this is bbc news. time gavin estler. the headlines at 11. moscow promises retaliation, after president obama expels 35 russian diplomats in the us election hacking row. the syria ceasefire between the government and rebel groups appears largely to be holding. there are reports of isolated clashes. drivers are told to take care in fog and freezing conditions, as a coach overturns on the mao in oxfordshire, injuring 17 people. a warning that national parks are under threat, as figures suggest government funding has been cut over the past five years. also in the next hour — learner drivers could be allowed on motorways. it's part of proposals to give learners a voluntary target for a minimum number of lessons before taking their test. and rebecca jones talks with the world's bestselling author, james patterson, later on meet the author. good morning and welcome to bbc news.

the russian foreign ministry has announced it intends to expel 31 american diplomats from its embassy in moscow and four from its consulate in st petersburg. the measure is in response to president obama's decision to kick out 35 diplomats because of allegations that russia interfered in the american presidential election. the kremlin denies trying to discredit hillary clinton during the campaign by publishing hacked emails. our correspondent laura bicker reports from washington. russia stands accused of trying to help donald trump become president. moscow had been warned but now it's being punished for interfering in us elections. america's top intelligence agencies believe a cyber attack on the e—mails of hillary clinton's closest aides was orchestrated by the highest levels of russian government. but mr trump has always questioned the evidence. once they hack, if you don't catch them in the act,

you're not gonna catch them. you don't know if it is russia or china or somebody, it could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. but the cia and fbi both agree — the hackers, they say, were russian, and now mr trump is softening his stance. in a statement, he said... president obama said all americans should be alarmed. he's ordered that 35 officials are expelled. they're believed to have close links with russian intelligence. they have just 72 hours to leave the country. and he's closing two russian compounds, one in new york and the other in maryland. white house officials said russia had to pay a price for what they described as an extraordinary attack on us democratic systems. president obama warned that further action is to come at a time

of his choosing. the lead—up to this row is both complicated and contentious, so let's have a look at the details. in the run—up to the presidential election, more than 19,000 emails from key figures in the democratic party were leaked and published by the website wikileaks. then in october us security officials formally accused russia of cyber attacks against political organisations in an attempt to "influence the us election". after donald trump won in november, the kremlin accused the obama administration of doing everything it could to damage relations for the incoming president. earlier this month, a report by the cia went further — it suggested russian hackers acted covertly to boost donald trump's campaign. russia denied the allegations, while mr trump's team dismissed the report. mr obama said there would be consequences. and now — as we've been hearing — 35 russian diplomats have been expelled from the us,

with russia promising to retaliate. with me is andrew wood, a former british ambassador to russia. can we back up and go to the start of this, is it reasonable, given what the cia said, for president 0bama what the cia said, for president obama to decide 35 or so russian diplomatic should be kicked out? absolutely. russia denials of involvement are worthless, russia denies doping athletes, they deny downing aircraft. in that sense it would be seen outside russia as proportionate? the only surprise is that he has left it so late. he needed to be sure of his facts, which requires a certain amount of

corroboration of the data. it will be alleged that he is doing it so he can box president trump into a corner as regards russia. to a degree he will have done that, because it will be very hard for president trump now to say that it could have been done by somebody in newjersey, and because facts are fa cts newjersey, and because facts are facts and the traditional throwing out of diplomats followed i a retaliatory strike on the other side is the process there. facts are fa cts , is the process there. facts are facts, you say, but i was going to challenge you on that. the cia say it is the case and the russians are saying, it wasn't us, and trump seems to believe the russians more than american intelligence. he said, you don't know. he said —— he didn't

say, if this has happened it needs to be stopped, hejust say, if this has happened it needs to be stopped, he just said say, if this has happened it needs to be stopped, hejust said it say, if this has happened it needs to be stopped, he just said it could be somebody in newjersey. i would ta ke be somebody in newjersey. i would take the word of the cia and other agencies as a very reasonable analysis. there is a record of the russians doing this elsewhere so why not there? the russian response, evenif not there? the russian response, even if you don't think it is justified, is that predictable as well? we will see what president putin does with the recommendation of this foreign minister. there is a deep tradition of that nature. we had a similar discussion with the russians when i was an ambassador and a similarthing russians when i was an ambassador and a similar thing happened, we expelled, they expelled, so that is predictable. what makes it different is the huge numbers involved. this is the huge numbers involved. this is unprecedented since we expelled 80 or something at least 30 years ago. i hope it has some effect on russian behaviour, i hope it will mean the dangers of russian interference in for example the

german elections are less than the journalists fear. 0ne german elections are less than the journalists fear. one must always have hope. this is probably an impossible question. what do you make of the possibility of the trump presidency in terms of relations with russia? presidency in terms of relations with russia ? it presidency in terms of relations with russia? it was clear that hillary clinton has always been much more robust in being critical of russia. there is another question as to what president trump really thinks actually happened in hacking during the elections. if he has been persuaded it really happened that is one thing. there are also facts on the ground and it is rather difficult to him to simply say, that was all a mistake and we must pretend it never happened. i don't think that is possible. he himself gives contradictory signals, there has been a lot of criticism of the

