this is bbc news. the headlines: a british woman, rebecca dykes, who worked at the uk embassy in beirut has been killed. reports suggest she was strangled. the first victim of a car crash in birmingham — in which six people were killed — has been named locally as imtiaz mohammed. ryanair pilots suspend a planned 2a hour strike as the airlines agrees to recognise the pilots trade unions for the first time. athlete mo farah wins this year's sports personality of the year — and says he was surprised at the result. the sports awards ceremony also paid tribute to six—year—old football fan bradley lowery, who died from cancer earlier this year — he was given the helen rollason award. also in the next hour, harry meets barack. in his new role as a journalist, the prince interviews the former us president if you start using long pauses between answers you're probably going to get the face.

let me see the face. laughter. the interview was recorded as part of the today programme's guest editor series to be broadcast later this year. good evening and welcome to bbc news. a british embassy worker has been killed in beirut. the body of rebecca dykes was found by the side of a road in the city yesterday. our correspondentjon donnison has been following developments. our middle east correspondent martin patience joins us from beirut. what is the latest you can tell us? well, this is a piece of news that has stunned the diplomatic communities. it is believed that

rebecca dykes was attending a going away party on friday night in a popular area of the city. after she left the bar, it is understood she was then abducted and her body was found dumped close to a motorway sometime on saturday. police sources we have spoken to say that they believe she was strangled. her family have been notified of her death. as i said before, this has stunned the british community in beirut. in governmental terms, stunned the british community in beirut. in governmentalterms, has there been any reaction in beirut or here at home? there has, there has been reaction from rebecca dykes‘ family. they say they are devastated by the loss and they are still coming to terms with what happened, trying to understand what happened. the lebanese police are still investigating. we understand that a second autopsy was carried out a couple of hours ago. in terms of the british embassy, the ambassador on twitter said that the embassy,

everybody in the embassy was deeply stunned by what happened. he added that the british authorities were working very closely with the lebanese authorities that are carrying out the police investigation. police investigators are trying to find out what caused a car crash in an underpass in birmingham this morning. six people were killed and several others suffered serious injuries. firefighters have described the scene as "challenging" and "horrific". phil mackie is in birmingham and sent this report. the immediate aftermath of the crash. debris strewn across four lanes. medics were desperately trying to save lives, but five people were already dead, and a sixth was dying. the rest of the footage is too graphic to show. in daylight, the scale of what happened became clearer. three of the people who died were in this taxi. astonishingly, the man and the woman in the small car crushed between it and the wall walked away with minor injuries.

the sound of the crash woke many of the people who live nearby. got out of bed, looked out the window and just saw loads of people running towards where the crash was. and then the police officers telling everyone to get back, get back, so i guess people were trying to help people. they pulled two people out of the taxi. i didn't realise it was a taxi until today, but they pulled two people out of the taxi, resuscitating them straightaway for about 25 minutes. they took one in the ambulance. i didn't see them take the second one away, so i don't know if they didn't make it, but yes it was havoc. the crash happened on a section of the belgrave middleway, a busy road in the heart of birmingham. the vehicles collided at an entrance to an underpass at the junction of bristol road. police say the dual carriageway will probably stay closed for the rest of the day. investigators will be looking at a number of factors. the road was gritted, but eight hours before the accident. at iam, temperatures were close to freezing.

there is no central barrier — did one of thecars cross carriageways? residents say especially when it is late at night and the road is quiet, people will come along here at excess speeds. it will take some time to unpick the scene and just understand exactly what has happened, and it would be unfairfor me to speculate at this time. what i can say is that we are looking to all sorts of conditions, the road conditions, we are aware of the road was gritted 5pm last night but that is just one factor of many we need to consider. a0 firefighters helped free survivors. five ambulance crews and three paramedics treated the injured at what was described as a complex scene. it quickly became apparent there could not be a lot done to save the lives of some of those patients unfortunately. again, very difficult circumstances, as you have already alluded to, very close to christmas, so our thoughts are with the families and friends of those patients involved. there were a total of 13 casualties,

including the six who died, with six vehicles damaged. police described the accident as harrowing. investigations into what caused it are likely to take some time. within the last hour the name of the first of the six victims has been named locally. imtiaz mohammed was a taxi driver from the city, he had six children. he had just call his wife to say he was on the way home. he was described as a hard—working family man. he was carrying two passengers at the time of the crash, both also lost their lives. two police officers have been seriously injured after they were hit by a car on the north circular road in london. the met commissioner, cressida dick, said this evening that such incidents give a stark reminder of the dangers of policing. the two officers were returning to a marked police vehicle, parked near brent park in neasden, when a car collided with them early this morning. the man and woman are both constables in their 30s.

