this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines: sajid javid says there are no easy answers as another group of migrants are found by border officials on the kent coast this morning. i have made a decision today, to bring back two of the border force's largest vessels, known as cutters, from abroad, back to the uk. thirty—nine people arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a stabbing in west london. the ‘70s pop starjimmy osmond recovers from a stroke which he had while performing in a pantomime in birmingham last thursday. huge crowds gather in hong kong to see in the new year, with a spectacular display of fireworks. the government is bringing back

two border force patrol boats from overseas to police the english channel in the wake of renewed controversy over the number of migrants coming to the uk. the authorities in kent are questioning the latest group of migrants to come ashore. the nine men, two women and a child, who say they are from iran, arrived at the town of greatstone in a small vessel early this morning. our correspondent simon jones is in doverfor us now. just as the home secretary was returning to his desk at the home office this morning, having cut short a family holiday, a sign of the problem that is being faced here, another inflatable boatjust along the coast from here, with 12 people on that boat who said they we re people on that boat who said they were from iran. there have been calls from local politicians for an increase in the number of patrol

vessels working out in the channel to try to detect these small boats, known as cutters, at the moment, just one of the border force's fleet of five is operational in the channel, others are abroad. there had been some resistance at the home office to increase the number of cutters, for fear it might be a magnet to the people trying to get across the channel risking their lives, those boats could be seen as rescue boats rather than patrol boats but in the past hour or so, the home secretary has announced the change in policy and the patrols will be stepped up. when it comes to human life, clearly we want to make sure we are doing all that we can to protect people, and we must

remember, this is one of the most treacherous stretches of water that there is, 21 miles, people taking grave risks, really putting their lives into their own hands by taking this journey, and i want to make sure that we are doing all that we can, that is one of the reasons i have made a decision today to redeploy two of the border forces largest vessels, known as cutters, from abroad, back to the uk, back to south—east england, they will be joining a cutter that is already there, and two other patrol vessels. —— border force's largest vessels. this will help both with the human side of this situation, but also to better protect our borders. when it comes to the borders, there is also a lot more we need to do, i wish there was a single answer but it requires action on many fronts. there are three other things i have decided to do both today and in the run—up to this, and much of this work started weeks ago but we are stepping it up further: one is law enforcement, both at home, with the national crime agency, and other agencies they work with, better coordination with french partners, we have already opened up, for example, just last month, a new coordination centre in calais, 24/7 manned centre with british and french officials to help to end this kind of illegal migration from france to britain.

two, we have also decided to do much more work on disruptions, because while we know about the attempts that are successful, these are people that are making it, there are also many that are not successful because the french have been successful in 40% of cases so far this year, in actually leaving the french coast. three, the french and british working together, we want to get the rate of disruption up, and we're looking at ways to do that both directly but also in more covert ways. and, i want to send a strong signal to people who do think about making this journey, we will do everything we can to make sure that it is not a success, and in the sense that, i don't want people to think that if they leave a safe country like france, they can get to britain and get to stay, and that is why we are working out ways with the french to increase the number of returns that we can make, to send a very strong message that we will do all that we cannot just to protect human life, that is the responsible thing to do,

but also, to protect our borders. previously you have said bringing in cutters, these bigger ships, is a pull factor, which could encourage more people to make the perilous trip, how will you prevent that from happening and what happens to the migrants you pick up in the channel, will they be returned to france? there is a balance to be struck, in terms of patrolling waters, on one hand, vessels from the border. they have an importantjob to do in terms of protecting borders. it is a big job for customs and customs protecting the border in that way as well. on the other hand, there is a human side to it, if you do come across anyone in distress and a difficult situation, of course, officers will act and do the right things, there is a balance to be struck. it is important to crack down on

these gangs and gangs of people, traffickers taking advantage of so many people, by sending them a com pletely many people, by sending them a completely false prospectus, we want to crack down. there has been excellent work that has been done on law enforcement in recent weeks, especially the french recently made three significant arrests. they are being interrogated and there is a lot more to come on law enforcement. a lot had been said on law enforcement, they have beenjumping up enforcement, they have beenjumping up and down saying, they need to get a grip of this problem, the numbers arriving by boat started to increase, particularly one of those concerned, the mp for dover, charlie elphicke, in the past few minutes he has been giving me his reaction to the fact that two cutters will be brought back to patrolled the channel. that i have been calling for the return of these cutters for some time. i'm delighted that the home

