And coming up at 4. 30pm, its Victoria Derbyshire week in review, where shell be looking at the stories that have been making the headlines. Good afternoon. Questions have been raised about links between russia and leaked documents detailing talks between the United States and the uk. The papers were used by labour to claim the nhs would be on the table during post brexit trade talks. They were published on the Online Discussion Forum reddit. Last night, the site said it believed the documents are linked to a Russian Campaign to interfere in the general election. Our political correspondent, ben wright, has this report. A warning it does contain flash photography. Elections are about defence as well as attack. This morning, Boris Johnson was in stockport, saying the tories would provide more Grassroots Football funding in england. But today there are also questions about what role russia might be playing in this election. These censored, blacked out reports. This leaked government document detailing initial trade discussions between the uk and the us was highlighted by the labour party. The american message board company, reddit, said it was posted online by an account linked to a campaign originating in russia. I do think we need to get to the bottom of that. As far as im aware, we have not yet established the truth about that. But i certainly think that that document, whatever it was intended to prove, did not prove what Jeremy Corbyn and the labour party hoped that it would prove. Jeremy corbyn was out campaigning in wales this morning. Labour has said publishing the trade document was in the interest of the public and argues that the government should release a parliamentary report into russian involvement in the brexit referendum and the last election. The Prime Minister has answers to give, which he refuses to do, about russian donations given to the tory party, or the report that he is sitting on about russian interference in british politics. And of course there should be no interference in our british political system by donald trump or the russians. Russia didnt crop up in the questions last night, a debate in which borisjohnson and Jeremy Corbyn repeated their manifesto mantras. Mrjohnson focusing on brexit, the labour leader on inequality and public services. There were no shocks or surprises. With the final tv debate done, this campaign is now in its closing stages. A final chance for the parties to pick holes in their opponents arguments and drive home their core messages. While team johnson feels it has the advantage, this unpredictable election is far from over. Ben wright, bbc news, in stockport. Reddit have issued a statement explaining their actions. It says our political correspondent, jonathan blake, is with me. That is a statement from reddit, what more do we know about the background to this document appearing at being used . Very little in terms of how it came to be in the hands of the labour party because like journalists not revealing sources, labour dont want to talk about where they got this from a Jeremy Corbyn today said they obtained it and they believe are correct and pointed out the government here and in the us have not questioned its authenticity. Looking in more detail about what reddit have said and what that tells us, not a huge amount to be on the fa ct us, not a huge amount to be on the fact that they believe this posting of the document on their site, which was there several weeks before Jeremy Corbyn brought it to everybodys attention in the campaign, said it was put there as pa rt campaign, said it was put there as part of a campaign reported as originating from russia. They are not pinning this on individuals they know or believe to be operating in russia but they are comparing it and identifying it as showing a pattern of coordination with another campaign of information directed towards facebook, which was identified a few weeks ago. Relatively vague in terms of the details of what reddit has said but it does put out the whole issue of whether there was a russian influence in terms of how these documents came to light. What about the effect on the campaign . documents came to light. What about the effect on the campaign . I dont think this will change the debate very much, it helps labour in that their central claim that these documents show the government is trying to allow greater access to the nhs as part of uk us trade deal is something we are still talking about and they will do that today. Of course the government denies that the nhs is up for sale and it would allow the us greater access post brexit as part of a trade deal. But for labour it is also awkward to have the suggestion that somehow these documents came to light as a result of russian influence and with them not saying where they got them from. That leaves them with some questions to answer. For the conservatives, it is slightly awkward for them also because people are raising the case of the intelligence and Security Committee report by the parliamentary committee, which is still going through its security clearing process and not being released so that labour are attacking the conservatives on that today, saying that suggests they have something to hide. Apart from still talking about one of the main fixtures of this