[Hala Gorani, Cnn:] Forced to flee. Apocalyptic scenes in Australia as tens of thousands attempt to evade deadly bushfires. Also, anger in Baghdad. The U.S. embassy suspends its consular operations after protests at its doors. And a CEO's great escape from Japan to Lebanon. Now Interpol has issued a warrant for Carlos Ghosh's arrest. Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Hala Gorani. This is CNN. We begin in Australia where officials in New South Wales have declared a state of emergency as raging wildfires spread across the southeast of the country. Take a look at these images. The sky, thick with smoke, glowing orange as it reflects the fires on the ground. Some truly incredible, if not hellish pictures even. It's becoming very difficult to breathe there as well. This video was shot in Victoria. A state of disaster has been declared forward several regions there. And take a look at the aerial images also from Victoria. As you can see, the fires are large, out of control in many cases. So far, the death toll from these bushfires is 17. Now the Australian Prime Minister who has been under heavy criticism over his response to the disaster, you'll remember early on, actually took a holiday to Hawaii. Well, he toured over the last 24 hours one of the hardest hit areas. His visit did not go down well with some of the residents. Anna Coren filed this report.
[Anna Coren, Cnn Correspondent:] A state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales with authorities bracing themselves for the return of catastrophic conditions following those devastating fires on New Year's Eve. Residents and holidaymakers here on the south coast are being told to get out. With fears it could be a further loss of life. [voice-over]: This is what a mass evacuation looks like. Thousands and thousands fleeing the area's worst hit by the deadly bushfires that have swept across the southeastern coast of Australia. A mandatory evacuation for tourists before catastrophic conditions return on Saturday. But some want to head the opposite way.
[Trevor Garland, Daughter Stranded By Fire:] My daughter stuck in Sussex Inlet with friends down there.
[Coren:] Trevor garland's 16-year-old daughter, Haley, is stranded in one of the hardest hit regions with some friends. She told him she's safe but he's not taking any chances.
[Garland:] Been here for quite a while trying to see if I can get down there to get her out. I don't know the way because it's one road in, one road out.
[Coren:] It's dangerous but Trevor is not alone.
[Zanthia Walsh, Resident:] At the moment we're just focused on trying to get family back together.
[Coren:] Zanthia Walsh and her family were away when fire struck the family home in Conjola three hours south of Sydney. They all escaped unharmed but their house was completely destroyed.
[Walsh:] It was a family that actually built the house. So it's hit a lot of people quite hard. It used to be a holiday house prior to us living in it. So all of our family has stayed in there at some point or another.
[Coren:] Walsh and Garland are two of the many that stuck around and inside some of the areas hardest hit by bush fires across the states of Victoria and New South Wales. Dozens of roads have been cut off and some communities remain isolated. Stranded residents, dependent on the Australian military for the most basic of supplies. It's part of the Australian government's efforts to deal with the crisis, but for some it's too little, too late. The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, who has been heavily criticized for his lack of leadership during this crisis and his government's inaction on climate change was heckled by residents during a visit to Cobargo. A large part of the town was destroyed during the New Year's Eve bushfires and residents say the government has not done enough.
[Unidentified Female:] This is not fair. We're totally forgotten about down here.
[Coren:] The Prime Minister left without responding. Conditions have improved slightly in the past few days. Allowing the countless men and women who continue to battle the flames a temporary, but very limited reprieve. And just enough time to say good-bye to one of their own. Firefighter Jeffrey Keaton was honored for his bravery at his funeral. The medal given to his young son. Just one of the many victims of a nightmare with no end in sight that is expected to worsen in the coming days. [on camera]: Searing temperatures and ferocious winds are expected on Saturday, whipping up fires. Many of them have been burning for months. And there is no reprieve in sight. With Australia only halfway through its summer. Back to you.
[Gorani:] All right. Thanks, Anna. Australian tennis stars are trying to do their bit. A handful of athletes are supporting a victims of bushfires by donating money. Nick Kyrgios was the first to make the pledge. He tweeted I'll be donating $200 per ace that I hits across all the events I play this summer. So related to his game there. He was joined by several other tennis pros who promised to do the same. There are a series of tournaments ahead of the Australian Open later this month. Let's bring in Chad Myers at the international weather center for an update on conditions. And, Chad, I've been reading that the weather conditions are due to worsen and make the job of firefighters even harder this weekend.
[Chad Myers, Cnn Meteorologist:] Probably not as bad as we had two weeks ago, but certainly worse than what we're seeing now. In that shot there from our reporter really didn't indicate any wind down to about 6 kilometers per hour where she is. But the maps behind me will show you that we're going up to 60 kilometers per hour by the weekend because there's a front coming. And sometimes you think that's a good thing. It's going to cool things down. But the front will generate significant wind as it pushes on through. Look at the highs today in the middle 40s. Now we're going to have this front. We talked about this. It is going to cool down Melbourne. It's going to still keep very, very warm if you are to the north of that cold front into Canberra. Temperatures are going to be well up into the middle 40s. Now the cool air is on the way. A little bit of rain is possibly on the way. But when I say a little bit, I'm not joking. Like one to two millimeters. Certainly not enough to put any dent in anything. There's the wind for today. We move you ahead into tomorrow afternoon and you start to see the red. As soon as you see the red, you're seeing here 75 kph 75. If you get a wind gust at 75 on a fire, those embers are going to be going down wind another two or three kilometers. That is the problem. Ahead of possibly the firefighters that are trying to fight the fire. So finally we cool things down and dry things out a little bit there by Monday into Tuesday. But the air quality won't be getting any better in some spots there around Canberra. We had 100 and I think it was somewhere in the ballpark of 850 parts per million for the ash in the air. That was 2.5 millimeters or smaller. Just numbers that we don't see anywhere. We don't see those numbers in the worst possible conditions, in China when there's a high pressure and the fact we have to stop working because there's no wind. The numbers that we saw yesterday and the day before were truly unhealthy. In fact, I don't have to say it. Even the masks they're wearing won't help that much. So here comes the rainfall. How much? A couple of millimeters. But Sydney will see the tomorrow down to 23. That's some relief. Here is the problem, Hala. We haven't had a lot of rain. We have this thing called the Indian Ocean Dipole. And the IOD has been blowing the wrong way for Australia to get any rainfall. It's been blowing in the direction of Africa. And we have covered the African floods. That's the rain that should be spread out. It's not spread out because it's blowing from Australia over to Africa and that's where the rain is going. Overall, over the entire country, 188 millimeters short for this year. And the hottest year on record there at 1.52 degrees C above where we think is normal. What are we trying to hold the whole world to? 1.5 degrees C. So we're almost there.
