hello this is breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin. a baby girl born with her heart outside her body has survives — in what's thought to be a first in the uk. doctors carry out three operations on venellope wilkins to correct the rare condition that is usually fatal — her parents say she's a realfighter. if you short —— saw now from where she first is, to what i done, it is a miracle. —— what they've done. good morning, it's wednesday 13th december. also this morning, a shock defeat for donald trump's favoured candidate in a senatorial election — as the democrats claim victory in alabama for the first time in 25 years. energy bills and the price of fuel look set to rise this christmas because of problems with the supply of oil and gas.

i'll be taking a closer look later. good morning. burnley enter the champions league spots as they go fourth with a late win at home to stoke city. is this the droid they're looking for? the princesjoin big names and fans for the premier of the latest star wars film. i think it isjust a i think it is just a cracking good story. swashbuckling, goodies versus baddies, that is what makes it so great. and matt has the weather. good morning. first, our main story. a baby girl, born with her heart outside her body, has survived in what's thought to be a first in the uk. vanellope hope wilkins, who is three weeks old, has undergone three operations at glenfield hospital, in leicester, to place her heart

back within her chest. our medical correspondent fergus walsh spoke exclusively to vanellope‘s parents and the medical team involved. good girl, yeah. beautiful girl. they are pride and joy. this is venellope, astounding her parents and doctors with her progress. after three operations in three weeks heart is now back inside her chest. venellope‘s parents say the moment she was born they knew she was a fighter. she came out kicking and screaming. it was a beautiful moment. absolutely beautiful. if you saw her when she was first born, to where she is now, and what they've done... it's a miracle, isn't it? the family knew from the first ultrasound that venellope's heart was outside her chest. you can clearly see its unusual position, which is due to the absence of a

stern or breastbone. babies with this rare condition are usually stillborn. but immediately as she emerged during the caesarean section, doctors could see venellope's heart was beating strongly. three weeks on her heart is back where it should be, covered with her own skin. venellope 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 then, in years to come, she faces more surgery to create a new sternum to protect her heart. - faces to protect her heart. she faces a long road @'* the first democrat in 25 years to win a us senate seat for alabama.

but the republican candidate, roy moore, has so far refused to concede the result. our correspondent david willis has been following the story from washington. this has been a hard fight, hasn't it? give us a sense of what happened and why it happen? very much so. a very ha rd and why it happen? very much so. a very hard fight indeed. this is a stunning victory for the democrats, doug jones. his republican rival, roy moore, the formerjudge, had enjoyed a lead in the polls even in most of those polls after the allegations of sexual assault against several women had come to light. mr moore dismissed the allegations as but it seems they we re allegations as but it seems they were enough to keep many mainstream conservatives in that deeply conservatives in that deeply conservative southern state away from the polls. —— dismissed the

allegations as fake news, but it seems. donald trump had backed roy moore, so this result, his defeat, is being seen as a snub for the president as well. it also narrows the republican majority in the senate, potentially making it much more difficult is for mr trump to the violence his political agenda. roy moore has refused to concede defeat. he said the counting process is still going on and the result is very tight. he may decide to contest it, but there is very little doubt that even if he does, tonight represents a remarkable victory for the democratic candidate here, though the democratic candidate here, thouthones. the democratic candidate here, though jones. —— doug jones. there are more than 700 schools in england that have been struggling to improve for years, that's according to the chief inspector of schools. amanda spielman says this includes more than a 100 which for more than a decade have never been rated as "good" by ofsted. the government says it's targeting additional help at areas that are struggling.

social media companies should face fines or prosecution if they do not deal with online abuse. that's according to a report from the ethics watchdog, the committee on standards in public life. it examined online harrassement of mps during june's general election. currently social media companies say they cannot control the millions of messages that go up. theresa may is facing a potential backbench rebellion later when mps vote on amendments to the eu withdrawal bill. a group of tory mps, led by former attorney general dominic grieve, want to force ministers to give parliament a meaningful vote on any final brexit deal. our political correspondent ben wright is in westminster this morning. good morning. and we have had some rebellions in the past on this issue. is this one different to what we have seen before? it is. there is a good chance the government might lose this later on in the house of

commons, which is something that hasn't happened so far. while this huge piece of legislation, the eu withdrawal bill, crawls its place —— crawls its way through parliament. the government have headed off any defeats in the commons by making concessions lately in the day, and pleasing rebels, or potential rebels, on the tory benches, enough to avoid defeat. this feels different today. the issue we are talking about is the extent to which there will be a legally binding guarantee, written into law now, that at the end of the brexit process , that at the end of the brexit process, mps and peers will get a meaningful vote on the final brexit deal. in other words, they will get to scrutinise the deal, potentially send ministers back to try to negotiate a better one, if mps are unhappy with it, but that is the guarantee that mps are looking for from the government. we are talking about labour, opposition parties, potentially about 20 conservative mps potentially about 20 conservative mstoining forces potentially about 20 conservative mps joining forces to try to defeat the government on this later today. all through the day we will see

bargaining and concessions and the government trying to win over those potential tory rebels, but we will not know until this evening whether they succeed or not. it matters, because this could determine the endgame of brexit, when we get to parliament in about a year ‘s time. the extent to which mp will be able to say yes or no to the final deal. —— mps. thank you, then. another big brexit ahead. the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, says america is willing to hold direct talks with north korea without pre—conditions. his statement appeared to be a change from previous demands that pyongyang must end its nuclear programme first. however, mr tillerson did say they would only hold talks if there is a period without nuclear and missile tests. in north korea, state media reported that the country's leader, kim jong—un, had vowed to make his nation "the strongest nuclear and military power in the world". instead of being open for passengers, euston station will welcome 200 homeless people for lunch on christmas day.

no trains will run from there until after boxing day, instead the concourse will be filled with volunteers from network rail and charities st mungo's and streets kitchen. that is a great christmas story. like something at the end of a hollywood film which would never really happened. but it is going to happen, at euston station. there you go. for star wars fans the wait is nearly over. the eighth episode in the franchise, the lastjedi, gets its cinema release on thursday. 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. sinali, who is doing the sport today, has never seen a single second of any star wars film. a warning, this report from our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, contains 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. and everything that goes along with it are happy. we always start with that. the lastjedi is the ninth star wars film since the saga began a0 years ago. it didn't scare me enough then. there's a huge degree of expectation among fans. what is star wars to you? star wars is everything, really. something i've always obviously been interested in. it's almost a way of life, i think. i think it isjust a cracking good story, it is all swashbuckling, it is goodies versus that is, i think thatis is goodies versus that is, i think that is what makes it so great.

fan 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 than any other film makes looks good, doesn't it? the reviews look amazing as well. i am genuinely... it is one of my ambitions, and life, i know that this is sad. to be in star wars? no, just have a full storm trooper outfit. laughter . well, if somebody hasn't brought you a christmas present yet... they are ridiculously expensive. well, quite a lot goes into it. and i am 6—foot six. quite a lot goes into it. and i am 6-foot six. well, i am sure... aren't you a little short phrase storm trooper? sorry. you know too many lines. i am trying to educate sinali, she has never seen any of them. it has become like a challenge now, not to see it. i'm sorry. do you know about the whole. .. now, not to see it. i'm sorry. do you know about the whole...|j now, not to see it. i'm sorry. do you know about the whole... i was

too busy watching things like the fresh prince of la. fair enough. but you can watch uncle phil and darth vader at the same time. you can watch uncle phil and darth vader at the same timelj you can watch uncle phil and darth vader at the same time. i was too preoccupied. sorry. ifeel like i need to apologise. i don't feel like you need to apologise, ijust feel you need to apologise, ijust feel you are missing out. it may be not. we can give you the dvds for christmas. i have them on vhs. i can dig ata christmas. i have them on vhs. i can dig at a vhs player somewhere. we are not trying to shame you this morning. there is nothing wrong with that. it's fine. ishould morning. there is nothing wrong with that. it's fine. i should be ashamed, shouldn't i? let's talk about the sport. nothing in to be ashamed of you. only in the top four. in the champions league spots i'iow. four. in the champions league spots now. not a bad season at all. ashley barnes scored the only goal of the game. chelsea sit one place above them after their victory at huddersfield town. crystal palace are out of the bottom three for the first time this season. they scored twice late on to beat a io—man watford. england captainjoe root says it's time for his team to stand up ahead

of the crucial third ashes test in perth. australia lead the series 2—0 and will regain the ashes if they win this test. england haven't won in perth for nearly a0 years. and former heavyweight world champion tyson fury says he has anthonyjoshua in his sights. fury is free to box again after accepting a retrospective two—year doping ban. he tested positive for a banned steroid in 2015 and accepted a compromise from uk anti—doping which means he can return to the sport. he does have to get his licence back. formalities there. matt is out and about because tonight is the peak night of... i'm not sure how you say this? geminid meatier shower. hundreds of shooting

stars, if they are clear. and you don't need one of these to see it. that morning, matthew. good morning. you certainly don't need a telescope like this, it gat d :,:fi: li? a.£.’.i, 5; ii? iii areas more dry and bright to begin the day. what you will also note is across the country this morning is that there is more of a breeze, especially the further west you are across the country. for northern ireland, north—west england and parts of wales there will be heavy showers through the morning. they will rather least, followed by sunny spells as well. now, through the

morning we will see showers from west to east, heavy at times, some sleet and snow mixed with the rain especially over the higher ground. more on the way of snow in the hills with showers into the afternoon as they become that it heavier at times. dusty winds in the south—west and the north. to pitches up on what we have seen in recent days. a bit on the cooler side, where the snow is lying across central areas. into the evening, heavy showers to begin with, pushing it. a bit of cover over the hills. some clear skies into the night for those who are trying to spot some meteors, especially in southern and eastern parts of the country. some gaps in the cloud in the west, but the showers keep coming, turning increasingly wintry to sleet and snow, especially over higher ground at times at lower levels as well. with clear skies in between there is the risk of ice in the morning, especially where the ground is wet. summery it should be a brighter day across eastern areas. frequent showers in the west. especially for north—west england, scotland and northern ireland and into the

south—west of england. strong and gusty winds in the south and west of the country as well. some eastern areas, only a few showers around. many will be dry but it will be feeling colder again. temperatures will drop relative to today and they will drop relative to today and they will drop relative to today and they will drop further as we go into friday. when swinging towards a more northerly direction. that means the northerly direction. that means the north and east of scotland and north—eastern and are most likely to see showers. some of those will be on the wintry side. to was the south—west freak showers as well, as in northern ireland. in between many places will have a dry and bright day on friday but it will feel chilly in the breeze. the breeze will strengthen throughout and it all turns into a cold start to the weekend. certainly after the clear skies of recent nights, if you are hoping to spot 80 meteors, and there isa hoping to spot 80 meteors, and there is a good chance of doing so with the naked eye, you will have to just bear with the weather a little bit. there will be cloud at times, but clear spells as well. the best of those clear skies will be to the east of high ground. we'll be finding out more about attempt to make this morning, but for now, back

to you. the front pages. this story is amazing. she was born with her heart outside of her body. doctors have saved her and put her heart back inside her body. extraordinary. 0ne of the few people to live with this operation. we will speak to one of the doctors soon. she was going to be born on christmas day, and she is named penelope. the times. jean—claude junker brought into named penelope. the times. jean—claudejunker brought into a scandal over wiretapping. facing a criminal enquiry. that is the main story. this is daisy ridley who plays rey in the lastjedi. those are pictures from the london premiere taking place in london. the

