welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: huge crowds on the copacabana beach as rio dejaneiro becomes one of the latest cities to see in the new year. a warning for washington — north korea's leader says he may change course on denuclearisation. a man is arrested after stabbing three people in manchester. counter—terrorism police are leading the investigation. 6.5 billion kilometres from earth, nasa prepares for the furthest flyby ever performed in space. 2019 is being rung in around the world. two hours ago, it was brazil's turn.

new york will have its traditional celebrations in times square in less than an hour. earlier, london, paris, dubai, moscow, hong kong and sydney all celebrated the start of the new year with huge firework displays, as caroline rigby reports. australia was one of the first places to welcome in the new year, and sydney's celebrations went off with a bang with its biggest ever fireworks display. huge thunderstorms earlier in the evening didn't dampen the spirits as 1.5 million spectators turned out to watch. just hours before, auckland, in new zealand became the first major city to see in 2019. pyrotechnics launched from the skycity tower. in north korea, a mass choir held a concert in pyongyang. # auld lang syne...

while almost $2 million worth of fireworks bathed hong kong's victoria harbour in colour, accompanied by a dizzying mash—up of auld lang syne sung in english, cantonese and mandarin. russians braved the cold to welcome in the new year in moscow's red square, while warmer weather in dubai saw revellers flock to the burj khalifa for a spectacular light show on the world's tallest building. in the french capital, the arc de triomphe was bathed in multicolour, as a volley of fireworks lit up the sky over the champs—elysees. celebrations rang out across europe from the ancient monuments of the acropolis in greece to berlin's brandenburg gate in germany. new year wouldn't be new year

in london without the bongs of big ben, and the famous bell, which has largely been silent during 2018 because of renovation work, once again rang out. 100,000 people lined the thames to watch the biggest fireworks display in europe. the theme — london is 0pen — a celebration of the city's links with the continent amid the turbulent times of britain's exit from the eu. it was a huge beach party in brazil. whatever 2019 brings, this was a night that saw the world come together in celebration and in hope for the year ahead. caroline rigby, bbc news. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, has given a new year address in which he says the country

is still committed to giving up nuclear weapons, and that he is prepared to meet again at any time with us president donald trump. there's been little progress on north korea's denuclearisation since the two leaders held their historic meeting on the issue injune. mr kim said he could be forced to look at what he called another path, and warned the us not to misjudge north korea's patience. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent, laura bicker, who is in south korea, and i asked her what we should make of the address. well, first of all, that renewing of his commitment to denuclearisation, i wouldn'tjust gloss over that. yes, the international community have heard this from donald trump from here in south korea, president moonjae—in about the agreements that kimjong—un signed up to, but kim jong—un‘s audience for his new year address is domestic. that means that people sitting around their breakfast tables have

heard it from the north korean leader himself, they have heard the word "denuclearisation", so i don't think that that should be taken too lightly. second of all, when it came to his warning, he was very clear, he was very unequivocal. despite the fact he acknowledged what had gone on in 2018 between himself and donald trump, a relationship that was once hostile had been made new, he did give a warning to the united states, and that warning was we're not going to wait around for ever, you cannot misjudge our patience. they don't want unilateral sanctions placed on north korea, they want the pressure removed, and they are saying to the united states, yes, we are willing to take part in denuclearisation, but we are not going to do this alone, we are not going to give up our weapons alone, you have to act too. and if you don't act, well, this kind of current detente, the current moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, well, that might be over. and, laura, in his address,

he was also talking about the economy? ithink again, well worth mentioning, 25 minutes of that speech was all about the economy. people have talked about kim jong—un‘s commitment to building the economy in 2018, he talked about giving them electricity, more food on the table, making their lives better. this is a commitment he made when he took over his leadership that i think he wants to come good on, but he cannot do that while north korea is under these current economic sanctions, mostly placed by the united states, who wants to pressure them into giving up its nuclear weapons. that's why the message was mainly based around the united states and donald trump's administration and maximum pressure strategy. but i think also for people here in south korea, where this morning they have been making wishes during the sunrise, their new year's wishes, i think when it comes to what people here want, they'll have heard some good things. he talked about developing a relationship with south korea and he said to the united states, look, there is hope in north

