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 on disabled climbers. the ousted catalan president has demanded madrid reinstate his regional government. on friday, the spanish prime minister mariano rajoy, dismissed the idea that

carles puigdemont could lead a new catalan government from abroad. mr puigdemont has recorded a new year message from brussels, where he's in self—imposed exile. he said he's still president of catalonia and that his government must be restored. he declared independence from spain after a referendum in october, but madrid then sacked him and his team, some of whom have been arrested and jailed. translation: we are a democratically mature people, who have won the right to constitute a republic of free men and women. the ballot box has spoken, democracy has spoken, everyone has been able to express themselves. so what is prime minister rajoy waiting for, to accept the results? now on bbc news, one of the highlights of the year from our award—winning documentary series — our world. catrin nye spent two years following two families — one syrian, one german — living in a small city, adjusting to the massive influx of refugees. this is welcome to germany. more thani million refugees are now

in germany, having escaped the brutality of the world's war zones. for two years, we have followed a syrian family in their struggle to adapt to life in a small east german city, and a german family also struggling to adapt to refugees moving into their hometown. there's a problem with racism all over germany. it was never away, and it grew and grew. ..those who arrived at munich

railway station last night were welcomed with cheers and applause. what happens to them after the applause dies down? gera, in the former east germany. a small city unfamiliar with immigration because of its isolated communist history, home now to a new population of refugees. around 2000 are expected to arrive in the next few years. hello! well, are you going to show me around? wow, that is a big handshake... this family is among them.

they show me videos of life in syria, before the war they fled. daham worked in electronics in syria. his wife is from a family of farmers. da ham was imprisoned

by the syrian regime, accused of being involved with rebels. he suffered beatings while locked up. daham fled, making the epicjourney overland across europe on his own. he got asylum in germany and his family were flown over by the german government as part of family reunification. l, m, n, 0, p... across germany, 500,000 people applied for asylum in 2015. in gera, a small army of volunteers fills local community centres to welcome them.

(speaking german). the arrival even spawned studies, local academics looking at their impact here. they are not experienced with any kind of lifestyle or ethnic diversity before 2012. the proportion of migrants is below 3%, and that is not what it is like in west german cities, for example. they don't have any knowledge about them, they are quite easy to be manipulated by the right wing extremist parties. do you think there is a problem with racism in a town like this? yes, there is a problem with racism all over germany. and it is increasing. it was never away, it grew and grew. watching as these new changes

unfold is this family. mum daniella, dad dirk, who has lived his whole life in gera, and their children. and on a trip to the city centre, dirk and daniella find refugees are already a key political issue in gera. vying for their future votes are both the far right afd, who are broadly anti—islam and anti—refugee. and the spd on the left. they are pro—refugees. it is now december, and that means the first time ever,

the al—mohammed family gets to experience a german christmas market. ifi if i come back in six months, what do you want your cheering and applause. on radio: ..0pinion polls are turning, people are getting more and more worried about what we will do about the massive influx

of refugees into the country. we're looking at 1.1 million... it is the new year and in 2016 the atmosphere is very different. today in gera, a demonstration by pegida, a far—right protest group expanding all over germany. chanting in german. "abschieben, abschieben," is "deport them". "people should go to the toilet in front of refugee homes." speaking in german. we are allowed to film... excuse me, can you stop blocking our camera ? the black and the white,

i won't touch it, the black and the white are northern prussia, and the white and the red are southern prussia. i'm here because i love my city, i love my country... what are you worried about? i am worried about my family. i am worried about my race, the german people. they lose their normal blood. so the crowd is shouting now, "we don't want refugee homes". dirk wasn't demonstrating in gera, but his views towards refugees have hardened since i was last here. and he thinks it is especially

unfair that germany is welcoming so many compared to the uk. lots of people will argue that germany is doing the right thing by being more generous. how many children are here? we have 299, and 12 from other countries. and how many refugee children? three. some of gera's other residents, like this teacher, are adapting to life more comfortably. speaking in german. this is nine—year—old mohammed,

daham's son, who has just started school. his class is entirely in german. are you talking to people about refugees, about who they are, where they have come from? some people in gera think that it is too much, and they have problems for us, and so on, and so on, but i haven't got a problem with it. children are not responsible for all the problems we have got around the world. and so we have to welcome the children. i want to help them, that's it. toy chatters. the increasing hostility towards refugees in gera is a worry for the al—mohammed family.

there have already been ten attacks here on refugees in their homes. and after school, talk turns to returning to syria. a subject daham and his wife don't agree on. you want to go back to syria? so this is a big debate. hourda wants to go back and you want to stay. daham is still learning german, still training for a job,

desperate to work. radio: whether merkel or schulz becomes chancellor, one thing is certain. the german political mainstream is set to move to the right. dw, berlin. a year and a half on and daham

finally has the job he was waiting for. everything here is so complicated. stefan is daham's new boss. we have the idea of looking among those people who came in 2015—2016. we assumed there would have been quite a few qualified workers. why did you think that? because here the saying is the syrians are the engineers of the middle east. by late 2017, daham's daughter, nour, was about a foot taller. and the population of gera is visibly changing. the number of people in the city defined as foreign has doubled from around 2500 in 2014, to almost 5000.

a third are syrians. when did you open? hello! the al—mohammed family have been allocated a bigger house now. because there's a new baby, their first born in germany. mohammed, can i sit next to you? you're so german! apart from her getting noisier, how has life changed since i was last here? september's german elections saw huge gains for far

right party the afd, alternative for germany. in gera, they won more votes than angela merkel‘s party, who won. so there's another one. a party with posters like these took almost 30%. look how big you are! hello. dirk and daniela don't even usually vote. in fact, dirk hasn't for decades, but this time they both turned out for the afd. what does the government need to do to make you feel happier, to make you feel like people are integrating more? do you think your views are racist? for daham, for very different

reasons, life is also increasingly frustrating. you got asylum for three years, but the rest of his family have a different immigration status, a protection status, and have to have it renewed every four months. it feels like life is still very difficult.

do you think it would be any better anywhere else? do you feel like this whole journey is easier for men than women? do you feel like you've had

to make a huge sacrifice? hi there. 2017 is finishing on a windy note in the guise of storm dylan. zooming out to the atlantic, 15 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 takes 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 midnight 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. 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.