Drought. These are very difficult and trying times. We are now to day 105 of this bushfire emergency across New South Wales. The Community Really Needs to stay alert and understand what they are going to do as we are threatened by fires. The government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist cobham by an American Company. A man who confronted the fishmongers hall attacker with a narwal tusk describes his deep hurt that he couldnt save the two people who died. Prince philip spends the night in hospital in london, to be treated for whats being descrived as a pre existing condition. A christmas visit the Prime Minister arrives in estonia to visit british troops stationed in the baltic state. Everton have their man Carlo Ancelotti returns to english football after signing a four and a half year deal. And coming up its the click Christmas Special thats in half an hour here on bbc news. Good morning and welcome to bbc news. Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. Emergency services in austrialia have described conditions as catastrophic as hundreds of fires burn across the country threatening every major city. Firefighters in New South Wales issued the highest possible warning, telling some people its now too late to leave their homes. Jon donnison reports. New south wales continues to burn. Firefighters are battling more than 100 blazes across the state. For some, it is already too late. Scores more homes have been destroyed, many have lost everything. It is horrific, devastating driving around. We feel pretty isolated where we are with the roadblocks. 0ur loved ones cant come and see us. Everyone is offering to help, but there is nothing they can do. Not for us, now. Just stay out, stay safe and we hope that the firefighters can do theirjob. High winds, low humidity, and temperatures in the 40s have worsened conditions. We saw some partsjust north of sydney go upwards of 47 degrees. What we are currently seeing is a strong and vigorous change moving through. Behind that, we have seen temperatures drop quite rapidly, but unfortunately, those winds are now pushing the fires in new directions. The authorities have warned people not to travel at christmas, with many drivers getting caught out. I have driven through the Blue Mountains before when there have been fires. I guess it wasjust the extent, the amount of distance that you drive in the smoke. It is quite surreal. It is like driving through fog, except it is a slightly yellow orange colour, the fog. The smell is really strong, the smell of burning and itjust keeps going on. And with much of the state, including sydney, blanketed with smoke, doctors are warning that people with breathing difficulties need to stay indoors. It is a Public Health emergency, because we have never been exposed to such prolonged smoke before. And because we have never experienced this before, we dont know what the eventual outcome of this will be. And all this comes with us still only in december. Australia has not even reached peak fire season. Jon donnison, bbc news. Our correspondent, Shaimaa Khalil is in the town of mittagong in New South Wales. Earlier she explained the scale of the fires. As you can see, catastrophic warnings still continue throughout the day. There were a group of firefighters and their trucks just a few moments before we came on air, and then all of a sudden, they got a call, their sirens were off, and then they were off onto the highway. Itjust shows how unpredictable it is. They have been speaking to me and they have been patrolling this area around mittagong for the whole day because another village has had a fire at an emergency level throughout the day, and they are really worried about what that would mean for this area. The main thing they are worried about at the moment is the wind. The wind behaviour is so unpredictable that it is not really possible to predict where the next fire is going to hit, where those embers that it is carrying are going to go, and how big it is going to be. The resources are so stretched all over the place, that at some point, it is impossible to put out a fire in its entirety. They are basically working building by building, house by house, and in some cases, it is too late for people to leave their homes. The government has approved the takeover of uk defence and Aerospace Company cobham. Advent international, a us private equity firm, made its £4bn offer to buy cobham in july. Shareholders approved the deal last month. The cobham family, though, raised concerns about the security implications of a foreign takeover the deal. Earlier i spoke to our business correspondnent Katie Prescott about the governments decision. As you can see from this review here, most of it has actually been redacted. Its quite hard. Its all blacked out to get into it, exactly what those National Security concerns were. But the ministry of defence and the home office both raised issues, particularly in relation to cobhams air to air refuelling, which is what it is best known for. So refuelling aeroplanes in the air, and they say the raf and the navy are very dependent on this technology, so there are concerns that Going Forward they perhaps might not have access to it. In response, the government said there are minded to approve this takeover. We had expected this, its worth saying. But they received assurances from cobham and advent about the relationship with the government Going Forward. Because at the time, i think it was lady cobham saying that, you know, there is wouldnt be worth the paper they were written on. Saying that once the deal was done, there wouldnt be any kind of where you could ensure that they really were honoured. But clearly the government is satisfied. The government is satisfied that they will get things like notice if advent do