campaign, idont one of the main fixtures of this campaign, i dont expect today to shift particularly. Thank you. Meanwhile, jo swinson, has said shell remain as leader of the liberal democrats, even if the party fails to make significant gains in thursdays general election. Richard galpin is on the campaign trail with jo swinson in st albans. St albans is a popular place for a lib dem leaders to go and it has been a seat they have thought over a number of general elections that they might win and because of brexit they might win and because of brexit they are particularly optimistic in they are particularly optimistic in the south east but let me ask what the south east but let me ask what the feeling is following on from last nights debate . They were not pa rt last nights debate . They were not part of it. But it touched heavily on issues they care about. Yes, theyre very angry about that debate on the fact thatjo swinson was not pa rt on the fact thatjo swinson was not part of it, saying that it is ridiculous because there was nobody representing the remain camp at all. And one Party Official was describing this as a complete stitch up describing this as a complete stitch up and should never have happened like that. Meanwhile, we obviously have been able to speak tojo swinson about what is happening with theircampaign swinson about what is happening with their campaign but one key thing to say is that the lib dems at the moment are polling very badly. There are only expected at the moment to get 14 of the vote, which is way lower than they had expected. And it is way behind the other main parties, both labour and the conservatives. So they are in quite a difficult place at the moment and yet, despite this, when i spoke to jo swinson, she was being extraordinarily upbeat. Absolutely the lib dems could have an impact because if you look at where the conservatives are vulnerable and who they are vulnerable to loo seats too, it is liberal democrats in so many places. Liberal democrats can ta ke many places. Liberal democrats can take lots of seats from the conservatives and that could make every bit of difference to the electoral maps. After next thursday. Jo swinson speaking to you. On the question of the actual rest of this campaign, what else has she been doing in st albans . At the start i said it has been a key target for them for some time . Yes, the big announcement from the lib dems is that they want to scrap Business Rates altogether. And replace it with a land value tax on landlords. Certainly, speaking to businesses here, they say that Business Rates are astronomical, very difficult for them to deal with. And seriously impacting on their businesses. One person said, can we really carry on with this level of business rate . This policy, this pledge, would certainly be very popular here and i think quite likely around the country. Richard galpin in st albans, country. Richard galpin in st alba ns, thank you country. Richard galpin in st albans, thank you very much. In scotland, snp leader Nicola Sturgeon got her skates on as she visited aberdeens christmas market. She urged voters to unite around the snp to stop borisjohnson re entering number 10 and to prevent brexit. We have five days to stop Boris Johnson getting a majority in the selection and five days to escape the mess of brexit and put scotlands future into scotland because my cards. Scotland is likely to be pivotal to the outcome of this election and the snp is the main challenger in all of the tory held seats so to stop borisjohnson, voting snp as a way to do it. An opinion poll shows that support for independence is dying. It is an outlier in terms of the recent polls which shows an increase in support for independence and i notice the question is not the same as has been used in other polls as well but i am in the business of making the case for independence and persuading those not yet persuaded that taking scotlands future into our own hand is the way to build a better, fairer country. This election will not decide whether or not scotland becomes independent but it will enable us to make clear that we do not want westminster deciding our future, we want the decision in the hands of the scottish people. Nicola sturgeon. Theres fresh warning that Climate Change and nutrient pollution are dimnishing oxygen levels in our oceans. Thats the conclusion of the biggest study of its kind, undertaken by the group the International Union for the conservation of nauture. While nutrient run off has been known for decades, researchers say that Climate Change is making the lack of oxygen worse and is having an impact on certain species of fish. Minna epps, the director of the iucns Global Marine and polar programe, earlier spoke to me from the Climate Summit in madrid what we are seeing from the middle of the last century is a 2 decline in the global average. Within that average you have lots of different regional differences and 2 might not seem like a lot but if you think about the terms of the Climate Change debate, we know that even i degree will have a huge impact. In the coastal areas, but we are now seeing it in the open sea. We are looking at the reporting of your work that around 700 sites have been identified as having low oxygen levels, up from only 45 in the 1960s. Over several decades but that is a significant rise . Yes and the low oxygen zones have increased by 4. 