the bank of england raises interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, as it tries to curb inflation. it's risen from 0.25% to 0.5% — the governor, mark carney, says low unemployment and higher inflation justify the rise. the time has come to ease our foot a bit off the accelerator. the increase will hit millions of homeowners, but it's good news for savers. ooh, i'm rubbing my hands together. definitely. i'm hoping it will go up a bit more as well. we'll be looking at what it all means, and asking if another interest rate rise is imminent. gavin williamson is named as the new defence secretary, after sir michael fallon resigned amid claims of sexual harassment at westminster. the taxi driver charged with the new york truck attack — we speak to the british tourist who spent an hour in his cab last week. almost a million children are dying from pneumonia globally every year, yet it can be treated with cheap antibiotics. and the british team who have helped

discover the tapanuli orangutan — a new species of great ape in indonesia. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news... england manager gareth southgate opts for youth in his latest squad, as he calls up three uncapped players for friendlies with germany and brazil. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. interest rates have gone up for the first time in a decade. the bank of england has increased the rate by a quarter of one percent, to 0.5%, as it tries to control inflation. the bank's governor, mark carney, said households across the uk are "generally well positioned" to deal with the rate increase. the decision will mean higher monthly payments for millions with variable rate mortgages.

but it's good news at last for savers. here's our economics editor, kamal ahmed. one small step upwards for interest rates, affect millions of savers and millions of borrowers. it's more expensive if you have a mortgage, and for games in south london, it's time to cut costs. we've been very lucky without realising it. i think it's going to start, it will probably buy more from now on. for so probably buy more from now on. for so long we thought, it's always going to be like this, but it's got to end sometime and we never realised it was going to be this soon. the governor of the bank of england knew it was a delicate balancing actor. the economy is still struggling but he said rising prices had to be controlled. so in many respects today's decision is straightforward. with inflation high

and the economy growing at rates above its speed limit, inflation is unlikely to return to the 2% target without some increase in interest rates. of course, these aren't normal times. brexit will redefine the uk's relationship with our largest trade and investment partner and it will have consequences for the movement of goods, services, people and capital as well as the real incomes of uk households. this is certainly a historic moment for uk interest rates. it is worth remembering when incredibly low interest rates were not the norm. if we go back to 1992, when britain was struggling with a currency crisis and norman lamont was the chancellor, interest rates hit 12%. ina chancellor, interest rates hit 12%. in a later era the economy righted itself and interest tumbled to 70% 7%. but then the financial crisis

hit. ina 7%. but then the financial crisis hit. in a desperate attempt to keep global economies afloat, interest rates were slashed to 2%, so all of us rates were slashed to 2%, so all of us could borrow cheaply and spend. but then after the referendum, another cut to a record low of 0.25%. today, the first rate rise for more than ten years. howl 0.25%. today, the first rate rise for more than ten years. how i could those interest rates now go? i asked the governor just that those interest rates now go? i asked the governorjust that — should we be ready for further rises? path would be very gradual relative to history, and to a limited extent. i can bea history, and to a limited extent. i can be a little more specific about that. the forecast we put out today, that. the forecast we put out today, that requires two more interest—rate increases over the next three years are about economists said it was clear why. in the past when you have had one rate hike you usually have a series of them in quick succession. the world is not like that any more.

growth is slower, everyone is worried that if you hike rates now, the economy may soften too much. so, i think there await. they may do one early next year but that will depend oi'i early next year but that will depend on the economic data. for millions of people, today is one they have not experienced for ten years, an interest—rate rise. but with a key economic ingredient still being uncertainty, it is likely to be a long time before we see another one. so, what exactly will the impact of today's rate rise be on savers and mortgage holders? and who will be most affected? our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz has been finding out. this street in oldham, well, it's called the rise, and that is a reminder to everybody living here of what we have all got to get used to, that the interest we pay and receive is on the rise. at the first house on the street, there's a welcome for

