hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2pm... anger, despair and violence on the streets as donald trump is warned his stance onjerusalem will destroy the middle east peace process. the government says it's "optimistic" about an irish border agreement but is warned time really is running out to move brexit talks on to trade. one shares a name — the queen commissions britain's new £3 billion carrier hms queen elizabeth. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with hugh. we have tried english teams in the champions league. we have, for the first time, a record so good news for english football with five teams through to the last 16. but will they fear a tough draw? more details later. thank you. and the pictures

tell the story of the weather. this has been the story this morning in the northern isles but for scotland tomorrow i suspect we will have seems like this with blizzard like conditions and frequent snow showers tonight but how far south will they go? stay watching and i will tell you in half an hour. thank you. we'll be talking to tv‘s nick hewer about why 80% of the world's orphans aren't actually orphans and what he's doing to help them. we might talk about that other apprentice presenter, dondald trump, as well. hello. the leader of hamas, the palestinian islamist group, has called for an uprising — or intifada — in response to president trump's decision to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel.

palestinians in the west bank and gaza strip are holding a day of strikes and protests and israel's military has used water cannon against protesters in bethlehem. traditional allies of the united states, including saudi arabia and france, have condemned president trump's decision but israel has hailed it as "historic." tom burridge reports. tension is again simmering here in the israeli occupied west bank. israeli soldiers confronting pockets of palestinians, protesting after a landmark shift in us policy. injerusalem's old city where security is always tight, shops shut in the muslim quarter reflect anger. but for many israeli jews, their key ally recognising this as their capital, is long overdue. definitely historic. we have been waiting

for it for a long time. i hope it does not get stuck in endless bureaucracy. the proof is in the pudding and we are very excited about it. but for many palestinians the move disqualifies washington as an honest broker, the noise now not about peace but resistance. in gaza, hamas, the palestinian islamist group, called for another uprising. in arabic it is intifada, a word synonymous with more troubled times. translation: tomorrow will be a day of rage and the beginning of a wider move towards an uprising which we will call the intifada of jerusalem and freedom in the west bank. donald trump said he was merely recognising a reality. israel's prime minister is now claiming others will follow suit. translation: i have no doubt that once the american embassy moves to jerusalem or even before, there will be a movement of other embassies to jerusalem.

the time has come. but the international reaction so far suggests otherwise. in istanbul, anger directed at washington outside the us consulate last night. and america's allies, like france, also disagree. president macron was today at an airbase in qatar. a piece deal between the palestinians and israelis he says is only possible if jerusalem has an international status. translation: the status ofjerusalem is a question of international security which concerns the entire international community. so as tensions rise, france and britain will express their opposition directly to the americans at a special un security council meeting tomorrow. the fear that a decades—old conflict could lead to widespread violence once again. let's talk now to sara hirschhorn, a lecturer at the centre

for hebrew and jewish studies at the university of oxford. not for the first time the middle eastis not for the first time the middle east is holding its breath. absolutely, i think there is great concern about whether these three days of rage declared by the palestinians will transfer into a true intifada that could last months. not a huge surprise because president trump said he would do this in the election campaign. indeed, he campaigned heavily on promises about jerusalem indeed, he campaigned heavily on promises aboutjerusalem and even the status of the occupied territories in the summer of 2016 when he was still a candidate for the presidency but the timing of this is very unusual. they did not seem to be a great deal of warning other than triggered by the necessity to confront the issue of the waiver of the 95 agreement about moving the us embassy tojerusalem which comes up periodically.

periodically but why are you questioning the timing then? periodically but why are you questioning the timing themm seems that for the last several months when we have heard from the trump administration it has been about a listening tour of israel and palestine. jared kushner and jason greenblatt spent months talking to israeli and putting in leaders about peace and to suddenly have this unilateral move out of the blue seems unusual. what are your fears of the coming hours and certainly days? my greatest fear is that this will be a third intifada that could last months or even years and could lead to a tragic loss of innocent lives are both israelis and palestinians in the weeks and months to come and i'm concerned about the future of the palestinian authority. this move has undermined what remains of mahmoud abbas‘s legitimacy in the west bank and it seems perhaps right for a hamas ta keover of seems perhaps right for a hamas takeover of the west bank should

abbas not be able to continue in power. what does it say about american influence given that some of their closest allies are among those condemning what has happened? i think it suggests that perhaps there needs to be some kind of other nation that will step forward for mediation between israel and palestine because i think the us has been discredited as an honest broker here for the time being at least despite its reputation for many yea rs despite its reputation for many years during the oslo accords but i wonder if the us will be able to continue in its role negotiating between israelis and palestinians after this announcement. benjamin netanyahu after this announcement. benjamin neta nyahu unsurprisingly is after this announcement. benjamin netanyahu unsurprisingly is calling this historic. do you think he has doubts as to whether this will actually happen? i think he has been put ina actually happen? i think he has been put in a very difficult position. in fa ct put in a very difficult position. in fact he has been outflanked by president trump from the right and i think that net in your view is now in eighth position of needing to backpedal a bit in terms of what

this means for israelis and palestinians because he does not wa nt to palestinians because he does not want to see sparks of violence in jerusalem —— i think benjamin netanyahu jerusalem —— i think benjamin neta nyahu is jerusalem —— i think benjamin netanyahu is now in a position. and he was also necessarily inclined to make this symbolic recognition. israel has conducted its a bed since the 1967 war with israel as its capital and it has been that way since 1919 so this symbolic gesture by president trump does not necessarily do benjamin netanyahu any favours in terms of the situation on the ground. sarah, thank you very much. the number of patients waiting for over four hours to be seen in accident and emergency units across the uk has more than doubled in the past four years, according to research done by the bbc. northern ireland has the worst performance. england has seen the fastest deterioration. the government says more money is being made available in england to help hospitals cope this winter, as our health correspondent, dominic hughes, reports. right across the uk,

accident and emergency departments have been working at full capacity. now bbc analysis shows how an already busy system is struggling to cope. the waiting time target to treat or deal with 95% patients within four hours is being missed across the country. in the past year, more than 3 million patients waited longer than four hours, an increase of 120% on four years ago. but visits to a&e are up by only 7%, to nearly 27 million. to ensure the target is met, the nhs would need to build an additional 20 a&e departments. there is no more capacity in the system. staff are working really hard, our nurses, our doctors, and we've reached a point where we unfortunately cannot meet that demand. it's clear that, over the last four years, more and more people have been

attending accident and emergency departments, but it's the complexity of many of those cases that has contributed to longer and longer waits for patients, and the picture right across the uk is extremely mixed. scotland has come closest to hitting the target, while england has seen the biggest increase in those facing a long wait, but performance is even worse in wales. northern ireland manages to see just three quarters of patients within four hours. the luton and dunstable hospital is one of the best performing in the uk, but that's taken an intense effort. we can only meet the four—hour target if we can move patients out of the emergency department and to be able to do that, we need to have beds available within the hospital to move those patients from the emergency department, and that's where everybody working within the hospital system has a role to play. across the uk, there are efforts to control the numbers arriving

at a&e while also moving patients through hospitals more quickly to free up beds, but the coming winter months will be a challenge. we know the nhs is under more pressure, because we've got more people coming to a&e. we also know that money is tight. we also know there are workforce shortages. but what i can assure everybody is that both trusts and the national nhs have prepared better for this winter than they have ever prepared before, but we'll have to see what happens. a busier nhs means longer waiting times and, so far, there is little sign of respite for staff or patients. dominic hughes, bbc news. a little earlier our health editor, hugh pym, explained more about pressure that a&e departments are under at the moment. we've had some new figures today from nhs england saying that bed occupancy in hospitals in the most recent week was 9a.5% above where it was a year ago. the issue of bed availability is key to all this as we have been hearing. if beds cannot be freed up for new patients coming in then

you get a backlog going back into a&e and these long waits there. and discharging patients is often a problem as we have heard so many times because of social care issues. if an elderly patient who is medically fit cannot be found somewhere to go because something has not been set up at home, then it causes real problems. yes, more money has been invested in social care by the government in england and yes, the government has made more money available in the budget for the nhs to deal with winter pressures but there is a feeling that came too little, too late. looking back over the last few years with this bbc research we've got, it shows the relentless rise in patient numbers coming through the door but even more of them waiting longer than four hours. it has gone down a bit in scotland that it has gone up rapidly in england. and if you want to find out what waiting times are like at your hospital service, go to the bbc‘s nhs tracker page on the website. you just need to put in your postcode. some breaking news coming from the

old bailey, we're hearing that a man whose group was linked to the manchester arena obama has been found guilty of being a member of islamic state. this followed the leaking of his is macro file to the media. he was listed as a specialist sniper in official records linked by a defector and travelled to syria with help from someone up and set up a hub of communication at home in manchester, the court heard. the old bailey was told that iso files said he was a fighter specialising in using a heavy russian machine gun. he is from moss side in manchester and denied terrorism offences but was accused of membership of is, possessing a gun and receiving £2000 for terrorism purposes and in the last few moments yet been found

guilty. more on that later. downing street says the government is "close to an agreement" on the status of the irish border after brexit, although there is more work to be done. the eu says a proposalfrom the uk is needed by sunday at the latest, in advance of a summit next week. we can now speak to our political correspondent, chris mason, at westminster. it is difficult to know where we are with this. everything seems to change when you least expect it. now it is the timetable. quite. at the moment this is the feeling of a political equivalent your pilgrimages to the lindo wing ahead of the royal birth, we know there will be news but we don't know when it'll come and is the twist with this that we cannot quite be certain if the deadlines might shift again. what we have effectively had this morning is an argument about the definition of a week and when it sta rts definition of a week and when it starts and ends with the expectation

being that the latest deadline was the end of the week but the eu commission is saying that their interposition of the end of the week is the end sunday because on monday morning civil servants get together, they are known as sherpas because they are known as sherpas because they are known as sherpas because they are supposed to lead the way to they are supposed to lead the way to the summit which is a brussels joke for you! they have to be able to line up the eu position ahead of the summit which takes place in a week to determine whether or not sufficient progress has been ove 1120 m e sufficient progress has been ove rco m e by sufficient progress has been overcome by the uk about untangling the relationship before pressing ahead with the future relationship and trade. downing street is saying they feel they are close but there is more work to be done. the line from the eu this morning was that there was no sign of white smoke yet. there is a kind of papal conclave reference there with the mystique attached to that. so much going on behind the scenes privately

at the moment but certainly publicly we are no further on. you love your analogies! is there a mountain that might prove too high and too difficult to climb? yes, i think thatis difficult to climb? yes, i think that is entirely possible. you look at what the promised has to pull off, what the dup have been saying for ages including before monday when arlene foster made that call to the prime minister when she was made lunch with presidentjunker, they do not want to see anything that makes it look like northern ireland's political future is any closer to the republic after brexit and it is at the moment. the dup, the clue is in the title, their reason for being is binding northern ireland as part of the uk. that is one element of the negotiation and on the other side is the irish government and the eu absolutely insistent, as is