daily telegraph. households and motorists being told gas prices could rise. you will talk about this later. yes. thank you. i love this picture. so many pictures from the star wars premiere. the princes inspecting the troops. do any of you use frozen items as part of your christmas dinner? like peas? frozen parsnips, yorkshire puddings, stuffing... no. no. "no, no, no." i cannot even heat up a pizza, to be honest. what is your role? i get

hung over. bake off. igniting a frozen stuffing debate. and ring the web giants to heel. facebook and twitter helped in this campaign. the major official ethics watchdog said they were the biggest factor in harassment. the guardian. talking about big companies. british airways, the royal bank of scotland, porsche, they paid corporate intelligence firms to monitor political groups challenging their businesses. this is john political groups challenging their businesses. this isjohn boyega who was in star wars. lovely. what have you got? not the best news in business today. prices going up, i

am afraid. the latest inflation figures out yesterday. this tells you how much the cost of living is going up by. yesterday it hit a five—year high of 3.1% in november. that is to do with food prices and transport costs pushing up the price of living. i will talk later about the bills at home as well. energy bills and so on. they will go up. always typical at this time of year. and also fuel for your car. but to counter that with a bit of fun he news. do you know how you can get money on youtube? this six—year—old boy has become one of the biggest earners i'iow, boy has become one of the biggest earners now, making $11 million in a year from playing with toys on youtube. so, basically, he plays with toys... this is ryan. he

reviews them. he is earning $11 million a year. wow! where did it all go wrong? katie taylor the boxer will make history tonight, to become the first woman from new gum ireland or the the first woman from new gum ireland orthe uk to the first woman from new gum ireland or the uk to headline in bethnal green. —— the uk or ireland. in the pep guardiola and jose mourinho issue, should they celebrate, debate, the japanese art of sumo has been brought in. you never know who won because they have such respect for each other. never know who won because they have such respect for each otherlj never know who won because they have such respect for each other. i love that. excellent. that is an excellent picture. talking about christmas. this story is

fascinating. the oldest christmas decoration you have. what is it? we put upa decoration you have. what is it? we put up a picture of me and santa when i was five. it is quite embarrassing. i have an old—fashioned tree embarrassing. i have an old —fashioned tree decoration. embarrassing. i have an old—fashioned tree decoration. it is like a old—fashioned tree decoration. it is likea bird. old—fashioned tree decoration. it is like a bird. it could be from the late 50s. i nearly got rid of it yesterday. i have a dancing santa. this family have christmas tree lights. they got them from 1969. they are still working without having to replace a single bulb. they cost £3 at woolworth‘s. having to replace a single bulb. they cost £3 at woolworth's. good old woolies. we all miss it. beautiful. sorry... why don't you

send us pictures of your old christmas tree decorations? your 50—year—old bird. christmas tree decorations? your 50-year-old bird. i am not 50! fraudsters. we will talk about that. fraudsters target thousands of britons every year, but banks say they have prevented their customers from losing around £9 million by working more closely with local police. that is just a small portion of the total amount lost to fraud every year but the new system is helping many people to keep hold of their cash. simon gompertz has been finding out how it works. a rolls—royce. some people have their heart so set on getting one that things like this are prime bait used by criminals to get hold of your cash. when i came into this bit of inheritance, i thought, when i came into this bit of inheritance, ithought, right, i a lwa ys inheritance, ithought, right, i always wanted a rolls—royce. it is a

dream car. they are so comfortable and so easy to drive. barry fox in essex had a lucky escape, thanks to swift action from his bank when he went to withdraw the money to buy another fictional rolls in an ebay scam. the fraudsters tried to lure him into bringing cash to a pickup in the middle of the countryside. what was the danger? you might have gone bad... i might have gone there with £10,000 in my pocket and have been knocked over the head with a stick or something. no car there at all. when barry popped into his local bank and asked for £10,000 in cash, there was immediate concerned about it. now, banks often find it difficult to explain to customers that they might be being scammed, but under the new arrangements, they were able to call 999, quote banking protocol and get a police officer around here within half an hour. while in the branch,

the police checked out the car. the situationjust did not seem right... it wasn't where it should have been. it was registered in bristol. they check the business details against ebay. it was the correct business name, but the contact details did not match. banks say they've stopped customers being defrauded of £9 million ina year. however, that is just the ones going into branches. £100 million has been lost injust six months by people unwittingly paying fraudsters online. this is good news for those who use their branch. anything the banks can do to help them is good news. more and more of us bank on line and certainly have to bank on line because bank branches are closing. so we want to see more done to protect consumers from being scammed online.

automatic, preowned. but with the internet still playing a big part, it is worth being wary if asked to pay in cash. i would tell people, if they want cash, don't buy. the bank—police tie—up which meant barry did get his dream car will soon be in place across the country. simon gompertz, bbc news comic —— news, in essex. time now to get the news, travel, and weather, where you are. we will see you in a few minutes. good morning from bbc london news. i'm alpa patel. a london mp claims that some residents are being "exploited" by landlords who charge large maintenance fees with no explanation and fail to carry out essential work. seema malhotra, the labour mp for feltham and heston, says she's received a large number of complaints about service charges, which are paid by most leaseholders for the upkeep of communal areas. she's calling for a parliamentary investigation, and stronger

legislation. he needs to be more clear about what landlords can put on leases, about what is fair, and that should be in writing so that residents know what should be expected. police investigating the murder of 18—year—old, jason isaacs, in northolt three weeks ago have made two more arrests. jason was stabbed multiple times during a night out with friends on saturday the 18th of november. one of the two teenagers detained yesterday is still being held, while the other has been released under investigation. detectives say the suspects for the murder were four people riding mopeds and that some people will know who they are. a £20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the prosecution of jason's killers. a small piece of a 130—ton fatberg discovered in sewers will go on display at the museum of london. the curator believes the toxic sludge of sanitary products, grease and sewerage will make a "fascinating and disgusting" exhibit showing the history of the city through what londoners flush away. the whole fatberg, which was long

enough to reach across tower bridge, was broken into pieces and extracted from sewers in october using a large hose. pretty disgusting, isn't it? let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tube, the district line is part suspended between wimbledon and parsons green due to power supply problems. and the usual engineering work on the london 0verground. lots of train problems to tell you about. 0n great western railway there are replacement buses between bourne end and marlow. there's a bus replacement on west midlands trains between st albans—abbey and watford junction due to a faulty train. delays and cancellations on greater anglia trains via wickford due to overhead line problems. let's have a check on the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. in comparison to this time yesterday, it is not feeling as gold. it is rather grey, however, and rather damp. the further north you go, you are likely to experience ice. the met office has a yellow weather warning for the north of

london in the home counties. elsewhere, a wet start. breezy today. light rain and drizzle throughout. the maximum temperature, between four and seven celsius. not especially mild. overnight tonight, the showers good for wintry over high ground. staying quiet blustery as well. not dropping down too far, 3-a as well. not dropping down too far, 3—a celsius. tomorrow, a mixture of bright spells, some sunny spells, also one or two showers around as well. still quite breezy, that south—westerly breeze, and the temperature similar as well. a maximum tomorrow of 6— seven celsius. more cool towards the suburbs to be as we go towards friday, the northerly wind takes control again. the return of sunshine. staying cold during the day and frosty at night for the weekend. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. now, though, it's back to bbc breakfast. hello, this is breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin.

it's 7.30. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning, we'll hear the amazing story of three week old vanellope hope wilkins, who is thought to be the first british baby to survive after being born with her heart on the outside of her body. also, why this week's freezing temperatures pose a lethal risk for those who are suffering from loneliness and what we can do to help vulnerable people through the winter. ebenezer scrooge! come in, man! a christmas carol as read by simon callow — he'll be here to explain why charles dickens' classic story still resonates today. good morning. here's a summary of this morning's main stories from bbc news. a baby girl, born with her heart outside her body, has survived

in what's thought to be a first in the uk. vanellope hope wilkins, who is three weeks old, has undergone three operations at glenfield hospital, in leicester, to place her heart back within her chest. the condition, ectopia cordis, is extremely rare, with only a few cases per million births. her parents have described her as a fighter. doug jones has become the first democrat in 25 years to wind a us. senate seat for alabama. it follows ato senate seat for alabama. it follows a to campaign against republican roy moore, who has so far refused to concede the result. —— eight bit campaign. president trump congratulated jones on a hardfought victory. there are more than 700 schools in england that have been struggling to improve for years, that's according to the chief inspector of schools. amanda spielman says this includes more than a 100 which for more than a decade have never been rated as "good" by ofsted. the government says it's targeting additional help at areas that are struggling.

theresa may is facing a potential backbench rebellion later when mps vote on amendments to the eu withdrawal bill. a group of tory mps, led by former attorney general dominic grieve, want to force ministers to give parliament a meaningful vote on any final brexit deal. the prime minister has said that ministers are listening to the concerns of conservative mps. thousands of children in the democratic republic of congo are severly malnourished and could die within a year without emergency support. that's according to the united nations, which has declared the crisis as the highest state of emergency. nearly one and a half million people have been displaced from their homes following violent clashes that began last year. social media companies should face fines or prosecution if they do not deal with online abuse, according to a report from the ethics watchdog. the committee on standards in public life. it examined online harassment following june's general election.

currently, social media companies say they cannot control the millions of m essa g es say they cannot control the millions of messages that go up. take a listen to this. piano music. it's a world record. it's the most number of people playing a piano piece at the same time. 20 bosnian youngsters have set the record with the performance in sarajevo. the previous record was 18 people playing the same piece simultaneously in italy in 201a. you just do not have the space, so they have to lie on top of the piano. excellent. it on them. you couldn't really do it with adults, couldn't really do it with adults, could you? couldn't really do it with adults, could you ? you couldn't really do it with adults, could you? you need those little hands. and they were taken to much space. that is how you play the piano, in case you're wondering. you couldn't do it with 20 dan walkers,

couldn't do it with 20 dan walkers, could you? although you are more than fully grown. i'm five foot one. that is unfair. you are both perfect, all right? thank you. some people are blessed with looks and height, you know what i mean. send us some height, you know what i mean. send us some pictures of people that are. what have you got us this morning? are we talking about me? they are in the top four after a victory at home. the first time since 1975, home. the first time since1975, apart from the beginning of the season when they played chelsea. so it is brilliant. champions league spots. the burnley manager sean dyche says football is about dreams as his side move into the top four of the premier league after a 1—0 win over stoke city. a late goal by substitute ashley barnes put them into the champions league places. they climb above liverpool and arsenal who play this evening. the reality is, we've got another tough game on saturday. we are enjoying this, of course. the

players have earned the right to enjoy this. but the next game comes quickly on saturday and that's my focus. i'm really pleased with the lads tonight, a different way of finding results and we had to work ha rd finding results and we had to work hard for a tonight, grinding it out. but thursday, we will look to recover, and we look to the next one. reigning champions chelsea are the side above burnley. their manager antonio conte thinks they've got no chance of retaining their title but they easily beat huddersfield 3—1 last night. pedro scored their third. and crystal palace are out of the bottom three for the first time this season after they scored twice in the final few minutes to beat watford. palace were a goal down but wilfried zaha and james mccarthy turned it around after watford had a man sent off. there are seven games in the premier league tonight including swansea against league leaders manchester city, and second place manchester united versus bournemouth. but united managerjose mourinho spent much of his press conference yesterday discussing the row after sunday's derby against city, rather than tonight's opponents — something he said was disrespectful.

