side against isis following isis territorial defeat 2 years ago the us retained around 5000 troops in country to support Iraqi Security forces as they search for isis sleeper cells hiding in deserts one of those clearing operations coincided with the u. S. Mission against the type that i know as an air base here in western Anbar Province is an important launching pad for operations against beisel but recent rocket attacks against bases where u. S. Personnel are stationed including i know last an air base in early december could hamper operations. Raising fears of a proxy war between the u. S. And iran on iraqi soil in an unusual announcement following that i know acid attack the u. S. Publicly blamed the type hezbollah the Iraqi Government hasnt attribute blame but has tightened security. Said the their increased security measures were. Cooperation with Coalition Forces there are surveillance patrols and additional troops to secure the outer perimeter of a search to protect the base investigations are continuing until now but its not completed. Promises of investigations have done little to reassure the u. S. None of the governments probes into any of the previous rocket attacks have been published the analysts say the details are well known and. I think that the iraqi joint Operation Command in iraq intelligence has many details about the people who attacked the k one basing cook Iraqi Government was confused because the pressure of khateeb his blood is deeply entrenched in the Iraqi Parliament and the Iraqi Government and thats why they decided to keep in line with iran and the iranian political parties. The Iraqi Government divided and weekend after 3 months of protests demanding sweeping political change has called on all sides to cease any unilateral actions neither us nor the pm appear to be listening both have vowed to take action setting the stage for further escalation Simona Fulton Al Jazeera like that and now we move to teheran with who has the latest iranian government reaction. Well iran so far has just responded with words president rouhani was speaking earlier this morning he did address the airstrikes what happened was that the Foreign Office spokesperson issued a statement they condemned the airstrike said it was a manifestation of terrorism they called in the United States to respect iraqs sovereignty independence and territorial integrity they also said that the United States wasnt interested in fighting isis because the positions targeted those groups targeted had caused damage to isis in the past but they also said that these attacks showed negligence on behalf of the United States and they should accept the consequences of that actions also later on in the day the government spokesman issued a statement that he denied that iran is behind any of the attacks on United States bases and said that these kinds of allegations without evidence are not a justification for bombing people so the response out of iran has been a bit slow because iraqi groups responding 1st his belied lebanon responded and then we heard something from iran but what will be interesting is how his will respond because and what would United States will do next because the United States has said iran is behind this group they have close links and how how much will it take before the United States turns its attention to iran and also mike hanna in washington d. C. For reaction from there and mike its clearly a return of the tree measured by the United States but you have to wonder if its maybe just the 1st in a series. Well an Administration Official has just briefed reporters on these airstrikes diskettes arising them as a defensive action but saying too that they must be seen in the context of restoring a posture against what he says is a rainy and aggression so the question as you say is whether this is a response to a series of attacks as claimed by the Administration Officials or whether it is indeed the beginning of a new more offensive u. S. Strategy in the region now we do know that the secretary of state the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff have met with President Trump in the past 24 hours they briefed him and tellingly the secretary of defense said after that particular briefing that the president has been made fully aware of the range of options that he has in the days weeks and possibly months ahead incidentally to no comment from the trumpet ministration on to reports that the iraqi leadership was informed of the strike shortly before they happened both the iraqi caretaker Prime Minister and the president asked the u. S. Not to carry out these strikes so questions to not only about the u. S. Posture in the weeks ahead but also about the way in which should regards iraqi sovereignty havent been asked by iraqi leaders not to carry out the strikes going ahead and doing it anyway kemal interesting mike hammer in washington thank you lets pick up on some of that with our guests joining us on skype from Falls Church Virginia is Douglas Ollivant who served as the iraq director on the National Security council and this was during both the bush and obama administrations douglas thank you for your time and. Just to pick up on what mike was saying and i hope you could hear that the idea that the iraqis said dont do this the u. S. Went and did it anyway and said well do it again if we have to if we got an issue of as the iraqi sovereignty here. Well i think the United States has been very clear look the United States was put in a very very bad position it all and cheered these soldiers and associated contractors to. Iraqs army both in its basic training and it specifically in the fight against dosh and the Iraqi Government is unable to keep substate actors from attacking it now clearly the attack on all com is ill chosen and doesnt advance the cause very much it doesnt help to be bombing iraqi part of the Iraqi Security forces even if we dont particularly like the group they come from that is fighting against dosh on the front lines at all times that said the United States had made it very clear to the Iraqi Government want to american is killed and we will retaliate the United States had a credibility problem of the didnt do that it just gets complicated just listening to their talking about all the different factors here and the fact that sort of behind all of this appears to be us iran animosity which we know well about and which you know a few months ago building up u. S. Forces in the area looking like u. S. And iran might be getting closer to a conflict do you think that is still a possibility even if in a distant one. Well its always a possibility i think its a very distant one but its perhaps one of the more up possible ones on the planet right now so we do have to keep that in mind i do think in some ways that perhaps the United States was baited into this attack as i said this red line which communicated very clearly to the iraqis i mean which communicated very clearly to