intend to sell cobham, that contract will be honoured. And its also worth saying, i spoke to a Defence Analyst earlier who said, to become a ministry of defence contractor, the rules are so absently rigid that in many ways, it doesnt matter who the owner is because as a supplier, you need to behave in a certain way. Eric grove is a visiting fellow at the International Institute for strategic studies and says its not surprising the government has said this wont be a Security Risk. Well, of course, it is an American Company, and were so closely integrated with the United States, i mean, the f35s carried by our aircraft carriers, in fact, our aircraft carriers will be carrying a Us Marine Corps aircraft as well as raf slash fleet air arm aircraft on the first deployment. So, in fact, having an American Company taking over is not really a tremendous Security Risk because were so integrated anyway, and cobham in fact have more sites in the us than they have in britain. I was going to say, i think, looking at the figures, its 10,000 people employed by cobham around the world, 1700 of them in the uk. I think its main base is dorset in this country. But in terms of the importance of the technology, how significant is the air to air refuelling capacity . Well, very significant indeed. I mean, obviously in Flight Refuelling is an important part of any countrysaviation capability. But on the other hand, we are so dependent on the americans anywhere that i dont really see this makes a huge amount of difference. I mean, we are very heavily integrated already, probably even more so after we leave the eu and so on. So im not too concerned. I can understand why the cobham family are a bit concerned about this, because this was very much a British Initiative and so on, in Flight Refuelling was very much pioneered by alan cobham and so on. But i dont really see this being a great problem. In fact, as i say, we are so integrated with the United States anyway that this is just, you know, an additional. Just a slight change in the balance. The man who fought off the attacker at fishmongers hall near London Bridge using a narwhal tusk has given a dramatic account of how he was able to stop the knifeman and pin him to the ground. Two people died in the attack last month. Civil servant darryn frost has described how usman khan was running towards people with knives raised above his head, and wearing what looked like a suicide vest. This report from rich preston. This is the dramatic moment passers by attempted to stop convicted terrorist usman khan. His attack had begun at fishmongers hall, where he had just killed two people. It was there darryn frost, a civil servant, took on khan, with others attending a prisoner rehabilitation event. Describing for the first time what happened, mr frost told the press association that he took a narwhal task to defend himself after hearing a commotion from the floor below. He described the moment khan ran at him with knives raised above his head. He went on to recall chasing khan onto London Bridge, where a group wrestled him to the ground, stopping him attacking anyone else, or set off what they thought was a suicide vest. Talking about jack merritt and saskia jones, who were both killed by khan, mr frost said he will always feel the deep hurt of not being able to save them. He said he hoped speaking out would urge people to unite against terrorism and raise money for the victims families. The duke of edinburgh has spent the night in hospital in london, after being admitted for treatment for a pre existing condition. Prince philip whos 98 travelled there yesterday from the sandringham estate in norfolk. Buckingham palace officials said the admission was a precautionary measure. Hes expected to remain there for a few days. The bbcs simon jones is at the king edward vii hospital in london where the duke is being treated and has the latest. Theres been no update from the palace overnight on the condition of Prince Philip, and i think thats not surprising, given that he is a very private person, particularly since hes decided to step back from official royal duties. And also, the palace will not want to give a running commentary on his condition over the coming days. What we do know is that he arrived here at the hospital yesterday morning. The palace have refused to confirm, or deny reports, that he was actually flown from sandringham to london by helicopter, but we were told when he did arrive here, he was able to walk into the hospital without any problem. As Prince Philip was travelling here from sandringham, the queen was travelling in the opposite direction, getting a train to norfolk to begin her christmas break, that she usually spends with Prince Philip. I think we can read into that that although there is concern about Prince Philips condition, he is of course 98 years old, theres not really a sense of alarm at this stage at the palace. Now, they havent said what hes been treated for. They say its a pre existing medical condition. We know that recently, he had a hip replacement operation, a few years before that he had surgery on his abdomen, hes also had a stent fitted to deal with a blocked artery. But theyre not revealing any further details. What the key question now is is whether Prince Philip is going to be ready to leave this hospital in time to spend christmas with other members of the royal family. The Christmas Decorations are up here. There is also tight security. That key question, will he be well enough to leave you to spend christmas with the queen . Nearly 100 Flood Warnings remain in place in england with further heavy rain expected across the south of the country. The met office says up to 30 millimetres is forecast in some areas and yellow weather warnings are in place. 