of low pressure clears away and we look to the south, this storm will batter parts of france as we get on towards monday and the northern edge may clip the south and south—east with strong winds, cloudy skies outbreaks of rain, maybe wintriness over the high ground. away from here, apart from wintry showers, a fine, dry but very cold day with crisp winter sunshine around. things looking quieter as we head towards tuesday, in between weather systems, a cold frosty start, watch out for ice again. generally, many places will be dry with plenty of winter sunshine. hello, this is bbc news, the headlines at 9.30pm. an amber weather warning has been issued for many parts of the uk as more snow is expected. airports and rail services have been affected and more travel disruption is predicted. the foreign secretary will conduct his second day of talks in iran where he's expected to meet

the country's president in a bid to win the freedom of the british woman, nazanin zagari—ratcliffe. proposals for two year degree courses could save students thousands of pounds in tuition fees. the universities minister said the "accelerated courses" could "break the mould" in studying. coming up in a few minutes our sunday morning edition of the papers — this mornings reviewers are penny smith and david wooding. before the papers — sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's katherine downes. the most important game in the premier league so far this season takes place at old trafford this afternoon. leaders city could open up an 11 point advantage over their nearest rivals — and neighbours — united. and as i've been finding out — there are more than just bragging rights at stake. for the city faithful, there's been a lot to cheer the season. group winners and through to

the last 16 of the champions league, one of the favourites for the title and seemingly unstoppable domestically. they have won 13 consecutive games in the premier league, equalling the record, they haven't lost since the start of april when they were beaten by chelsea and so far this season they have dropped two points, scoring more goals than any other team. how much does that record of consecutive wins play on your mind, if at all? absolutely nothing. if you are going to play one game just thinking of the record, you forget what you have to do to win the games. it will be nice because we won but sooner or later the record will be broken. how to win the game, that is my concern now. for so long they were manchester's second side, as recently as 1999 city were down in the third tier and struggling.

fast forward a decade and sheikh mansoor and his abu dhabi billions took over in 2008 but it took city another four years to win their premier league title. premier league title. their second game in 2014. for those who have followed the ups and downs, there is a buzz about this generation, an expectation that city will be the manchester side. back to young! beautiful goal scored by young! right the way through the side, with the control of the ball, the passing of the ball, the accuracy of the passing, the confidence and belief in every individual player, i've never seen anything like it before in my career as a footballer. so for manchester city the stakes are high. win this weekend and they will set a new premier league record for consecutive wins in one season and could set themselves up for a third premier league title and usher in a new era of dominance. but united have their own

record to preserve. a0 matches unbeaten at old trafford, and 41 on sunday would be a new high. the last time they lost at home was in september 2016, and who beat them then? it was city. for the people born in the city and feeling the cause in that good, positive rivalry, i think it's a special match. whether you are red or blue or not even from manchester at all, this derby is notjust a special occasion, it's the biggest game of the premier league season so far. before the showdown at old trafford there are a couple of other tasty looking games. southampton face arsenal at noon and after that there's the small matter of a merseyside derby, with sam allardyce‘s everton making the short trip across stanley park. when we meet on sunday, i have played him in three different clubs and i'm only two years here. at each club has done the job,

he's obviously very successful. we know what we will get, if you want, but it doesn't make it easier, to be honest. because all sam allardyce teams are difficult to play. that is no secret. now to yesterday's matches, and a huge win for west ham — they beat chelsea — a first win for them under david moyes too. marko arnautovic‘s first goal for the club arrived in just the sixth minute, but it proved enough to beat the reigning premier league champions at london stadium. despite the win west ham remain in the bottom three. what a great result for us. we needed to find one of the results. we came close against manchester city for long periods, we thought we were going to get it. don't get me wrong, it was tough today, chelsea kept us under pressure. we scored a good goal, we played well at times in the first half, and if we had been a bit better

