another how successful that is is another matter. over the next couple of days, things could change. i will be back with more detail in half an hour. this is bbc news. the headlines at lipm: american intelligence agencies did not leak claims that russia has compromising material on donald trump — according to the head of us national intelligence. the man behind the report claiming russia has compromising material on the us president—elect is understood to be a former mi6 officer from surrey. severe weather is sweeping across much of britain — snow is expected in many areas by late afternoon and there are flood warnings for the east coast. files on 23 people and organisations involved in the 1989 hillsborough disaster have been passed to the crown prosecution service. several major retailers — including marks and spencer, debenhams and john lewis — report better than expected figures in the run up to christmas. and in the next hour — the world's first tidal lagoon to capture green energy from the sea. a government—backed report says it's affordable and it's time to build britain's first tidal lagoon in swansea bay. the world of football pays

tribute to the former tribute to the former england manager, graham taylor, who has died — aged 72. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. just eight days before he takes office as president there is still no sign to an end to the strained relations between donald trump and the chiefs of america's intelligence. james clapper has rejected suggestions that official agencies may have leaked the claims

that russia had compromising material about donald trump. in a statement, james clapper said he had called the president—elect to say the leak had not come from the intelligence services. christian fraser reports. eight days from now, donald trump goes into battle as the next commander—in—chief. never before has an incoming president been warring on so many fronts. not you, not you. your organisation is terrible. let's go. go ahead. quiet. he is in conflict with the press, the ethics committee, pharmaceutical and defence industries, some of his own senators, and of course the intelligence agencies. the dossier they investigated was an open secret. journalists had been working on it for months. it is a tale of sordid sexual escapades, russian espionage multi—million dollar cash payments funded to the trump campaign. the question for washington insiders is whether it is fact, part fact orfiction.

and was the leaking political? i think it is deeply misguided for anybody at any level to question the integrity and motives of the patriots who serve in our intelligence community. it doesn't mean they are always right, but questioning the motives is another thing altogether. the man who first compiled the intelligence is 52—year—old christopher steele, a former british spy who worked here. he is now in hiding with his wife and children, in fear of his life. mr steele had worked on the russian desk at mi6 for 20 years. in the 90s he spent time at the british embassy in moscow. more recently he had been hired to gather information on mr trump, first by republicans and later democrats. the allegations he uncovered were handed to the fbi. with nothing to report,

the media steered clear until a two—page summary was handed to president obama this week and mr trump himself. as early as last summer, there were reports circulating that the russians had tapes. whether or not the sources were telling the truth, we wait to see. these allegations are being treated as credible by the us intelligence community. compromat is how the russians describe it. spy craft long used to ensure the loyalty of politicians. this year, the former prime minister, now a leading opposition figure, was allegedly taped having sex with his assistant behind his wife's back. he blamed the fsb. even if there is no film, mr trump's presidency might already be compromised and not only by his dealings with russia. yesterday he ceded control of his business empire to his two adult sons,

but in the eyes of the ethics committee in congress, there is not enough distance to absolve him of any conflict of interest. in short, there are more questions than answers and no amount of tweeting from the president—elect, this is the latest, is going to remove the clouds that are circling next week's inauguration. earlier i spoke to dr rory cormac who is an associate professor of international relations who specialises in secret intelligence at the university of nottingham and i started by asking him whether donald trump's handling of the allegations it might work for him in the short term but in the long term he will be compromised by this. if you think about decisions he has to take, whether or not he turns the sanctions placed on the russian spies and intelligence officers before christmas, after christmas, how he deals with nato, these

difficult decisions he has to make, people can say the president is in the pocket of putin and he will a lwa ys the pocket of putin and he will always have these allegations hanging over his head for the next four years. in the short—term this approach might head off criticism but in the long term he will be compromised. he has pretty much but his own intelligence services on notice. it is terrible. he has accused them of leaking which they deny and he has gone after the motives of his own intelligence services. this i think is really dangerous. intelligence is crucial, it's an integral part of the decision—making of government, of the most important decisions presidents can make, whether or not to go to war. if he has denigrated the intelligence services and is causing a loss of morale that can store up real problems for when he has to make very serious decisions as early as next week potentially.

