this is bbc news. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: millions throng brazil's copacabana beach to celebrate the start of 2018. london sees in the new year in style. thirty tonnes of fireworks light up the sky above the river thames. spectacular celebrations sweep the globe, dubai stages a record breaking laser show at the world's tallest building, the burj khalifa. after four days of unrest, iran's president defends people's right to protest. but he warns violence and vandalism won't be tolerated. a huge fire in liverpool forces part of the city centre to be evacuated. no—one‘s been injured, but hundreds of cars are destroyed. also in the programme: wedding bells, indonesian style. more than 900 people tie the knot, in a mass wedding ceremony. happy new year to you.

let's go live now to rio dejaneiro on copacabana where two million people have gathered. a 17—minute fireworks display is underway to celebrate the new year. let's have a listen. tens of thousands of police have been deployed for the celebrations. traditionally, many people wear white, the traditional colour to usher in the new year. absolutely spectacular display

coming in there from rio dejaneiro. they'll be entertained with a live show which will star singer anitta and samba schools portela and mocidade, which won the 2017 carnival. and as one citizen of the city, roger pereira said to reporters: "it's the greatest in the world. spectacular! it brings everyone joy! may peace spread to everyone who come!" the celebration launches the tourism's office year—long ‘rio de janeiro a janeiro‘, meaning rio january to january. it's part of a campaign to showcase cultural, sporting and business activities throughout the city. spectacular display there.

the uk welcomed in the new year two hours ago. 100,000 people gathered in london to watch the fireworks display and in edinburgh, too. it follows exuberant celebrations elsewhere in europe, across the middle east and asia all welcoming 2018. this report from briohny williams contains some flashing images. the iconic sound of big ben strikes midnight in london. and the party begins with 10,000 fireworks along the river thames. an hour earlier, the skies above berlin's brandenburg gate were lit up in every colour. the countdown in paris was watched by thousands at the arc de triomphe,

as fireworks dazzled in the darkness. perhaps one of the most spectacular displays didn't involve fireworks at all. in dubai they lit up the world's tallest building with lasers. the burj khalifa becoming a shimmering canvas, visible almost 100 kilometres away. hong kong ushered in 2018 with style. victoria harbour was transformed into sparkling splendour. auckland was the first major city to see in the new year, with it's sky tower lit up. five, four, three, two, one. followed by sydney, where 1.5 million people lined the harbourfront to see in 2018. briohny williams, bbc news. there will be plenty more celebrations in the hours to come.

bitterly cold weather continues to blanket the northern united states and canada, as forecasters warn that the deep freeze will continue into the first week of 2018. temperatures are predicted to remain below —10 degrees celsius in some areas. in new york, people in times square are bracing themselves for one of the coldest new year's eve parties on record. sarah corker reports. parts of canada are colder than the north pole. niagara falls has become an ice covered spectacle as temperatures plummeted. and arctic air is sweeping across large parts of the united states, stretching from montana two main are some two and a half thousand miles gripped the big freeze. in pennsylvania, a record—breaking five feet of snow has fallen since christmas day. —— april one. but the cold weather didn't deter visitors in new york. people started gathering in times square up to nine hours before the

famous ball drop. i wasn't ready for this cold weather, i am from a warm climate. it is really cold. i expected it to be around zero but not like —5. expected it to be around zero but not like -5. we love it, it'sjust freezing cold. absolutely freezing cold. but you can see me, five layers. five layers. two clubs in spain freezing cold. —— to gloves. the temperature is expected to drop below —12 celsius, one of the cold est n ew below —12 celsius, one of the coldest new year's eve on record. people have been told to wrap up to prevent frostbite and hypothermia. events in upstate new york and elsewhere have been cancelled and well into 2018, stronger winds are set to make it feel it in colder. sarah corker, bbc news. north korean leader kimjong—un has made a defiant new year message saying he is always within reach of the nuclear button. it comes after months of escalating tensions over his country's