0n the final weekend before christmas. Flooding is causing disruption to travel plans for those intending submerged. And these pictures of from teston bridge near maidstone in kent this morning show the flooding there. Earlier i spoke to our reporter adrian harms who was just outside guildford, and gave us this update. Where are you . I am by the river wey, im actuallyjust outside guildford. You can probably see from the pictures that it is raining heavily. Its gone outside guildford on these fields. It is still raining. Guildford on these fields. It looks like the situation will get worse before it gets any better. There is a lot of water making its way along the river. Across the county, how is the picture looking . You still have pretty heavy rain where you are, right . Yes, and there is more rain forecast for the rest of the day and overnight. Two main rivers. There were six Flood Warnings on the river mole. Some of those have been dropped to the lower state of flood alert, but there is still a Flood Warning in leatherhead. The Environment Agency have been working very hard putting up flood defences around the town. Currently they seem to be working. The same has been happening in guildford, there are a number flood defences around the town towards the bottom of guildford, around the cinema, and around towards the depot and Police Station areas of guildford, where flood defences are in place. People will be hoping that with the levels dont go any higher, certainly for the rest of the day, but more rain forecast. How have people been affected by what has fallen so far . Yesterday there was a huge amount of travel disruption both in surrey and sussex, as you were referring to earlier. In sussex the bulk of rail tunnel was shut because of flooding. In guildford there was a landslide outside of guildford station at Saint Catherine is tunnel. Borisjohnson has arrived in estonia where hes about to serve up christmas lunch to british troops, during a visit to a nato mission. He was met by the countrys Prime Ministerjuri ratas and soldiers from the queens royal hussars as he arrived at the Tapa Military base near the capital tallinn. The soldiers represent the uks largest Operational Deployment in europe. It might be the first time hes going as Prime Minister, but mrjohnson has been there before. In 2017 he went to the same base while he was foreign secretary, donning a uniform and even rode around in a british tank. The headlines on bbc news. A catastrophic fire warning is issued for parts of eastern australia, including sydney, amid record breaking temperatures following months of severe drought. The government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist cobham by an American Company. A man who confronted the fishermongers hall attacker with a narwal tusk describes his deep hurt that he couldnt save the two people who died. Facebook says it has removed hundreds of accounts with ties to a conservative news outlet that uses fake profile photos generated with the help of artificial intelligence. Researchers said the facebook and instagram fake profiles generate thousands of personalities who emphasise support for President Trump and opposition to the chinese government. Peter bowes is following the story from los angeles. It shows what technology can achieve these days. In terms of generating these images, faces that look like the profile shots of ordinary people, but they are fake. They are generated by algorithms. There is absolutely nothing real about them. They dont represent real people. They have been generated by users in vietnam, say facebook, purporting to be americans. They have removed several hundred of these facebook accounts, as you say, along with instagram sites, and various pages, as well, that carried with their messages which were anti china, that were pro trump, or generated conversations about family values, or elections, or impeachment, a lot of those important issues which are in the news at the moment. President trump has signed into a law the creation of a Us Space Force the countrys first new military service in seventy years. He described space as the worlds newest war fighting domain. The forces creation is part of a 738 billion defence bill voted through by Congress Last week. There are going to be a lot of things happening in space because space is the worlds newest warfighting domain. Amid grave threats to our National Security, americas superiority there are going to be a lot of things happening in space in space is absolutely vital. And we are leading, but we are not leading by enough. But shortly, we will be leading by a lot. The space force will help us deter aggression and control the ultimate high ground. For a number of years there have been calls for stricter rules in schools around the practise of restraining children, and now the authorities in scotland say they will introduce new guidance for teachers and support staff. In a moment well speak to a mother whose son came home from school with injuries after being restrained, but first breakfasts Jayne Mccubbin has been looking at the issue in schools across the uk. The start we reported on children with Additional Needs who had been locked in isolation, physically restrained, and sometimes injured. We had from parents and charities fighting for much greater regulation in schools. He was tied down. All of these methods of restraint. It is just heartbreaking to know that they did that to him. He put someone on a chair, strapped him in, it makes life easier for the staff, but it certainly wasnt a good thing for harry. Schools might have to look after children with complex needs. Children like harry have no other way of communicating but by their behaviour. Harrys families is represented by one of the top human rights lawyers who argues restrictive practices are a breach of fundamental