secretary has listened and has acted oi'i secretary has listened and has acted on it and is recalling them today, it is really important that they can form form a modern patrol, and take back control of our borders. what about the argument that the home secretary has considered, that they could act as a magnet for people who see them as rescue boats. we need to see them as rescue boats. we need to see this dover patrol work hand in glove with french authorities and a new channel compact, so that anyone found in the english channel, in one of these sea craft, which are unseaworthy, they can be helped back to the french coast so they know there is no chance of getting into britain. how disappointed are you that it has taken two months for the home secretary to act? this has been a steadily rising problem over the la st a steadily rising problem over the last couple of months, 200 have entered the country, several more today, i'm delighted the home secretary has looked at that, taken personal charge, made these decisions today. it is a really important step to bringing this

crisis to an end. the home secretary bringing back cutters, but he says in the longer term what is needed is to tackle the people trafficking gangs over in france, the reality is that will not be something quick or easy to do, in the meantime, we are expecting more crossings, particularly as weather remains very calm this time of year. we calculate 239 migrants have arrived in kent on small boats over the past couple of months, to put it into context, compare to other parts of europe, the greek government have released figures showing a85 migrants have arrived on the greek islands in the past week alone. thirty—nine people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after an argument in a shop in west london led to a man being chased and stabbed. the man, thought to be in his mid—30s, was found with life—threatening wounds when police were called

to fulham palace road, hammersmith, at one in the morning. the suspects were seen going into a property where there was a party. officers tried to speak to those in the flat, but when they failed to co—operate thirty nine people were arrested. now, a spacecraft is set to observe an icy world billions of kilometres from earth in the early hours of 2019. nasa's new horizons spacecraft will collect data and take photos of the object, called ultima thule. the probe will set a new record for the farthest ever exploration of a solar system body. joining me now is elizabeth pearson, news editor at sky at night magazine. exciting stuff, amazing pictures of pluto from new horizons in 2015, tell us more about this latest mission. —— new horizons. tell us more about this latest

mission. -- new horizons. ever since it flew past pluto in 2015, this spacecraft has been travelling out, new horizons has been exploring the solar system and is now 1.5 billion kilometres beyond pluto, 6.5 billion kilometres beyond pluto, 6.5 billion kilometres from earth and is about to fly past a place called ultima thule, which is a copperbelt object, the copperbelt is the region at comedy outer region of the solar system, filled with these huge icy bodies, and a lot of them, if they get knocked inwards, that becomes the comets. —— kuiper belt. that is what new horizons will be exploring in the early hours of the morning. what is it about ultima thule that drew the attention of nasa? the reason we are going there, as opposed to anywhere else, it was in the right place, as soon as they have flown past pluto, the new horizons team started doing massive searches, doing for —— looking for

something that was on their tracks, where they would be going, they will be able to reach and explore, that was ultima thule, it turned out, they did not have to go far to reach there, that is why we should be flying past there in a couple of hours. once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it has been described as, basically it will provide us with building blocks regarding the background of the solar system, tell us more background of the solar system, tell us more about why this is so significant. kuiper belt is filled with leftover remnants of the solar system formation, and what that means is, partly, these are the bits that did not make it into planets and if we can understand why they did not become planets, it helps us understand a bit more about what it is that makes a planet grow and how the planet is formed, the composition, the various minerals and elements they do, but it shows us and elements they do, but it shows us what was around at the beginning of the solar system, some of the most pristine material out there in

the solar system. by understanding it, we understand the origin of our own planet and ourselves. it is a marriage of the primordial with the modern, bryan may and stephen hawking will also be making an appearance? so to speak. on board they have various recordings of things, whenever you send out a probe, to explore the distant solar system, people, especially nasser tends to put something on in case someone finds it again one day. i think these are some of the people on board. 5:30am, uk time, 12:30pm, forthe people in the control room, so they get to celebration! —— 12:30am. people in the control room, so they get to celebration! "12:30am. six hours before we get the images back

from new horizons. now, ‘70s pop starjimmy osmond has had a stroke while performing in pantomime at the birmingham hippodrome. he was taken to hospital after last thursday's performance of peter pan where he was playing captain hook. earlier our arts and entertainment correspondent colin paterson explained jimmy osmond has performed in a panto a number of times over the years. this year he was hook in peter pan at the birmingham hippodrome, started the week before christmas, two days after christmas, he was onstage, he was not feeling well, but he finished his performance. the information we have been given at this time is that he will rest earlier in the new year, we don't have any more updates on his condition.