weapons programme. in the televised message, its reported kim jong—un said: "the nuclear button is always on my table. this is not blackmail but reality." he went on to say he will use nuclear weapons only when north korea's security is threatened. china's leader, xijinping, has used his new year's message to suggest his country will play a greater role in international affairs in 2018. under previous presidents, china kept a lower international profile, but president xi set out his foreign affairs priorities in a number of areas. 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. 0ur correspodent michael bristow, asia pacific editor for the world service, has more analysis on the speech. he spoke a lot about domestic agenda, about alleviating poverty in the next three years. he said that happened the first on in thousands of years in china's history. he also talked about the corruption campaign, anticorruption campaign, which would continue. not what most struck me was his is for china in the future on the world stage. previously chinese leaders have sought to hide themselves a little bit and to put china on the sidelines and that others take the lead. he is not like that at all. he wa nts to lead. he is not like that at all. he wants to put china right on the world stage, as we heard there, defending the united nations,

tackling climate change, maintaining the world order. this is something that we haven't heard from a chinese leaderfor a long time, really. he started doing that much more didn't he? it was the communist chinese leader, rather than the capitalist american president who is talking that in portents —— the importance of international trade? d'este reinforcing the message that he has been saying all year. there was a chinese congress party. it all comes ata time chinese congress party. it all comes at a time where president trump appears to be looking inwards and turning america more inwards. that, toa turning america more inwards. that, to a certain extent, it is opening a lot more space for china to move into, not just lot more space for china to move into, notjust in its own backyard, in east asia, so to speak. but across the world. we see china which once believed that country should not interfere in other affairs, it has been drawn in as it got bigger

into world affairs more and more and asi into world affairs more and more and as i said, china is perhaps taking the place which has been vacated by the place which has been vacated by the united states. footage has appeared of when twelve people have been killed when a small passenger plane crashed shortly after take off in northwestern costa rica. the incident happened near bejuco, in the mountainous region of punta islita, an area popular with tourists on the pacific coast. us citizens and two local crew members on board. the cause of the crash is not yet known. media reports say five of the passengers shared the same surname, suggesting they were related. the president of iran, hassan rouhani, has appealed for calm, saying people have the right to protest, but not to commit acts of violence. in his first public comments since demonstrations against the government began on thursday, mr rouhani warned that violence and public disorder would not be tolerated. protests have now spread to many cities; and in tehran, police have used water cannon. here's kasra naji of the bbc persian service. the centre of tehran

during the fourth day of anti—government protests. these protesters are shouting death to the dictator, a reference to iran's supreme leader. the protests are the most serious challenge to the iranian clerical regime for many years. as the night fell, there were reports of demonstrations from at least a dozen or so cities up and down the country. president rouhani has finally made a comment on the unrest, days after they started, the first iranian leader to do so. he said iranians had a right to protest but not to violence and destruction. the wave of demonstrations throughout the country started

on thursday here in mashhad in the north—east with what was supposed to be a small protest by the hardliners to criticise the economic policies of the government of president rouhani, something that quickly got out of control. earlier in the day, the government moved to limit access in iran to the internet and to uphiller social media apps like telegram. but in spite of these efforts, more and more videos are being posted on social media, and there has been more violence. here in this western city, for example, where a number of people are reported to have been injured. president rouhani's latest words are unlikely to calm these demonstrators, who are calling for the overthrow of the government. donald trump has commented on the

protest began: —— again. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: saying "i do" without the debt. a mass wedding for 400 cash—strapped couples in indonesia. 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. welcome back. the latest headlines: millions have gone to copacabana beach to celebrate the start of 2018. spectacular new year celebrations

are sweeping the globe. in london, a huge fireworks display lit up the sky above the river thames. a seaplane has crashed into a river near sydney, killing all six people on board. reports suggest four of the victims are british, although this has not been confirmed by police. the foreign office here is in contact with officials in australia. the aircraft was on a sightseeing trip in the run—up to the new year celebrations. it came down in a river close to the suburb of cowanne. phil mercer reports from sydney. the seaplane crashed intojerusalem bay near the town of cowa n. on board were five passengers and the pilot. the single—engine aircraft is thought to have sunk rapidly. a witness said it had made a tight right—hand turn and then nosedived into the hawkesbury river. a full—scale search was $0011 under way. there were no survivors. police divers have found six bodies. the wreckage of the plane remains in more than 40ft of water. the authorities say a full

