crisis in congo — a humanitarian disaster as violence and food shortages ravage the country. the un warns at least 400,000 children are at risk of starvation. 0ne—and—a—half million people have been forced from their homes. such suffering isn't the natural condition of these people. it's manmade and that is the tragedy of congo. we'll be looking at why congo has become the world's forgotten disaster and what can be done about it. also tonight. a rise in inflation to its highest for almost six years puts the squeeze on incomes just before christmas. the house fire in salford which killed three children. police say it was a targeted attack. the extraordinary story of the baby born with her heart outside her body and the groundbreaking operations to put it back. and, by royal appointment and royal cameo. the latest star wars film and the princes‘ roles in it. and coming up in sportsday on bbc news, antonio conte‘s chelsea look

to get back to winning ways in the premier league as they visit huddersfield town. good evening. we start tonight with a special report on a humanitarian crisis unfolding in the democratic republic of congo in central africa. unicef is warning that at least 400,000 children there are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and could die within a year without emergency support. it also estimates that nearly one—and—a—half million people have been displaced from their homes. the crisis is centred on the country's central kasai region where fighting erupted last year. it was sparked by the killing of a traditional leader in clashes with security forces.

since then, anti—government factions have been locked in a spiral of violence with government troops and other government—backed forces who are determined to crush them. the un says the crisis in the democratic republic of congo is now as severe as those affecting yemen and syria. 0ur africa editor fergal keane and cameraman tony fallshaw travelled to kasai. you may find some of the images in their report upsetting. in a place so green, a land so fertile we didn't expect the tragedy that haunts this road. but a man—made hunger has enveloped kasai, stalking the youngest and the weakest. nearly half a million children are at risk from severe malnutrition. at this nutrition centre run by medecins sans frontieres we met this two—year—old,

malnourished and sick with malaria, and her mother. translation: we walked for three months to get here. when i saw my daughter sick, my heart was full of sadness. children make up the majority of the nearly million—and—a—half people displaced here. it began injune last year after a local chief, kamuina nsapu, rebelled against a corrupt and brutal government. he was killed. in the terror that followed, both sides committed atrocities. a child with her leg hacked off. another slashed with a machete. translation: we were sleeping when they entered our place and asked, "who are all of these people sleeping here? we can kill all the men who are here and after killing them, we will tell our chiefs and show off about so many people we have killed in this village."

this 12—year—old weeps for her murdered father. we met her and her brothers and sisters near kananga, the main city, at a nutrition centre. a nurse points to the swelling caused by malnutrition. by pressing the skin they can assess the severity of the condition. imagine walking on these legs. translation: i love the children, i love to rehabilitate them, i love when they are healthy. when i see there is nothing left i am sick, it's bad. with the worst fighting over, people are returning to their villages. but they find homes burned, property looted. little wonder these people were furious when they stopped us on the road. translation: we ask you to help us.

we lost our children. they were killed and we fear to go to the bush. the children are starving and when we go to the bush to find food, we are killed. this soil on which we sleep is the same soil where we buried our children. we paused on the road and out of a wandering wilderness, the stories came. marie and david walked for 300 kilometres with their three young children to escape violence. marie is suffering from tuberculosis. translation: we were starving, we had no food. we headed to the main road to look for food but there was nobody, only dead bodies. we followed our son's pace but his swollen feet stopped him from walking normally. it took two weeks to reach the city but we found nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.

now they are walking home, hundreds of kilometres more. then a young woman, weakened by disease. she is being taken home to die. her name is charlotte, her mother explains. "i cannot afford to pay for medical treatment, our village was attacked and everything destroyed." here people pleaded forfood. at this food distribution only half rations were being given out. the world food programme is running out of money to feed the hungry and is warning many will die without international support. weary of years of conflict in congo and preoccupied with other crises, the world seems immune to these pleas. there are three million people needing food in kasai actually. because there are not resources enough, we have to halve the ration. is it fair to say you're being asked to play god,

