residents of the line islands in kiribati kicked off the new year an hour earlier. many millions of people are expected to take part in celebrations around the world in the coming hours. huge crowds are gathering in sydney in australia where eight tonnes of pyrotechnics will be launched from two of the country's most recognisable landmarks — the harbour bridge and the opera house. take a look at the celebrations there in auckland, where fireworks are being launched from auckland's sky tower and lights are also shining on the harbour bridge. we will take a listen.

we are watching the fireworks in auckland, the first major city in the world to bring in 202a. fireworks being launched from the sky tower. the pacific islands also brought in 2020 for an hour earlier. here we have auckland. let's listen. explosions

we are watching auckland's sky tower, where fireworks are being launched to welcoming 2024, with thousands of people gathered to watch those fireworks. it is the first major international city to welcome in 2024. the first eurostar service today to paris has left london, following a day of cross—channel chaos. all trains were cancelled yesterday due to flooding in tunnels under the river thames. these pictures are of passengers boarding at st pancras this morning. eurostar says all services will run to and from london, but there are warnings that delays are still likely.

simonjones reports. the queues at st pancras have been building since the early hours. eurostar says it plans to run all 32 scheduled services today, but they will be packed. that means many people unable to travel yesterday will struggle to make it across the channel today, leaving new year plans in doubt. oh, my goodness, it was a whirlwind, but we all stayed calm. i was very impressed. everyone stayed pretty calm, considering. but we're happy to be here. i'm reasonably optimistic because they told us yesterday that they're going to have two or three more trains. really happy that i'm able to go back home today, yes. - and i'm feeling much . happier than yesterday. what happened yesterdayjust looked like complete chaos. a lot of people sound like they're scrambling, trying to get where they're going. and today's a new day, so it looks like we might be good. yesterday saw cross—channel chaos. lou docherty was supposed to get to disneyland paris.

i've lost my hotel, my travel, my theatre that i booked, and i kind of don't have any plans for new year's eve now. i'll probably end up spending it with my parents, or i'll end up watching a disney film to try and pretend that i'm there. it's really disappointing. this was the cause of the problem — the high speed rail line left resembling a river. pumps and tankers have finally cleared enough waterfrom one of the two affected tunnels for trains to move again. but speed restrictions will be in place. when you have 24 hours of disruption like this, it actually takes several days to get rid of that backlog of passengers who are affected. so this is easily going to go into wednesday or thursday of next week into the new year, causing a lot of pain along the way. high speed domestic trains into kent, completely cancelled yesterday, will run, but there will be a reduced service.

the festive period has certainly been challenging on the railways. at times, passengers have seemed relieved simply to be on a train that's on the move. but the warning is that delays, disruption and cancellations could continue for a number of days across several parts of the network. thameslink trains across southeast england are suffering from staff shortages, and today there will be no services on six lines on northern. add snow and wind into the mix and it could be another difficult day for getting around. hsi, which runs the rail route between london and the channel tunnel, says it understands how frustrating the problems have been for passengers at such an important time of year. we can cross live to ellie price who is at st pancras. what is the latest? well, actually, we are not — what is the latest? well, actually, we are not allowed _ what is the latest? well, actually, we are not allowed to _ what is the latest? well, actually, we are not allowed to film - what is the latest? well, actually, we are not allowed to film inside l we are not allowed to film inside but things are looking slightly less chaotic than they did in simon's piece that you just saw. there are

passengers who are able to go on the channel tunnel, orthe passengers who are able to go on the channel tunnel, or the eurostar, because those lines, those tunnels underneath the river thames in london are both cleared now of their flooding, and so trains can run through. i've spoken to a few passengers inside who are still very frustrated because there aren't any extra services being offered by eurostar today. extra services being offered by eurostartoday. instead extra services being offered by eurostar today. instead there is a long queue of people who have being told they can wait in the standby queue, and if there are spare seats shortly before some of the services leave, they can get on them. but no travellers who tried to go yesterday are able to reboot onto any of the services today because they are now all full. so i think there will be a knock on over the next couple of days. as simon said in his piece, there was a knock on effect to some of the domestic lines in the uk running to the south—east, particularly to kent. essentially it is a positive picture, things getting back to normal slowly but surely. as you say, there are some

speed restrictions in place on some of those lines, the advice that we always hear in these situations is to check before you travel. i think thatis to check before you travel. i think that is very much the case, particularly for international travellers on trains today. as i say, a positive picture. we will continue to _ say, a positive picture. we will continue to bring _ say, a positive picture. we will continue to bring you - say, a positive picture. we will continue to bring you those - say, a positive picture. we will. continue to bring you those latest developments. russia has carried out more drone attacks on ukraine, with reports of explosions in a number of cities, including kharkiv and kyiv. the missile strikes on central kharkiv injured at least 21 people, including two teenage boys. the strikes are in apparent retaliation for ukraine's drone attack on the russian city of belgorod yesterday, which killed at least 20 people. and reuters is reporting the governor of belgorod has issued a warning more missiles are heading towards residents there. the kremlin has requested an urgent meeting of the un security council. here's our russia editor, steve rosenberg.