jimmy osmond, well known, well loved by his fans as well, give us a background. jimmy osmond, part of the osmond family, he was the youngest person ever to have a number one single in the uk — christmas no 1, 1972, long—haired lover from liverpool, in fact, in this production of peter pan, he was taking the songs of the osmonds and adapting them to be peter pan—friendly, so it was the long—haired lover from neverland that he was singing in this production, you get the idea. and also, he was singing songs for the big climax of the show. he is a mainstay of entertainment in the uk, he has done seven different pantomimes here, already booked to do many shows next summer, playing butlins in bognor in february. competed on masterchef in 2016, he came runner—up in masterchef. so, a very familiarface to many in britain and this will be quite shocking news,

especially to the family, entertained by him over the last week in birmingham. what we have been told about the pantomime, it's going ahead at the moment, with his understudy taking on the role, darren day had finished playing hook in northampton, so he has hotfooted it across the country to birmingham, rehearsing for the role, and will take it over from jimmy osmond by the end of the week. the important thing is that we believe that he is recovering from this stroke. twelve people including a child are questioned by immigration officials after being found by border force staff on the kent coast this morning the home secretary redeploys two border force vessels from overseas to patrol the english channel amid the migrant crisis thirty—nine people are arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a stabbing in west london. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre,

here's sarah. a quiet day in the world of sport. it's a new year, new season in tennis, with most of the top players in australia for the first grand slam of 2019 just two weeks away. some important tournaments are underway. serena williams made a winning return since her loss to naomi osaka in the final of the us open. she was playing for the usa in the hopman cup, that is a a mixed—team event in perth, and beat maria sakkari of greece in straight sets but admits she was a little rusty. yeah, i mean, it was my first match back. so, she played unbelievable, and obviously, such a good player. but, yeah, iwas making a lot of errors. it is ok, first match, you'll get better, you'll get better. that is what i kept to think. arsenal manager unai emery has been fined £8000

by the football assocation after admitting to a charge of improper conduct but he has avoided a touchline ban. it relates to the match at brighton on boxing day which the gunners drew. he kicked a water bottle and it hit a supporter. he apologised straight away and again at full time. samir nasri has been signed by west ham united on the day that his doping ban ends. he hasjoined in a deal until the end of the season, he served an 18 month ban for using an intravenous drip treatment but is available to play again from tomorrow. russia is set to miss the deadline to hand over data from its moscow anti—doping lab. the world anti—doping agency controversially lifted a three—year ban on the country in september on the condition that doping samples were sent by the end of 2018. the clock is ticking and failure to meet the deadline would be embarassing for wada's leadership and will almost certainly see russia face new sanctions. caroline rigby reports.

for years, russian athletes broke records and dominated medal tables, it was too good to be true. after russia was found guilty of state—sponsored doping on a massive scale, it became a country in sporting exile, clean athletes. to compete as neutrals at events like the olympics. in the seychelles, in september, the world anti—doping agency changed all that, it has made the controversial decision to lift the controversial decision to lift the ban on russia, on the condition that by the end of the year, it hands over data from this moscow laboratory at the centre of one of the biggest ever scandals in sport. with the deadline almost up, the chief of russia's anti—doping agency has called on president vladimir putin to intervene. translation: we are on the brink of the abyss, i ask

you to protect the present and future of clean sport, for future generations of athletes. the kremlin says it is in contact with wada and it spokesman suggests the anti—doping boss simply is not fully in the loop. macro translation: the director unfortunately is not completely aware of the work that is in progress between the russian side and wada in moscow, he does not know the details, in the meantime, this cooperation is ongoing in a standard working regime. yet, senior wada officials now privately admit monday's deadline is unlikely to be met and that could see further sanctions against russia and its athletes once again banned from international competition. and finally... floyd mayweather came out of retirement for a very

lucrative exhibition fight in tokyo today. the former world champion, who is a1, knocked down the 20—year—old japanese kick boxer tenshin nasukawa three times in the first round before his corner threw in the towel. mayweather making a cool £9 million just for turning up. all the details of that on the bbc sport website. final preparations are being made for new year's eve celebrations in central london, including for the sold out fireworks display. about 70,000 fireworks will go off during the show, which will last just over 10 minutes. and our correspondent chi chi izundu is in central london. in about two hours' time, this whole area will be filled with 100,000 people who manage to get hold of some tickets and as you can imagine, eight tonnes of fireworks due to be set off from barges, pontoons and the london eye, no easy feat. jim donald is in charge of notjust the

