the burj khalifa being iconic, the world's tallest building. this particular display is expected to last around two minutes but is not the only fireworks display taking place in the united arab emirates. also in abu dhabi, look at this. this is actually part of a guinness world record attempt by abu dhabi. they are hoping to set and they are posting and hoping to set the world's largest display. about 50 minutes this is going to go on for. let's go back to dubai and the burj khalifa. music.

cheering. music.

music.

music. applause.

applause. and that was the new year's celebrations in the united arab emirates, in dubai, the iconic burj khalifa, the world's telus building, being lit up. the city's skyline framed beside the burj khalifa. around ten minutes worth of fireworks, pyrotechnics and also synchronised light sequences. this is actually a number of fireworks events, new year's eve events that are taking place in the united arab emirates. also in abu dhabi is

an absolute extravaganza, and i'll tell you why. they are attempting to break six guinness world records, so we are looking at around 53 minutes worth of continuous fireworks. that will make it the largest display globally. it's going to be a 20 minute spectacle with 6000 drones. that will make it the longest of its kind. there is also going to be the creation of the world's largest aerial images using more than 3000 drones, and the fourth wrecker there hoping to break is a synchronised display of 3000 drones spelling out happy new year, the largest synchronised music drone show. and the final record they are hoping to smash in abu dhabi, a fireworks display in terms of the largest of a quantity, design and

duration. all courtesy of abu dhabi.

music.

so that is new year's eve in abu dhabi. this is actually a grand finale because they've been having fireworks every hour on the hour from been having fireworks every hour on the hourfrom 6pm in the evening local time. this is their grand finale, breaking and setting sun guinness world record. this isjust part and setting sun guinness world record. this is just part of the coverage here on bbc news as we travel around the world as we travel around the world as countries welcome in 2025. and there have been spectacular pictures. we started off of course in asia and australasia. this was the spectacular fireworks display in hong kong. music. taipei also put on quite the show to welcome in 2025.

music. # we are the champions. here's the celebrations in sydney. as always, a fireworks bonanza focused on the harbour bridge. this one went on for 12 minutes. music. and this was new zealand with a spectacular fireworks display at the auckland sky tower. cheering. we'll bring you plenty more of those celebrations in the hours ahead as 2024 ticks to an end. across the many time zones, it will take us 26 hours for the entire world to welcome in 2025.

the globe welcomes in 2025. here in the uk, new year celebrations are being hampered by severe weather. fireworks displays in newcastle, blackpool and bangor are among those called off. it comes after edinburgh's outdoor hogmanay celebrations were cancelled for the first time in nearly 20 years because of strong winds and rain. from edinburgh, here's our scotland correspondent catriona renton. in the scottish highlands, heavy rain caused the river to rage through carrbridge. flooding followed an amber weather warning for rain in the north of the country which expired late afternoon. network rail had to close the highland mainline as the level of water made it unsafe for trains. severe flood warnings had been issued overnight in the areas around aviemore. lifted as the rain was not as intense as anticipated. around the uk, weather warnings have led to cancellations

of outdoor new year's eve parties from bangor to here in newcastle, which would have been the first new year fireworks display at the quayside since 2019, halted by forecast winds of over 50 mph. this morning, we woke up, and the wind direction has changed slightly. and now the debris would go towards the baltic, and despite everything that we've put in place, sadly wejust can't fire the show safely. and here in edinburgh, the world famous street party, live music and fireworks over the castle were cancelled on safety grounds yesterday. would—be revellers were looking forward to it. we're from chicago, in the states, and we were really looking forward to going to the festival but unfortunately the weather had other plans. we don't know. we don't know because all the restaurants are busy, i always busy, but we don't know

what we'll do now _ on the hogmanay. i think it's a pity because the weather now seems to be quite good, but i appreciate they had to set all the stuff up, so these things happen, as they say, especially in scotland. disappointed. we wanted to do the torchlight parade, and that was cancelled, and even the castle is closed, so it's a real shame, but never mind. and we're from wellington, which is known for its wind, and we're thinking this isn't quite as windy as even we know it! and spare a thought for michelle mason, her husband stephen and two dogs who travelled to edinburgh in their motor home from lancashire. they had tickets for the hogmanay celebrations. we're devastated. new year's a big year, isn't it? i we've travelled. from lancashire. we've planned it for months, and we're here now- with nothing to dol on new year's eve.

it's not your ideal situation. a sprinkling of snow in shetland ahead of more weather alerts. from midnight, snow and ice forecast for the north of scotland and wind and rain warnings for much of england and wales to kick off 2025. london's annual fireworks display, the biggest in europe, will go ahead. here's the bbc�*s greg mckenzie beside the river thames. this is the london embankment. now, in a few hours�*s time, more than 100,000 people will be along this part of the river thames to experience that 12—minute spectacular. now, behind me is the london eye, and that will come alive at midnight with 12,000 fireworks. now, this year's theme, we're told by the london mayor, is hope. last year's theme was unity, trying to bring the whole country together. now, we're told there will be some special things happening this year. there's a light show. he wouldn't go into too much detail about it, but said people are going to be surprised at what's in store this year. now, ultimately, there will be

music and there will be speeches being played out from a number of high—profile people. last year, it was the king, king charles read a message out. so people will experience this for 12 minutes, and then you'll hear auld lang syne and many people will simply dance away into the wee hours. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

now it's time for a look at today's sport with 0lly foster. many thanks indeed. we're just a few hours away from the start of the january transfer window, and real madrid have expressed an interest in signing liverpool's trent alexander—arnold. that has been rejected by the club, but the 26—year—old is out of contract at the end of the season so could leave for free in the summer. and he is entitled to speak to other clubs, but we understand that he is isn't looking to move in the january window.

