Sunshine, because it is the shortest day, the winter solstice, so the sun is going to set fairly shortly for many of us. Generally, somewhere between about 3pm and 4pm this afternoon. By tomorrow, those days start to get ever so slightly longer again. This afternoon, this weather front draped through central parts, again. This afternoon, this weather front d 5535} hhraugircefitral parts, again. This afternoon, this weather front d 5555 to iraugircefitral parts, e magma} fruniit ffeej,. 7. 7, 555m 2 fruniit ffi}; j;;; 555i gngsggg quit. i,f;; east. Rims out of i i Northern Ireland. Across Northern England, wales, the south west of mm england, quite a murky night with low cloud and hill fog moving in. A touch of frost across parts of scotland, but generally frost free elsewhere. Tomorrow, we quickly lose the bulk of the rain from wales in South West England. Still a lot of low cloud and murk in the west, especially the coasts and hills. Further east, you are more likely to get some glimpses of brightness, especially to the east of playground, north east england, eastern scotland. Again, it is mild. At the weekend, further north, the weather front pushes in on saturday. That will be more of a player throughout the weekend and into Christmas Day, with heavy rain persistent at times in northern and western scotland. Dry for much of the country but still fairly cloudy. The best brightness generally to eastern parts of the country, and staying mild cold air in the far north. For Christmas Eve on sunday, weve got that persistent rain for central and eastern scotland but Northern Ireland for a time too. One oi Northern Ireland for a time too. One or two showers further south, but breezy, cloudy and certainly staying mild. Christmas day, the potential for a bit of snow on the Northern Edge of that system for northern scotland, but i think heavy rain will be more of a factor for central and western scotland. Elsewhere, just the odd shower. A windy feel to the weather with temperatures of ten oi the weather with temperatures of ten orii. The weather with temperatures of ten or ii. For most of us, only a slim chance of a white christmas, except for the far north of scotland. A reminder of our main story this lunchtime the sacking of damian green, one of the Prime Ministers closest allies, means a furious backlash from tory mps over information leaked by police. Thats all from the bbc news at one, so its goodbye from me. The president of the Commonwealth Games federation has praised birmingham for its rich history, cultural diversity, youthful dynamism and ambitious spirit. This morning she confirmed birmingham will host the 2022 games that had initially been given to durban, who pulled out with financial difficulties. Birmingham beat liverpool to get vital government backing but despite interest from victoria in candad and kuala lumpur, they were the only city to make an official bid. It is something the city has wanted and needed for many yea rs. City has wanted and needed for many years. Ona city has wanted and needed for many years. On a global stage there will be 70 different nations and territories here, an extraordinary opportunity for the city and broader region to showcase itself to the world and develop all sorts of new links with the commonwealth at an appointed time when we will be leaving europe and the relationships with our Commonwealth Partners will be so much more important. The city will follow manchester in 2002 and glasgow in 2014 as previous uk hosts for the games. The legacy they hope to leave goes beyond the world class sports venues that they have to provide. Here is a brilliant opportunity to not only inspire young people to really ta ke not only inspire young people to really take part in sport, its great for the country. It really showcases and has the opportunity to showcases and has the opportunity to showcase birmingham in terms of their economy, in terms of their infrastructure, their ability to move away from sport but to maximise the opportunity to show who they are, what they do and how well they can do it. And the Commonwealth Games is a as significant now as it ever was. It was a famous night for bristol city, the championship side are into the League Cup Semi finals aftyer knocking out the holders Manchester United and their reward is a tie against manchester city. It was 1 1 deep into injury time with extra time and possible penlaties looming but korey smith sealed the unlikeliest of victories. That sparked a pitch invasion and the city manager leejohnson even got the ball boy involved jaden who has become a local hero too. Iran to i ran to lee iran to leejohnson and he spun me around. What was that like . Amazing. Did you have any idea that might happen . I didnt know it was going to spin me round, no. Burnleys James Tarkowski is going to get an unwanted break over christmas. Hes accepted a charge of violent conduct by the fa and is suspedned for the next three matches. Video evidence was used after officials failed to see him elbow brightons glenn murray off the ball during their goalless draw last weekend. The defender will miss the games against spurs, Manchester United and huddersfield but will be back to face liverpool on new years day. Ryan giggs was one of the favourites to take over at swansea but hes ruled himself out a day after paul clement was sacked. The Manchester United legend was assistant at old trafford under Louis Van Gaal and had a brief caretaker role after david moyes departure. He was considered for the swansea role last year but the job was given to bob bradley, who lasted less than three months. Englands cricketers are licking their wounds and working out how to get themsleves up for the last two tests against australia with the ashes already gone. One of the rare highlights in the england camp has been the emergence of dawid malan, their top run scorer who has averaged over 50. It is disappointing we have nothing really to play for from point of view in terms of the ashes. We obviously lost 3 0 but i think the pride of the team and all of our players will want to make this 3 2, and we want to show we can play and perform out here. Thats the key thing. Thats all the sports now, much more on the website. You can see