britain, that there must not be any hardening of the border between the republic and northern ireland, the frontier between the uk and eu in the future, but how do you do that u nless the future, but how do you do that unless there is some alignment the northern ireland economy to the republic's economy? there is one way and that would be to align all of the uk economy to the republic's and therefore the eu's but plenty would see that as what is seen as a soft brexit, softer than the uk government currently wants to entertain. oh but whichever shoulder at the prime minister looks, she concedes noisy critics —— over whichever shoulder full the ad after the binary referendum that forced people to take an absolutist position, now she has to try to find it very difficult compromises. there is the possibility that she fails to pull it off and this trundled into the new year. chris, the art of speculation at its height! i know where you are going in march, let me

tell you! oh no! 0h where you are going in march, let me tell you! oh no! oh yes! you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. anger, despair and violence on the street at donald trump is warned his sta nce street at donald trump is warned his stance on jerusalem will street at donald trump is warned his stance onjerusalem will destroy street at donald trump is warned his stance on jerusalem will destroy the middle east peace process. the government says it is optimistic about an irish border agreement but is warned that time really is running up to move brexit talks on to trade. one shares the name. the queen commission is britain's new £3 billion aircraft carrier, hms queen elizabeth. and in sport, russian sports federations will decide next week if they will compete at the winter olympics despite being given ioc approval to admit those who can prove they have not been doping. u efa prove they have not been doping. uefa have opened disciplinary proceedings against spartak moscow after allegations of racist payday

against liverpool's rhian brewster ina against liverpool's rhian brewster in a youth game yesterday. brewster w011 in a youth game yesterday. brewster won be under 70 world cup with england earlier this year. the future of the aberdeen boss derek mcinnes is expected to be resolved later —— under 17. he has been absent from their training this week with speculation linking him to the va ca nt with speculation linking him to the vacantjob at with speculation linking him to the vacant job at rangers. with speculation linking him to the vacantjob at rangers. more on those stories just after half past. some breaking news from westminster magistrates‘ court, a senior police others who killed to safeguard, —— confidential document has been fined £3500. this was the west midlands chief assistant dumps —— constable markus brier who left top secret documents about terrorism in a car before they were stolen. they were ina before they were stolen. they were in a locked box taken from his unmarked police car along with other personal items in may. he pleaded guilty to a charge under the

official secrets act at westminster magistrates‘ court and west midlands police say the former counterterrorism boss had been suspended from hisjob before counterterrorism boss had been suspended from his job before the case. more reaction to that but marcus beale, the west midlands assista nt marcus beale, the west midlands assistant chief constable, has been fined £3500 for a breach of the official secrets act. the investigation into the croydon tram crash 13 months ago has found that the driver probably dozed off before the accident. the tram went around a tight bend three times faster than the speed limit, killing seven passengers and injuring more than 60. investigators made a number of recommendations, including introducing automatic braking systems and putting in tougher windows and doors. our transport correspondent, richard westcott, reports. going far too fast around a tight bend, an accident that killed seven people

and injured more than 60. now the official report suggests the driver may have temporarily nodded off. you can see just how tight this bend is. the tram was meant to be going around it at 13 miles an hour, a snail‘s pace, like we are now. it actually went around the bend at nearer 45 miles an hour. one of the survivors was standing exactly where i am standing now, just checking his phone. the injury i sustained on the tram that theyjust changed my life. it is more than a year ago, but the memories are fresh. i put my phone away and i held into the pole in front of me and i said, god, please save my life. there were people screaming and shouting under the tram because they were trapped. please do not step on me, i am still alive. he thinks passengers tried to warn the driver. normally when they approach that corner, it normally slows down. but that day everybody knew, everybody was screaming

and shouting, banging the door, but we did not get any correspondence from the driver. investigators found other worrying facts. another tram nearly derailed on the same corner just nine days before but it was not investigated properly. in fact nine drivers admitted they had used emergency or heavy braking on the same bend but were worried about reporting near misses. there was also talk of inadequate speed signs. half of the passengers were thrown out of the tram through smashed windows and doors — the main cause of injuries and deaths. investigators say trams should have tougher doorways and glass in the future. marilyn logan lost her husband philip in the accident. she is furious the tram operator did not act on previous speeding events. very, very angry because these procedures should be there to protect the public. that is not protecting the public.

the driver is still being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter. since the accident, new speed signs have gone up and there is a new system that vibrates the seat if the driver closes their eyes for more than a second or so. survivors are living with this accident every day. i don‘t know what to say. itjust changed my life completely. richard westcott, bbc news, croydon. this is the the largest and most expensive warship ever built for the royal navy. the queen commissioned the hms queen elizabeth at a ceremony in portsmouth attended by 4000 people. the ship, which won‘t take part in military operations until 2021, cost more than £3 billion and has become the flagship of the fleet. our correspondent duncan kennedy is in portsmouth. does it work? it does but not fully

ifi does it work? it does but not fully if i can put it like that! it is all ready to go and up and running and it all works, it has been on a couple of seed trials but it is not doing itsjob yet couple of seed trials but it is not doing its job yet because there is no aircraft on it and it don‘t arrive until the end of next year —— sea trials. but still an important date for the royal navy and the armed forces, the biggest and most expensive warship britain has ever had and we have had this commissioning service to date on which officially made it is handed of companies that built it to the royal navy and that was marked by the raising of the white ensign. during the service in front of the queen, 4000 or so people watching including 700 members of the crew of the ship as well as their families and other vips and asjonathan beale reports, what this means is that this ship is officially now on active service.

a day of pride for the royal navy, and a chance to look to the future and, for now, forget about recent defence cuts and fears of even more. this, the day the nation‘s largest ever warship is commissioned into service. we‘ve been on a long, complicated but committed journey to get to this point, and commissioning of the ship is a key milestone in thatjourney. it‘s been one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken, a national endeavour involving more than 10,000 people across the uk, helping build this, the first of two massive new carriers, all assembled in rosyth. over the past few months, hms queen elizabeth and her 700 strong crew have been testing her at sea. russia has already described her as a large, convenient target. but the government says she will be a potent weapon and a symbol of british military power.

two years ago, the queen named her. today, she made herfirst visit on board, in front of nearly 4000 guests in the ship‘s cavernous hangar that will eventually hold the carrier‘s aircraft. may god‘s blessing be upon this ship and the personnel hereby entrusted to your command, and may yourjoint endeavours to uphold the high traditions of the royal navy in the service her majesty the queen be crowned with success and happiness. and then the raising of the white ensign for the first time, meaning she is now legally recognised as a royal navy warship. the nation‘s future flagship saluted with a fly past. a true flagship for the 21st century, the most powerful and capable ship ever to raise the white ensign, she will, in the years and decades ahead, represent this country‘s resolve on the global stage. she will be a giant of the sea, but at a price of more than £3 billion.

the jets that will fly off her will cost billions more. and, despite the cheers, this at a time when there is talk of further defence cuts. a lavish ceremony on board the ship, a ship that is brimming with statistics. 10,000 kilometres of cables, five gyms, a cinema, you name it, this ship had it. 700 crew on board and one that statistic raised by jonathan on board and one that statistic raised byjonathan in that report, the £3 billion cost which has attracted some criticism saying the defence budget will suffer elsewhere to pay for it but the government rejected that saying that would not be the case and there was lots more money going into the defence budget and this ship will have a

humanitarian mission, help against terrorism and the business of projecting british power around the world for the next five decades. duncan kennedy, thank you. the weather picture is complicated but turning cold. louise is here and answering the one question i had. i thought we would talk about the elephant in the room straightaway! we are talking about the white stuff s0 we are talking about the white stuff so what are the chances of a white christmas? how many do you think we have had in 50 years?” christmas? how many do you think we have had in 50 years? i don't know, seven! quite a lot actually, 38 official white christmases in 52 yea rs official white christmases in 52 years and the forecast for this month is to stay cold with some brief milder interludes but the next couple of weeks look likely to stay cold so i am sure you will be asking. if i am

cold so i am sure you will be asking. ifi am watching in northern scotland, i am going to say that your definition of a white christmas is different from mine! it is but i will come onto that in an hour. i will come onto that in an hour. i will tease you through the afternoon! that means you don't know the answer! i do but you have to keep watching. we will stop talking about the snow but come back to it. one of the reasons for the weather change is because of caroline and if you have heard about storm caroline she would storm force gusts to the northern isles this morning but that is not the crux of the story because the winds are easing and that will allow for colder air to flow across the country and it will feel quite wintry over the next few days and we will see some of the white stuff. for the rest of the afternoon we have some rain to clear away in the south—east which it will and behind its sunny spells and a scattering of showers in the far north—west. they are heavy with hailed with some sleep and thunder as well and they

will turn increasingly wintry through the evening as well so blizzard like conditions in scotland and northern ireland and north—west england and stretching into north wales. first thing tomorrow we could be waking up to some snow and a cold start with temperatures just below freezing in many places and that will make it quite treacherous on the roads first thing. worth checking bbc local radio for any travel disruptions. notjust checking bbc local radio for any travel disruptions. not just from the snow but also ice on the roads. the snow is set to continue, this is 8am, all snow across scotland are plenty of showers in northern ireland as well and stretching past the isle of man and into the north—west of england as far south as the north midlands and wales. elsewhere, a cold start but some sunshine coming through. we are looking at different stories tomorrow. we will keep some sunshine

in eastern areas tomorrow, the north—westerly wind driving the showers across the country to north and west coast but some will feature —— filterfurther and west coast but some will feature —— filter further inland and we could have 5—10 centimetres in parts of wales and maybe 10—20 in scotland and to add insult to injury it will feel better out there particularly for most of us. whatever you are doing you will need to wrap up warm when you factor in the wind strength. it looks like we could have more stormy conditions on sunday but i will tell you all about that in half an hour. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: palestinians protest in the west bank and gaza as the leader of hamas calls for a new intifada in response to president trump‘s recognition ofjerusalem as the israeli capital. today, we call for and work for a new uprising against the zionist occupation. today, we won‘t have half solutions any more. downing street says the government is "close to an agreement" on the status of the irish border after brexit, although there is more work to be done.

research by the bbc shows that there‘s been a big rise in a&e waiting times. three million people in the uk waited more than four hours in the last year. a final report into a tram crash in croydon, in south east london, which killed seven passengers, has concluded that the driver probably fell asleep. the royal navy‘s biggest—ever warship has officially gone into service. the queen commissioned the £3.1 billion vessel — the hms elizabeth — at a ceremony in portsmouth. sport now on afternoon live, with hugh. so, russian athletes who can prove themselves clean are able to compete at the winter olympics next year, but that‘s not the end of it? there is no guarantee that the moment. russian athletes could still stage the first major olympic boycott since 1984. the country has been banned by the ioc from taking part in next year‘s winter games in south korea, after a state—sponsored doping programme in the country.

only those who prove they are clean are able to take part. however, a final agreement from russia‘s sports federations will come next week. president vladimir putin will allow athletes to go, but some sports bodies may still choose to protest by not taking part. and it is notjust the russians who may be missing out. no. the us ambassador to the un has suggested there is some doubt over whether american athletes will attend the winter olympics in south korea. nikki haley said their participation was still an "open question", due to heightened tensions in the area. the relationship between the us and north korea is inceasingly poor, which could raise questions as to how safe it is for americans to compete in neighbouring south korea injanuary. uefa have opened disciplinary proceedings against spartak moscow, following alleged racist abuse during a youth game against liverpool yesterday.