fireworks but the security operation. how do you put together an event like this? year-round operation, we have been working at the mayors office for a number of years both in the development of the event since the early stages to create an event, particularly for 100,000 people. to create an amazing environment to show off london to the world and show what a great global city it is, to pull that together, operational challenge here tonight, around 3000 stewards, probably 4000 staff in all working for us to make this happen. and all the other multiple organisations to deal with. it is notjust a greenfield site where you put up a fence and check your operation is all working, this street was open just a few hours ago and we are putting the infrastructure out and getting everything in place to allow ticket holders to come in and safely enjoy the show, while also, making sure that there is the ability for

all residents and businesses to go about their business. operationally, or some team work, we have got to pull it all together. creatively, we will create that amazing moment at midnight to describe to —— display to the world how great london is. you told me something that would give me palpitations, got hold of the london eye out apm this afternoon, your team has between apm and midnight to have everything set up and midnight to have everything set up and ready to go. absolutely, the london eye is busy, it is a busy time of year, we don't want to disrupt that, unlike other cities, where they have access to buildings and big toll bridges weeks in advance, we just work through the night, putting things on it, but the live pyrotechnics cannot happen until the public are off, the last ride was at 4pm, the lights went in, and right now, behind us, the pyro team are putting the final fixtures on there. and we should see

everything from midnight tonight. many parts of the world have already welcomed in 2019. australia was among the first countries to celebrate with sydney harbour transformed into a blaze of colour james waterhouse has been taking a look at the celebrations. five, four, three, two, one. cheering as geography dictates, new zealand is always one of the first to welcome the new year. helped along with 500 kilograms of pyrotechnics from the sky tower in auckland. and a record amount of fireworks in sydney to do this to the skyline, for more than one and a half million people. and then, it was north korea's turn. a rare concert at kim il—sung square, in pyongyang. this state television footage shows people praising their leader, kimjong—un, before fireworks started there.

then, it was tokyo's cue. away from the cities, it is also an opportunity to visit local temples and shrines, pray for good fortune, symbolised by the mandarin orange. if you thought hong kong was going to be low key... # may all the plaintiffs be forgot.#

however, no ‘80s remix of auld lang syne in taiwan. no pressure, london(!) time for a look at the weather. rippled here, caused by the air going over the mountains, that breaks it up. glimmers of sunshine from the highlands, east, in scotland, if you brighter moments, and if you brighter moments to the east of the pennines particularly for yorkshire and lincolnshire, otherwise it stays cloudy. that will sink south into southern scotland and northern ireland, for hogmanay celebrations, skies will

clear, a few showers and it will be very windy, gusts reaching 75 mph in the northern ireland for hogmanay celebrations. a bit of rain for northern ireland and southern scotland, a few light showers, south of this, it will stay mainly cloudy, not particularly cold, and drive for those all important midnight celebrations. whether front pushes south, a little bit of rain across england and wales, some areas will avoid the rain altogether, it will be quite patchy in nature. looking at the weather picture for the first day of the new year, big area of high pressure, that cold front brings in coolerair high pressure, that cold front brings in cooler air but also, more significantly for many of us, it will break up the clown. on tuesday, new year's day, sunnier skies across scotland, much of england, staying pretty cloudy across wales and south—west england, and may be

northern ireland. temperature going down, compensated for by sunnier skies. chilly north—westerly wind, and as we go through the night time, into the early hours of wednesday morning, fairly widespread frost developing. wednesday, another dry day, high pressure still with us, ple nty of day, high pressure still with us, plenty of sunshine for most of us, we may see clouds thickening up once again for western areas of scotland later on again for western areas of scotland lateron in again for western areas of scotland later on in the day. temperature is a little bit cool for this time of year, highs of four to seven celsius. to sum up, pretty cloudy but we will break it up as we get to the new year, with some sunshine and frost returning by night. the home secretary redeploys two border force ships from overseas, as he attempts to deal with migrants trying to cross the channel. sajid javid says there are no easy answers — as another group of migrants are found by border officials on the kent coast this morning. we must do all that we can, notjust to protect human life, because of course that's the right and responsible thing to do

at all times, but also to protect our borders. 39 people attending a house party are arrested on suspicion of attempted murder — after suspects in a stabbing were seen entering the property shortly after the attack. just hours away — the nasa mission to visit the furthest object ever visited by a space craft — 3.5 billion miles away. and in some parts of the world it's already 2019 — sydney welcoming in the new year in traditional style. good evening. two border force ships are to be redeployed from overseas to patrol the english channel — in response to recent migrant crossings.