higher rates from this save. i'm rubbing my hands together, definitely, definitely! i'm hoping it will go up a bit more as well to give usa it will go up a bit more as well to give us a bit more back! individual savings accounts have £10,000 in them on average, earning typically just £30 a year interest. that would go just £30 a year interest. that would 9° up just £30 a year interest. that would go up to £55 if today's rate rise is passed on. it's about time that we just got a little bit more. and now you're celebrating! yeah? i might only get a couple of pounds, but i think this is the start of the rise. not everyone is affect it by a rise in interest rates. 7 million people have got no savings at all. but 45 million have got savings and they would hope for a benefit. the other side to this is the cost of mortgages. 15 million are renting, another 15 million own their homes out quite. 17 billion people are

paying into a mortgage, and nearly half of those are in imminent danger ofan half of those are in imminent danger of an increase. and around this street, plenty will be feeling the effect. we won't be spending as much ongoing out and luxury items, we will be tightening our belts. here, the builder has run the numbers. he is paying a tendency to £5 a month for his mortgage and he expects a £50 increase, more than most will face. it is not easy to find for anyone. if interest rates did go up again, would that renew to the brink? yes, it would. wages, you can't just ask for a rise brink? yes, it would. wages, you can'tjust ask for a rise now brink? yes, it would. wages, you can't just ask for a rise now where you would previously. rises are hard to come by. every street has winners and losers from the base rate going up and losers from the base rate going up to 0.50%. and across the uk, strains as well as the gains will multiply. gavin williamson has been named

as the new defence secretary, less than 2a hours after sir michael fallon resigned in the midst of sexual harassment claims at westminster. his successor was appointed government chief whip just over a year ago, and has never held ministerial office. the 41—year—old now finds himself in the one of government's top jobs. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports. who would it be? nervously waiting at the ministry of defence, he looked a bit fretful, too, as he waited across the road at no 10. is it time to clean your table...? and then he emerged with the top brass. to ta ke then he emerged with the top brass. to take a proud walk across whitehall into one of the biggest jobs in government. he's never worked in a government apartment before, though. it is a privilege to

before, though. it is a privilege to be able to step into this role, and what's so amazing is to have so many first—rate, world—renowned people to be working with. the armed services are the greatest pride of our nation. until today are the greatest pride of our nation. untiltoday he are the greatest pride of our nation. until today he was in charge of party discipline. last month he described his approach. of party discipline. last month he described his approachlj of party discipline. last month he described his approach. i don't much like the stick. but it is amazing what can be achieved with a sharpened carrot. less time for cheesy local mp pictures. instead of managing his constituency and 315 tory mps, he's in charge of about 200,000 staff and £36 billion, part ofa 200,000 staff and £36 billion, part of a rising tory generation and a yorkshireman to boot. and here's his replacement, the new tory arm twister in chief. 0ne replacement, the new tory arm twister in chief. one of gavin williamson's compadres, seems to have inherited his tarantula. yes, the giant spider former chief whip

kept on his desk. is it time to clea n kept on his desk. is it time to clean out the stable...? the new number two, esther mcvey, who says she will add this to the mix. maybe ican bring she will add this to the mix. maybe i can bring a feminine touch to the whips' office along with my colleagues. the logic of gavin williamson's move over there is simple. he's a good operator and theresa may trusts him. but the push back has been fierce. 0ne senior tory told me he's abandoned his post ata tory told me he's abandoned his post at a crucial time. one minister suggested that he had outplayed no 10, saying theresa may is so weak she had allowed him to appoint himself. 0ne former minister said this shows the government is in the grip ofa this shows the government is in the grip of a bunch of police. as ever in politics deeney irony is rich. the man who was in charge of making sure that mps behave has found himself in a plum newjob, because one of his colleagues did not. and all the parties are readying

themselves in case they have to defend their side from more potential allegations of bad behaviour. the foreign secretary, known for his interesting private life, said today he had nothing to hide. are you confident your behaviour has been what would be expected? you bet. no 10 acknowledges everyone has to do more to protect staff and victims at westminster. and there are calls for wholesale change. we have seen bullying allegations between members of staff, racing allegations of sexual impropriety between elected members and others. and this is all about power. it's who holds that power and how they use it that sets the course. let's speak to laura in westminster. choosing a successor to sir michael fallon was always going to be a balancing act for the prime minister, and gavin williamson's appointment has certainly caused some upset? it has, partly because it was a really big surprise at this really big promotion. mps, particularly

