this is bbc news. the headlines at three: the uk is facing more heavy snowfalls with an amber weather warning issued in many parts of the country. drivers are being asked to be prepared. some roads will be better than others and with any forecast, it can change. so i think it's a case of keeping your eye on what's on the media and we will do our best to keep what we can open, but with the snow that is forecast, there will be problems. there's been travel disruption across the country — birmingham and stansted airports have closed because of heavy snow. the bbc has learnt that nazanin zagari—ratcliffe the british woman imprisoned in iran, will not have to appear in court today. it follows recent talks between boris johnson and the iranian president earlier today. the brexit secretary has warned that the uk could still refuse to pay its divorce bill if it doesn't get a trade deal with the eu. so, number one, no deal means that we wa nt so, number one, no deal means that we want became the money. a fact

won't be paying the money. disgraced celebrity publicist max clifford has died in hospital at the age of 7a. he had been serving an eight—year sentence for historical sex offences. students could save thousands of pounds on tuition fees with a proposal for shorter, two—year degree courses. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. heavy snow has hit much of the uk, causing disruption to roads, railways and airports. at heathrow airport, over 100 flights have been cancelled so far today. there have also been cancellations and severe delays at stansted, birmingham international, east midlands and belfast international airports. a number of motorways have been covered in snow, with police asking people to travel only if absolutely necessary. the heaviest snow has fallen in north wales. amber snow warnings have been issued

there, in the midlands, and in northern and eastern england. let's get this report on all the latest disruption from our correspondent lee milner. this was the scene on the m25 in buckinghamshire today. heavy snow brought motorists to a standstill. in llangollen in wales, there was no chance of people getting anywhere today. this is by far the worst i've ever seen. it's probably the worst snow i've ever seen, to be honest, certainly about a foot deep around and still coming in. the rac says it is currently dealing with five breakdowns a minute and expecting around 7500 by the end of the day. with ten to 20 centimetres falling in some parts of the uk, gritters have been replaced with ploughs in areas like redditch in worcestershire. as snow continues to fall, the met office has issued an amber weather warning mainly for the east of england, west midlands and wales. passengers at birmingham and other

uk airports are being warned about delays and cancellations. 20 flights have already been cancelled from sta nsted. flying over wales, it could be a scene from the snowman, a thick coating of white right across the mountains and lakes. for these children in the peak district, finally a chance to play in a winter wonderland. i like it because where we live we never get snow, it is just sleety. i like snow because you can make snow angels and snowmen and i find it really fun to do. for many it is a time for fun and enjoyment, but with more snow on the way, more disruption is inevitable. navtej johal is at east midlands airport. tell us the latest, where we spoke

to your narrow, there was no sign of any movement buddy ralph for their be an announcement in another hour from now? —— but you were hopeful there would be an announcement? there has been some movement here at east midlands airport, they're expecting flights to resume relatively shortly. but it has been a fairly miserable scene today, the snow started falling here at around seven this morning and it has remained pretty heavy and persistent throughout. it is still falling around me, as you can see. we are a0 had 5-10 around me, as you can see. we are a0 had 5—10 centimetres fall in the east midlands today and the airport has grown the brunt of that weather. it is meant plenty disrupted, plenty of flights cancelled, no flights have arrived or left since about quarter to eight this morning. and that has met a lot of disappointed travellers behind me in the departures lounge and earlier today, i was speaking to some of them was very annoyed, very frustrated.” arrived here this morning at about

6:45am, i left early after a night shift gets you because of the snow, and then find my flight had been cancelled. we came to the airport this morning and neither was going to be problems but they told us when we checked our bags and that we would get more information at four o'clock and within 30 minutes, they cancelled the fight. so we had already gone through to the departure lounge and then they put us outside in the style and back into the airport. to come back into the country, effectively, and to wait in this horrendous cute to get information. we really need to get home. we have school tomorrow and france. there's a lot going on for us this week and we're desperate to get home. when is the next light for you? work you're expecting to fly out this morning, when is the next? as far as we know, thursday. we can't get any other flights. in the west midlands, of course, there has been another issue, the birmingham airport has been closed all day since about 6am this morning. but we

have had good news in the last hour or so that bad airport has now reopened. there are warnings, of course, that because of the fact that it has been closed for most of the day, there will be a backlog of flights, people can expect lays there. but some good news, birmingham airport has now reopened in the last hour so. meanwhile, back here at east midlands airport, and the last 15 minutes or so we have learned that they are expecting flights to resume shortly, there was an inspection of the runway that took place in the last hour and that has been in positive which means a lot of people behind me who are frustrated as a result of these delays will hopefully be on their way. they are expecting flights resume here shortly, we expect, in the next 15 minutes through to half an hourorso, the next 15 minutes through to half an hour or so, hopefully. hopefully be somebody‘s will last till the next night i spoke there has been heavy demand today. thanks for that update. 0ur correspondentjoe lynam has been following the impact of today's severe weather.