the home secretary sajid javid's announcement comes after he met with border force and national crime agency officials — to discuss an action plan to tackle the growing number of migrants attempting to get to the uk. 12 more migrants, including a ten—year—old child — arrived on the kent coast today, bringing the total who have attempted to get here since november to 239. this report from vicki young contains some flash photography. kent police examining a vessel bringing the latest group of migrants to the english coast. nine men, two women and a child landed here this morning. saying they were iranian nationals. almost 100 have arrived in small boats over the christmas period. the home secretary has been forced to swap his south african holiday for meetings in whitehall. promising to take personal control of the situation. when it comes to human life, clearly i want to make sure that we are doing all we can to protect people and we must remember this is one of the most treacherous stretches

of water there is. 21 miles with people taking great risks, really putting their lives into their own hands by taking this journey. sajid javid announced he is redeploying two of the border force'a largest ships, known as cutters, from abroad, back to the uk to join other patrol vessels. the mp for dover says it is important that illegal migrants are not allowed to stay in the uk. what we need to see now is dover patrol work hand in glove with the french authorities in a new channel compact so that anyone found in the english channel in one of these unseaworthy craft, can be helped safely back to the french coast so they know there is no chance of getting into britain. thosw helping migrants say they should not be demonised. we have to hold on to the fact that people, however desperate they are, are our brothers and sisters in humanity. and that is what we need to keep reminding people about. and they are refugees

unless proved otherwise. sajid javid has said in the past that deploying more patrol vessels in the english channel could encourage more migrants to make the dangerous journey because they think they will be rescued. today he said that those concerns should be put aside but those travelling from third countries such as france could not be expected to be allowed to stay in the uk. the numbers trying to cross the channel in boats like these are small in comparison to the 26,000 people claiming asylum in the uk in 2017. but political pressure has forced the home secretary to act. vicki young, bbc news. we can speak to our europe correspondent damian grammaticas who is in calais. you have been talking to some of those thinking of making this perilous journey? that is right, not just thinking about it but who have

tried twice in the past week. we spoke to some refugees here, iranians, they paid smugglers and got on the small boats. they said the first time they ran out of fuel but the second time they got close to the english coast. they said that the called 99 to seek assistance from the uk coastguard and say that they were picked up by a french vessel and brought back all the way here. they said the reason they're doing this is because security here at the ports has become so tight it is now almost impossible to stow away on a lorry or train serbia turning to these boats instead. but those coastguard cutters but are now being called back and that they have been operating in greece and were around 250 people have made this crossing in the past month or so, on those greek islands there are still up those greek islands there are still up to 250 people per day crossing from turkey into greece. so if the comeback the pressure will still be

high and that side of europe for those making the crossings. the department for transport has clarified its position about a controversial contract that was given to a small british start—up firm called seabourne freight for extra cross—channel ferries in the event of a no—deal brexit. our business correspondent, joe miller is here with me — what have they said? some claims that this was all a bit shambolic? what happened is over the past few weeks the government has quietly awarded contracts to three shipping companies to ferry lorries across the channel in the event no—deal brexit causing congestion at uk ports. two of those companies where large international firms with an existing fleet. one of them, seabourne freight, as we revealed yesterday, was a start—up that has never sailed a single battle. yesterday the department of transport stood by the firm and said it had carefully vetted their commercial and financial position

before signing a deal for the commercial and financial position before signing a dealfor the but after criticism from mps from many parties the department of transport is now clarifying that seabourne freight is obliged to meet the number of stringent requirements before being handed any taxpayer money. in other words if it does not get operational by the 29th of march thenit get operational by the 29th of march then it will not receive a penny. and that is in stark contrast to the contract awarded to brittany ferries for example. where it would retain some of that money even of services we re some of that money even of services were no longer needed. 39 people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after an argument in a shop in west london led to a man being chased and stabbed. the victim — who's in his 30s — was found with life—threatening injuries in the early hours of this morning. our correspondent keith doyle reports. these are all policemen... the police response to a stabbing. dozens of officers arrived at a property where the suspects were believed to be at a party. those at the party refused