to say who gets food, who doesn't, perhaps who lives and who dies? yes, i think it's a good point. and we're not ready to play that role. money that might have helped provide nutrition and health care has been stolen by a corrupt elite, aided by foreign corporations. presidentjoseph kabila smiles upon corrupt cronies, who have looted billions. this is the heart of the matter, as i put it to the governor of kasai. as a government official, do you feel any sense of shame about the looting, the corruption that has helped to bring your people to this misery? translation: you know, this concept of corruption cannot be challenged. but it should not be tied too much to congo or africa and used to justify the absence of action. the most important thing is that when you give money,

you get some guarantee that this money is used. food aid does get to the people, but the needs are vast and the politics so unstable, so undermined by corruption that new crises constantly threaten congo. this is the government—run hospital in chikapa, the second city of the province. this three—year—old has just died. fever, his mother, explains. he died of fever. he died just now. this is kasai, where children are dying from preventible diseases, their bodies weakened by malnutrition. all of this is avoidable. such suffering isn't a natural condition of these people. it's man—made and that is the tragedy of congo.

a distraught mother waits for news of her sick child. and a lullaby as tiny lungs fight to survive. just some lives out of so many here, hanging in the balance. fergal keane, bbc news, kasai. i'm joined by solomon mughera from bbc africa. so many heartbreaking images. we can see the desperate need for help but getting it there is not straightforward. absolutely. it's a vast country, second largest in africa. it's also home to the largest un peacekeeping mission. it's been there nearly 20 years now but we can see problems still persist. the peacekeeping mission being sent, it was to tackle problems in the eastern part of the

country, now you have kasai province, home to diamonds and home to 30% of the world's diamond deposits but look at what's happening there. it is poverty. instability. insecurity. tackling problems in a province like kasai and congo doesn't doesn't get a quick fix or magic solution, you have to look at the entire mix of poverty, corruption, poor governance, instability, insecurity, add to that interest and interference from neighbouring countries and from foreign countries as well. thank you. inflation has been pushed to its highest level for almost six years, thanks to rising food costs and bigger electricity bills. the consumer prices index — the measure the government uses — hit 3.1% last month. with the latest data showing that wages are growing at a slower pace it means a squeeze on household budgets — just when those christmas shopping bills are coming in.

here's our economics correspondent, andy verity. at this baker on the outskirts of barnsley, it's notjust the bread rolls that are on the rise. ingredients like butter and flour have shot up in the last year and a half, so it's had to do everything it can to make sure its costs are covered. one of the things we've done with our suppliers, we've decided to take a radical approach, which is pay all of our suppliers very early and demand better terms from them because we are paying them early, and that's helped mitigate some of the costs. if you're looking to warm yourself up in the cold weather, it's not getting any cheaper. the price of food was up by 4.4% in the year to november. hot drinks like coffee, tea and cocoa were up 5.6% and electricity costs 11.4% more than it did last year. 0n high streets like this one in glasgow, your wages won't buy as much as they would've done last year. that renewed squeeze on living standards is starting to pinch. very difficult to make ends meet these days, especially coming

up towards christmas. everything is going up. money, rent, electricity, gas, telephone — everything is going up, so we need somebody to do something about it. you see a lot of things going up maybe a couple of pennies and that, but if you're getting a few things, by the time you get to the cash desk you say — how did it come to that, you know. the upward pressure on prices comes partly from the weakness of the pound since the brexit vote, which means it takes more pounds to buy the same imported goods, and partly from a recent surge in the price of oil. the interest rate setters here at the bank of england know that inflation is now above target, but that doesn't mean there'll be an interest rate rise any time soon. the confident prediction is that inflation will come down next year and in the city, they're betting the next interest rate rise won't come until the summer of next year. the bank of england is navigating a pretty tricky course as it tries to work out how the economy is going to fare through the brexit process.

