jc: breaking news out of dubai tonight where a massive fire has ripped through a luxury hotel. several people are hurt. i' m jc monahan. phil: and i' m phil lipof. newscenter 5' s reid lamberty is at the breaking news desk. any word right now on what started the fire? reporter: not right now. that massive working fire ignited the final minutes of 2015. 20 floors of the high-rise hotel in the heart of the city. as you watch this, keep in mind, people have gathered in the city in anticipation of the new year' s celebration. at least 2 million people expected to pack the city. the fire started on the 20th floor of the luxury address hotel and was confined to the despite quickly

floors, it was contained within 20 minutes. the celebration, known as the world' s largest, still went on as planned. >> so, right now, i was at the balcony. i had a photo of the building before the fire, and it was kind of what people said before, you could hear music playing, and then everyone was running. and right now, it is kind of silence out there. you do not hear anything. reid: truly incredible video. no major injuries. in the newsroom, i' m reid lamberty, wcvb newscenter 5. jc:

is under arrest for planning to carry out an attack tonight he allegedly bought knives and machetes for the he was nabbed in an fbi sting. phil: right now in boston , security is tight for first night. activities thousands are expected to visit the city. and police say they are on a heightened alert. newscenter 5' s karen anderson is live in boston tonight, karen? reporter: the top priority, keeping the city safe tonight. boston police canines , along with officers on foot, canvassing copley square. what is happening behind the scenes that people cannot see?

police. everybody is working hard behind the scenes to make sure hitch. karen: for the measure in his team, it is about the joints. there was a report of a suspicious package, which turned out to be a false alarm. >> the marathon bombing stepped it up, but you had california -- everyone is on ads. we just want to make sure we put everyone' s fears at ease. were going to have a -- we are going to have a fun celebration. karen: a reassurance. >> i think we' re covered pretty good. >> we are not going to let them beat us, basically. go for it. karen: the police commissioner

his team out your tonight. we will hear his message of vigilance and gratitude at 6:00. life in boston, karen anderson, wcvb newscenter 5. jc: it is already 2016 in some parts of the world. these pictures from new year' s celebrations in auckland, new zealand. taiwan ushered in 2016 with a fireworks display from the taipei 101 tower. from there we go to luneta park in manila. thousands gathered for fireworks to kick off the new year. really, no matter where you wire, it comes down to fireworks. that' s how we ring in the new year. mike: it' s not bad though. jc: we know we have had a few years when the wind chill is below zero. mike: i have done standup stunning copley square, the wind is going -- tonight is not bad at all. art league cloudy skies, 41 degrees. for the family fireworks, a little breezy out there. you will want to bundle up.

than 38. if you' re headed down to the windchill. but then it is midnight down at the harbor. but the wind will not be in your face. the winds have been out of the west-northwest gray skies to start the day, but that sunshine was though nice when it came out. and look at this. another day above 10 degrees above average. here are the current readings. worcester down to 37, but very respectable numbers we' re talking about, and overnight, the skies will clear away and with clearing skies, it will get chilly. cold temperatures to ring in the i have the timeline in a few phil? phil: the festivities are newscenter 5' s sera congi is live in copley square tonight, sera? sera: everybody is having a

whoo! the band has drawn everyone out. sera: first night boston has some new moves. this year, the new year' s eve celebration is centered on roughly square. the party kicks off at noon and the good weather had everyone in good spirits. >> it was comfortable, you did not have to worry. it was a great day. sera: the comfortable weather may not be ideal for the isis got chills, but there are more than ever before. >> we really enjoy it. -- the comfortable weather may not be ideal for the ice sculptures, but there are more than ever before. >> we really enjoy it. sera: if you are celebrating

how old are you today? >> seven. sera: happy birthday. >> happy new year! sera: while many of us are wearing hats and mittens, check it out. nathan is in short. oh, my goodness. fireworks at 7:00. it has only just begun. happy new year, everyone. >> happy new year! jc: we will check back with you later. thank you. right now demolition crews and old somerville have leveled an old carriage house that began collapsing this morning. part of the roof came down. workers inside were able to get out safely. a nearby building had to be evacuated and natural gas and electricity had to be cut as a precaution. >> they were doing renovations