with the ball in the second half i think we might have got a goal. jermain defoe scored twice for bournemouth against crystal palace at selhurst park, his second was a cracker // but the story of the game can in the closing stages, christian benteke missed the penalty which would have given palace all three points. 2—2 it finished, but manager roy hodgson was angry as benteke shouldn't have taken the spot—kick. we, the management decide who the penalty takers are and we don't really expect players during the course of the game to change those decisions. u nfortu nately we a re not on the pitch. had it been a training session we could have done something about it, but it was a premier league game and we are a long way from it, and although we tried to shout out instructions they didn't get as far as the penalty spot. and swansea city are off the bottom of the table. a late goal from captain wilfried bony gave them a vital win over west brom to ease the pressure on head coach paul clement. there were also wins yesterday for burnley, huddersfield and leicester. in the scottish premiership rangers had to come from behind as they beat ross county 2—1 at ibrox. there were 1—0 wins for both saintjohnstone and hearts

while kilmarnock thrashed partick thistle 5—1. in rugby union's european champions cup a toulon try in the closing stages condemned bath to their first defeat of the group stage. the two sides were level at the top of pool five the start of the day. bath had led twice, but anthony bellow went over for toulon with four minutes left on the clock. they play each other again next week. elsewhere there were wins for the welsh sides — scarlets and 0spreys. ronnie 0'sullivan remains on course to equal steve davis's record of six uk championships — he's through to the final against shaun murphy later today. the rocket held off a late fightback from stephen maguire to win 6—4 after taking a 4—frames—to—nil lead. meanwhile 2008 winner murphy beat welshman ryan day 6—3 in the other semifinal. get me there. i was lucky to be 4—0

up. stephen didn't capitalise on the chances are i got away with it really amber tried to stay ahead after that, but pleased to be in another uk final. james degale lost his ibf super middleweight title in london last night, after being beaten by big underdog caleb truax on a split decision. the former 0lympic champion was clearly not at his best, and took a barrage of punches in the fifth round. and while he hung on, the american unsettled de gale — and was the victor on two of the three judges scorecards. that's all the sport for now. now on bbc news, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are david wooding, political editor of the sun on sunday. and journalist and

broadcaster penny smith. welcome to you both. let's start by showing the front pages. the mail on sunday reports that theresa may had to intervene in a stand up row between the defence secretary and the chancellor in the house of commons. the observer leads with a warning that the eu is under pressure not to give the uk a better trade deal than other non—member countries get after brexit. the sunday express says leading brexit supporting mps want the uk to make clear it will walk away from any trade deal they don't think is good enough. the sunday telegraph goes with tensions within the cabinet over the meaning of the commitments the prime minister made to move the brexit talks on. and the sunday mirror reports that some delivery drivers are working 1a hour days, it claims they're earning less than the minimum wage. let's kick off brexit as so often

dominating the front pages. the 0bserver has a new blow for theresa may as the eu gets tough over trade deal. the focus moving onto phase two now that they've won it out of the way. the next thing is what we do in terms of the future relationship with the eu but also trade. that is the big one, the goldman prize of getting a deal for trade with the eu. and reaching out globally to other countries. the 0bserver splash is telling us the other countries, those we are reaching out to two trade with, they are saying to the eu "if you are going to give a special deal with the uk, what about us? we would frown upon it if you give special trade relationship with the uk after they leave the eu. i would argue we do have a special relationship with the eu because we've been a member for so many years. and all our goods and so on are standardised to eu requirements. their regulations and

the various laws they have about the standards. that should make a trade deal on some days easier. whether we have tariffs on what is the bigger issue. lord carr, the format diplomat who drafted article 50 say the chances of getting a useful deal of zero. that's not good either. we could always go down the norway route. the brexiteers do not want that but there is a comment on the observer where there is a pro—brexit person who says very annoyed at the how much has been seeded to brussels in the first round of the negotiations and one prominent tory saying we are worried. one large pa rt says saying we are worried. one large part says that, this is a divorce. ina part says that, this is a divorce. in a divorce there is give—and—take. you can't say, we put all the money m, you can't say, we put all the money in, i put all the you can't say, we put all the money in, i put allthe money and you can't say, we put all the money in, i put all the money and so i will have the house for the children are living with you, i'm not giving