like what? if you have an agency which does not trust the president and vice versa, how much damage could that cause? it could cause so much damage, intelligence has got to be impartial, intelligence analysts had to be able to speak truth to power and presidents and prime ministers have to be able to be closely enough engaged to take it seriously but far enough away from it to ensure there is no political bias. and trump is breaking the golden rules, all the golden rule is that consumers of intelligence have to follow. and one of the real challenges that his new head of the cia is going to have to face is bridging this gap between the intelligence community, the cia and trump. because those men and women who work long hours and risk their

lives to provide intelligence to inform decision—making and pursue american interests, they are having a crisis of morale. the new director of the cia is going to have to tread a very fine line to ensure they are best represented without further alienating the president. what about the global dimension? you will have allies, here in the uk and in europe, who will be concerned and what are the fsp doing, rubbing their hands and enjoying it? it's a win, winfor their hands and enjoying it? it's a win, winfoeradimir their hands and enjoying it? it's a win, win for vladimir putin and the fsb. regardless of whether or not it is true, it is being treated with enough credibility to make waves. putin wants to undermine confidence in the american electoral process. america prides itself, it's the beacon on a hill, the city on a hill, on its democratic processes, it's fair and free elections and

suddenly we are having all this confusion, talk of impeachment, the dreaded watergate word bandied around. this is creating so much confusion and discrediting the american processes that vladimir putin and the fsb are rubbing their hands with glee. and we'll be talking more about that over the course of the day but for now we turn our attention to news back here. that is dominated particularly the weather. a blast of arctic weather is expected to cause disruption across much of the uk over the next couple of days, with a warning from the met office of strong winds, ice and snow. today — the wintry weather is already bearing down on scotland, with the m71; in central scotland closed for a time because of ice. meanwhile, gale force winds cut power to 40,000 homes in the north east, cumbria and yorkshire. at heathrow airport dozens of flights have been cancelled as a precautionary measure.

and in northern ireland, heavy snow is falling in county londonderry, causing major traffic problems. and just to update you on what we have been hearing from the authorities in essex in the last couple of hours because we were telling the essex police have said there is going to be a precautionary evacuation of the town of jay wick on the essex coast, more details coming through from the police about that, telling us they will be out and about, from about now, they said they were planning to begin the operation at lipm, going to addresses to alert people that a full evacuation plan will be implemented from 7pm tomorrow morning —— 7am tomorrow morning. that is what the police are telling us about people

in essex. lots of problems on the road because of all of this. with me is now is the president of the aa edmund king. so many parts of the country already affected, quick assessment on how things are for those areas which have already seen snow? we have seen particularly in scotland and north west england and parts of northern ireland a spate of accidents due to the snow and ice. people getting out, driving too fast for the conditions or going on minor roads which not been gritted which can be very treacherous particularly in freezing temperatures in the early morning. that's been going on and i guess the big worry is what happens in the south and the south west because generally drivers are not quite as prepared because they don't get so much snowfall. and still is that in your experience is it a lack

of preparation? some of it is, drivers not adapting to the conditions, when you have snow and icy roads you need to drive more smoothly, give more distance between yourself and the car in front, stopping distances can be ten times longer. i think a particular problem we might have in parts of the country is that it's been raining a lot before the snow and what can often happen is even of the roads are gritted because there is so much water the grid can be washed away and overnight it freezes then you get ice and early morning. that is when drivers get caught out. i think the real warning will be for tomorrow morning. most people will probably cope with the snow later this evening but tomorrow morning when it is frozen and the slush is frozen that causes particular problems. we are going into rush—hour now, tonight might perhaps for a lot of people be more about grotty weather and miserable

conditions but a lot of sludge and heavy rain potentially. but if people have to get up early tomorrow morning and make their way out to work, there is an assumption that the major roads near you have been gritted but is that still dangerous to drive along? the general advice? if you have a choice it's better to stick to roads and motorways which have been gritted more but when it's so have been gritted more but when it's so changeable sometimes the brit doesn't work because it can get washed away. also it doesn't happen a lot but occasionally you get stuck ona a lot but occasionally you get stuck on a motorway for hours or overnight as happened on the m11 about five yea rs as happened on the m11 about five years ago so as happened on the m11 about five years ago so it is wise to have caught in the car and a bottle of water a phone, that sounds quite excessive advice and tell you are caught out and then you will be quite grateful you are prepared. thank you very much. lots of people

being warned to be prepared,. our correspondent frankie mccamley is at heathrow airport for us. might be good news for some and bad news for other, what we have been told is that 80 flights have been cancelled from this afternoon in preparation for the snow. heathrow say they have to do it because the airport runs at full capacity so when the snow comes down it causes these delays on the ground, things ta ke these delays on the ground, things take much more time and they cannot afford these degrees so they cancelled 80 flights. talking to other airports they say it is business as usual apart from gatwick where four flights have been cancelled. manchester airport said they had around 30 seconds of snow and they have brought in extra staff