planet of the new secretary of state, who has had a good relationship with putin. he should have been, as head of exon. he himself is a pretty tough—minded person, teunissen, and i suppose he will quickly realise what the russians are if he doesn't already. there is a history of american administration is coming in and saying, we will amend the relationship and that ending up in failure, which is precisely what has happened with obama. the wider picture of the nato in europe. i have talked to diplomats from the baltic countries, from sweden for example, or those involved in military affairs, and they are very concerned about russia, the knock—on from the annexation of crimea, what might happen in ukraine, and the spill—overfor might happen in ukraine, and the spill—over for latvia, lithuania and estonia and the prospect that nato hasn't woken up to how serious this

is. i think nato has woken up, maybe not to a sufficient degree, i don't know. the russians would be extraordinarily stupid to take any further action in that sphere, because there actions already have left a huge legacy of trouble in syria and ukraine which they will find difficult to sort out. that said, the kremlin is a very isolated place when you go into it you are very struck with how silent it is and how free of controversy or anything like that, and nobody knows really how far the deeply felt anti—american as that is a characteristic of putin, how far that has gone. —— anti—american is. we have the anniversary of the

russian revolution to look forward to. and the assassination of rasputin. live to moscow — and our correspondent 0leg boldyrev. what more can you tell us about what russia may be planning and whether sergei lavrov‘s recommendations will be accepted by putin? it is likely but not certain. there is still this layer of ambiguity which leaves mr putin and option of not following the recommendation by his foreign minister and leaving the door open for minister and leaving the door open foertrump, who takes minister and leaving the door open for mr trump, who takes the office in three weeks, to reverse the decision of the obama administration and perhaps cancel the just announced sanctions. perhaps this will happen, perhaps russia will prefer will happen, perhaps russia will p refer to will happen, perhaps russia will prefer to put its hand down strongly and announce this tit—for—tat expulsions. in terms of the facts of

what happened, obviously they are in dispute, but as we had test been hearing from ourformer dispute, but as we had test been hearing from our former ambassador to moscow, the idea that the democratic party was hacked by some quy democratic party was hacked by some guy in newjersey doesn't seem to be correct and american intelligence has been very clear, the obama administration has been very clear, that the russians, mr putin or his people are somehow involved in hacking in a way that may have changed part of the american election and they may do it again in france or germany because they have elections coming up. that is the allegation. how is that seen in russia? for the past few years russia? for the past few years russia has gained very good experience of denying stuff which has not been proven documented lee and put on the table. four for five months russia has been saying, show us months russia has been saying, show us the proof, there is no proof,

there is no fingerprints. president putin repeated this a week ago talking to press in moscow that this is just talking to press in moscow that this isjust some talk talking to press in moscow that this is just some talk which is not backed up. even in the case of the war in ukraine, russia is managing to deflect this, saying there is no proof of russian involvement. whether anybody believes that outside of russia is another case but for the russian politics machine it goes on this premise that nothing has been shown so russia is able to feed its angry rhetoric by repeating just this. it says once again and it has said for the past 12 hours after the sanctions were announced that this was a totally groundless response by an obama administration which has a bias and a grudge against putin and russian politics asa against putin and russian politics as a whole. looking forward to 2017 and the inauguration of president trump, what might be the reasonable hopes within the kremlin for rebuilding a relationship with the

new administration? there is a hope, and asi new administration? there is a hope, and as i said the possible hold off of the expulsions could be an expression of such hope that trump will start reversing the sanctions, reversing or reducing the tensions in huge leaps 0tto small leaps. nobody in russia knows exactly what trump's mind is but the hope is that he will concentrate on rebuilding ties, not going into the kind of rhetoric that was present with the 0bama rhetoric that was present with the obama administration, trying to concentrate on making it a bit more businesslike and less ideologically charged. thank you very much for joining us. a nationwide ceasefire has come into force in syria between the government of president assad and many rebel factions. fighting is said to have stopped in much of the country, but there have been reports of some clashes. a number of rebel organisations are excluded from the truce, including the group called islamic state.

0ur correspondent lina sinjab joins us now. what do we know about whether this truce is holding? it is holding nationwide but there are reports of isolated sporadic shooting, especially in the suburbs of damascus. we have been hearing from activists and the syrian observatory on human rights that there were a couple of air strikes followed by shooting between different sides. we can't call the ceasefires collapsed after these incidents, they are isolated, and people are hoping that this time the ceasefire will hold and continue, although president that it putin said himself when announcing the deal that it would be fragile. —— vladimir putin. there