[Gorani:] There you have it. A lot of work ahead for these firefighters and just ordinary Australians. Some of them trapped. We'll have full coverage in the coming hours. Thanks, Chad Myers at the world weather center. Now a calm has settled over the U.S. embassy in Baghdad following two days of violent protests by supporters of an Iran-linked militia. And it caused some extensive damage to the compound. Angry demonstrators began storming the building on Tuesday over U.S. air strikes on the militia that they support. Now these are not the demonstrators that we saw over many weeks who are demanding more transparency and accountability from their government. These are protesters angry with these air strikes on these militia positions. These air strikes killed at least 25 people. Iraqi security forces have now regained control of the area, but the embassy says that all public consular services are suspended until further notice. Let's bring in CNN's Arwa Damon. She is live in Baghdad with the very latest Arwa.
[Arwa Damon, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Hi, Hala. Those Iraqi security forces are, yes, now once again manning those checkpoints that lead to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. But where were they when all of this was unfolding? That is one of the big questions here. Now we were able to arrive at the U.S. embassy just as these protesters were departing. Here is a look at what we saw.
[Damon:] We're standing just outside of this massive, sprawling U.S. embassy complex. You can see one of the entrances there. If I'm not mistaken, that is where you'd go through if you wanted to go to consular services. [voice-over]: The Iraqi security forces are finally on the scene, but that the protesters managed to get this far. For more than 24 hours, attempt to breach the walls of the U.S. embassy goes to the crux of the many multifaceted challenges that Iraq faces. [on camera]: Supporters and members of what is known as the popular mobilization force, the PMF, they are the ones that were part of this protest. These are not ordinary protesters. The PMF came together as a response during the fight against ISIS. And they have continued to be extremely powerful. The message here, obviously, is very clear. [voice-over]: Many fighters that make up the PMF gained the bulk of their experience actually fighting the Americans during the U.S. occupation of Iraq. They have historic longstanding ties to Iran with training, funding and weapons coming from there. In today's Iraq, they're ostensibly under the umbrella of the Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government views the U.S. air strike against one of these groups, Kataib Hezbollah, as a violation of its sovereign sovereignty and an attack on its own forces. Amid rising questions of, was the Iraqi government really helpless to stop this or simply unwilling? Iraq's Minister of Interior on the scene claimed that it took them awhile to spin up their forces. [on camera]: The situation has only just barely begun to get under control with the withdrawal of these protesters right now. But as the spokesperson for Kataib Hezbollah, the group that was the target of the U.S. strikes said, they left because they gave America their message. [voice-over]: At dusk, U.S. security personnel began removing the flags of the various groups, each which also has a powerful political party within Parliament. A tenuous calm for now but power struggles within Iraq and the proxy battle between Washington and Tehran are all far from over. And, Hala, that whole protest movement has now moved to the other side of the Tigris river from the U.S. embassy. They are giving Parliament a week deadline to begin negotiating a bill that is addressing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. And one of Iran's top commanders in response to statements coming out from the White House and from President Trump has said that the U.S. should watch its rhetoric. Pretty much schooling America on being polite when it comes to addressing Iran and also saying while they're not looking for a war, they are not afraid of one.
[Gorani:] All right. Well, the war of words at least continues between the two countries. Thanks very much, Arwa Damon is live in Baghdad. A couple other stories I want to bring to your attention. At least eight people are dead after a missile strike on a school in Syria. Yet another civilian target in Syria. That's from the volunteer group White Helmets and the Turkish government. The strike happened in the rebel held Idlib province on Thursday and left 16 people wounded. Syria's government says it was an anti-terrorism operation. Investigators are trying to find out why a battery factory exploded in New Delhi Thursday. Several people and firefighters had to be rescued from the rubble. There's the aftermath. One of the firefighters died. Last month two fires at businesses in New Delhi killed dozens of people. And a top military general in Taiwan is among eight people killed in a helicopter crash on the northern part of the island. The Blackhawk chopper was carrying 13 people when it disappeared from radar near New Taipei City. Five people survived this, if you can believe it, and this comes just a week before the island holds its general election. Still ahead we know thousands of Uyghurs have been sent to camps in China's Xinjian province. Now there is new photographic evidence that entire Muslim graveyards are being wiped right off the map. Plus he slipped under the radar, out of Japan to avoid a trial he says would be rigged. Now ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn is officially a wanted man worldwide. We have new details next.