just in case but everything is going well. edinburgh airport also saying a few moments ago that business is running as usual. british airways is one of the main operators here, i spoke to them a little earlier and they said that passengers whose flights have been affected are being offered refunds or they can change their holiday or their flight, whatever they are doing. the advice from all of the airlines is to check before you travel because although some have been cancelled, as the snowfalls that might change, all airports are monitoring the situation. as you can see behind me it's still pretty wet, the snow has not come but is expected in the next hour or so. depending on how much disruption that is it will come down to how much snowfall there is here. is it chilly? it's a bit cold, i'm not going to lie! we'll be back to

you, you're going nowhere! thank you. it's beautiful when the sun is out and the snow is not falling. this is and the snow is not falling. this is a sharp blast of a wintry weather in november decemberjanuary which relatively to other scottish winters has been pretty mild. there was high winds yesterday leading to major disruption around the forth road bridge but that has now cleared. today the snow falling is widespread ama today the snow falling is widespread am a wintry showers which have settled in some areas but aside from that the weather this winter has been relatively mild. but it does look beautiful, the priority has been to try to minimise the travel disruption, there have been some problems only in 7a south of glasgow around rush hour this morning.

lloris finding the condition is very difficult, some minor accidents across scotland. some cars skidding off the road but fortunately those accidents have been relatively minor, the road you can see behind me is the spine of scotland, the a9. about 250 gritters out overnight and during the day across scotland, this road, which is very busy has stayed relatively clear. the ski slopes undoubtably will be hoping this settles on the higher slopes, they have had a pretty poor season so far. but every indication that this will be a short and brief snap of wintry weather. that was lorna

gordon. with me is the bbc weather presenterjohn hammond. we are in the hours now, the dangerous period in terms of commuting so what is happening? this is about to happen, we are getting reports in the last few minutes of the rain beginning to turn to snow. match taylor texting about half an hour ago telling me it was snowing at his house and he's quite low down in oxfordshire. not all of this blue will turn white but some of it is beginning to, the north—west of london, it's the critical period in the next hour or two. temperature slinking down to one or two degrees which turns the blue and white. how much we get is another matter. it only takes a slushy deposit in london to bring the capital to a

standstill and it's entirely possible we will get that just standstill and it's entirely possible we will get thatjust in time for the rush—hour about 5pm, 6pm, 7pm. explain to me why temperatures of one and 2 degrees means you get snow? you would think it would come when it's zero or below? because it takes a finite amount of time to melt, if it is zero at 200 feet up in the air the snowfla ke zero at 200 feet up in the air the snowflake will survive down to the surface because it takes a certain number of seconds to melt. it starts about 12 degrees but by the time you reach freezing point it's in big trouble because anything on the ground freezes and that is what will happen in the late evening, onwards, starry skies and plummeting temperatures and ice can be more of a hazard in the middle of london rather than the snow itself. and it continues to snow across the north—west of the uk. scenes like this quite widely tomorrow morning.

difficult to predict accurately. it's the bane of my life but that's what makes it such fun. parts of the lincolnshire coast are preparing for a tidal surge, a temporary flood barrier has been corrected and plans are in place to evacuate a number of key of homes if necessary. a few people in the area already preparing their homes in case there is flooding. the former england football manager graham taylor has died at the age of 72. a statement from his family said: graham taylor managed england from 1990 until 1993. he was a club manager at lincoln,

watford, aston villa and wolves, and in recent years a pundit for a number of broadcasters including the bbc. a host of former england footballers have been playing tribute to the former manager. the former england player stan collymore has tweeted: his fellow former international peter crouch said: tony daley, a former england winger who played under taylor at aston villa, said: and the former england captain alan shearer has just tweeted to say: and bbc sport spoke to alan shearer about his

memories of graham taylor. what i always found wars he was straight, he was honest. he was so passionate about football. he was a lwa ys passionate about football. he was always wanting to talk about football. he would always sit and study videos, study other teams. worked unbelievably hard as a manager. one of the reasons why i admired him and liked him so much was that you never got any pull from him, he wasjust was that you never got any pull from him, he was just straight down the middle and told it as it was. some people didn't like it but i loved it andi people didn't like it but i loved it and i certainly admired him. is that what it takes to be a good manager? where does he rank as far as england managers go? well, like every england manager he got criticised at some stage. i think he was very, very unlucky, particularly with qualifying for the 94 world cup in