to cooperate with the police. so were all arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. outside they were lined up by the police as each was arrested. in all 39 people were ta ken into custody. earlier, police had been called when a man in his 30s was stabbed following an argument in a shop. he was treated at the scene and taken to hospital, where his injuries are described as life—threatening. the suspects then ran into a flat nearby where there was a large group of people having a party. it was here that the police made the arrest. about 50 police officers marched down the road, went into the house next door, and brought out 30, a0 people. had them all lined up against the southern belle, were interrogating them, and then they got arrested and taken away about four o'clock. the police admit making so many arrests at this early stage of an investigation is unusual. but they said because of a lack of cooperation, and the necessity to secure essential evidence, it was appropriate to bring so many

people into custody at this stage. forensic teams have been at the scene throughout the day. two knives were found close by. those arrested are being questioned at a number of police stations around london. keith doyle, bbc news. a nasa probe is set to make history in the early hours of tomorrow when it's due to fly past a space rock more than 3.5 billion miles from earth. if successful, it will be the furthest object ever visited by a space craft. the probe — called new horizons — will take a series of photos which may holds clues about the formation of the solar ystem. our science editor, david shukman reports. it's taken a long, dark trek through the outer reaches of the solar system but now the nasa spacecraft new horizons is on the brink of making history. about to reach the remotest world that humanity has ever ventured to. it's pure exploration. pure science and pure exploration. we're trying to understand

the origin of the planets and the object that we're going to fly by, nicknamed ultima thule, is a frozen time capsule from the era of the birth of our planets. to explain what this mission is all about, let's use our virtual studio and start with the middle of our solar system. orbiting closest to the sun are the four small rocky planets, including earth. then further out, there are four much larger planets. the best known of these is saturn, with its famous rings. and then, right on the margin, there's tiny pluto. 3 billion miles away. but it turns out that pluto is just one part of a massive outer zone we only started discovering in the last 20 years or so. thousands of tiny worlds, lumps of rock and ice, known as the kuiper belt. these are objects left over after the planets were formed. one of these is known as ultima thule.

and until now, we've only had this artist's impression of it. but after racing from earth on a 13 yearjourney, nasa's new horizons spacecraft is about to fly past it, the most distant exploration in human history. new horizons is exploring ultima thule a billion miles further away than pluto, for a total distance of a billion miles. forget 1990s dial—up modem internet speeds, we're going to be downloading data from the spacecraft at one kilobit per second. over the next almost two years. now, the great thing about such a slow data transmission rate is that it's almost the gift that keeps on giving. every week or so we will get new images back from the spacecraft and we're going to learn new things for the next two years. three years ago the same spacecraft flew past pluto and revealed something entirely unexpected. that it's far more active than anyone realised. it may even have an ocean beneath the surface. so now the discoveries about an even more distant world to be made in the coming hours may

bejust as surprising. david shukman, bbc news. the equalities watchdog is taking nhs england to court — for failing to offer fertility treatment to all transgender patients. at the moment in england a small number of clinical commissioning groups say because of pressures on budgets they don't offer ivf treatment to anyone on the nhs. a bbc investigation found that around a quarter of local nhs areas in england freely offer fertility treatment to transgender people. ashley john—ba ptiste reports. cruella's 22 years old and a transgender woman living in bournemouth. she transitioned from a male at the age of 16. back then, she couldn't get her sperm frozen for free. i essentially can't be a biological parent. and i do believe it's unfair that transgender women and men aren't given the opportunity, like anybody else would, to be a parent. because i feel like everybody deserves that opportunity to have a child and to have a family, no matter what their situation is.

according to this fertility specialist, nhs cutbacks mean that other patient groups may also miss out on treatment. you have things like cancer patients, young people with other fertility—threatening therapies, who may also not get fertility treatment. we asked nhs england for an interview. they declined, but gave us this reply. "we believe this request is misjudged and potentially unfair to nhs patients, as well as wasting precious nhs resources on legal costs." i've only been on hormones for about six months... max is 22 and works at this indoor skydiving centre in manchester. max was born a boy, but identifies as neither male norfemale, but what's known as non—binary. two years ago, when max began transitioning, they weren't offered the option to freeze their sperm and so did it privately. max prefers the pronouns ‘they‘ and ‘their‘. i want kids someday, so, erm...

