Out which routes need cash to bring them up to scratch. And in half a hour here on bbc news a special tv version of the bbcs popular brexitcast podcast. Our correspondents reflect on the behind the scenes twists and turns of the negotiations between the eu and the uk. Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. In the philippines, its now being reported that at least 100 people have been killed by Tropical Storm tembin. Two days of heavy rain have led to flash flooding and mudslides. The rescue effort is being hampered by roads which are blocked or have simply been washed away. A state of emergency has been declared in several areas on the worst hit island of mindanao. Howard johnson reports from the philippines capital, manila. High winds and heavy rain have been battering mindanao as Tropical Storm vinta makes its way across the country. Local reports say a farming village on the north of the island has been entirely buried by a mudslide. Flood waters also hit the war torn city still recovering after five months of fighting between the so called Islamic State inspired group and forces. Camps in towns have been destroyed. Officials say evacuees have been moved to covered sports centres. The Philippine NationalDisaster Council had worked pre emptively to move residents in landslide and flood prone areas to shelter. The priority is to try to rescue people and take care of the evacuation. We have provided water and hot food and we will be distributing non food items like blankets and hygiene kits for those who are in centres, to alleviate the suffering of many of the folks there. The philippines is hit by around 20 typhoons every year, bringing death and destruction to some of the poorest communities in the country. Tropical storm vinta is now headed towards the popular tourist island when it is expected to intensify with winds up to 120 km h. Howard johnson, bbc news, manila in the philippines. Earlier i spoke to Andrew Morris who is the head of unicefs mindanao field office. He explained more about what is happening on the ground. The typhoon vinta reached the east coast of mindanao and in the last days traversed to the west. Gusts of winds more than 100 miles an hour, flash floods and landslides, and while the population in the east of mindanao seems to have been a bit better prepared, some moving into evacuation centres, the provinces north of mindanao have been particularly affected. Yesterday, winds of 70 80 miles an hour and Lanao Del Sur is the poorest in the philippines. And then the past seven months thousands of people have been displaced in that province because of conflict and some 20,000 of them have been living in tents for the past seven months. So the priority yesterday and this morning has been to check their situation and thankfully less than 100 people have had to move from their tents towards accommodation. There has been interruption of electricity supplies, water for those displaced families is often from pumped water and the electricity stops pumps from working so our partners on the ground but trying to quickly, with the local authorities, put that right. But outside the evacuation centres the situation seems to be much worse. Ten districts, municipalities, very badly affected. We saw pictures earlier. Over the next two days, our staff and partners will be in those areas, looking to see what the immediate needs are but of course in this situation there are big risks for poor children. Risks of outbreaks of diarrhoea, waterborne diseases, the sanitation situation in those affected areas in North Mindanao have been particularly bad and this has brought added risks. So we think water and sanitation needs will be a particular priority. Andrew morris of unicef. An aardvark has died and four meerkats are missing after a fire broke at london zoo early this morning. A number of staff were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and shock as it was brought under control by 70 firefighters. The zoo, which will be closed until further notice, is one of londons busiest attractions and was expecting tens of thousands of visitors over the christmas holiday. Jane Frances Kelly reports. Flames could be seen from surrounding areas shortly before dawn. A fire had broken out in the Animal Adventure cafe before spreading to a shop. It also affected an animal petting section. Zookeepers who lived on site led animals to safety, some suffering smoke inhalation and shock. Ten fire engines and more than 70 firefighters arrived. It took over three hours to contain the flames. A man walking his dog on Primrose Hill said he alerted staff when he saw the flames. I went over to the security and basically had a word with them and told them there is, well, there is flames, there is smoke coming from inside, do you know anything about it . The zoo had to be closed today, disappointing hundreds of visitors. We have travelled down from nottingham today. That must be disappointing . Yeah, it is a bit, but as long as the animals are ok. Brazil has said that misha the aardvark has died in the fire and four meerkats are missing. We are absolutely devastated that misha the aardvark has been killed and we are still trying to find out what has happened to the meerkats. But at the moment the site where this fire took place is closed down. In the last hour the zoo said the aardvark died in the fire and four meerkats are missing. London zoo thanked the fire brigade for reacting so quickly, preventing the fire spreading and endangering its staff and many animals. Jane Frances Kelly, bbc news. David george is a station manager at london fire brigade. He explained what happened this morning. London fire brigade took the first call at eight minutes past six this morning. We immediately dispatched crews from local stations. It is a landmark establishment and crews arrived on the scene very quickly. They were faced with quite a well developed fire and quickly assessed the situation and called for Additional Resources to not only deal with the fire but to stop it from spreading to any of the main enclosures and buildings. So we have had approximately 75 firefighters, that equates to around ten fire engines on scene for most of the morning. Crews were working with breathing apparatus and thermal imaging cameras as well as hoses to bring the fire under control. It was done very quickly. And we have understood that, as dominic has explained, that some of the animals are still unaccounted for. We are now looking forward, looking at forensically examining the scene, but our specialist Fire Investigation teams who will work with staff and hopefully be able to hand the site back at some point in the near future. David george from the london fire brigade. A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a Woman Working at an aldi supermarket in north yorkshire. Neville hord, whos 44, was remanded in custody by magistrates in york. Jodie willsher was stabbed to death in skipton on thursday. 