welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. we start with breaking news from turkey. at least 35 people are dead after an armed attack at a nightclub in istanbul. local media say shots were fired during new year celebrations at the popular reina nightclub. it's thought that more than a0 other people have been wounded. the attack happened in the ortakoy district during new year's eve celebrations. between 500—600 people were in the club at the time. istanbul's governor called it a terrorist attack. translation: today, around 1:15am, a terrorist attacked an entertainment venue using a firearm. the terrorist shot and killed the police officer in front. he then fired at people in the venue, who were only there to have fun on new year's eve. at least 35 people have unfortunately been killed. one of them is a police officer. at least a0 people are in hospital. the investigation is ongoing.

selin gerit is on the line for us from istanbul. what more can you tell us? the ambulances at the scene have been leaving, one after another, so from what we understand is that there is no more happening at the scene of the attack. there are 35 people dead, the governor has told us, and there are at least a0 people wounded at the scene of the attack. we were told by the governor of istanbul that there was probably one attacker, but we don't know, because the witnesses at the scene were speaking of probably another attacker. the ambulances have left the scene at the moment, but there

is still a police presence. that's where we are, we are a kilometre away from the scene. we are not allowed to go near the scene. but the governor spoke to us. he told us that 35 people were actually dead. and a0 wounded are being treated at the nearby hospitals and there is of course increasing concern over whether the casualties will rise. do we know any more what happened to the gunman? we don't actually know what happens to the gunman, we don't even know whether there was one or more of. the governor told about one gunman, but eyewitnesses from the scene have been speaking about more than one. people have been speaking about... because this venue is just by the sea, people have been

speaking about people just throwing themselves into the two rescue their lives, to save their lives, and we are hearing about all sorts of things about what happens to those people. there are still people being treated at the hospital is and we are still... we still have to learn how many people were wounded and how many people were dead, but the governor told us that at least 35 people have been killed in this incident that has taken place at this nightclub in istanbul. people we re this nightclub in istanbul. people were worried about anything that could have happened in istanbul because istanbul has been the scene of many attacks recently. for instance, at taxing square people we re instance, at taxing square people were expecting something could happen, but at a nightclub this is

something new. —— taksim square. the fa ct something new. —— taksim square. the fact that these people disguised themselves as father christmas is of course a concern as well. we still need to learn about how many people are being treated at the hospital. we are not allowed at the scene at the moment and there is still a lot of police presence at the moment and we are about a kilometre away from the scene. all the ambulances have been sent away and from what we understand there are not any more people who will be treated and we probably could expect the casualties to increase. briefly, if you would, there were some 17,000 police officers on duty in istanbul and yet

the situation was very tense, i gather, around new year's eve, fearing another attacker? —— attack? yes, considering what istanbul has been the winner last couple of months, it has been a lot of terror attacks have taken place, not only istanbul but other cities across turkey as well, this country has seen a turkey as well, this country has seen a lot of terror attacks and considering it is new year's eve and people are gathering in public squares, of course there was a police presence and thousands of policemen had gathered in a specially public squares to make it safe for people and there was a lot of police presence in taksim square as well, the heart of istanbul, but it appears that the attackers were aware of the police presence and they chose a different target for

themselves. reina is a very popular nightclub in turkey and it is not only popular amongst turks, but for a lot of expats, for a lot of foreigners as well. and from what any on —— what we understand there we re any on —— what we understand there were a lot of foreigners who were wounded at the scene of the attack. we can't yet confirm how many of those people who were killed or wounded were turkish or foreign citizens at the moment, but we just know the numbers. but there is of course concerned that those numbers could actually rise. we can't have access to the scene at the moment, but from the eyewitnesses we were told that there were people who just threw themselves into the sea to save themselves from the attack,

because what they say it is at least one personjust opened because what they say it is at least one person just opened fire against them. we must leave it there. thank you very much indeed. that was live from istanbul. we are looking at the wider picture. the governor said this was a terrorist attack. to say that 2016 has been a tumultuous year for turkey would really be an understatement. it has been a terrible year. as a nato ally country, turkey has had so many different attacks, an attempted coup and so many different security threats from many different groups. of course because of that turkey was