you all the money. and the other person says "i gave up myjob for you, i'm looking after the children, often the garden", it is give—and—take, it split. often the garden", it is give-and-take, it split. but in a way that is what we have seen? with the deal theresa may has done? that's what i'm saying. the brexiteers saying we have ceded it, what did you expect did you expect to all the staff were not give anything about the way, you're having the children and taking them. borisjohnson was saying the eco—could go whistle if it wanted tens of billions and that's been quietly forgetting? owen paterson the former environment secretary in oui’ the former environment secretary in our piece says if they don't give us the deal we should say they can't have the money, nothing is agreed until it's all agreed. it will be a long process. you have to think about how it is in vitro, again like about how it is in vitro, again like a divorce, you have to look down the line, the reason you're handing over

the money is because down the line you won't be paying anything to it. ora very you won't be paying anything to it. or a very small amount. the sunday telegraph still on brexit has cabinet brexit truce threatens to unravel. why? this is about language. a lot of people think that the riders were expressed brexit breakthrough. congratulations for saying that. that was a bit of a fraud. and it had to be a bit of a bug —— a —— a bit of ——a bit ofa —— a bit of a fudge. someone has allegedly said that from downing street full alignment from the eu regulations was meaningless and not legally binding within eu law. in other words, this is alljust words. empty, meaningless word. but

important words in the sense that they did secure that fudged agreement which moves us onto the trade talks. and we have to accept that these talks about trade, there has a lot of all the papers today about how it probably won't be sorted out, for five years that's how much it takes. i think there will probably be a lot of people who feel they are spending far too much time and fartoo feel they are spending far too much time and far too many column inches talking about brexit have really big problems we need to get sorted out in this country. we were talking earlier on about social mobility, education, housing, health. so many other things and they are getting pushed off the front page. those are the things that affect people's lives so much more than this. this is going to be central to the economy for decades or even centuries to come. of course. and we know they are desperate for cash, clawing back taxes left right and ce ntre clawing back taxes left right and centre to fund all this. but other

people's lives are going on and they are trying to make ends meet. it's not just the coverage, are trying to make ends meet. it's notjust the coverage, it's the time all being focused on brexit and it's very difficult to focus on anything else. you would focus on brexit as the pm because it's the biggest thing to get right. there is little time to do those other. in terms of the timescale, people are saying it's unlikely that that agreement can be ranged by 2019. that's the other thing, the time. we said they couldn't do it by last friday and they did it. in a sense, some observers said it was an easy part. these trade talks are difficult to work out. i don't know how we will cover it in the media because it is tedious and deep in detail. it's all about services as well. the service industry, we forget how big that is.

how difficult that is going to be. goods is one thing. this is another. we all thought she had won a big war on friday, but all we've done is the right to enter the first battlefield. on theresa may, at one stage after the election it look like she could even not survive a few more days, she still around. she has got this success, victory if you wa nt to has got this success, victory if you want to call it, a breakthrough. she's done quite well? a colleague of mine, i think this is a bit optimistic, was liking her to alex ferguson, the first three years of his charge of manchester united were hopeless and they were nothing. he was about to be sacked and then they scored this last—minute goal against forest in the fa cup, and went on to great things. she could turn this around and become prime minister again but that's a long shot? there are other people of course,

mutterings about people who were we re mutterings about people who were were a bit stronger and charismatic might have done it. that's the trouble. unless we have a parallel universe, how can we tell quicker than we have an extraordinary story in the mail on sunday, claiming there was pretty much a bust up in there was pretty much a bust up in the house of commons. theresa may was almost like the referee was separating the two prizefighters slugging it out. this is philip hammond, aged 62. in one corner. and then gavin williamson, aged 41, in then gavin williamson, aged 41, in the defence corner. and essentially, they are just being a bit naughty. my mum would say, bash your heads together, not that she ever did, but thatis together, not that she ever did, but that is what it is. what actually happened? that is what it is. what actually happened ? according that is what it is. what actually happened? according to one mp, the defence secretary went for philip hammond's throat. that sounds... do