those who feel they've been passed over, are often a bit shirty, a bit stroppy, around reshuffle time. there is nothing unusual in that. but the extent of the reaction to gavin williamson getting this job has been different. mps have been seething about this! not all of them but a significant number. and i think there are two reasons. firstly because i think some mps on the backbenches in particular harbour a few suspicions about mr williamson's ultimate ambition. and secondly the tory party is in a restless and fragile and frankly grumpy state right now. so, anything that comes asa right now. so, anything that comes as a big shock is almost bound to rattle the cage is. but the former chief whip will have learned in his time in charge of discipline that being effective and being popular are not the same thing. and that knowledge may welcome in very handy for what faces him ahead. a libyan armed group holding a man wanted in connection

with the manchester arena bombing in may has told the bbc they will not extradite him to the uk. greater manchester police have issued an arrest warrant for hashem abedi, the brother of the suicide bomber salman abedi, in relation to murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion. two soldiers have been charged with negligence, following the death of three servicemen during an sas selection test in the brecon beacons. craig roberts, edward maher and james dunsby were taking part in a 16—mile march on the hottest day of 2013. an inquest found that neglect contributed to the deaths. the case will be heard in a military court where the maximum sentence is two years in prison. theresa may willjoin israel's prime minister at a dinner in london tonight to mark 100 years since the balfour declaration, the moment when britain endorsed the establishment ofa britain endorsed the establishment of ajewish britain endorsed the establishment of a jewish homeland in

britain endorsed the establishment of ajewish homeland in palestine. but the meeting has been criticised by palestinian leaders who have called for the uk to apologise for failing to protect their rights. james robbins reports. two prime ministers, and a heavy weight of history. israel's prime minister can simply celebrate the balfour declaration and britain's part in opening the way to the creation of his state. theresa may must tread with far greater care, aware that lord balfour's insistence 100 years ago on the protection of palestinian rights has not been fulfilled. and obviously as we commemorate the balfour declaration, we recognise the sensitivities that this raises. the balfour declaration helped pave the way for the re—establishment of an independent state for the jewish people in our ancestral homeland. and this is the declaration, a brief letter committing britain to help establish in palestine a national home for the jewish people. but not at the expense of non—jewish communities. lord balfour himself visited in 1925.

although later, britain did try to delay the creation of modern israel, his declaration set the tide of change running. in tel aviv, at balfour school on balfour street, jewish children recreate israel's view of a divisive history, portraying britain's edwardian foreign secretary as hero. and somehow, the queen is drawn in, too. but for today's palestinians, the centenary marks betrayal by britain, failure to protect them from dispossession and israeli occupation. the suffering is not easy. what we have lost is not easy. a lot of people died due to this promise. when the balfour declaration was being crafted here in the foreign office a hundred years ago, it was clear it had to strike a very difficult, delicate balance. it went through at least five drafts. marking the centenary has proved at least as difficult and delicate, particularly for the prime minister, for whom it presents exquisite

political difficulty. tonight, israel's prime minister will meet theresa may again over dinner. but downing street is careful to stress it's not her party. the hosts are descendants of arthur balfour and of lord rothschild, to whom the declaration was first sent. james robbins, bbc news. our top story this evening: the bank of england has increased interest rates to 0.5%, the first rise in ten years. and still to come... newly discovered but already endangered — indonesia's tapanuli orangutan. coming up on sportsday on bbc news... the draw is made ahead of the 2019 rugby union world cup injapan. england handed the perfect draw, according to head coach eddiejones. they start against tonga. pneumonia is one of the world's most common infectious diseases, and it kills more children under