the driver of a white maserati was arrested at the scene. we will be taking a look at how all of the big stories are covered in different pages. in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are the author and journalist yasmin alibhai—brown and ruth lea, economic advisor at arbuthnot banking group. sir mo farah has won this year's bbc sports personality of the year. the motorcyclistjonathan rea was second, and the paralympic athlete, jonnie peacock, was third. it's the first time sir mo has won the award. the announcement of his victory was made in liverpool's echo arena but the four—time olympic champion was in a studio in north london, with his daughter rhianna who presented him with his award. however, all did not go entirely according to plan. moi mo i hope you can hear us. rhianna

has the trophy to present. please don't tell me he has gone to bed? i think that sums up his evening. i am sure that is hussein pulling out the plug. the most brilliant non—interview that ever happened. when the line was finally re—established to sir mo, this is what he had to say. it's pretty amazing. it's hard to think about, over the years, what i've done. to win this, i didn't honestly come out tonight thinking, yeah, maybe top three, see how it goes, because we've got amazing superstars in sports. we've got anthonyjoshua, lewis, johnnie peacock, all of the boys. it's been

amazing. when you look at it, comparing yourself with other athletes, you think i could finish in the top three. i didn't imagine i was ever going to win this. come so close in 2012, and i guess anything can happen. you just have to dig deep and keep working. ijust want to thank everybody who has supported me. it has been an incredible journey and it's very exciting. i'm looking forward to the marathon. it's very exciting. gary, my coach is out there tonight, as you know, preparing for the london marathon and helping me out. it's tough, it's not as easy as i thought it was going to be, the marathon training. it's getting there, it's about understanding each other and working. it is hard work. but anything can happen. you know, myself, as an athlete, what i have achieved has been incredible over the years. for all of the youngsters out there, the people out there, you can work hard and you can achieve your dreams. anything is possible in

life. if you believe in it, work at it and keep grafting, grafting, anything is possible. what an amazing night. iwish anything is possible. what an amazing night. i wish i was there. u nfortu nately, amazing night. i wish i was there. unfortunately, sorry, i can't be there, guys. the kids haven't been well. but it's all exciting for us. ijust well. but it's all exciting for us. i just can't believe well. but it's all exciting for us. ijust can't believe i won! earlier in the evening there was an emotional tribute to sunderland fan bradley lowery. the six—year—old died earlier this year of neuroblastoma — a rare type of cancer. he became a well known figure among the sporting community, becoming a close friend of the england strikerjermain defoe. his parents gemma and carl picked up the posthumous helen rollason award — given "for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity" at the ceremony. gemma lowery spoke to the audience after she was given the award. wow. i'm slightly overwhelmed but i'm absolutely honoured to receive this on behalf of bradley. bradley was only here for six short years. but the nation took him into their hearts.

he raised so much awareness for childhood cancer, it was unbelievable. i'm so proud of him. to continue that, we've set up the bradley lowery foundation because we want to continue the good work that he's done. not only are we going to be supporting people fundraising, we're going to be giving grants out. we've also got the for bradley campaign going, because we want to build an amazing house for sick children to go and be able to enjoy, have some normality and have some special memories. all we've got left now is them special memories. but we treasure them every single day and we want to be able to give back to the people of the nation. i would just like to finish by saying thank you so, so much for the continued support. everyone's been fantastic. we couldn't do it without you. please continue to support. together, we can make a difference. applause. gemma lowery, remembering herson,

bradley. ryanair pilots have suspended a one—day strike planned forjust suspended a one—day strike planned for just before suspended a one—day strike planned forjust before christmas. the impact union, which represents irish —based pilots, has agreed to meet a line management on tuesday evening. 117 pilots are involved in the dispute, making up the majority of the firm's captains in ireland, meaning any walk—out would have severely affected flights. i'm joined now by the industrial relations correspondent for the economist. how significant a decision is this to suspend the strike? well, it is very significant if you are heading home for christmas next year on a ryanair flight. a christmas next year on a ryanair flight. a lot of ryanair customers will be very cheered by this news. however, shareholders are not necessarily as pleased. 0n

