welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: london sees in the new year in style: 30 tons 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. a defiant new year message from north korea. kim jong—un warns he's "always within reach" of the nuclear button. 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. hello and welcome to bbc news.

people across the world have been celebrating the start of 2018. in london, 100,000 people watched the fireworks display on the thames. thousands of party—goers packed the streets of edinburgh for the hogmanay celebrations. it follows exuberant displays elsewhere in europe, across the middle east and asia, all welcoming 2018. this report from briohny williams contains some flashing images. and win in the last hour mary could start of their celebrations. —— within the last hour, america. 0ver chilled million people lined edition europe's copacabana beach to the 17 minute firework display, one of the first major south american

cities to see in the new year. as 2018 sweeps across the globe. the iconic sound of big ben strikes in london. the party began with 10,000 fireworks along the river thames. 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 its sky tower lit up... five, four, three, two, one! ..followed by sydney, where 1.5 million people lined the harbour front to see in 2018. briony williams, bbc news. 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 to boston, —— stretching from montana to maine some 2,500 miles gripped by the big freeze. in pennsylvania, a record—breaking five feet of snow has fallen since christmas day. 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. we love it, it'sjust freezing cold, absolutely freezing cold. but you can see me, five layers. five layers. two gloves and i'm freezing cold. the temperature is expected to drop below —12 celsius, one of the coldest new year's eves 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, it's 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. for more on this and what else was said in that televised message, i'm joined by our correspondent sophie long in seoul. this was a clear message from

washington? —— for washington? this was a clear message from washington? -- for washington? this is his message that has become a tradition, broadcast early this morning on state television, and those certainly were the headlines. he said that the whole of the united states mainland is now within reach of his nuclear weapons and he said i have the nuclear button on my desk. he says it isn't a threat, it is simply reality. and because of such reality, the united states would now never be able to start a war with north korea. so it was a defiant message and clearly one for the united states but he had a much more conciliatory tone when he was talking about south korea, the united states's ally and its neighbour, of course. he said he was opened talks with south korea, particularly in terms ofjohn chang, the up and coming winter particularly in terms ofjohn chang, the up and coming winter olympics due to take place in south korea at the beginning of february ——john

chang. there would be told about whether north korea would send a delegation and he was indeed considering sending adele rate —— delegation to south korea to compete in the winter delegation to south korea to compete in the winter olympics. —— pyongchang. it is important here, president moon of south korea gave a speech before —— pyongchang spoke this morning and mainly about domestic issues that he thought that the pyongchang 0lympics could be a turning point in terms of relations between the two koreas and reducing pensions on the —— tensions on the peninsula which he said had been ratcheting up throughout 2017. he didn't have much to say in terms of his relations with the united states, what came as a surprise to anyone, but it was not a defiant tone. at 2017, particularly the latter pa rt tone. at 2017, particularly the latter part of the year, there has been several rounds of un sanctions aimed at punishing them in terms of their nuclear tests, nothing has had any impact in terms of pyongyang

negotiating, and his message to the united states this morning was very much one of defiance. sophie, thank you. china's xijinping has china's xi jinping has used china's xijinping has used his new‘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 at xi jinping has said that his foreign affairs priorities in the number of areas. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. 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 us state of colorado say a sheriff's deputy has been killed and four wounded after they came under fire in a suburb of denver. they were responding to a report of gunfire during what police said was a domestic disturbance.

police say two civilians were also shot, as was the suspected shooter, who is believed to be dead. venezuela's government is raising the minimum wage by 40% with the start of the new year. president nicolas maduro, who is 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 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. he said iran had many problems that dated back to previous years — a reference to years of international sanctions because of its nuclear programme.

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 popular 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 kermanshah, 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 protests, again, saying: that is the latest tweet from

president trump. footage has emerged from the scene were 12 people were killed when a small passenger plane crashed shortly after takeoff in north—west costa rica. government officials the single propeller cessna officials the single propeller cess na ha d officials the single propeller cessna had ten us citizens and to local crew members on board. the cause of the crash is not yet known. media reports said five of the passengers shared the same surname suggesting they were related. the incident happened near a mountainous region popular with tourists on the pacific coast. 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. welcome back.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: millions have thronged 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. five of the victims are british, tt came down in a river close to the suburb of cowanne.

phil mercerjoins me from sydney. what is the latest? well, the authorities here in australia have named those five victims, they are richard cousins, who was chief executive of the compass group, which is the largest catering company in the world, also on that flight company in the world, also on that flight were his beyonce, she was in her late 40s, she was travelling with an 11—year—old daughter, also on board were two of mr cousins's sons, aged in their early and mid— 20s, so it's terrible, terrible, tragic accident that the authorities here in australia are investigating. as you say, this is the plane came down near the suburb of cowan in jerusalem bay about 2k hours ago, and the australian transport safety