i was talking to a colleague here whose parents are flying in from denmark, due to land at 12, they hadn't even let the murk that afternoon. presumably that is being repeated all over those places connecting to the uk? the weather is quite poor in continental europe as well, i've spoken to people in sweden and germany having major problems. the picture, let's start with heathrow airport, europe's busiest airport. it is still functioning, still very much working but there are severe delays now. of your message me with some video that he shot over the course of the last hour or so. he shot over the course of the last hourorso. —— a he shot over the course of the last hour or so. —— a viewer message me. this is heathrow terminal to, you can see planes waiting to take off. he also reported major acutes for restau ra nts — — he also reported major acutes for restaurants —— teesra restaurants, people don't know when their flights are going to take off as a result of

the delays. here's the issue, it is not necessarily the airport which is an issue per se but it is people getting to the airport which is the problem and maybe perhaps missing their flights because it problem and maybe perhaps missing theirflights because it is problem and maybe perhaps missing their flights because it is taking them that little bit longer to get to the airport. and as a result, they might need to reboot to get another flight or a later flight or something later during the week. the ba policy is as always reboot or refu nd ba policy is as always reboot or refund if they can't get an appropriate flight suitably, the airline had cancelled it. as for luton airport, it shut its runway down in the course of the morning, briefly, to try and clear the runway. the same was the case for sta nsted, not far up runway. the same was the case for stansted, not far up in essex, it's too had to shut the runway down temporarily to clear the runway of snow. it appears as if the heavy snow. it appears as if the heavy snow is turning to more slush and wetness and as a result, people should be able to get things back to normal. in terms of... there have been snow clouds over some airports which is a real sign of the seasonal

conditions. but practicalities of this for airports, you said it's the ru nways a re this for airports, you said it's the runways are still wet, the services are wet now that temperatures have risen a bit and the snow had melted. how big a problem about peter lydon tomorrow, potentially? that a big issue, the backlog. -- tonight and tomorrow morning. and eyes. but the logistical side first, hundreds of recovery and flights were cancelled at heathrow this morning, but could double, who knows. —— over 100 flights were cancelled. people will need to be put on later flight the next day, that is the backlog issue. as for the meteorological issue of that slush freezing overnight, that again poses problems for the airport but they are well used to dealing with these things. presumably this

is not a unique set of circumstances, comparatively mild conditions and terms of other heavy snowfalls yet seen in previous yea rs, snowfalls yet seen in previous years, who knows what the winter will bring. body—builder do things like keeping surface temp to raise, to try and ensure wrong with stay clear, when you have got dropping tem pters clear, when you have got dropping tempters overnight? that would be a huge cost. you have heard of undersoil heating, but under runway heating is possible but very expensive. a lot of friends in continental europe, especially northern europe, sweden, germany, etc, and central united states and canada, deal with this every single year and scoffed when we talk about snow armageddon when we get a few centimetres of snow. and of course, they have hundreds and hundreds of little airports dotted all over the country. and chicago o'hair is one of the busiest airport in the world,

think the busiest in north america, and every winter between november and every winter between november and february, they get this and flights still take off. they kind of scoffed at us. thank you so much. there is a silver lining to the cloud, though i suspect you will be not able to see it if you're sitting in an airport watching us because there's nothing else on and nothing else to do. we are sorry about that. to keep up to date with all the latest for your area go to the bbc news website and tune into your bbc local radio station or bbc radio wales. and we'll have full weather forecasts every half hour — here on bbc news. i don't know if this is the result of the weather or just i don't know if this is the result of the weather orjust look unhappy coincidence, but p&0 has said a passenger ferry that ran aground this lunchtime in high winds at the port of calais

