you can see that tomorrow on bbc one at 8. time for a look at the weather. here's tomasz schafernaker. less tha n less than a week until christmas, are you going to give us a white christmas or not? honestly. i can give you a white christmas with fake snow. doesn't look like it at the moment. i don't want the snow to make my life really difficult and i'm working over christmas. many of you probably want that festive snow. at the moment, doesn't look like it's heading our way. it will be the opposite, probably rain and mild. we have had wintry scenes this morning, some mist and freezing fog. really slip pill this morning. minus four in bournemouth, 15 degrees in scotland. -- -- slippy scotland. —— —— slippy this morning. temperatures in scotland up to 14 or 15. to the south, it's a totally

different story, cloudy and gloomy in some areas. also a bit of sunshine. this is 3 o'clock. on the south coast, brightness. eight degrees in bournemouth after the chilly start. tonight, the weather is going to be slightly different. it will be a very mild night. we are not expecting any frost. temperatures in england an wales will be plus five. in glasgow and belfast, double figures. here a weather front is moving through bringing cloud and drizzle. this is thejet moving through bringing cloud and drizzle. this is the jet stream and look what it's doing at the moment. it's pushing in this tunnel of mild air. right up to lapland into finland there. this weather pattern is not expected to change an awful lot in the run—up to christmas. tomorrow, along with the mild tunnel ofair, tomorrow, along with the mild tunnel of air, there is also a weather front. a bit of drizzle around in

lancashire northern parts of wales. scotla nd lancashire northern parts of wales. scotland will have a brighter cooler day and, in the south, ii scotland will have a brighter cooler day and, in the south, 11 degrees in cardiff and london. that is midweek. how about thursday — not much change. remember that big weather pattern with the jet stream pushing the wilder weather our way isn't moving. we have got double figure temperatures across the south and around about five degrees a little bit fresher in scotland. this is the weather map. you can see high pressure to the south of the uk, low pressure to the south of the uk, low pressure and weather fronts out there in the atlantic and you can see how the wind is flowing, coming in from the southern climes and moving in our direction, hence that milder air. let us summarise the run—up to christmas then — not everybody‘s going to like it. staying mild, often cloudy and rain in the north. that's it. no snow is the bottom line. wet and mild. thank you. a reminder of our main story this lunch time: counter—terrorism police have made a number of arrests in derbyshire and yorkshire as they

try to foil a suspected islamist terror attack. bomb disposal officers are at a house in hester field. a number of streets have been sealed off and residents moved from their homes. that's all from the bbc news at one, goodbye from me on bbc one wejoin news at one, goodbye from me on bbc one we join the bbc news teams where you are. bye. relatives of those who lost their lives in the attack had been lighting candles and placing them on a newly opened memorial on the steps ofa a newly opened memorial on the steps of a church which overlooks the our top story centres on world champion sprinter, justin gatlin. he says he is shocked and surprised by doping allegations made against his coach and former agent. the daily telegraph alleges that robert wagner, an agent linked to gatlin offered undercover reporters performance enhancing drugs while gatlin's coach dennis mitchell, told reporters that athletes are able to get away with doping because the drugs they use cannot be detected by tests. both men deny the allegations. our sports news correspondent alex capstick has more details. reporters turned up at gatlin's

florida base and they spoke to dennis mitchell and roberting wither in who, sas you say is an agent who has had dealings with gatlin in the past. it is alleged robert wagner offered them performance enhancing drugs, which they wanted to make their actor in a film they were producing look more like a athlete. mr wagner said he could get testosterone and human growth hormone, both banned substances, from a doctor he used and they could supply the film producer. they talked about how drugs were rampant in athletics and it was said that the drugs they used that they couldn't be tested for. and gatlin has distanced himself, he has fired his coach. what has been the

response? he is a divisive figure in the sport. remember he was booed in london when he ran in the 100m before usain bolt‘s last ever race. and he was booed when he lined up in the rio olympics. he is a man who has been twice banned but he has distanced himself from the latest allegations, fired his coach dennis mitchell and posted a denial on his instagram account in which he said i am in the using and have not used performance enhance drugs, fired his coach and the matter is now with his lawyers. a man's been arrested in connection with an alleged hate crime against manchester city winger raheem sterling at the weekend. police have been investigating reports that sterling was racially abused and attacked on saturday after arriving at training. the club has not commentated on the allegations. england bowler craig overton says he believes the side are not far off winning games, despite having just lost the ashes to australia.