are plans the peace talks next month for a political settlement for the conflict in kazakhstan, followed by aun conflict in kazakhstan, followed by a un brokered talks in geneva soon after that. we watching the situation and will continue watching the ceasefire and how it will go over the hours and days in the hope that it will keep holding. 17 people have been injured, after a coach veered off a motorway slip road and overturned in heavy fog in 0xfordshire. the vehicle, operated by the oxford bus company, came off the mao slip road near thame. joining me now from the crash scene is our correspondent, helena lee. a lot of work is going on here at the moment, there is a recovery truck to the front of the coach which will take it away from the

scene shortly. you can probably make out just how mangled scene shortly. you can probably make outjust how mangled it is when it flipped over onto its side in the early hours of this morning. 17 people taken to hospital, 16 of them adults, and also the driver. let's speak to a sergeant from thames valley police. tell us a bit about the scene and what your officers faced when they got here. about three o'clock this morning our office rs three o'clock this morning our officers will have attended along with fire and ambulance services to this coach on its side and down a ditch where you can see a gentleman working behind us. it was quite a chaotic scene, the services are working together to get people out safely. how worthy passengers when the emergency services got here? 0bviously the emergency services got here? obviously a shocking incident. the emergency services got here? obviously a shocking incidentm would have been a chaotic scene, nobody has life—threatening injured

and everybody was taken to the john radcliffe hospital for treatment. what are your lines of enquiry at the moment? the investigation is ongoing but what are your thoughts as to what could have gone wrong? firstly, the bus wasn't due to leave at thisjunction, firstly, the bus wasn't due to leave at this junction, it should firstly, the bus wasn't due to leave at thisjunction, it should have left atjunction at thisjunction, it should have left at junction eight. secondly, at thisjunction, it should have left atjunction eight. secondly, we have reports of very dense fog and difficult driving conditions in the early hours of the morning. what is your message to people? the fog is still here. what do you want to get across to people? it is foggy and very icy, i have just walked over the motorway bridge and you can see people driving without their lights. please take more time over your journey, put your lights on and please be safe out there. thank you very much. that is the latest here from the scene. a quick word about the driver. he was a 54—year—old man, very experienced coach driver, and he worked overnight shifts for a

number of years. investigation is continuing this lunchtime. learner drivers are to be allowed on motorways for the first time under new government plans to improve road safety. the department of transport is launching a seven—week consultation on the proposed changes from today. it says the idea is designed to improve awareness and experience for new road users. sangita myska reports. the proposed changes to both driver and motorcyclist training, says the government, would improve safety on britain's roads. for drivers, changes would mean that competent learners would be able to have lessons on motorways with an approved driving instructor in a dual—controlled car. the biggest proposed changes are reserved for motorcyclists. the compulsory basic training course, which allows them to ride unaccompanied on roads, would be updated. motorcycle training would also move more online, with novice riders having to take a theory test, and those holding a provisional motorcycle licence would also

have their cbt certificates revoked if they get more than six penalty points. the motoring organisation the rac have welcomed the proposals, saying britain's roads are already amongst the safest in the world, and that changes are needed to help modernise driver and motorcycle training. sangita myska, bbc news. for more i am joined by peter rodger, head of driving advice for the charity iam road smart. what are the charity iam road smart. what are the benefits and potential risks? we have been calling for this for a long time. we have a peculiar environment where we criticise eve ryo ne environment where we criticise everyone the driving on the motorway, we talk about tailgating and lane hugging. we have new more complicated systems with smart motorways and so on but traditionally we say, but you can't

learn on the motorway, and those two things don't really fit together. from a statistical point of view motorways a re from a statistical point of view motorways are by far the safest roads we have. there is anecdotal evidence that young drivers are discouraged from using them because they haven't been taught how to, so they haven't been taught how to, so they make the same journey on a less safe road. that doesn't really make sense. it makes much more sense to put them in the hands of somebody who is a professional and knows what they are doing and can teach them to use the motorway properly rather than learn by trial and area —— error. my first time on a motorway i was absolutely terrified. the speeds are faster, and in other countries like germany people don't do lane hugging so much. there are differing practices around the world as to how

we use lanes and follow them. the french are famously very close to each other when they are driving around, so there are a lot of different practices. we have amongst the safest roads in the world, the department are saying it and they are quite right, but what we are now doing is looking at the bits where we can gain a bit of advantage by squeezing the ends of the system to make them better still. squeezing the ends of the system to make them better stilllj squeezing the ends of the system to make them better still. i was intrigued by the proposal that would have been compulsory that you should doa minimum have been compulsory that you should do a minimum number of hours of driving. that is quite interesting, isn't it? that is a separate proposal. the learner driver proposal. the learner driver proposal is something they off for league consulting on. the idea of 120 hours, the number kicking around in discussion this morning, is something that the safety community have been talking about the some time. there is a threshold of about 120 hours where your risk of being involved in a collision drops