is now afloat. a spokesman for the company said the ship was refloated within two hours of the incident, which happened as it was carrying 300 passengers to dover. there were no reported injuries, but the incident did cause the port to close. people travelling this afternoon have been told to contact with their ferry operator to check about disruption. the disgraced celebrity publicist max clifford has died in prison at the age of 7a. clifford was jailed three years ago for assaulting teenagers as young as 15. he was in the middle of an eight year term, and it's thought he died of a heart attack. nick higham reports on a career that hid years of sexual predation. the former record company publicist was britain's best—known pr man. the king of the kiss and tell. he gave sensational stories to the tabloids, while keeping other clients out of the papers. in 1989, he fed a story about carmela and her numerous ——pamela bordez and her numerous affairs

with influential men to the news of the world. but he had another client, a brothel madam. as far as my involvement was, it was really a cover—up for something else. there was a story involving lots of stars which i was trying to keep out. then there was the cabinet minister david mellor, who'd had an affair with actress antonia de sancha. angered, he claimed, by mellor‘s hypocrisy, clifford took her on as a client. once again, the most salacious detail in the story was made up. mellor hadn't been wearing a chelsea strip. he advised faria alam, the former fa employee who had affairs with the chief executive and sven goran eriksson, the england manager. east anglia? that's abroad! and he represented jade goody when the big brother contestant was diagnosed with terminal cancer. it was the way she wanted it. her life, her death, in the spotlight, because she wanted it to be in the spotlight. whenjimmy savile's dark side emerged, max clifford was an obvious person to comment. i was aware of allegations, but no one ever came to me and said,

jimmy savile abused me. but in december 2012, he was himself arrested. in all, he faced 11 charges of indecent assault stretching back decades. the allegations in respect of which i have been charged are completely false. very upsetting, very distressing, but completely false. i've never indecently assaulted anyone in my life. and this will become clear during the course of the proceedings. it wasn't true. max clifford, it emerged that his trial, was a liar and a hypocrite himself. he was convicted on eight charges. he promised his victimsjobs orfame. instead, he made them his sexual playthings. he'd always been arrogant and manipulative. now he stood revealed as a sexual predator as well. max clifford's death was reported

today after a heart attack in prison yesterday. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw covered max clifford's trial. i spoke to him a little earlier about his run—ins with the man. he came across as a really arrogant man. and that arrogance was shown just a few days before the trial started, when i put in a call to his office with a query about the case going ahead. and max clifford himself called me back. and tried to kind of charm his way on the phone, dismissing one of the allegations saying, oh, it'sjust a load of nonsense or whatever. and that was kind of how he played it through the trial. but as well as that, there was this really hard, steely, intimidating side of him. and when he was convicted, and he came outside court because he hadn't been sentenced yet, and there was a whole group of photographers and people were throwing questions at him. and i asked, one of the questions i asked, is it time to apologise to the victims? and hejust turned round and he stared at me as though he could intimidate me.

and if that was just a little bit of what some of the women went through who were the victims of him, that gave you an idea of the type of man he was. what he had a talent for was being able to play off one potential tabloid story against another, didn't he? so, i'll give you something if you keep this story off the front pages. and for a long time hejuggled those things quite successfully. yes, he did. i mean, he was an expert at that, atjuggling those particular interests, getting stories that were favourable into the papers to keep other stories out, keeping newspapers sweet with a supply of different stories and so on. and he was the person you went to if you had a story to tell or a story you wanted to keep out or you wanted to further your career, it was max clifford that you went to. but what we heard at the trial was a succession of aspiring actresses and models were put in touch with clifford. you know, they went into his office and were then told to strip. he wanted to look at them.

and then sexual favours. and some of the most disgusting sexual acts took place. and some of them were just left traumatised by this behaviour, thinking, is this completely normal? is this what i've let myself in for? it was a real revelation. did he ever show any sign of remorse? not one sign of remorse. not one sign of remorse at all, right throughout the whole trial. and he was still appealing against his conviction is at the time of his death. in fact, i think a hearing was scheduled for the next few months. so he was clearly protesting his innocence right to his death. the headlines on bbc news: travel disruption across the country due to heavy snow — stansted and birmingham airports have been closed and other airports reporting flight cancellations. the bbc has learned that nazanin