liverpool‘s under—17 international rhian brewster complained to officials during their uefa youth league match yesterday. spartak defender leonid mironov has been charged with racist abuse. anti—racism charity kick it out says it is appalled by the allegation. the future of aberdeen boss derek mcinnes is expected to be resolved later today. he has been absent from training at the scottish premiership side this week. there is speculation linking him to the vacantjob at rangers. their coach paul sheerin today said the uncertainty of the situation is not ideal. the fa cup match between brighton and crystal palace next month could be the first competitve match in england to use video match officials — known as var. it‘s highly likely to feature video assistants, that allow referees to review video footage and overturn their own decisions.

the league cup semi—finals the week after are also understood to be under consideration for var technology. the quarter—final lineup at the uk snooker championship will be finalised today. there‘s four matches to play in the last 16. the former world champion shaun murphy is taking on ricky walden. murphy is leading 3—1, just after the mid—session interval. on the other table... martin gould and xiao guodong isjust under way. that‘s on bbc 2 and the bbc sport website. and the bbc red button. now, finally, we all know how much footballers seem to enjoy singing. there‘s been lots of examples in the past. the latest comes from inter milan. have a look at this. they sing: well, it‘s interesting

and annoyingly catchy, for sure. what‘s the point of it, you ask? well, mainly to encourage fans to come along to their final home game before the christmas break against udinese — and maybe sing that song too. hopefully a merry christmas for eve ryo ne hopefully a merry christmas for everyone in milan. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. have i been drinking something strange? what on earth was that?! the gallery was lacking so loud, i did not hear a word of it! reviewers will wonder what they have spent the last 45 seconds watching! it was all right, we will move on! more sport later on. there he is in case you forgot what he looked like! a british university has defended its decision to give its departing vice chancellor £808,000

in pay and benefits. christina slade received nearly half a million in pounds as a "loss of office" payment from bath spa university — on top of her annual salary and benefits. it comes a week after the vice—chancellor at neighbouring bath university announced she was resigning, following controversy over her pay. ministerjoejohnson has ministerjoe johnson has promised excessive payments will be brought under control. adina campbell reports. known for its popular teacher—training courses, bath spa university prides itself as one of the uk‘s leading creative institutions. it‘s also one of the country‘s smallest universities, but it‘s now been revealed that payments to its departing vice chancellor, professor christina slade, are thought to be the highest in the university sector, reigniting anger about excessive vice chancellor play. £800,000 for a former vice chancellor is outrageous, and for bath spa university to be paying this sum shows that they are

accountable to nobody, in effect. we need an independent enquiry into vice chancellors‘ pay and, until that‘s done, i think the government should impose a cap of no more than £200,000 for any vice chancellor per year. bath spa university said it paid professor slade a sum which reflected her contractual and statutory entitlements, and was considered to represent value for money. on top of her quarter of a million pound salary, professor christina slade was also paid £429,000 for loss of salary, £89,000 of pension contributions, plus a housing allowance, and other benefits amounting to £40,000. a total of £808,000. you‘re talking an enormous amount of money here, and you‘re talking about this set against students having very high levels of debt,

staff finding their pensions are being attacked, knowing that they have a system that is under real pressure. this isn‘t the first time that bath has hit the headlines over vice chancellor pay. last week, professor dame glynis brea kwell, britain‘s highest—paid vice chancellor, announced she was resigning from bath university in a row over her £468,000 salary. the government has told universities from next year, they‘ll have to justify paying staff more than £155,000, in what campaigners say is a bloated and out—of—date big—bucks system. now, i‘m just going to play something to make my next guest feel at home. countdown clock. he isa

he is a bit confused! that‘s our countdown to introduce the presenter of that other countdown. you have been highlighting something most people will not realise, eight cent of orphans are not orphans and you doing something about it. cent of orphans are not orphans and you doing something about itm cent of orphans are not orphans and you doing something about it. it is called hope against children, they kicked off in the in romania, where they discovered these warehouses we re they discovered these warehouses were full of silent babies but they we re were full of silent babies but they were not orpahns and the charity decided to reunite them with their pa rents decided to reunite them with their parents because everybody has the right to live as a child, in a loving family. and the big appeal at the moment, in these big warehouse is full of silent children come away with a silent? no point in crying because nobody comes. so we are busy now in south africa, it in uganda and the old eastern bloc, in closing

down those orphanages and reuniting kits with their parents, finding loving parents. and that campaign is hopefully coming to a successful close, we‘ll find out in the next 24 hours. it is not the only charity you were involved with.|j hours. it is not the only charity you were involved with. i have two british charities of love. i have been involved with that one and the end of silence is the campaign slogan, for about nine years. and a small british charity run by general lord steyn at‘s son, tom, is operating in sierra leone where i go frequently, and liberia. and the message is to sweep up the kids who have run away from home because their parents cannot look after them, reunite them with their families, give their families a gift, maybe £50, to enable them to runa gift, maybe £50, to enable them to run a little business. that is all it takes. and the child is home and the child goes to school. that is how a country get some. the british

government takes so much stick. dyfid is doubling everything we make. that is the soft cycling through, that is the hard side we know he is. the apprentice. what you make of your old boss, lord sugar, he tweets along with another certain presenter of the apprentice, donald trump. oh, don‘t! have you seen them at each other on twitter?|j trump. oh, don‘t! have you seen them at each other on twitter? i think they have eased off a bit. alan sugar is a great guy and i won‘t have anything said about him. he crosses swords with piers morgan. and they go at each other as well, but in reality, they get on just fine. i don‘t think that lord sugar and the president of the united states, where they ever to meet, i don‘t believe they would hit it off

at all. would you get on with him? i think he is the biggest fake, fraud and ghastly man that has ever sat in the white house and the sooner he goes, the better. he is a shocker! what is it about businessmen? do they not make millions politicians oi’ they not make millions politicians or is itjust him? i think it is him. ithink or is itjust him? i think it is him. i think he pulled off an extraordinary feat by getting himself elected. and he seems to me to be the antithesis of almost everything that a thoughtful world leader should be. he is now enraging the middle east by putting feet american embassy in jerusalem. the middle east by putting feet american embassy injerusalem. he is calling rocket man little rocket man in north korea. obviously, he is dangerous. do we feel safe? i have never felt less safe. these are great lines in the boardroom for the apprentice, you could see where that

would work, what has gone wrong?” think what has gone wrong is twitter. he can talk to his electors that live in what are known as the flyover states, the forgotten people, out ofjobs. the great industries, the car industry in america is not what it was 40 years ago and nobody cares about them. what they have done is shaken the snow dome. remember you used to shakeit snow dome. remember you used to shake it when we were kids? they have shaken up the world. as in my humble opinion, it it is the british people who voted for brexit, and i think that was a shaking up of the snow dome again. i am not getting into brexit. frankly, there is no time. let‘s talk about you for a moment. you are writing your memoirs? well, it is a funny thing! yes or no? the answer is yes. i was muscled into it by a literary agent

will not leave me alone, she pursued me for years. i said, i will not leave me alone, she pursued me foryears. isaid, i have will not leave me alone, she pursued me for years. i said, i have nothing to say. and then the idea came up that, actually, it if i had a memoir oi’ that, actually, it if i had a memoir ora that, actually, it if i had a memoir or a memory for each letter of the alphabet, i could do it. and amazingly, it was offered to some publishers and there was a squabble. there was a squabble. i couldn‘t believe it! i have completed 92,000 words, it is with the publisher. have you got to z? that is said to a celebrity, where i firmly set! have you got to z? that is said to a celebrity, where i firmly 5mm have you got to z? that is said to a celebrity, where i firmly set! it is out next september. -- z celebrity, where i firmly set! it is out next september. -- 2 list celebrity. a lot of people write their memoirs after they think it is time to jack it in, you about the jack in anything? countdown is an extraordinary privilege. i‘m certainly not walking about that. but i am using off. i used to do a

lot of dinner —— after dinner stuff, but enough. i have not done very much this year and i am not doing any next year. countdown is great and if something interesting comes along, i will do it. and if something interesting comes along, iwill do it. but and if something interesting comes along, i will do it. but i am 74 next year, i am 73 now, and ifeel 110! you packing a lot in. i am busy. why does countdown work? it is enduring and has huge viewing figures. it is wonderful, it started in 1982. i think there is something very british about it. there is no shouting, there is no big prizes, you do not get flown to miami or get stainless steel saucepans. you get a teapot. if you are good enough. it is also cerebral and you have to be good at maths which is where rachel is so extraordinary. you have to be good with languages, which is where susie dent is so good. everybody who has seen it when they were kids on

that mother‘s clap and when they we re that mother‘s clap and when they were students and less so when they we re were students and less so when they were working but when they retire, countdown. and i‘m sure you watch it every morning? you are absolutely right! good body language. great to see you, thank you very much. thank you. there has been a further outbreak of wildfire in california reaching the pacific ocean. more than 140 people -- 150,000 pacific ocean. more than 140 people ——150,000 people have been evacuated in north los angeles and thousands of properties have been damaged. no one can escape from nature, not evenin no one can escape from nature, not even in bel—air, one of the wealthiest suburbs on earth. all day, there has been a battle to save homes here and the owners have been rushing to grab what they can as they flee from their mansions. we built this has 13 years ago, never seen built this has 13 years ago, never seen anything like it. do you think the firefighters are going to save it? they are my heroes, i am the firefighters are going to save it? they are my heroes, lam hoping, it? they are my heroes, lam hoping, it is in god‘s and the firefighters

hands. and they are being held by much lighter winds, for now. with the potential wins and the fire is developing, those embers can fly a distance away, spot firing kenyans below us. and you are worried that might be what happens because the winds are forecast to get up? that is correct. the media mogul rupert murdoch‘s vineyard property is one thatis murdoch‘s vineyard property is one that is smouldering, and helicopters have been making good use in the dip in the weather. while these firefighters are now battling a blaze in one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in los angeles, we are surrounded by expensive homes and this fire is likely to get worse this afternoon when the winds pick up. it was in the beach—side city of ve ntu ra were up. it was in the beach—side city of ventura were the first wildfire exploded with terrifying speed. driven by ferocious desert winds, whipping down the dusty kenyans. and last night, it jumped whipping down the dusty kenyans. and last night, itjumped the main coastal motorway, causing terror for drivers. to the left is bel-air. to

the right is brentwood.” drivers. to the left is bel-air. to the right is brentwood. i can feel the right is brentwood. i can feel the heat! it has barely rained here in la for six months and you can tell. many scientists say climate change is driving more frequent and more destructive wildfires. for california, this is yet another grim wake—up call. time to look at the business news, what is on the agenda? as we approach christmas, most of us will be facing some rather large bills. so spare a thought for small business owners. research out today highlights the problems they face with late payments. sage — one of the uk‘s largest tech companies — says that 50% of small and medium—sized business will suffer due to invoices which are paid late over the next few weeks. so how does the uk compare to other countries? there are around one in ten invoices