the top story, speculation about some chairs and whether he will leave arsenal injanuary or next summer, heading towards manchester city. You can read all about it. I will be back much more on bbc news in the next hour. Thank you. Lets return now to our main story and the departure of the first secretary of state, damian green. Theresa may sacked her close colleague and friend after an inquiry found he had breached the ministerial code by making inaccu rate and misleading statements about pornography found on his Office Computer in 2008. Mrgreen mr green was questioned by journalists outside his home this morning. Why did you lie to the public, mrgreen . Morning. Why did you lie to the public, mr green . Have you let the Prime Minister down, mr green . That was damian green leaving home this morning. Meanwhile the health secretaryjeremy hunt said that the Prime Minister had no choice but to sack the first secretary of state. Everyone understands the pressures politicians are under and no one is saying hes not an outstanding Public Servant in the many ministerial posts he did, but in our country and this happens in every government, there are instances where people get pushed into a situation where they Say Something they dont mean to say, and we do hold people to high standards of conduct, and on this occasion, and i know with a heavy heart, the Prime Minister made the difficult decision she had to. Mr green had also rejected claims that he that he acted inappropriately towards a female activist, kate maltby. The labour Mpjess Phillips said mr green should have gone sooner. Whilst nobody is happy about this, and the idea we are out for a scalp is ridiculous. The fact of the matter is his resignation and a consequence for an action sends a very clear message to young men and women who work in and around politics to feel that if they do come forward there is a chance there will be consequences, there is a chance justice will be done. Because up chance justice will be done. Because up until this point it had felt a little bit like whats the point, nobody is listening. Do you think thatis nobody is listening. Do you think that is a lasting consequence of this resignation . Yes, i think the lasting consequence of this resignation will be that the culture in westminster has to change. There are people there serious about changing it and this wont be brushed under the carpet. Damian green has taken to twitter today. Police have revealed that the man who deliberately drove a car into a crowd in melbourne is a drug user with Mental Health issues but no known terrorism links. 14 people were injured when the Australian Citizen of afghan descent hit a number of pedestrians on flinders street. The second suspect arrested was found with a bag of knives and had been filming the incident. Shane patton, acting chief commissioner for victoria police, told journalists that the driver was known to police. What we do know about the driver of the car, he is a 32 year old Australian Citizen of afghan descent. Hes a person who have known to victoria police. He has historical assault matters, he is currently not on any bail or corrections order or anything of the like. He has a history of drug use and Mental Health issues. We understand, as i said this is early days, that he is on the Mental Health plan and receiving treatment for a mental illness. We are working through those to clarify that. He still in custody under arrest for these offences for what we allege is a deliberate act. A baby has been born from an embryo frozen for nearly 25 years. It may be the longest gap between conception and birth since ivf began. The embryo was donated by a family in the us, and has become the first child for a woman who would have been only one year old when the baby was actually conceived. Andrew plant reports. Preparing for christmas in eastern tennessee, but this year, tina and ben gibson have already got the gift they wanted. Seriously, in the middle of the night, well wake up and just look at her, and were like can you believe it . Like, shes really ours. Emma wren gibson, born from an embryo frozen 25 years ago. I never thought that id be able, you know, to have a pregnancy and to have a baby. Like, oh, my gosh, you know . Such a miracle, you know such a sweet, sweet miracle. Mum tina, is only 26 years old, which means she and her son were conceived within a few months of each other. She and ben cant give birth naturally, so the National Embryo Donation Centre provided them with an embryo, which had been in frozen storage for a quarter of a century. If this embryo was born when it was supposed to be, like, we could have been best friends. We could have been friends. And he just thought that was so funny, so thats been, like, the going joke. Its just so crazy. The embryo was donated 25 years ago, by an anonymous family, and kept in carefully controlled conditions. Emma wren wont be genetically related to her parents, but has become their first child and, it is thought, a record breaking baby, too. You know, ithink she was chosen for us. Shes perfect. I dont think we chose her, i think she was chosen for us. They re called snow babies, because of how long theyre kept frozen. Finally, though, she is nice and warm, and delivered in time for her very first christmas. Andrew plant, bbc news. The headlines downing street says the sacking of damian green is a matter of sadness and regret for the Prime Minister but ministers insist he had to go after breaching the ministerial code. Australian Police Arrest two people after a car drove into a crowded melbourne. Detectives say the action was deliberate. And the mp for Nazanin Zaghari ratcliffe has been told that she could be eligible for early release. Now, the Business News. In the last few minutes toys r us has come to a deal with the pensions protect fund to support a Restructuring Plan to protect the firms future. The fate of 3,200 toys r us jobs are hanging in the balance ahead of a vote on this plan. More on that story coming up. The us has ruled that ca nadas bombardier received government subsidies and sold c series jets below cost in the us, a step likely to lead to steep tariffs. The investigation follows a petition from rival American Company boeing and the conflict has the potential to lead to job losses in Northern Ireland. Bombardier said it was deeply disappointed in the decision. The number of cars built in the uk last month fell by 4. 