the usa. he had injuries, i was out for seven or eight months with a cruciate ligament injury and other players where which did not help him. from that respect i do think he was unlucky england manager. he got criticised but one of the things he a lwa ys criticised but one of the things he always said and said to his players if you don't like criticism don't read the newspapers because he certainly didn't read the newspapers. that never affected him. how do you think he will be remembered? he will be remembered by a guy who was so passionate, who was so in love with the game of football and he was straight and he was honest and he would tell you as it was. he wasn't afraid to do that whether you were a young player or a very experienced player and i think that's the way he will be remembered. and for you yourself? very sad and very shocked, it's come out of the blue. i held him in the very highest regard because of what he gave to me. he gave me my england

debut, he sent me on the road if it where and i will never forget that. the former england football manager graham taylor who has died at the age of 72. and news just and newsjust coming and news just coming through from belfast in the last bottle while, we are hearing the secretary of state for northern ireland james brokenshire has been seeing an election there is highly probable, those are his words because talks so far have failed to break the political deadlock. he's been meeting the irish foreign minister charlie flanagan and still has further talks to go later today. charlie flanagan saying there is a very narrow win of opportunity but that an election does now look inevitable. james brokenshire are

seeing a fresh election could potentially be divisive. the continuing crisis coming through at stormont, we will get more reaction to those comments and bring them to you. 23 people and organisations could face prosecution over the hillsborough disaster, investigators have announced. files have now been passed to the crown prosecution service. last april, a new inquest into the deaths of the 96 people who died at the hillsborough stadium in 1989, found that the fans were unlawfully killed. the inquests were held at warrington, from where judith moritz gave us the latest. remember the inquests which finished last year, but at the same time as those in question are being conducted into the deaths of the 96 fa ns conducted into the deaths of the 96 fans at hillsborough and investigation, two investigations i

should say have been running here in warrington. more than 400 investigators running two separate criminal enquiries into hillsborough. operation resolved first of all is the investigation looking at the planning and preparation for that day in 1989 and the disaster itself, what happened as it unfolded and the emergency response to it. investigators running that enquiry have said they have identified 15 people who they consider to be criminal suspects. there is a second investigation which is being run out of the same building by the independent police complaints commission and they have been looking at the aftermath, specifically the legend cover—up which said to follow the disaster and they today have said it has identified eight suspects. we don't know the name of the people and organisations identified but what we have been told is that files about them have been passed to the cps and

it's the cps who will make decisions over whether or not to press charges and bring prosecutions. we know as guidance that the cbs is not expecting to do that for up to six months. so our little longer to go before we hear exactly who may be in the frame to face trial one day. you will remember that at the inquest the verdicts were of unlawful killing and the jury at those inquests found that the match commander david duckenfield was responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence but it's not known if he is one of the names on the file, its gone to the crown prosecution service, we are being told its the bigger picture, the number of people and organisations who could one day face legal action in the criminal court. and having spoken to some of those bereaved by hillsborough there is a degree of angerfrom some, hillsborough there is a degree of anger from some, they believe, they have told me, that to have

identified eight suspects for the cover—up is a very low number and they believe it is a much more widespread thing and that number should be higher. at the same time otherfamilies should be higher. at the same time other families have said they believe the swords of charges which are being considered here including course negligence and manslaughter going forward sure they are moving in the right direction as the right sort of come on charges which may follow. the hillsborough journey still has a long time to run more than 27 years since the disaster. we will turn our attention is again to the weather and get the latest forecast on our very busy day for john hammond. certainly is a busy day, we are getting reports of that rain turning to snow and that will continue over the next couple of hours. it's been snowing all day across parts of scotla nd snowing all day across parts of scotland and northern ireland, the hills of wales but it is this wet

weather here across the london area which will be critical because with tens of millions of people trying to get home what we don't want is some of the white stuff and it looks like we will see some snow, big question about how much settles in the middle of london but on the outskirts and over the high ground you can expect some centimetres. one siddall clears through it will turn very icy. i use could be a more widespread problem as we head into the middle of the night. snow showers continuing north and west. this could well be a typical scene where you are first thing tomorrow, warnings have been issued and we will update you with more details and half an hour. this is bbc news. with simon mackay and jane hill. the

us director of national intelligence has denied claims by donald trump the us director of national intelligence has denied suggestions by donald trump that government agencies were responsible for leaking claims that russia had amassed damaging material about him. the former british intelligence officer, christopher steele, understood to have written the dossier which claimed that russia has compromising material on mr trump, has gone into hiding. snow and strong winds are expected to cause disruption across much of the uk over the next few days, as the met office warns the country will receive a "real taste of winter". investigators have announced that 23 people and organisations could face prosecution over the 1989 hillsborough disaster — where 96 football fans were unlawfully killed. so many tributes from across football are being paid to the former watford, aston villa and england manager graham taylor who's died at the age of 72. sir eltonjohn, who hired taylor as watford manager, said the pair shared an "unbreakable bond" and were like brothers. we will hear much more about his

