a british teenager has handed himself in to the authorities in dubai to begin a one—year prison sentence for having a sexual relationship with a 17—year—old girl. and the welsh government vows to push ahead with plans to introduce a tourist tax from 2027 — we'll look at what impact it could have. more now on tens of thousands of new year revellers missing out, after organisers of this year's official hogmanay celebrations in edinburgh were forced to cancel all outdoor events because of concerns over bad weather. among the events called off — a concert by the rock band texas — and the traditional midnight fireworks display. with me is our reporter meghan owen. recap what the organisers are saying, this is a huge event, about

45,000 saying, this is a huge event, about 16,000 people expected so a lot of people will be affected by this? yes, it is not the end of year many people wanted, it will be very disappointing. all outdoor events taking place today and tomorrow, new year's eve are cancelled. some events will go ahead and that includes the big concert, the fireworks display, the street party which many have been looking forward to because of yellow weather warnings for most of scotland today and also an amber rain warning on new year's eve for northern scotland. on sunday, we saw the first event of hogmanay, the traditional torchlight procession cancelled due to extreme wind. and organisers say these decisions are happening because of safety but it is worth saying that it is a rare decision because we have only seen adverse weather cancel this event twice. once in 2003 and once in 2006. thousands of ticket holders, thousands of people who will have

travelled to edinburgh specifically will be disappointed. also travelled to edinburgh specifically will be disappointed.— will be disappointed. also the businesses — will be disappointed. also the businesses who _ will be disappointed. also the businesses who make - will be disappointed. also the businesses who make a - will be disappointed. also the businesses who make a lot i will be disappointed. also the businesses who make a lot of| will be disappointed. also the - businesses who make a lot of money at this time of year but police scotland saying public safety take priority and they are fully supporting the decision of the organisers. how likely is it this weather warning is going to effect of the new year plans beyond edinburgh? it of the new year plans beyond edinburgh?— of the new year plans beyond edinburuh? ., , , edinburgh? it has been very bad weather end _ edinburgh? it has been very bad weather end to _ edinburgh? it has been very bad weather end to the _ edinburgh? it has been very bad weather end to the year. - edinburgh? it has been very bad| weather end to the year. stormy conditions are expected to spread to other parts of the uk. as 2025 gets under way, other parts of the uk. as 2025 gets underway, most other parts of the uk. as 2025 gets under way, most of the country is braced for further wind and rain with yellow weather warnings in place. those travelling over new year are being urged to check the latest forecast. network rail say some lines will need to be slowed, thatis some lines will need to be slowed, that is on top of other strikes. we have seen thick fog disrupting hundreds of flights in major airports in the uk. it has been very disruptive week. in terms of other cancellations we have not heard of

any other major events being cancelled so far. london city hall are monitoring the weather ahead of the london sold—out new year's eve display and those attending will be keeping a watchful eye on weather. as we will hear on bbc news, bringing you up today with any warnings, thank you very much. more now on the death of former us president, jimmy carter, at the age of 100. he won the 1976 election — achieved diplomatic success in the middle east — but was hampered at home by a failing economy. he later forged a career as an international statesman — winning the nobel peace prize for helping eradicate diseases in some of the poorest parts of the world. back in 2015, jimmy carter appeared on a special bbc programme with others from the group called "the elders" senior statesmen and women from around the world. the programme was hosted by my colleague matthew amroliwola. during the discussion president carter addressed a wide range of issues, answering questions from the audience. among the topics, racial

inequality in the us. let's go straight to our question from towanda. towanda, what is your question and who is it to? my question is to president carter, and it's who should be held to account for the rise in police brutality in the us? and how can trust be restored between black urban communities and the police? well, you have to remember that we had 100 years of legal segregation in our country after the civil war was over, and then we had the wonderful civil rights movement with martin luther king jr and, and andy young and others who brought this about. and since that time, i think our country has come to be too relaxed about the relationship between african—american people and white people. and in the meantime, we've had a white a black president elected, as you know, this has kind of stimulated some additional racism in our country that didn't exist before. and and what's happened is that there's