0ur correspondent, sarah walton, sent this report. Arriving at York Magistrates Court, 44 year old neville hord appeared in the dock charged with murder. Hes accused of attacking 30 year old Jodie Willsher at the aldi store in skipton where she was working on thursday afternoon. She suffered serious injuries and died in the store. There were no relatives in court for the hearing this morning and mr hord, dressed in a blue t shirt and grey shorts, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address. He didnt enter a plea and was remanded in custody. At the store where mrs willsher worked, colleagues have described her as much loved and popular. And in a statement her husband malcolm said she was a doting mother and loving wife. Mr hord will next appear at Leeds Crown Court on 28th december. Sarah walton, bbc news, york. The us president , donald trump, has praised the Un Security Council for imposing tough new sanctions against north korea in response to its recent missile tests. The Security Council voted unanimously to limit north koreas imports of petrol and oil by as much as 90 . Mr trump said the vote proved the world wants peace, not death. Californias deadly wildfire has now become the largest in the states recorded history. The blaze, which has been burning for more than two weeks, has scorched an area greater than new york city, brussels and paris combined. More than 8,000 firefighters have been tackling the flames among them thousands of prisoners, as our correspondent james cook explains. Its pretty challenging. Sometimes were right there, right next to the fire. Compared to being in prison and being here, its completely different. Here you feel free. Youre out in the world. The biggest change for me is mental, because ive never pushed myself as hard, ever in life. California has 4,000 inmate firefighters, men and women. Cutting firebreaks is risky work, two have died this year. But there are rewards too in reduced sentences and a sense of purpose. After being in this programme, ifeel like ive been rehabilitated and ifeel like i can go out there and achieve anything i want to because ive done this. This is so hard. We were allowed inside this prison camp in malibu. There are no walls or fences here. Violent or volatile prisoners are not allowed to join the programme. With a job like this, there is only time to think about the work. Latoya najar is serving four years for causing the death of her seven year old son in a drunken car crash. The attraction for me was because of my crime, i could come out here and do something positive. Its challenging mentally to get over something. Im never going to get over it, but to try to ease my mind and this has helped. With california facing more frequent and more destructive fires, some critics call this slave labour. But the project is voluntary, it may reduce re offending and it provides some measure of redemption. Everyone is like, we love you firefighters. We all wave back and we wave to the kids. Its amazing, yes. The work may be exhausting, it may be dangerous, but in the words of one prisoner, its better than twiddling yourthumbs injail. James cook, bbc news, in southern california. The transport secretary, chris grayling, says the government is consulting on a new system of road charging for heavy goods vehicles. Speaking on radio 4s today programme, he said it was about creating a level Playing Field so that both british and international hauliers will pay towards the upkeep of the road network. Its about a critical level Playing Field for lorries, our hauliers will complain that continental traffic comes in with a tank full of lower duty diesel, spends several days working in the country, goes away again and pays nothing towards the use of the roads. We already have a system in place that provides limited contribution, we are now consulting the industry. If we were to move away from different types of tax on hauliers and move to a pay per use system so that everybody, british, international, contributes to roads, do you think that is a good idea. The government is also starting a 12 week consultation on which key a roads in england will benefit from new funding. The roads will be eligible for money under the new roads fund, as our Business Correspondent jonty bloom reports. Many a roads around the country are run and maintained by local councils, even when theyre important parts of the nations infrastructure. But the government is aiming to change that by providing money for improvements from a new central fund. That will be paid for with money raised from vehicle excise duty, improve thousands of miles of a roads, and provide up to £100 million for each major new scheme such as road junctions, more dual carriageways and improved safety. This is typically all about bypasses for small towns where they have got an a road going through the middle, lots of heavy lorries and it gets congested, lots of pollution, everyone says there needs to be a bypass this is about making sure those bypasses can be delivered. It is important for regional connections, its important for new housing but its also important to make life better for the people who