hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. up to 30cm of snow falls in some areas of the country, affecting travel on the roads and trains, leaving thousands of homes without power. the british foreign secretary has left iran without any agreement on the release of the british—iranian woman, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe. qatar has signed a £6 billion arms deal with the british defence contractor, bae systems. it includes the confirmation of a large order of fighterjets, brexit secretary david davis has warned that the uk could still refuse to pay its divorce bill if it doesn't get a trade deal with the eu. 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. no on bbc news it's time for

sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday, with me, john watson. the headlines tonight. manchester city march on towards the title and take the spoils on derby day. klopp fumes as rooney strikes to share the points on merseyside. and there's no splitting ronnie or shaun murphy in the evening session in the final at the uk championship. welcome, manchester city continue their seemingly relentless progress towards the premier league title.

there was a feeling that if manchester united could not stop them, who could. they won 2—1 underlining their dominance so far this season. tim hague reports. the roar of the crowd. and second to first, mourinho against pep guardiola, manchester versus manchester. everything in place, could the spectacle live up to the actual? there might have been an early penalty but most of the action was taking place away from the penalty area. there was even time for a catch up, yet this game would ignite. city's domination and possession rewarded just before half—time, not the person you would expect to pop—up with a set piece but david silva scored. what happened next will have left pep guardiola furious, otamendi and fabian delph failing

to deal with the ball, rashford with no such problems. but one of the men who let united back into the match cut them out again, otamendi's eventful afternoon continuing. there would have been more for the leaders, de gea great once more, yet his opposite number equally impressive, manchester united's best chances saved in quick succession by edison. league win to extend their lead to 11 points. if this was manchester versus manchester there's only one team in this city tonight. tim hague, bbc news. the question is, is the title over. an 11 point lead the manchester city over manchester united. let's hear from the managers. in a moment mourinho, first pep guardiola. impossible. we have 11 points,

difference, so happy, and thisjust in december so we have a lot of games to play but it's important for oui’ games to play but it's important for our confidence of course. probably yes but i think everyone if us, chelsea, liverpool, arsenal, everyone of us has ambition, probably, you feel it's a bit damaged because of the distance with manchester city but i think everybody's going to fight as much as possible. we will see how that leaves the table in a moment. it has been a day of derbies today. jurgen klopp incensed over a penalty awarded to everton which saw them get a awarded to everton which saw them geta i—i awarded to everton which saw them get a 1—1 draw in the derby. the weather may have been freezing but this fixture is always enough to get pulses racing. everton were on the ropes from the start.

and just before half—time, mohamed salah got the goal liverpool deserved. commentator: it's absolutely magnificent! martina outmuscled, and gay out—hustled for a superb strike on his derby debut. things were starting to heat up and it almost got worse for everton before the break. at least it would have, had sadio mane not gone for glory when others were better placed. liverpool would regret that miss when a rare everton attack gave them a late lifeline. when dejan lovren opted for a shove on dominic calvert lewin the referee incensed anfield. as the reds raged around him, wayne rooney around him, wayne rooney calmly put the ball on the spot. almost 13 years since his last appearance in a merseyside derby rooney revelled in his role of party pooper.

so everton salvaged a point so everton snatched a point and big sam left with a smile, unlike a protesting liverpool. everyone says it was a penalty, these challenges in midfield, it was not once a foul, williams did it 50 times against dom solanke. body contact, nothing else, they go to the ground, there's a penalty. we have to take that, we can't change it, our self—criticism is really, we are quite good at that! but it feels unfair, to be honest. but that's life, that's football and we will carry on. arsenal are back up to fifth in the premier league this evening as they salvaged a point from their match with southampton. charlie austin opened the scoring with just three minutes gone on the clock. a neat finish. and while arsenal had plenty of chances to equalise, they had to wait until the 88th minute when substitute olivier giroud came to their rescue.

arsenal dropping points today against southampton, this is how the table looks. city 11 points clear of second placed manchester united and they have set a new premier league record of matches won in a row in a single season. with chelsea and liverpool also dropping points this weekend it says something one fifth placed arsenal are closer to the relegation places than they are to the league leaders. scottish champions celtic nearly had their 18—month unbeaten run in domestic football ended by hibernian at easter road. it finished 2—2 at easter road, but neil lennon's hibs came so close to snatching it late on. take on celtic in scotland and it is best to block out the noise, the stats say they are