rights. People overseeing children with special needs such as represented here have a difficultjob to do. Its a demanding job. But that cannot be at the expense of the interest of the young child. In my view, this point clearly to a breach of the human rights act. The department for education in Northern Ireland told brea kfast education in Northern Ireland told breakfast that while reasonable force is allowed schools should report incidents. However, there is no legal obligation to do so. This week, scotland announced new guidance. It bans restraint and exclusions to discipline children. They have consistent reporting of incidents. The Welsh Government say they are also consulting on measures to limit the use of restrictive practices. The department for education in england told breakfast we will always back head teachers on discipline, but restraint should only be used when absolutely necessary. Again, there is no legal obligation to report incidents. Campaigners say they will continue to fight on for that strategy change. Not only to report incidents, but to end them will stop statutory change. Christmas celebrations in the uk often centre on food, drink and family gatherings, but campaigners are warning that the party season can place additional strain on those living with eating disorders. The nhs and the eating disorder charity, beat, have issued new advice for people with conditions such as anorexia and bulimia on how to cope at christmas. Stand up comedian dave chawner discusses his own experiences. When it first started for me, i was 17, and i remember back then, i had got exams, i had got essays, i had research, all of the stresses and strains that most teenagers have. But i didnt have a coping mechanism, i didnt have a way of dealing with it, and actually focusing on calories, focusing on exercise, and weighing myself was something that i could control. So, it was something that became really important because when everything felt really unmanageable, those are the things that i could manage. Those were the things that i could focus on, and over time, that became an obsession, an addiction, it became a control that it was something that i could focus on when Everything Else felt like it was completely unmanageable. One of the misconceptions about anorexia is people think that anorexics dont like food, or dont think about food, but that was my every waking thought. Because as soon as i say to you, you cant have anything, that is the only thing that you can think about. So, i was constantly thinking about food, i was constantly totting up calories in my brain, i was constantly thinking of excuses, 01 ways i could get out of things. And also something that we see with people with anorexia is they tend to binge and purge a lot. So, i was eating whole sausage rolls and stuff, not even chewing them, just getting them down. Ive been speaking to tom quinn who is the director of external affairs at beat, the charity involved in this campaign. He explained how people can prepare and keep themselves busy during the festive period. For many of us, its a holiday thats focused on food, on eating, and so for people who have an illness thats focused on struggle with eating, it can be a really difficult time. Also, its a time, often, where usual routines and structures perhaps arent quite in place, so its really important that both people who are suffering and their families sort of plan ahead for this difficult time. Is routine one of the things that helps people who are suffering from conditions like anorexia and bulimia, in terms of managing their condition, not somebody throwing them into unexpected situations . Exactly. So, what wed suggest is the family get together beforehand and actually plan out the meals, so that the person suffering knows exactly whats coming. Wed also recommend that any perhaps relatives that are coming along are also sensitively spoken to about actually, lets not make it about the food, lets not make comments about how people look, or what theyre eating. Actually, as much as possible, lets make it a family time but not focused on the meal. The difficulty, kind of twin difficulties that come from that, i suppose, is number one, the house is often full of a lot more people, secondly, people are in the house for a lot longer than they might otherwise be, and thirdly, there is a tendency to kind of snack, to offer things round, to have food around you all the time at christmas. Its quite hard to kind of take those things out, isnt it, without it becoming an issue in itself . Thats true, but we would say, as much as possible, try and keep the food perhaps in one room, clear away once the meal has finished, and focus on some other activities that are really nice to do around christmas, board games, christmas walk, perhaps see a movie. There are plenty of things families can do that arent focused on food. If you, or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised in this, contact the bbc action line via bbc. Co. Uk actionline for details of organisations which offer advice and support. From next month, around two thousand children from next month, around 2,000 children with severe epilepsy will become eligible for a cannabis based treatment on the nhs in england. The Charity Epilepsy Action said it could be life changing, as our Health Editor hugh pym reports. Children with two types of severe epilepsy will be eligible for the cannabis based medicine. They can suffer with multiple seizures each day. Epidiolex has been shown by Clinical Trials to reduce the number of seizures by 40 in some children, if used in combination with another medicine. It will be available on prescription on the nhs in england from 6th january, and is already accessible to patients in wales. Epidiolex is still being appraised by regulators in