5 Square Kilometres and that is the size of the eu so this is a huge expansion of low oxygen zones. What are the impacts of different species, presumably some species need less oxygen . They are smaller and so on. Presumably some of them are very dependent on the amount of oxygen in the water . That is very true. For example, the species which have a high metabolic rate, let us say the swordfish and tuna, some of the species, they are actually dependent on oxygen rich water. They will be most vulnerable to the change. Deoxygenation also results in other changes that will affect them. It might alter the energy and biochemical cycles affecting these systems that bring nutrients and oxygen rich waters to the surface. We are seeing that if you take the blue marlin, which dives about half a mile down to collect its feed, that is what theyre doing outside the coast of california and we are seeing outside the coast of costa rica and guatemala, they stay by the surface because they want to stay where there is more oxygen rich water which means they become more vulnerable. Not only is their habitat shrinking but ultimately we will lose biomass. In terms of the impact, is there any measures that could reduce this . We are talking about mitigating effects from Global Warming but when we talk about the oceans and the loss of oxygen, how do you reoxygenate the ocean . Very good question it impacts biodiversity, biomass and habitats and energy and biochemical cycles and it is not just fisheries but also other Marine Mammals that will be affected indirectly through the food web. What can be done . There is a solution and that is that we must urgently, drastically cut co2 emissions. We need to invest more in nature by protecting and restoring nature. But again, what else we can do is also to reduce those climate stressors or the non climate stressors, like overfishing, that puts additional pressure. Reducing overfishing and over pollution to the oceans would drastically improve the situation. Given where you are, the message you are sending and delivering not just to the public but to delegates, the people who have to negotiate how we get from the targets to implementing . I truly believe that the decisions being made here will actually determine the future of the oceans. Will they be thriving and nutrient rich with biodiversity or will they be depleted and irreversibly damaged . I think the decisions being made here will have a difference so we need to have more ambitious targets collectively. So all the naturally determined contributions which the state is responsible for, that collectively must be much more ambitious. It is for 16 pm. For 16 pm. The headlines on bbc news. The online forum reddit says it believes leaked government documents detailing uk us trade talks and posted on its site are linked to russia. Global temperature rises are being blamed for oceans running out of oxygen, putting many species of fish under threat. Warnings that a mega bushfire near sydney, thats burning out of control, could take weeks to put out. And in sport. A good start to management life for duncan ferguson. His first game in charge of everton ended with a 3 1 victory over chelsea. Theyre now out of the relegation zone. Not long to go until the hugely anticipated rematch between antonyjoshua and andy ruinunior. Joshua will attempt to reclaim the three heavyweight belts he lost to ruiz earlier this year. And leinster thrashed northampton in the champions cup. Ed byrne giving them their seventh try of the match, to help them to a score of 43 16. Ill be back with more on those stories later. At least 280 people have been killed and two Million People are having to cope with unusually heavy rainfall and flooding in eastern africa, according to the un. In somalia, warnings have been issued as cyclonic storm pawan nears the coast and in kenya its reported that at least 100 people are dead and more than 30,000 have been displaced. Ahmed ibrahim is from save the children in somalia and hejoins us from the kenyan capital nairobi. Thank you very much for being with us thank you very much for being with us today on bbc news. We havent seen many pictures coming out of the region yet for obvious reasons. How bad has it been . Thank you so much. To start with, this is not the first time. It has been continuing for the last two months both in kenyan and somali, and also in south sudan. It started with somalia and it has been repetitive and affected people that live in the southern areas after rain set in many parts of somalia and the highland parts of ethiopia, which has caused the flooding of the river, more than one river. The recent flooding that has taken place in somalia and kenya has been triggered by this storm that has set in many parts, specifically in the indian ocean. It is cut off the connections of many villages in somalia that has been affected by the floods and the storm. We are hearing that many of the villages have experienced extreme weather storms that are causing destruction of houses. Many people are missing. The medical teams have been deployed to places in somalia but they are not always reachable areas. Many people in these area are safe. Many roads have been destroyed and are not accessible any more. In kenyan, over 100 people are already dead. Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes. We expect their to continue and the situation is very intense and unpredictable. Hopefully we will get more information in the coming days, but we at save the children and the government of somalia are trying to send out teams to their respective areas to find out more and find out who we can rescue. |i1 areas to find out more and find out who we can rescue. In terms of the operation that will follow the storm, presumably, as you have said, this can lead to many isolated villages in somalia for what you have no contact. You will not know until you physically go and or other aid workers or International Organisations or the military going to begin the clean up operations. Both the government and some agencies have. Some of the organisations have deployed the teams and the health teams into their respective areas. U nfortu nately, we their respective areas. Unfortunately, we did not realise it had reached this level of deterioration. The governments are deploying some of their armed forces to rescue the people, as well as the humanitarian people who are sending their people. But the situation is very intense because we do not have the connections to some of the places and we are not sure how the situation is at this time. But since this hit in somalia since the 6th of december, we expected that we might get more information on the coming hours. It is going to be a worrying time for people in that part of east africa. For now, thank you very much for being with us on bbc news. Speaking there on behalf of the save the children charity. A huge bush fire thats burning out of control near sydney may take weeks to put out. The mega blaze north of sydney stretches for over 35 miles and is bigger than the city itself. Almost 100 fires continue to burn in the drought hit state of new south wales. Phil mercer reports. The authorities are warning that some of the bushfires in eastern australia are too big to put out and will only be extinguished by heavy rain. There are 100 blazes in drought hit new south wales, half are burning out of control. They can be unpredictable and fast moving. Residents and animals have been forced to flee as walls of flame many metres high bore down on their communities. At any time it might come over the side so we are just going to leave. More than 2,000 firefighters, many of them volunteers, are on the ground in new south wales. Their task, with the crisis now into its fifth week, is exhausting and unrelenting. It is dangerous, too. A water bombing helicopter has crashed landed but the pilot escaped with only minor injuries. Sydney is again shrouded in a toxic, smoky haze blown in from nearby bushfires. Health warnings have been issued and many weekend sporting activities have been cancelled. There are Hazardous Conditions in queensland, too. Parts of the state are blanketed in smoke and about 45 blazes still rage. Bushfires are common in australia but scientists believe this year they have started earlier and have been more intense due to Global Warming. Iran and the United States have carried out a Rare Exchange of prisoners. Tehran has freed an american phd student who was convicted of spying. He was swapped for iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani pictured here with the Iranian Foreign minister. Our correspondent, Chris Buckler explains what this means for the us iranian relationship. Well, it shows that the two countries can talk and they can negotiate, and i suppose that will be seen as some, sean, as being somewhat significant. Although, it is important, i suppose to point out, that this is about two individuals. It is a prisoner swap involving an american, who is essentially accused of spying in iran whenever he was there and carrying out some Doctoral Research for princeton university. And in the other case, an iranian who flew into chicago airport and is a stem cell researcher, who is essentially accused of trying to bring growth hormones into the country. Now, in both cases, if you talk to either country, they will tell you that their citizen has done absolutely nothing wrong and that this was, in many ways, political. But, therefore, you can make the argument the fact that they can deal with something that both sides see as political, does show that there is the hope of talks in the future. And certainly, donald trump, despite the fact that he has had very angry words for iran, has said time and time again that he is open to negotiation. He does want to have discussions with the country. I just think there is a danger of seeing this as being more of a moment than it is. I think it is a case of a prisoner swap and not necessarily a moment whenever there is a thaw of relationships between the countries. In terms of where the relationship is at the moment, there have been a further stiffening of sanctions between the two sides. No suggestion that there are going to be talks, although the president had said he would be open, at least potentially open to some dialogue. How would you assess the state of play now, and how much domestic political pressure, ifany, is the president under over iran . I think when it comes to iran, there is no doubt that congress