paid late globally. 17% in the uk. let‘s talk to alan laing, md of sage uk and ireland. hello. why do you think so many invoices are paid late here compared to other countries? at sage, we think in 2017, it is unacceptable that 17% of invoices get paid late to small businesses. 73% ofjobs in the economy are created by small businesses and they have given three reasons in our survey why they do not get paid. i far the largest percentage is because they are not able to follow up because of the vendor relationship. so they are frightened asking for the money because of the relationship with the vendor which made damage on an ongoing basis. secondly, they have got no ability to follow up. it ta kes got no ability to follow up. it takes them a large number of days to chase invoices and nobody has set up a business to chase invoices, they follow their passion with their business so this is an extra admin

burden. and some businesses are not resource to do it. what is the knock—on effect on the wider economy? it is a huge impact on the economy. we estimate that globally, it accounts for three trillion dollars lost because of late payment to small businesses. if they are the engine rooms of the economy, we need to support them. a number of years back, a couple of years back, the government started an initiative to get big business to pay businesses in the economy more quickly. and make it a corporate responsibility. that has been followed through somewhat, but some of the businesses impacted today are the small businesses not paying each other. and that is unacceptable because it isa and that is unacceptable because it is a virtual cycle. when one does not pay, the other does not pay. the other important statistic leading up to christmas, 18% of those businesses say it will impact their ability to pay their employees before christmas. many thanks for

that. so lots of employees potentially facing christmas bills without being paid. let‘s move on, blogging, anyone can do it but it is incredibly lucrative for some. the us magazine fortune has released a list of the most successful youtubers. at number one is uk gaming enthusiast dan middleton — thought to be worth 16 and a half million pounds. have you heard of mine cracked? i have heard of it. have you played it? no. it is a real craze and he started doing commentaries and he had 16 million subscribers over a few years. extremely lucrative for him. let‘s find out more about stan middleton and others. let‘s talk to madeline berg, from forbes, in new york. tell me how dan went from playing

minecraft in his bedroom to becoming number one on your list of top podcast is? yes, it is a list of top youtube stars. daniel middleton made 16.5 million, but it did not happen overnight, he was not on the list last year. you slowly build a following and then in the last year, he blew up. he had over 3 billion views in the last 12 months, which is insanity. and on top of that, as youtube rituals, gamers like daniel middleton become more sophisticated. so he became dashing began doing more partner deals with brands paying almost half a million dollars for a video from him. he toured around the world. he published a book. so he has become a

sophisticated businessman, not just a kid sitting in front of his computer playing minecraft. he really is a children‘s entertainer. the future of children‘s entertainment and what other youtube stars have made the top ten? when you talk about children, there is a six—year—old on the list. his name is ryan. what he does, hejust on boxes toys. little kids, they don‘t turn on their tv, they turn on youtube and they are fascinated and they watch ryan. he had over 8 billion views in the last 12 months alone. so it is insane the way people latch onto that. and it is really ha rd to people latch onto that. and it is really hard to predict. it certainly is. thank you very much. so a six—year—old, ryan, telling everybody all about christmas. what happens to going to the toy shop?

you just click online now and what train. he did not make that overnight, she said! never mind! there you go! more business from you later on, thanks very much. time for a look at the weather. here‘s louise lear. good afternoon, it is to do with storm caroline. we have been forecasting storm caroline for a view days and she has brought storm force winds to the northern isles and it is once caroline clear is that we will see some cold weather across the country, with some snow. soi across the country, with some snow. so i suspect those of you in the far north of scotland waking up will see some snow forecast over the next few days and scenes like this. storm caroline heading into scandinavia as we speak. and you can see how the tightly squeezed isobars can avail the storm force gales. but once that rain clears south and east, it is

going now, it is going to allow this cold air to flood all the way down from the arctic and mark a substance shall change to the story for the next couple of days. quite a wintry flavour. for the rest of the afternoon, we will continue to see rain, clearing in the far south east, brighter spells behind, a trail of showers into the far north and west and showers turning increasingly wintry through the night. blizzard like conditions across scotland, northern ireland. blustery winds and showers through the cheshire gap towards the north midlands and into wales as well. elsewhere, clearer skies, temperatures falling away either side of freezing so a cold start friday morning and that cold theme just keeps coming. i suspect if you are up and away early, tune into your local bbc radio station because some snow showers could become an issue. and there will be icy surfaces as well which could cause some delays. we will have showers through scotland and northern ireland for the rest of the morning.

this is eight o‘clock in the morning, running down through the irish sea into the cheshire gap. and across wales. there will also be sunshine across eastern areas. it is a dry and cold start, but hopefully, we keep some of that song. through the day, some of the snow showers accumulate on the roads and cause issues. we keep winds driving in the showers along north and facing coasts. morse and rain in sheltered eastern areas, particular in eastern penknives, but we could see 5—10 centimetres of snow ball across england and wales, 10—20 into scotland. it will also feel cold. with the strength of the wind from the arctic, it really will feel quite raw if you are out and about. a cold start to saturday as well. the clear skies continue through the night and that allows it frosty start with that the snow showers will stop slightly quieter on saturday but still a bit feeling if you are out for any length of time.

at saturday and on sunday, this weather front sweeps in from the west and as it bumps into the cold airon the leading west and as it bumps into the cold air on the leading edge, there could be snow. a great level of uncertainty weather low pressure is going to be sitting on sunday, keep tuned to the forecast and we will update you, of course, when it happens. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live, i‘m simon mccoy. today at 3pm... anger, despair, and violence on the streets as donald trump is warned his stance onjerusalem will destroy the middle east peace process. the government says it‘s "optimistic" about an irish border agreement but is warned time really is running out to move brexit talks on to trade. one shares a name — queen elizabeth commissions britain‘s new £3 billion aircraft carrier, the hms queen elizabeth. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. news on euro 2020. and big news,

russells has lost the right to host euro 2020 games and they have gone to wembley —— brussels has lost. stockholm was the favourite city to step in at wembley, you are hosting the semifinal and final is already, will now host seven games and we will now host seven games and we will have more on that. louise as the weather, the white stuff. some snow on its way, we can split the country into three, rain clearing the far south—east, sunny behind but these are chiefly rain showers at these are chiefly rain showers at the moment but will turn increasingly wintry with snow forecast tonight. thank you. also coming up — slapstick comedy and crazy costumes. it‘s time for the great muslim panto. hello, everyone, this is afternoon live.

i‘m simon mccoy. the response has been swift and angry. protests and flag—burning on the streets of gaza within 24 hours of president trump‘s declaration that the us accepts jerusalem as the israeli capital. the leader of hamas, the palestinian islamist group, has called for a new intifada, an uprising, and more "days of rage". and already palestinians in the west bank and gaza strip are striking and protesting, setting tyres alight and throwing rocks. israeli troops have fired tear gas and rubber bullets in response. but one of our bbc correspondents in the west bank, in ramallah, says many palestinians feel let down by fellow arabs in neighbouring states who haven‘t been as vocal as expected with their criticism of president trump‘s move. tom burridge reports. tension is again simmering here in the israeli occupied west bank. israeli soldiers confronting pockets of palestinians, protesting after a landmark shift

in us policy. injerusalem‘s old city where security is always tight, shops shut in the muslim quarter reflect anger. but for many israeli jews, their key ally recognising this as their capital, is long overdue. definitely historic. we have been waiting for it for a long time. i hope it does not get stuck in endless bureaucracy. the proof is in the pudding and we are very excited about it. but for many palestinians the move disqualifies washington as an honest broker, the noise now not about peace but resistance. in gaza, hamas, the palestinian islamist group, called for another uprising. in arabic it is intifada, a word synonymous with more troubled times. translation: tomorrow will be a day of rage and the beginning of a wider move towards an uprising which we will call

the intifada of jerusalem and freedom in the west bank. donald trump said he was merely recognising a reality. israel‘s prime minister is now claiming others will follow suit. translation: i have no doubt that once the american embassy moves to jerusalem or even before, there will be a movement of many other embassies to jerusalem. the time has come. but the international reaction so far suggests otherwise. in istanbul, anger directed at washington outside the us consulate last night. and america‘s allies, like france, also disagree. president macron was today at an airbase in qatar. a peace deal between the palestinians and israelis he says is only possible ifjerusalem has an international status. translation: the status ofjerusalem is a question of international security which concerns

the entire international community. so as tensions rise, france and britain will express their opposition directly to the americans at a special un security council meeting tomorrow. the fear that a decades—old conflict could lead to widespread violence once again. tom burridge, bbc news. gary o‘donoghue is in washington for us. president trump will be aware of the reaction but does he care?” president trump will be aware of the reaction but does he care? i think that was anticipated, some of the memos that have emerged from the state department warning of a reaction around the middle east and asking, for example, the israelis to sort of calm their response to the announcement for fear of creating a difficult situation, violence in the

west ba n k difficult situation, violence in the west bank and elsewhere. they did expect some of this, no question, but the thing that people are holding their breath for is tomorrow, after friday prayers which is often a time when people do end up is often a time when people do end up on the streets, then we will perhaps see the extent of the unease and outrage. everybody is of course hoping it does not happen but that is the traditional time of the week when if it is going to happen, it will. he was always saying he was going to do it, it was part of his campaign pitch in the election but it is the timing, why has he done it now? there are a few options. the six monthly waiver to keep the embassy in tel aviv, that had come up embassy in tel aviv, that had come upfor embassy in tel aviv, that had come up for signing again. he was frustrated with his national security advisers that they were not able to produce a way of him fulfilling his campaign promise, arguing against it, a lot of reports

that rex tillerson and james mattis we re that rex tillerson and james mattis were against it. and there is this belief that donald trump has that he isa belief that donald trump has that he is a great disruptor and that if things had not progressed in the last few years then why should they not try something like this? you can argue, and he will, that there is perhaps a quid pro quo expected from israel that might unblocked some pa rt israel that might unblocked some part of the attempt to negotiate a new settlement that jared kushner, his son—in—law, is engaged in but on the other hand people say that it could say to the israelis that they hold out long enough they will get what they want and you can pay your money and take your choice in terms of the outcomes. his allies, france and britain among them, saudi arabia also, not happy, but it is quite a diversionary move and it takes attention away from other things that perhaps he does not want looked at? there is always that, but there

are always a million things on the table in the oval office and there are things that are proving difficult for him at the moment, not least the probe into the russian connection during the campaign which is turning up some very uncomfortable is turning up some very u nco mforta ble facts is turning up some very uncomfortable facts at the moment and the drip, drip of that is unquestionably damaging his ability to get other things done, no doubt about that. and not one single brick has been laid in the wall on the southern border and he might want people not to notice that for too long. there are possible explosions in terms of that but every american administration comes in believing it can have a go at solving middle east peace, largely that has not happened, or not at all. and he thinks this is a way of resetting the game perhaps, shaking it up to such an extent that some sort of a result will come out of it. thank

you very much, gary. downing street says the government is "close to an agreement" on the status of the irish border after brexit, although there is more work to be done. the eu says a proposalfrom the uk is needed by sunday at the latest, in advance of a summit next week. well, i asked our political correspondent, chris mason, what we can expect, when we can expect it and exactly how much of a moveable feast this all is. we know there is going to be some news at some stage but we don‘t know quite when it‘s going to come. as you say, there is the twist with this that we cannot quite be certain if the deadlines might shift again. what we have effectively had this morning is an argument about the definition of a week and when it starts and ends. the expectation was the latest deadline for the uk was the end of the week but the european commission, the eu‘s executive, saying today that their interpretation of the end of the week is actually the end of sunday because on monday morning civil servants known as sherpas get together, they‘re called sherpas because they are meant to lead the way to the summit, that‘s a brussels gag for you!