you believe that? there is a bit of a history, he's not been defence secretary for more than a few weeks can make you may remember that gavin williamson was the chief whip and was quite an effective chief whip because there was not a single rebellion while he was chief whip. he was made defence secretary and then immediately comes up with big mouths of what i bolster the defence cuts, philip hammond then sneeringly saying when he understands the budget working. he likened him to a character from dubs army. —— dad's army. -- dad's army. not taking on foreign trips because we need to preserve resources , trips because we need to preserve resources, there is a tit—for—tat war going on between them, and the one thing is that gavin williamson is seen as an outsider for the

conservative leader. he's gone into thejob and conservative leader. he's gone into the job and people think he may succeed theresa may. likejohn major came from nowhere to be michael heseltine some of the favourite at the post. and the mail actually have a profile on page five, the outsider with his sides zeroed in on number ten. penny, do you think he could be by minister? this thing is at the moment don't think most of us who are not steeped in politics know enough about him to know whether or not. you are saying there were no rebellion when he was too wet and at the centre is kind that's because when he was chief whip. he keeps a ta ra ntula. when he was chief whip. he keeps a tarantula. but those lovely. there's a bit of venom around anywhere. even if some of that is true, it shows theresa may does have a lot of

warring parties in her cabinet that she has two, whether is literally all physically, separate. 0r bring together. there's a personality clash here. the other side is that politics has become very anodyne, the days when you actually could clearly tell the difference between one and another, you could seriously tell someone was left—wing all right—wing, possibly by the way they wore their clothes or what they chose to drink or whether they chose smoke. now it's all become a little more woolly. even with jeremy corbyn? that's what i'm saying, up until now. i think the political landscape is changing. it's more colourful, in a sense? in some ways thatis colourful, in a sense? in some ways that is no bad thing, we needed to get people involved in politics because it affects us all. he so you quite like to see cabinet ministers with their hands on other cabinet ministers strokes?

—— strokes? we don't how close they got but it's good that they are committed and passionate. the telegraph have fast track degree. the idea you might be a two year or rather than three. this is about making it quicker and cheaper for people who want to do a degree but then won three years, it's to £11,000 a year for a two—year degree, saving you five and a half thousand pounds because you do two years not treat you get a job quicker with the average starting salary for it to telling the latter is £19,000. jojohnson says this will cost, save £20,000. good news for mature students, people who are poorer and busy christmas holidays and summer holidays will have to be sure and it comes on the back of the

national audit office last week saying some degrees were not fit for purpose and people were going in paying a lot of money and coming up with less prospect of your prospects. —— fewer prospects. sunday times, civil partnerships to go straight, heterosexuals in civil partnership. good idea. you don't have to go to a church and makes out if you don't believe in that sort of thing. you therefore have rights. at the moment were lots of people think there is a common—law marriage, there is a common—law marriage, there isn't and you have no right. this confers rights without having to go. it makes sense? there was some argument when it was introduced for gay people that heterosexuals should have it as well and now that the gay people have got married, equal marriage, this is a level playing field. it's good. let's get into the christmas, fast of spirit because there is our prime minister

and putting the decorations in the tree in maidenhead, her constituency. this is a bit of a difference though? it's a stiletto because we know she likes those shoes. whatever you want to do. why is she wearing a proper christmas jumper or something bright was whether it's a gloomy picture. a nice bright jumper, a whether it's a gloomy picture. a nice brightjumper, a pink cardigan like me or get really good jumpers with lit up bits. does that show little sense of having a stiletto grip now, she's always talked about shoes. i once asked how many pairs of shoes she had doing an interview and select me sternly and said not enough. i know she's got lots of shoes. i wonder if she used this stiletto to separate those two cabinet minister. it might be a useful weapon! the used to talk about margaret thatcher and

