love that reaction, congratulations to hamsa. that is it from us, happy new year. thank you very much to sarah. now, a crackdown on xl bully dogs has come into force in england and wales. 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. danny savage has more. police at the scene of a dog attack — one where an xl bully type killed a man. elsewhere, this dog was handed in by its owner after it bit them. it was put down soon

after we filmed it. too many such incidents have led to a ban on these dogs. but, of course, the issue is that the aggression of a minority of xl bullies has led to all of them becoming a banned type, and all face the consequences of the law change. from today, these dogs can only be out in public if they're muzzled and on a lead. that's it. you're all right. from today, it's also illegal to breed, sell or abandon an xl bully. that means rehoming them will be impossible. if they're not wanted, they're likely to be destroyed. we won't be able to take in any xl bullies. we won't be able to rehome any xl bullies. people are concerned about how to do muzzle training. so there's some really good advice out there on how to muzzle train your dog. but they're also concerned about the dog not being able to be let off—lead. so a dog that is an xl bully and registered won't be allowed to be off—lead in a public place. and you can see how much he loves snuffling. so, for him, this activity

is going to be perfect. for months now, some xl bully owners have been taking their dogs to training... bingo. ..to get them used to a much more controlled life. good boy. at first everyone thought a ban means that, ok, that's it. you know, you have to say goodbye to your dogs. thankfully, a lot of good information came out quite quickly, and so people were able to see that that's not the case. but yeah, panic, stress, they're loved fam... they're part of the family. can you judge a temperament like this or do you need longer? really, temperament's hard because, for example, if we were saying this dog's safe, i don't think we can ever say a dog's safe. police will be calling on people who haven't declared their dogs. existing xl bullies can still be kept if owners can prove to a court they're responsible. in cases where we believe the court may, you know, sort of approve an exemption, we'll speak to the owner and say, "look they're obviously going to have to be spayed or neutered. "the decision is with the court. "but if you wanted to go ahead and do that now, "things like the microchipping, the insurance and things like that".

and also getting the home environment ready for the dog's return. good lad. xl bullies have caused too many problems for the government to ignore. yes, it's left many owners upset, but this is seen as the most effective way to deal with them. danny savage, bbc news. a climber has been stretchered off the side of a mountain in the cairngorms after becoming lost in blizzard conditions. rescue crews were called out around 5:30pm last night where they found the climber in a boulder field suffering from exhaustion. they'd become separated from their group amid freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. the finishing touches are being put in place for new year's eve celebrations across the uk. edinburgh will host hogmanay, whilst more than 10,000 fireworks have been loaded onto barges on the river thames ahead of london's fireworks display. meanwhile, the bongs of big ben are synonymous with the start

of new year will ring out, but you might not know that tonight it will have been 100 years since they were first broadcast on the radio. our culture reporter noor nanji has been finding out more. big ben bongs. britain's most famous chimes, broadcast to the country live twice a day every day, as well as three times on sundays. this is the other side of the clock. the bells and the clock itself have mattered hugely to generations of people over the years. the bongs are one of the most recognised sounds around the world. big ben has been broadcast now because it has become a symbol of freedom. so the people who were hearing it during the second world war realised that there was one country which was still free. thereafter it was part of the meaning, the symbol of freedom. it's a seamless operation, getting the bongs transmitted from here to the homes of radio listeners.

but it hasn't always been this easy. big ben's bongs were first broadcast on new year's eve in 1923. bbc engineers were not allowed in the building. instead, they had to climb onto a rooftop opposite the houses of parliament with a microphone to capture the sounds of the chimes. from february 192a, the bells were regularly transmitted on the radio. and the tradition has run ever since then, with the chimes of this great bell, big ben, also being heard on special occasions such as christmas day, armistice day and new year's eve. but there have been some notable exceptions. during the second world war, unbeknown to the public, the bongs were at times replaced by recorded ones for security reasons. in 2017, the chimes on radio 4 were silenced again with a recording used instead. that was due to major restoration work taking place on the elizabeth tower, which houses the clock and bells. it was important in order

that we could restore the building forfuture generations. there was stonework crumbling, also the great clock hadn't had a major overhaul in over 30 years at that point. we also upgraded the infrastructure. so new lighting that you can see now, but also our fire systems, our security systems, and also put heating in to preserve the fabric for the very first time. the tower has now been restored to its former glory. new microphones have been installed, which means the live bongs have returned, with extra microphones being brought in on new year's eve. and this is the mechanism that keeps it all ticking. so what we have here is what's called a flatbed mechanism. it's a three train clock. so it's got three separate components, one to do the chimes, one to do the time and one to strike big ben. it's powered by three weights with a combined weight of two and a quarter tonnes which travel down the centre of the tower. there's an 85 metre shaft which goes right down the middle of the tower. three times a week, we come up