career ina we will hear much more about his career in a moment. some breaking news from the unite union regarding british airways. british airways cabin crew are to stage a 72 hour strike from january 19. that's part of the continuing dispute about pain. that 72 hour strike will begin onjanuary i9, pain. that 72 hour strike will begin on january 19, says the pain. that 72 hour strike will begin onjanuary 19, says the union. now the news, dominated by that sad news about former england manager graham tyler. so many tributes from across football are being paid to the former watford, aston villa and england manager graham taylor who's died at the age of 72. his greatest achievements came with watford. he was in charge for a total of 15 years across two spells. in the space of 6 seasons, he led the hornets from the old fourth division to 2nd place in the top division in 1983 and they reached the fa cup final the following year. he helped aston villa finished as runners up

in the old first division in 1990. he then spent three years as the manager of england. though he had a tough time, under performing at euro 92 and failing to reach the world cup in 1994, he said he never had any regrets. and he gave alan shearer his first england cap in that time. what i always found with graham works that he was so honest, passionate, about football, always wanting to talk about football, he would always sit and study videos, study of the teams, worked unbelievably hard as a manager, and one of the reasons why i admired him and liked him so much was that you never got any ball from him. he was straight down the middle and told it how it was. some people did not like that but i loved it and i certainly admired him. alan shearer with just one of dozens of fantastic tributes

paid to graham taylor has died today aged 72. dimitri payet "wants to leave" west ham and is refusing to play for the club against crystal palace this saturday. payet enjoyed a sensational first season in the premier league helping the hammers to a seventh placed finish, but after a great summer with france, when they reached the european championship final. with the club struggling down in 13th he is now looking for a way out. we don't want to sell him. we've said hundreds of times that we don't wa nt to said hundreds of times that we don't want to sell our best players. we wa nt to want to sell our best players. we want to keep them. he is definitely one of our best players. that's why we gave him such a long contract. i gave him that and he refused to play for us. the chief executive of the lawn tennis association has resigned, afterjust three years in the role.

michael downey will return to his previous role as chief executive of tennis canada. it's thought personal reasons are behind his decision to quit the job. the first tennis major of the year, he australian open starts on monday and the british number one johanna konta looks in good form. she's into the final of the sydney international. she beat former wimbledon finalist eugenie bouchard in straight sets, to reach her third wta final. konta will now play world number three agnieszka radwanska, in the final. konta made it to the semi finals at the australian open last year. also going well in sydney is british number three dan evans. he's reached his first atp tour semi—final. he had to come from a set down again, just like the last round. he beat the top seed dominic thiem, his first victory over a top ten player. world number one andy murray is in melbourne, training and early tomorrow morning he will find out who he faces in the first round. it will be the first time in his career

that he will be the number one seed ata grand that he will be the number one seed at a grand slam tournament. his fellow british players laura robson and tara moore will not be in the draw because they lost in the first round of qualifying overnight. that's all the sport for now, much more in the next hour. thank you very much. donald trump was not only questioned yesterday about the allegation that he had been compromised by the russian intelligence services. he was also tackled about his businesses. he was asked to explain how he would prevent potential conflicts of interest arising while he was in the white house. earlier on abc news george stephanopoulous spoke to dan abrahams, one of the network's business correspondents. the president laid out how people deal with his business while he's in the white house, saying he is turning over control to his two old est turning over control to his two oldest sons, saying no new foreign deals. he also stressed that the law

said he could do deals like that if he chose. take a look. i was offered $2 billion to do a deal in dubai. the number of deals. and i turned it down. i didn't have to turn it down because as you know i have a no conflict situation because i am president. i didn't know about that until three months ago but it is a nice thing to have. he says that offer came in this week. let's talk to dan abrahams about it. he's right that the conflict of interest law does not apply to the president, yet you had the head of the office of government ethics coming out last night and saying that what he's is meaningless in terms of conflicts and interest. let's separate this into ethics and legal. the ethics side. he still owns the company. that means that when the company gets richer, donald trump gets richer. it also means and people are not talking enough about this, he is

