this is bbc news. the headlines at 11... donald trump's former national security adviser, admits lying about his russian contacts and is prepared to give testimony that implicates the president's son—in—law, according to reports. the tax cuts and jobs act as amended is passed. the us approves a package of tax changes — described as the most sweeping reforms in almost a0 years — and seen as the first big legislative achievement for donald trump. the head of britain's cyber security centre advises all government departments not to use russian anti—virus software in systems containing sensitive information. coming up... it has already been a big sporting day down under. australia narrowly beat england in brisbane by 6—0 to

lift the rugby league world cup. honours even in adelaide. and... in half an hour here on bbc news, click takes a look at the latest in disability tech, including object recognition and ‘sign to text‘ transaltion. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the us senate has approved a sweeping tax reform bill, putting president trump on course for his first major legislative achievement since he took office. these changes are the biggest tax overhaul since the 1980s and would see a sharp cut in corporation tax — bringing it down from 35 to 20%.

despite the democrats voting against the bill, the republicans won by 51 votes to 49. the bill must now be combined with a version passed by the lower house of representatives, before it can be signed into law. the democrats leader in the chamber, chuck schumer, said the republicans would pay the price at the ballot box. my republican friends will ultimately pay consequences for this bill and beyond. the republican party will no longer be the party of tax cuts for middle—class people. with the passage of this bill today will be about the new republican party, one that raises taxes on the middle—class and abandoning its principles for its political paymasters. but the president's legislative

success comes as us media reporting that his son—in—law, jared kushner, has been implicated in the investigation into claims of collusion with russia. our washington correspondent, laura bicker reports. michael flynn, a retired three—star general, left the court in washington to a familiar chant. "lock him up." he'd once encouraged donald trump supporters to use a similar version against rival hillary clinton. the 58—year—old played a key part in mr trump's campaign and often travelled with him. if i did a tenth, a tenth of what she did, i would be injail today. he was rewarded with the post of national security adviser, but was forced to resign afterjust 23 days when his contacts with russia to discuss us sanctions were disclosed. on the 29th of december, michael flynn spoke to the russian ambassador on the phone in the first of a series of calls. on the 15th of january, vice president mike pence said that sanctions were not

discussed in those calls. only after the 9th of february, when a newspaper revealed general flynn did discuss sanctions, did pressure increase and michael flynn lost hisjob. as part of his guilty plea, prosecutors said mr flynn is now cooperating with the investigation. us media claims he will testify that senior members of the trump team, including mr trump's son—in—lanared kushner, encouraged flynn to make contact with russian officials. the white house is now trying to distance himself from flynn's actions, and the lies he told to the fbi, but having reached a plea bargain to co—operate, what else has mr flynn told the inquiry and what further revelations are to come? white house officials have indicated that president trump is likely to announce next week that the united states will recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. the status ofjerusalem is highly contentious, with both israelis and palestinians claiming all or part of the city as their capital. critics have warned

that the decision by donald trump could jeopardise peace negotiations. all government departments have been advised by the national cyber security centre not to use russian anti—virus software on systems containing sensitive information. kaspersky lab, which has aoo—million customers worldwide, was banned from us government networks earlier this year. the company denies any links to the kremlin. jon donnison reports. cyber security software like that provided by kaspersky lab requires extensive access to the files on a computer phone or network to look for viruses. our mission has always been to protect... kaspersky is used by consumers and businesses as well as some parts of government to protect systems from criminals and hackers. but now a new warning about russian anti—virus software, amid fears it could be used for spying. secrets of global significance...

at britain's national cyber security centre, they say they've not seen actual proof of such espionage, but they've told government departments not to use kaspersky for systems containing sensitive data. this is specifically about entities that may be of interest to the russian government and so for us that's about national security systems in government, of which there are a very small number. kaspersky lab has already denied allegations that it's been used for espionage in america. we don't do anything wrong. they are just speculating about some rumours, opinions and there is zero of the hard data. 400 million people use kaspersky products around the world, but officials say they're not telling the general public to stop using it. kaspersky lab denies any wrongdoing, but today's warning is another sign about growing fears over the risk posed by russia. professor alan woodward

is from the surrey centre for cyber security. i asked him why this warning is being issued now. it is interesting when you read the warning, it is very nuanced, unlike the american one which is a blanket ban, do not use it. they have been weighing this up for some time. the national centre for cyber security has been under pressure. do we use it or not 7 they have said for the most