so it's being ultra—cautious and, for that reason, it's unlikely that they'll make another rate move so soon after the november one. so nothing until a bit further into 2018 and probably one rate rise in 2018, and one in 2019. the hope is that down the line the inflationary effect of the weaker pound and higher oil prices will fade and that inflation is now hitting its peak. if your wages buy less than they did last christmas, though, that's no more than a crumb of comfort. andy verity, bbc news. police say a mother and her three—year—old girl are fighting for their lives in hospital following what police are calling a "targeted attack" on a home in walkden, manchester, in which three children died. three people remain in custody, held on suspicion of murder. danny savage reports. a major crime scene where a house fire left three children dead. a home police believe was deliberately set alight early yesterday morning.

we have collected cctv from the area and now believe this to be a targeted attack on this house. we have a full team of detectives and specially trained officers working on this case. the victims were 14—year—old demi pearson who died at the scene, her eight—year—old brother brandon, and seven—year—old sister lacie died later in hospital. the head of their school says it was a senseless loss of precious life. their 35—year—old mother, michelle pearson, is in a serious condition and still doesn't know her children are dead. a fourth sibling, three—year—old lia, is still critical. back at the scene, a family friend told me how difficult it is for people living here. what were they like? all nice. kids were nice. the mum and the dad, they're all good people. i think it's a shock, it's going to affect the community for a long time.

last night, a man and a woman were filmed being arrested in connection with the fire. three people now remain in custody on suspicion of murder. it's emerged extra security had been fitted to the family home, including a special letterbox guard after previous incidents. so, painstaking work is under way to try and establish how the fire was started. details on trouble here before yesterday are sketchy, though. police won't comment on previous contact with the family because those events will be looked at by the independent police complaints commission. danny savage, bbc news, walkden, in greater manchester. a baby girl born with her heart outside her body has survived in what's thought to be a first in the uk. the baby, who is three weeks old, has undergone three operations at glenfield hospital, in leicester, to place her heart back within her chest. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, spoke

exclusively to the parents and the medical team involved. his report contains some graphic images of the baby's condition. good girl. yeah, who's a beautiful girl? their pride and joy. this is vanellope, astounding her parents and doctors with her progress. after three operations, in three weeks, her heart is now back inside her chest. vanellope's parents say the moment she was born they knew she was a fighter. she came out kicking and screaming. then she gave all the surgeons aggro, didn't she? yeah. it was a beautiful moment, weren't it? yeah. absolutely beautiful. if you saw her when she was first born, to where she is now, and what they've done, it's... beyond a miracle, isn't it? the family knew from the first ultrasound that vanellope's heart was outside her chest. you can clearly see its unusual position,

which is due to the absence of a sternum or breast bone. babies with this rare condition are usually stillborn. but immediately she emerged during the caesarean section, doctors could see that vanellop‘s heart was beating strongly. within minutes, they were preparing herfor surgery, covering the chest with a sterile bag for protection. now three weeks on, her heart is back where it should be, covered with her own skin. vanellope is going to be here for some considerable time. the next step will be getting her to breathe without the help of a ventilator. then, in years to come, she faces more surgery to create a new sternum to protect her heart. there may be strategies whereby we can put some internal boning protection in, whether that's with 3d printing, either of something plastic or maybe even something organic that might grow with her. this little girl was born in texas with the same condition

and was allowed home after three months. doctors created a special chest shield to protect her heart. audreena is now five years old and still doing well. that is the hope for vanellope. she faces a long road ahead, but has already confounded predictions. fergus walsh, bbc news, leicester. yesterday we brought you some shocking stories about the kind of behaviour young women and some men have to put up with at work. it came from a survey commissioned by the bbc, one of the largest ever conducted on sexual harassment. today we're looking at the experiences of older women, those over 55. it turns out they are half as likely to report inappropriate behaviour as younger women. in her second report, lucy manning has been to whitley bay, in northumbria, where she's been hearing from the older generation. # waking into the light #. into the light — the groping, the harassment and the assaults faced by women at work.