we have to do the investigation on that. we will have to check the rest of the building, just to make sure there was no one still in it. jc: at one time the building operated as a broom factory. investigators say the age of the building was clearly a factor in the collapse. state police are trying to identify a body found in the charles river in boston. the marine unit was called to an area near the arthur fiedler footbridge at 10:00 this morning. all police will say is that the body is that of a man. the chief medical examiner will determine the cause of death. phil: commitment 2016 now. high-level staff resignations for gop candidate ben carson. he has already announced replacements for the aides who resigned and says the changes will invigorate his campaign. just days after announcing impressive fundraising numbers, a shakeup in the ben carson campaign.

carson ralph powerful business manager. barry bennett says that he believes in the candidate, but says "i can play amateur politics at home with my nine-year-old." jeb bush -- a reporter asked him about the shooting of 12-year-old tamir rice. mr. bush: chicago has to do a lot to rebuild trust. >> wrong city. mr. bush: i' m sorry, my bad. phil: bernie sanders announcing a campaign fund-raising record. senator sanders: that is more contributions than any candidate in the history of the united states of america. phil: sanders is staying competitive in the early voting state of new hampshire. donald trump remains tom and it in polls --

but ted cruz is inching ahead of trump in some polls and raising quarter alone. rubio and chris christie are both gaining grounds and new hampshire. jc: sky 5 over gillette stadium. the bruins will face off against their rival canadiens. sportscenter 5' s bob halloran is live in foxborough tonight. bob, another familiar face took the ice today? bob: the bruins are trying to treat this game like any other game. from montreal. but you could tell this was different to the point of being special, and they admit that. guys like patrice bergeron remember fondly and experience at fenway park five years ago, and now they are at gillette, home of the patriots on the man they called mr. belichick.

came off the ice, and it was a pleasure obviously to meet him. and some of the players stopped by after their practice, and our locker room. >> being in a building with a team you admire and watch all of the time, and i would tell you probably 90% of our players are big-time patriots fans and to be here in that venue is great. ciccolo and --bob: and mr. belichick was out there like mr. brian boitano. showing off some skating ability. he was much better at the end of the scape and by the start of the game, and of course, mr. belichick did not allow any of his players on the ice. cannot afford any more energies. more at 6:00. for now, reporting live, bob

phil: all right, thanks, bob. here is your chance to get very rich. the powerball jackpot -- the 12 largest prize in the game' s history. the lump sum for the winner, if it is one winner, is $2.5 million. 292 million. saturday night. jc: that is a lot of dough. that would be a nice way to bring in 2016. phil: think of all of the things you could get before that. -- historic flooding in missouri. phil: water levels reaching the major disruptions crews are working to resolve right now. then new at 5:30 -- >> a man plowing into

s lawyer on the defensive. her first public comments since sexual assault charges were filed against the comedian. these they come-bunker hill bridge. 128 -- i-93, let' s take a look at that. eight minutes. weston tolls, 50 minutes as well.

>> you are watching newscenter 5

phil: a tenth suspect has been arrested in connection with the paris terror attacks. a belgian national has been charged with terrorist murder group. the man was detained yesterday in a neighborhood in brussels. he is expected to appear before a judge within five days. meantime, a friend of the san bernardino shooters is now indicted on a terrorism charge. enrique marquez is charged with buying a gun that syed farook used to massacre 14 people with his wife last month. marquez is also accused of planning attacks on a college and california highway with him that were never carried out. if convicted he could spend up to 50 years in prison. jc: a weather emergency in the midwest tonight, surging rivers forced hundreds to evacuate and continues to threaten dozens of levees. at least 21 people have died in illinois and missouri, and the massive flooding in the st. louis area has caused another water treatment plant to shut down. reporter: the merrimack river

a new record. officials say be water is starting to receive, but the danger is not over yet. the swollen merrimack is spilling water into the stream. plants are impacted. both are shut down. >> it' s scary right now. reporter: authorities are still warning residents to stay away from the water. not only for their safety, but these. the third major highway is underwater. >> the whole entire highway is shut down. unbelievable. is not the only state drowning. >> we have an inch and a half within 30 to 45 minutes. >> i have never seen it like this.