overton went off with a cracked rib as they lost the third test in perth, and is a major doubt for the fourth game in melbourne. 3—0 down in the series, the spectre of another 5—0 whitewash down under now haunts england. it's obviously in the background but we are confident we've competed in the series and we are not that far off winning games, they'vejust performed for better and longer periods than us. we know what we've got to do in the last two games coming up. score more got to do in the last two games coming up. score more runs got to do in the last two games coming up. score more runs and take a few more wickets, as simple as that. what is the mood in the camp? we are still battling and we're still fighting to get that result and show everybody what we can do out here. gloucester rugby head coach johan ackermann and flanker ruan ackermann will train as usual today, despite allegations the pair were involved in a fight in cheltenham on saturday evening. gloucestershire police have confirmed they are investigating an incident which left a man with facial injuries and have called for more witnesses to come forward.

the ackermanns joined the club shortly before the start of the season, with johan guiding gloucester to second place in the premiership, while son ruan was named player of the month for november. that's all the sport for now. you can find out more on all the stories on the bbc sport website. # bbc.co.uk/sport. i'll stories on the bbc sport website. # bbc. co. uk/sport. i'll have stories on the bbc sport website. # bbc.co.uk/sport. i'll have more in the next hour. breaking news for you, bbc news understands that the home office is to announce extra funding for the police in england and wales for the next financial year. it could amount to an additional £450 million. joining me now is our home affairs correspondent danny shaw. tell us what you have learned? well, what i understand is that for police forces in england and wales, for 2018/19, for the next financial year, they are going to be given the power, police and crime

commissioners, to raise more money from the council tax. there is a portion of the council tax, the preset, which goes towards policing. at the moment police and crime commissioner can't increase that by more than 2% a year. but that's going to be loosened a bit for the next year, so they can raise an extra £12 per household per year that. would bring n if all the police and crime commissioner decided to dot police and crime commissioner decided to do t an extra £270 million. obviously we council tax payers will be paying for that but it means that police force will have additional revenue n addition, the there is going to be £150 million for national police priorities. for example, forensic capabilities and an additional £50 million that amber rudd, the home secretary announced on sunday, which will go towards counter—terrorism policing. on sunday, which will go towards counter-terrorism policing. more money but council tax payers will have to foot the bill, as it were, a

sting in the tail of this. explain, because there has been pressure from chief constables and senior ministers on the government there was a settlement agreed in 2014 that george osborne announced over the next four years there would be a flat cash settlement, so the policing budget overall was protected and local forces, policing budget overall was protected and localforces, their budgets would remain the same if police and crime commissioners, raised their precept up to 2%. but, what has happened in the past couple of years, what has happened in the past couple of yea rs, we what has happened in the past couple of years, we have seen an escalation of years, we have seen an escalation of the terrorism threat and we have seen police officer numbers fall. so the police and crime commissioners are saying that settlement in 2014 is no longer sufficient. they are facing bleak times, they are stretched. they need extra money. the home office has been going arounds to force, looking at the

resilience, the demands they face, nick hurd the policing minister has been doing, that listen to what the police forces have been saying so they've found a bit of extra money from the treasury and also loosening the purse strings for police and crime commissioners locally. thank you. victims of last year's devastating christmas market attack in berlin are being commemorated today. 12 people were killed and 70 injured when a truck deliberately ploughed into the market. the driver was anis amri, a tunisian whose asylum application had been turned down months before. earlier, our berlin correspondent jenny hill explained to me how the anniversary of the attack was being marked. relatives of those who lost their lives in the attack have been lighting candles and placing them on a newly opened memorial on the steps of a church which overlooks the site of the christmas market attack. angela merkel, the german chancellor, gave a short impromptu speech in which she, in effect, acknowledged that berlin, the authorities in germany, haven't really done enough

to support victims' families in the days and weeks following the attack and that lessons had been learned for the future. as you can imagine, it's a very sombre day here in berlin. the christmas market itself is closed as a sign of respect for the 12 people who lost their lives and of course for the 70 people who suffered injuries, some of them very serious. the site itself is closed, so that there's privacy for the victims' families who, as i say, have been placing candles, placing white roses on the stone steps. this has caused a fair degree i think of public anger directed at angela merkel. the families of those who died and some of those who were injured actually wrote her an open letter sometime back accusing her of not doing enough to support them and they say she should have been in touch either in person or in writing to offer her condolences, but what's really angered them, i suppose, is first of all the fact that they say

they weren't supported. it was several days in some cases before they were told for example that their loved one had been killed. some families were sent bills by the hospital mortuary and there is some anger amongst relatives and those affected because they say that the police, had they been properly resourced, might have had the capacity to actually stop this attack from being carried out. angela merkel actually met with about 100 of those people yesterday. many of them said afterwards that they felt she had put their minds at rest, that she had spoken to them and given them a degree of comfort and reassurance about how the authorities would react in the future, but i think there is still some anger there. and that of course has really exacerbated a very painful anniversary, not just for the people who are caught up in the attack, but for the whole of germany because bear in mind that the christmas market is a really strong german tradition. it really matters to german people and so when a terrorist struck not just in the capital in the heart