# waking into the light #. in whitley bay they sing, but the mostly retired choir members are also starting to talk — some for the first time. he started to put his hand on my knee and then it went further and further up. every time i went into work, when he was there, i was terrified to go in. did i misunderstand? but i knew he'd touched my bottom and then he'd stroked the side of my breast. he thought he had nothing better to do than to slap me hard on the bottom, and it stung. my husband doesn't even know. mine didn't know. no. the bbc‘s poll on sexual harassment reveals the older generation are only half as likely to have reported harassment as younger people. just 16% of those now aged 55 or over have reported an incident, compared to 30% of those aged 18—34. can you put your hands up if you didn't report to your boss

or to someone senior the sexual harassment or the sexual assault that happened to you? my boss was actually in the room. can ijust say, it was my boss. so why didn't you report it? because i thought i might lose my job, and i loved myjob. yeah, same with me. i could have lost myjob. this was the man i worked for, i had to stay on the right side of him. but nobody would have believed me either. there was no idea about reporting it and there was no idea about taking it into a formal complaints procedure. older people are now more likely to reconsider behaviour they witnessed in their careers. more than 40% of over 55s would now describe incidents they saw as sexual harassment. we didn't have the vocabulary. i would now be saying — hang on a minute, i think that's some kind of assault. but i would never have said it 20 years ago, never, because i didn't think it was.

no. i thought it was just the way you were if you were a woman. we're of a generation where women were onlyjust beginning to be encouraged to speak out. overall, the poll found most people were optimistic recent events will lead to change. nearly 70% think the revelations will cause sustained improvements in behaviour. what do you think about all these stories about sexual harassment, sexual assault in the workplace that have come out now? there are some brave women who have started the ball rolling. it will always continue. men will always feel that they're superior to women. and you don't think that the massive publicity that we've had recently will in anyway change that? i don't think so. oh, i think it will. i think it's hopeful. it's been changing for a while now. it will never stop. they can't put the lid back on the box now. i'm sure it's educating men. i wasjust going to say that, annie, absolutely. do you think it's something that all women of your generation had to put up with, when you speak to friends and relatives? oh, yeah.

when you talk to just about everybody. there were lots of people in the choir who didn't want to come into a public forum who've said things to me — oh, that happened to me, but i don't want to discuss it with anyone. this is the generation who had to put up with harassment at work, who can't believe it's still happening today. lucy manning, bbc news, whitley bay. the owner of a dog which attacked and wounded children in a playground in northumberland, has been jailed for four years. the court heard that the staffordshire bull terrier had carried out previous attacks and the owner, claire neal, had been ordered to have the dog put down, but it escaped and attacked 12 children at a park in blyth, leaving some needing skin grafts and stitches. police are appealing for witnesses and any dash—cam footage

as they investigate the death of a woman who was struck the 29—year—old victim was hit by a lorry on a pedestrian crossing, before she was thought to have been struck by another lorry and two cars. none of the drivers stopped after the incident in tulse hill yesterday. the american state of alabama is holding a vote today which could see a republican candidate elected to the us senate, but one who's facing numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, including against a 14—year—old girl. roy moore, a 70 year—old christian conservative, has been endorsed by president trump, despite the claims which he denies. if he loses, it would be a blow to mr trump's authority and could affect his ability to pass legislation. from alabama, nick bryant reports. just when you thought american politics couldn't get any weirder, judge roy moore rides to the polling station on horse back and then sets it to music. he's come to personify the polarisation of this manic political age. to his female accusers, he's a sexual predator who molested teenage girls in his 30s.

to his fans, he's a crusading evangelical, a firebrand populist in the mould of donald trump. i want to make america great again with president trump. i want america great, but i want america good and she can't be good until we go back to god. moore fiercely denies the allegations of sexual misconduct and his supporters have adopted the new default position of the politically embattled, they're crying fake news. all of a sudden, here come the allegations — blah, blah, blah — from a0 years ago. that makes it highly, highly, highly suspect in my mind. oh, that's nothing but a bunch of fake news. things that happened so long ago, there's such a thing as redemption. though many senior republicans have refused to back roy moore, he has a cheerleader in donald trump. for the president, it's morally uncomplicated — to advance his legislative agenda, he needs a republican in the senate. so get out and vote for roy moore.