the age of five than any other disease. the charity save the children says across the world, two children die from pneumonia every minute. that's almost1 million a year — more than malaria, diarrhoea and measles combined. but pneumonia can be treated with a short course of antibiotics that cost as little as 30p. 0ur senior africa correspondent anne soy reports from kenya where pneumonia is killing thousands of children every year despite vaccination programmes. this woman is relieved to see her baby recover from the deadliest of childhood diseases. her baby's illness was misdiagnosed for weeks. initially he was treated for the common cold. no matter how much i tried to give him the medicine to subside the fever, he didn't respond so i was alarmed. the baby is now responding well to treatment. he caught pneumonia even though he had been immunised. fewer children are dying

from pneumonia today in kenya because they now get vaccinated against it, but around the world about 170 million children under the age of two do not get immunised. when they get ill, up to a0 million of those cannot get treatment. it's simply too expensive. but even with vaccination, some children will still get the pneumonia infection. not all strains are covered. almost half of the children we admit in our paediatric unit are admitted because of pneumonia. 0ne baby is malnourished, another has diarrhoea. both conditions exacerbate severe pneumonia infection. they should be in the paediatric intensive care unit, but there's no room. eight—month—old becky joy was luckier. she's been in the icu for nearly two months now. they discovered the pneumonia

was out of control. and then i thank god because when we came here, i was unable to manage her because she was almost dying, she was almost dying. the treatment that has kept beckyjoy alive is too expensive for many of the children across africa and the developing world. and four children will have died during the telling of the story. and yet pneumonia is preventable, and treatable. anne soy, bbc news, nairobi. two 14—year—old boys have appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder. the teenagers from northallerton in north yorkshire were arrested on saturday by counter—terrorism officers. 0ur reporter megan paterson is outside leeds magistrates court. what happened in court? the two boys

appeared in front of a packed courtroom and the hearing lasted for around 15 minutes earlier this afternoon. the hearing was in front of the youth court behind me, and during the hearing the boys stood in the dock flanked by security officials and stared straight forward as the charges they face we re forward as the charges they face were read out to the court room. both are charged with conspiracy to murder, one of the boys is also charged with aggravated burglary and those charges relate to an alleged planned attack on a school. both boys today through their legal representatives indicated they would enter not guilty pleas. both boys we re enter not guilty pleas. both boys were remanded in custody in secure juvenile accommodation. they were later returned to the crown court, back here on the 11th of december. thank you. spain's high court has remanded in custody eight former members

of the regional catalan government. its also issued a european arrest warrant for the ousted catalan leader, carles puigdemont and four members of his former cabinet who travelled with him to belgium. mr puigdemont‘s lawyer in belgium said he would cooperate with the court, but he added that the climate in spain was "not good". the man suspected of carrying out the truck attack in new york on tuesday — which left eight dead — has appeared in court charged with terrorism offences. when police released an image of 29—year—old sayfullo saipovjust hours after the attack, a british tourist recognised it immediately. damian erskine flew into new york last thursday. he realised that saipov was indeed the uber taxi driver who picked him up at the airport and chatted to him all the way to newjersey. sophie long reports. tuesday afternoon and lower manhattan became the scene of the worst terror attack on us soil since

9/11. in the hours that followed as details emerged of what had happened, damian erskine watched carefully. then a moment of realisation and horror that he spent more than an hour in his company. it's a cliche but i went cold. i was like no, he does look familiar but no, surely not. itjust makes you feel sick really. i have shared this time with someone who has gone on to do something like that and was planning to do something like that. it doesn't sound like it's a spur of the moment thing. it makes you feel dirty almost. as he drove from newark to newjersey, damien said saipov was friendly. he was very polite, rushed to help with our backs. he said goodbye and then drove off. he spoke about america

