this is bbc news. the headlines at 103m: six people have been killed after a seaplane crashed into a river north of sydney. it's thought four of the victims may be british. police are at the scene. we have forensic police on their way here to carry out identification. we have investigators from marine area command, who are on their way to our location. criminal gangs who claim benefits under false identities are to be targeted by the government using artificial intelligence. in one's revolutionary guards warned demonstrators they face the nation's iron fist. political leaders reflect on the past 12 months in their new year messages. theresa may says 2017 was a year of progress for the uk. jeremy corbyn says the hope of a new

britain is closer than ever. thousands of rail travellers face disruption as workers from two rail companies stage 24—hour strikes. idid yourjob companies stage 24—hour strikes. i did yourjob once. i was good at it. and coming up, mark kermode looks back at 2017's big film releases, including the sequel to blade runner, that's the year in film in half an hour. good morning, and welcome to bbc news. we're getting reports that four british nationals are among six people who died when their sea plane crashed into a river in australia. the plane went down in the hawkesbury river near cowan, which is around 31 miles north of sydney. the single—engine aircraft belonged

to the well—known tourism company "sydney seaplanes". police say it was on a sightseeing flight ahead of new year celebrations at sydney harbour. the bodies of five passengers and the pilot have been recovered from the wreckage. unconfirmed reports say an 11—year—old boy is among those killed. 0fficers officers say they don't yet know why the plane went down. for reasons that are not known at this stage, the plane had hit the water, and it has subsequently sunk. it is sitting in approximately 13 metres of water. at the time of the collision, the plane had a pilot and five passengers on board. i can confirm the six people on the plane are deceased. i do not have details, or cannot confirm, the identity or ages of the people on the plane. it is

early in the investigation, and we are working with the plane company, bringing investigators here to confirm the identities, and investigate why the plane crashed into the water. 0n the line is abc's nour haydar, who is at the scene. thank you forjoining us. the police clearly not speculating at this stage on the cause of this crash. i understand they have been talking to lots of witnesses, who were on boats on the river. what have they been saying about the moments before the crash? at the moment, police have not been able to give us any details about what they have been able to ascertain from witnesses. they are urging anyone who was a witness, or anyone who may have been filming, to pass that information over to police. when asked about the

identities of victims, police were not able to confirm if any were indeed foreign nationals, but investigators will arrive at the scene tomorrow morning to begin retrieving the wreckage and working out what happened and what caused the crash to happen. they have released a statement today a short while ago, saying that while the sequence of events is not fully understood, it appears that when the plane struck the water, it quickly sunk. we do know that all six passengers died. sorry, all five passengers died. sorry, all five passengers died, and the sixth person was the pilot. the accident happened shortly after 3pm australian time. police divers have retrieved the bodies from the wreckage. just to clarify, the crash happened as the plane was coming into land, is that correct? police have not been able to tell us the

sequence of events. it seems there was no warning time. it was a fairly quick incident and initial investigations indicate that want it struck the water, it sank rapidly. we don't know exactly what happened before that. the plane is in a fairly bad way and remained submerged. the journey that this plane was on, is this a popular sightseeing trip? we do know that the people on board the plane were on the same flight earlier in the day. they were in a national park, which sits along the river north of sydney. they went on the flight, had

lunch, and were returning when the crash happened. what went wrong is still yet to be revealed by police. investigators will arrive there tomorrow morning to work out exactly the sequence of events that led up to this horrible tragedy. finally, although there are reports that four of the victims are british, that has been absolutely no official confirmation of that, has there? that's right. police literally an hour ago spoke to abc news and said they were not able to reveal the identities of the victims, and next of kin had not yet been informed. they did not confirm that foreign nationals were on board the plane.

the bodies will now be taken to a morgue in sydney's cbd and the identification process will kick off. when the safety bureau releases its full report, we will learn what went wrong. thank you very much. criminal gangs who claim benefits under a false identity are to be targeted by the government using artificial intelligence. the department for work and pensions says it will use sophisticated computer programming to identify organised attacks. ian palmer reports. jobcentre plus staff identify suspicious benefit fraud in individuals, but it is much harder to notice odd patterns of behaviour across thousands of benefit applications. an indication of organised criminal activity. 0ften gangs making

repeated applications using fake identities tend to leave traces, such as leaving the same phrase. by monitoring thousands of applications using artificial intelligence, it should be easier to detect organised benefit fraud. what we are going to be able to do, using be able to do, using artificial intelligence, is identify some of those networks, see for example patterns of behaviour, shared behaviour or addresses, or the same telephone numbers being used, numbers being used, we will be able to identify that more easily in a way that will enable us to stop that from happening and protect taxpayers' money. the artificial intelligence software has been developed by the department for work and pensions. the idea has been put through a series of trials. the dwp says the computer programme will be slowly rolled out across the country. introducing the technology is an attempt to recoup more of the £3 billion paid by mistake, or fraudulently claimed each year.