and south korea about what the two countries can do together. you can have that relationship too if you act. laura bicker there, speaking to us from south korea. three people, including a police officer, have been wounded in a stabbing at a train station in manchester in the north of england. it happened at manchester victoria station. in a statement, british transport police said officers had responded to reports of a man wielding a knife. one man has been arrested. a bbc producer, sam clack, witnessed the incident, and he told us what he saw. it was pretty scary, i have to say that, for a start. and there was just me on the platform, and as i was standing there, ijust heard the most bloodcurdling scream that i've ever heard. the police very quickly were on the platform, in hivis vests, they were shouting at him, but the guy started backing

up towards me and he got to probably within six to eight feet of me, and he was looking around very skittish. and at this point, i didn't know that anything was happening, other than a fight or some kind. it's new year's eve, people get drunk and have fights. but i looked down and it might have been his right hand, i looked down and thought he had a kitchen knife with a long, 12—inch blade in his hand, and he was backing up towards me, looking very skittish. and at his point, ijust felt a deep fear in the pit of my stomach, and thinking that this is actually — ifeel very, very scared now. and i started to move towards the tracks, getting ready to jump on the tracks, and jump out of the way and run out of the way, at which point one of the police officers shouted "taser". i couldn't say exactly what happened in terms of the next sequence of events, but he was pepper sprayed, he was tasered and he was brought to the ground. a 21—year—old man has been arrested for attempted murder after driving a car into crowds celebrating

new year's eve in the harajuku fashion district of tokyo. police say nine people were injured, one seriously. the street had been closed to traffic for new year's revellers. japanese media say the police have told them that the man carried out the attack to protest the death penalty. residents of an apartment block in russia have described waking up to find themselves falling after a gas explosion devastated an apartment building in the urals region. four people were killed in the collapse in magnitogorsk, where it's thought the blast ripped through the first floor before the seven storeys above then collapsed too. dozens more are missing in subzero temperatures. georgina smyth has more. the homes of 120 people reduced to a pile of rubble. this is the aftermath of a gas explosion in central russia that ripped through the concrete structure of a 9—storey apartment

building early on monday morning when many were still asleep. rescue workers picked through bricks, mortar and gnarled metal, desperately looking for survivors. and among the carnage, people's belongings. president vladimir putin flew in to observe the damage, visiting those injured in a nearby hospital. translation: it's december 31 today, the eve of the festivities. unfortunately, such a tragedy took place in magnitogorsk. i would like to express my condolences to the families of the victims, and to assure those affected that we will do everything to help and support them. it's notjust time rescuers are up against. magnitogorsk is experiencing temperatures of —22 celsius. 0nlookers, visibly distraught, await any news of more survivors. this woman says they've received no information. officials believe the collapse was caused by a gas explosion

and exacerbated by ageing infrastructure and poor safety regulations. rescuers will stay on scene and work into what should've been a happy new year. georgina smyth, bbc news. here in the uk, two border force patrol boats 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 10—year—old child, arrived on the kent coast on monday, 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. morning, home secretary. the home secretary has been forced to swap his south african holiday for meetings in whitehall, promising to take personal control of the situation. i'm working out ways, with the french, to increase the number of returns that we can make, to also send a very strong message that we will 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. mrjavid announced he's redeploying two of the border force's largest ships, known as cutters, from abroad back to the uk to join other patrol vessels. the mp for dover says it's important that illegal migrants aren't allowed to stay in the uk. what we need to see now is this 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 carefully and safely back to the french coast, so they know there's no chance of getting into britain. those helping migrants say they shouldn't 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's what we need to keep reminding people about. and they're refugees unless proved otherwise. in the past, sajid javid has said that deploying more patrol vessels in the channel could act as a pull factor, encouraging migrants to make an extremely dangerous journey because they think they will be rescued. today, he set those concerns aside, but said people travelling from safe countries such as france couldn't expect to be allowed to stay in the united kingdom. 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. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the first democrat to signal their intention to run for the white house next year. left—wing senator elizabeth warren says she is thinking about it. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got underway with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today, and then we'll be in france, and again, it'll be the same money. it's 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 looks good. just good? no, fantastic. that's better. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: rio dejaneiro has become one of the latest cities to welcome the new year. hundreds of thousands of people watched a firework show on the copacabana beach. the north korean leader, kim jong—un, has warned that he may change course on denuclearisation if washington continues