alexander—arnold came through liverpool's youth system, and his major honours include the premier league in 2020, the fa cup and two league cups and also the champions league in 2019. wolves will be without their forward matheus cunha for the next two games. he's been suspended and fined £80,000. he was charged with misconduct following an altercation at full—time in their defeat to ipswich earlier this month. he admitted the charge and will now miss games against nottingham forest and bristol city in the fa cup. he's been an important player in their revival under new boss vitor pereira. they are unbeaten with seven points from their last three games. wayne rooney says that plymouth will always hold a special place in his heart. he was sacked earlier todayjust seven months into a three—year contract, leaving the club bottom of the championship. the former manchester united and england striker manged to win just five of his 25 games in charge, failing to win any of their

matches away from home. it was his fourth management role after spells at derby county, birmingham city and also dc united in the mls. world number one aryna sabalenka has started her season with a win. the belarusian, who will be targeting a hat—trick of australian open titles next month, won comfortably at the brisbane international, beating renata zarazua of mexico 6—4, 6—0. first match is always a tricky one. you try to play to see where your tennis is at, and, yeah, it was a tricky start. but i'm glad i closed that first set, and in the second set, it felt like whatever i would do, it would work for me well. so i'm really happy with the first win of season. the men's tour is also in brisbane, and novak djokovic is into the second round. the top seed and 24—time grand slam—winner beat wild card rinky hijikata in straight sets. he'll now face frenchman gael monfils for a place

in the quarterfinals. djokovic will have andy murray as part of his coaching set—up for the first grand slam of the year as he targets an 11th australian open title. we spoke before the match. we're communicating daily, so i'm excited to have him in my team, in my corner. for 20—plus years, he's been across the net. for the first time, he's on the same side of the court, so it should be fun in melbourne. nick kyrgios says he's worried about whether his wrist will be able to last five sets at the australian open after losing his first singles match in 18 months. the 2022 wimbledon runner—up had a long time out after reconstructive ligament surgery, and though he looked competitive on his comeback, he was beaten by frenchman giovanni mpetshi perricard in three sets in brisbane, and after 2.5 hours on court, kyrgios said he was left in a lot of pain. lots more on the bbc sport website, including

news of an about turn by the world bowls tour. they had previously barred three israeli players from taking part in the world indoor championships in norfolk next month because of the threat of planned demonstrations by pro—palestinian group, but they say that they can now play after "significant additional security measures" have been put in place. you can go to our website. that's bbc.com.sport. happy new year to need you and thank you all very much indeed and all the team at bbc sport. here, it's been announced that the former radio presenter johnnie walker has died at the age of 79. he stepped down from bbc radio 2 in october due to ill health. his wife tiggy says she couldn't be more proud of how he kept broadcasting "almost to the end with dignity and grace".

the bbc�*s director general, tim davie, said, "we are deeply saddened by the news ofjohnnie's passing and our thoughts are with his family and friends, as well as everyone at radio 2." johnnie was a pop radio pioneer and a champion of great music, entertaining millions of beloved listeners on the bbc across decades, most recently hosting two shows on radio 2. hello there. good evening. well, it's been a blustery and a wet end to 2024 for many of us, and there's more severe weather to come in the forecast as we head into the new year too, with more heavy rain. it stays windy on new year's day. it is going to be turning colder, but for the rest of tonight, well, it's certainly mild out there for the vast majority. more rain across the central swathe of the uk, these fronts pushing further southwards.

and if we just zoom in as the clock chimes midnight, you can see wintry showers and now colder air across the far north of scotland. still some more showers across these flood affected areas. it's windy across the central belt. strong gusts still across northern england, southern scotland and this is where we're likely to see the heaviest of the rain too, across the north midlands and into north wales. further south, it is largely dry for the rest of the night, but some squally gusts of wind just ahead of this cold front as it continues to push further southwards as we head through the rest of the night. so turning wet into tomorrow morning across the south of england and into south wales. some sunshine a little further north, squally gusts of wind as that front goes through, and on the second front then there will be some wintry showers over the higher ground of the pennines and the cumbrian fells. and this is where that colder arctic air is starting to dig in. temperatures even in the south dropping as we head throughout the day with that colder feeling and that northerly wind starting to take hold across the whole of the uk as we head through wednesday night and into thursday morning.

so on thursday, then watch out for some icy stretches and there will be quite a widespread frost to start the day as well. many of our temperatures already below freezing. let's take a look at thursday morning, then, more wintry showers just piling into the far north of scotland on that northerly wind. also into the far north of northern ireland and down through these north sea—facing coasts. watch out for the icy patches in places. the winds lightning a little inland, but temperatures won't get much past low single figures. it will be largely dry. there'll be some sunshine, but it will be feeling cold, particularly in exposure to that northerly wind. and for some of us, it will feel as if it's below freezing for much of the day. let's take a look at the pressure chart for friday. high pressure out towards the west, a slight switch in wind direction to more of a north westerly, and that will help to drive some of these wintry showers further inland across north west scotland, northern ireland, the midlands and into north wales. still feeling very cold. bye for now.

a year like no other. first the king, then the princess of wales

the russians as they happen. there's disappointment. from abu dhabi to hong kong and delhi, the clock has already struck midnight in some cities around the world. stay with bbc news for all the key new year celebrations as they happen. but there's disappointment in some parts of the uk as yellow storm warnings put paid to many of the outdoor celebrations. and tributes are paid to the veteran bbc radio dj johnnie walker, who has died at the age of 79. now on bbc news, a look back at the royal year. a year like no other. first the king, then the princess of wales diagnosed with cancer. this, of course, came as a huge shock, and william and i have been

doing everything we can to process and manage this privately