investigation will take place. i cannot confirm the identity or ages of the people who were on the plane. we are... it is early in the investigation, and we are working with the plane company, getting investigators here to confirm the identities and investigate why the plane crashed into the water. the seaplane was returning from a waterfront restaurant to rose bay on sydney harbour. it's a journey that would normally take around 20 minutes. the aircraft is owned by sydney seaplanes. it provides flights around some of the city's most popular tourist attractions, including the opera house, the harbour bridge, and to the north, the hawkesbury river. the company said in a statement that its pilots are some of the most experienced in the world, and that all its flights had been

suspended until further notice. air—crash investigators will arrive at the site of the accident early on new year's day to try to establish how and why a routine sightseeing flight could end in catastrophe. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. police in the english city of liverpool say a fire has destroyed about 2,000 vehicles in a multi—storey car park, and forced the cancellation of an international horse show at the city's echo arena. emergency services were called at around 5pm on new year's eve and nearby apartments and hotels have been evacuated due to smoke. the public have been advised to stay away from the area and traffic restrictions are currently in place. no—one has been reported injured. some of those attending the horse show at the arena have been speaking about what happened. theyjust said there was a small incident in the main arena, we sat on the seats up the top.

the next minute they said there was a small incident, no harm or anything like that, about five, ten minutes later they said there was a small fire up in the car park. we were in the arena watching the show, one of the horsesjust come out to do the jumps and they called it back in. we were all looking at each other wondering what was going on. then they said there was a fire on the top floor. nothing to worry about. then a bit later on we came outside, because we smelled smoke, we came outside and obviously the fire was a lot worse than they were letting us know, really. earlier, i spoke to nigel blandford who was evacuated from a nearby hotel and also lost his car in the blaze. yes, we arrived in liverpool for new year's eve around about 2pm, parked out in the multi—storey carpark and went to the hotel that

50 metres away, popped out for a while and we came back, couldn't get in, we can see huge amounts of black billowing smoke, acrid smell and we managed to get back in the room. the room is overlooking the car park about 50 metres away and looked out the window and there was flames shooting out and you could see individual cars alight. we were then evacuated out of the hotel into the hilton and we just got back in now. about half an hour ago, back into the hotel. 0bviously found out as well our car is destroyed totally. just looking at the window now and the merseyside fire and rescue service are doing a mopping up operation, there is three fire engines out there nowjust dousing off and putting the last of the fire out. there is still a little bit of smoke coming out but can't see the flames at the moment.

given the size of the flames, was there any panic or was it orderly? it was all quite orderly, a bit of confusion about whether the hotel would be evacuated or not. but yes it was eventually, they moved us to the hilton hotel where they treated us very nicely but there was a lot of confusion about whether we can get back in not. there was lots, probably 100 people over at the hilton hotel, young families with children. thankfully now we have been given the all clear and most people are back in the hotel. united nations peacekeepers in the democratic republic of congo say eight people were killed as security forces clashed with protesters. in the capital, kinshasa, seven people were shot dead during demonstrations against presidentjoseph kabila. another protester was killed in the city of kananga. pablo uchoa reports. these were called by roman catholic activists racked by opposition

parties. the protests were banned, with people saying they could not policed them. roadblocks were set up along with tear gas and live ammunition at several locations, including churches. the protesters are demanding the president resigns. his second term as president finished one year ago. he promised to step down by the end of this year, but he did not. translation: we are tired. we have never had peace in this country. nothing works. we do not have enough to eat. he should go and arrest. even under president mobutu, which was a dictatorship, we marched peacefully. we are dictatorship, we marched peacefully. we a re really dictatorship, we marched peacefully. we are really tired of this president. they attended mass in kinshasa, and then the leader of the 0pposition gave a speech. translation: we are living under a

dictatorship. i am simply asking the people to resist and we need to think of alternatives. this violence isa think of alternatives. this violence is a repeat of tensions erupt in time and again over the past year. more than 50 people were reportedly killed in anti—government protests between april and october. there are concerns this volatility will persist. pablo uchoa, bbc news. with celebrations going on around the world to celebrate the arrival of the new year, hundreds of indonesian couples have taken the party theme one step further by tying the knot in a mass wedding. with theirfamilies, they gathered in a large tent in the capital, jakarta, before signing marriage certificates in front of government officials. david campanale has more. as fireworks lit jakarta's sky to mark the arrival of the new year, over 400 couples gathered to celebrate the turning of a new chapter in their lives. though hundreds of couples were involved, individuals

