this is bbc news. the headlines at seven. donald trump describes the actions of his former national security advisor as lawful, but says he had to be sacked for lying. the bill is passed. republicans celebrate getting their tax reforms through the us senate — in their first major legislative success under the president. criticism grows of two former police officers who claimed pornography had been found on a parliamentary computer used by cabinet minister, damian green. the vast majority of police officers, the vast majority of chiefs of police absolutely realise it's very, very important that policing in our country stays out of party politics. the family of a 14—year—old boy who died after he was hit by a car on the m67 motorway say they are "completely heartbroken". also in the next hour — barclays bank says it will no longer offer a russian anti—virus software

programme free to its customers. it follows fears that kaspersky lab products could be exploited by the kremlin. the company denies such links and risks. and australia narrowly beat england in brisbane — by six points to nil — to lift the rugby league world cup. good evening and welcome to bbc news. president trump has said the actions of his former national security adviser, michael flynn, during the presidential transition period were lawful — but he had to sack him because he had lied to the vice—president and the fbi. mr flynn has entered into a plea deal and agreed to co—operate with an inquiry into alleged collusion between mr trump's team

and russian officials. meanwhile, the us senate has passed a sweeping tax reform bill, clearing the way for the first big legislative achievement of donald trump's presidency. from washington, laura bicker has the story. finally donald trump is on course for a much—needed win. it looks like he will claim a victory on tax reform. we passed the largest tax cuts in this country's history along with many other things. the vote was close. there were so many last—minute changes to the bill that senators had to scribble them in the margins. democrats say the package will benefit big business and the wealthy. republicans believe it will slash corporation tax help the middle classes.

for the administration, it was a welcome distraction from the other washington drama. donald trump's former security adviser michael flynn pleading guilty to lying about the fbi about his meetings with russians. the former three—star general played a key part in mr trump's campaign and lead this chant about hillary clinton which will live in infamy. if i did a tenth of what she did, i would be in deal today. he apologised about lying with his meetings with russians but more worryingly for the white house, he will testify that he was told to contact russia by officials including donald trump's son—in—law jared kushner. the president remains defiant. what has been shown is no collusion. no collusion. absolutely no collusion. so we are very happy. president trump tweeted

that he fired general flynn because of his lies and said it was a shame because his actions were not unlawful and had nothing to hide. this should have been a momentous day for mr trump. the republicans finally united behind tax reform but the spectre of the russian investigation continues to loom over the white house. things moving very fast in washington. a little while ago, laura brought is up—to—date. has he landed himself in hot water? if president trump knew he lied to the fbi, why did he go to the fbi director and asked him to drop the investigation and let it go? there is a worry that this tweet might have landed the president in serious hot water with regards to legal issues but when it comes to the actual

premise of the tweet, what he is trying to say, he fired michael flynn for the same lies that he appeared in court for and said that michael flynn's actions during the transition, talking to russians were lawful, which they were. the unlawful act was lying to the fbi. the other question is why did michael flynn see the need to lie to the fbi and where else did he feel the need to take those lies? did he tell the president about those meetings with russians. we do not yet know. robert mueller who is in charge of this investigation is collating all the evidence and methodically working through it. and made the tweets and all the

strange things being said on social media has come this latest, and instagram post from james comey, former leader of the fbi. he says, to paraphrase the border, three things cannot be long hidden, the sun, the moon, and the truth. criticism is growing of two former police officers who leaked allegations that legal pornographic images had been found on a work computer of the cabinet minister, damian green. the former chief constable of greater manchester, sir peter fahy, strongly rejected suggestions it was in the public interest to disclose information allegedly found during the course of an unrelated investigation in 2008. sir peter said in his view the officers were entering "dangerous territory". here's our political correspondent, alex forsyth. nine years ago, a police operation that had unforeseen consequences. this raid was part of an inquiry into government leaks.

