songs by female singers play. crowd cheers. happy new year from london! happy new yearfrom london! 2018 has arrived and that, as far as this crowd is concerned, is how you see in the new year in style. that was london's fireworks display to see in 2018. and now, as is tradition, 100,000 people, who waited patiently to see that display, will now congratulate each other and celebrate the new year singing auld lang syne. 2018 was celebrated as

the year, the centenary year after women were given the vote in the uk. we had many songs from female singers in the second half of that programme. as far as this crowd was concerned, a spectacular display that went off without a hitch. happy new yearfrom london. andrew black is in london —— edinburgh. new yearfrom london. andrew black is in london -- edinburgh. thank you very much. the party has started here in edinburgh. wejust had a rendition of auld lang syne that eve ryo ne rendition of auld lang syne that everyone sang along with. the key moment of tonight was the fantastic firework display from edinburgh castle. this year it featured some specially commissioned music from knight works, a local scottish band. don't take my word for it, let's have a look at the firework display

from edinburgh castle. clock chimes midnight. there you go. that is how they do fireworks in edinburgh. the partying is still going on and it will probably go on into that we small hours. it has been a fantastic night. from us here in edinburgh, back to you in the studio. that is how 2018 has been welcomed in by london and edinburgh. a happy new year to you and now we cross over to our colleagues for the rest of the news. you are watching bbc news broadcasting to viewers around the

world and here in the uk. as the world and here in the uk. as the world celebrate the arrival of 2018 with fireworks and light shows, global leaders have been given the assessment of the year ahead. china's zhi zhi and pink said —— xi jinping said his country will play a more important role in international policies. translation: as a responsible major country, china must speak out. china will staunchly safeguard the authority and status of the united nations and actively fulfill its due responsibility and duty in international affairs; china will honor its promises in countering global climate change and actively push forward the common construction of the "belt and road"; china will act as a builder of world peace and a contributor to global development and an upholder of the international order. that was the chinese president

talking about new international priorities, in contrast to donald trump, with calls of putting an america first. that was one of the thoughts that we had when i spoke to michael bristow. alleviating poverty, the first time the years in chinese history. he talked about the campaign continuing but most strikingly i think was his vision for china in the future on the world stage. previously chinese leaders have sought to hide themselves and to put china on the sidelines. xi jinping is not like that at all. he wa nts jinping is not like that at all. he wants china on the world stage.

defending the un, tackling climate change and maintaining world order. this is something we have not heard for a long time. the communist chinese leader rather than at the capitalist american leader talking about international trade? exactly. davos was a communist party conference a few months ago, he spoke about something similar and it comes at a time when president trump apiece to be looking in words and turning america in words. to a certain extent he is opening a a lot more space for china to move into, not only in its backyard in east asia, so to speak, but across the world. china which once believed countries should not interfere in each other‘s affairs, has been drawn

m, each other‘s affairs, has been drawn in, as it has not bigger, drawn in into world affairs. china has perhaps taken the place vacated by the united states. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... venezuela's government is raising the minimum wage by forty per cent with the start of the new year. president nicolas maduro, who's beset by financial difficulties and political unrest, said the measure will protect workers against what he calls washington's economic war on his country. but economists say it will fuel the already high inflation. the palestinians have announced they are recalling their envoy to the united states. it comes after president trump recognised jerusalem as the capital of israel. palestinian president mahmoud abbas said he would not accept any us peace plan in the wake of mr trump's move. police in the english city of liverpool say they believe a fire has destroyed more than one thousand vehicles in a multi—storey car park in the city.

firefighters had been tackling the blaze at the car park, next to the echo arena on liverpool's waterfront. the fire service say it's the biggest fire they've ever dealt with. it's thought the blaze began accidentally in one of the vehicles. the arena had been hosting an international horse show. around one thousand people and a number of horses were evacuated. no—one is believed to have been hurt. the liverpool international horse show was taking place at the echo arena. all horses were led to safety while the owners ran to the carpark moving the horse boxes. merseyside fire and rescue chief officer said this is probably one of the worst fires merseyside has ever had to deal with. it is an operation that will continue here sometime. it started at 545 and is showing no

signs of coming to an end. you can the explosions with the fireworks. technology is giving historians a new insight into everyday life in ancient egypt. researchers at university college london have developed scanning techniques that show what is written on the papyrus that mummy cases are made from. 0ur science correspondent, pallab ghosh, has this exclusive report. the hieroglyphics found in the tombs of the pharaohs show the lives of the ancient egyptians. but the paintings are what the rich and powerful wanted the people to know — they are the propaganda of their time. but now, there's a wealth of information about ordinary people being discovered, using a new scientific technique. with a specially—modified camera, researcher cerys jones takes photos of a mummy‘s case at chiddingstone castle in kent. you can't see anything with the naked eye, but using infrared, a name is revealed — irethoreru.