dramatically, almost on a grass. from international research we know that it from international research we know thatitis from international research we know that it is roundabout there that there is this huge step. there is logic in this proposal. it needs a lot of thought and care and careful design because there are a lot of practical difficulties involved but thatis practical difficulties involved but that is a separate issue and it is something that appears to be in a research project that the dft are proposing rather than a formal government proposalfor proposing rather than a formal government proposal for legislation. what about motorcycles and the proposals there? there is a little package of issues that the government is consulting on, again, over the same period, until mid—february, to tighten up and modernise the learner process for motorcycles. most of those are great ideas but they gel well together. to

separate them off wouldn't work well. improving the way that motorcycle instructors a re qualified, bringing in the six points thing that your piece mentioned. a small number of motorcyclists a re mentioned. a small number of motorcyclists are wily enough to get around the system by never taking a driving test, which if they did in a ca rd driving test, which if they did in a card they would be liable to disqualification because of the six points within two years thing. there are number of loopholes which, along with most of the road safety world, we are keen to see brought in. given the weather, which i don't know about you but i don't know anybody who likes driving in fog, and it is pretty nasty in the south of england at the moment. when i left home to come into the studio this morning it was about 150 yards visibility where i live. that is time to think carefully about what you are doing,

remember there is ice hidden under the fog, so you need to give yourself more time, drive more slowly and make sure you actually can stop, and what you can see. and put your lights on, as we heard a police officer saying. some of us have ca rs police officer saying. some of us have cars where we think it has gone on because of the automatic setting but some of those sensors don't work well in the fog. and a lot of drivers don't put rear lights on, and that is important, those red lights are something we all make use of when we are driving, oh, there is a car in front. national parks in england have lost a quarter of their government funding in the past five years, according to research by the press association. campaigners warn it could threaten the areas for future generations, but the government says their budgets are protected until 2020. clare fallon reports. with stunning scenery and rare wildlife, 19 million people visit them every year, but england's national parks have had their funding cut in recent times,

down by a quarter since 2010. areas loved by many and described by the government as national treasures simply aren't getting the cash they used to. in england have been shrinking, reduced by more than £10 million over five years. with inflation factored in, that's a real—terms cut of up to a0%. in a statement, the department for environment, food and rural affairs says: there are efforts to bring in more money by bringing in more visitors. there is a government plan for encouraging school trips and overseas tourists. campaigners, though, point to information centres closing, bus services being axed and staff cuts in some national parks. they say there will need to be more cash so the beauty of the parks can

be enjoyed by generations to come. jeremy corbyn has warned against the brexit deal that he says only protects bankers. he warned that labour wouldn't allow the government to negotiate a deal his party didn't agree with. i suspect people will be wondering how he will do that, given the government majority. what did he have to say in his message?m the government majority. what did he have to say in his message? it is the season of the new year ‘s m essa g es the season of the new year ‘s messages from politicians. it tends to be the occasion where there is a lack of killer detail and certainly jeremy corbyn is on brand in that respect, as is tim farron for the lib dems. whatjeremy corbyn is

trying to do is say, look, what i stand for is being antiestablishment, this is an era where to stand as antiestablishment in politics, there is a reasonable chance of success, if you look at donald trump and brexit, so that is how he has placed himself. that has a lwa ys how he has placed himself. that has always been jeremy how he has placed himself. that has always beenjeremy corbyn's political brand. what we don't know, particularly on brexit, is exactly what labour will do, because they have made it clear that they won't stand in the way of brexit, but by saying that, which is probably politically sensible, they limit what they can do in terms of holding the government to account in the whole process of triggering article 50. here is an extract. 2016 will be defined in history by the referendum on european union membership. people didn't trust politicians or the eu. i understand

that. i spent over 40 years in politics campaigning for a better way of doing things, standing up for people, taking on the establishment and opposing decisions that would make us worse off. we now have the chance to do things differently, to build an economy that invests and works to everybody across all of our nations and all of our regions. labour accepts and respects the result of the referendum. we won't be blocking the process of leaving the eu. tim farron for the lib dems has been doing something similar, a similar idea but not content. he has made a written statement saying that given 2016's politics he won't make any predictions about 2017, which i think is wise. his argument is that the lib dems stand for open politics and pragmatic politics, something the victors of 2016 didn't

necessarily represent. he suggests that labour is on its knees and the lib dems are the only alternative. we will get quite a few of these m essa g es we will get quite a few of these messages in the coming days. theresa may's is time to for new year's day. they all feel the need to do this. —— time. they all feel the need to do this. -- time. over the season people have been thinking about other politics beyond christmas messages from political leaders. it has become a bit of a trend in recent years and not only does it require a certain amount of tainting with a broad rush, to put it politely, but politicians now feel obliged to do two in the space of a week, something around christmas and something around christmas and something around christmas and something around new year. —— certain amount of painting. downing street appeared to have distanced themselves a bit from what the obama

administration, particularly secretary ceri, said about israel, which could be about relations with the trump administration. —— kerry. this is or are about the obama administration and israel and number ten has criticised the language that secretary of state kerry said. he said that the israeli government is one of the most right wing and its history. number ten said it is image —— inappropriate to comment. he commented on the building of territories in occupied territory —— building of settlements in occupied territories. number ten said, building of settlements in occupied territories. numberten said, let's not reduce the situation to that one issue. diplomatically, it does kind of makes sense, now that we are three weeks away from president trump. the word is lame duck have