been more concentration of white people holding the police positions, even in communities where there's a majority of black people. and i think to change that policy is going to come about now because of a stirring of emotion and remembrance in our country about what we need. interesting you say come about, i want to show our viewers just one of the iconic images of you from 1977, where you visited the bronx, and so much of that area was burnt out and you were a champion of urban renewal. and when you look at the situation now in 2015, in ferguson, in baltimore, why have we made... ..why haven't we made much more progress? we seem to be in the same

position in 2015. well, what's happened, i think, is that we've we've kind of slipped away from a commitment to civil rights and equality in our country. and this has resulted in a vast majority of policemen being and policewomen also being white. even in communities where there's a majority of black, that's going to be corrected. and i think obama has has recommended that, that all the policemen wear cameras so they could record the doubtful episodes that take place, and also to do away with the allocation to police departments of, of war material coming back from iran and iraq, so from afghanistan and iraq. this is the kind of thing that's being changed, i think, in our country. american—born writer and broadcaster bonnie greer shared her reflections on the profound impactjimmy carter had on her. well, i'm going to be talking to you from the perspective of being a young university student, paying her way through university, having no money, just coming out of the political activism of the vietnam war and the black power movement. are we just roe v wade fighting for our rights as women? and the horribleness of watergate, which is very difficult to explain now. it was horrific. so the world was very dark

and it was a recession and there was a heat wave. so the world was very dark. everybody was poor except the trumps. and then comesjimmy carter, a guy who in a sense sort of harked back to lincoln. what we understood about lincoln, then about the united states as a moral compass in the world, notjust a great power, not just a country that did deals, notjust that it was a moral force in the world. we'd just been in vietnam where that was catastrophic and where we were immoral. and suddenly my generation said, let's do something good. we had a criminal president in richard nixon. gerald ford was useless, his vice president. so this guy came on the scene and he was somebody who was simple. he was a southerner, which was incredible for my generation of young black people, because we voted for a white deep south peanut farmer to be the president of the united states. and we were all civil

rights movement kids. so all of this was a quite amazing arc of time. and of course, then he tried to broker peace in the middle east. he tried to do a lot of things, but we didn't know at the time how broken the country was. we suspected it, but we didn't know all the pieces. putting that in the context of the time, bonnie, i mean, it's an incredibly powerful description of what he represented at this point in time, looking, and there's so much that we could talk about but looking at a couple of specific policy areas. how do you assess his contributions in tackling racism, and also, what did it mean for you as a woman to have this man in the white house because he was the first president, wasn't he, to give his wife her own office in the white house? exactly. and we women particularly have been fighting for our rights,

for autonomy over our body. and what was wonderful about that was that a anti—slavery constitutional amendment had been used to protect us. and then suddenly we were voting for a southern guy who had a the confederacy in his background. and there he was saying that he was going to change the country, give it a moral compass. we could talk about morality again because we couldn't for the last ten years, it was impossible with vietnam and with richard nixon and watergate and the republicans. it was impossible. we've talked a lot, haven't we already, about we've heard a lot about him during his time in the white house and what he achieved after his time in the white house. was he the the very definition of an elder statesman, do you think? well, it was incredible. i mean, you know, he loved country western, he loved willie nelson. all that music was there for him. but also afterwards he decided to become what was called is called an elder. someone who had been there, seen it, done it. still young enough...

..still young enough to make a difference in the world. still able enough to say, let's go around nelson mandela. let's go around all of these people and let's find a way to make the world a better place. we've been at the top let's see what we can do now. and finally, bonnie, at this point of transition in american politics from joe biden to arguably the most controversial president of the modern era, donald trump, do you think this discussion around jimmy carter, the type of person he was and his way of doing things, has an added. weight? at this moment in time america has no place for this discussion. there is no room for it. there is no space. so hopefully in the next two years, i think when we run up to midterms, maybe there will be a space to discuss a president like jimmy carter. but america has no cachet for that at this moment. an 18—year—old british man, sentenced to a year in jail in dubai, for having sex with a minor, is reported

to have handed himself in to begin his sentence. marcus fakana was holidaying with his parents in the united arab emirates, when he met the 17—year—old british girl. sex between an adult and a person under 18 in dubai is a crime. our reporter harry low gave us this update. marcus fakana went on his on holiday with his parents back in september and started this holiday romance with another londoner. she was aged 17 at the time. a couple of months younger than him. and marcus told his family about this relationship, but she hadn't told her family and when they returned to the uk, her mother went through her phone and found messages and pictures between the pair and decided to report him to the authorities. now the dubai police went to his hotel and arrested him. marcus fakana has remained in the country ever since and on the 9th of december, he was sentenced to one year in prison because in the country of dubai, as you mentioned, it is illegal to have sex with a minor. he was hoping potentially to appeal, but it appears that he's decided against doing that now and as a result, he's going to start his jail term today. he said that this is