you don't respect them? you don't think they are a team capable, to do well? you have no respect for the players? we haven't heard the end of it, have we? england captainjoe root says it's time for his team to "stand up" ahead of the crucial third ashes test in perth. australia lead the series 2—0 and will regain the ashes if they win at the waca, where england haven't won for nearly a0 years. with problems on and off the field root says the pressure is on the senior players. whenever you get the chance to play for england you want to stand up and be counted and put in those big promises. when it is as big a game as this can senior players probably are under more pressure than the other guys. it is important that we go out there and, i suppose, try not

to put too much pressure on ourselves. but know that that responsibility is there. tyson fury is free to carry on his boxing career after accepting a backdated two—year ban for doping he has not fought since he became the world heavyweight champion in 2015 but lost the title he says he wants to when he tested postive for a banned substance, something that he blamed on eating wild boar. he can fight again once he regains his boxing license. johanna konta has been speaking for the first time since parting with wim fisette, the coach that oversaw the most successful period in her career. she'll now work with the american michaeljoyce and is excited about the partnership. 0bviously obviously it is still early days. we will see how things go. we'll see how things go, here's not only bringing a great amount of coaching experience, he was also a great player. he brings a lot of experience from his playing days which are definitely looking forward to learning from. the former bath and toulon boss mike ford has emerged as an early contender to replace jim mallinder after northampton saints sacked him

as their director of rugby. mallinder was in charge for over ten years making him the longest serving top flight boss, a period which saw them win the premiership and european double in 201a. but the board decided to make a change after saints' loss to 0spreys last weekend. a few of you might have had to get the spades out to deal with the snow. well, down at non—league hereford they've been using them to make sure their fa cup replay against fleetwood town goes ahead tomorrow night. the winners play premier league leicester so it's a big game and fans have been taking on the elements to keep it on. here are the results. doug jones has become the first democrat in 25 years to win a us senate seat for alabama after a bitter campaign against republican roy moore. the 63—year—old former prosecutor's victory is a major political upset for president trump. joining us from washington now is the american political analyst eric ham. always great to have you on the

programme. thank you for coming on. how is this victory for mrjones, how has it gone down? this is actually a seismic sea change that we are seeing. we are looking at one of the most red states in the united dates. alabama is a deep red state in the south. actually, we have not seen a democrat wind at the national level in more than 25 years. —— seen a democrat win. so it looks like we are seeing a chink in the armour of president trump. we know that he is a lwa ys president trump. we know that he is always talking about his base being always talking about his base being a loyal base, that he could go out and shoot somebody on the streets of new york. and they would still be with him. but tonight, it seems as though his base just with him. but tonight, it seems as though his basejust simply with him. but tonight, it seems as though his base just simply was with him. but tonight, it seems as though his basejust simply was not there, and we actually got a democrat who was elected. so it is almost like david slaying goliath. this was something that many people didn't think would happen. even the

democratic party was in shambles in the state. they didn't have the infrastructure. doug jones was able to actually build this and actually build the infrastructure. we saw a turnout greater than even what president barack 0bama got from the black vote. this was a seismic sea change for the democrats. a major loss and a huge embarrassment, but the donald trump, but also for steve bannon, his former adviser. was it a nasty campaign? quite a fuse blows being thrown around, would there? —— quite a few slurs. it was nasty in the sense that the allegations being thrown around about roy what the bad, but don'tjones ran a campaign where he focused on the issues. in fa ct, where he focused on the issues. in fact, if you listen to his victory speech tonight, he didn't mention roy moore at all and he didn't even mention donald trump. he actually

focused on bread—and—butter issues, issues that would be of importance to the african—american community, and largely to women, two major constituent groups which actually catapulted him to the tree. i think what you are going to see as a blueprint for how democrats will look to compete going into 2010. do you think, eric, given what you have said about how doug jones won this talking about local issues, for those in alabama, do you think many people would say, hang on, this was a national vote, and might do that in correctly? i do believe that while this was a local race, i do think it became nationalised. i think it became nationalised. i think it became nationalised. i think it is because of the donald trump effect. donald trump is a larger—than—life personality trump effect. donald trump is a la rger—than—life personality and trump effect. donald trump is a larger—than—life personality and i think many will who would have perhaps voted for doug jones were voting as a sort of rebuke to donald trump. and of course there were

those, especially if you look at the rioting —— the write—in candidate, that was an unusually high number. it was more than a marginal victory for doug jones. i do believe there we re for doug jones. i do believe there were those who are simply not co mforta ble were those who are simply not comfortable with the accusations of paedophilia with roy moore, but also, i think, paedophilia with roy moore, but also, ithink, with paedophilia with roy moore, but also, i think, with those who supported doug jones, they were actually in support of the democrats and were looking to send a message both to washington and more importantly to donald trump. eric, great to talk to you. that was about how doug jones has become the first democrat in a quarter of a century to be nominated as these senator in alabama. now, stargazers, if it is clear tonight, should be able to see hundreds of shooting stars in the sky is tonight, in the geminid

meteor shower, which will be reaching its peak. matthew is that the royal observatory in greenwich this morning to tell us about it. good morning. we are in the telescope dome. if you wa nt to we are in the telescope dome. if you want to see the meteor showers, you will not need this. you would just need clear skies. what are the geminid meteors? they are debris from a passing asteroid, which passes the earth every 1.a years. as they vaporise, they light up the sky. you could see anything between 50- sky. you could see anything between 50 -100 sky. you could see anything between 50 — 100 meteors every hour. bejust need clear skies. i cannot promise that for everyone. the best chance

is in eastern areas. today's weather. and icy start. not as cold as it has been in recent days. if we ta ke as it has been in recent days. if we take a look at what is happening this morning, many parts of the east will be dry, quite messy and murky inafew will be dry, quite messy and murky in a few spots. showers pushing in. showers more frequent in north—west england this morning. heading across the pennines by nine o'clock. many showers in central and western parts of scotland. some of them on the wintry side. rain and showers in western areas this morning for most of you rather than snow. temperatures lifting. breezy in northern and western areas this morning. making things chilly. temperatures in the south—west, 11 degrees. a bit of patchy rain in the

midlands in central and southern england. temperatures only a few degrees above freezing this morning compared to the double digits we have seen further west. to go through the rest of the day, showers pushing from west to east. some heavy. sunshine in between. lively downpours and squally winds. pushing towards the south—east for the evening rush—hour. with that, snow on the higher ground. showers north and west getting wintry. for most, temperatures more high than recently. tonight, eastern areas best favoured for the clear skies. evening showers. showers continuing for western areas through the night. turning to sleet and snow. notjust on the hills, but lower levels as well. the air, thursday, a touch of frost. eastern areas tomorrow, dry

and bright. more sunshine around. showers most frequently in the west. windy asked towards wales in south—west england as well as the english channel. —— winds heaviest. going back towards a northerly direction on friday. today is a slightly less cold day, but cold weather is not far away. a mixture of rain and sleet and hail and snow. 0n of rain and sleet and hail and snow. on friday, most will have a dry day. a frosty night will follow. the weekend starts cold but bright for many. that is how the weather is looking. a quick fact. the dome here is actually made from aluminium now, but originally was instructed believe it or not from papier—mache. what a fact! see you later. please

address all facts to louise. all this week we've been finding out why singing is good for the soul and asking why we all love a sing—a—long for our bbc breakfast sings series, and now the spotlight is on us. dan, lou, naga, charlie, steph, mike, and me will take centre stage at manchester's bridgewater hotel tonight to sing a christmas classic. right now we have no idea what we'll be singing and won't find out until after today's programme has finished. no, sorry, bridgewater hall. i'll go to the hotel, you have the hall. we've been attemtping to hit those high notes with the help of the choirmaster himself, wayne ellington from manchester inspirational voices. this is your bbc breakfast choir group in action. iam very i am very nervous. i am very nervous. we have been attempting very hard. sing... good. if anyone can help us,

this is the man. ok... is a little bit nervous... la, la, la. iam enthusiastic but nervous. ahh. the challenge is to sing with the choir. i will be hiding at the back. he will be right at the front with eve ryo ne he will be right at the front with everyone looking at you.|j he will be right at the front with everyone looking at you. i will sing and you follow me. ding, dong, merrily on high... away in a manger.

..and angels singing. have yourself a merry little christmas. the wrong note! oh, ok. little donkey, little donkey... mary, did you know that your baby boy... i am worried. you will be fine. you will be fine. baby boy... i cannot sing unless i am denting. so i am like "on a dusty road!" take a deep breath in for me... and breathe out. yes! one line

down! no crib for a bed. perfect. you'll be fine, absolutely fine. yeah! perfect! perfect! you will be great. thank you. wonderful! i can sit down and relax the pillock cheers. see you on the big night. i knew it would be bad. my worst fears were confirmed. mike. he is brilliant! you were also good. small

steps. anyway, little donkey, what have you got for us? i have been practising that so much. had are you? only because i feel like the challenge is on. —— have you. you? only because i feel like the challenge is on. -- have you. you need to sing and dance at the same time? i have a terrible cough just about to happen. you and i both. and now, the energy crisis. it's all to do with supply. let's take petrol and diesel first. the issue is that a crucial pipeline in scotland is going to have to close for up to three weeks for repairs. that's longer than was originally expected and caused an immediate spike in the oil price. it is expected to go up another 2p at christmas. this was yesterday. a

processing industry in austria suffered a catastrophic explosion. tragically, one person was killed in that explosion and dozens injured. that facility is one of the main entry points for russian gas into europe. the supply of gas has now been affected by this. what does this mean? steve irwin is from the portland fuel consultancy. good morning. good morning. let's go back to the beginning of the first graph we saw. petrol prices. a bit ofa drop graph we saw. petrol prices. a bit of a drop at the beginning. it is going up now. why is that? the end of november, they decided to continue with the output production cuts through to the end of 2018, next year. that started pushing up prices. 30— a0%. next year. that started pushing up prices. 30- 4096. just explained,

opec, the prices. 30- 4096. just explained, 0pec, the oil—producing exporters. they produce the daugherty. yes. -- the majority. the market was oversupplied. but it has pushed up prices. this issue with the pipeline means supply is limited from the north sea which is where we get the brent crude prices. that determines prices. when we see that price go up, it means inevitably it will feed into what we are paying at the pumps. inevitably, yes. we already saw a rise because of 0pec in november. that will filter through over the next few weeks. the pipeline issue will add around another penny. on that point about opec another penny. on that point about 0pec and why they limit supply, this is because they want the price to go up. yes. they are producing it, so the more money they get, the more

money they make. the us has started producing a lot of oil through shale fracking wells they have dug, which brought that supply onto the market. opec brought that supply onto the market. 0pec were taking some production off to balance that which led to the prices rising this year quite substantially, over 20%. prices rising this year quite substantially, over 2096. that is what is going on with oil what about gas and what is happening? a rise in wholesale gas and how much the energy companies are paying for it. yeah. this will not affect electricity prices. not immediately in the retail market, at least. hopefully, this will be a short—term event. a gas facility had an explosion, as you mentioned. that provides a lot of gas to italy. it is affecting the italian market more than the uk, but it will temporarily affect utilities and little bit

until it is up and running again. ——a until it is up and running again. --a little until it is up and running again. ——a little bit. until it is up and running again. "a little bit. at this until it is up and running again. --a little bit. at this time of year it feels everything goes up. --a little bit. at this time of year it feels everything goes upm certainly. it is bad news right before christmas. 0il certainly. it is bad news right before christmas. oil price rises will feed into the pumps around christmas with people having other events going on. thank you. can you sing, events going on. thank you. can you by events going on. thank you. can you sing, by the way? no. don't worry, i will not make you sing little donkey. thank you. my cough is back. she is definitely thinking of pulling out. the nation does not need to have me singing. you cannot be good at everything, lou!” need to have me singing. you cannot be good at everything, lou! i don't wa nt be good at everything, lou! i don't want to! people are saying they are laughing on their sofas this morning. perhaps i have to take that... i would morning. perhaps i have to take that... iwould rather swim morning. perhaps i have to take that... i would rather swim with

