this is bbc news. i'm vicki young. the headlines at 11:00 — a rise in inflation to more than 3% — its highest for almost six years — puts the squeeze on incomes. police say a house fire in the worsley area of salford, which killed three children, was a targeted attack. a baby girl born with her heart outside her body undergoes groundbreaking operations to put it back. and on the newsnight tonight, £235 million has been allocated to rehouse grenfell tower residents. excellence on from the fire, why are so excellence on from the fire, why are so many still without homes? ——6 months on from the fire. good evening and welcome to bbc news. 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. on 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. police are appealing for witnesses and any dash—cam footage as they investigate the death of a woman who was struck in a suspected multiple hit—and—run in south london. 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.

a woman has died following a massive gas explosion that destroyed her house in leicestershire. it happened on monday in birstall near leicester. the home of, janet jasper who was understood to be in her late 70s, was reduced to rubble by the blast and other houses nearby were badly damaged. an investigation is under way to find out what happened. the owner of a dog which attacked and wounded children in a playground in northumberland, has been jailed forfour 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 twelve children at a park in blyth leaving some needing skin grafts and stitches. it's been another day of freezing cold disruption across the uk with hundreds of schools remaining closed and drivers facing difficult journeys as the icy conditions continue. the met office has issued a yellow warning for ice, with the worst affected areas likely

to be scotland and the north of england.temperatures were down to minus 13 celsius in shawbury, in shropshire, last night. from there, 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. 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. this report — from our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba — 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 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. 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. that's a summary of the news, newsday is coming up at midnight — now on bbc news it's time for newsnight with. nojustice — no peace! tonight — the council has allocated more than £200 million for grenfell residents. so why is it taking so long to find people new homes? we have to be patient. moving into a new place

is a whole other thing. it has to be something i can turn into a home. we'll discuss housing and the public enquiry with a solicitor representing 13 families and an expert in how to run housing like this. also tonight, brexit will be great for animals — declared the environment secretary today. of course we must do more, and we will. we will make sure that in law there is appropriate protection for animals which recognises that they are sentient, that they can feel pain, and that it's our responsibility to make sure their welfare is protected. why are the tories so keen to prove their love of our four legged friends. and what does it say about the party's political positioning? we'll discuss. and... the lastjedi will dominate the papers tomorrow. what did they really think of the latest star wars incarnation?