already come up from russia. we will get more on that. it is starting to lift, but there is poor visibility around and temperatures are around freezing. this is how it looked in staffordshi re this is how it looked in staffordshire in our ago. it is not great to be travelling, and there are great to be travelling, and there a re lots of great to be travelling, and there are lots of people on the roads today, heading out in the run—up to new year. we have had sunshine in other areas. this is rain coming —— eire coming through. there isn't going to be that much sunshine around, it'll be predominantly cloudy. we'll see a few more breaks as well, east of wales and eastern england where the fog doesn't linger. the whole, the north of scotla nd linger. the whole, the north of scotland is pretty wet, some heavy rain through parts of the highlands and grampian staff. itjust keeps coming. a persistent band of rain for the next 36 hours, we could see two or three inches of rain today,

tonight or tomorrow before it finally moves. for new year ‘s night, it heads southwards. new year's eve, it heads southwards. much called on the way as we approach 2017. more on that as we approach 2017. more on that as we approach the top of the hour. this is bbc news. the headlines at 11.30am. russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, has asked president putin to expel thirty five us diplomats from the country in response to american sanctions on moscow, which was accused of interfering with the us election process. a nationwide ceasefire appears to be largely holding in syria, although some clashes have been reported. islamic state fighters and militants linked to al-qaeda are not part of the deal. 17 people — including the driver — have been taken to hospital, after a coach overturned in thick fog on the m40 in 0xfordshire. the vehicle came off the slip road near thame in the early hours. the government is considering plans to allow learners

to drive on motorways. they'll be given access for lessons under plans to improve road safety. katherine downes is at the bbc sport centre. good morning. swansea city's quest for a new manager continues. and with ryan giggs and chris coleman seemingly out of the running, two new favourites have emerged. gary rowett has been out of the game since he was sacked by birmingham this month. despite leading them to the verge of the play—off places, rowett was dismissed to make way for gianfranco zola. and former derby county boss paul clement is currently assistant manager at bayern munich. he's believed to have impressed the swansea hierarchy when he was interviewed for the job in the autumn before bob bradley took over. whoever does come in will inherit a club second from bottom in the premier league. when middlesbrough play manchester united tomorrow, it'll be a first return to old trafford for the brazil defender fabio da silva. he and his twin brother rafael both played under sir alex ferguson —

they spoke to our reporter steve crossman about what kind of reception fabio might expect. it's hard. i try stuff, and i go think about what it's going to be, how it will be, a thousand things in my head, like how can it be? how are they going to reaction, like, how i'm going to react? but think it's going to be nice. i think it might be strange if you, because you have to decide who you will support. well, well, i love all the support. all the supporters. but i have to support my brother in this time! to be clear, you'll be supporting middlesbrough? well, you're. i will support my brother, sol middlesbrough? well, you're. i will support my brother, so i want him to win. sol support my brother, so i want him to win. so i think i will be supporting middlesbrough! and you can see more of that

interview on football focus tomorrow at 12 o'clock on bbc 1. aston villa manager steve bruce said they'd done well to get a point against the best leeds side he'd seen "in a good few years", after their 1—1 draw last night. leeds had won eight of their last ten matches — and they went ahead in the second half, thanks to pontus jansson. but four minutes from time, they conceded a penalty and jonathan kodja put it away to make sure villa remained unbeaten at home. world player of the year cristiano ronaldo has turned down an offer of £85 million a year to leave real madrid for an unnamed chinese club, according to his agent. jorge mendes says the club was willing to pay a transfer fee of over £250 million — which would almost triple the world record — but he says real madrid is ronaldo's life and he isn't interested in the move. australia have completed an unlikely victory over pakistan, to win their three—match test series with a game to play. after four days of bad weather in melbourne, the match appeared to be heading for a draw — but australia bowled out pakistan for 163,

to win by an innings and 18 runs, mitchell starc taking 4—36. ealier, captain steve smith hit 165 as australia declared their first innings on a massive 624—8. and south africa have gone 1—0 up in their three—match test series against sri lanka. chasing a target of 488, sri lanka were all out for 281 at port elizabeth. kagiso rabada and spinner keshev maharaj each took three wickets as south africa won by 206 runs. in darts, phil taylor set up a tantalising quarterfinal against raymond van barneveld at the pdc world championship. taylor, a 16—time world champion, beat kim huybrechts 4—2 at alexandra palace. he and van barneveld are long—standing rivals — the dutchman tweeted "el classico is on... let's get ready to rumble!". that's all sport for now. will be back with more in the next