but computers were seized and examined. on the work computer of damian green was allegedly legal pornography which he has repeatedly said was not down to him. the claims were first made public by former met assistant commissioner, bob quick, who feared they would be covered up. yesterday, this is retired met detective also spoke out, saying he had no doubt that mr green viewed the material. it was ridiculous to suggest anyone else could have done it. he examined the computer and thought it in the public interest to reveal what he found. the computer was in mr green's office, on his desk, logged into his account and his name. today, the former chief constable of greater manchester police condemned the actions of the pair. most police others as would be very

uncomfortable in the police being involved injudging whether a politician is lying or not, or breaching this duty of keeping matters confidential, which are gathered in an investigation unless they end up as evidence. i did not download or look at pornography. damian green has always denied the claims. his conduct is subject to a cabinet office investigation. the outcome is crucial. he is a close ally of theresa may. how she deals this will be closely watched. questions now, not just over his political future, but the handling of this whole affair. this evening her majesty's chief inspector of constabulary sir thomas winsor responded to the controversy, with a statement about the police duty of confidentiality. he said... the obligation of confidentiality, and the duty not to break trust, is an enduring one. it does not end when a police officer retires. the public need to know that

when information about their private lives comes into the possession of the police, and that information is irrelevant to the work of the police, its confidential and private nature will be respected in perpetuity." and alex forsyth is with me now. we now have tom winsor weighing in on this. it is a political minefield. he is effectively saying that these two police officers should have kept confidential information that they gathered within their work because it is essential to public trust. people will look at his words and make their own judgment about that. the second aspect is damian green

and his conduct. there is that ongoing enquiry and theresa may could receive the final report in the coming days. she will have to weigh up the fact that she doesn't wa nt to weigh up the fact that she doesn't want to lose damian green, long—term friend and ally with the fact that she has two abide by the findings of the enquiry. her actions will be under scrutiny. we hear of one prominent cabinet minister who says that damian green must not be got rid of. other people take a different view and it goes to the heart of problems within the cabinet. she has lost other cabinet ministers recently. some michael fallon, priti patel, all fairly recently. she might not have had to

make changes within her team at this particular moment. there has been a lot of discussion about the stability and unity of the cabinet and theresa may has been trying to show that she is in control of her cabinet. the last thing she will wa nt to cabinet. the last thing she will want to do is lose her de facto deputy prime minister. this could all come to ahead in the next few days. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in sunday mornings front pages. atio:30 and 11:30pm this evening in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are the economics commentator & author, dhashini david and the us broadcaster and commentator, charlie wolf. a 14—year—old boy who died after a collision with a car on the m67 motorway in greater manchester has been named as samuel berkley. he was found unconscious yesterday afternoon on the hard shoulder nearjunction three of the motorway in hyde. the teenager was in a critical condition and died later in hospital. samuel attended audenshaw school

and in a statement posted on twitter, the headteacher said — "everyone at the school is shocked and terribly saddened by the news of sam." "our heartfelt sympathies go out to his family" "it's a terrible tragedy and his loss will be felt by everyone at the school." greater manchester police said in a statement "his family said they are completely heartbroken by their loss and although nothing will ever replace losing sam they hope everyone remembers him for the fun outgoing and friendly boy he will always be." some other stories making the news this evening. five men have been injured after a car hit pedestrians in south london. police found the vw golf abandoned in brixton early this morning. officers believe it happened shortly after an altercation between the car's occupants and a number of people. the men were taken to hospital, but are not in a critical condition. 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. barclays bank says it will no longer offer a russian anti virus software programme free to customers. it comes after officials recommended that government departments stop using kaspersky lab products because of fears it could be exploited by the kremlin. the national cyber security centre says the advice doesn't apply to domestic users. kaspersky lab denies any links to the russian government. 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. the former president of yemen, ali abdullah saleh, has suggested that he's willing to talk to the saudi—led coalition that his forces have been fighting for more than two years the conflict in yemen has killed more than ten thousand people, displaced over two million and triggered a cholera epidemic. on one side is president hadi whose forces control the land in red. he's backed by saudi arabia and other mostly sunni arab states opposing them are shia houthi rebels who have taken the land in blue. they are backed by iran and have built an alliance with the former

