big ben strikes midnight. it s europe s biggest fireworks display and as the countdown began, more than 100,000 people watched along the river thames as the london skyline lit up and the sounds of big ben chimed. you can actually smell the gunpowder the air, you can smell it. it is fireworks night here. big ben, the chimes have rung and we are now officially in 202a. the best show on earth. amazing, indescribable, no words. so worth it, i am loving it so much. this is my first time for london, coming here and seeing this. i i love it, it is so good. this year s theme is unity, a message played from the king. 0ur society is woven from diverse threads. and the london mayor, who thanked those working in the nhs, the police and the fire service. he said the event took months to organise. we have planned this sincejuly. there is a team of 75 who have been working over the last four days. one of our strengths as a city and country is our diversity. we will be celebrating our dive
for people in england, scotland and wales, average energy bills are set to fall by over £400 a year, that s over $500. the energy regulator ofgem has lowered its price cap for the typical household bill to £2,076, though the actual bill will still, of course, depend on how much energy people use. at its peak last year, the price cap reached more than twice that level, but households were shielded from the full impact of energy prices by a government price guarantee of £2,500. let s get more now from our personal finance correspondent kevin peachey. finally some good news. bills are still high but not as high as they were? ., , , still high but not as high as they were? . , , . ., , were? that this is certainly the case. were? that this is certainly the case- energy were? that this is certainly the case. energy prices were? that this is certainly the case. energy prices clearly - were? that this is certainly the case. energy prices clearly a i were? that this is certain
also this lunchtime. lower energy bills for many households after the regulator brings in a new price cap. the chief constable of police scotland the uk s second biggest force admits it is institutionally racist and sexist. and by public demand, a fitting farewell for an raf hero who fought in the second world war. and coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news: history for brighton, their highest finish in the premier league and a first european campaign to look forward to next season. good afternoon. net migration to the uk has hit a record high, despite the government s promise to reduce it. the office for national statistics say that last year 606,000 more people moved to the united kingdom than left it. that s up around 118,000 on the previous year s figure. the rise is driven by people from outside the eu, including ukraine and hong kong. the prime minister says the figures are too high labour claim they show the government has lost control of immigratio
because the eurozone s largest economy is now officially in recession. germany has had two consecutive quarters of negative growth. the country s economy contracted by 0.3% between january and march. this follows a contraction of 0.5% in the final three months of 2022. a drop in consumer spending was main cause of germany s disappointing performance in the first quarter, with household consumption falling by 1.2%, as the cost of living crisis continued to cause headaches for millions of people. joining me now is christian schulz deputy chief european economist at citi bank. thank you for being with us. perhaps no great surprise for those who watch those numbers, but it is symbolically important that what was once was a powerhouse economy is now technically in recession. technically in recession. indeed. germany s - technically in recession. indeed. germany s. .. they ve technically in recession. indeed. germany s. .. they ve had - technically in recession. indeed. germ
found in france, after he went missing six years ago will return to the uk in the next few days. possums, yes, it s me, dame edna, and aren t i looking gorgeous? and remembering the late barry humphries king charles and sir eltonjohn are among those paying tribute at a state memorial in sydney. and coming up on bbc news, we will hear how england s women are heading for defeat in mumbai almost 500 runs behind india in their one off test. good afternoon. prince harry has won his phone hacking case against the publishers of the daily mirror. a high courtjudge ruled this morning that on 15 occasions the duke of sussex was the victim of hacking or other unlawful methods of getting stories about him. he s been awarded £140,000 in damages. in a statement, prince harry said it s a great day for the truth and called on the police to launch a criminal investigation into mirror group newspapers. here s our media correspondent, david sillito. this has been a landmark case, prince