they have to be able to then line up the eu‘s position ahead of the summit which takes place in a couple of weeks‘ time to try to determine whether or not sufficient progress, the hurdle that has been set but not defined, that the uk has overcome on those three things it‘s looking at at the moment about untangling the relationship before pressing ahead with the future relationship and trade. downing street, as you say, saying that they feel they are close but there is more work to be done. the line out of the eu this morning was that there was no sign of white smoke yet. so there is a kind of papal conclave type reference being made there with all of the mystique attached to that. so much going on behind the scenes, privately, at the moment but certainly publicly we are no further on. you love your analogies! let‘s use the mountain one because i like that one. is there a mountain that frankly might prove too high and too difficult to climb? yes, i think that is entirely possible. when you look at what

the prime minister has to try to pull off here, let‘s look at what the dup are saying and have been saying for ages including before monday when arlene foster made that call to the prime minister when she was mid—lunch with presidentjunker of the european commission. they do not want to see anything that makes it look like northern ireland‘s political future is any closer to the republic after brexit than it is at the moment. the democratic unionist party, the clue is in the title, their very reason for being is binding northern ireland as part of the uk. so that is one element of the negotiation. on the other side, the irish government and eu absolutely insistent, as is britain by the way, there must not be any hardening of the border between the republic and northern ireland, that frontier between the uk and the european union in the future. but how on earth do you do that unless there is some alignment of the northern ireland economy to the republic‘s economy? well, there is one way you could do that and that would be to align

all of the uk‘s economy to the republic‘s economy and therefore the eu‘s but plenty would see that as what is seen as a soft brexit, softer than the uk government currently wants to entertain. so over whichever shoulder the prime minister looks, she sees noisy critics, and after that binary referendum that forced people to fall down on either side and take an absolutist position, now she has to try to find very, very difficult compromises. and so yes, there is the possibility that she fails to pull it off and this trundles on into the new year. the number of patients waiting for over four hours to be seen in accident and emergency units across the uk has more than doubled in the past four years, according to research done by the bbc. northern ireland has the worst performance. england has seen the fastest deterioration. the government says more money is being made available in england to help hospitals cope this winter, as our health correspondent, dominic hughes, reports.

right across the uk, accident and emergency departments have been working at full capacity. now bbc analysis shows how an already busy system is struggling to cope. the waiting time target to treat or deal with 95% of patients within four hours has been missed across the country. in the past year, more than 3 million patients waited longer than four hours, an increase of 120% on four years ago. but visits to a&e are up by only 7%, to nearly 27 million. to ensure the target is met, the nhs would need to build an additional 20 a&e departments. there is no more capacity in the system. staff are working really hard, our nurses, our doctors, and we‘ve reached a point where we unfortunately cannot meet that demand. it‘s clear that, over the past four years,

more and more people have been attending accident and emergency departments, but it‘s the complexity of many of those cases that has contributed to longer and longer waits for patients, and the picture right across the uk is extremely mixed. scotland has come closest to hitting the target, while england has seen the biggest increase in those facing a long wait, but performance is even worse in wales. northern ireland manages to see just three quarters of patients within four hours. the luton and dunstable hospital is one of the best performing in the uk, but that‘s taken an intense effort. we can only meet the four—hour target if we can move patients out of the emergency department and to be able to do that, we need to have beds available within the hospital to move those patients from the emergency department, and that‘s where everybody working within the hospital system has a role to play. across the uk, there are efforts

to control the numbers arriving at a&e while also moving patients through hospitals more quickly to free up beds, but the coming winter months will be a challenge. we know the nhs is under more pressure, because we've got more people coming to a&e. we also know that money is tight. we also know there are workforce shortages. but what i can assure everybody is that both trusts and the national nhs have prepared better for this winter than they have ever prepared before, but we'll have to see what happens. a busier nhs means longer waiting times and, so far, there is little sign of respite for staff or patients. dominic hughes, bbc news. joining me now from our central london studio is saffron cordery, deputy chief executive of nhs providers which is an association that represents nhs trusts in england. iam i am guessing you are not particularly surprised by this research and the only way you will meet target in the nhs is if you

scrap them altogether.” meet target in the nhs is if you scrap them altogether. i don't think that would be quite the approach we would suggest. what this shows, and it reflects what hospital leaders throughout the country tell us, is that there is huge pressure out there on the front line and with winter coming that pressure increases. we know that poor weather increases. we know that poor weather increases respiratory conditions and we have had warnings of a flu virus that might be worse than ever before so we are that might be worse than ever before so we are anticipating real pressures on the front line but as one of your previous guests said, we are absolutely more prepared than we have ever been. we have this morning every year at this time of year, hearing that winter is coming and we are not necessarily prepared for it, that there are not the funds and it is under such strain of pressure that it might not cope and yet it a lwa ys that it might not cope and yet it always seems to. i think that what we do is actually operate right on

the edge when we operate through winter. sorry, what does that mean, on the edge? can you explain to someone on the edge? can you explain to someone who perhaps does not go to a&e on a regular basis what that looks like? what that means if people waiting longer than we would like them too, it means people are perhaps not being transferred into hospital beds or being able to go back home as quickly as they might it also means more widely people waiting longerfor it also means more widely people waiting longer for diagnostic treatment or operations or having operations cancelled altogether. we know it put the system as a whole, not just know it put the system as a whole, notjust a&e, know it put the system as a whole, not just a&e, under know it put the system as a whole, notjust a&e, under huge pressure and that includes other parts of the nhs, community services and mental health as well. what we do over winter is relied heavily on the discretionary effort of staff and eve ryo ne discretionary effort of staff and everyone involved with the health service to make it run as efficiently and effectively as possible knowing there are so many more people coming through the very

different front doors of the health service at that time. according to that report it was only 7% more. only 7% more pressure in terms of numbers of people not the huge influx that people give the impression. it is notjust people coming through a&e doors, it is the doors of all parts of the health service. it is demand overall and also people being more difficult to treat, more conditions that have to be taken into account, they might be older and more frail and they take more resource and it is right we give them that time and attention so they are treated properly. what we have to make sure we do is anticipate that, but all of the processes in place because we know that winter is a particularly pressurised time. you mentioned resource, there was more money announced in the budget recently for the nhs. was that enough? did it make things easier

for you or is it about resource or looking after staff? what is the real issue? those two are closely connected and we have some real challenges facing the workforce in terms of recruiting and retaining staff. there are huge pressures on the front line and that is the moralising for staff over long periods of time and we welcome the fa ct periods of time and we welcome the fact that the cap on nhs staff pay is going to be lifted, that is a real boost. but alongside that we know that we also need to put in place things like additional services and capacity so that we ease the job of staff on the front line. thank you so much forjoining us. and if you want to find out what waiting times are like at your hospital service, go to the bbc‘s nhs tracker page on the website. you just need to put in your postcode. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. violence on the streets as donald trump is warned his stance onjerusalem will destroy the middle east peace process.

the government says it‘s "optimistic" about an irish border agreement but is warned time really is running out to move brexit talks on to trade. the eu has said sunday as the deadline for a proposal. the queen welcomes britain‘s new £3 billion aircraft carrier into the royal navy fleet. and in sport, brussels has lost the right to host matches at euro 2020 because of the stadium delays which means that wembley, which is already hosting the semifinals and final, will now host seven matches after being awarded the brussels fixtures. the russian sports federations will decide next week if they will compete at the winter olympics despite being given ioc approval to admit those who can prove they have not been doping. and u efa prove they have not been doping. and uefa have opened disciplinary proceedings against spartak moscow

following allegations of racist behaviour against liverpool‘s rhian brewster in a youth game yesterday. the won the under 17 world cup with england earlier this year. i will have more on those stories just after half past. a senior counter terrorism officer has been fined £3,500 after failing to safeguard information under the official secrets act. assistant chief constable marcus beale from west midlands police admitted leaving the confidential documents in a carforfour orfive days before they were stolen in may. let‘s cross live to westminster magistrates‘ court and our correspondentjon donnison. what was the court told? at the time in may marcus beale was in charge of counterterrorism operations in the west midlands, a very senior officer. the court heard that in may he was in possession of two documents. one was classified as top secret, a second as secret relating

to counterterrorism operations. he had put them in a secure case in the boot of his car but for five days those documents were left in the car and for much of that time it was parked in the driveway of his house but it was also used to drive to the pub, go shopping, left overnight at a local railway station at some stage the documents were stolen. marcus beale only noticed that when he realised that his ipad had also gone missing. the court was told that the theft of the documents had the potential to compromise counterterrorism operations as well as expose police sources and in sentencing, the chief magistrate said that these documents should not have been left in the car for five minutes, let alone five days, and she said that marcus beale had shown a worrying lack of common sense. what about his future with west midlands police? they are carrying

out their own internal disciplinary proceedings. he will have to pay the fine. it is not clear if he will keep hisjob with fine. it is not clear if he will keep his job with them and in particular if he will keep his job, a very seniorjob, in charge of counterterrorism operations. we heard in court that he had an impeccable record apart from this. he has pleaded guilty and the magistrate took that into account in sentencing and she said he had obviously given tremendous service to the country. it is worth remembering that west midlands police are very busy in terms of counterterrorism operations and this happened just months after the westminster bridge attack, at the recent at a time in terms of police anti—terrorism operations. recent at a time in terms of police anti-terrorism operations. thank you. the investigation into the croydon tram crash 13 months ago has found that the driver probably drifted off into a micro—sleep, or mini nap, before the accident. the tram went around a tight bend three times faster than the speed limit, killing seven passengers and injuring more than 60. investigators made a number

of recommendations, including introducing automatic braking systems and putting in tougher windows and doors. our transport correspondent, richard westcott, reports. going far too fast around a tight bend, an accident that killed seven people and injured more than 60. now the official report suggests the driver may have temporarily nodded off. you can see just how tight this bend is. the tram was meant to be going around it at 13 miles an hour, a snail‘s pace, like we are now. it actually went around the bend at nearer 45 miles an hour. one of the survivors was standing exactly where i am standing now, just checking his phone. the injury i sustained on the tram that dayjust changed my life. it is more than a year ago, but for taiye the memories are fresh. ijust put my phone away and i held into the pole in front of me and i said, god,

please save my life. there were people screaming and shouting under the tram because they were trapped. please do not step on me, i am still alive. he thinks passengers tried to warn the driver. normally when they approach that corner, it normally slows down. but that day everybody knew, everybody was screaming and shouting, banging the door, but we did not get any correspondence from the driver. investigators found other worrying facts. another tram nearly derailed on the same corner just nine days before but it was not investigated properly. in fact nine drivers admitted they had used emergency or heavy braking on the same bend but were worried about reporting near misses. there was also talk of inadequate speed signs. half of the passengers were thrown out of the tram through smashed windows and doors — the main cause of injuries and deaths. investigators say trams should have tougher doorways