jellyfish! we will be fine! we will laugh it out. you cannot pull out. you told everyone you will be there! no fake coughing! we were talking about man flu yesterday. and now for the news, travel, and weather, wherever you are watching. don't you dare. see you soon. good morning from bbc london news. i'm alpa patel. a london mp claims that some residents are being "exploited" by landlords who charge large maintenance fees with no explanation and fail to carry out essential work. seema malhotra, the labour mp for feltham and heston, says she's received a large number of complaints about service charges, which are paid by most leaseholders for the upkeep of communal areas. she's calling for a parliamentary investigation, and stronger legislation. it needs to be clearer

about what landlords can put in leases, about what's fair, about what the service—level agreements are, and that should be in writing so that residents know what should be expected. police investigating london's taxi industry is urging the government to take urgent action to protect passengers from so—called cross—border hiring. taxi drivers who have been refused licences in london are still able to operate here if they have a licence elsewhere in the country. a small piece of a 130—ton fatberg discovered in sewers will go on display at the museum of london. the curator believes the toxic sludge of sanitary products, grease and sewerage will make a "fascinating and disgusting"

exhibit showing the history of the city through what londoners flush away. the whole fatberg, which was long enough to reach across tower bridge, was broken into pieces and extracted from sewers in october using a large hose. let's have a look at the travel situation now. between wimbledon and parsons green due to power supply problems. 0n the tube the district line is part suspended between wimbledon and parsons green due to power supply problems. and the usual engineering work on the london 0verground. lots of train problems to tell you about — on great western railway there are replacement buses between bourne end and marlow. there's a bus replacement on west midlands trains between st albans—abbey and watford junction due to a faulty train. delays and cancellations on greater anglia trains via wickford due to overhead line problems. let's have a check on the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. well, in comparison to this time yesterday, it is not feeling as cold. it is rather grey, however, and it is rather damp. now, the further north you go, you are likely to experience ice. and the met office has a yellow weather warning for the north of london and in the home counties. elsewhere, though, a wet start. breezy today. wind strengthening, and light rain and drizzle throughout. the maximum temperature, between four and seven celsius.

not especially mild. overnight tonight, the showers could fall wintry over higher ground. staying quiet blustery as well. not dropping down too far, 3—a celsius. tomorrow, a mixture of bright spells, some sunny spells, also one or two showers around as well. still quite breezy, that south—westerly breeze, and the temperature, very similar as well. we're looking at a maximum tomorrow of 6—7 celsius. a bit cooler out towards the suburbs. as we go towards friday, the northerly wind takes control again. the return of sunshine. staying cold during the day and frosty at night for the weekend. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. hello this is breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin. a baby girl born with her heart outside her body has survived — in what's thought to be a first in the uk. doctors carry out three operations on venellope wilkins to correct the rare condition that is usually fatal —

her parents say she's a realfighter. if you saw her when she was first born to where showers now and what they have done... beyond a miracle, isn't it? good morning, it's wednesday 13th december. also this morning, a shock defeat for donald trump's favoured candidate in a senatorial election — as the democrats claim victory in alabama for the first time in 25 years. the water regulator 0fwat is about to reveal how much our water bills can go up by after 2020 — and it's going to say they'll rise below the rate of inflation. i'll have all the details later. good morning. burnley move up to fourth place in

the premier league after a late win at home to stoke city. is this the droid they're looking for — the princesjoin big names and fans for the premier of the latest star wars film i think it'sjust a cracking good story. it's swashbuckling, it's goodies versus baddies, that's what makes it so great. and matt has the weather. good morning. iam good morning. i am talking about stars as well, at shooting stars. the geminid meteors are peaking in the skies above us. will you be able to see them? and i have the forecast for today, the warmest day of the week. plenty of showers around but a bit of sleet and snow later. good morning. first, our main story. in what's thought to be a first for doctors in the uk, a baby girl has survived after being born with her heart outside her body. vanellope hope wilkins, who has no breastbone, was delivered three weeks ago by caesarean section. she has had three operations

to place her heart back in her chest at glenfield hospital, in leicester. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, spoke exclusively to vanellope's parents and the medical team involved. good girl, yeah. beautiful girl. their pride and joy. this is venellope, astounding her parents and doctors with her progress. after three operations in three weeks, her heart is now back inside her chest. venellope's parents say the moment she was born they knew she was a fighter. she came out kicking and screaming. it was a beautiful moment. absolutely beautiful. if you saw her when she was first born, to where she is now, and what they've done... it's a miracle, isn't it? the family knew from the first ultrasound that venellope's heart was outside her chest. you can clearly see its unusual position, which is due to the absence of a sternum or breastbone. babies with this rare condition

are usually stillborn. but immediately as she emerged during the caesarean section, doctors could see venellope's heart was beating strongly. three weeks on, her heart is back where it should be, covered with her own skin. venellope 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. she faces a long road ahead. but has already confounded predictions. an amazing story. we'll speak to one of the consultants from glenfield hospital who has been treating vanellope at just after 7:30. in a major political upset

in america, doug jones has become the first democrat in 25 years to win a us senate seat for alabama. it follows a bitter campaign against republican roy moore, who has so far refused to concede the result. president donald trump congratulated doug jones on a hard fought victory. there are more than 700 schools in england that have been struggling a stunning victory for the democrat doug jones. his republican rival, roy moore, a formerjudge, enjoyed a lead in the polls, even after the allegations of sexual assault against several women had come to light. roy moore dismissed those allegations as fake news, but it seems they were enough to keep many mainstream conservatives there in the deeply conservative southern state away from the polls. donald

trump had himself back roy moore, so this result, the defeat of roy moore, is being seen as a snub for the president as well. it also narrows the republican majority in the senate. potentially making it much more difficult for mr trump to advance his political agenda. roy moore, i might add, has refused to concede defeat. he said the counting process is still going on and the result is very tight. he may decide to contest it but there is very little doubt that even if he does, tonight represents a remarkable victory for the democratic candidate here, doug jones. there are more than 700 schools in england that have been struggling to improve for years, that's according to the chief inspector of schools. the government says it's targeting additional help at areas that are struggling. good afternoon. so this is english?

children at st. peter's secondary school in huntington in cambridgeshire. in 2016, saidjudged the school in adequate in some areas and it was put on special measures after yea rs of and it was put on special measures after years of problems. 18 months on, it has been turned around and is now ranked as good in most fields. amanda spratt edelman, ofsted's chief inspector of schools in england, visited st peters this month and is full of praise for what has been achieved. —— amanda spiegelman. but not all schools do so well. 0fsted says there are 50 second schools and 80 prime whistles in inward which have not beenjudged to be good at any point since 2005. —— primary schools in inward. to be good at any point since 2005. -- primary schools in inward. for12 yea rs -- primary schools in inward. for12 years they have not been good at any point in that. a child typically spends five years in secondary school. so we are onto a third

generation in those schools who have never experienced being good school, we shouldn't be happy with that. but the teachers unions say that the stigma of about 0fsted report can often push as —— a school into a negative spiral, where parents do not want to send their children there and the recruitment of teachers becomes hard. they also say many schools are underfunded. the government says it is spending £280 million to get extra help to schools in designated extra opportunity areas, including providing extra training for teachers. theresa may is facing a potential backbench rebellion later when mps vote on amendments to the eu withdrawal bill. a group of tory mps, led by former attorney general dominic grieve, want to force ministers to give parliament a meaningful vote on any final brexit deal. 0ur political correspondent ben wright is in westminster this morning. it seems that when we talk about rebellions, and we have done that lots, this is a significant one.

potentially, yes. it is all about the numbers. the tories do not have a majority in the house of common so it only takes a few conservative mps tojoin labour in a vote for it only takes a few conservative mps to join labour in a vote for the government to be defeated. so far that has not happened to theresa may because ministers have been good at offering concessions at dicey moments and swerving away from trouble and potential rebellions and defeat. but today might be different. the issue, of course, is brexit. the fundamental question of what role parliament should have, once the negotiations are done in about a year's time, in shaping the final brexit deal. labour, opposition parties, and crucially, about 20 tory mps, are insisting that they now want a legally binding guarantee that parliament will have a meaningful vote at the end of that whole process, and be able to shape and approve the terms of the final brexit deal. that is what is at sta ke brexit deal. that is what is at stake today and throughout the day the government will be trying hard

to persuade tory mps not to rebel, not to vote with labour, and already david davis, the brexit secretary, has written to all tory mps this morning insisting they have already promised there will be a vote on the final deal as soon as negotiations are over. will it be enough? we'll find out this evening. a defeat for the government would be absolutely massive, a very big blow. social media companies should face fines or prosecution if they do not deal with online abuse. this is according to a report from the ethics watchdog, the committee on standards in public life. it examined online harassment of mps during june's general election. currently, social media companies say they cannot control the millions of m essa g es say they cannot control the millions of messages that are going up. instead of being open for passengers, euston station will welcome 200 homeless people for lunch on christmas day. no trains will run from there until after boxing day, instead the concourse will be filled with volunteers from network rail and charities st mungo's and streets kitchen.

quite a change from the normal atmosphere, when everybody is waiting anxiously from the train, staring at those screens. the platform goes up and everybody makes a dash for it. it will be completely different. didn't stay a film that scene from born? 0r different. didn't stay a film that scene from born? or is that at waterloo? i will have to check. for star wars fans the wait is nearly over. the eighth episode in the franchise, the lastjedi, gets its cinema release at midnight tonight. 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. a warning, this report from our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, contains 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. and everything that goes along with it are happy. we always start with that. the lastjedi is the ninth star wars film since the saga began a0 years ago. it didn't scare me enough then. there's a huge degree of expectation among fans. what is star wars to you? star wars is everything, really. something i've always obviously been interested in. it's almost a way of life, i think. i think it isjust a i think it is just a cracking good story. it is also a buck in, goodies versus story. it is also a buck in, goodies versus baddies, i think that is what makes it so great. —— it is all swashbuckling. fan 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 than any other film makes in the entirety of this year. lizo mzimba, bbc news.

