welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: violence in iran after a third day of anti—government protests. reports say at least two people have been shot. in the capital tehran, an official show of support for the government draws thousands of people. from fountains of ice to frozen sharks, north america's arctic winter looks set to continue into the new year. nepal bans solo climbers from scaling its mountains. critics say it will do little to reduce accidents. and new year revellers prepare to see in 2018 in style, but in many european capitals, there'll be tight security. violence has broken out across iran, as anti—government protesters defy

warnings from officials, demonstrating for a third day. two people have reportedly been shot dead. at the same time, pro—government rallies have been taking place in the capital tehran, with thousands of people showing their support. the anti—government protests started in mashhad and spread to several parts of the country. they have focused on corruption and falling living standards, but they are becoming increasingly political. wyre davies reports. three days in and iran's anti—government protests have turned violent. in the northern city of mashhad, demonstrators demanding an end to hardline clerical rule set police motorbikes alight and taunted the security services. from dorud in the west, video showed crowds scattering after two protesters

were reportedly shot and killed. what began in provincial cities has now spread to the capital tehran and the main university campus. these are worrying signs for the iranian government and the ultraconservative shia clerics, who've ruled over the country since the 1979 revolution. the government response — organising large pro—regime counterdemonstrations in support of the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei and warning people not to take part in what it called illegal protests. shouting for the clerics to give him a job, this protester typifies the economic anger that many iranians feel. the last time that people protested like this was almost a decade ago, and some fear similar violent consequences now. this is a regime that knows how to manage its people and has

a monopoly on the use of violence. they effectively demonstrated that in 2009, and i think that most iranians — at least the ones that i have spoken to, in the age of 25—40 — have not yetjoined these protests. there's been little international reaction but, responding on twitter, donald trump said the iranian government should respect people's rights to express themselves and warned "the world is watching". but dissent in iran is only tolerated to a point. uniformed and plain clothes police have made dozens of arrests across the country — a sign the authorities may already be turning the screw. wyre davies, bbc news. i'm joined now by professor mohsen milani of the university of south florida — an expert on iranian politics. thank you forjoining us on a bbc

news. we are at day three, what seems striking is that there is no coherence to the slogans being shouted or any identifiable group. how do you see it, professor? the movement started as an inter— elite protest. it was one faction trying to undermine president rohani and undermine opening up his efforts to open up to the west. gradually the movement spread to other cities and became more political and it seems to me, right now, nobody is in control of the protest movement. i think this movement is a reflection of the widely spread economic discontent about the economic conditions and unlike what hassan rouhani has promise, the iranian

nuclear deal has not given improved conditions for the people. the movement does not seem to have a leader, does not seem to have a very specific agenda in mind. but still it is very important to remember that so far the islamic revolutionary guards have not intervened in the political scene. it suggests that perhaps the islamic republic does not feel that threatened by the protest movement. if this movement continues that i believe in the next few days it can pose a threat to the survival of the islamic public, the biggest since 2009. you mention the revolution regard, do you think the fact that a lot of the anger is being directed at president rouhani draws some succoui’ at president rouhani draws some succour for them at president rouhani draws some succourfor them in some

at president rouhani draws some succour for them in some way? as i said, originally the movement started in the city of mashhad. this is the city where president rouhani's main rival has substantial political and financial influence and power. in that time, a lot of people in a sort of managed protest movement by the government. and some even suggested that perhaps the revolutionary guards were behind it. it seems to be whatever the intention was of the movement, now they have incurred a new phase and nobody knows where this movement goes precisely because there is no clear central leadership. unlike the iranian revolution in 19 seven in a, which had a leader in khamenei. there was a leader and a specific

goal in mind. the protest movement now does not seem to have any of those. this, ithink, is the greatest challenge those who are opposing the islamic republic are facing. but do not underestimate the repressive capability of the revolutionary guards and the resiliency of the islamic republic. this regime is well institutionalised in orion and can deal with protest movements such as the one we have with this in the past few days —— iran. the one we have with this in the past few days -- iran. i think we will find out in the next two days. professor mohsen milani, thank you very much for your time and analysis. thank you very much. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the black lives matter activist erica garner has died aged twenty seven. she suffered a heart attack last week. ms garner came to prominence three years ago after her father eric garner died after being choked by a police officer as he was being arrested for a minor offence.