live on those roads. The plan is that by providing Central Government money, regions of england will be able to cut congestion, remove bottlenecks and boost economic growth. But critics say that the money would be better spent maintaining the current road network and improving public transport. Jonty bloom, bbc news. The headlines here on bbc news. A Tropical Storm has torn through the southern philippines, triggering flash floods and landslides. More than 130 people are known to have died. And aardvark has died and four meerkats are missing after a fire broke out at london zoo. A number of zoo staff have been treated for smoke inhalation and shock. A man has appeared at York Magistrates Court charged with the murder ofJodie Willsher,30, at an aldi supermarket in skipton. And in sport Nine Premier League matches, chelsea missed out on the chance to draw with Manchester United they are held to a draw by everton at goodison park, Manchester City are leading bournemouth 2 0 at the moment, southampton, Crystal Palace and stroke all winning at the moment. In the rugby union of either championship exeter are leading northampton saints 14 7 and british sprinter Nigel Lavigne has failed a drugs test, the european gold medallist has allegedly tested positive for the banned asthma drug clenbuterol. Back with an update later come and see you then. Senior nato officers have warned that russia submarine activity has reached a level not seen since the end of the cold war 30 years ago. The commander of the alliances submarine forces said the russians seemed to be focussing on undersea cables that link europe to the united states, on which trillions of dollars worth of trade is carried daily. Earlier my colleague shaun ley discussed the threat posed by russia with edward lucas, author of the new cold war. I think it is worth remembering that the russian submarines have been at this ever since the end of the old cold war and any country which has a submarine based Nuclear Deterrent needs to keep an eye on the other sides submarines and make sure they stay seated. The russians had gotten a lot better both of those things, part of the military build up we have seen. It has got to the stage along with cyberattacks and other things russia do that nato is alarmed about it and the Political Leadership of nato is now happy to talk about it publicly. They used to pretend it was all right until a couple of years ago. We have moved on from the idea of planes buzzing in air space just to show they have the capacity. There is a more sustained presence. The planes still do that and we have countries which worry about aerospace intrusions. Russia is much smaller than the west. This is not the soviet union. Russia would not stand a chance against a real military confrontation, god forbid, an all out war, but what it is good at doing is using bluff and intimidation to make its political points. So i think what theyre doing with this submarine cable stuff is saying to the west, dont forget, your economy depends on these trillions of dollars in these cables and it will be easy for us to cut it, it would be damaging for you, so watch it, and what we need to do and we havent yet is work out what our political responses to this russian threat. In a sense, it is testing the waters, but there is no serious possibility of action of any kind at this stage. We have talked about russian interference with elections and referendums. It is more subtle than chopping a cable in half. Russia does attack other countries and we have seen that in ukraine and in georgia. They have the capability to use their military. Will they use it in an all out confrontation against the west . I think not. Could they use the military threat to make us back down . Well, quite possibly, that is what Vladimir Putin relies on, fundamentally we do not want a confrontation and hes prepared to risk one, which gives him a negotiating edge. The scale of the cables under the atlantic that connect europe, what scale are we talking about and how difficult is it to defend it . The internet has become the Central Nervous system of the World Economy in a way that it wasnt during the cold war because we didnt have the internet then. Is it easier to defend . The cables are thousands of kilometres long and the ocean is a big place. The way you defend it is by keeping an eye on the other sides submarines and what is going on is the increasing worry in the nato that the russians are getting really good with their modern, quite submarines that run on batteries for days at a time and are super quiet and they pop out in all sorts of places where we dont expect them and we have let our anti submarine warfare capabilities degrade and some the viewers might remember the nimrod aircraft with big bulbous noses that used to fly out over the north sea and pick up tiny electronic traces of russian activity. We got rid of those few years ago because we said we dont need them any more. Now we do need them and we are scrambling to recreate the capabilities we once had. The Homeless Charity crisis is warning of the growing problem of the hidden homeless thats someone who sleeps in a train, car, bus or tent rather than in a doorway on the street. It is estimated up to 9,000 people fall into that category thats on top of more than 4,000 people known to be sleeping rough. The charity is urging the government to act, or face thousands more falling into the situation. Chi chi izundu reports. My name is alex, im 36 years old and six months ago, i was tent homeless. After the breakup of a relationship and with no friends or family nearby, alex felt rough sleeping was his only option. Rather thanjust umming and aahing, just bought myself a tent and a sleeping bag that same day and three weeks later, i have got out of that situation. Alex was a hidden rough sleeper, according to the Homeless Charity crisis, hiding his homelessness in a tent in a wooded area rather thanjust bedding down on the streets. It is just putting in my mind that this is not long term, it is not long term, and itsjust an long