however, shareholders are not necessarily as pleased. on friday, when ryanair necessarily as pleased. on friday, when rya nair announced that necessarily as pleased. on friday, when ryanair announced that it was going to recognise the union, the airline share price dropped by 5%, because there is a fear that it will cause higher costs for the airlines longer term, if it results in higher paid pilots over time. given the impact on the company, why have they decided to recognise the unions? well, essentially, there is a shortage of pilots in europe. this is because other airlines are rapidly growing. earlier this year, ryanair had to announce 20,000 flight ryanair had to announce 20,000 flight cancellations because other airlines such as norwegian and easyj et were airlines such as norwegian and easyjet were stealing some of the pilot by offering them better pay and conditions. so, whether or not ryanair was going to recognise the pilots union, it was going to have

to pay more money to keep a lot of pilots. it has been spending thousands and thousands of euros in extra bonuses and pay to keep some of its pilots. so, whether or not it recognised the unions, it was going to have to pay more for pilots. so, therefore, i think the market did overrea ct therefore, i think the market did overreact on friday. so these costs we re overreact on friday. so these costs were going to be born whether or not it recognised the pilots unions or not. given the fact that the costs will presumably have to be passed on, as you say, born somewhere, are we as customers and consumers going to have to get used to a slightly different idea of the ryanair offering? well, ryanair is one of europe, if not europe's most profitable airlines. it has europe's lowest u nit profitable airlines. it has europe's lowest unit costs per passenger. so, i think lowest unit costs per passenger. so, ithink ryanaircan lowest unit costs per passenger. so, i think ryanair can pay for these

extra costs out of some of its profits. remember, if paying pilots a little bit better allows the airline to grow more, that means it can grow revenues more, gi’ow airline to grow more, that means it can grow revenues more, grow profits more in longer term. so, it doesn't necessarily mean higher fares for the consumer, particularly in the shorter term. thanks very much for your time. let's look at the headlines. a british woman, rebecca dykes, has been killed and beirut, the foreign 0ffice been killed and beirut, the foreign office says. she worked for the department for international develop on. the first of six victims in this morning's car crash in birmingham has been named locally as taxi driver imtiaz mohammed. ryanair pilots have suspended a planned 24—hour strike as the airline agrees to recognise the pilots trades unions for the first time.

a big day in the world of sport. let's cross to the bbc sports centre. good evening. celtic boss brendan rodgers said his players would go down in history after their unbeaten run in scotland ended. there were thrashed 4—0 at hearts in the premiership. the last time celtic lost a league game was an incredible 585 days ago. 16—year—old harry cochrane gave them the lead. david miller got a couple of goals as well. it brings to an end the longest unbeaten run in scottish history. they've gone through 69 games. for this, in 18 months, to be the first defeat, of course it is a sore one, especially when you are beaten like that. but they can hold their heads up. they've been absolutely amazing in that 18 months.

to set a record, 69 games, that may never be beaten, they can be very proud of that. now we hit the reset button again. manchester united have closed the gap on top of the table manchester city to 11 points with a 2—1win over relegation threatened west brom at the hawthorns. an unfortunate deflection helped jesse lingard to united's second before half—time. romelu lu ka ku's romelu lukaku's header opened proceedings. gareth barry scored west brom's first goal under alan pardew but it was just consolation as they stay 19th. you do your best, you try to win matches, you try to play the best possible. you try to do all you can asa team. possible. you try to do all you can as a team. you try to give kids a big chance to become an important player at manchester united. at the end of the season, we will see what happens, notjust end of the season, we will see what happens, not just in end of the season, we will see what happens, notjust in the premier league but also in other competitions. liverpool got back to winning ways, with a comfortable 4—0 win away

at bournemouth in the premier league. mohamed salah, netting his 20th goal in all competitions this season. we need to be really consistent. we need to be really consistent. we need to be steady and on track. we need to be steady and on track. we need to be steady and on track. we need to show all the time while we are together. today, we are really happy, because we have the christmas party tonight. it is the first time i think that we can celebrate christmas. england's cricketers are not going to be celebrating, it seems. england's hopes of retaining the ashes are fading fast. they must bat through tomorrow's final day if they're to avoid defeat in the third test in perth and snatch a draw to keep the series alive. weather could play its part, rain stopped play towards the end of the fourth day, at the close england were 132—4. mitchell marsh didn't add to his 181 overnight. whilst aussie captain steve smith was out for 239. australia declared on 662