handbagging, a stiletto is also a knife. don't give the prime minister ideas. that's finished off with a bracing picture on the sunday times and it is snowing across a lot of the country, it is very chilly. someone didn't check the forecast. or maybe they did because they swim in these places. he looks quite fit, doesn't he? helix that the sort of person that could dive into ice.|j wonder if you just happen to be swimming and a photographer takes a picture, and you find is plastered over the front pages next morning. it must be a bit of a shock. it makes me shiverjust look at that picture. having come through this road this morning and then to see that. they are now cutting the odds oi'i that. they are now cutting the odds ona that. they are now cutting the odds on a white christmas but we have been swotting up on a white christmas. a white christmas, if a snowfla ke christmas. a white christmas, if a snowflake falls on christmas day, anywhere in the uk. one snowflake.

but obviously anywhere. you got about seven or eight on yourjumper. hopefully they won't drop off in the machine next to my wash it. in all areas where the met office have a measuring unit. this is what we were doing, 1138 times in the past 54 years with one snowflake but able but white christmas, blankets snowing, has only happened four times in 51 years. do you remember any? times in 51 years. do you remember 7i times in 51 years. do you remember any? i do. times in 51 years. do you remember any? ido. but times in 51 years. do you remember any? i do. but i'm coming up to goodness knows how many decades on earth. does it mean a lot to have a white christmas's it for the kids —— for the kids -- for the kids but we are for the kids -- for the kids but we are screwed. —— we are scrooge. -- we are scrooge. bah humbug. merry

christmas if i don't see you, that is it for the papers. we look at the papers every evening at 10:45pm on bbc news. a real north—south divide across the country. northern areas cold but bite, sunshine further south it's a different story. very heavy snowfall in causing all sorts of disruption and it has been pushing a little bit further northward and eastward over the last few hours. you can see the extent of the heavy snow from central and northern wales, through the midlands and across into south eastern areas. the met office continue with their amber be prepared warning. it will be treacherous conditions on the road. and continue as we head onto the latter pa rt and continue as we head onto the latter part of the afternoon. the

snowfall will continue, becoming lighter, but still heavy for the boss sandra wells and the west —— heavy falls across. and then through the bristol channel, severe gale force to the morning, slowing it down into the afternoon. to the north, you will wonder what the fuss is about. bartley try, very cold and lots of sunshine in scotland, northern ireland, the north viglen. when tariq salas continuing there. now temperatures in double figures. it will continue down for the southampton versus arsenal match but for the manchester derby, there could be the odd snowflake in the air, it will remain cold. as we had to the evening and overnight, further snow flurries across central and eastern part of england, a cold come with a risk of these art towns and city values. rural places could

be down to minus 12. that area of low pressure clears away and then into south, this storm will latter pa rt into south, this storm will latter part of france as we had to monday, and the northern edge may clip the south and south—east of england to bring strong winds, cloudy skies, outbreaks of rain, maybe some went arenas. then a few when tariq —— wintry showers but a fine, cold day. quieter as we had to tuesday, we are in between weather systems, a cold frosty start the watch out for ice again but generally speaking most ice again but generally speaking m ost pla ces ice again but generally speaking most places will be tried with plenty of room for sunshine. this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at ten... the uk is facing more heavy snowfalls with an amber weather warning issued in many parts of the country. some roads will be better than others, and with any forecast, it can change, so keep an eye on what is on the media

and we will do our best to keep what we can open, but there will be problems. borisjohnson meets iran's president this morning as he continues efforts to win the freedom of the british woman, nazanin zagari—ratcliffe. students could save thousands of pounds on tuition fees with a proposal for shorter, two—year degree courses. and we will be following the lives ofa group and we will be following the lives of a group of young people who share the mental health experiences first—hand. that is that