the iranians its not clear to me that the iranians didnt want this exactly to happen to destabilize what looks like a process that was headed towards a less iranian influence the Iraqi Government its unclear whether that process is terrible timing for iraq i mean you are in iraq specialist you know about what its been through in the last mean going back to 2003 obviously but right now the problem is the Iraqi Government is so weak and and it needs to be able to show some strength when its got this of actions happening on its own territory and can it do that it needs to find a way to show something and i agree that this situation has put the Iraqi Government in a bad position again the United States made it very clear what position it would be in when this happened so this should not be a surprise to anyone that this very predictable response occurred but yes now the Iraqi Government has to find a way out of this a way to assert its sovereignty a way to balance its relations with its 2 outside partners the iran and the United States and try to find a way to get its government reestablished or there in a can or caretaker government right now incredibly difficult Douglas Ollivant joining us very much india today thank you appreciate it. Now the russian and Iranian Foreign minister condemning u. S. Military action in iraq and syria. He was hosting Mohammad Zarif for talks in moscow salvaging the 2050 nuclear deal was also on their agenda i discussed conflicts across the middle east and said they were keen to increase their cooperation. Despite the fact that americans are now thousands of miles away from their borders under a pretext of defending their right they have drowned the people of iraq in syria in blood the recent actions by americans in iraq are unacceptable to the iranian russia put efforts to establish peace both in syria and in iraq the cooperation between our countries with the talks is proof of that. Lets have a look at whats coming up for you on this news out responds after a libyan appeal to stop the fall of tripoli. Also bolivia reveals allegations of an International Plot to help former president evo morales the latest on an escalating diplomatic crisis. That is footballs new technology ruining enjoyment of the game that so many pulpits will have to sport but later. Rebel find is a being blamed for killing at least 18 people and torching their homes in democratic republic of congo police say the overnight raid is the latest in the Eastern Region of been the by a. T. F. Rebels they operate in both to see and neighboring uganda rid of killed hundreds of people recently has been following developments from nairobi and says it is expected the death toll will rise its now calm but this is the death toll would likely rise in this day the number is now 23 silly because the killing spree went on for many people still unaccounted for they say when the rebels entered the village they went from house to House Cleaning everything. In their part anyone they came across including women and children they killed what can happen in the couple of hours that people been trying to walk to any town a walk that can take them hours when they get big they plan to sleep in churches if that is possible or speak with family members you get a sense there that people are terrified. From uganda theyve been operating in that part of for more than 20 years causing havoc attacking villages a terrifying people and of course the civilians have lived in those conditions for many many years when it comes to the government for years for decades people in that part of. The healthy being marginalized by the government in kinshasa they feel that all the resources go to the capital when you look at their part of the d. R. See the roads on a bad state theres no infrastructure they feel let down so a lot of people say that when these attacks happen and they do happen often they feel alone. The United Nations ascent a Rapid Response team to Central African republic now to violence between shop owners and fighters demanding money at least 40 people were killed in the capital on thursday the un has warning against an escalation of fighting following years of unrest between muslim and christian militias militarists at a market in benghazi that was attacked and explains now what ultimatum traders have given to the armed groups. Reconstruction look at the future 5 Neighborhood Market is ongoing dozens of stores were burned or destroyed by the militias when we came at tacking on the French Mission in this market attacking traders in the process right now traders are busy trying to organize work and reconstruct their stores and start business going again in the meantime this market has been closed by the authorities until when its fully restored in the market tension is high in this place with ultimate and given to the im proves quite traitorous to so rhonda. The warning is that if they dont in the next 48 hours or so there will be a tough line and now people are afraid that things will get worse before they even get better. Earlier spoke to. Who is a spokesman for the Un Peacekeeping mission in Central African republic and he said that the government must address the root causes of this conflict. Situation was that in pick up 5. We had a situation where we have a coming out hope well have self defense go up. There in the beginning they were there to to to defend the. Market does it defend the traders against what we can say exante by laika and now those people become dogs committing atrocities those. Collecting taxes attacking civilians and the churches have seen that. For them it is enough and i would there was just one talk to stop they want everybody to lay down their arms for the sake of 5 come back to peace like it used to be. A long time ago its not a question of firm in his car not being able to but its just a question of gangs but now we are negotiating with all the parties the traders the gangs and i was so we are negotiating with the disappear society and local authorities to find ways to bring back peace. A court and sudan has sentenced 29 members of the Security Services to death they were convicted of torturing and murdering a protester in february the death of the teacher was an important moment in the uprising against former president Omar Al Bashir has been morgan is in sudans capital where people are celebrating the verdict hundreds of people erupted in joy outside the courtroom here in on demand the turn city of sudans capital hard to theyre celebrating the verdict that the judge issued when he sentenced 29 members of saddams Security Services to death over the killing of a protester in february now the story of the schoolteacher who was killed in february of their group the nation especially when witness testimonies came out detailing how he was tortured to death by the Security Forces protesters have been demanding in february now for then president almost bashir to step down now he was ousted by the military