this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: doug jones get the seat in a major blow to the republicans in the election in alabama. we have shown — notjust around the state of alabama but we have shown the country — the way that we can be unified! however, the republican party contender, roy moore, has refused to concede defeat — telling supporters to wait. and in what appears to be an olive branch from the trump administration, they say they are ready for talks with north korea. traders around the world are waiting on the conclusion of the federal reserve meeting in washington where its widely expected the us central bank will raise interest rates again. so, with the american economy improving and wall street powering ahead — we'll be asking who should take the credit:

president trump or outgoing federal reserve chair, janet yellen? a warm welcome to the programme — briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. facebook is hitting back at a former executive who has openly criticised the social media giant. does facebook need to defend itself? or, do you agree with the executive that says it is ripping society apart. tell us what you think — just use the hashtag bbcthebriefing. it's the senate race that has both captivated and appalled america.

now, in a major upset, democrat doug jones has beaten his republican opponent in the deep—red state of alabama. it was a narrow win — the difference was less than 1% in a state which has reliably voted republican for decades. his beaten opponent, roy moore, was a hugely controversial figure — accused of being a bigot and a potential sex offender. many will also see this as a defeat for president trump who had strongly backed roy moore. he has so far refused to concede victory to his democratic rival, and he told supporters to go home and await the official results to be returned. let's hear from the victor doug jones first. alabama has been at a crossroads in

the past and fortunately, we have usually taken the wrong fork. tonight, you took the right one, ladies and gentlemen. applause chanting: usa! you as a! u s a! -- usa. ona on a personal level, i mean this, i wa nt to bank each and every one of you for it me achieving a lifelong dream of serving the united states of america in the senate. it has been my dream. thank you for that. (cheering and applause)

.as (cheering and applause) . as we (cheering and applause) .as we approach this (cheering and applause) . as we approach this crossroads, we have worked to do. we have worked to do in this state. to reach those who didn't vote for us and try and find oui’ didn't vote for us and try and find our common didn't vote for us and try and find oui’ common ground. didn't vote for us and try and find ourcommon ground. iam didn't vote for us and try and find our common ground. i am pledging to do that tonight. but i will tell you, tonight is a night for rejoicing. as doctor king liked to quote, the moral art of the universe is long but it be as to whatjustice “ arc. “ is long but it be as to whatjustice -- arc. -- it is long but it be as to whatjustice —— arc. —— it veers towards justice. tonight, ladies and gentlemen, tonight, tonight, tonight in this town, in this place, you helped bed that moral arc a little bit closer to justice and you'd did that moral arc a little bit closer tojustice and you'd did it. ——

bend. you set it right through the heart of the great state of alabama. thank you all!, i love you! thank you, thank you and god bless you and god bless the great state of alabama and the united states of america. cheering and applause. let's now hear from defeated republican candidate, roy moore. i really want to thank you for coming tonight and realise that when the vote is this close, it is not over. we have still got to go by the rules and the secretary of state has explained it to us and we are expecting that the press will go up there and talk to them to find out what the situation is. but, we also know that god is always in control. you know, part of the problem with

this campaign is we have been patented in an unfavourable and unfaithful light. we have been put in our whole, if you will. and it reminds me of a passage. "i waited patiently for the lord." and he heard my cry and brought us also out ofa heard my cry and brought us also out of a horrible pit and set my feet on the rock —— feet. and put a newf song on our mouth. —— new. fiat, hear it and you should be moved by that, if you will. —— see it. that's what we have to do, wait on god and let this process play out. that was roy moore, of the republicans, who, as you can hear, is under willing to accept the outcome.