i was asking if i would be able to get that covered on the nhs and my gp told me that i wouldn't be able to. the choice between a family and going on hormones is not something that people should have to make. i've been on testosterone gel now for four months... jackson is a transgender man from leeds. he was offered fertility treatment, but rejected it. i feel that we get enough to start with through the nhs. and we get a lot, you know, of surgeries. we get the medication that we need. we then also have, like, aftercare. we have a gender clinic to go to. and there's that many now, transgenders out there, male and female, who are going through the process. during a time of cutbacks, many might question whether the nhs can afford this treatment but, for many tra nsgender activists, this is about equality. ashleyjohn—baptiste, bbc news. new year celebrations have begun around the world

as we welcome in 2019. australia was among the first countries to celebrate with sydney harbour transformed into a blaze of colour. chi chi izundu has this report. three, two, one... cheering it's already 2019 for some parts of the world. sydney was welcomed in with its biggest ever fireworks display. two hours earlier, in auckland, new zealand, it was the first major city to celebrate the new year. fireworks were launched from the skycity tower. north korea's celebrations included a concert in pyongyang. in scotland, preparations are still under way for the traditional hogmanay celebrations.

in london, plans for tonight's fireworks started back injuly, eight tonnes will take off from 3a8 firing locations on barges, pontoons and the london eye. big ben, which has largely been silent for 2018, will kick off the year of 2019. now, it may be a bit quiet. butjust in a few hours 100,000 people are expected to line the embankment along the river thames, to watch the biggest fireworks display in europe. 12.5 million are expected to tune in and watch it live on their tvs. but a new year signals new change. so let's find out what people would like for 2019. so, number one, i want to lose weight, because this fat really needs to go. for 2019, i want to save more money. to be more happy, healthy and wise. to welcome another new great—grandchild in the spring. what i want for 2019 is for wales to win the rugby world cup,

donald trump to be abducted by aliens, brexit to be cancelled. happy new year, everybody! of course, a new year brings new hopes and dreams. but for now, 2019 is going off with a bang. chi chi izundu, bbc news. there's more on all those stories throughout the evening on the bbc news channel. we're back with the late news at twenty five past ten. now on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. goodbye. hello. this is bbc news. the government is bringing back two border force patrol boats from overseas to police the english channel — in the wake of renewed controversy over the number of migrants coming to the uk. the authorities in kent are questioning the latest group of migrants to come ashore. the 9 men, 2 women and a child — who say they're from iran — arrived at the town of greatstone in a small vessel early this morning.

the home secretary, sajid javid, has been meeting senior officials from the border force and the national crime agency to discuss the issue and gave this update. earlier today, i spoke with officials from the border forced to see what more we can do here, but also with our french friends in protecting our borders. this incident around the channel remains of serious concern to me. that's why declared it as a major incident a few days ago. it's both about protecting human life, but also about protecting our borders. when it comes to human life, clearly i wa nt to it comes to human life, clearly i want to make sure we are doing all we can to protect people and we must remember that this is one of the most treacherous stretches of water there is. 21 miles, with people taking grave risk, really taking their lives in their own hands by

taking this journey. and their lives in their own hands by taking thisjourney. and i their lives in their own hands by taking this journey. and i want to ensure we are doing all we can. that's one of the reasons i made the decision today to redeploy two of the border forced's largest vessels back from abroad to south—east england. they will join back from abroad to south—east england. they willjoin a cutter already there and two other coastal patrol vessels that there are. this will help with the human side of this situation, but also to better protect our borders. but when it comes the borders, there is also a lot more we need to do. i wish there was one single answer, but it requires action on many fronts. there are three other things i decided to do today and in the run—up to this. much of this work started weeks ago but we try to step it up further. one is on law enforcement, both at home with the national crime agency and other agencies to work with, but better cooperation with our french partners. we have already opened up, for example, just last month, a new

coordination centre in cali, a 20 a7 man centre with british and french officials to end this kind of illegal migration from britain to france. we have done more work on disruptions because whilst we know about the successful attempts that people have made it to the uk, there are also many that are not successful because the french have been successful in i think about a0% of cases so far this year, in actually disrupting them and stopping them leaving the french coast. the french and british are working together, we want to get the disruption up, so we're looking at ways to do that directly but also in more covert ways. and then lastly i wa nt to more covert ways. and then lastly i want to send a very strong signal to the people who do think about making this journey, that we will do all we can to ensure it is not a success in the sense that i don't want people

to think that if they leave a safe country like france that they can get to britain and then just get to stay. and that's why am working out ways with the french to increase the number of returns that we can make, to also send a strong message that we will do all we can, notjust to protect human life because that's the right and responsible thing to do at all times, but also to protect our borders. you previously said that bringing in these bigger ships is actually pull factor which could encourage more people to make that perilous trip. how will you prevent that from and what hope is to those migrants you pick up in the channel? will they be returned to france? there is a balance to be struck in terms of patrolling our waters. on the one hand, those vessels from the border forced to an importantjob the one hand, those vessels from the borderforced to an importantjob in terms of protecting our borders and in this case were talking about migrants, but also in terms of customs and protecting our borders

