but some congress members have expressed reservations about starting the repeal process before a replacement healthcare programme has been agreed. intelligence agencies have briefed the us house of representatives about russia's alleged hacking of the us presidential election. earlier, donald trump sent out more tweets, accusing opponents of making up allegations over his ties to russia. a woman in the us has died despite doctors using 26 different antibiotics to treat her. the center for disease control and prevention says it's a warning of the dangers of untreatable bacteria resistant to antibiotics. a newborn girl who was abducted 18 years ago from a hospital in the us state of florida has been found alive in south carolina. kamiyah mobley was taken when she was just eight hours old. the woman she grew up with has been arrested. now on bbc news, the story of yulia stepanova, the russian the prime minister has threatened to

cut money to gps if they do not offer more appointments. the times carries the same story. it says the move comes after a report into the working hours of doctors. it is the leader is well in the telegraph which reports comments from the outgoing us ambassador to the european union which suggests that president trump wants the eu to disintegrate. the mirror carries the news of a baby kidnapped nearly 20 yea rs news of a baby kidnapped nearly 20 years ago in the us now found and returned to her mother. the guardian is carrying an exclusive about future relations with the city of london financial infrastructure and the european union. the daily express looks at the life and times of lord snowdon, the former husband of lord snowdon, the former husband of princess margaret has passed away. now on bbc news, the story of yulia stepanova, the russian athlete who exposed the state—sponsored doping scandal — in life on the run.

yulia stepanova, russian champion, world—class athlete turned whistle—blower. her contribution to sport and the fight against doping is beyond comparison. nobody has done more for the anti—doping movement. branded a traitor in her motherland. she and her husband exposed cheating in russia on a colossal scale. she is not a hero because there is nothing brave in it.

she and her husband exposed cheating in russia on a colossal scale. now they live in secret, fearing for their lives. unlikely to ever return home. the young family seem completely at home in this average american town. no one gives them a second glance. this is yulia stepanova and vitaly stepanov, an elite athlete and an anti—doping officer. their shocking revelations exposed the dirty secrets of russian athletics. three damning reports commissioned by wada, the world anti—doping agency. much of them based on the testimony of this couple.

it found that many athletes have taken illegal drugs between 2011 and 2015. for, years international sports competitions have been hijacked by the russians. coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field. sports fans and spectators have been deceived. it is time that stops. yes, stops. for russia there was humiliation and a ban on hundreds of athletes from the rio 0lympics. but president vladimir putin remains defiant. he believes his sports men and women have been victims of double standards and political interference. i travelled to the us to meet them, i can't say exactly where.

they have spent the last two years staying under the radar. why did they take such extraordinary risks that force them to lead a life on the run? thousands of miles from home, they may never return to russia. yulia stepanova was brought up on the edge of an industrial estate in kursk, in western russia. to begin with, she did not have time for running. in fact, she did not have much time for the childhood at all. this couple worked in a tyre factory

and when they were not on the production line they were busy tending to their allotment to feed the family. but when she was 13, yulia stepanova defied herfather and came here.

athletics became her escape. yulia began to excel at the 100 metres, winning races all over the region. but then she got a chest infection and spent three months in hospital. getting back on form was going to be a problem. her coach, however, had a solution. testosterone. the banned drug helped her cut a remarkable three seconds off her personal best. in the russian sports system

there is very little space for personality or individuality. it is like the army. very soon russian coaches start to use performance enhancing drugs. if you want to survive in sport you need to be inside the system. there are very few opportunities to go up in russian sports and not to be inside the system. in many ways, russian athletes are part of the system. once she was on the national team, she was sent to see a sports scientist who knew all about doping.

then a chance encounter changed everything. at a race meeting, she met vitaly stepanov, one person in the system who was not prepared to turn a blind eye. he was an idealistic young officer at russia's anti—doping agency, but he got the inside track on his very first date with yulia ste pa nova. when i met yulia stepanova and had

an honest conversation with her i understood that i was an idiot. we were not there to fix it we were there to follow the goal of russian sports, which is to win medals. the russian anti—doping agency was part of that. a dirty athlete and a crusader for a clean sport, it was an unlikely combination. but two months later they got married. somehow they stuck together despite frequent rows about yulia's doping. he believes in clean sport and is totally committed to it. he sees corruption and he is told

that is how it is and you're not want to change it. he realises that he is probably not, but he faces a choice, do i confront this and try to expose it or do ijust go with the tide? he decided to confront it, to swim against the tide. so vitaly stepanov wrote to the russian anti—doping agency about the cheating culture. you cannot make a mistake in the 800 metres, it is fatal. it is the fastest tactical race in the programme. meanwhile his doping wife went from strength to strength. at the world championships in south korea, yulia stepanova competed alongside some of the finest runners in the sport. but her performance arose suspicions. i thought she would not be a threat at all.

i led the whole way in the semifinal and just at the end i got taken over by two girls, one of whom was yulia stepanova. it is the russian showing better form here... i was very shocked to see her in front of me. she may have done enough. we will see how the semifinals pan out... after the event she looked very guilty. i said to my husband that i thought she was cheating, i think she looks very sorry for me. from that moment on she almost could not look me in the eyes. eventually, the authorities caught up.