already a little bit on age, so when something happened it was almost like the security apparatus went into gearand like the security apparatus went into gear and the governor was able to assess the situation quickly. briefly, if you would, so—called islamic state a possibility, the pkk a possibility? exactly. turkey has been facing threats from both the islamic state and the pkk, this has been a long—running situation in the south—east. been a long—running situation in the south-east. with regards to now what happens, we've obviously got this investigation, the big thing that's missing is where is the gunman are gunman? there are several suggestions about this. ever since the story broke about one hour ago, we've been trying to put the pieces together and we've been very careful in not conveying information that

unconfirmed. in this story there's a lot of unconfirmed information. probably because of the extraordinary timing of the incident. it is new year's and it is ha rd to incident. it is new year's and it is hard to get accurate information. there are some suggestions that he was still around the premises and there are some suggestions that he is not. it is currently very much unconfirmed, as many other pieces of information are unconfirmed at this stage. there is talk about people jumping into the sea to escape. that would have been a risky strategy? absolutely. aside from the fact that it is january and turkey is notorious for its winters, especially istanbul, the bosporus itself is not a regular river, it is very much an underwater canyon, with strong currents, that would have been a last resort. you mentioned

the failed coup back injune, july, there was also the attack at the foot —— football stadium in which over 30 people died, and of course there was the attack at the airport as well, which goes back three or four months. it has been a year that turkey would want to put behind it and there have been a series of attacks but the government has said, we will stop these terrorists, but so we will stop these terrorists, but so far that hasn't happened. that is the main question tonight. i think with every new year every country and community have this idea of letting go of what's been an interesting year and moving on. and what a way to start 2017 for turkey and that's the main question. many people are now questioning... there we re people are now questioning... there were warnings about celebrating new year in turkey, this is common sense given the security situation, but on top of that the government was saying that they had the security

apparatus in place and they were going to stamp out terrorism, and yet many on twitter are currently not necessarily pointing fingers, but questioning where the country is headed to. indeed. thank you very much for that analysis. i know you are keeping abreast of the situation and we are keeping a night on the figures of those who have been injured, some critically. a short time ago i spoke to zafar arapkirli, a turkish journalist and broadcaster, on the line from istanbul. well, i don't know how to speak about it, but the very sad part of the story, we were expecting this. you won't ask why we were expecting this, there were passed attacks and three weeks ago we were outside the

stadium, there was a twin bomb attack where 35 people died and... a5 people died and hundreds injured. i narrowly escaped that attack by a couple of minutes. last summer there was an attack on the main airport of istanbul. it wasn't a matter of if anything would happen but it was a matter of when and how and how big the casualties would be. it came just on the night of new year's eve and at the very moment when people, including me, hundreds of thousands, maybe tens of millions of people, we re maybe tens of millions of people, were exchanging goodwill messages for the next year. believe me, honestly, everyone was using the same centre. —— sentence. they were saying to each other that never again should we repeat 2016. it came just at the moment when we were

exchanging these sorts of goodwill messages. 25 policemen and women, security was taken all around the city. street parties were cancelled. there was a small street party at the 0rtakoy district, just a few hundred yards away from the scene of the night's attack. we were hoping nobody would be injured their butt the reports were that these killers went and hit at the most popular nightclub of the city, maybe the country. sorry to interrupt, but the president has promised to stamp out terrorism in the country, but there's been a long list of attacks last year, there is this attack on the first day of 2017 and as you say the first day of 2017 and as you say the city was expecting it. in short, do you think people have confidence that he can stamp it out? there is

little confidence. your reporter reminded us that the enemies... there's the shortlist. we have threats from the islamic state terrorists, we suffered threats from the pkk, we suffered threats from left organisations. i mean, it is very difficult to chase them. we arejoined by we are joined by a former turkish member of parliament and he is currently a senior fellow with the foundation for defence of democracies. that's a policy institute based in washington. is it the case that they were targeting a busy nightclub or were they targeting this precise date, january one and new year? this was not only the the targeting of one of