the changes will affect people who claim universal credit, jobseeker‘s allowance, and personal independence payments. demonstrators in iran have been warned they will face the nation's iron fist if political unrest continues. the guards issued the warning after protests intensified. the government has blamed foreign agents for the deaths of two protesters. the protest began over living standards and rising food standards the macro prices. —— food prices. a crack of gunshots as panic ripples the a crowd in the western city of daroud. later, a wounded man is carried through the streets. it is being reported a number of people have been killed following an escalation of violence and three days of unrest.

late into the night, demonstrators attacked targets with links to the government and the ruling clerical elite. in karamabad, the governor's office was burned. in the northern city of mashhad, police motorbikes were set alight while crowds taunted the security services. what started as a provincial protest about rocketing prices has become deeply political and moved to the capital tehran, where offices were pelted with stones near the main university. riot police were used to quell the disturbance. this video shows a baby being taken to hospital, apparently suffering from the effects of tear gas. videos like these shared on social media are helping to fuel the protests.

it is thought the iranian authorities have reacted by cutting access to the internet in many cities, especially to mobile phones. iranian officials have vowed on state tv to double their efforts to resolve the economic problems and ploughed ahead with commemorative pro—government rallies on saturday. but further protests are expected over the coming days, and experts say opposing the islamic republic will be a colossal challenge. do not underestimate the repressive capability of the revolutionary guards, the resilience of the islamic republic. this regime is well institutionalised in iran and can deal with protest movement such as the one that we have witnessed in the past few days. iran's ultraconservative regime is facing its biggest threat in nearly a decade, but what lengths will it go to to survive? political leaders have been

reflecting on the past 12 months in their new year is messages, with theresa may calling 2017 a year of progress for the uk. jeremy corbyn, meanwhile, said the hope of a new britain is closer than ever. after a political year dominated by brexit, it's no surprise the subject played a key part in theresa may's new year's message. she said the government has pursued our brexit objectives with steady purpose and progress will continue in 2018 as the talks move on to trade. but not for the first time, theresa may made clear she wants to be more than madame brexit. making success of brexit is crucial, but it will not be the limit of our ambitions. we also have to carry on making a difference here and now on the issues that matter to people's daily lives. that means building an economy fit for the future, and taking a balanced approach to government spending. so we get our debt falling, but can also invest in the things that matter — our schools,

our police and our precious nhs. theresa may says next year will continue the fight against all forms of extremism and she believes 2018 can be a year of renewed pride in our country. meanwhile, the tone ofjeremy corbyn's address was rather different. he said we are being held back by a self—serving elite and pointed to the gains labour made at the general election, saying this was a year when people said, "no more." the old political consensus is finished. we are staking out the new centre ground in british politics, backing the things that most people want, but are blocked by vested interests. we are a government in waiting while the conservatives are weak, divided and stuck in an outdated rut with no new ideas. the hope of a new britain, run in the interests of the many, not the few, seems closer than ever before. the new year messages draw to a close what has been a politically

dramatic 12 months. it certainly has. emma joins me now. what more do these new year is m essa g es what more do these new year is messages tell us about the challenges for the two leaders in the year ahead? we saw a pretty typical address therefrom theresa may. presenting the government as a sta ble may. presenting the government as a stable fourth being able to move the country stable fourth being able to move the cou ntry towards stable fourth being able to move the country towards brexit. in reality, brexit continues to be incredibly divisive, and we will hear a lot more about the trade talks over the next 12 months, because we are moving on to phase two, beginning to talk about trade and transitional arrangements, so we can expect to see many more battles. don't forget the backdrop to everything theresa may does is that she only has a very fragile hold on power, a slim majority, and we saw that coming to play with the brexit talks before, with the dwp almost scuppering our ability to move onto the next stage

-- dup. ability to move onto the next stage —— dup. from jeremy corbyn, it is quite a different message from him. very much attacking the government, and trying to present labour as a government in waiting. we have seen them continue to remain on a general election fitting, still campaigning, still very much trying to wind support from voters, just in case there was to be another snap election if theresa may's fragile majority was to crumble, and we were going to see the voters go back to the polls. in reality, it is important to seek, in terms of labour, the polls do show that labour needs to gain more trust and support from voters on subjects like the economy if they really are to present themselves as that credible apartment in waiting thatjeremy corbyn says they are. ben wallace, the security minister, has been suggesting, just an idea at this stage, that the government could consider a special tax on