the international athletics federation gave her a two—year suspension. after irregularities were detected in her blood samples. she joined vitaly by writing to the world anti—doping agency, but her ten—page confession was ignored. she needed more proof. she began secretly taping officials and fellow athletes on her mobile phone. we cannot play the audio from this footage because of ongoing legal appeals. but here, the notorious doctor boasts how his drugs

have turbo—charged her performance. after the recordings aired on german tv, wada was finally galvanised into action. the agency said it did not have the legal powers to investigate the allegations before this point. since then, they have commissioned three reports into russian doping. for their own security, the stepanovs left their homeland. they now live in the us, leading a hand—to—mouth existence. for safety reasons, we agreed

that we would not film in yulia and vitaliy‘s place. they are worried about their security. but i can tell you that it is in a local housing block in a not very nice part of town. it is very basic. training alone is farfrom ideal for an elite athlete. yulia had hoped to compete under

a neutral flag at the rio 0lympics, but the ioc refused because of her doping past. world sporting agencies have been lukewarm, at best, in their support. i think there are some people in those organisations who would prefer that we do not exist, that we did not share what we know. there are corrupt people in those organisations, and their goals are not to promote 0lympic values. they want to steal money. the classic sports structure and system does not want whistle—blowers coming forward, because it brings bad news about the sport, and that is contrary to what they want, and it ultimately hurts the brand.

in russia, the whistle—blower got a cold reception. the kremlin called her ajudas. the press attacked her as a money—grubbing traitor. 0nline, some even called for her execution. russian history is full of stories of betrayal. there is a famous one about the schoolboy who informed on his own father to stalin's police. some are calling yulia stepanova a modern—day example, for selling out her fellow athletes and her country. reactions have been a mix of anger, disbelief and denial. the stepanovs said the doping programme was approved at the very top. this is backed up by lab tests, forensic reports, and interviews with other insiders. despite denials of state involvement, this official

laboratory covered up and destroyed hundreds of samples. it lost its accreditation, and has been out of action for more than a year. this moscow lawyer represents several athletes accused of doping. his clients dismiss the evidence, and call yulia stepanova a cheating hypocrite. she's not a hero, because there's nothing brave in it. the main motive for her, as for any other athlete who is involved in doping, is a financial motive. but a journalist who has been investigating doping for decades, and exposed the cyclist lance armstrong, believes people have misunderstood

and undervalued her, in russia and in the wider world. yulia stepanova did this in return for no motive. some people have said that she's a doper. but those people are showing a lack of empathy for where she has come from and what she has done. if they bothered to look closely at her story, they would have nothing but unqualified admiration for her. nobody has done more for the anti—doping movement, no whistle—blower comes within a million miles. it is an acknowledgement through gritted teeth. president putin says his revamped anti—doping programme will be in place early in 2017. the parliament has passed a new law which could send drug—pushing coaches to jail. many doping control officers have been sacked, and other

reforms are promised. and yet the pair who forced the nation to confront this deep—rooted corruption are still seen as enemies of the state. we betrayed the russian doping system, and i am completely fine with it. yulia hopes to compete in the world championships in london next summer. i have never been in new york, and i have never eaten the snake. in a country she does not know, with a language she does not speak, her life has been turned upside—down. but she has few regrets about the turbulence she has brought to world athletics. she has exposed an ugly truth that had gone unspoken for years. no matter what her detractors say,

yulia stepanova will surely be known as one of the greatest whistle—blowers in the history of sport. hello there. it looks as if the cold weather will continue into the weekend. some have had snow, quite significant snow, as you can see from oui’ weather watcher here in lanarkshire. of course, there have been other concerns through the day on friday and through the night, this sent in from whitley bay earlier. and that is the combination of high tides and strong winds pushing down the east coast, and so for the immediate future there are still flood warnings, severe flood warnings, out from the environment agency. the floodline, if you are concerned, 0345 9881188. now, the winds will continue to ease through the remainder of the night and into the morning,

but they are still blowing a gale in places, and it is a blustery end to the night. still some wintry showers, something a little bit more organised crossing scotland, northern and western areas, which could just watch the salt off. it is going to be icy. that is a big concern if you are out through the morning. the rest of the night, temperatures widely below freezing, in the towns and cities, even. so it will be much colder out in the countryside, and it will be a severe frost because of the strength of the wind. now, as we pick up the forecast on saturday, the winds are starting to ease away, and you can see a subtle difference in where we will see the showers. more likely, i think, through western areas during the day on saturday. and again, the wintry element is there, especially over the hills, but there will be heavier showers for east areas, and if they come onshore, could have some hail, some thunder, and also we could have some sleet and snow over the hills. you can see a pestering of showers for northern ireland, northern england, across scotland again, and across the north—east, and it remains cold. the wind chill not as significant,

just because the winds are easing away. but it is still a breezy old day going into a breezy night, with another frost. and then we get a subtle change. we start to see some milder, slightly milder air coming in off the atlantic. as it comes in, it turns to snow. potentially freezing rain, so potentially some very icy conditions through saturday evening and overnight into sunday, as that falls on the frozen ground. and that is because we have got this wedge of slightly milder air, so rain—bearing clouds trying to come on top of the cold air. so there is the potential for some snow orfreezing rain. either way, some rather miserably raw conditions as we get going into sunday. slight easing in that patchy rain, sleet and snow later. but, as you can see, a grey day for many, and because we have got that mild air coming over the cold air, could be quite grey and murky as well. in eastern areas we could hang onto the wintry weather, the cold weather, for much of the day. so there is some uncertainty as we move into sunday. do stay tuned to the forecast if you have plans, but it looks

as if chilly air could hang on into the south—east. the warnings, they on the website. welcome to bbc news. this is the top story. the us congress has voted to begin the process to repeal 0bamacare. but some congress members have expressed reservations about starting the repeal process before a replacement healthcare programme has been agreed. rural hospitals will be closed. and they have no alternative proposition. they want to kill aca, but they have no idea about how they