still subject to litigation. so if someone is suing his company donald trump has to get involved in that litigation. it's a big deal. and he knows what his company is coming he knows what his company is coming he knows where the businesses are and knows where the businesses are and knows what activities will help the company. of course. all he is saying in effect is that he won't have day—to—day control of the company and there will be some restrictions that someone intimately will oversee but this does not address the ethical concerns. there is one big law that he may be in: crypt with, the constitution. let's talk more. he's quite right that the conflict—of—interest law doesn't apply to the president and vice president. that would be the most likely law that he might potentially be violating. yet there is a clause called the emoluments clause, in the constitution. it basically says that you cannot get earnings from a state. —— a foreign state. and

constitutional law professors at the very least believe this is dangerous legal territory for him. there it is divided about whether it will apply and he's trying to minimise that by saying we will not actually benefit from that foreign money, we will donate it coming and hope that this will somehow make this less of a concern. will somehow make this less of a concern. but i can tell you the vast majority of legal experts say this is dangerous legal territory. someone will bring a legal challenge. absolutely. that's a flavour of the discussion in the usa as america wakes up, that was from good morning america on abc. meanwhile so called "confirmation hearings" are under way for donald trump's nominees for cabinet — among those being questioned is rex tillerson — the president elect‘s pick to be secretary of state. earlier i spoke to our state department correspondent barbara plett. she told me more about the hearings. two things, the hearings concerning

rex tillerson, the question is whether he will pass the committee vote because it only takes one person to vote against him and there's one republican, the senator marco rubio, who was not happy with his answers on human rights and suggested he might vote against him. it doesn't mean that he is done, but it would be a slap in the face for president to have his nominee not getting through. we will be watching to see if the vote comes today and what the vote is. the other thing to watch is the confirmation hearing of the nominee for head of the cia, because this comes at quite an unprecedented time with the cia and the intelligence agencies almost in a civil war with the intelligence elect, he's been extraordinarily critical with them over their allegation that russia meddled in the election and now the leak of this dossier that had non—verified

allegations that the russians tried to collect compromising material on him coming he blamed the intelligence agencies for leaking out, which they said that they had not. so there's this tension between the cia and mr trump, so it'll be interesting to see if his nominee sides with mr trump or with the inauguration. these are the organisations that are meant to keep america safe. for relations to be so poor is surely not to the benefit of american citizens. people who have watched this for a long time, former agency members, say this is unprecedented. they've never seen anything like it. morale at the agency is low because they pride themselves on a thorough, clear eyed presentation of the information and

the analysis is not imbued with political interest. that is how they see themselves. they will be looking to the nominee to see if he will protect them against the accusations made by mr trump. and now the national director of intelligence did feel obliged to call mr trump last night after all those accusations and say, we are profoundly dismayed that the dossier was leaked, it was not my spies. we didn't do that. we haven't determined that any of the documentation was reliable. and mr trump wrote on twitter this morning that mr clapper had called him and they had had a good chat. he said that mr clapper spoke against the accusations in the dossier. he didn't come he just said that the cia had not leaked them. this into play continues and makes people wonder what relationship mr trump will have which is so vital to the

protection of the country. more now on the news that the former england football manager, graham taylor, has died at the age of 72. a statement from his family said this. with the greatest sadness, we have to announce that graham passed away at his home early this morning, of a suspected heart attack. the family are devastated by this sudden and totally unexpected loss." graham taylor managed england from 1990 until 1993. he was a club manager at lincoln, watford, aston villa and wolves, and in recent years a pundit for a number of broadcasters including the bbc. earlier i spoke to gordon taylor, chief executive of the pfa, and i started by asking him his reaction to the news of graham taylor's death. i've just seen it come on the television. i'm at the manchester united training ground. i am so shocked. he is a contemporary of mine. obviously my most sincere condolences to his widow and family. it isa condolences to his widow and family. it is a real shock. he is a real

gentleman. i have known him virtually since i was 15 and in england schoolboy trials. i've followed his career at lincoln, and then his managerial career, linked with watford and eltonjohn, and with watford and eltonjohn, and with clubs like aston villa. and england, he did so much as well for the league managers association. a real credit to management in the way that he handled himself. and then of course he got the england job, it was sad the way that things turned out that that has happened with a lot of england managers. that he handled that with grace, didn't he? that word, "gentleman". a real gentleman. a quality human being.

