The president of somalia has blamed al shabaab militants for a deadly bomb attack but said they wouldnt succeed in demoralising the somali people. 70 people died and many more were injured in the capital mogadishu. Our africa correspondent Andrew Harding reports. Moments after the blast, an eyewitness films the scene. Smoke still billowing from a vehicle, the remains of what is thought to have been a massive car bomb. Shocked civilians move in to look for survivors. The attack was timed to catch the morning rush hour in mogadishu. Many students had been heading to classes. Dozens were killed when the bomb exploded at a busy intersection in the somali capital. Attacks like this are not unusual here, but they are seldom so deadly. This man said the blast caught him as he was getting out of a minibus heading to work, his leg injured. Within minutes, emergency workers were at the scene. Somalia, plagued by violence for decades, is still wrestling with extremism. The countrys president quickly blamed the Islamist Militant Group al shabaab. Mohamed farmajo said their aim was to instil terror and to prevent the country from rebuilding. They will never succeed, he said. Al shabaab, linked to alqaeda, is still a threat in a country plagued by drought, feuding clans, and the aftermath of a terrible civil war. But the group has lost ground in recent years, targeted by American Drones and African Union troops. Todays devastating attack will fuel the fears that somalias Security Forces are too weak and divided to protect civilians in mogadishu and that foreign troops, who are supposed to be on their way out, will be needed here for many years to come. Andrew harding, bbc news. The Australian Government says thousands of volunteer firefighters in New South Wales will be compensated for loss of earnings during the bushfires. More than 100 fires are still burning in southern australia, and conditions are expected to worsen over the coming days. Meanwhile sydneys mayor says the new years eve fireworks display will go ahead despite a petition calling for funds to be redirected towards firefighting efforts. Briony sowden reports. For those living on the edge of the fires, this is now the new normal. More than 100 fires are continuing to burn across New South Wales, the biggest one threatening the countrys most populated city, sydney, and with temperatures forecast to reach a0 degrees over the coming days, there appears to be no reprieve in sight. Now, a new crisis has erupted city officials are coming under pressure to cancel its annual new years eve fireworks extravaganza, which some say are now an insult. In the past two weeks, an online petition has gained momentum and now has more than a quarter of a million signatures. According to the petition, people are already traumatised and dealing with enough smoke in the air. For weeks on end, firefighters have been out on the front lines. Many of them are volunteers who have given up their own pay to fight the blazes. Despite previously resisting the idea of paying volunteers, the government has now bowed to pressure and says some firefighters in New South Wales will now be compensated. For many, it is welcome news. They are working 12 18 hour days. They are getting caught in some harrowing situations. The fatigue we know just from the talk on the street, is they are very, very tired. Bushfires have taken a toll on australias native koala population with fears almost a third living along New South Wales coastline may have died in the fires. Some have had a lucky escape. This thirsty koala went in search for water, stopping a group of cyclists in their tracks as temperatures hit 42 degrees celsuis in south australia. The bushfires have had a devastating effect on communities, destroying more than 800 homes since the fire season began in september. Sydneys mayor says that although she shares her deep sympathies with victims, the fireworks event will still go ahead. Briony sowden, bbc news. Us democratic president ial hopeful joe biden has tried to clarify comments in which he appeared to rule out testifying at Donald Trumps impeachment trial. Mr biden told reporters in iowa he had always complied with legitimate requests from congress in the past. But he insisted the trial should focus on president trumps conduct. The whole point of this is, anyone subpoenaed relating to this investigation of a president has to be able to have some knowledge to share on whether or not he committed the offences hes accused of committing. I have no first hand knowledge, theres no basis to that, so my point was, it would be no basis on which to call me as a witness. Joe biden. 0ur north america correspondent Chris Buckler explains how the former Vice President has been caught up in all this. sot in this impeachment trial, donald trump stands accused of abusing his power as president by trying to force ukraine into launching investigations into political rivals, including joe biden, and of also trying to obstruct congress and their investigation by ordering officials in the white house and other parts of the administration to ignore subpoenas those are legal demands for information or for people to come and give testimony to congress. Now, that has been widely criticised by democrats, but in a newspaper interview in the last couple of days, joe biden, who is one of the partys leading contenders to become the president ial candidate to challenge donald trump in 2020, he said that he would defy a subpoena if he was asked to testify during mr trumps forthcoming impeachment trial. Now, that has been widely criticised and has led to some allegations of hypocrisy. As a result, mr biden has now released a statement on twitter in which hes tried to clarify his remarks. He says he has always complied with legal orders and what he calls legitimate requests from congress but he said that there was no legal basis to order him to give testimony in this case. Now, republicans have suggested at times that they might try to turn this whole impeachment trial on its head and ask questions about the bidens. President trump, you might remember, has made unsubstantiated investigations of corruption regarding joe biden and his son hunter during business dealings in ukraine. They have strongly denied that, and in a statement from joe biden, he said its important to recognise this impeachment process should focus on Donald Trumps conduct, and not his. A german woman, her 7 year old daughter and another 7 Year Old Girl have been killed by a large avalanche in the italian alps. The accident happened on the val senales glacier, close to the border with austria. Its the latest in a series avalanches affecting ski resorts in the alps, following recent heavy snow. Bill hayton reports. A rescue helicopter with a sad burden. The bodies of a 25 year old german woman and her seven year old daughter brought down from the slopes above. Another seven year old was dug out of the snow and rushed to hospital. Tragically she to later died. All three were among a small party of skiers hit by a large avalanche, 150 metres wide and 500 metres long. There was no way to escape. An 11 year old boy and his father, also part of the same group, we re father, also part of the same group, were injured. 