that is great. you are right about born, i checked. that is great. you are right about born, ichecked. it that is great. you are right about born, i checked. it was waterloo.” can see it in my memory. good film knowledge. england's top nurse is warning that the freezing temperatures we've seen this week pose a lethal risk for people who are suffering loneliness. professor jane cummings is the chief nursing officer for england. she says we can all help to keep vulnerable people safe this winter and joins us now. we are talking about the cold and also loneliness. tell us about cold temperatures. just recently we have a cold snap and that can have an impact on people's health? yes, it can have a city the content packed. we found that heart attacks increase very quickly after a cold snap. about five days later people are often admitted with strokes, and 12 days later they get significant respiratory illness. so heart attacks can account for something

like ao% attacks can account for something like a0% of the additional deaths we see over the winter. stay in warm during this cold weather is important. that is interesting. we are also talking about loneliness. we talk about it a lot here on brea kfast. we talk about it a lot here on breakfast. tellers are the impact you think it has on people's health? social isolation and feeling only has an impact notjust on people's physical health but also their mental health and well—being. about 9 million people across england say they are lonely for most of the time. that is more than the population of london. the commendation of feeling lonely, may be becoming depressed, not taking action earlier if you are feeling unwell, that can have a massive impact on how you feel. really, really important that we give people an opportunity to pop in and go and say hello to neighbours or loved ones, get a cup of tea, check whether they have got their house or

their flat to warm. see if they need any help to have food or a hot drink. those simple acts of kindness can have a massive impact on people's physical health and well—being. people's physical health and well-being. it is a very sad figure, this. three quarters of gps say they see up to five people per day who have come in mainly because they are lonely? 0nly last night i was talking to three gps from london. they said it happened to them. people want social interaction and many go to their local gp. simple things like making sure they know who they can get in contact with, if they have friends orfamily who contact with, if they have friends or family who can contact with, if they have friends orfamily who can pop in and see them, give them a ring, it makes a huge impact on lives. what about if you are one of those who genuinely feels the pain of loneliness? it can make you feel more vulnerable and

unable to go out. what is your advice? for people that feel vulnerable, it is about knowing there is help available, knowing they can speak to their neighbours, friends, family. and, actually, if they are able to go out, if they start to feel unwell, go to the local pharmacist, go and make sure if they start to get a cold, a cough, they take some action and get some help and seek out advice from people like the pharmacist that can really help them. there are also different helplines, there is aiduk, and there people available that can provide support. this call to action is forfamily, provide support. this call to action is for family, friends, provide support. this call to action is forfamily, friends, those provide support. this call to action is for family, friends, those who can take the time to think about someone who may not even be old, quite young, just feeling lonely and needing a bit of attention over the next few months. we know there has been more funding announced in the

budget to help the nhs through winter. will that help? will that be enough? how do you feel we are placed to cope with this this winter? we started planning for this winter? we started planning for this winter much, much earlier than we have ever done before. there has been a significant amount of work that has gone into getting ready for winter. we have extended the ability for people to see their general practice, gp, we are extending that from eight in the morning to eight in the evening across england over the next few months. in london, for example, it is already available, every day, from eight to eight. we have opened additional beds. we have looked at hotlines. people can ring up looked at hotlines. people can ring up and get access to a clinical call handler, nurse, advanced paramedic,

who can give them better advice. we have increased that to 36% getting access to those clinicians. we have access to those clinicians. we have a lot of wraparound to make sure people can get the best advice as quickly as possible to keep them well and enable organisations to cope over the winter months. thank you. thank you. if you have just turned on, if wednesday is your first day watching, we are singing tonight. all this week we've been finding out why singing is good for the soul and asking why we all love a sing—a—long for our bbc breakfast sings series, and now the spotlight is on us. dan, lou, naga, charlie, steph, mike, and me will take centre stage at manchester's bridgewater hotel tonight to sing a christmas classic. she is getting a bit nervous. sue says this. 0k, it is not perfect, but it made me smile. more than that, it was inspirational, because

iama that, it was inspirational, because i am a rubbish singer. seeing how it does not matter, it has made me want to start singing, regardless of if i am injune or not. well done to all of you showing us that the main thing is having fun, whether you are in tune or not. if i have the courage to sing tonight, it will be because of you. tonight is the peak night of the geminid meteor showerm where hundreds of shooting stars can be seen flying through our skies. and to tell us how well we might be able to see them is matt, bringing us the weather from the greenwich royal observatory. good morning. yes, they certainly can. this is considered to be the peak meteor event of the year. you can see them just about anywhere. they are bits of debris and dust on the back of a passing asteroid which goes past earth every 1.a years. you

just have to look to the sky to see them. best to look towards the south—east. they originate from the consolation of gemini. you could see anything from 120 meteors every single hour, one or two a minute. you have a good chance, in theory. the bad news, you will need some clear skies, of course. you will get times through the night in eastern areas. in the west, there will a lwa ys areas. in the west, there will always be more cloud and the threat of showers. the forecast. icy this morning, especially with snow. today is the warmest day of the week, believe it or not. a lot of cloud. dry at the moment. bits of rain in the rush—hour. parts of north—west england may have heavy showers going

away. in scotland, they will continue to be fast and frequent in central and western areas. some will be wintry. mainly over the hills. showers today mainly of rain. snowy cannot be ruled out. rain is likely this morning. 10— 11 in the south—west of england. a breeze today. the seam in many parts of the country compared to what we have had in the past 2a hours. —— the same. heavy showers in the west of the uk to start with. the afternoon, lively showers. gusty winds attached to them pushing across the southern half of the country in particular. even with those, sleet and snow on the higher ground. showers in the north—west of the uk becoming wintry as well. the past few days have been more cold. it will get warmer. heavy showers in east anglia and the

south—east corner. they will clear. the east brings the best chance of seeing the meteors. gaps between the showers, clearer skies, that will lead to chilly conditions. ice around and do tomorrow morning. tomorrow, largely dry conditions in the east of the uk. the wind and the east of scotland will be lighter. sleet and snow could be mixed in with those. windy us towards the south—west of the uk, especially wales and the south—west. temperatures dropping again further into friday. the wind is going more north. that will bring showers to the north and east of scotland and the north and east of scotland and the north—east of england. sleet and snow and hail. showers for northern ireland, far south wales, and the far south—west of england. for many, friday, a dry and bright day. chilly

moments. part of the giant. a cold and frosty night will be back to ta ke and frosty night will be back to take us to the start of the weekend. if you want to see the meteors, good luck. the best chance in the south—east. do you remember car phone warehouse and dicksons? they have merged. not great news. they say profits are down 60%. they are still making money, over £a0 million. but it is done a lot compared to last year. that is for a few reasons. just talking to the boss, he was saying it isa talking to the boss, he was saying it is a lot of one—off things, the

change in the eu roaming charges, that cost them money. but digging in deep, it is to do with how we are spending money at the moment. in the past with mobile phones, every year we would upgrade. we don't do that has often. also, phones are more expensive as well for them so the cost of them has gone up. that has put pressure on profit margins. and also in terms with how we spend, we don't spend much on big—ticket items any more. the cost of living has gone up more fast than wages. in real terms, people do not have as much money to spend on things like big electrical items. that is hitting them quite hard. it is interesting how it all comes together. thank you. breaking news ona together. thank you. breaking news on a story we were talking about yesterday. the fire in salford. two people have been arrested on murder

with the fire caused through people to die. they died in greater manchester on monday. police have said today a man and a woman have been charged. they will appear at the magistrates court later today. we will bring you that news as we get it. 725. there are more than 700 schools in england that have been struggling to improve for years and include over a 100 which, for more than a decade, have never been rated as "good" by ofsted. that's the verdict of england's chief inspector of schools, amanda spielman, who says many are in the most deprived areas with more children from poor white families, or who have special needs. let's get some reaction from tarun kapoor, chief executive of the dean trust, which runs several schools in the north—west of england. good morning. it is good to speak to you again. how many schools are you running? i am running nine schools. people come to you specifically because they want to improve their schools. what can you do to make a

difference? to invest in the capital of people. many of these schools have been battered and bruised for many years. they do lots of hard work, they think they are doing the right thing. sometimes it is about showing you are working alongside them and getting them to realise children are children and will do as we ask. they are proud of doing well. we do things which you could say that is a grammar school education. by children stand up to ask questions. they cannot come to school without the right equipment. you can waste 15 minutes of a lesson sometimes. that does not happen with us. you start the lesson without that. so, primary and secondary schools are underperforming. why is it they are struggling to improve? are they stuck in a rut? there are

many pressures on head teachers. they are like football managers. if they lose a job, they do not get another one. some are good theyjust need support. what should we do to help them rather than hurt them? we go to schools and some people say it is terrible. but it isn't. they have just lost direction. the children are running the school. it has to be the other way around. the staff have to ta ke the other way around. the staff have to take back the school and the corridors and the community. we had a school which was the 10th worst in the country, to be honest. it is oversubscribed, it has record results. you cannot get in. that is because the community are doing things which are right for their children. we talk about communities

and jobs and aspiration. one last question. many of these schools are in the most deprived areas. do you see a link between that? does do not have to be a link? we have to acknowledge that once they get into the red line, they are not deprived. if they do not have a uniform, we make sure they have the equipment. it cannot be an excuse. we have to do something different. you talk about wasting 15 minutes at the start of each lesson. what if children do not have the equipment? can you give it to them? there is a shop at the start of every school that gives them for 5p. this business of going to the top and dropping, it is no good. we need steady change which is sustainable.

thank you for coming in in. i know you have a busy day of the national headlines at 730. first, let's go around the uk for news, travel, and weather. good morning from bbc london news. i'm alpa patel. a london mp claims that some residents are being "exploited" by landlords who charge large maintenance fees with no explanation and fail to carry out essential work. seema malhotra, the labour mp for feltham and heston, says she's received a large number of complaints about service charges, which are paid by most leaseholders for the upkeep of communal areas. she's calling for a parliamentary investigation, and stronger legislation. it needs to be clearer about what landlords can put in leases, about what's fair, about what the service—level agreements are, and that should be in writing so that residents know what should be expected. london's taxi industry is urging

the government to introduce national standards to better protect passengers taxi drivers who may have been refused licences in london, are still able to operate in here, if they have a licence elsewhere in the country. a group of charities and mps have joined calls for national minimum safety standards to better protect people. it is adding to congestion. it makes it harder to enforce the rules of the road in london. it is contributing to congestion and pumping out toxic fumes into the air. a small piece of a 130—ton fatberg discovered in sewers will go on display at the museum of london. the curator believes the toxic sludge of sanitary products, grease and sewerage will make a "fascinating and disgusting" exhibit showing the history of the city through what londoners flush away. the whole fatberg, which was long enough to reach across tower bridge, was broken into pieces and extracted from sewers in october using a large hose. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tube, the district line is part suspended between wimbledon

and parsons green due to power supply problems. lots of train problems to tell you about. 0n great western railway, there are replacement buses between bourne end and marlow. and disruption on south—eastern trains via ashford—international following electrical problems. let's have a check on the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. well, in comparison to this time yesterday, it is not feeling as cold. it is rather grey, however, and it is rather damp. now, the further north you go, you are likely to still experience ice, and the met office has a yellow weather warning for the north of london and in the home counties. elsewhere, though, it is a wet start. breezy today. wind strengthening, and light rain and drizzle throughout. maximum temperature, between four and seven celsius. so, not especially mild. now, overnight tonight, further showers could fall a little bit wintry over higher ground. it stays quiet blustery as well.

minimum temperatures, not dropping down too far, 3—a celsius. tomorrow, a mixture of bright spells, some sunny spells, also one or two showers around tomorrow as well. still quite breezy, that south—westerly breeze, and the temperature, very similar as well. we're looking at a maximum tomorrow of around six or seven celsius. a bit cooler out towards the suburbs. now, as we head towards friday, the northerly wind takes control again. so, we're seeing the return of sunshine. staying cold during the day and frosty at night for the weekend. hello, this is breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin. it's 7.30. a summary of the day's main news: a baby girl, born with her heart outside her body, has survived in what's thought to be a first in the uk. vanellope hope wilkins, who is three weeks old, has undergone three operations at glenfield hospital, in leicester, to place her heart back within her chest. the condition, ectopia cordis, is extremely rare, with only a few

cases per million births. her parents have described her as a fighter. in a major political upset in america, doug jones has become the first democrat in 25 years to win a us senate seat for alabama. it follows a bitter campaign against republican roy moore, who has so far refused to concede the result. president donald trump congratulated doug jones on a hard fought victory. two people have been charged with murder over the deaths of three children in a house fire in salford in greater manchester on monday. 23—year—old zac volland and 2a—year—old courtney brearley argued in court later. the children's mother and their three—year—old sister remain in hospital this morning. there are more than 700 schools in england that have been struggling to improve for years, that's according to the chief inspector of schools. amanda spielman says this includes more than a 100 which for more than a decade have never been rated

as "good" by ofsted. the government says it's targeting additional help at areas that are struggling. theresa may is facing a potential backbench rebellion later when mps vote on amendments to the eu withdrawal bill. a group of tory mps, led by former attorney general dominic grieve, want to force ministers to give parliament a meaningful vote on any final brexit deal. the prime minister has said that ministers are listening to the concerns of conservative mps. thousands of children in the democratic republic of congo are severly malnourished and could die within a year without emergency support. that's according to the united nations, which has declared the crisis as the highest state of emergency. nearly one and a half million people have been displaced from their homes following violent clashes that began last year. social media companies should face fines or prosecution if they do not deal with online abuse, according to a report from the ethics watchdog. the committee on standards in public life.