explosion. caught on dash cam, a giant explosion in the centre of belgorod. there was panic, as people ran for cover. siren wails. not everyone could. russia says at least 20 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured after a series of ukrainian strikes on the heart of the city, although the russian military claimed it had shot down most of the missiles. as emergency crews rushed to the scene, the scale of the damage became clear. billowing smoke making belgorod look more than ever like a frontline city. ukraine's border is just 20 miles away. the local governor, vyacheslav gladkov, said these were the deadliest consequences of ukrainian shelling that his region had experienced.

explosion. the attack came just a day after russia had carried out a huge wave of strikes across ukraine with missiles and with drones. at least 39 people, kyiv said, were killed. belgorod has come under attack before... ..with explosions like this one at the airport and at a power station. this kind of thing never happened before russia launched its full—scale invasion of ukraine. now, a deadly new strike on the eve of the new year holiday. russia has already hit back with new attacks of its own. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, is insisting that the war in gaza will continue until all hostages have been released — and hamas has been dismantled.

residents in khan younis say there has been fierce tank fire, and more people have been fleeing to the southern border town of rafah. gaza's health ministry, says that 150 people have been killed and 286 people injured in 24 hours. yolande knell reports. a giant campsite for the displaced. crammed into an ever shrinking area, tens of thousands of gazans who fled the fighting have set up makeshift tents and shacks by the egyptian border. israel says it's not restricting aid for gaza, but the un complains the amount getting in is woefully inadequate. it's a very long and convoluted process with numerous checks before the aid actually gets into gaza, and then once the aid you is in gaza it's very difficult to get aid to people. essentially we're delivering aid under fire.

gaza streets have been turned into battlegrounds as hamas fighters try to block the advance of israeli soldiers. a main focus for israel's ground troops is now the southern city of khan younis and the central urban refugee camps. translation: we arrested dozens of terrorists in a school. _ they were hiding amongst civilians, hamas and the islamichhad. we took them to israel to continue their interrogation. large numbers of gazans have been detained by israel. the men here were picked up near their homes in the north. they claim they were beaten, stripped to their underwear, and mistreated, even burnt with cigarettes. we can't independently verify their accounts. "they used obscene words," says this man. "they'd hold you like a dog and make you crawl, then there would be five soldiers who'd hit you alternately on the head and body." israel insists it treats detainees according to international law. for now there's no sign that israel is lowering the intensity of its attacks on gaza. it says its aim remains to dismantle hamas.

hamas says it won't give up the remaining israeli hostages it's holding unless there's a full ceasefire. and with a new year about to begin, for those living close to gaza's front—line, the suffering continues. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. with more, here's our correspondent shaimaa khalil injerusalem. the israeli prime minister has reiterated a line that we've heard him say many times over the past week or so, which is that the war is going to last for months, it's not going to end any time soon. on the ground, what we're seeing is an advance of the israeli ground offensive into central gaza, affecting three main refugee camps — very congested refugee camps — which means that people are now displaced or doubly displaced, because some have actually fled the fighting from the north, as it also intensifies its bombardment of khan younis and of rafah. rafah is now gaza's most densely populated city, according to the un.

it's a very small city that has now received hundreds of thousands of people fleeing — fleeing the fighting in khan younis. and again, for our viewers, remember, khan younis was initially the place people fled to from the fighting in the north. we've also heard from the israeli military spokesman, who tweeted in arabic, saying that the salah al—din route, which is essentially the artery of movement through the gaza strip from the north to the south, he described it as a battlefield. if you think about what that means for humanitarian aid, it makes it that much more harder, that much more complex. we've heard there from the un how difficult it is to get any aid into gaza because of the complex process of inspection. once it does get into gaza, the process of actually safely delivering it becomes very, very difficult, notjust in the south where it comes in through rafah of through kerem shalom, but imagine trying to get it into central gaza now where fighting has intensified, and northern gaza, where fighting has continued. this continues to be

a point of contention between the un and israel. israel says it's not restricting it — that more aid should come in. the united nations are saying that it's a struggle to get safe delivery of aid to the people who need it the most. now it's time for a look at today's sport. we start with football. the pressure continues to grow on manchester united manager erik ten hag after their 14th defeat of the season in all competitions. nottingham forest are the latest side to beat them as their new boss nuno espirito santo made it back—to—back wins. morgan gibbs—white scored the winner that made it 2—1 and gave his side their first premier league victory over manchester united in 29 years. 20 league matches and you have lost nine of them, it doesn't make great reading for manchester united fans. no, we know that, it's below our standards but we know the reasons.