invincible and the hibs to think them they'd have to do it the hard way, celtic waited for the second half to break through but when one comes more often follow. minutes later sinclair had another, 2—0 usually means game over. if the hibs challenge was to come perhaps they would look to insider knowledge, ambrose, like his manager, has celtic history. his goal back turned the tide and three minutes later oli shaw put hibs level. a christmas treat on easter road. but now they sensed a piece of history themselves, stoppage time and a second chance for shaw. but the champions were saved with a last ditch lunge, the unbeaten tally taken to 68 but this was one of celtic‘s lucky escapes. lucky indeed. the final of the uk snooker championship between ronnie o'sullivan and shaun murphy is into

the evening session. live pictures, it's on bbc two tonight. they were tied at four friends all heading into the evening session, ronnie o'sullivan chasing his sixth uk title which would draw him level with steve davis. they have each won one frame in the evening session so far, ronnie o'sullivan taking the first, sean murphy responding, five friends all. ronnie o'sullivan currently at the table, the winner is the first to ten frames tonight. murphy with plenty to ponder, as is so murphy with plenty to ponder, as is so often the case when o'sullivan is that the table. it's on bbc two now live from the barbican. in rugby union's european champions cup, wasps were well beaten in a high scoring game away at la rochelle. the french side top their group, and scored six tries in this match, including two from levani botia as they won 49—29. wasps though did manage to score five tries of their own, despite that defeat, to take an extra bonus point.

the other game in that group was affected by the weather but still went ahead, ulster beating harlequins 17—5. saracens' match against clermont auvergne postponed. confirmation of those results, the final game of the week and hasjust began between english champions exeter, who are hosting three—time winners leinster. it's currently 8—3 to leinster early on in the second half. cricketer ben duckett‘s been suspended for the remainder of the england lions tour of australia following an ecb investigation into an incident in a perth bar. he will remain with the team for the three t20 matches the squad will play, but has been issued with a final written warning over his behaviour. he poured a drink over the head of bowlerjames anderson on thursday and was due to open the batting in a warm match for england ahead of the third ashes test.

that's all from sportsday. there'll be more sport here on bbc news throughout the evening. i'll see you later. bye bye. this is bbc news. the headlines. up to 30 centimetres of snow has fallen in some areas of the country affecting travel on roads and trains, leaving thousands of homes with no power and causing cancellations and delays at major airports. the foreign secretary has left iran with no agreement to release the jailed reddish woman nasa the gardai ratcliff. disgraced celebrity publicist max clifford has died in hospital aged 7a. he's been serving an historical eight—year sentence for sex offences —— no agreement to release the jailed dish

— iranian woman nazanin zahgari—ratcliffe. let's get more now on the news that the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has left iran without an agreement for the early release of the british—iranian woman nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe. her expected appearance in court today was postponed as a result of mrjohnson‘s visit. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins has been speaking to nazanin‘s husband, richard ratcliffe, about today's developments. tell me about the meeting but mostly what the foreign secretary was able to say. he was very clear and committed and said that seeing nazanin was a top priority and he had raised the case with everyone he had met, he did not promise he would get her out tomorrow but he said it was the top priority and he was doing what he could. and they came away much more reassured that he said he was doing all he could. he said that he would be meeting the president tomorrow and raising the case strongly and, if you look at the consequences of his meetings, she was not in court today.

it is not the same as it all being over but it is definitely a positive step. what does nazanin think? i spoke to nazanin on the phone this morning. she was relieved when i spoke to her on the telephone. more upbeat. it is ongoing, she is up and down and there are moments where she still needs reassurance from me that it will be ok but she talked about how she could see light at the end of the tunnel, she talked about please keep praying for her and hoping that we had turned a corner and it felt like the relief of not having the court case, perhaps no more bad stuff happening, that is a step towards good stuff happening. does she think she could be out soon, do you think so? are certainly think so. these things about momentum and the momentum has shifted in the last week in sydney in her favour. so shifted in the last week in sydney in herfavour. so hopefully in the days that come there is every chance that with a fair wind and more diplomacy behind the scenes, let's

hope that she is backed by christmas. is she talking about coming home? she's definitely talking about coming home at christmas. she needs reassurance from me that she will be home by christmas that she's talking in terms of what she will do with her things, she's talking about making things, she's talking about making things for other prisoners so they have something to remember her by and all those nice things you start to talk about when things feel a bit lighter. you were pretty angry about borisjohnson, how do you feel now? that's right, i said some choice things on television and he reminded me of them! it feels like it has been a good weekend, i'm looking forward to catching up tomorrow and to stick in hearing more about what has happened but it feels to me clearly that he's done his best in the past two days and that is all that i can helpful. richard ratcliffe was speaking to james robbins. students in england are being encouraged to study for undergraduate degrees in two years rather than three.