going to be a long fight. he's hoping for a royal pardon. he's thanked people for their support, and he's previously said that his family is devastated and in shock. he said that, "i never intended to break the law. it didn't occur to me at the time and for that i'm sorry." and he's asked for forgiveness and to be pardoned. he said, "let me go home. please give me my life back." five people have been charged — three of them with manslaughter — over the death of one direction star liam payne in argentina. those summoned by a judge to appear in court include the manager and several employees of the hotel in buenos aires where the singer died, plus one of the 31—year—old's friends. liam payne fell from a third—floor balcony in october. jessica lane has the latest. # the story of my life, i take her home.# liam payne's death in october shocked fans around the world. many gathered to remember him outside the hotel where he'd been staying and fell from a third floor balcony. today, the prosecutor in

argentina confirmed five people have been charged in connection with his death. local media say liam's friend roger nores, and two members of staff from the casasur hotel have been charged with manslaughter and another two charged with supplying drugs. it was announced last month that three people had been charged, but they weren't named at the time. an autopsy confirmed the 31—year—old suffered internal and external bleeding and multiple traumatic injuries. police found alcohol, a phone and medication in his room, along with destroyed objects and furniture. authorities have examined hours of cctv footage and spoken to hotel staff, medical professionals and friends. # you don't know you're beautiful.# liam payne found worldwide fame in one direction and later had a son with girls aloud star cheryl. but in recent years he's spoken about the pressures he faced at such a young age. the problem we had in the band, and i don't blame anybody for this,

i don't want to seem like i'm whining or moaning. oh my god, look at my life, whatever. but it feels to me like when we were in the band, the best way to secure us because of how big it got wasjust lock us in our rooms and, of course, what's in the room? minibar. so, at a certain point ithought, well, i'm going to have a party for one. and thatjust seemed to carry on throughout many years of my life. celebrities gathered with his friends and family earlier this month at his funeral. but for police and prosecutors in argentina, the investigation into how he died continues. jessica lane, bbc news. dominic palicova, the ex—husband of gisele calico has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after orchestrating mass rapes against his wife when she was drug has decided not to appeal his sentence. but a number of _ not to appeal his sentence. but a number of men _ not to appeal his sentence. but a number of men sentence - not to appeal his sentence. but a number of men sentence alongside him have said they will appeal.

the welsh government says it will push ahead with plans for a visitor tax, due to be introduced in 2027, despite opposition from the tourism industry. this new tax will mean an extra £1.25 per person per night for everyone using hotels, guest houses and self—catering accommodation, or 75p each for campsites and hostels. it will be up to individual councils if the choose to introduce the charge or not. packed in summer, peaceful as winter washes in, pembrokeshire draws around a million overnight visitors every year. come in and have a look. for helen, they are a lifeline. her self—catering cottage is just off the coast. she's worried what customers will think if her county decides to tax tourists. it's giving the impression that we don't want people to come in. it's almost as if to say, you know, you've got to really pay a lot to come and see us, to come here and enjoy the countryside and what we offer. and i think we should be welcoming people more, making it more beneficial

for them to come in. she's not the only one that's vexed. rob runs alpaca trekking trips on his farm, alongside a glamping site. in a competitive field, he thinks the price conscious will wander elsewhere. the climate we're in, an extra £20 a week could be — i'm not saying it would be, but could be enough for them to go to another county. and you're worried you'll lose out? possibly, yeah. of course, if we've got less people coming into the county, less people are staying. less revenue for us. and obviously then, percentage—wise, less people are coming walking the alpacas also. wales isn't going it alone on this. a similar levy is on the way in scotland. and places like manchester already have a city visitor charge. but there is concern that just the idea of taxing tourism may put some people off and push them elsewhere. it will be up to councils if they want to impose the charge and receive the cash.