sensitive systems, those holding secret and toxic information, we note on balance russia is acting aggressively to the uk and you should not use russian software in general. that tends to mean kaspersky, because they are the biggest outlet — they have taken some time. if you read the statement it is quite balanced. the russian government has been quite aggressive inside the space. the time has come where you cannot take any more risks with this sensitive information. who are kaspersky? we heard a bit in the report. what more can you add to it? my own experience, i did a lot of work with people like europol for example, and law enforcement agencies across europe have had very good experiences. they have been very cooperative and their software is very good. from a domestic perspective i would not hesitate to use it. i've tended to believe eugene kaspersky. he has a background himself in connection with the russian government but i do not think they themselves are overtly co—operating, in the same way that most technologies in the united states would probably say they are not cooperating with their government.

it is one of those situations where you cannot divorce it from the fact it is in a country that has a government which has been quite aggressive to the uk. on that story, the whole issue with antivirus software is its provenance. if we look to america, we have china, another one also which has a very heavy tech sector is israel. who are the main players? well, israel, mostly names that people probably won't have heard of in israel. they tend to be more at the leading edge was that they spin out of their research arms. a lot of it quite often goes to america, gets bought and is used in america. interestingly, one of the things that happened with kaspersky and which kicked it off now, there were stories about certain classified information from a contractor ending up on kaspersky systems which were then leveraged by russian

intelligence services. there is evidence that the israeli intelligence services were also inside kaspersky systems without their knowledge from looking for some of this data. it has some very high privileges, antivirus software. it can look at anything on the machine. it looks like it may have been sending some of it back. the warning that was issued said it was targeted towards government departments. how widely used is kaspersky software for home users, for the likes of me and you, and should we be worried as well? it is very widely used. 400 million users around the world. many people i know use it. i don't happen to use it but very many people use it. i think it is one of those things where, if you don't have anything particularly sensitive from a classified perspective on your machine, i wouldn't personally worry about it. are they interested in what the likes of you and me have on our machines? probably not. they are after classified documents.

that is what this statement particularly pertains to. it will be difficult and this is probably why it has taken the national centre so long to put this statement out. other people would think, if there is a risk for classified documents, maybe i should be cautious as well. the sort of systems the statement refers to are relatively small in number. the thing that kaspersky will worry about is that people will run scared in general and stop using it in domestic situations just as you have said. obviously, they do not want that. let's have a look at some of the other stories making the news on bbc news. a 14—year—old boy has died in hospital after being found unconscious on the hard shoulder of the m67

motorway in greater manchester yesterday afternoon he was found nearjunction three. it is thought the teenager was involved in a collision with a car. it's feared there could be hundreds ofjob losses at "toys r us", after the retailer announced it would close around a quarter of its uk stores. the move, which would see the closure of 25 shops, is part of a deal by the owners to renegotiate debts with its landlords. it's thought christmas trading and gift vouchers will not be affected by the move. five men have been injured after a car hit a number of pedestrians in brixton, south london. police were called in the early hours to stockwell road. the car, a vw golf, was abandoned at the scene. officers believe the incident occurred shortly after an altercation between the occupants of the vehicle and a number of people. the men were taken to hospital, but are not in a critical condition. no arrests have been made. two former police officers who leaked allegations that pornographic images had been found on the work computer of the now first secretary of state, damian green, were in "flagrant breach" of their own code of conduct, according

to the former attorney general, dominic grieve. the comments come as mr green repeated his insistence that he didn't view pornographic material. our political correspondent explained the background to the row. the police officers who have made these allegations, well, there is a dispute between them and damian green about whether or not there was pornography on that computer, which was seized from his parliamentary office in a police raid in 2008. damian green has consistently denied it. the two police officers said it was there. yesterday a former met detective claimed he had no doubts whatsoever that it was damian green was back in pewter that had the information on it. —— damian green's computer.

meanwhile, conservative mps have been rallying around damian green. their argument really is that the material which these officers are talking about was confidential. it was required as part of a police operation. so people like tim lawton and damian collins are making that point. the former chief constable of greater manchester police, sir peter fahy, has made similar points, saying that actually police officers should never... even retired officers should never be releasing material which is not relevant to the investigation that it was acquired as part of yesterday we had brexit secretary david davis is throwing his weight behind dominic greene. and on newsnight last night. dominic grieve, the former attorney general, said that the conduct of these police officers is being called into question. they choose to put material that an ordinary citizen would be prohibited from acquiring under data protection rules into the public domain on their own judgment. there is a way of dealing with that. if you think something is relevant used to it by a proper official means.