david willis is our correspondent in washington. a very interesting outcome of this key election in alabama. how big a blow is this to the republicans and two donald trump? ——2 donald trump. it isa it is a big blow. as if this compelling race wasn't compelling and tawdry enough, roy moore, the vanquished, refusing to concede the result, as you havejust vanquished, refusing to concede the result, as you have just mentioned. he urges his supporters to go home and wait for the full counting to be done. now, under alabama and wait for the full counting to be done. now, underalabama law, if the result and the margin of victory if less tha n result and the margin of victory if less than half a percent, it is incumbent on the secretary of state to hold a recount. the defeated candidate mr moore would finance his

own right —— recount and that would be from his own. that is very unlikely to change the outcome and the thought is, this vote will be certified and doug jones will take his place in the senate as the representative of alabama. yes, the whole race, if you like, has been marred with controversy, stemming primarily from those allegations of sexual assaults that were levelled at will and more. sexual assaults that were levelled at willand more. one sexual assaults that were levelled at will and more. one involving a woman who was said to be 11! years old at the time. mr moore had been ahead in the opinion polls, even in some polls, right until the end. this outcome will have surprised many in the republican party, including donald trump who was a cheerleader for roy moore, even

though he didn't greatly go to the state of alabama to campaign on his behalf. he nonetheless was vocal on twitter in expressing support for the formerjudge. well, this result therefore being seen as an indictment on donald trump as much as it is on the unsuccessful candidate therein alabama, roy moore. we will return to the story later in the programme with more reaction from alabama. the us government says it's prepared to offer north korea an "unconditional" first round of talks in what appears to be an olive branch from the trump administration regarding the isolated regime's nuclear weapons programme. however, secretary of state, rex tillerson added america would first require a "quiet period" without fresh nuclear or missile tests on pyongyang's part. stephen mcdonell has the latest from seoul. since the most recent north korean

ballistic missile test, washington appears to have softened its stance. the trump administration says it is now offering pyongyang first round of talks without preconditions. in what is described as the beginning of the process of engagement. let's just meet. and let's... we can talk about the weather if you want. we can talk about whether it's going to bea can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you are excited about. but can we at least sit down and feature the face—to—face? about. but can we at least sit down and feature the face-to-face? the united states secretary of state did say that for this meeting to take place, america would require a quiet period without fresh north korean nuclear or missile tests. however, he appeared to suggest that denuclearisation would not have to be on the table, at least initially. it's not realistic to say we are only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your

programme. they have too much invested in it. the president is very realistic about that as well. it comes as north korea's leader has urged to make his country the world's strongest nuclear power. he was attending a munitions conference in the north korean capital. however, a senior united nations envoy who has just returned from pyongyang says a key message he received from north korea was that the isolated regime, above all, does not want conflict. washington has given beijing certain assurances regarding its troops are based here in south korea. the us secretary of state says it has told china that is, forany state says it has told china that is, for any reason, american soldiers should cross the border into north korea, that they won't stay. perhaps this is something that the leaders of south korea and china might discuss when they meet this week. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, seoul.

let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. scientists say the region around the north pole shows no sign of returning to its once reliably frozen state. the annual assessment by scientists from the us national oceanic and atmospheric administration says the rapidly warming arctic indicates that its environmental system has reached a "new normal". firefighters in los angeles say a wildfire which swept through bel—air, one of the city's most exclusive neighbourhoods, started in a homeless encampment. the fire is one of several that has destroyed hundreds of homes and forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate. scientists in britain have suggested that bumblebees are much more intelligent than had previously been supposed. the bees were given the task of finding the most efficient routes between different sources of food and — farfrom bumbling — learned to avoid tempting traps and to refine their flight paths between flower—feeding stations. so, they are notjust a cute, they

are extremely smart. in business briefing, our two top stories come from the us. walt disney is reported to be close to confirming a deal to buy 21st century fox's entertainment assets for about $60 billon. and the federal reserve meets in washington where its widely expected the us central bank will raise interest rates again. jane foley, senior foreign exchange strategist at rabo bank joins me now. which one do you want to talk about, both will be so interesting. which one do you want to talk about, both will be so interestingm shows a change in environment for the film industry and shows how two companies have gone through this with completely different intentions. for instance, disney just wants to get bigger and fox it seems, wants to get smaller and nimble. it is how they will compete over the next couple of decades

against big rivals like amazon and netflix. it is interesting to think of fox getting smaller and more nimble. he had rupert murdoch at the top which was —— who was, as you yea rs top which was —— who was, as you years ago, seemingly taking over everything. they will focus on sport and news that he puts his foot in and news that he puts his foot in and played a flag in disney because he will get a lot of those shares. from that point of view, some commentators are saying it is a deal that suits everybody. jane will be back and we will talk later as well in the business reefing so plenty of interest in that. —— fed. the latest star was filmed feels the royal force at its european premiere. they will john lennon was shot at the entrance to the dakota building, in the centre of new york.