the welsh government doesn't believe the levy will be a deterrent. visitor levies are very common in other parts of the world, and they're becoming increasingly common in the united kingdom as well. and the hard, empirical evidence is that visitor levies do not change people's minds as far as where they choose to spend their holidays. so what about those who have chosen the town of tenby for a winter break? to be honest, i don't think it would make the slightest bit of difference to us. we travel a lot. we go to lots of places where we get charged a tourist tax, especially over in europe. so we're happy to pay. it wouldn't put me off at all. £1.25 per night, £2.50 a couple wouldn't put me off visiting at all. terrible — everywhere is terrible. but they all want money. they're all after our money. how that money will be spent is another concern for the tourist industry. nervous of what may lie on the horizon in the years ahead. hywel griffith, bbc news, tenby.

the italian city of venice also introduced a similar tax earlier this year to try deal with the vast numbers of tourists. i spoke to sebastian fagarazzi, co—founder of tourist advise company venezia autentica on the impacts of the tax in venice. is this day tripper�*s tax. so this is not an overnight tax. we start in 2011 already. this is a day tripper tax for people that are coming to venice and not staying overnight. and to be fair, if you look at the city's budget, well it had a 25% loss in the sense that the amount of money it costed was three million and it generated 2.25 million in revenue. so it didn't, like, really support the city's economy when it comes

when it comes to discouraging people from visiting the first ten days when it was applied in 2024, we have measured that actually the previous year there were fewer people in the same time frame, so it doesn't seem to have played a huge impact there either. but this year it's going to be reinforced. they will double the number of days, passing them from 29 days to 59 days. they will also potentially double the cost of raising it from ?5 per person to 10 euros per person, but it's still possible to visit with half the price of 5 euros if one books with at least 96 hours in advance, so over four days in advance. now we will have to slowly, like keep on observing how it impacts the city because we have to face to realise one thing. tourism is a complex sector and there is no blueprint on how to manage overtourism.

and venice needs, as in so many locations, sebastian venice obviously needs the tourists but at the same time the authorities want to to manage the flow of those tourists into the city. so what do you think the key experiences are from this year so far? and what key pieces of advice could you give to the authorities in wales who are going ahead with introducing a tax there in 2027? i believe that some key takeaways in general, when managing tourism is clarity, is communicating with the local stakeholders as to what the goals of new laws or new norms are, and also having a long term, a long term goal. so making sure that what we're doing today is notjust something that is going to be useful for the next six months or a couple of years, but we have to make sure to preserve the long term values of this nation. we have to make sure that stuff,

that the things that we create benefit the people, the places and the planet. term goal in our minds. and sebastian, wejust have a few seconds left, so very briefly in general, are businesses happy with the tax or do they feel they are losing revenue as a result? uh, there were more people this year than in the previous year, so businesses probably have not felt any difference compared to the previous year. astronomers are eagerly awaiting a celestial event that only happens roughly every 80 years. it involves a star system called t—corona borealis. our science editor rebecca morelle explains. in bannau brycheiniog, also known as the brecon beacons, astronomers are scanning the skies. they're eagerly awaiting a once in a lifetime event to see a celestial explosion, revealing a star that's normally too faint for us to see.

so i've got the telescope pointed at corona borealis, and that's the constellation that this star is in. the star she's looking for is called t coronae borealis or t cor borfor short. t cor bor is dim? t cor bor is dim at the minute. so it's about magnitudes ten normally. and that is well below what you can see with the naked eye. but that could all be about to change. every 80 years or so, t cor bor is predicted to light up the sky, but not for long. it's only going to be visible to the naked eye for a couple of days. of course, if you've got a small pair of binoculars or a small telescope, you'll be able to see it for a little bit longer because you've got that magnifying tool. but i do think that its short stint in the sky makes it really special. t cor bor is actually two stars orbiting around each other, a small white dwarf which is a dead star, and a much larger red giant. the white dwarf has an immense gravitational pull, and it's

consistently dragging material away from the red giant. over time, this material builds up until it explodes, releasing a huge amount of energy, and this makes t cor bor briefly appear much brighter in the night sky. the last time this happened was in 19116, when michael woodman was 15. the newport schoolboy had stayed up late waiting for his dad to come home. so i looked out of my bedroom window and there, in the ring of the corona borealis, the second star down was bright, very bright. i thought, well, i've never seen that like that before. the following morning i thought, well, i will get in touch with the astronomer royal. the astronomer royal wrote back and told him, remarkably, that he was the first person in the uk to have seen this. the star spotter became a star himself for a while, with a flurry of media interest and an interview on bbc radio. it did give me some