internet firms unless they become more willing to cooperate in tackling the threat from terrorism in the uk. what are the chances that this could become an actual policy? that is right, we have seen a real battle between ministers and the tech firms this year, ramping up the pressure on companies like google on facebook, saying, we do not want to see you allow the extremist to make use of your platforms, loading harmful content. will this work? it is really an idea, but it shows that behind the scenes ministers are looking at ways to try and increase the pressure on tech firms. the battle at the heart of this is that ministers want the companies to take more responsibility. there is some push back from the company is saying that the internet is a massive space and they cannot please all of it, and they cannot please all of it, and people have a right to free speech. it is a subjective argument. not everyone will agree what needs

to be taken down and what does not. will it really work? that is something we will need to see if the government puts the tags into action. thank you very much. —— puts the tax. the headlines on bbc news: police confirm that six people have been killed after a seaplane crashed into a river north of sydney. there are reports that four of the victims may be british. criminal gangs who claim benefits underfalse identities criminal gangs who claim benefits under false identities are to be targeted by the government using artificial intelligence. after three days of political protest, iran's revolutionary guards weren't demonstrators they face the nation's ironists. —— warn demonstrators. sport now and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. let's start with some breaking news and the bbc understands that nottingham forest have sacked their manager mark warburton. it follows forest's 1—0 defeat

to sunderland yesterday. forest are currently 14th in the championship table. it's understood director of football frank mcparland has also been sacked. gary brazil is to take over as caretaker manager while forest look to appoint a replacement. that news coming in the last hour or so. jose mourinho felt his manchester united side were denied a clear penalty during their goalless draw with southampton. it was more points dropped for united, who lost second place to chelsea. alex south begins his round up of yesterday's action at stamford bridge. chelsea rounded off 2017 in some style. commentator: 0h, brilliant! the champions demolished stoke city 5—0 to make it five wins from their last six games and push stoke further towards trouble. today, we finished a great year for us. for my players, for the club, for the fans, especially, for me, because in my first experience in a new league in england, to win the title is not easy. conte's team now trail leaders

manchester city by 13 points, but are up to second, courtesy of manchester united failing to defeat southampton. it wasn't a good day forjose mourinho as he saw romelu lukaku stretchered off early on, and later saw the referee wave away what he thought was a certain penalty. wasn't it? it clearly struck him on the arm. 0h, 0k. thank you. presumably, you've spoken with the officials? yeah, but for what? for what? liverpool were up to fourth as mohamed salah scored his 16th and 17th league goals of the season to help the reds come from behind to win against leicester. the only negative being that salah limped off later on. at the other end of the table, there was plenty of late drama. bournemouth scored an 88th minute

winner against everton to move out of the bottom three, and swansea left it even later as they completed a remarkable turnaround against watford, scoring in the 86th and 90th minutes. sacked last week by sheffield wednesday, celebrating his new side's victory six days later, carlos carvalhal will tell you that a week is a long time in football, let alone a year. alex south, bbc news. elsewhere, the matches between huddersfield and burnley, and newcastle and brighton finished goalless. there's two matches in the premier league today. west brom take on arsenal, but before that leaders manchester city visit crystal palace. a win would not only take them 16 points clear at the top but would also see manager pep guardiola equal his own record with bayern munich for 19 consecutive victories in europe's top division. always here you talk about the numbers, breakers, records. that is a consequence of what we do on the

pitch. i am not here to comment about the record because it is simple to say that we break it or not. but that is not what counts. what counts is what you have to do against crystal palace, what you have to do against the amazing four strikers they have. england's cricketers have arrived in sydney ahead of the fifth and final ashes test which begins in four days' time. england wicketkeeper jonny bairstow has given his backing to all—rounder moeen ali, saying he remains in their best 11. moeen has only taken three wickets and averaged 19 runs with the bat this series. i think that is unquestionable, to even think that he is not in that best 11. he would not have played the first four test matches if he was not in that first 11. there are not many finger spinners that will come to australia and bowl teams out. it is very important that you get behind moeen, he can take the

game away from you. meanwhile, ben stokes won't be flying out to australia with england's one day squad as he continues to await news of any possible charges against him from the crown prosecution service following an incident outside a bristol nightclub in september. stokes was named in the squad for the games which begin after the fifth and final test match in sydney but it's now thought highly unlikely he will be involved in the series. dawid malan is set to replace stokes in the squad. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport and i'll have more for you in the next hour. see you then. thank you very much. katherine downes. thousands of rail travellers face disruption to theirjourneys today as workers from two train companies stage 24—hour strikes. members of the rmt union on south western railway and crosscountry are taking action in disputes involving the role of guards, and rosters and sunday working. simon clemison has been to one of the stations affected this morning,