in that way as well. on the other hand, there is a human side to it. if you do come across anyone in distress, officers will act under the right thing. so there is a balance to be struck. to have decided today is if i look at the assets across border force, decided today is if i look at the assets across borderforce, given the current situation, the right thing to do is to redeploy some of those assets and make sure we are protecting human life but also protecting human life but also protecting our borders. you have declared this a major incident. how many migrants have made the journey in the last month? how do you know they are illegal migrants, as you tweeted earlier this week? this year, we have seen an increase in the number, but especially in the last two months. of all the crossings we know about, this year, about 80% of them have happened in the last three months. in the month of december, for example, we know of around 230 migrants that attempted

to make the crossing, but all those just under half have actually been disrupted by the french and never actually made it in terms of leaving the french coast. so those are the numbers we are aware of at the moment and i do understand some people saying, well, these are not huge numbers. but let's also remember that ourjob here is to make sure this doesn't turn into some new route for ever increase illegal migration. so want to try and stop it now as much as i possibly can. but also this is a very treacherous journey. it's a lot more dangerous than other routes we have known of in the past. and nobody wants to see a fatality. if these cutters pick up migrants in these cutters pick up migrants in the channel, will they be returned to france or will they be welcomed into the uk? we are working with the french are more cooperation in terms of returns, but if they are picked up of returns, but if they are picked up in english waters, just as they are now either by border force or volu nteers are now either by border force or volunteers from the rnli or others,

they will be brought back into british waters and that is what we would do initially. we would obviously assess any claim they may or may not make for asylum. that's why i think the returns policy is important to crack down on these gangs of people traffickers taking advantage of so many people by selling them are completely false prospectus and we don't want that. we wa nt prospectus and we don't want that. we want to crack down. there's been some excellent work done on law enforcement in recent weeks, especially the friends recently made three significant arrests and no suspects have been interrogated. i think there is a lot more to come on law enforcement cooperation. that is the home secretary sajid javid speaking earlier. time for the weather. for most of us, it is a quiet end to

the year. over parts of scotland, there are mounting waves, ripples going over cloud sheets going over the airgoing going over cloud sheets going over the air going over the mountains. that will allow some glimmers of sunshine for the highlands eastwards. there will be some brighter moments to the east of the pennines as well, particularly for yorkshire and lincolnshire. otherwise staying cloudy. for hogmanay celebrations, the skies will clear. there will be a few showers and it will be windy. gusts could reach around 75 mph in the northern isles for hogmanay celebrations. further south, we have some rain for northern ireland and southern scotland. south of this, it will stay mainly dry, and not particularly cold and will be dry for those all—importa nt particularly cold and will be dry for those all—important midnight celebrations. through the rest of the night, the weatherfront celebrations. through the rest of the night, the weather front sinks southwards bringing rain over england and wales, not amounting to much. some areas avoided altogether. quite patchy in nature. looking at

the first day of the new year, a cold front pushes southwards, high pressure to the west. that will bring cooler air across the uk, but more significantly having for many of us it will break the cloud up. so, on tuesday, new year's day, much sunnier skies scotland, much of england, probably staying pretty cloudy over wales and south—west england and perhaps also northern ireland. temperatures go down, but sunny skies. as they go through the night, into the early hours of wednesday morning, a widespread frost developing. so wednesday looks like another friday with high pressure still with us. still plenty of sunshine for most, but we start to see the cloud thickening up once again for western areas of scotland later on in the day. temperatures, a little cool for the time of year, we're looking at height of around

four or seven celsius. to sum up, cloudy at the moment but that breaks up cloudy at the moment but that breaks upfor cloudy at the moment but that breaks up for the new year. some sunshine and frosts returning by night. this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines: the home secretary deploys more patrols and says there are no easy answers as another group of migrants are found by border officials on the kent coast. i've made a decision today to redeploy two of the border force's largest vessels, known as cutters, from abroad back to the uk. thirty nine people are arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a stabbing in west london. huge crowds gather around the world to welcome in the new year. here's hong kong with a spectacular display of fireworks. and, just hours away now, the nasa mission to visit

the furthest object ever visited by a space craft, over a billion miles away.