0:00:21 > 0:00:23Good afternoon.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25A seaplane has crashed into a river near Sydney,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29killing all six people on board.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Reports suggest four of the victims are British,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35although this has not been confirmed by police.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40The Foreign Office here is in contact with officials in Australia.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42The aircraft - on a sight seeing trip ahead of
0:00:42 > 0:00:45the New Year celebrations - came down in a river close
0:00:45 > 0:00:46to the suburb of Cowan.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Ian Palmer reports.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Police divers have spent the day searching for bodies.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54The seaplane is underwater.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57The party was returning from a trip to a restaurant,
0:00:57 > 0:00:58before crashing into the river.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Six people were on board.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03For reasons that are not known at this stage,
0:01:03 > 0:01:08the plane has hit the water and it has subsequently sunk.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12It is sitting in approximately 30 metres of water.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17At the time of the collision, the plane had a pilot
0:01:17 > 0:01:20and five passengers on board.
0:01:20 > 0:01:26I can confirm the six people on the plane are deceased.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30The aircraft crashed just after three in the afternoon, local time.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33It is operated by the company Sydney Seaplanes.
0:01:33 > 0:01:39A major tour firm, it offers many sightseeing trips across Australia.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41In a statement the company says: Sydney Seaplanes is deeply shocked
0:01:41 > 0:01:44by this incident and the resulting loss of life.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46We wish to pass on our heartfelt condolences to the family
0:01:46 > 0:01:52and friends of the passengers and pilot who were tragically killed.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55An eyewitness says he saw the single-engine plane make a
0:01:55 > 0:01:59tight turn before dipping its wings and nosediving into the water.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Police have recovered six bodies from the wreckage.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Their identities have yet to be confirmed.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07People in the area of Hawkesbury River described
0:02:07 > 0:02:11the flying conditions just before the crash happened.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14A little bit bumpy coming over with the weather, but it was nothing
0:02:14 > 0:02:15to be concerned about.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Like, I mean, I wasn't frightened.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19There are unconfirmed reports that four people
0:02:19 > 0:02:21from Britain are among the dead.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27The Foreign Office says officials from the British
0:02:27 > 0:02:29consulate are in contact with local authorities.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31It says staff are ready to provide consular assistance.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Ian Palmer, BBC News.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Thousands of rail travellers face disruption to their journeys
0:02:37 > 0:02:42today as workers from two train companies stage 24-hour strikes.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Members of the RMT union on South Western Railway and CrossCountry
0:02:46 > 0:02:49are taking action in disputes involving the role of guards,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52rosters and Sunday working.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Live now to Waterloo and our correspondent there,
0:02:54 > 0:02:55Anisa Kadri.
0:02:55 > 0:03:03What more can you tell us?
0:03:03 > 0:03:09Well, this is the UK's busiest station. You only have to go into
0:03:09 > 0:03:14Waterloo behind me and you will see posters warning of disruption this
0:03:14 > 0:03:18New Year's Eve. South Western Railway says there will be reduced
0:03:18 > 0:03:22services to places like Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and that a
0:03:22 > 0:03:26quarter of trains are expected not to run at all. The strike action is
0:03:26 > 0:03:31not only causing problems here. It is also causing problems on
0:03:31 > 0:03:36cross-country rail meaning services between Newcastle and Edinburgh are
0:03:36 > 0:03:45reduced, and between Adam Aberdeen and Glasgow. The advice is to check
0:03:45 > 0:03:48on updates because you may know where you are going to celebrate New
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Year's Eve but how you get there and back may be a different story.Thank
0:03:52 > 0:03:53you.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Criminal gangs who claim benefits under a false identity
0:03:56 > 0:03:58are to be targeted by the government using artificial intelligence.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01The Department for Work and Pensions says it will use
0:04:01 > 0:04:02sophisticated computer programming to detect fraud taking place
0:04:02 > 0:04:05to claim universal credit and jobseekers allowance.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Political leaders have been reflecting on the past 12 months
0:04:08 > 0:04:12in their New Year's messages, with Theresa May calling 2017
0:04:12 > 0:04:16a "year of progress" for the UK.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the hope of a new Britain
0:04:19 > 0:04:21is closer than ever.
0:04:21 > 0:04:28With more here's our Political Correspondent, Emma Vardy.