the top nightclubs but a symbolic target and that is targeting a secular lifestyle, targeting a western lifestyle. it is in fact quite similar to the paris attack in the sense that islamic state, it is concerned they were behind the attack, there were trained to undermine turkey's secular western lifestyle. —— trying. from that point of view, this is not only hard to security button ideological battle. it is a clashing of different worldviews and therefore, it's not only limited to the islamic state because in the run—up to this attack, for the past two weeks, turkey has had quite an intense

debate about christmas and new year ‘s celebrations and other islamist ts, ‘s celebrations and other islamist ‘s, maybe not as violent or radical as is, have also been involved in pointing the finger to the secular turkey, the more western oriented turkey. i targeting them and threatening them not to celebrate new years, conflating in new years with christmas, this is basically a christian propaganda. the cultural battle u nfortu nately was christian propaganda. the cultural battle unfortunately was in the first hours of the new year with this terrible luddy attack. -- bloody. have they been pressured not to hold events by its —— islamist

i to hold events by its —— islamist 's? freedom of speech is not necessarily guaranteed. but when they started to target people celebrating christmas or new year 's via billboards and public announcements, the government has been extremely tolerant of such discourse. many people chose to stay at home. they don't feel secure enough to go out. many of the street parties were cancelled. this was quite low—key in terms of a new year celebration but that still did not prevent this attack. a think it's important to disentangle the two different phenomena here. on the one hand, yes, a horrible islamic state attack and as we all know, there are

tax all around the world and it is difficult to contain them. —— attacks. but turkey also has an other battle. a battle for its orientation. 0n the one hand, a vision of a more inclusive multicultural turkey where new years and christmas celebrations are commonplace and on the other hand, are more in tolerant and more authoritarian turkey with a straightjacket of conservative islam to place it on turkey. turning it into a more monoculture society. there will be debate about the future orientation of turkey. no group has claimed responsibility to declare but what is it that the turkish government should now be doing to try and answer all these different attacks? this is quite a

challenge. it is a challenge not only for the turkish state but also many other european union states suffering similar attacks. i would argue that the priority should be to refocus turkey's security apparatus on real terrorist threats instead of going after dissident academics, dissident journalists, going after dissident academics, dissidentjournalists, n figures and ngos. as we all know, turkey's security apparatus has been busy, full—time, with cracking down on democratic dissent in turkey. instead, turkey faces all these violent threats, not only from islamic state but terrorist organisations, they should make it a priority to go after them. that is the first strategy. it is a two

pronged strategy. at the same time, ankara should make sure to tackle this climate of fear and intolerance and hate that breeds radicalism and allows jihadi and hate that breeds radicalism and allowsjihadi to breed. unless and hate that breeds radicalism and allows jihadi to breed. unless they tried to generate a culture of tolerance, it would be easy for radicals to carry out future attacks. thank you very much for joining us on bbc news. security has been increased across europe and north america following a series of terrorist attacks in 2016. concrete barriers have blocked off central squares in berlin, paris,

madrid and new york. in cities including london, thousands of extra police were deployed at head of new year celebrations. in other news:: the un security council has unanimously supported efforts to end fighting in syria, following a ceasefire brokered by russia and turkey. the resolution also calls for the rapid delivery of humanitarian aid. rebel groups in syria had threatened to abandon the deal if government forces continued to attack areas under their control. bill hayton reports. total support for the latest attempt at peace. after so many years of fighting, is this finally a route out of war? the latest agreement is backed by some of the key players, but doubts stopped the us and other countries giving it wholehearted endorsement. instead, they simply welcomed it. we have voted in favour of this resolution because it strikes the right balance. cautious optimism, and support, predicated on hope, but tempered by a realistic need to wait to see how this arrangement is implemented before casting the full weight

of the security council behind it. many details of the agreement remain secret. but the russian government, which brokered it along with turkey, says other countries should not obstruct the process. translation: i don't want to criticise, but i would like in the most delicate way to just hint to colleagues it is a very complicated process. everything we have been able to achieve is the result of enormous work. so, please, let's keep things clear. please help us. if you don't want to help, just make sure that you don't complicate things. in syria, many questions remain. will aid get through to everyone? how will breaches of the truce be handled? what will happen to groups that haven't signed the deal? and, the biggest of all, will president assad remain in power? the rebel grouping with support from the united states still says he has to go.