hour. other good afternoon,. thank you. people in india have until the end of the day to hand—in high denomination bank notes which are being taken out of circulation. last month, the government surprised the country by announcing it was withdrawing the two most popular bank notes which account for more than 80% of all cash. the move was designed to tackle corruption and tax evasion — but it has caused widespread chaos. yogita limaye reports from mumbai. this workshop used to be a hive of activity. at least 20 people work here, making hundreds of leather wallets and purses every week. now, there are just four. after the government withdrew most of india's banknote in november, work has almost come to a standstill. translation: i need cash to pay my workers and buy raw material. no one accepts checks. we don't have the means to make

digital payments, nor do the people a people we could purchase goods from. we cannot operate without cash. most of my workers have left. and i don't have any orders, either. some businesses have simply had to close down. this is another unit that used to make leather goods. behind me is a row of factories, all closed, some of which used to make things like clothes. india's informal sector employs more than 80% of its workforce. and it's these businesses that are most heavily dependent on cash. job losses have been mounting. workers who travel from india's villages to cities to earn a living have been heading back home. employers don't have cash to pay them. but also less work, because consumers are cutting down on purchases. the pace at which new banknotes are being introduced is slow. atms regularly run out of cash, and many banks still have queues outside them. the government says its cleaning up the economy. but almost two months after the announcement, people are divided. one plans 1's expenditure well. if

you look at a longer perspective, doesn't matter. when it started, i thought was a good idea. but what i feel could have been done better was the fact that it could have been planned out a little better. the fact that it could have been planned out a little betterlj the fact that it could have been planned out a little better. i think there's a lot of chaos, and you can see it everywhere. notjust in or two classes, everyone is affected in their own way. among the worst affected a re their own way. among the worst affected are those at the bottom of india's economic ladder, those who cannot afford to go even one day without a job. newly released government files reveal that guards at faslane naval base were ordered to shoot suspected intruders, after three people broke into a nuclear submarine. the prime minister at the time, margaret thatcher said she was "horrified" the intruders had succeeded. nick higham reports. faslane, home to britain's nuclear submarines and one of the most secure military establishments in britain.

or so you would think. yet in october 1983 three anti—nuclear demonstrators broke into the base at night and got aboard a nuclear sub. documents released at the national archives show the prime minister was appalled. when mrs thatcher was first told of the security breach, the thing that evidently horrified her most was that the intruders had managed to get into the control room of a polaris submarine. her adviser charles powell wrote, "had there been armed terrorist the consequences would have been incalculable". and mrs thatcher herself noted at the top of the page, "i am utterly horrified. we could all have been put in grave danger." polaris was the forerunner of today's trident. the vessel was hms repulse. this is me. philjones, then a young peace activist, was one of the demonstrators. he says they were astonished at how easy it was, and shocked. when the commander of the submarine

came into the control room, and he was shouting at us, "who the f are you? who the f are you?" over and over again. we were shouting back at him. "this is outrageous, we could have been the ira", because they were still active. the files show staggering security failures starting with the perimeter fence. the alarms had been switched off. as a result of the incident, royal marine sentries were given orders to shoot anyone suspected of trying to damage the sub, but it didn't stop the same thing happening again at least twice — once in 2002, once in 2014. hospitals these days are full of high tech equipment to treat people who are ill, but could they also benefit from something as simple as a visit form a pet? senior nurses are calling today for much more use of animals to help patients. holly hamilton has been to southampton hospital to see how one dog is making a difference. good, lad.

meet leo. he is a volunteer here at southampton general hospital and a very popular one at that. oh, yes. he says hello. he and his handler, lindsey, have been delivering therapy to patients and their families for the last four years. a dog in a hospital environment is an incredible social lubricant so you end up talking to people you would never ever talk to in a normal course of the day. it is a partnership. nobody would be interested in me coming alone and he cannot drive a car. we come together and it is a privilege for me to have a dog who can come and do this. hang on. from lowering blood pressure to reducing anxiety and stress the benefits of animal assisted therapy have been documented. bringing a smile to the face of this 4—year old child is enough. we were told he had a condition that was permanent brain damage and we probably would not expect

much more than what we had then, which was a little bit of eye movement. but when they introduced leo and he smiled for the first time, didn't he? it is a medicine in its own right. as soon as you tell oscar that leo is coming, he brightens up and he smiles and it is nice to see. one of leo's first patients here was alice. when she was initially diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer she refused to leave her bedroom. and then she met leo. i took a picture of leo and took it to show her and i said look, the next time, if you want to see leo you have to come out of your room and she did. it was lovely. he has been in ourjourney for four years, almost. it was nice to have a dog in the hospital. how does it help you? it's a bit of normality. we have dogs at home ourselves so having one in hospital is nice. he is nice to cuddle.

and it is notjust dogs. in a survey, over 50% of nurses said they had worked with animals and nearly all of them agreed it was a benefit to the patient. despite that, almost 25% said no animals were allowed at their place of work. the connection that people have with animals can be far more profound than it is with the doctors and nurses and their parents or the people who love them. as a nurse and as a human being i think we have to think about what else can we do that would make a difference to helping people to get well. or if they do not get well, make their day better. some people may have some reservations. it is important that there are rules and regulations around how it works. i have been here all morning watching the way that the children here have reacted to leo and to lindsey and it has made their day.