to demand unilateral concessions. food intended for millions of people in yemen who are at risk of starvation is being stolen, according to the world food programme. the un agency says there is an illicit and systematic trade in diverted aid in areas controlled by houthi rebels, and has threatened to withdraw from one area where it claims just 40% of its aid has reached the intended recipients. reem nada works for the un's world food programme in cairo. she told us what the wfp's investigation had found. we have photographs of lorries taking — illicitly taking food from food distribution points to unknown locations, and for the food to be appearing after that on the streets in the markets in yemen, at a time when yemenis are struggling. the most poor, whom we are targeting, are struggling to feed

the little ones. mothers are seeing their children dying and wasting away, while they are the rightful owners of this food. we are demanding that the local authorities in sana'a take appropriate action towards the one organisation that — one partner that we have identified as diverting our food to undeserving people. and there was a letter sent by the executive director of the world food programme to the local authorities, and it does indeed say that within ten days, if we do not see actions being taken, we will withdraw our assistance in that area. and we have actually...

and we have — this has been reported already. in that identified area, 40% of our assistance is what has been reaching the people. the us democratic senator elizabeth warren has announced she is considering running for president in 2020. she is the first high—profile democrat to put herself forward for the race. ms warren made the announcement in a post on twitter. she is expected to make a final decision early in the new year. 0ur washington correspondent gary 0'donoghue told us more about her message. she's talking about america and a washington that works only for the wealthy and the well—connected. that's obviously going to be a catchphrase of hers, i think, during this campaign. she's said that multiple times already. she said she's going to build a grassroots campaign with small—dollar donations, a bit like bernie sanders did last time around, and indeed, barack 0bama did

when he won victory. and she's clearly pitching her stand where we would expect, on the left of the party. she'd have been a champion, if you like, of workers‘ rights in terms of representation on the boards of big companies, union representation. she's talked about raising the minimum wage significantly, of course, and she's been really a sort of a scourge, in some ways, of wall street and those sorts of institutions. it's difficult — going to be difficult for her because there are going to be other people on that wing of the party, not least perhaps even bernie sanders himself, who's got that huge infrastructure already in place from the last time he ran, and all those people he galvanised at that time, those huge rallies. they're going to be on a similar sort of territory. there could be others, too. but the big thing here is that this field is going to be so crowded. there could be upwards of a dozen, even two dozen people in this field. and the issue, of course, is that not only is there limited

amounts of political space to share out between these people in order to distinguish themselves from one another, but the bottom line is there's a limited amount of cash, too, and a lot of them will fall out of the race simply because their campaigns go broke. the electoral commission in bangladesh has rejected opposition demands to hold fresh elections, despite widespread reports of vote—rigging, voter intimidation and fraud. the governing party led by prime minister sheikh hasina has been declared the winner. 0ur correspondent yogita limaye reports from the capital, dhaka. the morning papers declared the result — a historic third consecutive term, a landslide victory. at her official residence, prime minister sheikh hasina told foreign observers and journalists why she was the people's choice. the last ten years, what people enjoy, 110w they are getting better lives. but there have been allegations of vote rigging from around the country, one instance caught

on camera by the bbc. i asked ms hasina about it. there have been reports from different parts of the country of the rigging of results in favour of your party. there's also actually video footage of a ballot box which was filled even before polling began. do you believe this was a fair election? well, if there's any irregularities found by the electoral commission, immediately, they cancel the election. that election will be held afterwards. so we never encourage that. sometimes something might happen, but we did not do this action. it is not acceptable. a day after violence marred the national election here, things have been peaceful around the country. the opposition has demanded fresh polls, but it is unclear yet what the path ahead

for them will be. for many here, though, the absolute concentration of power with one party for the third time is a cause for worry. chanting. the impression that the government is intolerant to dissent has been growing. shouting. earlier this year, mass protests were held by students in dhaka over road safety. photographer shahidal alam had criticised how the government handled the demonstrations. he was jailed soon after. there is a climate of fear, that there is so much insecurity. and bridges and buildings don't give you a quality of life, and at the end of the day, you have people who want to breathe again. that's not such an unrealistic desire, i would've thought. for a country lifting itself out of poverty, development is necessary. but many are asking if it is coming at the cost of freedom. yogita limaye, bbc news, dhaka. a nasa probe is set to make history in the next few hours, when it is due to fly past a space rock more than 4 billion