notoriety, that's the word. and they used to say, "cor, he's the chap who saw the star." so who do you think that is? who do you think that is? michael woodman is now 94. there are four generations of his family. seeing t cor bor again will put him in an exclusive club ofjust one. we're all looking at the skies again. and not not only me, but the whole world, apparently. but if i see it, how many other people have seen it? i will be the only one who has seen it twice. i got to keep breathing. t coronae borealis, which you can't see with the naked eye, is about here. it's going to be noticeable when it when it erupts. i think there'll be a, there'll be a, you know, a bright point. so for stargazers, are there any early signs that t cor bor is about to ignite into brightness? it seems that in the past this has dimmed a little bit before it's actually erupted. and there are signs that maybe at the moment it'sjust dipping a little bit in brightness. so maybe that's a hint that it's getting close to its eruption.

there have been a few false alarms that t cor bor was ready to erupt, but for now, astronomers will have to keep watching and waiting. the celestial fireworks will be worth it when they finally arrive. rebecca morelle, bbc news, bannau brycheiniog. the number one chess player, magnus carlsen, has said he'll return to the world rapid and blitz chess championships in new york, after the sport's governing body agreed to relax the dress code. the norwegian walked out on friday when he was told he couldn't wear jeans. the president of the international chess federation said he'd decided to try out giving officials more flexibility in judgements about attire. carlsen will now return for the blitz championship which starts on tuesday. he's said he'll be wearing jeans. now — for a look at the weather — here's louise lear. hello there.

the weather turning increasingly unsettled as we step into the new year. if you have plans new year's eve listen to the forecast because it will be dominated by this area of low pressure bringing increasingly wet and windy weather across scotland in particular. there will be some snow as well to the far north and east. the met office has issued an amber warning for the intensity of the rain from inverness down to fort william so there is the potential for localised flooding and travel disruption on what is a very busy day. heavy rain moving south out of scotland but a rash of showers tucking in behind. the rain will set across northern england and north wales in the middle part of the afternoon. that means southern and south—east england will be windy to end the day but largely fine and dry. the rain across wales, across northern england and to the north of west and that is a case of sunny spells and scattered showers to close out the day. still double digits here but in the far north of

scotland, just a couple of degrees above freezing for the northern isles. as you move into new year's day we have this conveyor belt of moisture pushing in from the west. that means a day of relentless heavy rain sinking its way across central and southern england and it will linger throughout the afternoon. windy with it as well. behind, sunny spells and scattered showers and the wind direction swinging round to a northerly and some of the showers could be wintry in nature with the strongest of the gusts and the heaviest of the rain gusts in excess of 55 to 60 miles an hour. here it will stay relatively mild but the cold air starting to dig in across scotland and once the rain cleared through we see the arctic air taking over right across the country. a strong northerly wind as well and that means clear skies by day but also through the night and the hard frost to greet us first thing on thursday morning. plenty of clear

skies continue so there will be some sunshine but because of the direction of the wind it means that any showers could be a little wintry in nature as well. so thursday and friday we see more in the way of sunshine but it will be cold with it. milder but more unsettled from sunday onwards.

live from london, this is bbc news. edinburgh's world—renowned new year's eve hogmanay celebrations are cancelled due to concerns over "extreme weather". relatives of those lost in sunday's deadly plane crash in south korea demand answers from the government as the anxious wait continues for the recovery of loved ones. russia and ukraine carry out one of the largest exchanges

of prisoners of war since the start of the full—scale invasion of ukraine. and astronomers prepare to get a glimpse of a dazzling star system that hasn't been visible to the naked eye for eight decades. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. high winds and extreme weather has forced the cancellation of edinburgh's world famous hogmanay celebrations on new year's eve. tens of thousands of tickets had already been sold. but organisers say high winds and extreme weather mean they've been unable to continue with preparations for the outdoor events both today and tomorrow. among the events called off, a concert by the rock band texas and the traditional midnight fireworks display to see in 2025. rain, snow and strong winds will hit

large parts of the uk this week, with a series of weather warnings coming into force between