for nine — a lead of 259. in reply, england lost mark stoneman, alastair cook and joe root cheaply. james vince made a half century before he was bowled by a terrific ball by mitchell starc. defeat for england would leave them 3—0 down and handing the ashes back to australia. european champions cup holders saracens look like they'll now need to try to reach the quarter—finals as one of three best pool runners—up after losing 24—21 to group leaders clemont auvergne in france. sarries were keen to avoid a repeat of the home thrashing in the reverse fixture and helped by ben spencer's try, they soon built a 13—0 lead. but clermont chipped away at the advantage and although they managed no tries to sarries' two, scott spedding's late penalty earned a 24—21 victory. saracens, did at least pick up a losing bonus point. wasps have kept their hopes alive with a 21—3 victory over la rochelle.

leicester remain bottom of their pool — they lost at home to munster 25—16. northampton lost their first match after the dismissal of their director of rugby jim mallinder — beaten 32—15 at 0spreys. world number sixjustin rose won the indonesian masters by eight shots injakarta to seal his third tournament victory in seven weeks. the englishman posted eight birdies and an eagle in the first 13 holes of his final round, eventually finishing on 29 under par. that is all of the sport for now. back to you. the prime minister says events over the last few days have marked a watershed in the departure from the european union. theresa may said that the government is proving doubters wrong after the eu agreed to move onto the next phase of

negotiations. labour say the brexit plans are a mess. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent, chris mason, who began by telling me about a recent interview with the eu's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, in prospect magazine. nothing in here that is a million miles from what we have heard from him before. and quite striking in its language. we've approached mr barnier‘s offers to make sure there isn't anything lost in translation. the expectation is that he will have given this interview in french. just to bring you this quote from prospect. he says, they, referring to the uk, have to realise there won't be any cherry picking. he's talking here about a future arrangement and future deal. we won't mix up the various scenarios to create a specific one and accommodate their wishes, mixing, for instance, the advantages of the norwegian model — norway is not a member of the eu but is a member of the single market and accepts free movement of people — with the simple requirements of the canadian model. you'll know that there has been some discussion. david davis, the brexit secretary, talked about the idea of the canadian model plus, plus, plus. canada has a free trade arrangement with the eu in goods, but not in services, but doesn't have to accept free movement of people. he ends this particular

paragraph saying they — again, referring to the uk — will have to face the consequences of their own decision. in other words, is effectively saying, look, things cannot stay the same because you, the uk, have chosen to leave and that was your decision, not ours. when you talk about the idea of a bespoke solution, that won't necessarily come easy in terms of what the eu is willing to put on the table. theresa may has been writing in two british papers today. what has she had to say? what kind of position is she setting out? yes, two articles, one in the sunday telegraph, one in the sunday express. you often get prime ministerial pieces in the sunday newspapers. it's not often they take to two different newspapers. the message was broadly the same but the audience, i guess, is a bit different. what was striking about the prime minister's words is how defiant she was. kind of understandably, up to a point. there's been a huge number of headlines in the last few weeks about that aborted attempt to get a deal in brussels. she went over there, she had to come back and go over a few days later. then the defeat in the commons last week, and all of the accompanying

negative headlines, from her perspective. in reality, she can point to, and she does in these articles, that she has got to where she set out to buy christmas. the negotiations will move on to phase two, the future, after christmas, despite the bumps on the road that we've had over the last couple of weeks. but what we haven't got yet, and we might start to get this week, is a sense from the british government, privately at first, then publicly, about what they actually want. what is that end state that the british government is seeking to have? we know the broad parameters, we know the government wants to leave the single market and the customs union, and those economic relationships that are bound up with our current membership. but we don't know any specifics. brussels is clamouring for those specifics. plenty of people in the uk are as well. the brexit super cabinet, if you like, the war cabinet of main cabinet ministers involved in brexit, meeting tomorrow morning in downing street. there a full cabinet meeting on tuesday. that will be the first time that the full cabinet meeting have had a proper discussion

about that end state. that might surprise you. there is, arguably, a political savviness from the prime minister to have put it off for as long as she has. if you know you're facing a row about something, arguably it's pragmatic to postpone it for as long as possible, and that's what she's done. the white house has confirmed that the cia helped russia thwart a bomb attack on a cathedral in st petersburg. this is the moment security forces raided a flat allegedly used as logistical base to plan the attack. seven people were held, charged with being members of so—called islamic state. the officers also seized explosives, weapons and propaganda material. the government is considering extending automatic enrolment into a workplace pension, to 18 year olds, from 2020. currently the starting age is 22, for anyone earning more than £10,000. workers can opt out, but the change could affect around 900,000 people.