is completely sceptical of irans willingness to kind of come to the table and start to have negotiations. Its not quite the same with some other countries. I mean, President Trump has faced some pushback on some of his foreign policy, not least with turkey and saudi arabia. I think its different with iran. There is a feeling that iran are not fair players, as congress would see it. And it is worth pointing out, as you mentioned there, just that kind of difficult relationship that has existed over the last couple of years, not least when the us and President Trump took that decision to pull out of the iran nuclear deal, and iran actually responded by kind of deliberately kind of breaching some of the terms of that accord. That was a very significant moment and, again, it was something that was not welcomed by a lot of americas allies. Of americas allies. And it has been difficult, even in the last number of months, particularly with the shooting down of an american drone, as you remember in the strait of hormuz, there have been these signs of clashes and tensions by iran, that show that the countries are not really coming together. There is no sense that they are coming to meet in the middle. At the same time, we have got a statement from the secretary of state, the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, saying that he can see iran being constructive on this. That is probably a step forward, but only a step. I think they are still very, very far apart. Chris buchler there in washington. Chris buchler. Chris buckler. A woman whod alleged shed been raped in northern india has died in hospital after being set on fire. She was attacked earlier this week as she was on her way to court. Five men, including her alleged rapist, have been arrested. Pratiksha ghil dial reports. The 23 year old woman who died after being set on fire in the Northern State of Uttar Pradesh was on her way to court to testify against her alleged rapists. She was reportedly dragged from near a train station by a group of men to a nearby field and set alight. Five men are under arrest over the attack. The woman had filed a rape complaint against two of them in march this year. The main accused was arrested, but later released on bail. The family is now demanding the Death Penalty for the accused. Translation my sister is no more. The names of these five culprits must also be erased. This comes close on the heels of another brutal gang rape and murder of a young woman in the Southern City of hyderabad. The 27 year old was making her way home after work when she was attacked, raped and set on fire. But a few days later, the accused were shot dead by the police while under detention and after being taken back to the crime scene. It was overwhelmingly welcomed by many indians, however, Human Rights Organisations have asked for investigation into these killings. These cases have once again renewed a debate over Sexual Violence in india, seven years after the gang rape and murder of a student in delhi that had led to massive outrage and resulted in the country tightening its rape laws. But for many, little seems to have changed. Pratiksha ghildial, bbc news, delhi. Ajury in the United States has cleared the Billionaire Elon Musk of defaming a british man involved in the rescue of a group of thai boys from a flooded cave last year. Vernon unsworth took legal action after mr musk called him a pedo guy on twitter. From los angeles, dave lee reports. Elon musk entered court on friday for the fourth and now final day of this trial. What has surely been the most intense, not to mention expensive, examination ever of a single tweet. How many of you . That tweet, sent in july 2018, came in the midst of the miraculous rescue of 12 thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave. Vernon unsworth, a british man who lived nearby, was instrumental in advising that effort. Elon musk also travelled to the region with a specially designed mini submarine. In a tv interview, mr unsworth called it a pr stunt, prompting mr musk to snap back, using the phrase pedo guy. He later deleted the tweet, but mr unsworth sued him for defamation, arguing he had been wrongly accused of paedophilia. Elon musk was described in court as a billionaire bully, a man who dropped a nuclear bomb into the life of vernon unsworth. But the jury saw it differently. They said the tweet was an insult, but not an accusation a view which could set a precedent when it comes to libel cases involving social media. This verdict sends a signal, and one signal only, that you can make any accusation you want to, as vile as it may be, as damaging at it may be, as untrue as it may be, and somebody can get away with it. The only thing im going to say is the jury got this right, and we dont have any further comment at this time. Ultimately, mr unsworths lawyers were unable to prove that his life had been sufficiently negatively impacted. I accept the jury verdict, take it on the chin, and move on. Dave lee, bbc news, in los angeles. Now its time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. For those of you that i had dry weather and bright skies today we have a change in the forecast overnight. A band of heavy rain will push eastwards across the whole of the uk accompanied by squally, gusty winds and