70 rescuers from the Alpine Service and the italian Security Forces searched the mountain in case others had been buried by the snow. That work continues. A spokesman said the avalanche risk had appeared low at the start of the day, but a strong wind and a rise in temperature may have loosened the snow. Several avalanches have hit ski resorts in the alps over the past few days. In those cases, the skiers had lucky escapes. Sadly, in the latest incident in northern italy, that wasnt true. Lets get some of the days other news. A day of mourning has been held in kazakhstan for the 12 victims of fridays plane crash. 47 people remain in hospital. Flags are flying at half mast and many events have been cancelled. The plane was carrying more than 90 passengers and crew when it crashed shortly after take off. Doctors in the syrian province of idlib say their hospitals are full and they lack the resources they need to cope with close to 250,000 people whove been displaced by the lastest fighting. Syrian government forces, supported by russian warplanes, have been advancing on rebel held positions in the south of the province. Protesters marching against the french governments planned pension reform clashed with the police in paris on saturday. Trade unions have spearheaded nationwide strikes since early december. The yellow vests, an Anti Government movement, joined the rally of several thousand people. Algeria has a new Prime Minister after months of policial upheaval. Academic and former diplomat abdel azinerad, on the left here, was named by algerias recently elected president , abdelmadjid tebboune. Jerad previously served in an administration in the 1990s, before apparently falling out of favour. Riot police have clashed with protesters inside a Major Shopping Centre near hong kongs border with mainland china. The Retail Outlet near the chinese city of shenzhen is popular with shoppers from the mainland. 0ur asia pacific regional editor Michael Bristow reports. In a few days, it will be a new year. But in hong kong, its now an old story violent clashes between police and protesters. Plain clothes officers arrested just over a dozen activists at a Shopping Centre near hong kongs border with china. The protesters have been trying to disrupt trade that takes place with the mainland. Chinese shoppers travel to hong kong, buy Cheaper Products in bulk, and then go back across the border to sell. Shops had to close their doors, trapping some customers inside. The police said they had been forced to act, but these pictures will do little to dispel the criticism that on occasions, they use too much force. The man in the red shirt gets a full burst of pepper spray. Demonstrations, violence, arrests and injuries its been the story of the last six months. Yelling. There have been few concessions from the authorities, either in hong kong or beijing. It is difficult to imagine the pattern of this year not being repeated in the next. Michael bristow, bbc news. The British Government has apologised for inadvertently publishing online the addresses of a number of prominent people awarded new years honours. When the list was uploaded on a government website, the addresses were mistakenly included. 0ne expert has described the Data Security breach as stunningly bad. Katy austin reports. Among more than 1,000 people to receive an award in the new years honours list this year are celebrities and sports people but also senior politicians, police and security personnel. At some point last night, a list containing recipients addresses was published, meaning some people were able to download the information. Many appeared to be personal addresses although no Contact Information appears for six ministry of defence staff. The document was discovered by a member of the public. I saw the new years honours list was coming out, wondered who was on it, went to the gov. Uk website and downloaded a csv file of all of the recipients, opened it up and it had full names and addresses of all the recipients including street numbers, names and postcodes, everything, which was quite remarkable. A Cabinet Office spokesperson said . Its believed the document was online forjust under an hour before being removed, but there are questions to answer about how it got there in the first place. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come the flooding misery thats lasted for months parts of east africa where its rained since october. The most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. Tomorrow in holland, were going to use money we picked up in belgium today. And then well be in france and again, it will be the same money. Its just got to be the way to go. George harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his 0xfordshire home. A 33 year old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. I think it was good. Reporter just good . No, fantastic thats better big ben bongs this is bbc news. Our main headline at least 76 people are reported to have been killed by a car bomb during morning rush hour in somalias capital. The president has blamed al shabaab militants for the attack. More now on that story. Abukar arman is a somalia political analyst and former special envoy to the united states. Hes in columbus, ohio. Hejoins us on he joins us on the hejoins us on the phone. Thank he joins us on the phone. Thank you for speaking to us. This attack shows that al sha baab for speaking to us. This attack shows that al shabaab is not going away. Is there an actual plan to defeat the group . Well, we sure hope so and what happened today is certainly an indication that there is no effective plan from the governments side in that horrible, horrible terrorism act that took place today, took dozens of lives. We dont know exactly the number, by the way, because the mayor of mogadishu right there holding a press c0 nfe re nce , mogadishu right there holding a press conference, two generals on each side were pressing him not to mention the numbers. Did you think it might be more . So everything is politicised. You think it might be more People Killed 7 politicised. You think it might be more People Killed . 0h, definitely, definitely, and we will find out but the sad thing is nothing will change. Under the current government, as you are aware, more people have been killed by terrorism in comparison to the previous government all combined, the number that were killed in the previous government all combined. So the question is if and we know that al shabaab had been decapitated and we also know that the us bombs by drawings every two weeks and all of these things are