all of the war crimes he has committed here, these crimes, you cannot expect someone like him to go on ruling syria. so, if he doesn't go, it means there will be no peace in syria. it is the third truce in less than a year, but for the time being it appears to be holding. but peace is more than the absence of war. germany's chancellor angela merkel says islamist terrorism is the biggest threat facing her country. in her new year message, mrs merkel promised to do everything possible to improve security following the deadly lorry attack in berlin earlier this month. translation: it is especially bitter and repugnant if terror attacks are carried out by people who are allegedly looking for protection in our country. we are free, caring, open. bearing in mind the pictures of a heavily bombed aleppo, we want to reiterate how important and correct it was that our country, in the last year, helped those

who genuinely required our protection to find a foothold here, and to integrate. well in russia — president vladimir putin has also been giving his new year message. translation: it wasn't easy but the difficulties that we've faced have unified us. they've motivated us to discover huge reserves of our capacities to move forward. the main thing is that we believe in ourselves, in our strength and in our country. in his final new year message, barack 0bama spoke about his legacy as president. he appealed to all americans to work together for a better society. looking back over his eight years in office, he highlighted a range of policies on healthcare, climate change and equality, which he said had made the us stronger. it has been the privilege of my life to serve as your president. and, as i prepare to take on the even more important role of citizen, know that i will be there with you every step

of the way, to ensure that this country forever strives to live up to the incredible promise of our founding — that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve every chance to live out our dreams. from the 0bama family to yours, have a happy and blessed 2017. it has not been just world leaders who have welcoming in the new year. around the world people have been welcoming in the new year. the first big city to say hello to 2017 was auckland in new zealand. now the uk has also started the year in style as catriona renton reports big ben tolls. as midnight struck, london flooded with colour, and the lights on the river thames, as the uk became the latest country prince: dearly beloved,

we are gathered here today to get through this thing we call life. welcome to london. in new zealand, the countdown began on auckland's sky tower, as it became the first major city in the world to welcome in 2017. soon after, it was sydney, australia, the harbour bridge the focus of its spectacular display.

in tokyo, 2017 burst onto the scene. the japanese celebrated with a sea of white balloons. # village people - ymca. and this was hong kong's kind of party. crowds were treated to a sparkling display over victoria harbour, accompanied by a rendition of auld lang syne. # disco version of auld lang syne

and north korea. and look at this, the world's toll is building was lit up the world's toll is building was lit up as the world's toll is building was lit upasa the world's toll is building was lit up as a dubai began the new year. —— tallest. and the spectacle in moscow was

dazzling. the kremlin and most of the river. russians are said hello to 2017. then in germany, the people came out in their thousands to one of europe's largest street parties at the brandenburg gate, defiant. security was tight after the attack on berlin's christmas party. millions of others don't have too much time now before 2017 begins. all of those cities appear to be

dry, but what does the weather holds? good morning and a very happy new year to you. rain happy new year to you. has brought a soggy start‘ 2017. rain has brought a soggy start to 2017. the weather continues south and east as we go on to new year's day and on the back edge we may start to develop some sleet and perhaps wet snow over high ground. that's because cold air will begin from the north. certainly wintry showers. temperatures in aberdeen just five degrees. still nine in london. through the night into the early hours of monday we push the weather front away, so early hours of monday we push the weatherfront away, so it early hours of monday we push the weather front away, so it will dry up. wintry showers in the exposed