6 compared with a year earlier, driven down by a sharp decline in domestic demand. Over 161,000 vehicles were made in uk factories in november, according to the society of Motor Manufacturers and traders, but adds that output for the domestic market fell by 28 as a result of brexit uncertainty and confusion over diesel taxation. Production for export rose by 1. 3 . We have some breaking Business News and the Payment Protection Fund has said it will support a voluntary agreement which toys r us saw today. There have been those crunch talks taking place in london, they were suspended this morning while ongoing discussions took place to try to reach some kind of agreement. The payment protection bots wanted £9 million immediately paid into the bots because it said toys r us pension bots was in deficit. It seems there has been some agreement, with hard news from the payment protection bots said we have been working closely with toys r us and their advisers in the run up to the cba vote. We can confirm an agreement has been reached. Toys r us has now agreed to pay £9. 8 million into the pension plan but this will be split up. In 2018, £8 million will be made with a further 6 million promised in 2019 and 2020. Also this deal sees the pension deficit plan shortened. This is good news for those employees of Toys R Us Stores and we do know the firm at this stage will not be going into administration it seems before christmas. Public sector borrowing fell to £87 billion in november, down £0. 2 billion from a year earlier, partly thanks to higher income tax receipts thats according to official figure. They show borrowing for the Financial Year to date at £48. 1 billion. That is the lowest recorded at this time of the year since 2007. January typically brings a big surplus in the public finances thanks to annual income tax payments. Apple has confirmed the suspicions of many iphone owners by revealing it does deliberately slow down some models of the iphone as they age. The company has now said it does slow down some models, but only because the phones battery performance diminishes over time. The practice was confirmed after a customer shared performance tests on reddit, suggesting their iphone 6s had slowed down considerably as it had aged but had suddenly sped up again after the battery had been replaced. Apple says it wanted to prolong the life of customers devices. Britains forties oil and gas pipeline should restart in early january after repairs to a crack are carried out over christmas, thats according to the operator ineos. Forties is the biggest of the five north sea crudes that underpin brent, a benchmark for oil trading in europe, the middle east, africa and asia. And oil prices generally have risen since the pipeline was shut on december 11th. Lets check in with the Financial Markets now. Energy and mining stocks helping british shares edge higher while House Builders were hit by that government proposal to ban the sale of new leasehold homes. We can now cross live to a guest on this. Beth rudolf is from the coveyancing association conveyancing lawyers prepare all the documents for the transfer of property. Can you tell me if you think the rules are unfair as the communities secretary said today . They are, we have been working on this for years. Weve seen a rapid decline in the way the developers behaved towards leaseholders and particularly in the last ten years weve seen these increases in escalating ground rents which have left approximately 100,000 people in a position where they cant sell their properties because of the unfair terms contained in their leases so this is fantastic news today but we needed to go further. We know that on top of these escalating ground rents, they are also charging ridiculous fees, so perhaps to change a blind ive heard people being charged £350 just to receive consent to change a blind in their house. It is outdated and not necessarily any necessary any more. Do you think, if these changes are implemented, and leaseholds in their current form are banned or at least restricted that the sale of homes will speed up . Because that process takes so long. Thats right, its a ridiculous 16 weeks to buy a property, elsewhere in the world you have a legal commitment within ten days maximum so the government is working on that. Leasehold is a big part of the problem, leasehold property takes 20 days longer to Exchange Contracts than a freehold on. If you imagine one fifth of transactions are leasehold and increasing with leasehold and increasing with leasehold houses being sold, then it means not just you leasehold houses being sold, then it means notjust you are directly impacted but if a Leasehold Properties involved in a chain its adding 20 days. We have heard of delays of up to 55 days where information is not being provided and the reason for that is there is no Consumer Protection from unfair leasehold and unreasonable fees in leasehold and unreasonable fees in leasehold or indeed the delays. Very quickly, what about those people who are already trapped in these long leasehold contracts . Because there will be a ban on new homes but not those currently existing in these properties. Those contracts will continue. My heart breaks for them, can you imagine having bought the property and then finding they cant sell it. The government really need to look at this and there is precedent for it. A0 years ago meant charges were abolished so theres no reason why we cant do this and theres no reason we cant put some proper consumer redress in just with legislation already out there. Thats all the Business News from me for now. We will keep you updated on any other developments with toys r us. Thank you. For many, christmas wouldnt be complete without carols and up and down the uk there will be thousands of youngsters hard at work singing their hearts out. Cathedral choristers practise and perform before, and often after school, keeping alive a tradition of choral singing that dates back centuries. John maguire has been to Bristol Cathedral choir