miles from earth. if successful, it will be the furthest object ever visited by a spacecraft. the probe, called new horizons, will take a series of photos which may holds clues about the formation of the solar system. 0ur science editor david shukman reports. it has 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. now, 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 is 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 and 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. 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'll 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 is 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. we will end the programme with live pictures coming in from new york in the build—up from times square. they are about to ring in the new year in 30 minutes‘ time. you can watch the coverage on bbc news. hello.

the closing stages of 2018 brought a lot of cloud across much of the uk. however, some clearer skies across northern scotland, and it's these clearer skies which will slowly filter their way southwards through new year's day. so increasing amounts of sunshine, but also a colder feel behind this weakening cold front, running into an area of high pressure, so that all that's going to be left on it is just a band of cloud. and think of it really as a dividing line between the milder airfurther south and west and something colder further north and east. combine that with a brisk north or north—westerly wind along eastern coasts and it will feel quite chilly to start new year's day. but plenty of sunshine for most. more in the way of cloud across northern ireland, wales and south—west england, could just bring the odd spot of rain. and a peppering of showers, perhaps wintry, across the northern isles and the northern half of scotland. still quite windy here for a time, but those gusts will slowly ease down. a noticeable breeze across northern ireland, northern and western england, southern scotland. much more in the way of cloud across wales,

through the midlands, down towards south—east england and the far south—west of england, maybe giving the odd spot of rain. but that will soon disperse, and through the day, increasing amounts of sunshine from the north, say for the far south—west of england, which may hold onto a little bit more cloud into the afternoon. now, these average wind strengths are through the afternoon. you can see that they started to ease across northern scotland but a fairly brisk breeze blowing along eastern coasts, with a little bit more cloud here. a fairly chilly feel — we're looking at highs for new year's day between five and 11 celsius for most. so, going through new year's day evening, for most it will be fine and dry, but we will continue to feed more cloud along eastern coasts. now, what that means overnight is that will keep temperatures above freezing, at around three orfour degrees. but further west, under clearer skies and with lighter winds, it's going to be a chilly start to wednesday, with a widespread frost. bear in mind these temperatures are in the centre of town. out in the countryside, they'll be a few degrees lower. but midweek, it's looking dry across much of the uk. plenty of sunshine,

save for some eastern coasts, still drawing more cloud in from off the north sea. that will keep temperatures here up to around seven or eight celsius, tempered by the strength of the breeze. further west, despite some sunshine, not much higher than five or six. so, for the first week of 2019, turning colder, overnight frost and fog, but by day, more sunshine. happy new year. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: brazil has welcomed in 2019 with a firework display above the crescent of copacabana beach in rio, attended by hundreds of thousands of people. in london, big ben, the great bell of pa rliament‘s clocktower, was brought out of repair to ring in the new year. the north korean leader, kimjong—un, has warned that he may change course on denuclearisation if washington continues to demand unilateral concessions. in his new year's message, he said the us would have to reciprocate.

he also said he is ready to meet president trump at any time. three people, including a police officer, have been wounded in a stabbing in the northern english city of manchester. one man has been arrested. a witness of the attacks said the suspect shouted allah and slogans criticising the actions of western governments in the middle east. now on bbc news, it's time to take a front—row seat as mark kermode gives his view on the big releases of the year in review 2018: the year in film. hello and welcome to this review of the year in film. i'm mark kermode. we're here at the cinema

museum, south london and, over the next 30 minutes, i'll be looking back at some of the best movies released in uk cinemas in 2018, from the blockbusters to the hidden gems. as always, the year kicked off with awards season, with top 0scar prizes spread between a wide range of titles. frances mcdormand won best actress for three billboards 0utside ebbing missouri. gary 0ldman earned a belated best actor 0scar for playing winston churchill in the darkest hour. and the best film and best director gongs went to guillermo del toro's magical fantasy, the shape of water,