it examined online harassment following june's general election. currently, social media companies say they cannot control the millions of messages that go up. would you like to see a world record attempt? look at this. piano music. it's the most number of people playing a piano piece at the same time. 20 bosnian youngsters have set the record with the performance in sarajevo. the previous record was 18 people playing the same piece simultaneously in italy in 201a. well done to them. our world record holders. and a very tuneful. matt

lauer baldly whether coming up, and we might play again, much to my shame, ourtraining and we might play again, much to my shame, our training and singing. we might play again, much to my shame, our training and singingm is going to be ok. remember what su said. you're inspired her to sing, even though she watched a singing earlier, because we were performing tonight as part of bbc breakfast sing at the bridgewater hall, six of us will be on stage, singing too much, just one line, but louise is nervous. sue said that even though we are not the best singers in the world, we inspired her this morning to get singing. thank you. it is the gift that keeps on giving. you see, that's why! no, in a positive way. you keep laughing and it makes me embarrassed. it isn'tjust people, you know, mariah carey singers who should be singing. we should all be allowed to sing. let's talk about chris froome. yes, breaking news about chris froome. it has emerged this morning that he failed a drug test during his vuleta victory in

september. —— vuelta. the cycling governing body has requested more details after the results from his you're in sample. team sky said his dosage was increased within permissible limits on doctor '5 advice to treat asthma symptoms he suffered from, since he was a child. we will give you more details as we get them. the burnley manager sean dyche says football is about dreams as his side move into the top four of the premier league after a 1—0 win over stoke city. a late goal by substitute ashley barnes put them into the champions league places. they climb above liverpool and arsenal who play this evening. the reality is, we've got another tough game on saturday. we are enjoying this, of course. the players have earned the right to enjoy this. but the next game comes quickly on saturday and that's my focus. i'm really pleased with the lads tonight, a different way of finding results and we had to work hard for oit tonight,

grinding it out. but thursday, we will look to recover, and we look to the next one. reigning champions chelsea are the side above burnley. their manager antonio conte thinks they've got no chance of retaining their title but they easily beat huddersfield 3—1 last night. pedro scored their third. and crystal palace are out of the bottom three for the first time this season after they scored twice in the final few minutes to beat watford. palace were a goal down but wilfried zaha and james mccarthy turned it around after watford had a man sent off. england captainjoe root says it's time for his team to "stand up" ahead of the crucial third ashes test in perth. australia lead the series 2—0 and will regain the ashes if they win at the waca, where england haven't won for nearly a0 years. with problems on and off the field root says the pressure is on the senior players. whenever you get the chance to play for england you want to stand up and be counted and put in those big promises.

when it is as big a game as this, senior players probably are under more pressure than the other guys. it's important that we go out there and, i suppose, try not to put too much pressure on ourselves. but know that that responsibility is there. tyson fury says he wants to fight anthonyjoshua after he was given the green light to carry on his boxing career. the former world heavyweight champion has accepted a backdated two—year ban for doping something that he blamed on eating wild boar. he can fight again once he regains his boxing license. we haven't heard the end of it, have we? johanna konta has been speaking for the first time since parting with wim fisette, the coach that oversaw the most successful period in her career. she'll now work with the american michaeljoyce and is excited about the partnership. obviously it is still early days. we will see how things go.

he's not only bringing a great amount of coaching experience, he was also a great player. he brings a lot of experience from his playing days which i'm definitely looking forward to learning from. well, down at non—league hereford they've been using them to make sure their fa cup replay against fleetwood town goes ahead tomorrow night. volu nteers volunteers getting stuck in with the shovels. the winners will play premier league lest in the third round, so it is a big game. lots of money in the next round. and you'll be talking more about that chris froome story later. yes, big news about chris froome. we were looking at the papers today and talking about the fact that there is a family in devon, i think, who have a set of christmas lights which have a lwa ys

set of christmas lights which have always worked and they bought them 50 yea rs always worked and they bought them 50 years ago. i've got a little bird, a cloth bird, it has been about a0 or 50 years old. i nearly threw it away. i won't now. i feel bad. send us your pictures in. lots of people have been sending them in. john wood says his dad bobby ‘s father christmas models in 1958. they are made of cardboard. this is the little worse for wherever a year, but they look very good to me. this is a christmas tree brought by sarah heron's great—grandmother in sheffield in 1929. still going strong. that is fantastic. slightly lopsided, but still going strong. elizabeth hogarth with this native tea set out every year. look at that. she says the 0x has lost his ears. and joseph has stubbed his toe. but it still reminds us family of the true meaning of christmas, and i'm sure our young granddaughters will enjoy playing with it when they come to visit. here we have mr and mrs claus.

knitted by the lender, and john wilson's daughter sarah, when she was eight years old. that was 35 yea rs was eight years old. that was 35 years ago. this is a 50-year-old sa nta years ago. this is a 50-year-old santa claus. sandra says her husband insists on putting it up every year in their home in malvern despite the fa ct in their home in malvern despite the fact that it freaks out the kids. last but by no means least, this is a masterpiece by a young girl called stephanie, aged five, from middlesbrough. her dad puts it up on the wall every year, even though she has now made it to the bbc breakfast sofa. it'll stephanie anderson that is just lovely! sofa. it'll stephanie anderson that isjust lovely! can you see what it is? of course. and your dad has kept it all this time? he has framed it now because it is worse for wear. he isa now because it is worse for wear. he is a proud father. there you go. an embarrassed daughter. we are talking about energy bills this morning? yes, we were talking about energy and now we are going to talk about

water bills because the boss of the regulator is here. the water regulator sets the level that companies in england and wales can charge their customers for water. they make that decision every five years. this morning we can find out more about what goes into deciding that. katherine rossjoins us, the chief executive of 0fwat. tell us about how you work this out every five years? as most people will know, people in england and wales cannot choose their water and waste water supplier, so it is important we limit the prices companies can charge their customers and also challenge the company to deliver more in terms of service. now, there are three different elements to what we do when we do our price review. the first is to look at the cost of financing the company ‘s face. when are these companies do lots of investment, they go to the financial markets to raise money for that. we challenge those costs. we'll sue challenge than actual costs of service. what does it cost to transport water through a pipe, or treated? does it cost to transport water through a pipe, ortreated? if does it cost to transport water through a pipe, or treated? if the thing is that we challenge them to

do more for the customers in terms of the service package. that first element, that financing cost element, that financing cost element, the single biggest driver of bills, one third of the average build, we think that will come down by between 15 and £35 in the next control period. we think bills will come down by between 15 and £25 in that period. we don't often talk about bills going down. how much of about bills going down. how much of a difference will it make to customers? the average bill is £400. we have lots more work to do on the other elements of the price control, the efficiency challenge and the service package. just the decision we have put out today means those £aoo bills we have put out today means those £a00 bills will come down by between 15 and £35. we also think what customers get for their money will go customers get for their money will 9° up customers get for their money will go up as well. we are looking at 1a common commitments across all the water companies, the things that really matter to customers like reducing sewer flooding, really matter to customers like reducing sewerflooding, reducing supply interruptions, reducing drought restrictions and stuff like that stop it is really a package about more for less. injanuary that stop it is really a package about more for less. in january last

year a committee of mps accuse you of allowing water companies to make excessive profits. do you think that has changed now? you can see from the decision we have put out today that we are bringing a tougher challenge than ever to companies. we are reducing the money that they make, but we are action holding out the prospect that they can earn more money if they do the things that really matter to customers. there will be rewards for service delivery on the things that matter most, like reducing flooding, drought interruptions, supply interruptions, and improving customer service. just sitting there and being a water company, you will make less money in the future. do you think they were making excessive profits? backin back in 2009, the cost was lower. that is why mps are criticising us. we took that on board. that is why we are taking a tougher line on it. complaints. calls are on the up. why

is that? that is to do with the business customer competition. in april, the government released competition in england. you can now choose your supplier. with that, customers engage more with their company and try to do different things. some customers have found it is not working well for them. we are challenging companies to improve on that. we think it will be temporary and they will get on top of it. thank you for coming in. we appreciate it. that is it for now. thank you for sending in your centre pictures. -- santa. stargazers should be able to see hundreds of shooting stars in the skies this evening as the geminid meteor shower reaches its peak. matt's got the weather at the royal observatory in greenwich this morning. he can tell us where the best place is to see it and the rest of the

weather. definitely. good morning. you will not need a telescope like this to see it. this telescope was made in 1893. it is still used for regular viewings of the sky in greenwich. but if you want to see the meteor shower tonight, the peak event of the year, you could see as many as 120 meteors every hour. the problem is we have clout at times. the best view in the east of the uk. —— cloud. you could chance it further west. clear periods. showers will ruin it every now and again. that is the story weatherwise today. it is also said to be the warmest day of the week, believe it or not. it has been cold recently. today could be warm. most of us should be frost—free. a scattering of showers

across the country. not many in eastern areas at the moment. a great diet. spots of rain through becoming hours. —— grey start. eastern scotla nd hours. —— grey start. eastern scotland will stay largely dry but a few showers. showers to the north and west of scotland. you can see the chart. sleet and snow, mainly on the chart. sleet and snow, mainly on the hills. heavier showers could come down to lower levels. wales in the south—west, showers mainly of rain rather than light snow we have seenin rain rather than light snow we have seen in recent days. sleet and snow in higher ground areas. the west, 8— 11. chilly in the midlands. a few degrees above freezing. we will continue to see showers move across the country for the west and eastern at times to be more sunshine

developing in between those showers. —— at times. the midlands, southern england, a spell of heavy rain and gusty winds. that could also turn to snow at times over the high ground. temperatures uk wide, higher than it has been. the forecast if you want to see meteor showers. more cloud towards the west. easiest to in the east. sleet and snow. lower levels as well. —— to see. frost and ice around until tomorrow morning. thursday could be a more cold start them this morning. frost and ice around. the east of the country, dry and bright. fewer showers in the forecast. showers in the west. sleet and snow. gusty winds in the south—west of the uk, as we will see today. temperatures dropping relative to today to be cold areas

back. northerly wind blowing across the country. showers to the north and east of scotland this time and eventually into north—east england. wintry showers at that. showers for northern ireland, south—west wales, and the south—west of england. most of you on friday will be dry and unclear. that will take us to a frosty start to the weekend. you will have to chance your luck to see the meteor showers. the best luck in the meteor showers. the best luck in the east. you will need lengthy clearer skies if you are in the west which i cannot promise. 0ne clearer skies if you are in the west which i cannot promise. one more fa ct. which i cannot promise. one more fact. i mentioned the dome was made from papier—mache. this one is not even attached to the building. it is floating on top. a really strong

wind could take it away. interesting! we will look east first! thanks! all this week we've been finding out why singing is good for the soul and asking why we all love a sing—a—long for our bbc breakfast sings series, and now the spotlight is on us. i love that a good sing—a—long, i just don't think i am the one who should be doing it. dan, lou, naga, charlie, steph, mike, and me will take centre stage at manchester's bridgewater hall tonight to sing a christmas classic. right now we have no idea what we'll be singing and won't find out until after today's programme has finished. we've been attemtping to hit those high notes with the help of the choirmaster himself, wayne ellington from manchester inspirational voices. this is your bbc breakfast choir group in action. sing... good. if anyone can help us, this is the man.