do it, do it. i mean, i literally broke down in tears over all of this. these republicans can't bring themselves to vote for roy moore, they've defected to the democrat, doug jones. it's because i'm a republican. it's because i'm a christian. it's because the party i belonged to does not support people like roy moore. alabama was a great battleground of the civil rights era, this too is a climatic defining struggle. this has become so much more than a senate race, it's a battle for the soul of the republican party between the establishment and more radical populous forces. it's a test of whether any allegation is disqualifying in modern—day public life here, and it's an indication of the extent to which donald trump has changed america's political culture.

in this age of upsets, could this republican state go democrat? nick bryant, bbc news, alabama. last night was the coldest this year and if you live in shropshire you'll have known all about it, it was down to minus 13 celsius in one area. the freeze has led to fresh disruption for travellers and hundreds of schools were closed for a second day running. from shawbury, in shropshire, sima kotecha sent this report. a bed of snow with freezing conditions — across parts of the midlands it's not been easy, icy roads and extremely cold temperatures. for the children, though, it's been another day off school. we've been obviously sledging, snowball fights. we've been like building snowmen. yeah. here in shropshire, more than 200 schools were closed, and in gloucestershire and herefordshire almost

100 remained shut. it is pretty difficult trying to find them things to do. you know, keep them occupied. when you've got childcare issues and you're working full—time then, obviously, it would be disruptive to you because obviously the schools are closing on a day—to—day basis and you're not knowing until that last—minute. obviously, it's very disruptive to the home. well, it's bitterly cold here, the temperature is around minus four celsius and there's no sign of this snow melting any time soon. as night falls, the temperatures are expected to plunge even further. in the west midlands, it was a similar story — more schools closed than open. some councils have been criticised for advising them not to re—open even though many roads have been cleared. so the initial advice, last friday, was to all schools to close. we have now changed that advice to say the decision should be made locally, depending on whether you can get school transport to the school and whether or not it's safe to do so in consideration of the roads

and other conditions. more than 200 homes in the region were without power this morning. tomorrow is likely to present its own challenges. with rain coming in from the west, some of the snow will be turned to ice, making roads and pathways even more slippery. sima kotecha, bbc news, shropshire. it was the royal premiere of the latest star wars movie earlier this evening, a0 years since the first movie that spawned one of the most successful film franchises in history. princes william and harry were on the red carpet and — in a first for the royal family, in the movie, but you'd be hard pressed to spot them. 0ur entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, reports. this film contains some flash photography. the stars of star wars, cinema royalty, on the red carpet with actual royalty.

princes william and harry, such fans of the saga, during filming, they secretly played cameos as stormtroopers, much to the excitement of the cast. it was great, fantastic. fantastic. phenomenal. and they've done an official visit as well. they got in an x—wing and all that kind of stuff. it was fun. alljust one more indication of the impact the series has made since its return. one key factor in the recent success of star wars has been the expansion of its own universe, with respect to on—screen representation of both race and gender. i think if movies start a conversation, it's a wonderful place for a reflection of societial changes, hopefully and progress. action. shot here in the uk at pinewood studios, the films are amongst some of the most expensive ever made, ensuring they connect with 21st century audiences is crucial. it's five years since some questioned the wisdom of disney paying around $4 billion for lucasfilm and the right to keep

making star wars films. the first new movie made $2 billion at the global box office. now the deal is looking like one of the better hollywood bargains. telling a wonderful story, creating characters that people care about — we pay attention to all those things inside these movies and hopefully, then shareholders and business and everything that goes along with it are happy. but we always start with that. the strategy has ensured continuing adulation from fans and helped disney consolidate its position as hollywood's top studio. lizo mzimba, bbc news. newsnight is coming up on bbc two. here's emily maitlis. tonight, £235 million has been allocated to rehouse grenfell tower residents. six months on from the fire, why are so many still without homes? join me now on bbc two.