bureau, in the last few hours has begun efforts to retrieve the plan because that's the plan still sits in about 13 metres of water, just to the north of where we are now. this must be incredibly shocking for the tourism industry there. well, where we are is surrounded with new year's day holidaymakers from around the world, and people come to australia to see things that they can't see anywhere else, and now the job of the air crash investigation team is to find out how and why a routine sightseeing trip from rose bay on syd ney sightseeing trip from rose bay on sydney harbour to jerusalem sightseeing trip from rose bay on sydney harbour tojerusalem bay endedin sydney harbour tojerusalem bay ended in such catastrophic circumstances. the plane crashed shortly after taking off from near to an exclusive waterfront restau ra nt, to an exclusive waterfront restaurant, where the british victims were having lunch, and we

understand according to an eyewitness, that the plan bank sharply to the right before nosediving into the water. it is worth mentioning too that the tragedy also claimed the life of a 44—year—old pilot too, so in total, six people have died in this seaplane tragedy here in eastern australia and as we say, five of those victims were from the united kingdom, a holidaying in australia from britain. 0k, thank you. 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 inside the main arena, we were 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, so we came outside and obviously the fire was a lot worse than they were letting us know, really. earlier, i spoke to lee clarke, who was evacuated from a nearby

hotel and also lost his car in the blaze. are telling us at about eight o'clock that it was just a small fire that would be controlled and a couple of hours. a couple of hours later, we were told that we would need to evacuate ourselves. we are now in the hilton hotel, itjust across the street, and we do not know of we have got a bed for the night. we live in nottinghamshire, which is only 35 miles away, so naturally i am going to have problems getting home tomorrow. naturally i am going to have problems getting home tomorrowm it has been confirmed to you that yours is one of the cars destroyed? yeah, from what i gather. i have been following the liverpool echo reporter and the police on twitter and they have both confirmed that all the vehicles that were in there, i think there is between 11100 and

2000 have all been destroyed, so as far as we know at this stage, we are without a kenow. yeah, just looking at pictures of that fire, it looks very intense. were you" as mac can you describe it to us? yeah, we were going up for you describe it to us? yeah, we were going upfora you describe it to us? yeah, we were going up for a walk at about eight o'clock, we will going to go to one of the bars. we crossed one of the bridges and from the one side, it looked 0k, from the other side it was absolutely shocking. you could see the plan just building through every single floor of the car park, it was honestly like someone was selling fireworks in the car park. it was ridiculous, it was surreal, it was something i have never ever experienced before and not something i ever to experience again. at least 36 people have been killed in a head—on collision between a lorry and a bus

on a notoriously dangerous road in kenya. the bus was carrying people to the capital, nairobi, when the accident happened near the nakuru—eldoret highway, near nakuru. more than 100 people have died in the last few weeks on that stretch of road alone. ian palmer reports. few survived the crash. first—responders search twisted metal to help and recover the injured, the dying and the dead. police say the number of people killed on this dangerous stretch of road has risen to 100 for the month of december alone. the east african country has one of the worst road—safety records in the world. it's either the brakes failed, or the driver, for one reason or the other, was unable to control the vehicle. you never know what happens at night. both drivers died in the head—on collision. officials say 3000 people die in road accidents each year in kenya. the world health organisation says the true figure could be as high as 12,000. ian palmer, bbc news. 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. pablo uchoa reports. these latest rallies were called by roman catholic activists and backed by opposition parties. but the authorities banned the protests, saying they did not have the resources to police them. security forces set up roadblocks and used tear gas and live ammunition to break gatherings at several locations, including churches. the protesters are demanding presidentjoseph kabila's resignation. his second term as president finished one year ago, and the constitution bars him from seeking a third mandate. he promised to step down by the end of this year, but he didn't. translation: we are tired. we have never had peace in this country. nothing works. we don't have enough to eat. president kabila should go and rest.

translation: even under president mobutu, which was a dictatorship, you could march peacefully. we are really tired of this president. after attending mass in kinshasa, the leader of the opposition called on his countrymen to take a stand together. translation: we're living under a dictatorship. i'm simply asking our people to resist, and we need to think of alternatives. sunday's violence is a repeat of tensions that have erupted time and again over the past year. more than 50 people were reportedly killed in anti—government protests between april and october. and there are concerns this volatility will persist. pablo uchoa, bbc news. as fireworks lit the sky in jakarta 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 head dresses. just hours before midnight, the mass wedding commenced with the arrival of the governor of jakarta. it was the cost of the marriage ceremonies he had come to resolve. the city government raised funds to make a legally binding marriage possible. allowing children of these unions to also be recognised. 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 cannot afford to do so. translation: i am very happy because we are officially wed in the mass wedding, receiving a blessing from all of society. i am very pleased. as the happy couples left the venue to join the throng of new year party —goers, jakarta's government 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. you're watching bbc news, do stay with us. 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 well 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 through 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 scraper and the de—icer ready, because it looks like we could see a fairly widespread frost. the clear skies short lived though. another area of low pressure swinging its way in from the atlantic, through the day. rain, some snow for the hills of northern england and the mountains of scotland. briefly rather mild

though to the far south. another area of low pressure comes whizzing 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, some more heavy rain and a risk by then 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 thronged brazil's copacabana beach to celebrate. in london, crowds saw 30 tons 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 protesters in tehran. more than 1,000 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, it is that one london.