injanuary our players will return, we are looking forward to that, and then i think our squad and our team will be stronger. champions manchester city moved up to third and within two points of the leaders liverpool — goals from rodri and julian alvarez giving them a 2—0 win at home to sheffield united, who are still bottom of the table. we havejust summarised how is the season so far, with a lot of problems we had with injuries, with important players. so we won two titles, important ones, european super cup and world champion. it is prestigious to all of us, the club first. and now, our level of playing is really, really good, i would say, and we are that close. aston villa are level on points with liverpool at the top after a late douglas luiz penalty gave them a 3—2 win over burnley. liverpool play newcastle on monday. before that two games on sunday,

arsenal can go back to the top of the table with a win at fulham. and tottenham can move within a point of the top four if they beat bournemouth. new zealand skipper mitchel santner took four wickets as they beat bangladesh by 17 runs in their third t20 match in mount maunganui to level the series. he helped dismiss the tourists for a modest iio. but new zealand collapsed to 49—5 before recovering to within 16 runs of victory, when heavy rain halted play. they were ahead of the dls rate at that stage and the match was eventually called off, giving the hosts the win which ensured the series finished all square. at the united cup tennis in perth, taylor fritz has led the usa to an impressive comeback win over great britain. katie boulter had given britain the lead with the best win of her career, against world number fivejessica pegula in three sets in the opening singles. but when fritz beat cameron norrie it went to a deciding mixed doubles match —

boulter was back and paired with neal skupski. they raced through the first set 6—1 but fritz and pegula fought back and won the super tie—break to reach the quarterfinals. british teenage darts sensation luke littler�*s breathtaking run at the pdc world championship in london continues. the 16—year—old thrashed the five—time winner raymond van barneveld four sets to one to reach the quarter—finals. a victory all the more special as the dutchman was littler�*s idol when he first started playing. unbelievable. 10,13 years ago i was doing the celebration, throwing on my little board and now i've just beaten him, one of the greatest stage of them all. i've got nothing to fear, i've got no one to fear, because my game can be better than anyone's on my day and i've just shown it there, i've just beaten one of the best who have graced that stage. it gives me goosebumps. i have won three world youth titles and this is the biggest one of them

all and i'm only three wins away now. the detroit pistons' record—tying losing streak in the nba has finally come to an end. they'd lost 28 games in a row, but they squeezed past toronto raptors 129—127, cade cunningham with 30 points and 12 assists. the dallas cowboys have ended the nfl season with a 100% home record, for the first time since in 42 years. they onlyjust held off the detroit lions though, winning 20—19. it was a controversial ending, with the lions penalised when jared goff found lineman taylor decker in the end zone for the two points that would have given them the win, but the officials said decker hadn't reported as an eligible receiver. and that's all the sport for now. there is more on the bbc website. we will have more for you later. let s get some of the

day s other news now. factory activity in china has shrunk for a third month in a row, amid continuing concerns over the health of the world's second largest economy. a key measure showed output slumped even further than in november on weak demand. venice is to ban loudspeakers, and tourist groups of more than 25 people, in a bid to ease the impact of mass tourism on the italian city. over—tourism is widely recognised as an urgent issue as it's one of the most visited places in europe. the new rules will come into effect from june. the actor tom wilkinson, who starred in the hit film the full monty, has died at the age of 75. he won a bafta for that role, and also starred in films such as shakespeare in love, michael clayton, and the best exotic marigold hotel. in total he received six bafta nominations and two oscar nominations. un peacekeepers are due to finish their withdrawal from mali on sunday, after a long—running mission lasting a decade. it began in 2013, after an armed rebellion. but the mission was asked

by the country's ruling military government to leave. our reporter daniel de simone explains why the mission is coming to an end. the reason they've been asked to leave is because the military government that took power in a coup has characterised the mission as a failure. it said it hasn't managed to ensure security throughout the country. the whole thing is quite complicated, though. when the government took over, the current government in mali invited in mercenaries from russia's wagner group. that led to the french forces that were running a counterterrorism operation in mali to pulling out. other countries pulled out of the un mission, including the uk. and then, last summer, when the mandate was expiring for this mission, it wasn't renewed. but the security council, the un security council voted not to renew it because the host country, mali, wasn't going to support it. the malian government

has invited in wagner mercenary forces from russia. mali has pivoted away from a historic connection with france. and earlier this year, it signed a defence pact with two other west african countries that also are run by governments that took part in military coups — that is niger and burkina faso. both those countries are also pivoting more towards russia. both those countries have also seen french forces leave and even french diplomats leave over the past few months. a crackdown on xl bully dogs comes into force in england and wales today. it means owners must follow strict rules on how they are handled in public, including keeping them muzzled and on a lead. it comes ahead of a ban in february when it will be a criminal offence to own an xl bully dog in england and wales without a certificate.