and glass in the future. marilyn logan lost her husband philip in the accident. she is furious the tram operator did not act on previous speeding events. very, very angry because these procedures should be there to protect the public. that is not protecting the public. the driver is still being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter. since the accident, new speed signs have gone up and there is a new system that vibrates the seat if the driver closes their eyes for more than a second or so. survivors are living with this accident every day. i don‘t know what to say. itjust changed my life completely. richard westcott, bbc news, croydon. let‘s have a look at the weather now

with louise and we are talking about snow and a lot of it. iam i am talking white christmas because i know you would! don't be such a grinch, at least look cheerful! an hour ago i asked you how many white christmases we have had in the last 52 years and we were astounded at 38 times. it is because they‘re only needs to be one flake of snow reported in a 24—hour period anywhere in the uk. that is highly likely. but you were right, i have admitted it, there have been four in the last 50 years with a blanket, picture postcard type scene. when will you know if that is what we are looking at on chris mistake? —— on christmas day. we get a good idea

about 5—7 days before and the forecast is for december to stay cold with brief milder interludes so you never know, it could happen. let‘s move back to storm caroline which has broad storm force winds across the north—east of scotland but the most important thing, when it moves out of the way it‘ll open up it moves out of the way it‘ll open up the floodgates for cold arctic airto up the floodgates for cold arctic air to spill across the country and you will notice the difference with the feeling across the whole of the country tomorrow. we have seen some rain which is clearing as we speak and behind it not a bad afternoon but it is these snow showers that are telling the story and they will become quite widespread through the night to night accompanied by some gale force winds, blizzard like conditions across scotland and northern ireland and some snow showers filtering into north—west

england and north wales. it will be a cold start to friday, particularly with the wind, and temperatures hovering around freezing. a cold start, not all doom and gloom, some sunshine but if you are up early and it is best to tune into the local radio because they will update you on the snow situation with some lying snow and even with the showers some icy roads. at 8am you can see how frequent the showers are in north and west facing coasts, some pushing inland, the same for northern ireland. likely to be some lying snow first thing. stretching into north—west england, perhaps as far south as the northwind north midlands and wales. rain, sleet and snow in the south—west but through the day those strong to gale force winds are containing to drive in the showers in north and west coasts, some pushing inland, not out of the question to the wintry mix of rain

and sleet and snow to the north of london. some accumulations, as much as 10—20 centimetres, before the end of the day in scotland and factoring in the wind it will feel better tomorrow, you have been warned. saturday will be similar in terms of the field, more sunshine and i suspect a touch dryer with showers hopefully fairly isolated. maybe one or two filtering into the east coast. top temperatures struggling, 5 degrees. and on sunday it terms pretty interesting with this weather front pushing into the cold air and on the leading edge there will be some snow and it could cause some disruption. but a great level of uncertainty just where the disruption. but a great level of uncertaintyjust where the low pressure will be sitting so if you are out on the roads on sunday, you should keep listening to the weather forecast. as the leader of hamas calls for a new intifada, in response to president trump‘s recognition

ofjerusalem as the israeli capital. downing street says the government is "close to an agreement" on the status of the irish border after brexit, although there is more work to be done. research by the bbc shows that there‘s been a big rise in a&e waiting times. three million people in the uk waited more than four hours in the last year. investigators have concluded that the driver of the tram that crashed in croydon, south london, killing seven passengers, had probably fallen asleep as he approached a sharp bend at high speed. the royal navy‘s biggest—ever warship has officially gone into service. the queen commissioned the £3.1 billion vessel — sport now on afternoon live, with hugh. and the big winner of 2020 is wembley. yes, simon.

it‘s a slightly surprising development as well. here to help me through it is our sports news correspondent, richard conway. richard, why exactly have uefa taken this decision? ? brussels have failed to give the necessary guarantees to uefa, the european governing body, that its planned new stadium would be ready in time for the tournament. that left uefa with a decision, who would get the four group games that were supposed to be going to belgian cup, and it was widely expected to be cardiff or stockholm. in the end, what they decided is to give it to wembley. wembley already will host two semifinals and the final of euro 2020. they know how four group games so seven games in 2020. they know how four group games so seven games in total coming to when the stadium. there will also be games in glasgow, at hampden park, so games in glasgow, at hampden park, so the euro 2020, a tournament being played across the continent, a pan—european format, very unusual, the first time it has ever happened, it will now have a very british emphasis with all these games at

wembley and at glasgow‘s hampden park. a key day for the fa, they will be celebrating. but disappointment no doubt from the welsh fa who had hoped that cardiff would be given the seal of approval, and stockholm. but wembley now with seven games. thanks so much. uefa have opened disciplinary proceedings against spartak moscow, following alleged racist abuse during a youth game against liverpool yesterday. liverpool‘s under—17 international rhian brewster complained to officials during their uefa youth league match yesterday. spartak defender leonid mironov has been charged with racist abuse. anti—racism charity kick it out says it is appalled by the allegation. the future of aberdeen boss derek mcinness is expected to be resolved later today. he‘s been absent from training at the scottish premiership side this week, with speculation linking him to the vacant job at rangers. aberdeen coach paul sheerin says, "the uncertainty over the situation is not ideal". the fa cup match between brighton and crystal palace next month could be the first competitve match

in england to use video match officials — known as var. it‘s highly likely to feature video assistants, that allow referees to review video footage and overturn their own decisions. the league cup semi—finals the week after are also understood to be under consideration for var technology. russian athletes could still stage the first major olympic boycott since 1984. the country has been banned by the ioc from taking part in next year‘s winter games, in south korea, after a state—sponsored doping programme in the country. only those who prove they are clean are able to take part. however, a final agreement from russia‘s sports federations will come next week. president vladimir putin will allow athletes to go, but some bodies may still choose to protest by not taking part. the us ambassador to the un has

suggested there is some doubt over whether american athletes will attend the winter olympics. nikki haley said their participation was still an "open question", due to heightened tensions in the area. the relationship between the us and north korea is inceasingly poor, which could raise questions as to how safe it is for americans to compete in neighbouring south korea injanuary. the quarter—final lineup at the uk snooker championship will be finalised today. there‘s four matches to play in the last 16. the former world champion shaun murphy is taking on ricky walden. murphy is leading 3—1, just after the mid—session interval. one frame away from the next round. on the other table... martin gould — the world number 18 — is locked in a battle with china‘s xiao guodong. it‘s currently locked at two frames each. you can follow all the action from york on bbc 2 and the bbc sport website. that‘s all the sport for now. or in the next hour.

this is the hms queen elizabeth — the largest and most expensive warship ever built for the royal navy. and today, the queen officially commissioned it at a ceremony in portsmouth attended by 4,000 people. the ship, which won‘t take part in military operations until 2021, cost more than £3 billion and has become the flagship of the fleet. our correspondent, duncan kennedy, is in portsmouth. it is all ready to go, it has been on trials, but it has not doing its job because there is no aircraft until the end of next year. but an important day for the royal navy and britain‘s armed forces. it is the biggest and most expensive warship britain has ever had. we have had this commissioning service today which officially means it is handed from a consortium of companies that built it to the royal navy. that was marked by the raising of... 4,000 people were watching. seven members

of the ship‘s crew and their families included and other vips. and as our defence correspondent reports, officially, the ship is on active service. a day of pride for the royal navy, and a chance to look to the future and, for now, forget about recent defence cuts and fears of even more. this, the day the nation‘s largest ever warship is commissioned into service. we‘ve been on a long, complicated, but committed journey to get to this point, and commissioning of the ship is a key milestone in thatjourney. it‘s been one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken, a national endeavour involving more than 10,000 people across the uk, helping build this — the first of two massive new carriers, all assembled in rosyth. over the past few months, hms queen elizabeth and her 700—strong crew have

been testing her at sea. russia has already described her as a large, convenient target. but the government says she will be a potent weapon and a symbol of british military power. two years ago, the queen named her. today, she made herfirst visit on board, in front of nearly 4,000 guests in the ship‘s cavernous hangar that will eventually hold the carrier‘s aircraft. may god‘s blessing be upon this ship and the personnel hereby entrusted to your command, and may yourjoint endeavours to uphold the high traditions of the royal navy in the service of her majesty the queen be crowned with success and happiness. and then the raising of the white ensign for the first time, meaning she is now legally recognised as a royal navy warship. the nation‘s future flagship saluted with a fly past. a true flagship for the 21st century, the most powerful and capable ship ever to raise the white ensign, she will,

in the years and decades ahead, represent this country‘s resolve on the global stage. she will be a giant of the sea, but at a price of more than £3 billion. the jets that will fly off her will cost billions more. and, despite the cheers, this at a time when there is talk of further defence cuts. so, a lavish ceremony on board this ship today, a ship brimming with statistics. 10,000 kilometres of cables, five gymnasiums, a cinema, you name it, this ship has it. 700 crew on board and one other statistic raised in the report, the

£3 billion cost of it. which has attracted some criticism from others who say it but it will have to suffer elsewhere to pay for it. the government rejected that today, saying that will not be the case, there is a what more money going into the defence budget and this ship will have a humanitarian mission and help in that —— in the fight against terrorism and this business of projecting british power around the world really for the next five decades. from portsmouth, duncan kennedy. tv's tv‘s nick kew has been busy raising awareness about orphans. as boat him earlier about his time on the apprentice and the donald and his charities. it kicked off in the balkans all those years ago, in romania, where they discovered that these orphanage, these warehouses, waffle of silent babies. but they

we re waffle of silent babies. but they were not orphans. and the charity decided to reunite them with their pa rents decided to reunite them with their parents because everybody has the right to live as a child in a loving family. and the big appeal at the moment is cold and the silence. why? because in these warehouses full of silence children, no point in crying because nobody comes. that is why we are busy in south africa and uganda and the old eastern bloc and closing down those orphanages and reuniting the kids with their parents or finding loving families that will ta ke finding loving families that will take them on. and that is coming to hopefully a successful close, we will find out in the next 24 hours. it is not the only charity you are involved in. i have two british charities that i love. i have been involved in that one and end of silence is the campaign slogan, for about nine years. and another small british charity law —— run by the son of general lord janner, it is

called street child, operating by sierra —— operating in sierra leone and liberia. and the mission is to sweep up the kids who have run away from home because their parents cannot look after them. reunite them with theirfamilies cannot look after them. reunite them with their families and give the familya with their families and give the family a gift, maybe £50, to enable ben to run a business. and that is all it takes and the child is home and the child goes to school. that is how a child —— a country get some. the british government takes so some. the british government takes so much shtick, but they are doubling everything we raise on those campaigns. that is the soft side of you, that is the hard side we all know you as. the apprentice. just wondering what you make of your old boss, lord sugar, he tweets along with another certain presenter of the apprentice, donald trump. have you seen these two at each

