a crowd of1 million are estimate a crowd ofi million are watching at the moment, watching those fireworks are launched from harbour bridge and the opera house. this display has been 15 months in the making. it will lastjust 12 minutes and it spans six kilometres. the midnight display is set to an original score, created to work as a choreographed dance between fireworks, lighting and projections. we will just listen to fireworks, lighting and projections. we willjust listen to some of that music now. beautiful pictures. an hour ago we

brought you pictures from auckland, the first major city to welcome 2024. the first major city to welcome 202a. now we are looking at the scenes in sydney, equally as spectacular, with1 million people watching fireworks launched from harbour bridge and sydney becomes the latest city to welcome 202a. that is a glimpse at the sydney fireworks, the fireworks being launched from well—known landmarks like sydney opera house, sydney harbour bridge, around 1 million

people watching from the harbour as sydney is lit up. what a brilliant start to 202k. happy new year! the us military says its helicopters have destroyed three small boats in an attack on a container ship in the southern red sea. it's the second assault by iran—backed houthi rebels on the ship within 2a hours. the us says the gunmen who launched the raid from yemen attacked in four boats, coming within 20 meteres of the vessel. the fourth craft fled the area. the houthi rebels say their actions are in protest against the gaza war, where there were more air strikes by israel overnight. 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. 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 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 islamicjihad. 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. 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. caught on dash—cam, a giant explosion in the centre of belgorod. there was panic as people ran

for cover — 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 front—line city. ukraine's border is just 20 miles away. the local governor said these were the deadliest consequences of ukrainian shelling that his region had experienced. 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. 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 2a 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. hs1, 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. ellie price is at st pancras with the latest. well, actually, we are not allowed to film inside, but things are looking slightly less chaotic than they did in that piece you just saw there from simon, and there are passengers who are able to go on the channel tunnel, on the eurostar,

because those tunnels underneath the river thames here in london have both been cleared now of their flooding, so trains can run through. i've spoken to some passengers inside who are still very frustrated, though, because there aren't extra services being offered by eurostar today, and there instead is a long queue of people who have been 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 rebook on to 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 and as simon said in his piece, there is a knock on effect to some of the domestic lines here in the uk running to the south—east, particularly kent. but it is essentially a positive picture here, things getting back to normal, slowly but surely. but as you said, there are some speed restrictions in place on some of the lines and the advice we always hear in these situations is check before you travel,

and i think that is very much the case, particularly for the international travellers on the trains today, but as i say, largely a positive picture with things getting back to normal. now it's time for a look at today's sport. 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. two games on sunday, arsenal will 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. after a flying start to the season, spurs have slipped back with a squad stretched through injuries and suspensions. its not through lack of effort that we are not sort of... you know, consistently playing the football that we want to. it is just that we are asking it off too few. and it will be a different challenge for us, because the likes of bournemouth are obviously in good form, and they do play good football as well, in terms of the good football, they play football in terms of they want to try and play and get the ball down. so it will be a good challenge for us.

new zealand skipper mitchell 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 110. 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 gave britain the lead with the best win of her career, beating world number five jessica pegula in three sets. but when fritz was too good for cameron norrie, levelling the tie and taking it to a deciding mixed doubles match. boulter was back, paired with neal skupski, and they raced through the first set 6—1 but fritz and pegula won in on a 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 quarterfinals. a victory all the more special as the dutchman was littler�*s idol when he first started playing. unbelievable. ten, 13 years ago i was doing his celebration, throwing on my little board and now i'vejust beaten him, one of the greatest stage of them all. it always gives me goose bumps. 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 toronoto 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 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. you can stay up—to—date with whatever is happening around the world using the bbc sport website and app. the un says around 300 people die every year from lightning strikes in bangladesh. that's in comparison to fewer than 20 people annually in the us, which has almost double the population. lightning is now considered a natural disaster in the country alongside cyclones, floods and earthquakes. officials say climate change is leading to an increase in extreme storms, driving up the number of lightning strikes. our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan

reports from bangladesh. a day of celebration turned into a lifetime of grief. mamun was due to get married when a storm struck. his family took shelter under a tin shed. it was hit by lightning. instead of his wedding, mamun was arranging funerals. translation: i ran to the river bank and found bodies lying everywhere. l i was at a loss. i couldn't even decide who to go to first. all the dead and injured were my close relatives. when i found my father's body, i simply burst into tears. lightning is a big killer in bangladesh, claiming more lives than floods annually. the government says extreme storms

due to global warming have led to a rise in fatal lightning strikes over the years. a singed football shirt — a painful reminder of how deadly lightning can be. it belonged to abdullah, a farmer who worked these fields when a thunderbolt struck him. for his wife, rehana, a loss that's hard to even understand. it was in the field? translation: my husband fell down i here when the lightning hit him. i some of the farmers brought him to this roadside shop. by then, he was dead. this is an irreplaceable loss for me. he won't come back. how do i raise my little boy now?

he's only 1a years old. now, she's terrified every time she sees a cloud in the sky. the majority of victims of lightning strikes in bangladesh are farmers. working in the open, they're more vulnerable to the elements, especially in the monsoon months. despite the risks, farmers here say they have no choice but to work these fields, even if it leaves them exposed. so, what can be done to protect them? well, the government says it's planting more tall trees to attract lightning and it's developing an early warning text message system. but with hundreds of deaths in bangladesh every year due to lightning, is that enough? it's hoped these workshops, run by a local lightning awareness group, can help educate people about what to do in the face of a storm. but for families like mamun's,

it's all too late — 16 relatives taken by lightning. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, bangladesh. a british army officer is believed to have become the fastest woman to ever complete a solo ski expedition, to the south pole. captain preet chandi or "polar preet" as she's become known, covered the 1130 kilometres in a record time ofjust over 31 days. this was her third trip to the antarctic region, and faced temperatures of minus 30 degrees celsius. australia has just become the latest country to welcome in the new year — with large crowds gathering in sydney to watch a spectacular firework display over the harbour bridge and the opera house. many millions of people are expected to take part in celebrations around the world in the coming hours. rachel mcadam reports.

new year celebrations have officially begun. auckland in new zealand became the first major city to mark the start of 2024, with this light show on its harbour bridge and sky tower. residents of the line islands in kiribati kicked off the new year an hour earlier. syd ney sydney carried on from auckland, with huge crowds watching the display. countries across the rest of the world are still gearing up for midnight celebrations and in some places preparations are still under way. in london, the fireworks display later is over in minutes, but is months in the making.

planning started in august, but a small team of 22 have spent three long days on the final touches. 10,000 fireworks are loaded onto three barges ready to head down the thames to the london eye, where they'll be set off at midnight. we've got over 30 tonnes of equipment that gets loaded onto the barges, 50 kilometres of cable and wiring, 11,500 cubes that are all need to be wired in and tested already for the midnight moment. preparations on the day itself are often close to the wire, with the london eye rigged just two hours before the display starts. with everything set, the sky a blank canvas, the teams will be hoping it all runs like clockwork. rachel mcadam, bbc news.

spectacular fireworks in sydney. spectacularfireworks in sydney. we are very much looking forward to celebrations in london as well. thanks for staying with us. this is 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 2 to 6 celsius. new year's day, not a bad day for getting out and about and enjoying a walk for the first day of 202a. 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 7, 8 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: 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". 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. a spectacular fireworks display in sydney — the australian city is the latest to welcome in 2024, as new year's eve celebrations

continue around the world. now on bbc news, click: foreveryoung? from the moment we arrive on this planet, we are all heading in the same direction. i could come up with a date predicting when you would die. well, thanks, but maybe the way that the years play out isn't inevitable. so, how about the idea of being able to increase our health span — live the better years of our life for longer, till, like, we're 40 at 60. there is a 15—17 years of healthy life that is up for grab for all of us. we head to california to meet the scientists and founders who want to make it a reality.