joe lynam reports. 0llie and nate are both 21. 0llie, on the left, has not yet started saving for his retirement. it has not really crossed my mind yet. i movejobs quite frequently, tend not to stay in one place too long. so pensions have been lower down the list of things i have been conscious of. nate, though, has been saving for his retirement since he was 16. i grew up with a family on welfare, so i was quite aware of the effects being reliant on government money can have. and how insecure it can be sometimes. if the work and pensions secretary david gauke has his way, young people like 0llie and nate could soon be automatically enrolled for a pension at their employers. that, i think, will get more people into the habit of saving. it will mean younger people will be saving for those extra years, so that is significant when it comes to their retirement. at the moment, only those aged over

22 are automatically included in a pension scheme by their employers, but the government wants that age lowered to 18. soon, 8% of our salaries will be going into a pension pot, something that employers are worried about. i think what the government needs to bear in mind however is how much of the cost of that is going to be falling on employers in the future, because already the cost for employers is on course to treble by 2019. today's announcement means the cost for employers will be even higher than that. to 18, or even 21—year—olds, retirement must seem a very long way off, especially if they don't earn much, but if this plan proceeds, it could help prevent younger people depending on the state in decades to come. joe lynam, bbc news. two senior members of south africa's governing anc have been chosen as candidates to be the next party leader. the process to find a successor to president zuma had

been delayed because of divisions among delegates. 0ur correspondent, milton nkosi, injohannesburg, says it's not clear when the new leader will be announced. i was in the plenary, earlier on, when the nominations were conducted, and deputy president cyril ramaphosa agreed to stand for the position of president, and nkosaza na dlamini—zuma did the same. the electoral commission has gone away to start printing the ballot papers, and voting will start pretty soon, because the delegates, i don't know if you can see some of them mingling behind me, they have gone to dinner in the meantime. when they go back, then they will begin the process of voting. there are 5000 of them, plus minus 5000 voting delegates, and cyril ramaphosa, as far as we know, is inching away with about 500 nominations, but that is not to say that those numbers won't change. prince harry has taken on a new role

asa prince harry has taken on a new role as a journalist and interviewed or 0bama. it was recorded at the invictus games in september, as part of the today programme's guest editor series. he takes over the show on the 27th of december and gave the politicians and interview advice ahead of the discussion. do i have to speak faster? because i'm a slow speaker. not at all. should i do a british accent? if you start using long pauses between answers you're probably going to get the face. let me see the face. laughter. i don't want to see that face. it will be 40 minutes. it will be a 20 minutes package for the bbc for after christmas, and we hope to use the whole thing as a podcast afterwards. excellent. 0k. i'm ready. do you guys have sound?

sounding great. you're excited about this, i'm nervous about this. it's fine. i'll interview you, if you want. let's keep it this way, i'd much prefer that! let's get a look at the weather prospects now. as we head closer to the will winter solstice, the weather is looking fairly quiet. a great picture on sunday, as the scene from stevenage shows. more in the way of sunshine on monday, with high pressure building in from the south. we are also likely to see mist and fog, potentially causing problems later on monday and on into tuesday. monday morning start on a dry, crisp note across the country. some frost around and the odd mist and fog patch, particularly for parts of the north—west of england. further south across wales and the south—west of

england, not quite as cold. temperatures four 5 degrees. colder conditions further east across england, when you might be able to see the odd icy stretch across monday. some mist for part of the midlands, up towards the manchester region. lots of list in scotland. temperatures in scotland below freezing first thing. mist and fog moving away, a pretty decent day for monday. more cloud moving into the north—west later in the day. a few showers for the north of scotland. temperatures seven or 10 degrees in the west, colder than that further east across the country. as we move through monday evening, quite quickly we will see mist and fog forming. moving into the early hours of tuesday, some of that becoming widespread and dense, freezing fog patches possible towards