cared about gentleman. a quality human being. ca red about his gentleman. a quality human being. cared about his fellow professionals, cared about the game. generic thoughts about the game in general, what was good for the game. i think he had a very good relationship, the way that he took watford to the top, to the cup final, the very top division. and of course clubs like aston villa but i think he will be synonymous with watford, their rise, just his impact on the game, he should be remembered asa on the game, he should be remembered as a gentleman who really cared about the game, added to the game, it showed his ability, notjust as a player way he had a considerable number of games but as a manager, in a way he was almost a walter winterbottom type, he thought about it, he was his own particular mould and he did extremely well and ifeel

very proud and privileged to have been able to have called him a friend. those who worked with him spoke of a sense of fun. welcome he could have fun, of course he could. he was guest of honour with our awards and he would have a joke and awards and he would have a joke and a laugh. but when it came to the serious business of football he was really focused. he loved the game from an early age because he was the son of the sports reporter at scunthorpe, where son of the sports reporter at scu nthorpe, where he son of the sports reporter at scunthorpe, where he was brought up, and he would speak to him about the history of the game and his dad would be very, very proud of him. history of the game and his dad would be very, very proud of himm one such mac word you could use to describe him what would it be? that

isa describe him what would it be? that is a difficult one, i would say he was a gentleman who cared about the game and put a heck of a lot more into it than he took out. remembering the former england football manager graham taylor who has died at the age of 72. in a moment, a look at how the financial markets in europe closed the day, but first, the headlines on bbc news. the us director of intelligence rejects suggestions made by donald trump that official agencies leaked claims that russia had compromising material about him. severe weather is sweeping across much of britain with snow expected to fall across much of the country causing travel disruption and forcing schools to close. investigators announce that 23 people and organisations could face prosecution over the 1989 hillsborough disaster. a lot of retailers have published

positive results over christmas. we can go now to a large shopping centre in essex to hear about it. hello, yes, i am at the lakeside shopping centre in essex. big high—street retailers reporting rather positive figures for the christmas period, we've heard from marks & spencer, john lewis and debenhams, or have reported like—for—like sales up. yet in terms of share prices, marks & spencer and debenhams reported an increase that the association that owns primark has reported a decrease of 4% roughly, interesting because primark reported positive sales compared to the previous christmas in the uk. at that netherlands and germany branches reported not such great sales. there's been a big push for primark to expand in europe and that is part of the reason that their share prices hasn't done well.

outside retail pharmaceutical stocks have not had a great day following comments from donald trump yesterday, he was critical of pharmaceutical companies producing and making tracks outside the usa and making tracks outside the usa and selling them to us customers and they've taken and selling them to us customers and they've ta ken and and selling them to us customers and they've taken and knocking today. that's the ftse for today. the ftse 100 was flat before we came on air, having had a good week, finishing in the green and beating records, although it looked flat before we came on air. that is it from essex. that's all from me, there is a roundup of all the other top business stories on our website — bbc.co.uk/business. volkswagen has pleaded guilty in the united states and been ordered to pay a fine of £3000, the largest

penalty ever imposed upon a car manufacturer. it's been dubbed the diesel dupe, the world's second biggest car—maker rigging environmental tests for diesel emissions, and now volkswagen will play a heavy price for what us authorities have described as a ten—year conspiracy. the fine of £3.5 billion is the biggest ever levied by the us government against a car—maker. vw has already agreed a £12.3 billion civil settlement with car owners and environmental authorities, and, worldwide, 11 million vehicles are involved in this scandal. the us attorney general said vw lied to cover up its actions. hundreds of thousands of cars that volkswagen sold in the united states were pumping illegal levels of nitrogen oxides into our atmosphere, up to 40 times more than the amounts permitted underfederal law. now, what's more, these vehicles were equipped with software that masked the true amount of the pollutants the cars released. and it looks as though us regulators

are farfrom finished. six executives have been formally charged with conspiracy. volkswagen says it deeply regrets the behaviour that led to this scandal, but there's still a turbulent road ahead, as the company faces potentially damaging lawsuits in europe. sarah corker, bbc news. tidal lagoons — could they be the answer to ensuring secure power supplies for the uk? the answer according to a government funded report is an unequivocal ‘yes'. the report says the idea of harnessing tidal power is viable, and the first scheme should be built at swansea bay, where it could provide clean, reliable electricity for more than 150,000 homes. here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin.