other on twitter? i think they have sought a bit. also, alan sugar, who isa sought a bit. also, alan sugar, who is a great guy and i won‘t have anything said about him. welcome he paid you for many years! he did, actually. he crosses swords with piers morgan and they go at each other as well. but in reality, they get onjust fine. other as well. but in reality, they get on just fine. i don‘t think that should lord sugar and the president of the united states ever to meet, i don‘t believe they would hit it off at all. would you get on with him, donald trump? i think he's the biggest fake, fraud and ghastly man that has ever sat in the white house and the sooner he goes, the better, he isa and the sooner he goes, the better, he is a shock. what is it about a businessman? do they not make great politicians or is itjust him?” think it is him. i mean, he pulled off an extraordinary feat by getting himself elected. and he seems to me to be the antithesis of almost

everything that a thoughtful, world leader should be. he is now enraging the middle east by putting the american embassy in jerusalem. the middle east by putting the american embassy injerusalem. he is calling rocket man, little rocket man, in north korea. he is a dangerous fellow. do we feel safe? i have never felt less safe. these great lines in the boardroom for the apprentice, you can see where that would work. what you think has gone wrong? i think what has gone wrong is twitter. he can talk to his collectors that live in what are known as the flyover states, the forgotten people, out ofjobs, the great industries like the car industry in america is not what it was 40 years ago. and nobody cares about them. what they have done, they have shaken little slowdown. remember you use to shake the snow dome when we were kids? they have shaken up the world. as, in my humble opinion, you will prop we

fight before it, it is the british people who voted for brexit and i think that was the shaking it up of the snow dome again.” think that was the shaking it up of the snow dome again. i am not going to get into brexit. frankly, there is no time. that‘sjust to get into brexit. frankly, there is no time. that‘s just talk about you for a moment. you are writing your memoirs? well, it is a funny thing. yes or no? the answer is yes. i was muscled into it by a literary agent called heather who would not leave me alone, she pursued me for yea rs. leave me alone, she pursued me for years. i said, i leave me alone, she pursued me for years. isaid, i have got leave me alone, she pursued me for years. i said, i have got nothing to say. and then the idea came up that, actually, if i had a memoir or a memory for each letter of the alphabet, i could do it. and amazingly, it was offered to some publishers and there was a squabble. there was a squabble, i couldn‘t believe it. anyway, i have 92,000 words. have you got to z? believe it. anyway, i have 92,000 words. have you got to 2? yes, do

you know what z is? z—list celebrity, which is where i firmly am! it is out next september. it was am! it is out next september. it was a pleasurable experience, actually. nick kew at talking earlier. in a moment, the business news, with susannah streeter. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. violence on the streets as donald trump is warned his stance on jerusalem will destroy the middle east peace process. downing street says the government is close to an agreement on the status of the irish border after brexit, the eu said sunday is the deadline for the proposal. the queen welcomes the uk‘s new £3 billion aircraft carrier into the royal navy fleet. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. the uk‘s largest high street bookmarker — ladbrokes coral — is in detailed talks over a takeover by gvc, the owner of foxy bingo. the offer on the table from gvc holdings could value the bookmaker

at £3.9 billion. the final price will depend on the outcome of the government‘s review of gaming machines. general electric is planning to cut more than 1,000 jobs from its uk power business, mainly affecting stafford and rugby. the cuts are part of a wider programme to remove 12,000 jobs by the us company. ge says it remains committed to the uk, which would continue to be a "strategic market". the growth in uk house prices is continuing to slow, according to the country‘s largest lender, the halifax. it said average prices rose by 3.9% in the year to the end of november. that is down from 4.5% in october. and it warned that growth is likely to slow further in the longer term. you have been looking at uk productivity and we keep hearing it isa productivity and we keep hearing it is a problem. is there a solution? some people say there is. let‘s just is there a solution? some people say there is. let‘sjust recapture. uk

productivity has been extremely sluggish this year and output per hour has fallen. and now it is 27% less productive than the equivalent in germany. so the question is, why? a lot of people giving lots of different reasons. for example, a lack of investment in technology is blamed. some say the austerity programmes are some say the austerity programmes a re partly some say the austerity programmes are partly to blame. and others say we have a real shortage in certain skills. mainly in science, technology, engineering and maths, the so—called stem subjects. today, the so—called stem subjects. today, the national stem campaign your life is calling on government and industry reapers decilitres to redouble efforts to tackle the uk‘s ongoing skills crisis. we can speak to the tesco clubcard founder, edwina done. let‘s talk to chair of the ‘your life‘ campaign. why do you think the lack of skills

is partly to blame for sluggish productivity? well, i think part of the challenge is coming you have to connect supply and demand. one of the problems is, we currently measure supply in grades only. and what we get is too many students picking non—stem subjects. only one in 11 students choose maths and physics and yet it is those subjects that underpin jobs of now and the future. we have 40,000 jobs lying empty every year because we do not have a match. and by2030, because we do not have a match. and by 2030, this is likely to be as many as1.3 by 2030, this is likely to be as many as 1.3 million. had you solve this? you are calling for an ambitious road map, which direction should the government first going? firstly, we need to start to recognise not all subjects or equal.

and these stem subjects are going to be in very big demand. so we have created an app which is free and allows students to put in their subjects and determine which jobs will be out there and which will be growth and high paid ones. you talk about promoting certain subjects compared to others. other people would argue those in the creative industries, that subjects such as the arts and literature are equally important for the uk economy. well, i think those subjects have been popularfor i think those subjects have been popular for a i think those subjects have been popularfor a long time. the fact that only one in 14 girls pick them is slightly worrying. and there is still a mess that girls are not very good at technology and maths. —— still a story. and we still say, we are not very good at these subjects. these are the ones paying highly.

and they are taking people all over the world. so they are exciting. and we should direct more people towards them. he founded the tesco clubcard which has replicated that technology in many other supermarkets and retailers around the world. what drove you into the technology industry. i think i was very lucky. for me, data was the firstjob and exposure i had. and status science became a really cool and exciting high—growth industry. i grew a business of 1,500 people. what is surprisingly is that people talk about women not liking technology. but we were 50% women. and so i believe you can absolutely embrace the diversity of skills in these new high—tech businesses. i have had a fantastic career and i love the

creativity that that science has allowed me to explore. many thanks. the chair of the your leave campaign. let‘s check in with the financial markets. the ftse hovering around negative figures. a lot of doubt around brexit and now this deadline of sunday which has an impact on sterling. an inverse relationship between sterling and the ftse, so sterling lifting a tiny bit. still hovering around lows. and 30% off, after that offer was announced on ladbrokes c, ladbrokes coral only just got together last year. so a lot of changes within the betting industry at the moment. thank you very much.

panto season is upon us, and a group of actors from east london has been putting the finishing touches to a performance of the great muslim panto. it‘s thought to be britain‘s first—ever muslim pantomime and will be touring six cities to raise money for the charity orphankind. bbc asian network‘s shabnam mahmood has more. final rehearsals for the great muslim panto, billed as the first of its kind. it‘s not much different from your average production, but this one‘s been made with muslims in mind and includes a regularfrom the bbc hit comedy citizen khan. it‘s a muslim cast, a full muslim cast for the first time, and the storyline is a little bit different as well. there‘s a bit of good teaching islam implemented in it as well. we get a lot of stick from certain people, who say that we don‘t integrate enough. well, you can‘t get more integrated than a muslim panto, can you?

# so the story goes... although it follows the real—life story of an orphan girl, the production keeps in line with traditional christmas pantos — plenty of songs, costume changes and comedy. it‘s been created and performed by a muslim family cast of seven, which includes the baby. it‘s got all the traditional slapstick, it‘s got the "he‘s behind you", all of that in it, but it‘s just got a bit of our history, too. it's actually an opportunity for people like muslim women to say, you know what, i wear a hijab, but i can still go on stage and act and i can still do my dream, so we're just giving a platform for them. the performance is notjust restricted to a muslim audience, but organisers are hoping for more people from the islamic faith to come to the show, proving that pantomime is for everyone. i told you to poison the red apple! i did poison the red apple! the great muslim panto will tour six cities across the country and is expected to raise thousands of pounds for charity.

shabnam mahmood, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. she is behind you, you fool! up there! iamso there! i am so glad i don‘t have to follow that all afternoon. good afternoon. i have great photos, the three faces of thursday. lovely afternoon in shropshire. storm caroline brought storm force winds across the northern isles. and you can see rough seas. it will feel bitterly cold once this area of low pressure m oves bitterly cold once this area of low pressure moves to scandinavia because of the isobars from the north tightly close together so gail is still likely and the cold air descends across the country. a wintry flavoured through the uk over the next days. that means we will

see any showers in the far north over the next couple of hours turning increasingly to snow. blizzard like conditions in scotland and northern ireland, through northwest england. and perhaps into northwest england. and perhaps into north wales. elsewhere, temperatures fall away, it is a cold start to the day, hovering either side of freezing across the country. but the snow showers could cause issues first thing on friday morning. so the potential force no and first thing on friday morning. so the potentialforce no and ice on the potentialforce no and ice on the roads. so you need to tune into your abc local radio station for traffic disruption. at eight a:m., showers across northern and western scotla nd showers across northern and western scotland and northern ireland. so that will gather. in north west england and into the north of the midlands and wales, snow showers. and with the wind from the north west, it continues to filter down through the irish sea for some time. we will see showers and a wintry

mix, some rain, sleetand we will see showers and a wintry mix, some rain, sleet and snow into the south—west. through the day, some showers could push towards london. to the east, a little more shelter and a little drier. it is going to be cold, but you should have sunshine. with the strength of the wind, it is going to feel really better tomorrow. a cold start to saturday. not much change. quite quiet on saturday. easy enough for showers into the north and isolated ones through the cheshire gap. but generally dry and predominantly sunny, but very raw. sunday gets tricky. an area of low pressure will comment off get mantic. the moisture bumps into the cold and so for a time, there could be significant snow. a great deal of uncertainty as to where that low is sitting, how for south or north. if you have plans for sunday, you need to keep abreast of the forecast. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live.

i‘m simon mccoy. today at 4.00pm: anger, despair and violence on the streets — as donald trump is warned his stance onjerusalem will destroy the middle east peace process. the government says it‘s "optimistic" about an irish border agreement, but is warned time really is running out to move brexit talks on to trade. one shares a name — queen elizabeth commissions britain‘s new £3 billion aircraft carrier, the hms queen elizabeth. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport: brussels‘s loss is wembley ‘s game? yes, that is after brussels lost the right to host matches for the tournament and also cardiff are hoping to benefit from brussels not being ready but they have lost the extra games to wembley which is already staging the semifinal and final. thanks, mike, and louise has all the weather. fightback and caroline has a chill

—— chilly sting in her tail. yes, bitterly cold air from the arctic meaning quite a wintry flavour to our weather over the next few days. louise will bejoining our weather over the next few days. louise will be joining me we have jerusale m_a_sjj1llsra eli .capital .