there's been a crowd here standing in more or less silent vigil. and the flowers have been piling up. the 14th ceasefire of this war ended at the walls of the old city of dubrovnik. this morning, witnesses said shells were landing every 20 seconds. people are celebrating the passing of a man they hold responsible for hundreds of deaths and oppression. elsewhere, people have been gathering to mourn his passing. imelda marcos, the widow of the former president of the philippines, has gone on trial in manila. she's facing seven charges of tax evasion. she pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wales are to separate. a statement from buckingham palace said the decision had been reached amicably. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: it looks like there has been a

change in us policy on north korea, rex tillerson saying he is ready for talks without preconditions. and our top story — a huge political upset for donald trump as the democrat party wins the alabama senate election. for more on this story i'm joined live from alabama by ginger poynter, a lawyer and doug jones supporter. thank you very much are joining us. iimagine you thank you very much are joining us. i imagine you are celebrating this outcome but it's only a small, small margin that he has buyer. yes. i am very, very proud of the people of alabama for standing up for on indecency, that party politics is not who we are. we want to restore

honour and decency to our country and this is a first step to do that after donald trump was elected, which made it seem like all was lost, and we are getting our footing back. roy moore is saving weight until every back. roy moore is saving weight u ntil every vote back. roy moore is saving weight until every vote is counted. he is hanging in there and not conceding at this point. we knew he wouldn't. if doug jones had won by a huge margin, idon't if doug jones had won by a huge margin, i don't think roy moore would have conceded. what difference will this make to alabama having doug jones in the senate? well, now we have a man who puts party politics aside, there has moral courage. to fight for all the people of alabama. doug jones has a proven track record at fighting for the little man. now we have a senator

who believes in science, who will protect the environment for children. who will not take healthcare away from millions of people who depend on it. we will fight the little man, who will not give tax breaks to the rich. this is a great day for alabama. i hope that in two years when he runs again, the people for alabama will remember this victory and re—elect him. people for alabama will remember this victory and re-elect him. we appreciate your time, thank you for joining us. in a few hours should —— inafew joining us. in a few hours should —— in a few hours, turkish president erdogan will chair an emergency meeting of moores the leaders to talk about the us decision to recognise jerusalem as talk about the us decision to recognisejerusalem as israel's capital. the organisation of islamic cooperation's 57 members have already expressed ‘deep regret‘ over president trump's announcement. shortly after in strasbourg: the european court of human rights

is expected to hear an appeal on its decision condemning moscow over its repeated arrests of russian opposition leader alexei navalny. and later, in berlin, angela merkel will meet the leader of germany's social democrats, martin schulz, to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition government. mr schulz had previously vowed he wouldn't work with mrs merkel‘s conservatives again. he now says his party is ready to talk about a so—called grand coalition. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm tulsen tollett — coming up in your wednesday sport briefing. manchester city head to swansea looking to make it 15 consecutive premier league wins, real madrid are in club world cup action and former world heavyweight champion tyson fury is free to return to boxing after accepting a backdated doping ban watch out for cartons of milk and flying drinks bottles — manchester city are heading to swansea city on wednesday! the premier league leaders have been criticised by the red half of manchester for their celebrations at the weekend. will pep guardiola care?

probably not. his side are 11 points clear at the top and are strong favourites to win the title. as far as he's concerned though there's still work to be done. we show we are able to do good things of bigger stages and that doesn't give you the guarantee, the guarantee is going to happen in the future, nobody knows, because there can be injured players, bad conditions, bad moments so we will see. city's game is one of 7 premier league fixtures — there are also 5 bundesliga matches later. as if that wasn't enough football to look forward to, real madrid are in action. the reigning european champions are taking on aljazira in the semi—finals of the club world cup in abu dhabi. real are looking to match barcelona as record three—time winners. not a single current player was born the last time england won a test at the waca.