carolina, georgia also hit with this record flooding. jc: you flooding is starting to drain away. mike: they will be playing with this for a while. jc: it' s really tough to look at. mike: for us it has been pretty much the complete opposite. it is going down as more of the warmest december' s ever recorded. not only did we break the record. we smashed the record. look at the temperatures. yesterday was absolutely normal, the first day of the month that was just daily below average. he showed high temperatures, some of those getting close to 70 degrees even late in the month. look at this, with sunshine , providence to plymouth -- 41

to be 37 degrees this time of year. we do have a west-northwesterly wind. not bad. it' s cooling down these temperatures a little bit. stepping out tonight, upper 30' s, low 40' s right now. temperatures in the 50' s. still above normal for this time of year. west-northwesterly direction. 13 miles per hour in springfield. not much of a breeze. when you factor in the temperatures, does bring the temperatures down four or five degrees. it feels like 29 in worcester because of that little breeze that is out there. we have the sunshine early and the cloud cover filled back in again. we will call it a partly cloudy night overnight. we had the club this morning, then the sun came out. just felt really nice.

chilly side. tomorrow, sunny. about average. partly cloudy day. pretty seasonable. maybe just a little bit above normal for this time of the seen the past. a high tomorrow. really staying that way all through the weekend. pretty chilly the first part of next week. let me break it down for you in a seven day forecast. saturday, it is breezy out. not terribly windy. lower 30' s. then sunday and wave of cold air coming in. you will notice a few flurries that try to develop. look at these high temperatures next week. this is also a feature i want to point out on monday. you could actually have some

kit god, southern plymouth county may be. i don' t know that it will make it into boston. -- cape cod, southern plymouth county maybe. then look at what happens at the end of the week. it serves to warm back up again. pretty short-lived. phil: we are breaking news we need to get to you. two busy train stations in germany are being evacuated because of a terror threat. people are being asked not to gather in crowds there. we will have more on this in a few -- in just a little bit. jc: lawyers for bill cosby defending the comedian. phil: up next, their first comments since his arrest on sexual assault charges.

phil: tonight, bill cosby is free on a million dollars bail. we are now hearing from his attorney for the first time since the 78-year-old comedian was arrested. >> mr. cosby, howdy respond to the charges? phil: bill cosby out on a million dollars bail. the 78-year-old hazing charges he sexually assaulted a woman in 2004 after giving her pills and out ball at his suburban philadelphia home. >> reopening this case -- pills and alcohol at his suburban fidelity of -- philadelphia home. >> reopening this case was not a question. it was our duty. phil: prosecutors say new

osby' s own statement led to the charge. his attorneys call it a political maneuver. >> what we have now is not the effectuation of justice. what we have now is the fulfillment of a campaign promise by a prosecutor who used the current climate to get into office. phil: she is one of 50 women who has accused bill cosby of sexual assault, drugging them, or rate. he has long denied the accusations. he has not entered a plea. his lawyer said, make no mistake. we expect mr. cosby will be exonerated by a court of law. speaking of court, he will be back in court january 15 and could face up to a decade of this is the first charge against prison if convicted. cosby, but more than 50 women have accused him of sexual

s illustrated here, in today' s cover of the "new york daily news." the headline, he said, she said, with she said written out 56 times. phil: the mother of the -- jc: old navy has discontinued a controversial to other t-shirt. it had "aspiring artist" with artist crossed out and astronaut or president written in underneath. phil: the mother of the so-called affluenza teen back in the u.s. tonight. jc: tonya couch is being held on a million dollars bond. next on newscenter 5 at 5:30, the legal battle that now lies ahead for her son who is still in mexico tonight. phil: a class action lawsuit filed against apple.

>> from boston' s news leader, this is wcvb newscenter 5 at 5:30. phil: right off the top, we continue to follow that breaking

police warning of an imminent terror attack.