—— you do it. you do not go freelancing like these officers have done. it has a smack of the police state about it. if you think about it, there seems to be a beef between damian green and the police. what is going on? this will date back to the raid on his office back in 2008. at the time, damian green was a shadow home affairs spokesman, he was given information from the home office which he used to attack the then labour government. a leak inquiry was launched and the police were called in. as part of that investigation his office was raided, his computers were taken, and a civil servant, a home office civil servant, was fired. no one was charged as a result. conservative mps at the time were hugely critical of the fact the police got involved. they said it was a politicisation of the police force. the first person to bring forward these allegations around the alleged

pornographic material which they say was on damian green's computer was bob quick, at the time the assistant commissioner for the met, who was responsible for that raid on damian green's office. we heard a very profound denial from damian green at the time, accusing bob quick of holding a grudge essentially against him. where is all of this leading? this should all come to a head in the next few days. a senior civil servant, sue gray, from the cabinet office, is looking at these allegations and separate allegations that damian green also denies around alleged inappropriate behaviour towards the conservative activist. her report, we are told, could land on the desk of the prime minister at any point in the next few days. at that point it will be down

to theresa may to decide whether or not there will be any consequences for damian green as a result of this row. that was tom barton speaking to me earlier. the headlines on bbc news: reports in the us claim president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn, who has admitted lying to the fbi about his dealings with russia, is preparing to implicate donald trump's son—in—law, jared kushner. the us senate has passed a tax reform bill — president trump's first big legislative achievement. it will mean a significant reduction in corporation tax, and a lower rate for some individuals. the uk national cyber security centre has told government departments not to use anti—virus software written by a russian company, if their computers contain information related to national security. police in the northern german city of hannover have used water cannon

against anti—fascist demonstrators trying to stop delegates getting into the far right alternative for germany party conference. protesters sat in the road and put up umbrellas as police doused them with water in temperatures just above freezing. police cleared a path for delegates to get through. the start of the conference was delayed. the government in hundreds has declared a state of emergency in an attempt to stop violent demonstrations across the country triggered by election fraud. an expected announcement on the winner has also been hit by fresh delays. one has died and 20 injured in the protests. the election chaos in honduras

is escalating quickly. after a day of street protests that spilled over into violence, a senior government official confirmed on honduran television that certain constitutional powers were being suspended and a curfew would be in place between 6pm and 6am in the conflicted central american nation and will last for the next ten days. it came after what was supposed to be the announcement of the official result of the presidential election. instead the opposition alliance that is crying foul, alleging fraud in the electoral authorities, boycotted a hand count of around 1000 ballot boxes. they are demanding a full recount in three disputed regions amounting to more like 5000 boxes. supporters of the main opposition candidate, salvador nasralla, say they have evidence of vote tampering and are refusing to end their protest until the electoral court listens to their demands. meanwhile, the sitting president, juan orlando hernandez, has a narrow lead and his centre—right national party are confident of his eventually sealing re—election.

at this stage neither side seems ready to work with the other and an already volatile situation in honduras is now in serious danger of running out of control. will grant, bbc news. pope francis‘ visit to bangladesh and myanmar has officially drawn to a close as he returns home. these are the latest images of the pope leaving dakar, the capital of bangladesh. the plight of rohingya muslim refugees cast a long shadow over the six—day trip — with the pope using the word rohingya for the first time in public just yesterday. that was when he met with 16 refugees. our correspondent has more. we were told here in bangladesh by a leader of the catholic community the reason

they could not organise a visit for they could not organise a visit for the pope to go to the bazaar, about an hour away by flight, is because his trip was organised before the crisis started, so they could not facilitate for him to go barefoot yesterday we saw in meet a of rohingya refugees during an interfaith meeting and he also perhaps gave his strongest statement during this trip about the rohingya crisis, asking them for forgiveness for the hurt caused and the indifference of the world for the ever since the trip started, since he landed in me and mark, everyone listening to each speech he made very closely to see how he was going to address the issue. —— in miami ma. that would have set the my are government, which does not recognise the group at all. —— myanmarfor so many rights groups said he should

have come out and made a stronger statement. here, ithink, some of the criticism has abated after not just the short statement that he made but also the gesture of meeting with the rohingya refugees at the end of the interfaith meeting yesterday. the christmas period is often said to be challenging for parents of a child with autism. the change of routine, noise and unfamiliarity can all combine to make it a particularly difficult time. our correspondentjohn maguire has been to visit a santa‘s grotto with a difference — one that‘s been adapted to become autism—friendly. as the song goes, it‘s the most wonderful time of the year, but not for everyone. i used to hate christmas because you never got it, he didn‘t want presents and it‘s his birthday on new year‘s day. so you just sort of missed out on everything. julie‘s 13—year—old sonjoe has autism and in the past christmas has been difficult for the whole family.