so, no pressure then with less than 2a hours to go until the third ashes test gets underway, australia start as strong favourites to win in perth and regain the famous urn. the history books say it all — england have been thrashed on their past seven visits to the west of the country. they'll need to get a draw to have any hope of winning the series. whether we win, lose or draw, whether we play well play rubbish, the effort for the guys as a group of men who are just desperate to do well. trevor with practice sessions after 3.5, four hours says you've got to stop, you're wasting energy, you've got to save it for the test match. two late goals from crystal palace athome to watford has taken them out of the relegation zone for the first time this season. marco silva's side had been set to collect all three points but it was roy hodgson's team who struck late with goals from bakary sajko and james mcarthur after tom cleverly was sent off tyson fury‘s victory over vladimir klitshko was one

of boxing's big shock stories. now, the british boxer is free to resume his career after accepting a backdated two—year doping ban. fury was charged in 2016 with using a banned steroid, but blamed the result on eating uncastrated wild boar. tuesday's ruling means the former world heavyweight champion is free to fight again once he regains his boxing licence. back to the football , manchester city and manchester united are both in action on wednesday but the dust is still to settle after the two sides heated bust—up in the tunnel following city's victory. but united managerjose mourinho spent much of his press conference on tuesday discussing the row ..rather than their oponents bournemouth ..something he said was disrespectful. you don't respect them, you don't think they are a team capable of doing well? no respect for them or

the players? you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me tulsen tollett, and the rest of the sport team, goodbye. for star wars fans the wait is nearly over. the eighth episode in the franchise, the lastjedi, gets its cinema release on friday. but last night the film's stars, including british actors daisy ridley and john boyega, were on the red carpet in london for its european premiere. our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, was there. 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.

the last generation the ninth story in the saga. i'm from the czech republic and it is a great story. it is special for me. what is star wars to you? it is everything, really. it's almost a way of life, i think. van power like this has driven the franchise for a0 years and is also the reason why many expect this film to make more in the final two weeks of 2017 in any of the film makes in the entirety of this year. this is at the back of a former

executive of facebook, i apologise for pronouncing your name wrong, saying that facebook is ripping society apart. facebook has jumped to its own defence. many of you agree with the former executive. social media is brainwashing many who don't have the educational knowledge to know what is going on in the world, says one. mimi in bournemouth says she deleted her facebook account and does not miss it. it is greater reconnecting people, she says, however the importance of looking like you have a life is a big negative. so many more comments. we will mention of it later. although the weather is going to be

a little less cold than what we had recently, we still have a problem with some snow and ice in the next few days, particularly over the high ground and we start wednesday that much of england and scotland, some ice. that is because overnight rain will clear up eastwards and allow skies to clear. that is the asked risk —— the ice risk. but very soggy wednesday morning to much of scotland and northern ireland, lots of smoke. temperatures of 5— seven degrees. less cold than the last few mornings. the rain will push into northern england and wales. a similar picture with its snowmelt here. the rain falling. it gives rise to a lot of standing water. the treacherous conditions. further east, dry. so that is wednesday

morning. it looks like the rain across northern and western areas will spread eastwards. some heady bursts on this front as it reaches central and southern parts of england. quite breezy as well. plenty of sunshine actually moving in. a whole rash of showers to scotland, northern ireland. increasingly wintry. further south, 9-11 increasingly wintry. further south, 9— 11 celsius. that weather front clears array and we are looking towards the next rash of showers. again, some of this could be falling snow. maybe down to lower levels for a time. it could be that some of the high—level routes could have some buying snow and disruption. again, watch out for rice. thursday, a cold day then wednesday generally. further blustery showers. could be that central scotland could see some

area of snow through the day. you will notice 3—x to seven degrees celsius. that low pressure clues. it opens the floodgates to the arctic. northerly wind plunging south. much colder weather again to the end of the week. plenty of sunshine by day. and a return to overnight frost. this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. another record high on wall street as the american economy continues to do well — so is the federal reserve poised to raise interest rates further? and clearing its debts — toshiba settles a lengthy legal dispute that would allow it to sell off a key business to cover billions of dollars of losses. the alabama outcome has spooked

investors to a tiny degree because what does that mean for the white house now and donald trumpno commission to pursue tax reform and other key changes that market wants?