ok... i'm excited, if a little bit nervous... la, la, la. i am enthusiastic but nervous. ahh. the challenge is to sing with the choir. i will be hiding at the back. he will be right at the front with everyone looking at you. i will sing and you follow me. ding, dong, verrily on high... away in a manger... ..and angels singing. have yourself a merry little christmas. the wrong note! oh, ok.

little donkey, little donkey... mary, did you know that your baby boy... i am worried. you will be fine. baby boy... i cannot sing unless i am dancing. so i am like "on a dusty road!" take a deep breath in for me... and breathe out. yes! one line down! no crib for a bed.

perfect. you'll be fine, absolutely fine. yeah! perfect! you will be great. thank you. wonderful! i can sit down and relax. cheers. see you on the big night. #bbcsing. you can join in. #bbcsing. you canjoin in. that big night is tonight. next week... i am just trying to ignore it now. next week, we want you to join just trying to ignore it now. next week, we want you tojoin in. just trying to ignore it now. next week, we want you to join in. that is at nine o'clock. we have choirs

around the uk singing "0 come all ye faithful." the lyrics are on the website. we would like to join at home. the results of the night, you will be able to see them over the christmas period. i can fill your concern. you have christmas period. i can fill your concern. you have never seen christmas period. i can fill your concern. you have never seen me before a triathlon. you do not understand the level of nerves i can get to. if you pulled out at this stage it would be bad for your family. i can get very nervous. you can get in triathlon made. you can get there and deliver the goods! see? pressure! it will be fine. you will enjoy it. i am sure. still to come on breakfast:

he's taken pictures of everyone from the queen to david beckham but photographer david katz has only recently revealed that he's been legally blind since birth. he'll be here to tell us what it's like to snap some of the world's most famous people. he is ina he is in a very emotional documentary. see? pressure!time now to get the news, travel, and weather, where you are. good morning from bbc london news. i'm alpa patel. a london mp claims that some residents are being "exploited" by landlords who charge large maintenance fees with no explanation and fail to carry out essential work. seema malhotra, the labour mp for feltham and heston, says she's received a large number of complaints about service charges, which are paid by most leaseholders for the upkeep of communal areas. she's calling for a parliamentary investigation, and stronger

legislation. it needs to be clearer about what landlords can put in leases, about what's fair, about what the service—level agreements are, and that should be in writing so that residents know what should be expected. london's taxi industry is urging the government to take urgent action to protect passengers from so—called cross—border hiring. taxi drivers who have been refused licences in london are still able to operate here if they have a licence elsewhere in the country. six swans have been killed in south london. patrols have been set up. the rspca have started an investigation. a small piece of a 130—ton fatberg discovered in sewers will go on display at the museum of london. the curator believes the toxic sludge of sanitary products, grease and sewerage will make a "fascinating and disgusting" exhibit showing the history of the city through what londoners flush away.

the whole fatberg, which was long enough to reach across tower bridge, was broken into pieces and extracted from sewers in october using a large hose. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tube, severe delays on the district line between wimbledon and parsons green due to power supply problems. and the usual engineering work on the london 0verground. lots of train problems to tell you about. 0n the great western railway, there are replacement buses between bourne end and marlow. and disruption on south—eastern trains via ashford—international following electrical problems two lanes are closed clockwise at j13 for staines, with queues back to j11. let's have a check on the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. well, in comparison to this time yesterday, it is not feeling as cold. it is rather grey, however, and it is rather damp. now, the further north you go, you are likely to experience ice. and the met office has a yellow weather warning for the north of london and in the home counties. elsewhere, though, a wet start. breezy today. wind strengthening, and light rain and drizzle throughout. the maximum temperature, between four and seven celsius. not especially mild. overnight tonight, the showers could fall wintry over higher ground. staying quiet blustery as well.

not dropping down too far, 3—a celsius. tomorrow, a mixture of bright spells, some sunny spells, also one or two showers around tomorrow as well. still quite breezy, that south—westerly breeze, and the temperature, very similar as well. we're looking at a maximum tomorrow of 6—7 celsius. a bit cooler out towards the suburbs. as we go towards friday, the northerly wind takes control again. the return of sunshine. staying cold during the day and frosty at night for the weekend. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website hello. this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. a baby girl born with her heart outside her body has survived in what's thought to be a first in the uk. doctors carried out three operations

on vanellope wilkins to correct the rare condition that is usually fatal. her parents say she's a real fighter. if you saw her when she was first born, to where she is now, what they've done is... it's beyond a miracle, isn't it? good morning. it's 8am. wints, 13th december. a shock defeat for donald trump's favoured candidate as the democrats claim victory in alabama for the first time in 25 years. profits at the electrical and mobile phone retailer dixons carphone have dropped by 60%. i'll have all the details later. good morning. it's emerged four—time tour de france champion chris froome failed a drug test in september.

he had double the allowed level of legal asthma drug in his system. and the latest star wars film. and the latest star wars filmm and the latest star wars film. it is fun. it is go goodies versus baddies and that's what makes it so great. and matt has the weather. i'm talking shooting stars. we will be talking about meteor showers. the forecast for today, you will need your umbrella. there is plenty of rain around. i've got the full forecast coming up later. good morning. first, our main story. in what's thought to be a first for doctors in the uk, a baby girl has survived after being born with her heart outside her body.

vanellope hope wilkins, who has no breastbone, was delivered three weeks ago by caesarean section. she has had three operations to place her heart back in her chest at glenfield hospital in leicester. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, spoke exclusively to vanellope's parents and the medical team involved. good girl, yeah. she'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. and then she gave all the surgeons aggro, didn't she? it was a beautiful moment. 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 breastbone. babies with this rare condition are usually stillborn. but immediately as she emerged during the caesarean section, doctors could see that vanellope's heart was beating strongly. 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. she faces a long road ahead, but has already confounded predictions. in a major political upset in america, doug jones has become the first democrat in 25 years

to win a us senate seat for alabama. but the republican candidate, roy moore, has so far refused to concede the result. 0ur correspondent david willis has been following the story from washington and has sent this report. it was a stunning political upset. doug jones a federal prosecutor is the first democrat to be elected to the first democrat to be elected to the senate in this conservative southern state in a quarter of a century. his victory reduces the already razor—thin republican majority in the senate to just one seat. i think i have been majority in the senate to just one seat. i think! have been waiting all my life and now i don't know what the hell to say! this result speaks to the weaknesses of his opponent, republican candidate roy moore a firebrand, who

believes homosexuality is immoral and muslims should not be allowed to serve in con cress saw his sizeable lead in the polls reduce. roy moore denies allegations. despite calls from senior members of his party for him to withdraw from the race, mr moore continued to enjoy the support of president trump who treated tonight, "congratulations to doug jones on a hard fought victory, the write—in votes played a big factor, but a win is a win." it is a reflection not only of the weakness of the republican candidate, but a major snub to the president who backed him. two people have been charged with murder over the deaths of three children in a house fire in salford, greater manchester, on monday.

23—year—old zac bolland and 20—year—old courtney brierley are due in court later. the children's mother and their three—year—old sister remain in hospital this morning. profits at the parent company of currys, pc world and carphone warehouse have dropped sharply. steph's here with the details. there are a lot of numbers here. but the key one is the fact that the profits are down. they are down 60%. so it's a company that's making money, it's making over £a0 million, but it's the fact that it has fallen and there is lots of reasons for this. one of the big reasons they say is somewhat they call one—off events. things like the fact the way we charge for when you use your phone abroad. that's cheaper for us, but it means they don't make as much money from it. they are saying the change in eu roaming charges made a big difference, but it is because we are not buying mobiles as frequently

as we used to in terms of upgrading. a lot of analysts would say that mobile phones are not that different now so when you get an upgrade, it is not that much different compared to previous ones you might have had so therefore they are saying people aren't willing to spend extra money so that's putting pressure on them and it's the fact that at the moment, things are getting a bit pricier, we saw yesterday with the inflation figures that food and travel costs are going up for people. so people don't have as much money to spend on electricals that you would get in currys or one of their stores with mobiles and electrical items so that's been a pressure for them. steph, thank you very much. you'll be back with us later. thank you. there are more than 700 schools in england that have been struggling to improve for years. that's according to the chief inspector of schools. amanda spielman says this includes more than a hundred which for more than a decade have never been rated as "good" by ofsted. the government says it's targeting additional help at areas that are struggling.

jon donnison reports. good afternoon. so this is english. children's at st peter's secondary school in huntington in cambridgeshire. in 2016, 0fsted judged this school inadequate in some areas and it was put on special measures after years of problems. 18 months on, it has been turned around and is now ranked as good in most fields. amanda spielman, 0fsted's chief inspector of schools in england, visited st peter's this month and is full of praise for what's been achieved. but not all schools do so well. 0fsted says there are 50 secondary schools and 80 primary schools in england that haven't been judged to be good at any point since 2005. for 12 years now, they haven't been managed to be good at any point in that. so, a child's time in a typical secondary school is five years. that means we're on to a third generation of children who have never experienced being in a good

school and we shouldn't be happy with that. but teachers unions say the stigma of a bad 0fsted report can often push a school into a negative spiral, where parents don't want to send their children there and where recruitment of teachers becomes hard. they also say many schools are under funded, but the government says its spending £280 million to give extra help to schools this extra help to schools in designated opportunity areas including providing extra training for teachers. theresa may is facing a potential backbench rebellion later when mps vote on amendments to the eu withdrawal bill. a group of tory mps, led by former attorney—general dominic grieve, want to force ministers to give parliament a meaningful vote on any final brexit deal. the prime minister has said that ministers are listening to the concerns of conservative london's euston station will be turned into a shelter for the homeless on christmas day. the station concourse will be filled with decorations and tables set

for a full festive dinner. rail workers and charity staff will serve food to 200 rough sleepers invited to the event. the eighth episode in the franchise, the lastjedi, gets its cinema release at midnight tonight. the fans were out. 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. do social media companies need to do more to tackle what's being described as "vile and threatening behaviour" aimed at politicians? the ethics watchdog, the committee on standards in public life, says firms should be fined if they fail to deal with abusive content. it comes after a raft of mps were targeted during the general election injune.