police in ukraine have freed ii people who'd been held hostage in a post office in the city of kharkiv. a standoff had been going on since the early afternoon when a man entered the building wearing an explosive belt and threatened to detonate it. the suspect has been arrested. russia's security service says it's detained a suspect behind last wednesday's supermarket blast in st petersburg. the fsb gave no details about the arrest. 18 people were injured when the device went off in a storage locker on the first floor of the store. hospitals across the united states are dealing with a severe shortage of a critical medical supply — the bags used to administer fluids to patients. one of the biggest suppliers of the bags is based on puerto rico, which was hit by hurricane maria. the bags, normally filled with saline and other fluids, are used to dilute drugs and help rehydrate patients. scott gottlieb, commissioner of the us food and drug administration has issued a statement

about the situation. he said the fda is "working closely with industry and local and federal officials to address shortage of iv saline as a result of hurricane maria. this remains a key area of focus. we expect shortage of iv fluids will improve in early 2018 based on information we're getting from manufacturers." earlier i spoke to ross thompson. he's executive director of pharmacy at tufts medical centre in boston. he said iv fluids are essential for the delivery of medicines. we have been forced to think of things a bit differently than our traditional delivery systems where we would put a medication into one of these bags to be infused over 30 minutes or whatnot. we are now entertaining options of drawing the active ingredients up into a syringe that can be administered via iv push over the course of three or five minutes. and am i right in thinking that would take nursing staff?

it does require additional time for the nurse to remain at the patient‘s bedside to push the product in over that time span. so what information are you getting about when the supply of these bags will pick up? we do receive the information just as you had referenced, coming from baxter. we know the recovery efforts in puerto rico are going to be important to fully recover from the disruption we have had in supply. we are also being told we will receive allocations of supply of a percentage of what we would normally receive. we are just finding it's a bit unpredictable as to how much of that allocation we receive week by week. you just referenced baxter. for our viewers, that is the main company on puerto rico that makes these bags. they say restoring a reliable product supply remains their priority. do you feel you have been

supported by the government, the fda, in this? we know the fda has taken action to allow importation of iv fluids that are manufactured in different countries. it's hard for us to really know how much of that importation is truly reaching providers in the united states but we know the fda is actively taking applets. —— efforts. does it worry you there is such a narrow supply, that an event like this, a hurricane, can completely blow out the supply of these bags to the united states? it does make you wonder how dependent you are on a handful of manufacturing plants around the world. we face the same type of disruption with a lot of other medications that tend to be in short supply. right now, the fda has over 80 medications listed on their shortage lists that is published on the fda's website so just like the iv fluids, other essential medications we are managing around

on a day—to—day basis. ross thomson speaking to me earlier. staying in the united states, because it's not every day you can take photos of a frozen water fountain like this one in new york. across vast swathes of the us, forecasters are predicting that arctic temperatures are set to stay over the new year's celebrations. to show you just how cold it is, these are thresher sharks which have washed up frozen along the coast of cape cod, in the state of massachusetts. thermometers could reach the lowest temperatures in nearly a century over the next few days and may stay there into the first week of 2018. earlier i spoke to michael wehner, a senior scientist at the lawrence berkeley national laboratory in california. well, this cold snap is caused by a cold arctic air mass over

the eastern united states by an unusual but not unprecedented jetstream pattern. i'm a climate change scientist specialising in attributing human influence on these weather events and the question that is interesting to me, does global warming change the general circulation of the atmosphere to make this kind of event more likely? you mentioned global warming. we are always being warned not to conflate climate change and individual weather events. should we be reading something into these cold temperatures? actually, we probably should. this still remains an interesting question about these kinds of cold waves and i'm a bit sceptical. but the physics is sound for this kind of mechanism. the question i think is, have we experienced on a climate change to detect and a tribute this kind of pattern of circulation

change from the atmosphere? excuse me, just to be cleared them, are cold snaps like this happening more less frequently? i don't think we can tell quite at this point. what do know is that winters are milder in general. these temperatures, which cold, are more unusual 110w than they would have been 30 years ago. as a society, we have adapted subconsciously to somewhat warmer winters so when we do get these kinds of cold temperatures which are not all that unusual 30 or a0 years ago, they seem to be more unusual to us today. so you are saying there could be something in this? i think so. we've gotten to the point where there has been a change of one degree in the global average