school. One, two, three. One. Its just after 8am on a crisp but cold winter morning, and as children have here for hundreds of years, Bristol Cathedrals young choresters are attending their first rehearsal of the day. Sometimes i have to, like, cancel plans to make choir, but my friends are understanding of it. If i have choir, i plan something around it. You get a real opportunity to do this and you go on tour to different countries. Its really amazing. Its quite time consuming, but you are always with friends and i really like it. Theres a really nice atmosphere. And, yeah, its really nice. The choresters attend lessons along with everyone else. They sing before and after school, and in the cathedral on alternate weekends. Its a busy life. Its a wonderful opportunity to switch off from modern life a little bit, to go into a past world, to have high choral expectations put on them. Adults and children are in the choir and everyone operates to the same level. We use the same vocabulary in all lessons. 0 come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. In between rehearsals for the royal opera, the composer and singer Roderick Williams tells me how our choirs still lead around the globe. Around the world, exciting things are happening. In britain, one of the great things is we look at that and say i can see what you are doing and we can do that as well. Perhaps not do the same degree, but we can turn our hand to film music, or gospel, or something more traditional. We can do a bit of everything. Speaking french. Back at Bristol Cathedral choir school, which is a state academy, they encourage as many students to sing here as possible. We have hundreds of people singing at this school. When young people sing together, they breathe together, sing together, put amazing performances together. We see significant results in the Wider Community and in the character of young people. And it takes some character and commitment to singing whilejuggling sports, lessons, clubs, friends, and, of course, being a teenager. But mr williams says the choristers are learning valuable lessons for life. In these days where people are retreating into their phones, the idea of sharing something that is live and acoustic, that does not need plugging in, that is what they keep more than anything else. They are paid, but their reward really comes in the joy they receive and give from creating such a beautiful noise. John maguire, bbc news, bristol. Now lets take you to warsaw, theresa may is there for a summit intended to strengthen ties ahead of the uks departure from the european union. She will be there on the podium quite shortly we understand, with polands Prime Minister, who has only been in post for less than a fortnight. The countrys former finance chief. Its understood she has been discussing notjust brexit also and security with him as well. They were expected a few minutes ago so we will come to that live as soon as the press conference starts. Before that we can go to the weather. We have a cloudy winter solstice out there today, the shortest day of the year has started off with fog and drizzly rain around, but to the north a few brighter spells. This lovely ring picture taken in aberdeenshire by one of our weather watchers. Over the next few hours we will see the sun setting fairly quickly. It is the shortest day of the year and the sunsets generally around 3 a oclock for most of us. Through this afternoon, this weather front ringing drizzly rain across Northern Ireland, Northern England too and some splashes of rain into north west wales. To the north and south of that, drier weather. Limited sunshine further south across the country although it is mild. Into this evening and overnight we see the cloud thickening from the west as the weather front moves in. Thickening from the west as the weatherfront moves in. The rain we re weatherfront moves in. The rain were largely clear from Northern Ireland but we will continue to see light rain for Northern England for a time, and for wales and South West England too. We have a lot of cloud, and a touch of frost scotland too. That rain clears away relatively quickly in the morning but many parts of the country have a lot of low cloud and hill fog. Brighter further restore aberdeenshire right towards the south east too with temperatures between seven and 12 degrees. High pressure generally holding onto our weather as we head into the weekend but we have this weather front in the north and that will be more of a player through the weekend and into christmas too, particularly across the western part of scotla nd particularly across the western part of scotland where we see persistent rain. Elsewhere are largely dry, cloudy, breezy picture on saturday. Again, milder. Christmassy on sunday, we will see more of that wet weather pushing into the northwest, heavy rain may cause flooding problems particularly towards the west of scotland. Some rain also from Northern Ireland, but much of england and wales having a dry day on Christmas Eve, still mild and breezy too. On Christmas Day still some heavy rain across scotland, causing disruption for a time and snow on the far Northern Edge on that band of rain. A lot of dry weather and temperature is still in double figures for most of us. Keep tuned to your latest forecast, you will find more on our website. Hello, youre watching afternoon live. Today at 2 theresa may is in poland, but back home conservative mps are angry about the role the police played in the sacking of first minister of state damian green. They should be investigated for misconduct in public office, thats a criminal offence. I think what theyve done is completely wrong, it undermines trust in the police. Creditors of the struggling retailer toys r us have in the past few minutes approved a rescue plan to prevent it going in to administration. A mans arrested in the australian city of melbourne, after he drove into a crowd at a busyjunction, injuring at least nineteen people. Coming up on afternoon live all the sport olly foster. It was the worst kept secret in sport, who will host the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Yes the race is on to get ready for
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