labour's diane abbott was one high—profile victim. many of the biggest companies say they are already dealing with the problem. twitter says it can permanently suspend accounts that post abusive material. facebook says it will remove sensitive posts and comments that threaten others. youtube has removed over 150,000 violent videos since june. joining us from our westminster studio is the chair of the committee behind today's report, lord bew. good morning. thank you very much indeed forjoining us. good morning. just give us a sense of the kind of things that mps were getting. i mean found some of it quite disturbing? the sheer relentless volume. i mean one thing that stays in my mind, you mentioned diane abbott and talking to her staff, and how theyjust spend their breakfast ritual is porridge in one hand and finger in

the other hand deleting the stuff that comes in and women particularly do suffer. amnesty international have said that all the women mps who have said that all the women mps who have gone on twitter have received this sort of intimidatory abuse so it's a real problem, illegal content, intimidatory abuse. in public life you have to take a certain amount of abuse. 0ur concern is with the sort of abuse which might make people less likely to appear in public life and that's what's driving our report here. ok. of course, it is notjust people in public life that can get abuse. so, you're looking from an mp's point of view, what about for other people? well, i think, view, what about for other people? well, ithink, when view, what about for other people? well, i think, when we first started this inquiry, a lot of people wrote to us and said, you're trying to protect a pampered elite, politics has always been a rough trade. i think what we have to say here is there, is in everybody‘s interests that the parties come together and the party leaderships come together

and agreea the party leaderships come together and agree a code of conduct to protect our parliamentary democracy. i think that's the core point here that we have to have some kind of coming together to protect what is really important, not just coming together to protect what is really important, notjust to mps, they're just in really important, notjust to mps, they‘ re just in many really important, notjust to mps, they're just in many ways the serva nts to they're just in many ways the servants to the public, but important to the public as a whole. this is not a report about protecting privileged members of parliament. indeed, later on today, we are going to publish some figures about how the public views the conduct of mps. it's not about that. it's about actually trying to protect what matters to everybody, to all the millions of people who live in this country, the strength of our democracy. what will you do ina of our democracy. what will you do in a practical level? will you go after the social media companies and how will that happen? we are in position to do that. we have advanced an argument which we would not have advanced if we thought the ta ke not have advanced if we thought the take down rates were not impressive.

we would not have gone down this route. we published our conversations with the social media companies where the frustrations of my committee actually lie. we should consider action here. remember the underlying legislative focus here comes from the eu's, ecommerce directive of 2000. 17 years ago when the companies were really fledging businesses, they are now multi—million dollar businesses which have a huge impact on our public life and we have said that parliament should give consideration to this and that's the key thing here and it is really, we hope that serious consideration is given to movement. conversation, it is getting some results, but not enough. we have seen people prosecuted for things they have said on social media, cds think that is likely to

increase as well? yes, we do. there isa increase as well? yes, we do. there is a very good parliamentary liaison tea m is a very good parliamentary liaison team which works with mps, and mps should also work more closely with that group, including the police. the resource recommendation to the senior police officers in the country to realise social media presents new problems. our sense that not every police force in the country was equally advanced in their understanding of how those problems operate and affect the political life of the country. thank you very much for talking to us. baby venellope hope wilkins has defied the odds after being born

with her heart outside of her body. fergus walsh has been speaking to her parents. it was scary. we had been advised to terminate. we didn't see that as an option. unless there was like loads of different things wrong with her. nobody believed she was going to make it. but the two of you did? i think that's why we named her what we did, venellope hope, we were watching a film with the kids, called wreck—it ralph, and it fit

perfectly. she is a tough character with a lot of attitude, and she shows it, as well. she has got more strength than you could ever imagine. it is an amazing story. a consultant in fatal cardiology at glenfield hospital where venellope is being treated, joins us now. it has had a huge reaction from viewers this morning. we can talk about the detail and how you went through the various operations, but how is venellope doing now? she's doing really well. i haven't seen her this morning, but as of yesterday evening, she was wriggling around and making her presence felt. so eight ina and making her presence felt. so eight in a million chance of survival, as far as we know the first chance a baby born in this way has survived. how difficult was that

to go through, the making decisions and with the family as well? the medical discussion is always difficult, because you've got to provide the family with information. the likelihood when i first saw this couple at 16 weeks gestation, the likelihood of his baby surviving was essentially zero. you have to go through that with them. but you can never say never, and the choice is theirs. they made the choice, informed by chromosome tests and other information, that they wanted to continue, and we were prepared to support that choice. we couldn't give them any guarantees. we monitored things along with the nottingham team through the pregnancy. as things got closer towards her being viable, being old enough to be born safely, we were then able to make some plans to try and facilitate that. we had to get teams together, the obstetric teams, the neonatal teams, the plastic surgery, bowel surgery teams

together, so it was quite a big team together, so it was quite a big team to assemble and get in place. we can see naomi and dean with a little venellope on the screen now. tell us more about the operation. she was born with heart outside of her body. is the process then of trying, because there is no sternum, no rib cage, how difficult is it to get that heart back inside and working? ididn't that heart back inside and working? i didn't have to do it. my skilled surgical colleagues did that. but it is partly something that people do every day when we do open heart surgery on babies, the heart often doesn't fit back in the chest straightaway, so there is quite a lot of expertise in parts of that, and in covering baby's heart was the chest is open. the big thing for her is to make space, and the fact that she hasn't got a breastbone to close over it, so we have had to

manufacture a covering for the heart, initially a temporary one, and now we are making one or permanent to stretch the skin across the front and keep the heart sealed and safe and covered. it is amazing to hear you describe what little venellope has been going through, and her mum says she is a fighter. at what point during that process, was there hope from that team and from yourself? when did you think, do you know what, there is a chance that venellope is going to survive. the first step was getting her safely out of the womb, anything could have gone wrong at that stage, she might not have been able to breathe, the heart might not have been able to beat outside the womb, so the longer she goes on without major publications or infection, the more hope we have. there are lots of things we can do to support babies as they grow, even if they have problems with breathing, we can help with that long term. there are no guarantees, there is a long way to 90. guarantees, there is a long way to go, but she is doing 0k

guarantees, there is a long way to go, but she is doing ok so far. and watches her future like? go, but she is doing ok so far. and watches herfuture like? watmore will she have to go through? she will she have to go through? she will need more surgeries, there is no doubt about that. i can't predict how many. she still has open wounds on the side of her chest where we had to move the skin forward to cover the front of it, and those need to heal. she has chest drains in because she is leaking fluid because it is like having a bad burn. she has got to get off the breathing machine. at some stage she will need some hardware inside her chest to stabilise it more, and she is totally going to need some external protection as she tries to get up and about. amazing. and i just wonder as well, having gone through what they've gone through, and you have been part of this process , and you have been part of this process, too. do you think that what has happened will give hope to other pa rents has happened will give hope to other parents who find themselves in this situation going forward? even though this case is individual? each case is very individual, and not many babies born or developing with the

heart outside the chest are viable for other reasons, they've often got other serious things wrong with them, and venellope from that point of view is fortunate. i think what it does do is give people hope that nothing is always impossible. sometimes things are too difficult or not the right thing to do, but it does mean that if parents are faced with very difficult choices, they still have the option of proceeding expecta ntly and saying, still have the option of proceeding expectantly and saying, let's see how it goes. and i think that that's not a bad thing. dr frances bu'lock, thank you for talking to us, the co nsulta nt thank you for talking to us, the consultant who has been looking after baby venellope, the first baby to survive with a heart outside the body. wonderful to hearfrom her, and venellope is a little poppet. makes you love the nhs! tonight is the peak night of the geminid meteor shower, where hundreds of shooting stars can be seen flying through our skies. and to tell us how well we might be able to see them is matt,

bringing us the weather from the greenwich royal observatory. i have been told of the smalling for saying, telling us about that and the rest of the weather. we know that meteors are not the weather. there is definitely a link, you won't see one without the other verhaegh —— behaving itself. there will be clear skies particularly in the east, but there will be showers as well, so you will have to chance your luck. let's get straight on into the forecast this morning. we still have snow lying on the ground, but it may not feel like it, it is the warmest day of the weekend. it isa the warmest day of the weekend. it is a fairly cloudy start across the country, and we have outbreaks of rain spreading from west to east at the moment. even if you are dry at the moment. even if you are dry at the moment. even if you are dry at the moment across eastern counties, we will start to see rain pushing

through during the next hour or so. further north as well there will be a few spots of rain to the east of the pennines, showers focused to the west so far today. and in scotland, the showers will be fairly wintry across the north and west, but mainly over the hills this time. to lower levels it will be largely rain, and that is the story today, with temperatures higher, the showers are going to be largely of rain, but they will gradually turned to sleet and snow at times, mainly on the hills, but some of the heavy bursts could come down to lower levels, and you can see why the showers are mainly of rain, temperatures around 8—11 degrees rather than just hovering above freezing. temperatures in the midlands only a few degrees above freezing at the moment. we will see the showers move from west to east on the strength of the breeze, the airwill on the strength of the breeze, the air will get colder once again from the north and west, and the showers will turn more wintry. we see a band of heavy showers and gusty winds spreading across southern counties of england and wales, and even those

could contain snow on the higher ground and give a light dusting of snow for the evening rush hour. temperatures higher than eastern days, up to double figures for some in the south. if you are hoping to see the meteors tonight, your best chances going to be in the east. showers will keep on going in the west, but you might want to chance it because there will be some breaks out there in between the showers, but those showers will start to turn increasingly to rain, hail, sleet and snow, and with clearer skies into tomorrow morning, frost and eyes to watch out for once again. so, a cold start to tomorrow morning, dry and bright across many eastern areas, only one or two showers here. still some gusty winds in the south—west of the country, but wherever you are the west, heavier showers will come with that little bit of sleet and snow mixed in. mainly over the hills, but heavier ones on low ground, as well. colder still into friday as winds go northerly, that means north and east

of scotla nd northerly, that means north and east of scotland and north east england more likely to see showers once again, and showers for the far west of wales and also into cornwall. but mostly of wales and also into cornwall. but m ostly o n of wales and also into cornwall. but mostly on friday after a frosty and icy start, and dry and clear day. join me again here at the royal observatory in greenwich in around half an hour, we will be speaking to an astronomer who can tell us more about what to expect from this yea r‘s about what to expect from this year's media shower. i shall look forward to it, thank you very much. we have simon callow, and we are talking to a man, really famous photographer, but he is blind. and someone who can help us with oursinging! time blind. and someone who can help us with our singing! time neither the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning.

you'll notice it is nowhere near as cold as it was this time yesterday morning. we got to minus 138 celsius yesterday in shropshire. this morning, it's plus three celsius. we have got a number of weather fronts and that's bringing a lot more cloud. that prevented the temperatures falling too far away. there is the risk of ice here and there, but generally speaking, cloudy. rain at times. the rain towards northern and western areas through the morning, but it will move its way into the south east of england. as we go into the afternoon, things should brighten up across northern and western parts, but with that showers, moving in across scotland and the showers will turn wintry with snow over the higher ground across scotland. maximum temperatures about two or three celsius here. a few showers across the far north of england, but good spells of sunshine. sunshine across the midlands and into wales, some blustery showers working in and

temperatures, where you have got the snow cover, perhaps only two or three celsius. sunny spells in south—west england, but in the south east of england, here you still have a bit of rain around into the afternoon. but pretty mild. temperatures in the south—east about ten or 11 celsius. tonight, the blustery conditions continue. we see another band of rain and hill snow and snow down to lower levels across wales, the midlands and northern england. fost of it over the pennines and across the higher ground of scotland. another frost—free night. these are the temperatures in towns and cities. in the countryside it could get down below freezing, but windy taking us into thursday. so preventing too much of a frost settling. as we go through thursday, there will are showers especially in the south—west of england and north—west england and scotland and northern ireland. some of the showers again, turning to snow over the higher ground. and top temperatures on thursday, a little bit down compared to wednesday, two to five celsius. that's it from me. bye—bye. this is business live from bbc news

with ben thompson and sally bundock. another record high on wall street as the american economy continues to do well. so will the federal reserve deliver what everyone is expecting — another interest rate rise? live from london, that's our top story on wednesday, 13th december. banking on a rate rise, markets say the fed will raise interest rates, but are they right and what could it mean for the global economy? we will have the details. also in the programme, clearing its debts, toshiba settles a lengthy legal dispute, finally allowing it to sell off its prized chip business. and after a surprise rise in uk inflation yesterday and ahead