preindustrial times. we are finding more and more extreme weather events have been made more severe or more likely by this rather substantial change. we often say don't confuse weather and climate but we are reaching the point where individual weather events have a climate change component. last week president trump tweeted something along the lines of, bring back global warming because of this cold weather. as a scientist you might not want to comment on political things but you find comments like that frustrating? oh, yes, we do. especially when we know that the weather which is our day—to—day experience is actually influenced by climate. it is often confused by many people. that this event, or is it really climate change is it not, when you do need to examine the entirety of the weather record. michael wehner speaking to me

earlier. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the panda who came in from the cold. a medical checkup for one of china's most famous creatures. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we will use money we picked up in belgium today, and then we will be in france and again it will be the same money. it has just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital

after being stabbed at his 0xfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. you... just good? no, fantastic! that's better. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: there've been clashes across iran between anti—government protesters and security forces. in the capital tehran, thousands have rallied in support of the government. arctic conditions and extreme cold have prompted some us cities to postpone new year's eve events. egypt's muslim and christian

communities have joined family members at a wake for eleven people killed in an attack on a coptic church. police have stepped up security measures around churches ahead of coptic christmas celebrations. russell trott reports. and the grief and the sadness, together less. —— amongst. as hundreds from egypt was a question and was in communities attend the wa ke and was in communities attend the wake for those who died in an attack ona wake for those who died in an attack on a coptic church. the sense of outrage at the feeling that something positive needs to come out of such a tragedy. translation: the main reason of the terrorism are the purity of thought. therefore i am calling on officials to purify the education curriculum that encourage hate. i wish for a school subject called tolerance, where we would be

allowed to approach and love one another. to coexist with one another and live as one heart in each of, where we have been raised. —— egypt's. at least 11 people were shot on friday at the coptic orthodox church. a gun and was wounded and arrested, the so—called islamic state group ‘s later said it carried out the attack, though it provided no evidence that the claim. in an unrelated incident, security forces killed three suspected militants on the outskirts of giza, onafarm. militants on the outskirts of giza, on a farm. hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed by an insurgency led by is on the peninsula. this latest rate comes as security is stepped up ahead of optic christmas and so operations in the year and january. the president has offered his condolences and said

he will continue the fight against terrorism and extremism. egypt's minority coptic christians have accused the minorities —— authorities of the making token gestures, attacks on churches they say will not help to calm community tensions. the authorities in nepal say they've banned solo climbers from the country's mountains, including mount everest, in an attempt to reduce accidents. they've also upheld a controversial decision to introduce restrictions on disabled climbers. our south asia editor for the bbc world service, anbarasan ethirajan, explains more about the new rules. the government wanted to have more control over more than 400 mountains it has opened to the public, to all the mountaineers around the world, to see what exactly was happening. during the earthquake in 2015, many of the solo trekkers live aside mount everest. there are thousands of people people who go for a week—long trek deep into the countryside, in the mountainside, without any communication gadget or anything. and many people were killed

during the earthquake. it took months for the authorities to establish what really happened. and that is why the government is now saying we want to ensure safety, reduce accidents, you take someone with you, or a local guide who is more familiar with the terrain, who is more familiar with the mountains around that area, so we can ensure safety of these mountaineers. as people around the world get ready to mark the end of this year and the arrival of 2018, many cities will be celebrating new year's eve with open—air concerts, street parties and fireworks. but in europe, after a series of islamist attacks over the past 12 months against civilian targets, particular attention is being given to public safety. david campa nale reports. live music, wine tasting, festive decorations, and good food — all the vital ingredients in romania for a great party. but the tune in other european

capitals as they prepare is so far more sombre. france has seen over 230 people killed in attacks by islamist militants over the past three years. the paris police chief says his force is prepared for the terrorist threat, which he assessed as high. over 10,000 police and emergency service workers are to be deployed in the capital, with a large force concentrating along the champs—elysee. large areas of central rome will ban cars from parking for 48 hours and the main tourist sites will have special protection. celebrations at berlin's brandenburg gate are expected to attract1 million party—goers, but the authorities in germany face an additional challenge — two years ago hundreds of women were robbed and sexually assaulted on new year's eve in cologne and other cities by groups of men, many said to be