zaghari—ratcliffe, the british in iran, will not have to appear in court today after a meeting between borisjohnsonjohnson court today after a meeting between boris johnson johnson and the uranium president. —— iranians president. the disgraced celebrity publicist max clifford has died at the age of 7a after collapsing in prison. and in sport, an important derby day. the early kick—off finished one all between south antrim and arsenal —— southampton and arsenal, a late point at arsenal who are in fifth place. an english cricketer has been suspended from their tour of australia for pouring a drink over someone in a bar. and it's already looking like it could be a classic uk championship snookerfinal, ronnie could be a classic uk championship snooker final, ronnie 0'sullivan and shaun murphy are playing. sullivan is for— to help.

we will be back with details on those stories later. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has left iran without an agreement on the early release of the british—iranian aid—worker nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe. mrjohnson met iranian president, hassan rouhani this morning where it's believed he continued to press for her release. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe has been held prisoner in the country since april 2016 and denies charges of trying to overthrow the iranian government. in the past hour, a further court appearance which was scheduled for later today, has been postponed. i will bring you a few more details on that. after we have heard from our diplomatic correspondence, who told us about the meeting between the president and mrjohnson. they spent nearly an hour together. now, borisjohnson's very deliberately said nothing publicly before leaving iran.

this is so sensitive. but the foreign office put out a statement saying that they had discussed the full range of issues, including banking matters, and our concerns about the consular cases of dual nationals. now, banking matters could include an outstanding debt of £a00 million owed by britain to iran. britain says the money is ready to be paid, and they are only waiting to make sure that they can do it in a way that is compliant with international sanctions. neither side is linking the money in any way with this appeal for prisoner releases. but nevertheless, you can see that there is a possibility for progress, and that's what the foreign office say they are going to try and build on. of course, one of the difficulties in dealing with iran is that there are different focuses for low side of power within countries, you got the theological leader, at the start of the iranian revolution in 90s and now, now onto the search supreme leader. you should never be elected government, the elected government,

led by hassan rouhani. and then you have the uranium revolutionary guard which is by far the most powerful of the influences. —— iranian revolutionary guard. but there is also the revolutionary court, the tehran revolutionary court, which has control of mrs currie ratcliffe's fate. and the head of that court —— mrs zaghari—ratcliffe's fate, the head of that court has said that western media outlets have published for support. he said that no court hearing was held today and stressed that she could yet face another trial if the evidence of previous crimes is discovered. wheels and others at the same time as mr johnson has been in iran trying to lobby the government and persuaded to release her and recognise that she was not engaged in any activity designed to bring down the iranians

regime, her parents, particularly her mother and daughter, who has had to grow up away from both of her pa rents, to grow up away from both of her parents, her father back here to grow up away from both of her parents, herfather back here in to grow up away from both of her parents, her father back here in the uk where they normally live and now the daughter is staying with her grandmother while her mum is in prison. they have both been to see her. there is the daughter. was, i should say, she has grown up a bit since then, though not much. and she has been without her mum, who has beenin has been without her mum, who has been in custody the last year, think we are talking about 20 months now. mrjohnson's meeting with the president was described as helpful and they said that —— hopeful and they said that her husband, richard isa they said that her husband, richard is a very reckless, said that the visit was very important restored and his wife. —— richard zaghari—ratcliffe. and he said that they had been trying to read the tea leaves of what happened in a run of

what it might mean for her. and he said that if they have a good saturday, we might have a good sunday with the court case postponed, that has come to pass, this has been one of the good days in the past 20 months. we have had our first report of freedom with the postponement of the court case. of course, who knows what lies ahead but my hope is that the report in these days ahead might be, a full change of ideas. —— the ripple might become a full change. we feel a little bit closer and that christmas dream remains. and that is the situation with nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and the effo rts nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and the efforts at foreign secretary boris johnson has been reading to try to secure her release. labour has suggested that britain should "stay aligned" to the european union after brexit — allowing the easy movement of people and continuing payments to brussels. the party's brexit spokesman, sir keir starmer, said he wanted the uk to stay in the customs union and a version of the single market. the government says it's committed to a broad and ambitious free trade deal outside the eu.