scotland. The medicines contains the cannabis compound cdb, but not the compound thc. Campaigners argue that only medicines with both constituents will help most children with epilepsy. Thanks to brave campaigning, specialist doctors could write a prescription, for something containing both cbc and thc. But shockingly, to our knowledge, since the law change, not a single prescription has been issued on the nhs for medicines that contain both the cbd and the thc. Charlie hughes used to have up to 120 seizures a day. But, since he has been treated with cannabis oil, that number is down to single figures. The family, though, has to spend more than £1,300 a month to get the treatment through a private prescription. The latest announcement wont help them. If you think that reversing into a tight spot of two cruise ships in port in mexico. The carnival glory, seen here on the right, was manouvering to dock, when it struck the carnival legend which was already moored in the mexican resort of cozamel. Six guests suffered minor injuries but the operator says both vessels are still seaworthy. I wonder if the captains on christmas cards terms nowits time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. Some parts of england and wales have had almost a months worth of rain injust a few days, and with the ground already saturated and more rain in the forecast, the Flood Warnings are continuing to rise. In excess of 100 now across england, two in wales. All the details are on our website. Lets take a look at the Bigger Picture for saturday. We have some heavy showers through the morning, longer spells of rain now clearing away north and eastwards, but there is more persistent rain arriving into parts of wales, central and southern england, later on this afternoon. Before then for most, its an afternoon of sunny spells with a scattering of showers. The fog has been slow to lift across parts of Northern Ireland, quite a great day here, and the rain starts to settle into South West England and south wales later this afternoon. Temperatures typically 6 9 across the northern half of the uk and 8 11 further south. Winds for most are fairly light, but they will start to strengthen across parts of south wales, South West England and along the channel coasts through this evening and later tonight, as this rain starts to push in. Some gusty winds particularly around the Channel Islands and channel coasts. And that rain eventually stretches its way north and eastwards over night, and becomes a little more patchy with time. Elsewhere, a mixture of variable cloud, clear spells, one or two showers but also some mist and fog across parts of Northern England, scotland and Northern Ireland. Could see a touch of frost across the far north of scotland. Most will stay frost free and actually further south, temperatures will hold up to around six or seven. Tomorrow, more cloud and rain just clear away from eastern coasts at first, then once it does, some spells of sunshine for most of us. Still some showers in the forecast, particularly across Northern England and parts of wales and South West England, but for most, it will be a mainly dry day and temperatures on a par with today, so were looking at highs typically 6 11. As we go into christmas week, for monday and christmas eve, it will be a mixture of sunny spells but still some showers, particularly the further west you are, and quite blustery, as well, with a noticeable west or south westerly wind. As we go into Christmas Day, we start to see this ridge of High Pressure starting to build, so Christmas Day itself should be mainly dry. There will be some spells of sunshine but we could see a frost in places and also some mist and fog patches. For christmas week, a showery start, dry for a time around Christmas Day, but later in the week turning wet and windy again. Goodbye. hello this is bbc news. The headlines. A catastrophic fire warning is issued for parts of eastern australia including sydney amid record breaking temperatures following months of severe drought. The government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist cobham by an American Company. A man who confronted the fishmongers hall attacker with a narwal tusk describes his deep hurt that he couldnt save the two people who died. Prince philip spends the night in hospital in london, to be treated for whats being descrived as a pre existing condition. And a christmas visit, the Prime Minister is in estonia. To visit british troops stationed in the baltic state. Sport, and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, heres holly hamilton. That is that we spoke about earlier on, Carlo Ancelotti is the new everton manager. That was broken ahead of their game against arsenal which is about to get under way. He is sitting in the stands at goodison park today with standard manager Duncan Ferguson taking charge of the tea m Duncan Ferguson taking charge of the team for the very last time. Stand in manager. The appointment is sure to go down well with everton fans, he is a man with a very impressive cv. Clients, titres, trophies. Carlo ancelotti is a man who knows how to get success. Triumphs, titles. Next, goodison park. Everton will be his tenth club in a career that spans nearly 25 years. His big success spans nearly 25 years. His big su ccess was spans nearly 25 years. His big success was in 2003, leading ac milan to Champions League glory. There was also cup and League Success as well. Sacking at Stamford Bridge led him to paris saint germain, but still absolutely remained ambitious. Next up absolutely remained ambitious. Next up real madrid, and perhaps the biggest title of all. From madrid to munich and yet another trophy, finishing 15 points clear. It would prove to be his last triumph for 110w. Prove to be his last triumph for now. It will