what a year it's been for singer rick astley. he played at glastonbury and is now fronting his own new year's eve show. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson caught up with him during rehearsals. # don't tell me you're too blind to see # never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down. well, rick astley, explain where we are. ok, we are in camden, camden town, we're in the roundhouse in camden. i've been in this building a few times, i've never played here, so i'm really looking forward to that. but i've been here to see gigs. biffy clyro was the last band i saw in here, which was absolutely rocking. the doors have played here. wow, i didn't know that, ok! don't put the pressure on, colin, thanks. i think the thing about this place, i think it's actually a real venue. # when we're out together... i think the thing about doing a tv show frightens me to death, to be honest.

so we're doing a gig and the bbc are filming it, that's the way i'm looking at it. so you're trying to tell yourself, "i'm not presenting this," really. kind of, yeah. but you are. so what can we expect? well, we've got a couple of guests. sharleen�*s coming. sharleen spiteri? yeah, sharleen�*s become a friend of mine. # ain't no mountain high enough... and you've got the fireworks in between the halves of the show. yeah, we're going to do like 25 minutes up to the fireworks on new year's eve itself, you know, the 12:00. i think we could probably work out what the first one back in the new year is. # we're no strangers to love # you know the rules and so do i. yeah, it's funny, obviously that song never gonna give you up has been part of my dna now for over 30 odd years. and as mad as people may find the fact that i still enjoy singing it, i still do, because it kind of... i think it kind of like solidifies in my own mind how lucky i've been.

new year's resolutions, i want to get fitter. we're all feeling it a bit. no, but i'm serious. i want to be able to give it all when i'm up there so i need to get fitter. i need to spend more time on my bike, i think. well, rick astley have a very happy 2024. indeed, indeed, happy new year to you. can't believe it's all over! and just before we go, here's something you don't see every day. this is the moment a meteor went flying over england in the early hours of saturday. footage posted on social media showed what appeared to be a shooting star, which could be seen from locations including kent, london and birmingham. that's it from us. just a reminder that auckland has become the first major city to welcome in 2024. there will be more coming, of course.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello. 2023 is finishing on an unsettled note. it's a day of sunshine and showers today. the showers will be heavy with some hail and thunder at times as well. we have the same area of low pressure with us today that we had yesterday. the centre of the low, which is just here, is not that windy. we do have stronger winds affecting the south—west of england and also the north—east of scotland. the legacy of the recent wet weather we have seen now for a number of weeks is that we have a number of flood warnings still currently in force. today, showers initially started off across western areas but they will become widespread today, blown along by gusty winds in the south—west, gusting into the odd 50s mph. 60mph gusts for shetland, with rain here and rain returns

into aberdeenshire later on this afternoon. but otherwise, some sunshine, nowhere's immune from seeing a downpour. some of the downpours can be quite slow moving for northern ireland, for north—west england and north wales as well. then, as we run up to the midnight hour, the new year's day celebrations — hogmanay as well — we are looking at the showery conditions prevailing. longer spells of rain potentially affecting parts of north—west england, the north midlands and north wales as well. the showers then continue through the remainder of the night with temperatures drifting a little bit lower. we might see a few patches of frost in sheltered glens in scotland. otherwise, frost—free with temperatures between two to six celsius. new year's day, not a bad day for getting out and about and enjoying a walk for the first day of 2024. there will be some sunshine around, a few showers. further south, the weather will deteriorate with rain arriving. probably turning particularly wet in the south—west of england, southern wales towards the end of the day. that's where the mildest

weather will be. otherwise a cooler day — temperatures around seven, eight degrees. through monday night into tuesday, this area of rain will continue to push its way northwards. we might see snow up over the highest pennines, the southern uplands and grampians for a time. more rain following that in. given the ground is saturated, we are likely to see further localised flooding building in as we head into tuesday. mild in the south, cooler weather in scotland. through the remainder of the week, it stays unsettled. temperatures on the mild side for england and wales. the cooler weather for scotland and northern ireland.

this is bbc news, the headlines: following a day of travel chaos, eurostar services have resumed between london and paris. disruption had been caused by two flooded tunnels blocking the high speed rail line — leading to disappointment for tens of thousands of travellers. russia has carried out more drone attacks on ukraine, with reports of explosions across the country. in kharkiv, the city's mayor says residential buildings have been on fire. moscow has been retaliating after ukrainian strikes on the russian border city of belgorod. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the country has to establish full control of gaza's border area with egypt to ensure the territory's demilitarisation.

his comments come as military forces press ahead with an offensive that he says will last "for many months". now on bbc news it's time for the year in review: the biggest stories. there's a huge barrage going on overhead just at the moment. yevgeny prigozhin seemed determined to march his men to the top of the hill. then, he marched them down again.