london waterloo. i feel like london waterloo. ifeel like an london waterloo. i feel like an unwelcome —— london waterloo. ifeel like an unwelcome —— ifeel like an unwelcome guest. beware, there are a train strikes today. this is britain's busiest and biggest railway station. it is pretty quiet at the moment as you might expect for a sunday morning but tens of thousands of people are expected in london later. the departures board is odd for the day of the strike. you can see trains, all listed. they have been leaving on time in many cases. some minor delays, but there has been reduced timetable here today. that is what you do not see, there are fewer services running, and on some routes, none are running at all. these are the details, it a 24—hour walk—out, as we've been saying, by two operators. the advice is to check with them before you travel. 0n south western, which runs out of here, to and from this station, the

services are disrupted. there is a reduced service on most lines. and none on others. 0verall, three quarters of trains will be running. they expect that from here today. on the other operator affected, crosscountry, there is a reduced service between edinburgh and newcastle, and no service between glasgow and aberdeen, and all other lines expect to be impacted. here, there are range of issues going on, but one of them is the role the guards. we have talked about that before. the government saying that the unions are making misery for millions of passengers. the company saying it respects the role of the guard but the union is not convinced and concerned about safety. ultimately, today and tonight, there are far fewer ultimately, today and tonight, there are farfewer trains, ultimately, today and tonight, there are far fewer trains, fewer trains and there were meant to be, and many, and there were meant to be, and any and there were meant to be, and many, many more passengers trying to get on them, especially this evening. that makes for perhaps the

most heady mix as we go into the new year. simon clemison. a huge fire in an apartment block in manchester appears to have spread via external wooden balconies, according to the fire service. a 23— year old man was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after the fire yesterday. flames spread over multiple floors in the 12—storey building. greater manchester fire and rescue service says no external cladding was involved. the sacked president of catalonia, carles puigdemont, has used a new year message to urge the spanish government to reinstate his regional government. elections a week ago gave pro—independence parties a slim majority. mr puigdemont said he was still the president of catalonia. the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy, said this was absurd. bill hayton reports. carles puigdemont is a fugitive in exile. he still faces criminal charges in spain over catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence. but regional elections ten days ago gave a narrow victory

to the separatists and mr puigdemont insists that means he's still the rightful leader of catalonia. translation: the spanish government has a new opportunity to behave as the european democracy it claims to be, and therefore recognise the results of the elections that took place on december the 21st, and in this way to start a political negotiation with the legitimate government of catalonia. but the spanish authorities are showing no signs of compromise. the charges remain in place, and speaking on friday, the spanish prime minister dismissed as absurd the idea that mr puigdemont might try to lead a new catalan government from abroad. translation: i will no longer give you a legal reply. i will give you reply based on solid common sense. it is absurd to try to be a president of a region while living abroad. it makes no sense at all. catalonia is currently

without leaders. the prime minister wants the new regional parliament to convene on the 17th january, but that is only the first step in what is likely to be a drawn—out process to form a government. festivities are under way to mark the beginning of 2018. samoa in the western pacific has become one of the first places to enter the new year. it will be followed shortly by new zealand and australia. sydney is planning a rainbow themed fireworks display to celebrate the introduction of a same—sex marriage law. if you cannot wait to see some fireworks, you can see the auckland fireworks, you can see the auckland fireworks at 11 o'clock uk time, and around one o'clock for sydney, the build—up to that starting just

before one o'clock, over the harbour bridge. let's look at the weather forecast for our new year's eve. a met office amber warning remains in force until lunchtime for potentially damaging winds across parts of southern scotland in particular. we will also see deals in northern ireland and the north of england but the strongest winds will be in southern scotland. the winds will ease through the afternoon, but blustery for many. hill snow for parts of scotland. a scattering of showers with sunny spells in between towards the west. showers spread across many areas this evening. be prepared for that if you're heading out. some of the east will stay dry and with clear conditions and later winds, it will be a cold start to new year's day than it has been this morning. a few showers in the west,

lots of sunshine around and it is a chance we could see something wetter over the english channel. into the afternoon, showers in the west of scotla nd afternoon, showers in the west of scotland put into northern ireland and north—western england. it will bea and north—western england. it will be a cooler start to 2018. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: a seaplane has crashed into a river near the australian city of sydney, killing all six people on board. police say the aircraft was on a sightseeing flight ahead of new year celebrations at sydney harbour when it came down. there are reports that four of the victims may be british. the department for work and pensions says it plans to use artificial intelligence to detect criminal gangs claiming benefits underfalse identities. computer algorithms have been developed to identify large—scale benefit fraud. iran's revolutionary guards have threatened anti—government protesters with an "iron fist" if days of political unrest continue. the warning came after protests intensified in the capital, tehran. thousands of rail travellers face disruption as workers from crosscountry and south western rail services stage 24—hour strikes.