made their day special by wearing elaborate traditional indonesian outfits and headdresses. just hours before midnight, the mass wedding commenced with the arrival of the governor of jakarta. it was the cost of marriage ceremonies he had come to resolve. the city government raised funds to make a legally binding marriage possible. the funds also stretched to cover the indonesian wedding tradition of exchanging token gold dowries. as well as giving congratulations, the governor acknowledged that financial hardship can keep low—income indonesian couples from taking on the cost of a traditional wedding. after a brief ceremony in front of government officials, the couples took the final step towards full recognition of their relationship by signing their marriage certificates. translation: those whose marriages were not certified can use this opportunity to legalise

their marriage, and it is especially helpful for those who can't afford to do so. translation: i'm very happy because we officially wed in the mass wedding, receiving a blessing from the whole of society. i am very pleased. as the happy couples left the venue to join the throng of new year party—goers, jakarta's governor promised the city to make marriage possible for many more couples by repeating the event on the next new year's eve. david campanale, bbc news. president rouhani has said people have the right to protest, but there should be no violence. earlier, water cannons we re should be no violence. earlier, water cannons were used against protesters in tehran. and finally, the new year's celebrations in

brazil. over two million people gathered on copacabana beach to watch a magnificent 17—minute firework display, with many of the revellers wearing white, the traditional colour to usher in the new year. 2.5 hours earlier, it was the uk's turn to ring in the new year, with a spectacular fireworks display in london and edinburgh. among the highlights, more than 100,000 ticket holders watched the display from the banks of the river thames. big ben chiming 2008 —— 2018 in. happy new year's from us here.

good morning, and a happy new year to you. before we leap ahead into 2018 and what the weather has in store for the week ahead, let's just take a quick look back at what 2017 brought us. for ennerdale, in cumbria, on the 15th of may, over six inches of rain in 2a hours. it was a hot day though at heathrow, on the 21st ofjune. 3a degrees. the hottest day of the year. in terms of wintriest weather, well, that was sennybridge, in the brecon beacons, on the 11th of december, with 31cm, around a foot, of snow. winter, of course, is not over by far. a very mobile and rather mild picture overall though across the british isles for the week ahead. you may have seen a low there to the south, which will get very close to the south coast this new year's day. strong gusty maybe even damaging winds along the south coast through the first half of new year's day and quite a bit of rain too. it becomes a little bit more showery as we get into south wales, and there should be some sunshine to the north of that before we meet another area of low pressure

that's developing across western scotland and northern ireland. that will bring some strong winds to the early part of the day. and sink its way into southern scotland, northern england and continue to feed showers into northern ireland through the afternoon. further south, our other low pulls off into the continent. we should see more in the way of sunshine. sunshine too for northern scotland. but a chilly story here, just 3 degrees in edinburgh. and then overnight, the showers clear, the isobars open and, with clear skies, temperatures are going to dip away significantly for early tuesday. the first day back at work in the new year, have the ice scrape or the de—icer ready, because it looks like we could see a fairly widespread frost. clear skies short lived though. another area of low pressure swinging its way from the atlantic, through the day. rain, some snow for the hills of northern england and the mountians of scotland. briefly rather mild though to the far south.

another area of low pressure comes wheezing in overnight tuesday, into wednesday. very squally winds in association with this low. windy day across the board on wednesday, with some heavy and thundery showers possible too. temperatures typically around average for the time of year, somewhere between the 6—10 degree mark. perhaps a little bit chilly again first thing on thursday as the winds fall light during the small hours of thursday. but into the day, another area of low pressure coming into the south and west and more heavy rain and a risk by hten of localised flooding. a windy, wet start to 2018. this is bbc news. the headlines: revellers around the world have marked the start of the new year with spectacular celebrations. millions of people have thronged brazil's copacabana beach to celebrate. in london, crowds saw thirty tonnes of fireworks light up the sky above the river thames. dubai marked the start of 2018 with a record breaking laser show at the world's tallest building, the burj khalifa. 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. more than a thousand cars have gone up in smoke, in the english city of liverpool. they were parked in a multi storey carpark next to the echo arena, when a large fire broke out. now on bbc news, rebecca morelle looks back on the year in science. from a spectacular eclipse that wowed millions of americans,