it has made those people's day. say cheese! some argue that this type of treatment is simply a temporary fix. but leo's patients are happy for him to keep coming back. people in the uk are expected to have used around 300,000 tonnes of card during the festive season including packaging and christmas cards. the government—funded charity wrap says this causes all kinds of recycling problems, and people are confused about what can and can't be recycled. our business correspondent, sean farrington, reports from a recycling plant in the west midlands. i'm near walsall in the west midlands. at biffa's recycling factory. they've still got all that to go through and more. it hasn't gone down at all, because it's the busiest time of year. you've got all this kind of stuff, the cards, gift wrap, the glitter doesn't help either that everybody‘s to do. that's why these pickers are sorting through everything. the waste that comes

here is all in one. it's people's recycling all in one basket. the plastics, the tins, the paper gets split here, not at home. people might be more familiar with that. what makes it awkward, you still end up with dvd broadband, hair dryers are getting in hair. that's where the machinery can't do it all on its own. now, let's talk to a couple of people who know a little bit of why this is happening here. you represent the packaging industry. how much of this here is because the amount of packaging that your members when customers buy certain products? the packaging you see here is because consumers have brought products that have to have packaging around them in orderfor the product to arrive fit for purpose and that it it was intended. in that sense, you can say our members are responsible for, but they actually

save waste by avoiding the product waste. margaret, you're a professor in sustainable waste management. do you think the packaging industry could do more? i think the packaging industry does a lot, but i think if maybe people changed their behaviour is, they would be incentivised to do more. there are lots of schemes we have talked about, people have talked about extended producer responsibility, where the producers of waste materials might fund their collection and then be incentivised to produce less. is that a bit of an issue? where do the incentives come? for people at home to put the right stuff in the right bins, to get customers buying the right products with maybe not as much packaging as they might want to? remember that the products that are put on the shelves are done so because consumers buy them, therefore manufacturers will always produce the product that a consumer wants. but the majority of packaging, certainly food packaging these days, has got information on it so that consumers can see how to responsibly dispose of it for recycling. and certainly, the proportion of recycled material that is in packaging has increased

and will continue to increase. margaret, just quickly. do consumers want to use less packaging, or are they all about christmas? i think people want to do the right thing, but they're not always clear what the right thing is. so we get really high recycling rates considering that actually for most householders there is no benefit. margaret, neill, thank you much. still, loads of shiny wrapping paper going through here. these guys working pretty hard this morning. now another chance to see meet the author, in which rebecca jones talks with the world's bestselling writerjames patterson james patterson is the world's biggest selling author. he is best—known for his thrillers but has written science fiction, novels for young people, romance and nonfiction. to date he has published over 140 books selling more than 350 million copies around the world. and he is the most borrowed author at uk libraries.

that isn't enough for james patterson, he now wants an even bigger audience by selling books to people he thinks have abandoned reading. and his solution is called bookshots. so, welcomejames patterson. what are bookshots? hopefully a revolution in reading and the way we look at books, at the least an evolution, under 150 pages, relatively inexpensive and hopefully impossible to put down. it is one of my regular books except at 145 pages, very tight. you can get on the train, go to work, go home and you have read one, you have

accomplished something which is cool. the slogan is "all thriller, no filler." is that what makes you think someone will pick up one of these rather than a magazine or go online? books are like reading a movie. there is no fat. it is all story, hopefully with good characters. if you like alex cross, here is an alex cross you have not read before but it happens so quickly. in england we will start with six, it is a category, and alex cross, a zoo, one about the royals which is kind of fun, one about a big heist, a diamond heist. recently i was interviewed in my office, and i pulled out these eight very deep drawers and i have 107 of these bookshots that are eitherfinished now or in process. 80 of them are stories that i created.

it is like, oh my god. the person who interviewed me went like this, this is crazy, this is insane and i said great, this is insane. but for readers this is going to be a boon. because they are addictive. you have written some of them but like yourfull—length novel, you employ a team of co—writers, tell us a bit about how that works, in practice? i wrote last year over 2000 pages of outlines. my outlines are always three or four drafts. it is an insane amount of writing. and usually when i co—write a book, i write an outline, for these it may be 30 pages and it is chapter by chapter. and what i will do with the co—writer is give them the outline, i will say please contribute to the outline because that is useful and it gets the co—writer

feeling involved in the process. the template for the bookshots is every single chapter moves both the characterisation and the story forward and turns on the movie projector in our heads. so if that isn't happening, meaning you can't see it, you can't feel it, and taste it and smell it, if it is not moving forward and i'm not interested characters i will say, hold it, we have lost something here. then i will make suggestions and occasionally i did not figure out the outline correctly or more often it is the co—writer...! we will of course correct. if you look at them, they are smaller, thinner and hopefully on the trains and planes you will see people reading this smaller book. i have read that you work seven days a week,