the leader of hamas, has called for a new intifada, an uprising, and more "days of rage." and already palestinians in the west bank and gaza strip are striking and protesting, setting tyres alight and throwing rocks. israeli troops have fired tear gas and rubber bullets in response. but one of our bbc correspondents in the west bank, in ramallah, says many palestinians feel let down by fellow arabs in neighbouring states who haven‘t been as vocal as expected with their criticism of president trump‘s move. tom burridge reports. tension again simmering here in the israeli occupied west bank. israeli soldiers confronting pockets of palestinians, protesting after a landmark shift in us policy. injerusalem‘s old city

where security is always tight, shops shut in the muslim quarter reflect anger. but for many israeli jews, their key ally recognising this as their capital is long overdue. definitely historic. we have been waiting for it for a long time. i hope it does not get stuck in endless bureaucracy. and the proof is in the pudding, but we are very excited about it. but for many palestinians the move disqualifies washington as an honest broker — the noise now not about peace but resistance. in gaza, hamas, the palestinian islamist group, called for another uprising. in arabic intifada, a word synonymous with more troubled times. translation: tomorrow will be a day of rage and the beginning of a wider move towards an uprising which we will call the intifada of jerusalem and freedom in the west bank. donald trump said he was merely

recognising a reality. israel‘s prime minister is now claiming others will follow suit. translation: i have no doubt that once the american embassy moves to jerusalem or even before, there will be a movement of many other countries‘ embassies to jerusalem. the time has come. but the international reaction so far suggests otherwise. in istanbul, anger directed at washington outside the us consulate last night. and america‘s allies, like france, also disagree. president macron was today at an airbase in qatar. a peace deal between the palestinians and israelis, he says, is only possible ifjerusalem has an international status. translation: the status of jerusalem is a question of international security, which concerns the entire international community. so as tensions rise,

france and britain will express their opposition directly to the americans at a special un security council meeting tomorrow. the fear, that a decades—old conflict could lead to widespread violence once again. tom burridge, bbc news. joining me now is laleh khalili, professor of middle eastern politics at soas. the school of oriental and african studies at the university of london. and really, what is most surprising about all of this, that people were surprised, because president trump made it clear during his election campaign he would do this? well, i suppose every single president in the united states since the 1990s has claimed they will at some stage declared jerusalem the capital of israel, and in fact a law was passed overwhelmingly in the us congress in 1993 to do so, and although it

wasn‘t moved into law he signed a six—month waiver that would allow him to forestall that, president at the time, and even obama declared before the israeli lobbying group that he thought jerusalem before the israeli lobbying group that he thoughtjerusalem was the capital of israel, except that nobody has gone off and promised to move the embassy there, which is quite significant, and of course what it does is it essentially declares that the two state solution which most palestinians have been considering is dead in any case is now really well and truly done, has pretty much been taking off life—support now. pretty much been taking off life-support now. what about the timing, why now? there are a lot of arguments one can make about the timing. partly, there has been quite a lot of movement between the us and its clients in the region, saudi arabia, israel and others, its clients in the region, saudi arabia, israeland others, in its clients in the region, saudi arabia, israel and others, in the sense that i think they are really raring for a sense that i think they are really raring fora war sense that i think they are really raring for a war with iran and its

allies in the region, that is one reason, and the other reason is netanyahu reason, and the other reason is neta nyahu is reason, and the other reason is netanyahu is under domestic pressure politically for matters that have nothing to do with palestinians, questions of corruption, mismanagement etc, so i believe he has also brought some pressure to bear on the administration in the us, and! bear on the administration in the us, and i think that in some ways trump likes to generate chaos and out of that chaos benefit from it in however way he thinks he might, and one of the ways i believe the comp administration think it will benefit is if it creates the image of chaos and sell it justifies is if it creates the image of chaos and sell itjustifies its quite retrograde policies in the region, in some ways. its allies, america's allies, france, great britain, they have said they are not happy. as have said they are not happy. as have some arab countries, but in reality what does that mean? not very much at all. and i think that in some ways palestinians completely understand that themselves. they

have said as much. in fact the statement from the arab states, in particular saudi arabia and the united arab emirates, have been quite what are down, completely in some senses hands off proforma in some senses hands off proforma in some ways. egypt has also issued a statement and i understand that egypt. statement and i understand that egypt, britain and france have called for a security council session, but i think all of this is really actually quite meaningless. the two state negotiations were pretty much on hold in any case and they are completely meaning is because once it has had all the cards and the other has had none, and what this does is clarifies the us was never an honest broker, never a proper mediator in any sense, and if anything that feel of neutrality is now drop. for those of us studying the middle east it is actual quite unsurprising in many ways. —— now dropped. actual quite unsurprising in many ways. -- now dropped. so does the middle east hold its breath orders president trump say, there you go, this gamble is paying off?

president trump say, there you go, this gamble is paying off7m palestinians demonstrate out on the street, they are going to be accused of being violent. if they don‘t demonstrate, the trump administration and netanyahu can claim that, look, there are no echoes are any noises. it is kind of a win—win situation for both of them because they can essentially try to ta ke because they can essentially try to take advantage of the situation. i think in some ways what this clarifies however is what the stakes are, and! clarifies however is what the stakes are, and i think perhaps one of the most effective things would be if the palestinian authority, which has been pretty much limping along for more than a decade now in fact, perhaps even longer, if they could resign en masse and actually allowed for people to see exactly what the power balance is in israel and palestine. i don‘t think that that will happen, so what is going to happen is probably going to be demonstrations and protestss, as one would imagine. buti demonstrations and protestss, as one would imagine. but i am not entirely certain that this is going to read

toa certain that this is going to read to a major shift —— that it will lead to major shift, at least in the immediate future. what it does, as i said, is spell the end of the two state negotiation and the possibility of a two state solution andi possibility of a two state solution and i think what will happen is the struggles of palestinian people for a more equitable one state democratic outcome in the medium or longer term. professor laleh khalili, thank you very much for joining us. my pleasure. thank you very much. talks between democratic unionist party and the british government to secure a deal on the status of the irish border after brexit are continuing this afternoon. downing street says the government is "close to an agreement" although there is more work to be done. the eu says a proposalfrom the uk is needed by sunday at the latest, in advance of a summit next week. earlier i asked our political correspondent chris mason, what we can expect, when we can expect it and exactly how much of a moveable feast this all is. we know there is going to be some news at some stage but we don‘t know quite when it‘s going to come.

as you say, there is the twist with this that we cannot quite be certain if the deadlines might shift again. what we have effectively had this morning is an argument about the definition of a week and when it starts and ends. the expectation was the latest deadline for the uk was the end of the week but the european commission, the eu‘s executive, saying today that their interpretation of the end of the week is actually the end of sunday because on monday morning civil servants known as sherpas get together, they‘re called sherpas because they are meant to lead the way to the summit, that‘s a brussels gag for you! they have to be able to then line up the eu‘s position ahead of the summit which takes place in a couple of weeks‘ time to try to determine whether or not sufficient progress, the hurdle that has been set but not defined, that the uk has overcome on those three things it‘s looking at at the moment about untangling the relationship before pressing ahead with the future relationship and trade. downing street, as you say, saying that they feel they are close but there is more work to be done. the line out of the eu this morning

was that there was no sign of white smoke yet. so there is a kind of papal conclave type reference being made there with all of the mystique attached to that. so much going on behind the scenes, privately, at the moment but certainly publicly we are no further on. you love your analogies! let‘s use the mountain one because i like that one. is there a mountain that frankly might prove too high and too difficult to climb? yes, i think that is entirely possible. when you look at what the prime minister has to try to pull off here, let‘s look at what the dup are saying and have been saying for ages including before monday when arlene foster made that call to the prime minister when she was mid—lunch with presidentjunker of the european commission. they do not want to see anything that makes it look like northern ireland‘s political future is any closer to the republic after brexit than it is at the moment. the democratic unionist party, the clue is in the title, their very reason for being is binding northern ireland as part of the uk. so that is one element of the negotiation. on the other side, the irish government and eu absolutely

insistent, as is britain by the way, there must not be any hardening of the border between the republic and northern ireland, that frontier between the uk and the european union in the future. but how on earth do you do that unless there is some alignment of the northern ireland economy to the republic‘s economy? well, there is one way you could do that and that would be to align all of the uk‘s economy to the republic‘s economy and therefore the eu‘s but plenty would see that as what is seen as a soft brexit, softer than the uk government currently wants to entertain. so over whichever shoulder the prime minister looks, she sees noisy critics, and after that binary referendum that forced people to fall down on either side and take an absolutist position, now she has to try to find very, very difficult compromises.

and so yes, there is the possibility that she fails to pull it off and this trundles on into the new year. chris mason reporting there. the number of patients waiting for over four hours to be seen in accident and emergency units across the uk has more than doubled in the past four years, according to research done by the bbc. northern ireland‘s hospitals have performed the worst, while england‘s have recorded the most rapid deterioration. the government says more money is being made available in england to help hospitals cope this winter, as our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. right across the uk, accident and emergency departments have been working at full capacity. now bbc analysis shows how an already busy system is struggling to cope. the waiting time target to treat or deal with 95% of patients within four hours has been missed across the country. in the past year, more than 3 million patients waited longer than four hours, an increase of 120% on four years ago. but visits to a&e are up by only 7%, to nearly 27 million.

to ensure the target is met, the nhs would need to build an additional 20 a&e departments. there is no more capacity in the system. staff are working really hard, our nurses, our doctors, and we‘ve reached a point where we unfortunately cannot meet that demand. it‘s clear that, over the past four years, more and more people have been attending accident and emergency departments, but it‘s the complexity of many of those cases that has contributed to longer and longer waits for patients, and the picture right across the uk is extremely mixed. scotland has come closest to hitting the target, while england has seen the biggest increase in those facing a long wait, but performance is even worse in wales. northern ireland manages to see just three quarters

of patients within four hours. the luton and dunstable hospital is one of the best performing in the uk, but that‘s taken an intense effort. we can only meet the four—hour target if we can move patients out of the emergency department and to be able to do that, we need to have beds available within the hospital to move those patients from the emergency department, and that‘s where everybody working within the hospital system has a role to play. across the uk, there are efforts to control the numbers arriving at a&e while also moving patients through hospitals more quickly to free up beds, but the coming winter months will be a challenge. we know the nhs is under more pressure, because we've got more people coming to a&e. we also know that money is tight. we also know there are workforce shortages. but what i can assure everybody is that both trusts and the national nhs have prepared better for this winter than they have ever prepared before, but we'll have to see what happens. a busier nhs means longer waiting times and, so far,

there is little sign of respite for staff or patients. dominic hughes, bbc news. you‘re watching afternoon live. these are our headlines: tensions escalate in the west bank and gaza strip after donald trump decided to recognisejerusalem as israel‘s capital. downing street says the government‘s close to an agreement on the status of the irish border after brexit — the eu sets sunday as the deadline for a proposal. although there is more work to be done, the government says. the queen commissions the royal navy‘s biggest and most expensive warship into service at a ceremony in portsmouth. and in sport, brussels has lost the right to host matches at euro 2020 due to stadium delays. it means wembley, which is already holding the semi—finals and finals, will now stage seven matches in all, but cardiff misses out. the fa cup tie between brighton and crystal palace next month will be the first competitve match in england to use video match officials — known as var. and russian sports federations will decide next week if they‘ll