0:04:28 > 0:04:29After a political year dominated by Brexit,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32it's no surprise the subject played a key part in Theresa May's
0:04:32 > 0:04:33New Year's message.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36She said the government has pursued our Brexit objectives
0:04:36 > 0:04:38with steady purpose, and progress will continue in 2018,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42when the talks move on to trade.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45But not for the first time, Theresa May made clear she wants
0:04:45 > 0:04:48to be more than Madam Brexit.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Making a success of Brexit is crucial, but it will not be
0:04:51 > 0:04:54the limit of our ambitions.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57We also have to carry on making a difference here and now
0:04:57 > 0:05:01on the issues that matter to people's daily lives.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04That means building an economy fit for the future, and taking
0:05:04 > 0:05:08a balanced approach to government spending, so we get our debt
0:05:08 > 0:05:12falling, but can also invest in the things that matter,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17our schools, police and our precious NHS.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Mrs May also said next year we will continue the fight
0:05:19 > 0:05:22against all forms of extremism and she said she believed 2018
0:05:22 > 0:05:27could be a year of renewed pride in our country.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Meanwhile, the tone of Jeremy Corbyn's address
0:05:29 > 0:05:32was rather different.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35He said we are being held back by a self-serving elite,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39and pointed to the gains made by Labour at the general election,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41saying this was the year when people said no more.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45The old political consensus is finished.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47We are staking out the new centre ground in British politics,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50backing the things which most people want, but are blocked
0:05:50 > 0:05:53by vested interests.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56We are a government in waiting, while the Conservatives are weak,
0:05:56 > 0:06:03divided and stuck in an outdated rut with no new ideas.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06The hope of a new Britain run in the interests of the many,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10not the few, is closer than ever before.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13The New Year messages draw to a close what has been politically
0:06:13 > 0:06:15a dramatic 12 months.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Emma Vardy, BBC News.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Technology is giving historians a new insight
0:06:22 > 0:06:24into everyday life in ancient Egypt.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Researchers at University College London have developed scanning
0:06:27 > 0:06:31techniques that show what is written on the papyrus that
0:06:31 > 0:06:34a sarcophagus case is made from.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Our science correspondent, Pallab Ghosh, has this exclusive report.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42The hieroglyphics found in the tombs of the pharaohs show the lives
0:06:42 > 0:06:45of the ancient Egyptians, but the paintings are
0:06:45 > 0:06:48what the rich and powerful wanted the people to know.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52They are the propaganda of their time.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55But now there's a wealth of information about ordinary
0:06:55 > 0:07:02people being discovered using a new scientific technique.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05With a specially-modified camera, researcher Cerys Jones takes
0:07:05 > 0:07:08photos of a mummy's case at Chiddingstone Castle in Kent.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11You can't see anything with the naked eye,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15but using infrared, a name is revealed, Irethoreru.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18A common name in ancient Egypt.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20It is a Stephen or David of its time.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23It is amazing.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Everyone in the room gasped and people jumped up
0:07:26 > 0:07:28and ran for the computer, because in that one image,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30you could read it.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33These scraps of papyrus are more than 2,000 years old.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35They were recycled to make the breastplate that
0:07:35 > 0:07:37covered a mummified body.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40The writing is obscured by the plaster and paste
0:07:40 > 0:07:43that hold them together, but researchers can see what lies
0:07:43 > 0:07:45beneath by scanning them with different kinds of light
0:07:45 > 0:07:50which makes the inks glow.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55These now constitute one of the best libraries we have of waste papyrus
0:07:55 > 0:07:58that otherwise would have been thrown away, so it includes
0:07:58 > 0:08:02things like tax receipts, and everyday information
0:08:02 > 0:08:04that we would nowadays throw away.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06Back then, they would have thrown it
0:08:06 > 0:08:11away, but fortunately it was recycled into these objects.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Our knowledge of ancient Egypt is through the eyes of pharaohs
0:08:14 > 0:08:17and the very wealthy who were buried with their possessions,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19but this new imaging technique is enabling researchers to find out
0:08:19 > 0:08:24about the lives of ordinary Egyptians.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Until now, the only way to see what was written on the papyrus
0:08:28 > 0:08:30was to destroy these masks, leaving Egyptologists
0:08:30 > 0:08:32with a dilemma.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Do they destroy these precious objects or do
0:08:34 > 0:08:36they keep them untouched, leaving the stories
0:08:36 > 0:08:39within them untold?
0:08:39 > 0:08:43I am really horrified when I see objects like these papyri cartonnage
0:08:43 > 0:08:46being destroyed in order to get at the text inside.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50They are finite resources and we now have the technology to both
0:08:50 > 0:08:52preserve those beautiful, precious objects that tell us
0:08:52 > 0:08:56about ways of dying, but also looking inside them
0:08:56 > 0:09:01in order to understand the ways that the Egyptians lived.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04There are hundreds of cases and masks that can be scanned,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07each one telling its own individual story of everyday life
0:09:07 > 0:09:09in ancient Egypt.
0:09:09 > 0:09:15Pallab Ghosh, BBC News.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Now as we gear up for our New Year's celebrations,
0:09:18 > 0:09:27it's already 2018 in New Zealand.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30The traditional firework display in Auckland marks one
0:09:30 > 0:09:34of the first major countries to see in the New Year.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Australia's next within the hour.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40You can see more on all of today's stories
0:09:40 > 0:09:43on the BBC News Channel.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45The next news on BBC One is at five past six.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Goodbye for now.
0:09:59 > 0:10:00Good afternoon.