overdue camping trip, which i kind ofjust explained to myself, made me get through it, really. In a new report, crisis suggests more than 9,000 hidden rough sleepers across the uk will spend christmas sleeping in cars, trains and buses, as well as tents, like alex. Everyone walks past homeless people. You see it all the time. Its just its almost like its a part of day to day life they experience, people begging with cups and stuff, or with dogs, or bits of cardboard with writing on it, and you kind of acknowledge it and think do you know what . Thats never going to happen to me, never. The charity says hiding their homelessness often makes them invisible to outreach workers and could lead to further problems like depression and isolation. The feelings about being homeless, there is a massive stigma, and i kind of really didnt want to explain to friends and family that im in that sort of area of need, and im almost too proud to ask for help. Crisis is calling on the government to do more to help people who find themselves in this situation, so that they can get the help they need, like alex eventually did. Five, six months ago that i was sleeping in my tent. 2018 is going to be a new year, and it is going to be my year. Responding to the situation in england, the government says we are committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022. We are providing over £1 billion through to 2020 to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping. Chi chi izundu, bbc news. Forgetting to turn on the oven to cook the christmas turkey could be a sign of early dementia in a loved one. Its one of several pointers outlined by nhs englands top expert in dementia, whos calling on families to look for signs of the condition in relatives as we all come together at christmas. Professor Alistair Burns has listed a number of indicators that relatives can look out for. He says christmas is a good time to spot any changes in a loved one. I think christmas is a good time because we know many of the symptoms of dementia are gradual, and if youre living with someone every day, you might not notice the small changes, but if you havent seen someone for several months, that change can be apparent. Christmas is a time that we talk and see family so it is a good chance to talk about concerns and worries and i guess the other thing is that we tend to do the same things at christmas getting the presents, doing the dinner, watching the queens speech so to compare what things were like a year or two years ago can bring things to the forefront. Princess michael of kent has apologised after wearing a brooch which has been deemed racist. The queens first cousin was photographed arriving for a christmas banquet at buckingham palace, with a piece ofjewellery depicting a figure with dark skin known as a blackamoor brooch. Prince harrys fiancee, meghan markle, who is of mixed race, was also attending the lunch. A spokesman said the princess was very sorry and distressed that it had caused offence. The chimes of big ben have rung out for the First Time Since november. Big ben chimes the bell will go on sounding until one oclock in the afternoon on new years day. The extensive building work, which began in august, will then continue and is expected to last four years. Reindeer in lapland are being fitted with tracking devices to prevent them from succumbing to wolves and bears. No reindeerfarmers are attempting to steer them away from danger. Thousands are lost each year to predators like bears and wolverines. Now farmers are turning to technology to protect their herds. Truckers fitted to female leaders sending signals across the arctic making it easier to find any injured individuals and to move the reindeer away from areas where they know there is a predator. Reindeer are big business forfarmers in finland. Allowed to roam freely across the Northern Forests of lapland. 0nly rounded up twice every year. The farmers hope the trackers could help save thousands of reindeer lives. And give scientists and insight into where the herds go in their distant snow covered forest homes. Peter maude, bbc news. An update on london zoo and the fire that broke out around 6am in the Animal Adventure section of the zoo. It spread to an adjacent section. Confirmation from london zoo in a statement that, as we knew, sadly, vets have confirmed the death of nine year old aardvark misha. The four meerkats that were missing, the statement goes on to say, there are also four meerkats not accounted for but we now presume that these have also died. So misha the aardvark, it was confirmed earlier today, died in the fire and the four meerkats that we re the fire and the four meerkats that were missing, still not accounted for, are presumed to have also died. Just to finish off, the zoo is set to reopen tomorrow from 10am. Thats the latest from london zoo. Now nick with the weather. A mild night ahead, but some wet weather pushing from scotland and then back, patchy rain for Northern Ireland, the north of england, elsewhere across england a bit of patchy rain in Northern Ireland and the north of england, a little drizzle across england and wales, whether cloud is thick with h i llfo rt wales, whether cloud is thick with hillfort as well, temperatures in the coldest spots may be mid single figures. But it is frost free. Into christmas eve, rain to begin the day across the northern half of scotland, then spreading southwards again, heavy rain into western scotland, turning wetter across more of Northern Ireland, and pushing into cumbria into the afternoon. South of that, sunny spells, but expect a good deal of cloud, maybe some drizzle, brighter breaks involved in scotland as well. Christmas day, wet weather still around across southern scotland, northern england, wales, western england, mild to the south but turning colder in the north. Hello, this is bbc news with lukwesa burak, your headlines a devastating Tropical Storm has torn through the southern philippines, triggering flash floods and landslides. More than 130 people are known to have died