president abdullah saleh. that alliance now appears to breaking down with mr saleh‘s forces now fighting the houthis in the capital sana'a. let's talk to the journalist adam baron who co—founded the center for strategic studies in sana'a. this is a complicated business. what do you make of what former president saleh is saying? there is no question that the past few days have been ones of tremendous shifts. to see what has happened in the past 2a hours, not just with see what has happened in the past 2a hours, notjust with regard to saleh‘s statement and people in the streets of sana'a tearing down houthi propaganda with mass celebrations, it represents a huge change on the ground in yemen. the question is what is next. saleh

reaching out to saudi is not new. they have had continuous communication through intermediaries since the war started. what has changed now is that saleh is willing to ta ke changed now is that saleh is willing to take this openly confrontational step to the point of literally refusing any sort of mediation and saying that the time is for escalation and looking forward the real thing that we are wondering now is how saudi arabia will deal with this potential opportunity. i think that remains to be seen. the saudis are deeply into this thing. it has caused vast numbers of casualties. things could not be worse, could they? no question. yemen is in an apocalyptic state. when you eat look

at the shocking figures, so shocking that you become numb to them. 80% needing humanitarian aid. unemployment over 50%. rates of child malnutrition, cholera and diphtheria outbreaks. in a way, it's u nfortu nate diphtheria outbreaks. in a way, it's unfortunate that the political situation is distracting from the fa ct situation is distracting from the fact that the average yemeni, not just poor people, even people who lived comfortable lives, who are not just in bad shape but are struggling to feed themselves. cases of suicide, death by starvation amongst what used to be standard middle—class yemeni ‘s. this is one of the reasons we are seeing the reactions that we are seeing. they don't care how it ends. they are so tired. this level of exhaustion that any sort of progress to something

that could be an x it from this nightmare is something that people are quite willing to see. in the background, saudi arabia and iran very much involved up to the hilt with implications throughout the region. indeed. the central irony of the yemen conflict is saudi arabia intervened against the houthi because of their ties to iran. when we look and compare the extent of those ties and how they stand today, three years after the war started, to how it was when the war started, the houthi ties to iran has only grown. that is another way of potentially bringing this to an end. something that would ultimately suit saudi arabia. thank you very much.

president trump describes the actions of his former national security adviser as lawful but said he had to be sacked for lying. growing criticism of two former police officers who claimed pornography had been claimed on a work computer belonging to damian green. and barclays bank will no longer offer a russian antivirus softwa re longer offer a russian antivirus software free to customers after warnings it could be corrupted by the russians. the uk government has insisted universal credit is working. in scotla nd universal credit is working. in scotland there have been protests

against its roll—out. a day of action in leith, these protesters wa nt action in leith, these protesters want universal credit stopped. they claimed the new all in one benefit is driving more people into debt. thousands of those in work here are also in poverty. i'd like to see the government put a pause on universal credit and address the issues with it. rather than think about it as a cost saving exercise, i want them to look at the impact it is having on people. we want a fairer benefit. they say more people are relying on food banks or being evicted from their homes. the long wait to receive the benefit has been criticised, as has the online only application process. this is human rights. it's about one houses, food on the table and basic human rights for children. we are looking to ensure that the system respects

human rights and we cannot rule out legal action on this. the chancellor announced changes to universal credit in last month's budget speeding up claim times. this afternoon the department for work and pensions issued a statement saying... it says no one who need support has to wait six weeks and in the run—up to wait six weeks and in the run—up to christmas claimants can request an advanced payments. the youngest patient on the uk transplant waiting list has received a new heart. eight—week—old charlie douthwaite is said to be making good progress after undergoing a nine hour operation at newcastle's freeman hospital. a europe—wide appeal for a donor had been launched, after doctors feared he had just weeks to live. bbc look north's sharon barbour has the story. a mother's kiss on her baby she feared was going to die.