52 weeks of the year, is that true, do you not even take a day off for christmas day? christmas i would say would be a very light day but generally it is seven days a week. somebody said you are lucky if you find something you like to do and it is a miracle if somebody will pay you to do it. and that is my situation. doing these bookshots, it has been the most fun year of my life, because i love to tell stories and i was blocked with books i had because i had the alex cross series and the woman's murder club and it was like we don't need any more hardback, so there was no place for me to let my imagination go and now there is. i will have more content than marvel by the end of this year. it is little wonder that you are known as the busiest man in publishing, notjust because of the number of books you write, but because of the time and the money you spend on championing literacy, why is that so important?

for me, the most important thing is getting kids reading. because if our kids do not become competent readers, especially kids at risk, how are they going to getjobs and go to school? if they get through, ten and 11 and they are not competent... there'll be a drag on society and the city and all of us, and it will make for a harder life for them and the thing about... as an individual i can't do much to solve global warming or health care crisis, whatever, but as an individual we can all get the kids in our homes reading, mostly, we can help the local school, we can help the local libraries, libraries are a big issue now and how they get funded in england. ijust hope that people will stand up and go, our libraries are really important, we need the money for libraries. how much does your interest

in this stem from the fact that you had a son who was a reluctant reader? well, jack is a bright guy. when he was eight years old, that summer, we said you can read every day and he said, "do i have to?" and we said yes, unless you want to live in the garage because we read in our house. but we said this is going to be painless, will buy books you'll like, so we've got a dozen books like percy jackson, and one of mine and by the end of the summerjack had read a dozen books and his reading skills went up dramatically, and ultimately they have sat scores in america so a perfect score in reading is 800 and he had 800 in reading, and he is going to an ivy league college. in terms of what can happen, if you take charge with your children, make it your responsibility. there is nothing more

important than a mother or father or grandparents to do than make sure the kids read. it is good you get them out with exercise but they have to be able to read. you are hugely successful, a writer of commercial mainstream fiction, do you hanker after writing the great american novel? i have already — they are just commercial! no, i love what i do. i think it serves a purpose. on my gravestone, "james kept a lot of people up late at night." and bookshots are going to be one of the reasons. bookshots are a revolution. this is going to change the way people read. james patterson, it has been great to talk to you. thank you so much. the morning is a drawing to a close,

but the fog is still there. there is still thick patches of fog. it is starting to shrink, but there are still some very dense patches around the south—east. we still have fog towards the south—east of england, further north there is sunshine. there are four or five different types of weather in today's the picture. let us look at some of the fog in staffordshire, this is the warning issued earlierfor the fog. still some concerns around. through the night ahead, the concern is for more fog. it is quite widespread. east anglia, south—east england, the south—west of england, those errors will find the fog returning quite quickly this evening. if it goes away, some places will hold onto it and be called for much of the day. further north, we got some sunshine east of the pennines and south—eastern parts of scotland. more limited than yesterday across northern ireland and scotland, heavy rain across the highlands. it is just going to sit there, that rain.

driven on by a strong, even gale force wind, in exposed areas. it will just keep force wind, in exposed areas. it willjust keep raining. through today, tonight and tomorrow. elsewhere, very little in the way of rain, justa elsewhere, very little in the way of rain, just a few dizzy spots across the irish sea coast. milderfor the majority, but where we have fog, be chilly. the fog will thicken up quite quickly this evening. the commute home this evening, it will be starting to thicken up again, returning through the evening and overnight. the most prone areas will be the south—west, east anglia and the south—east. wilson see the lowest temperatures that, a touch of frost, it could be freezing fog. mild, breezy further majority and cloudy. and wet in the north. wet again in the north tomorrow, with strong to gale force winds. further south, the fog will take its time to clear. it should do more readily, cove rs clear. it should do more readily, covers the breeze picks up and will inherit some of this cloud further south. it looks a bit soggy for the

new year celebrations. this is how it looks at about midnight. the rain that across we think northern england across to wales. the hide it, dry hogmanay, but cold. there will be showers around in the north. ahead of it, rather murky, as cloudy and mild, not necessarily foggy as it has been. when their weather front pushes southwards, it clears all the fog out the way so we have some clearer conditions from the start of 2017. but with an arctic wind, it won't be warm. we will have more later. this is bbc news. the headlines at 12.

russia's foreign minister calls on president putin to expel 35 us diplomats, in retaliation for a similar move by washington. the syria ceasefire between the government and rebel groups appears largely to be holding, despite reports of isolated clashes. drivers are told to take care in fog and freezing conditions, as a coach overturns on the m40 in oxfordshire, injuring 17 people. a warning that national parks are under threat, as figures suggest government funding has been cut over the past five years. also in the next hour — learner drivers could be allowed on motorways. it's part of proposals to give learners a voluntary target for a minimum number of lessons before taking their test. and as the international olympic committee creates a new team of refugees, we've been following some of the hopefuls. that's in half an hour on bbc news.