to the mechanism room to wind the clock weights back up to the top. and new year's eve is coming up. what preparations are going into that? we will be here on the day making sure that the clock is running precisely to time. we'll be taking time checks throughout the day and making small adjustments to the pendulum just to make sure that that midnight happens exactly when everyone is expecting it to. the iconic bells will be broadcast around the world again at midnight with the sound of 12 chimes signalling the start of the new year. noor nanji, bbc news. just over four hours to go. 0ur correspondent greg mckenzie has been down by the thames in central london to see how preparations are going. 100,000 people are expected to be here along london's embankment to experience spectacular from midnight as the london eye lights up the london skyline.

20,000 fireworks, and we are told the theme this year is unity. 100,000 people managed to get those tickets, and many of those have travelled from all over the world. london has come out on top as one of the most desirable destinations to be for new year, so many with those lucky tickets. the fireworks will start at midnight as big ben will chime, the bongs, and at the beginning of 202a. that is true. we will be here to see you into the new year. there is a special live page on the bbc news website with reaction from around the world. in the next 25 minutes or so, we will be live in dubai, where the world's tallest tower will be part of their festivities. they are going to fire

15,682, very precise number, of pyrotechnics, from 365 different positions. we look forward to seeing some of that in the next few minutes. first, let's take a look at the weather. hello there, good evening. blustery showers across the uk for much of the day. heavy thundery downpours for many, but also some sunny spells, so some beautiful rainbows spotted by our weather watchers, and very windy conditions across the south coast of england and wales. now, the ground already pretty saturated from all of the recent rain. there are a number of flood warnings in place, particularly across the welsh marches down into south—west england. all of the details on those on the bbc weather website. we've seen low pressure gradually push its way eastwards across the uk. in the centre of the low pressure across northern england and scotland, the winds are light but still very blustery towards the south coast overnight tonight. still plenty more showers around as well. the focus for that wet weather across north—west england stretching down through into the north midlands and some more showers for parts of argyll and bute as well.

some clearer skies for many. it's a cold, frosty start to new year's day after the hogmanay celebrations in scotland, but it is milder further south. let's take a look at new year's day. for most of us, i think it will be a nicer looking day of weather. if you fancy a new year's stroll, there will be quite a lot of dry weather around, some sunshine. that will last longest across east anglia for northern england, the midlands, northern ireland and for much of scotland. but the cloud will start to build towards the south—west of england through the late morning. there'll be outbreaks of heavy rain here by the time we get to the mid afternoon. temperatures starting to slip a little, 5 to 11 degrees celsius. the air milder, of course, where we've got the cloud and the rain and those heavy downpours of rain falling on saturated ground, of course, in many places. starting to drift northwards and eastwards as we head through monday evening, eventually clearing the south coast. but there's more rain just waiting in the wings and we'll be seeing that on tuesday morning. as you can see on the pressure chart here, again, it's tending to move its way northwards and eastward. so some more heavy rain across much

of england and wales as we go through the first part of tuesday. that drifts into northern england by the end of the day. another feed of rain, some wintry showers, perhaps over the tops of the hills into parts of aberdeenshire with the brisk south—easterly wind. temperatures turning milder, of course, towards the south, underneath the cloud in the rain, 11 to 13 degrees celsius, but still colder across scotland and northern ireland. but here is the outlook for our capital cities. as we head through the start ofjanuary, things will be turning a lot colder for all of us by next weekend. bye— bye.

live from london. this is bbc news. the israeli military says it has begun to withdraw some troops, especially reserve units, from the gaza strip. the us navy says it has sunk three boats in the red sea after they attacked a container ship off the coast of yemen. the queen of denmark announced she will step down after 52 years on the throne. president putin says russia will not back down in ukraine as moscow carries out more drone attacks. and their sister by seeing in 2024, the latest city to welcome in the new year.

hello, i'm nicky schiller. let's go live to dubai in the united arab emirates where they are welcoming in 2024. the centre piece is the burj, the world's tallest tower. the display has taken ten months to plan and includes 15,682 fireworks that are being fired from 365 positions. the show also includes over 6,600 lights. they will bounce of the tallest tower in the world. it has taken them ten months to produce this display which they say, the dubai officials, the brightest, biggest and most colourful fireworks show that they have ever had. let's just listen and to see thereby welcoming in 2024. ,