we couldn‘t wrap the presents for a few years because he couldn‘t bear the noise of them opening. the autism affects the senses and it blocks them from understanding things so you have to reduce everything, so you don‘t have a big celebration, everything is kept on the down low, but as he‘s got older we‘ve been able to expand each year and add extra element each christmas, so this year he‘ll have his presents wrapped, so i‘m looking forward to that. julie approached her local garden centre in liverpool and suggested this, silent santa night, designed for children with autism. the music is quieter, there are no queues and julie‘s trained father christmas and his elves on what to say and crucially what not to say to the children. "have you been a good boy," that could really stress somebody out and just little tips where they can say, "just try to be the best you can be," or, "have you been the best you can be?" rather than challenging the child. i had it turned off.

really quiet i like it. a few weeks ago we met oscar and this family who told us about the difficulties they face when going shopping. well, tonight, a very excited and a very happy oscar is doing something this parents say would usually be just too much for him. i‘ll give it to my elves when i get back to the north pole and we‘ll sort all your presents out. are you real? of course, i‘m the real santa. see my beard, look. a really nice experience. we‘ve often avoided santas grottos at christmas time because of oscar‘s condition. it could be the lights, the sensory overload, but coming here he‘s so excited and he‘s able to engage and understand the whole process, which is not what we would experience in general. what else did he tell you, what‘s he going to do with your list? take it to the elves.

in the north pole? yes, at the north pole. it's a long way! it is a long way. it‘s hoped these nights will become commonplace, ensuring christmas is special for as many children as possible. bye, john. bye, oscar. people are being asked to nominate events and people they feel should be commemorated as part of a new national memorial scheme. the heritage group, historic england, has already received a wealth of nominations from battle sites to birthplaces, as david sillito reports. the site of the presentation of magna carta. the place where the pilgrim fathers set off for america. and here, the memorial to the landing of william iii at brixham, in the glorious revolution. there are some monuments to great moments in history, but historic england wants more. there are many plaques to where people were born or lived. it now wants suggestions about events and have already received a few. we‘ve done our research and spoken

to people across the country and we‘ve found really passionate enthusiasts who want to see unknown histories marked out. we‘ve had people wanting to mark out where the pilgrim fathers set out to make that more well—known. we‘ve had people wanting to mark out the birthplace of grime music in east london, ska music in coventry, all sorts of people with different passions and interests who want to share their knowledge of the history that happened on their doorstep. so it doesn‘t have to be just the famous places in the history books, they are looking for sites that capture the whole of british life. quite what the memorials will look like hasn‘t yet been decided. the immediate job is to find the people who have a passion to honour the places where history was made. now for the weather. it has been cold in the eastern side

of england. we will see cloudy skies today. a bit of rain and drizzle here and that of the wetter and windy across the north of scotland for the sun breaks in the cloud. temperatures struggling to rise across much of the south east. elsewhere, we‘re looking at around nine or sofas that this evening and overnight the patchy rain will sink southwards, away from scotland into northern ireland and england and wales. the temperatures will be up but as the cloud breaks in scotland it could turn chilly later on in the night. we could see sunshine later on in scotland for the pig could brighten up more with the cloud breaking up eventually in the east of wales. —— in scotland —— but it could brighten up. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines at 12.30pm: reports

in the us claim president trump‘s former national security adviser michael flynn, who has who has admitted lying to the fbi about his dealings with russia, is preparing to implicate donald trump‘s son in law jared kushner. the us senate has passed a tax reform bill — president trump‘s first big legislative achievement. it will mean a significant reduction in corporation tax, and a lower rate for some individuals. the uk national cyber security centre has told government departments not to use anti—virus software written by a russian company if their computers contain information related to national security. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s mike bushell. england have lost the rugby league

cup final. england made around 200 tackles in the first half...australia thought this one made by luke gayle was too high and it led to tensions boiling over. england were rattled and the hosts finally broke through on 14 minutes, when boyd cordner, powered over the line. australia held on to win, leaving england cursed mist chances and wondering what might have been. nobody really loses. the scoreboard says you lost, but what