and jobs he had here. he was talking about doing road trips around america where i think he was transporting range rovers. he was asking aboutjobs transporting range rovers. he was asking about jobs in transporting range rovers. he was asking aboutjobs in the uk arm and he wanted to know how much an engineer would earn every month. i saidi engineer would earn every month. i said i don't know, i have no idea. after the initial shock, reflection. the experience hasn't put him off travelling to the states.|j the experience hasn't put him off travelling to the states. i love new york. it is one of the best places in the world i think. i would be backin in the world i think. i would be back ina in the world i think. i would be back in a heartbeat. i cannot change my opinion on a country of that size orany my opinion on a country of that size or any country. it is just one person out of a million. he says he is helping the fbi with the inquiries, as us authorities try to piece together the movements of sayfullo saipov. this is the tapanuli orangutan, a new species of great ape that has been discovered in the dense forests of indonesia. there are only around 800 left,

which makes them the most endangered great ape in the world. they were identified by a team of international scientists including researchers from liverpool, as our science reporter victoria gill reports. the remote mountain forests of sumatra are home to some of our closest ape relatives, and a small population here, first discovered just 20 years ago, has been hiding a scientific secret. this is the tapanuli orangutan, a species new to science. until now, it was thought that there were just two distinct species of orangutan, sumatran and bornean, like this big male here. but this new study shows that there are actually three — a tiny population has been hidden away and isolated by hundreds of thousands of years of revolution. of thousands of years of evolution. early dna analysis suggested these animals were peculiar, compared to the other sumatran apes.

so, scientists embarked on a detailed study examining what they ate, and their unique calls. years of painstaking genetic comparisons enabled scientists to reconstruct the animals' evolutionary history. the final piece of the puzzle, though, was tiny but consistent differences between the sumatran and this, the tapanuli orangutan‘s skull. it's an amazing breakthrough, i think. there's only seven, if we exclude ourselves, great ape species. so, adding one to that very small list is spectacular. with just 800 individuals, this species will go straight onto the critically endangered list. logging, mining and plans for a hydroelectric damn already pose a threat to its habitat. the hope is that adding this ape to the biology textbooks will help to ensure its survival. time for a look at the weather.

here's stav da naos. it's going to be a cloudy night or certainly cloudier than it was today across much of the country and we are looking at fog developing again. the met office have issued a warning for this across southern england and east anglia, really quite dense by the mourning period. further north, clouds rolling in. temperatures falling close to freezing, but generally around 5—9d. a chilly night but is not as cold as it would be if there were no cloud cover. it's not all doom and gloom, you can see the holes breaking in the cloud across parts of wales and central southern areas across parts of wales and central southern areas once across parts of wales and central southern areas once the fog clears away. some showers across the higher ground of the west and we start to see a change across northern and western scotland with more persistent rain pushing in here and

more of a breeze. this comes from this weather front pushing into the north—west, but we also have another whether the system pushing into england and wales for saturday —— another weather system. quite a wet start to england and wales certainly on saturday, some heavy rain slowly clearing eastwards. following on from behind, brighter skies with some sunshine, blustery showers and temperatures in single figures across the northern half of the country. still double figures across the south. sunday is looking drier with a keen north—westerly wind, the rain reaching all areas through the course of the day. as we head into bank holiday weekend, it is going to be cold. a few showers likely on saturday night, if you are heading out on sunday night it should be dry across the country. that's almost it from us. before we go, there's just time to tell you about our third special report on violent crime on tonight's

news at ten. how to stop young men being stabbed to death. we are on a south london estate, as stop and search powers are returned. we see the tension as police come under pressure to reduce knife crime. i have had three murders in the last couple of weeks. that's all from the bbc news at six so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. good evening. this is bbc news — the headlines at 6.30pm: the bank of england raises interest rates, for the first time in a decade. it's part of the bank's fight against inflation, and there could be more to come. at westminster the new defence secretary is gavin williamson, who used to be the conservative chief whip — he says it is an immense privilege to be given the job he says it is an immense privilege to be given thejob but some of his colleagues are not happy with the appointment.

it is an immense privilege to be given thejob... the ousted catalan leader carles puigdemont is facing a spanish arrest warrant, as eight former colleagues are detained in the wake of the disputed independence referendum. and the most endangered ape in the world, a new species of orangutan, is discovered in indonesia. in a moment it will be time for sportsday, but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news: coming up in 100 days — president trump will announce