and today the government gave its backing to plans to build one in swansea bay — after the report said it could provide clean, reliable electricity for more than 150 thousand homes for more than a century. here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. will this be the uk's latest source of low—carbon energy? the tides in swansea bay are some of the highest in the world, and utterly predictable, so why not build a sea wall to capture the outgoing tide? that's the plan from a private firm. the sea wall will trap the outgoing tide, then hydroelectric turbines will generate power as the water flows through the gaps in the sea wall. the cost was thought too high for bill payers to bear. but a review says the annual subsidy isn't as high as it first appeared. if you spread the cost of the subsidy over the 120 year lifetime, bear in mind these will last two times as long as a nuclear power station, three or four times as long as an offshore wind farm, if you look at it in that way, then essentially the cost of this for a consumer is less than a pint of milk on their electricity bills every year. that's why i think it's affordable. supporters hope we'll see lagoons dotted along the western shores. that'll bring down the cost, they say. this is a pathfinder project. we need the government to get on with it. we need manufacturing at scale

to support industrial regeneration. it's great renewable energy and it's great for supporting jobs, both in the uk and in wales. but what about wildlife? friends of the earth support the lagoon for the clean energy it'll produce. the bird charity rspb are cautious about the impacts. the anglers are dead against. it would stop up fish, it would delay their migration, it could have impacts on seals and dolphins, with loss of habitat in the severn estuary, but furthermore the economics on which this scheme is based are based on a 120—year life span, and that's a huge time during which other technologies could come onstream, and we just don't think the lagoons will last that long before they get clogged up with silt. plans at swansea are ready to go. today's report suggests the government should agree terms for one lagoon, then wait and see. roger harrabin, bbc news. in a moment a full weather forecast but before that,

with this cold weather we're being warned blizzards could be seen in some parts of the country, and meteorologists are also predicting rare "thundersnow" for parts of wales. thundersnow is like a thunderstorm, except snow falls instead of rain, as nick miller explains. snow is one thing, thundersnow is another. unusual but some of us have observed that recently, there may be more to come, the weather set up as it is, plenty of cold air across the uk, and under that we are seeing snow showers. if they are big enough and there is enough energy you get a thunderstorm. but it is winter and instead of rain it is snow and you get thundersnow. there's not a huge amount of difference between the mechanics

of a winter thunderstorm compared with a summer thunderstorm, lots of air moves in quickly into the clouds. and within that cloud ice crystals interact to produce a build—up of static electricity. the bigger, the more likely there is a discharge in the form of a lightning strike. but there are some differences in winter. first, the lightning at night may appear brighter because it is reflected by the snowflakes. the snowflakes may muffle the sound of the thunder. you are not likely to hear thunder as far away from a winter thunderstorm as a summer thunderstorm. unusual, not unheard of, look out, listen out and you may be lucky enough to encounter thundersnow. time for a look at the weather. it's a moving feast, as isjohn on the balcony. meteorology is a beautiful science

so listen because there's a lot to get through. in other parts of the country it has been pouring all day but the rain is now turning to snow, beginning to settle over the chilterns and that should continue over the next hour or two. the blue beginning to turn to white, to the north—west of london, mostly above the high ground at this stage, but with time that snow will start to fall at lower levels. slushy covering on the low ground including the london area, several centimetres over the high ground, and icy conditions with millions of people trying to get home in this area and once the snow and sleet clear temperatures will fall quickly and ice will be the hazard towards midnight, and icy night everywhere, and further snow showers across these more northern and western areas. that coming down into the

midlands, blizzard raging across the northern highlands of scotland, temperatures close to freezing, hence scenes like this. take it steady when you go out tomorrow. the gritters will do the best they can but there will be some untreated surfaces so it could be an ice rink first thing tomorrow. another band of snow could cause headaches, it will start across the north of scotland, blizzards, this band of sleet and snow will track it stay down the east coast in the early hours with a strong wind, gales batter in the east coast and could reach the east of england just in time for rush hour tomorrow morning bringing the odd centimetre. a lot of sunshine, many of us will have a dry sunny day tomorrow. big waves crashing on to the shoreline. for most of us a lot of sunshine, barely above freezing in some places, particularly we have a covering of

snow. saturday promises more sunshine and wintry showers. the show was beginning to turn back to rain and sleet at west. we've got a weather front coming of the atlantic, trying to introduce milder air. how much progress it makes against this cold block is another matter and will probably bring more headaches later in the weekend but before that happens there is snow heading towards the south—east of england as i speak. today at 5, the latest in donald trump's confrontation with america's intelligence agencies. after the president—elect accused them of leaking unproven allegations about him, mr trump's nominee for cia chief strikes a very different note. i have watched him walk through fire to make sure they did theirjobs in a professional way, and they always aimed at getting the truth and depth ina aimed at getting the truth and depth in a robust way to policymakers. we'll have the latest from washington and we'll be talking to the outgoing us ambassador to the united kingdom and asking for his thoughts on the prospects for the trump presidency. the other main stories on bbc news at 5. arctic weather causes disruption

across many parts of the uk with snow and strong winds affecting travel and forcing schools to close. major retailers including marks and spencer, debenhams, and john lewis, report better—than—expected figures