susanah mendonca reports. a moment heralded as a landmark deal in britain's eu negotiations, but this was just the starting point for doing the deal that britain really wants with the eu, which is all about trade. and today the brexit secretary gave us a clearer idea of what the government wants that to look like. if the basic deal... i'm being very crude about this, but is canada plus the city or something like that? canada plus plus plus would be one way of putting in. the trade deal canada has done with the eu took seven years to negotiate and didn't include the financial sector, which is key to the uk's economy. but the brexit secretary says that isn't the only example he's looking at, and services would have to be included in any deal. what we want is a bespoke outcome. we will probably start with the best of canada and the best ofjapan and the best of south korea, and then add to that the bits missing, which is the services. but labour are looking towards northern europe as a model for the kind of deal it

would be after. norway isn't in the eu but has access to the single market, and pays for the privilege. labour's brexit secretary revealed he would want a similar setup to retain the benefits of the single market and customs union, but that could come at a price. norway pays money in. they do it actually on a voluntary basis. would you accept it? there may have to be payments, that would have to be negotiated. the focus now is all on getting a trade dealfor britain, but with varying opinions of what that deal should look like, and the eu unlikely to want to give the uk a better deal outside than it had inside the club, that might prove tougher than the deal that got the government to this point in the negotiations in the first place. susana mendonca, bbc news. students in england are being encouraged to study for undergraduate degrees in two years rather than three. the university's ministerjo johnson says these shorter courses will save thousands of pounds in tuition fees — even though

universities would be able to charge nearly £2,000 more in addition per year. andy moore reports. it was a conservative manifesto promise to introduce more 2—year degree courses. but implementing that plan has proved tough going. the universities say it will mean major changes to their schedules, with the prospect of the same or less money in income. by the government's own admission, the pickup so far has been pitiful, with only 0.2% of students on fast—tracked degrees. the new scheme would see students paying more for each individual year of their course, but more than £5,000 less than they would have done if it had lasted three years. it is a fantastic offer. the same quality degree, quality assured in exactly the same way, provided in a more intensive way. so instead of 30 weeks a year studying over three years, a really driven student, a highly motivated student, could pack in a5 weeks over two years. the government says each student on a 2—year course

will save at least £35,000 if you add in saved living will save at least ——£25,000 if you add in saved living costs and a year's extra earnings to the equation. and they say demand from students will persuade universities to offer the new courses. right now, the weather is also important, which is why we offered to you every half an hour here and the bbc news channel, but it is even more important when some of the country has been affected by destruction and there is potential for more tomorrow. matt taylor has the all—importa nt for more tomorrow. matt taylor has the all—important detail. the met office weather warning for heavy snow will gradually lapsed over the evening as snow continues to fall lighter, but travel disruption will be ongoing, especially as there has been a foot of snow in parts of wales. it is lighter and patchy into the evening

across wales, the midlands and parts of the south and east. still snow some places but not as bad as at earlier in the day. rain showers across the most counties. the gales we have seen slowly easing as well. through the evening, clear skies or parts of england and scotland, a few showers, more extensive through the night. some parts of scotland didn't get above freezing all day long, isil be an issue you and of course we have seen snow lying through the night through tomorrow morning. temperatures below freezing into monday morning and considering some didn't get above freezing today, we might get as low as minus 10——12 in parts. into monday morning, we've got to keep an eye on this area of low pressure as it pushes across, giving problems in france, spain and portugal but also, we have at risk of ice here. icy conditions for monday morning commute, that could be the main issue for many of you as you start the day as well as a widespread sharp frost. we could still see a bit of snow at times

through the day as that low pressure system through the day as that low pressure syste m gets through the day as that low pressure system gets lost in east anglia and the south—east. many will have a sunny day, but a few showers to to the north and west. through the ruling, still continuing to see a mixture of rain, some snow on the hills, east anglia and the south—east could see gale force winds, that will be one to watch through the day. other than that, dry, sunny, but frosty and cold. showers across cornwall, wintry over the hills, could cause issues for one or two of you and a mixture of m, one or two of you and a mixture of in, hill, sleet, snow flurries in northern ireland and snow flurries in scotland. going into monday night, showers will continue radicals, but in mind it will become pretty cold indeed. the coldest night of the week, temperatures and parts of england, wales and scotland may be as low as —12 to minus 1a. f°99y may be as low as —12 to minus 1a. foggy start introduced, one or two showers but most places will have a dry and sunny day before cloud, rain

and slightly less cold air pushes in later.