from migrant backgrounds. this year, berlin police say women who feel threatened will be able to go to a special security area. translation: there is no women's zone as such — it's a red cross security point that was always there but is taking over the additional duty. if any woman is harassed at the event, they can go there to a staff of trained psychologists, but it is not a women's zone. but the idea has also been criticised by those who say large events should be organised so that assaults don't happen in the first place. translation: what is not normal is that women, especially young women, are attacked in public places, especially celebrations. but that's it. others say they intend to party regardless. um, i feel pretty safe. i'm not scared. yeah, i'm not scared. yeah, yeah. i think the thing is fear that scares people. and i don't think — you can't let that ruin your life, so... yeah. david campanale, bbc news. a giant panda which was born and raised in captivity before

being released into the wild, has been recaptured in south west china. tao tao was bred artificially to increase china's population of pandas. nichola carroll has the story. recaptured in the wild. one of china's most famous giant pandas has been found again. a rare glimpse of conservation effort to save the endangered species in the mountains of china. his tracker collar scanned and id checked, tao tao is found to be in good health, weighing in at 115 kilograms. translation: his fur and subcutaneous fat is all quite good. we didn't find any external parasites. he is very clean and very pretty. there's not much abrasion on his teeth. tao tao was born in captivity in 2010. but he was raised by his mother without human contact in the hope

it would improve his chances of survival and improve his fighting skills. his good physical condition indicates he is living a healthy and independent life in the wild. tao tao will continue to be monitored. but there doesn't seem to be any doubt that this giant panda is living well in the wild. nicola carroll, bbc news. a reminder of our top story to be violent clashes across iran between anti—government protesters and security forces after three days of largely peaceful demonstration. videos of social media show to demonstrate is being shot in the western town of the rude. stay with us on western town of the rude. stay with us on bbc news. 2017 is issuing on a bit of a

flourish in the guise of stormed dyla n. flourish in the guise of stormed dylan. zooming out into the atlantic. 12 hours ago storm dylan didn't exist, but since then this area of low pressure has formed and it has deepened as it has been racing towards the british isles. this nasty hook of cloud is characteristic of a very deep area of low pressure and that will bring severe gales to the northern half of the uk and a high risk of disruption as we get into new year's eve. the met office have already issued an amberwind warning for the strong winds. that will affect northern ireland and scotland as we go through new year's eve morning. gusts of 70—80 mph. aside from that, many will start off with rain, mild in the south and a bit of mountain snow in scotland but it is the wind that take centre stage. initially the strong wind was with us in northern ireland before swinging

a cross into scotland. we could see peak gusts of around 80 mph, enough to blow down trees, cause transport disruption and any trees falling down could bring power lines down as well. power cuts a possibility. the strong winds filtering and funnelling through the central belt of scotland. we could have some very rough weatherfor the morning. elsewhere across england and wales, many areas starting on a bright note, with sunshine with a bit of rain left over in the south—west, clearing really quite quickly. those strong winds very slow to ease down across central belt of scotland, slowly easing from the second half of the afternoon. blustery showers continuing to be blown across the uk with these gusty winds with us across all areas and in the showers they will be heavy, some thunder and quite a range of temperatures between 6 and 12 degrees. overnight, as we count down to the night celebrations, we will see further showers blown in on those strong winds. not as cold as it might have been though. temperatures around four and seven degrees. on new year's day, another band in the south, could cause problems with localised flooding

and the weather being a problem. another area of low pressure bringing gusty winds to scotland and northern ireland along with outbreaks of rain. we have more unsettled weather coming on tuesday, as we return back to work. wet weather pushing in and a quite windy day, coolness across the south—east but mild across the south—west, temperatures into double figures. looking at the week ahead. strong winds, further bursts of heavy rain with fairly big changes day by day with our temperatures. that is your latest weather. this is bbc news. the headlines: a wave of anti—government protests has continued for a third day in iran. several demonstrations have turned violent and it's thought at least two people have been shot in the western town of dorud. in the capital tehran, thousands joined a rally to show their support for the government. arctic conditions and extreme cold have prompted some us cities

to postpone new year's eve events. forecasters are predicting the big chill will continue into 2018, with temperatures plummeting to record lows. along cape cod, on the massachusetts coast, thresher sharks have been discovered washed up frozen solid. the authorities in nepal says they've banned solo climbers from the country's mountains, including mount everest, in an attempt to reduce accidents. they've also upheld a controversial decision to introduce restrictions