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
counter offensive. the comments come after attacks on dnipro and the wagner group claiming it fully captured the city of bakhmut. the battle there for control has been the longest of the war. the head of russia s wagner mercenary group has announced that its forces have started withdrawing from the ukrainian city. ukraine denies this. now, one of the country s most senior security officials says ukraine is ready to launch its long expected counter offensive against russian forces. oleksiy danilov has been speaking exclusively, to our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. this is what s left of bakhmut in eastern ukraine. images filmed by russian forces of the ruins they now largely control. mercenaries from the wagner group claim they re withdrawing, being replaced by regular russian troops. but ukraine insists its forces are still engaged on the ground and the outskirts, as the country s most senior security official told us. translation: we controljust a small i part of
and one of the biggest creatures ever to walk the earth. a patagotitan dinosaur is about to go on show at the natural history museum in london. hello and welcome to bbc news. the vatican says pope francis has spent a good night in hospital after being admitted with a respiratory infection. a spokesman said he had been experiencing breathing difficulties, but they also confirmed he was not suffering from covid. i m joined now by the bbc s davide ghiglione in rome. what is the very latest on the pope was my condition first of all? i am was my condition first of all? i am here at the was my condition first of all? i am here at the hospital, was my condition first of all? i am here at the hospital, just - was my condition first of all? i h here at the hospital, just outside the hospital, where the pope has spent the night. as you said, a spokesperson informed journalists that he spent a peaceful night at the hospital. his condition remained stable at the moment and the vatica
arriving in north east scotland later. details throughout the programme. good morning. it s monday, the 20th of november. our main story. it s the start of a big week for the covid inquiry, which will hear evidence from the high profile doctors and scientists who helped to shape and explain the government s response to the pandemic. the former chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, whose diaries from that time accused boris johnson of chaotic leadership, will appear today, followed by professor sir chris whitty, jonathan van tam and damejenny harries over the coming days. our health reporter jim reed reports. patrick, over to you. thank you very much. numbers are increasing and they re increasing across europe and in the uk. sir patrick vallance was up there at the downing street podium in some of the darkest days of the pandemic. we re also recommending increased social distancing. that s the phrase that you hear. already the inquiry has heard extracts from his priv
Today, turkey has some serious economic problems. we will go to the polls and cast our votes, we will replace an authoritarian government through democratic means. so, how have voters right across the country responded to that? what do they think about the issues that the contenders have really been talking about? the economy is certainly one of the biggest things that people have been considering, turkey s economic crisis has been long and is deep, people are really feeling it in their pockets here. things like the country s response, and particularly the government s response, to those devastating earthquakes back in february, a lot of people saw that as slow and lacking. that did not seem to damage president erdogan s support in those southern areas, though. increasingly, issues around refugees, mainly syrian refugees, there are around 3 million in this country, and immigration has become a hot topic. both sides have been trying to outdo