eight—week—old charlie has been saved after a successful heart transplant operation by surgeons at the freeman hospital in newcastle. born with half a heart, at five weeks old, he had come through 11 operations including open—heart surgery. operations including open—heart surgery. charlie was the smallest baby in the uk and all of europe, waiting for a heart transplant. on the fourth day he had cardiac arrest. it took them 30 minutes to bring him back. as each day passed, charlie's condition deteriorated. time was running out, charlie had become critically ill and his lung collapsed. his mum said he had just weeks to live unless a heart became available. then the call came that a heart had become available and it was a perfect match. then they went

off to look at the condition of the heart and it was a long wait. it didn't feel real until they came back and said he is going down in an hour. that's when it felt like it was happening. he was extremely lucky considering his condition and size to get a heart suitable on time. after a nine-hour operation, charlie had a new heart. time. after a nine-hour operation, charlie had a new heartlj time. after a nine-hour operation, charlie had a new heart. i couldn't believe he was awake after having a heart transplant. his skin colour was amazing. i can't describe it. for him to be so pink and peachy and perfect, it felt like a miracle. for him to be so pink and peachy and perfect, it felt like a miraclem isa perfect, it felt like a miraclem is a miracle. charlie's mother doesn't know who agreed to donate their own child's heart but she

can't thank them enough. they gave my boy a second chance at life and for that i'll be forever thankful. doctors hope that charlie will be well enough to go home in the new year. people are being asked to nominate which events from british history they would like to see commemorated by a new national memorial scheme. the idea is to devise a way of marking events which have until now, not been celebrated. heritage organisation, historic england, has already had 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 of orange 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 in retford 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. a driver is recovering from a "terrifying ordeal" which saw his van teeter over the edge of a busy motorway bridge. emergency services were called to the scene on the northbound carriageway of the aim in west yorkshire. it's thought the icy conditions caused the accident shortly before

six yesterday morning. pc martin willis tweeted about how he'd to grab the vehicle to stop it swaying in the wind. well, wind. what's going on? mocking lorries of bridges. helen has the latest and can tell is whether this sort of thing is going on. that looked ever so scary and it has been very cold this weekend. but today we have seen things gradually turn milder. a thought of some of the snow lying across north—eastern parts of the uk. tomorrow, a little more of this. this was ramsgate in kent before the sun went down. tomorrow, more sunshine and milder

air particularly across the south and east where it is still quite bracing outside. we have this cloud tumbling southwards bringing light drizzle. it will be a bit murky. the main travel hazard will be built fog. it will slowly clear from scotland. the chance of a little bit of frost in the glens. but temperatures rise as it continues its progress southwards. a little bit of a grey start tomorrow morning. an improving picture. that front draped across the southernmost parts of the uk. there could be a little bit of fog first thing. it looks much brighter and drier with the rain and cloud lingering in the west and wales. it will take awhile to clear from northern west and wales. it will take awhile to clearfrom northern ireland but a brightening picture. a lovely start

in scotland barred the odd bit of frost fork. nothing exceptional in the breeze. a bright afternoon for parts of northern ireland. more sunshine is on offer tomorrow. temperatures will be a little higher as things gradually warm up further south. slightly milder westerly wind staying with is as we go into monday. the main issue will be fog. some good sunshine coming through. the odd shower pestering western areas. temperatures are little bit nearer to average. very similar story as we head into tuesday. high—pressure withers for a time. keeping all the weather fronts at bay. when it changes again,

wednesday, wet and windy by the middle of the week. hello, this is bbc news. president trump has said the actions of his former national security adviser michael flynn were lawful but he had to sack him because he had lied to the vice president and