a common name in ancient egypt, it's a stephen or david of its time. it is amazing. everyone in the room gasped, and people jumped up and ran for the computer, because in that one image you could read it. these scraps of papyrus are more than 2,000 years old. they were recycled to make the breastplate that covered a mummified body. the writing is obscured by the plaster and paste that hold them together, but researchers can see what lies beneath by scanning them with different kinds of light, which makes the inks glow. these now constitute one of the best libraries we have of waste papyrus that otherwise would have been thrown away, so it includes things like, you know, tax receipts, and everyday information that we would nowadays throw away, back they they would throw away, but fortunately it was recycled into these objects. our knowledge of ancient egypt is through the eyes of pharaohs and the very wealthy,

who were buried with their possessions. but this new imaging technique is enabling researchers to find out about the lives of ordinary egyptians. until now, the only way to see what was written on the papyrus was to destroy these masks, leaving egyptologists with a dilemma — do they destroy these precious objects, or do they keep them untouched, leaving the stories within them untold 7 i'm really horrified when i see objects like these papyri cartonnages being destroyed in order to get at the text inside. they're finite resources, and we now have the technology to both preserve those beautiful, precious objects that tell us about, you know, ways of dying, but also looking inside them in order to understand the ways that the egyptians lived. there are hundreds of cases and masks that can be scanned, each one telling its own individual story of everyday life in ancient egypt. pallab ghosh, bbc news. you can get in touch with me about

any of our stories, on twitter. lots more on the bbc website including pictures of the firework displays from around the world. good morning and happy new year to you. before we leap ahead into 2018, let's ta ke you. before we leap ahead into 2018, let's take a quick look back at 2017. on the 15th of may, 160 millimetres of rain in 24 hours. it was a hot date at heathrow on the zist was a hot date at heathrow on the 21st ofjune. was a hot date at heathrow on the 21st of june. the was a hot date at heathrow on the 21st ofjune. the hottest day of the year. sennybridge on the 11th of december had around a foot of snow. winter is not over by four. a mild

picture overall blow across the british isles for the week ahead. alert to the south, strong gusty winds maybe even damaging winds along the south coast through the first half of new year's day and quite a bit of rain. showers to south wales, sunshine to the north of that before we meet another area of that before we meet another area of low pressure developing across scotla nd of low pressure developing across scotland and northern ireland with strong winds in the early part of the day. sinking into southern scotla nd the day. sinking into southern scotland and northern england bringing showers in the afternoon. further south, more in the way of sunshine. sunshine for northern scotland. at a chilly story here. 0vernight, the shower was clear, the isobars open and with clear skies, temperatures are dipping away. first day back at work in the new year, it

looks like we could see a fairly widespread frost. clear skies shot lead. another area of low pressure from the atlantic, bringing rain and snow. briefly rather mild to the far south. another area of low pressure wheezing in overnight tuesday into wednesday. squally winds stop windy day across the board on wednesday. heavy and thundery showers possible. temperatures typically around average for the time of year. perhaps a little bit chilly again first thing on thursday as the winds fall lightly. another area of pressure through the south and west with more heavy rain and risk of localised flooding. windy start to 2018. this is bbc news, the headlines. britain has become the latest place to celebrate the arrival of 2018.

in london, the chimes of big ben were back in action specially for the occasion. the clock, beside the houses of parliament, has been undergoing repairs. in his first comments since anti—government protests began in iran, president rouhani has said people have the right to protest, but their actions shouldn't lead to violence. earlier police used water cannon against protestors in tehran. at least eight people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the democratic republic of congo. the demonstrations are calling for presidentjoseph kabila's resignation. more than a thousand cars have gone up in smoke, in the english city of liverpool. they were parked in a multi storey car park next to the echo arena, when a large fire broke out. there are no reports of serious injuries. now on bbc news, hardtalk.