of the country, he also struck at the very heart of the christmas tradition and that's been very, very painful for many germans. interestingly,| spent some time in this particular christmas market a few days ago and people there said they were resolved to carry on that tradition one man said, yes, there might be another attack, but i'm going to sit there with my gluhwein and my sausage because it is the only way i can demonstrate my defiance. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc news: four men are arrested on suspicion of terror offences in south yorkshire and derbyshire. labour mp, david lammy — who reviewed race bias in the legal system — has criticised the government's decision to rule out targets for appointing more black and minority ethnicjudges. us investigators say a train that derailed killing three people was travelling at 80 miles per hour on a stretch of track limited to 30. in the business news:

investors are meeting in london later to decide the fate of household goods giant steinhoff. the firm owns 6,500 outlets in 30 countries, including the uk's poundland and furniture chains bensons and harveys. the firm is in the spotlight after an accounting scandal that led to its shares slumping 80% and two top executives resigning. toys r us and its 3000 staff are facing an uncertain future in the uk after it was told to put £9 million into its struggling pension fund by the pension protection fund. it has to come up with the money by thursday in order for the ppf to agree to the retailer's restructuring plan. earlier this month, toys r us said it would close at least 26 uk stores, leading to the loss of up to 800 jobs, as part of the rescue plan. and shareholders at the london stock exchange will vote today to decide whether to remove the company's

chairman, donald brydon. the vote was proposed by one of lse‘s biggest investors, which accused mr brydon of forcing out the lse‘s former chief executive, xavier rolet. the results will be announced later. the future of retail giant, steinhoff, hangs in the balance as it battles a huge accounting scandal. it might not be a household name but its brands are. in the uk, it owns poundland and furniture chains bensons and harveys. it's meeting its lenders in london later to ask for a lifeline — it needs them to give it more time to pay back its debts. alarm bells rang earlier this month when the parent group failed to publish its financial results, warning they "could no longer be relied upon". that's prompted an 80% slump in its share price and its two top bosses have quit. grace bowden, reporter from retail week. it's a huge business. it has companies across 30 different countries, who different retail

brands over 6,000 outlets and as you say poundland, harveys, bensons and in france companies, and mattafirm in the us. so a big retail titan and a fall from grace in a short period of time. a couple of weeks ago they posted results and said there were accounting irregular yarts. posted results and said there were accounting irregular ya rts. since then, there have been stepped downs and they have postponed the previous years's financial results. it is based upon the same financial issue and they said as a condition quens it cannot be relied upon. as a result, shareholders have lost a lot of faith in the business, 10 billion euros worth of value have been wiped off the business in a short period off the business in a short period of time and we are looking for a lifeline to re—establish faith with the share #408ders who are still investing in the business —— shareholders. the meeting this afternoon is top paint a fuller picture of where the business is at and where its uk assets are, with

poundland in particular, with which is the best—performing of the uk in the in sales. they could extend their credit and extend loans they have out or there could be a case of whether or not poundland is perhaps going to leave the stable of businesses and be bought by another businesses and be bought by another business which would then allow cash flow back to steinhoff. they only pound poundland over a year ago, so it has gone from a positive position toa it has gone from a positive position to a messy one in a short period of time. time to talke christmas shopping because, whether you're still making a list or you've got it all wrapped up, chances are you've been tapping. as shops head into what is widely regarded as the busiest shopping weekend of the year, contactless payments are up 98% compared to 2016 and as brits prepare themselves for the six hours and 42—minute hunt for gifts, one in every three card purchases

in the uk will be tapped. dr david lewis, chartered psychologist and author of the brain sell, joins us now. just explain why is tapping so popular? i mean it's obviously very convenient. but is there more to it than that? ? ithink convenient. but is there more to it than that? ? i think one of the things about contactless payments which really appeals both to shoppers and retailers is the fact it improves the kind of flow. when we are looking at the way in which people shop, we are very interested in what sol called the floe, the cognitive flow. so from the point of seeing something you want it buy, to the point you pay fort seeing something you want it buy, to the point you pay for t leaving the shop, the fro sows needs to be as smooth as possible. —— the process. researchers shows anything that interru pts researchers shows anything that interrupts the payment, for example, having to wait in line to pay, can lead some people to abeen done their trolly and baskets and walk out. this happens both instore and online. people don't like being delayed. this research suggests that

eight out of ten, just over eight out of ten of us get really angry if there is a slow shopper, for example, ahead of us, slowing us down. we seem to be increasingly impatient. long gone are the days where we were happy to wait in queues to buy something. the efficiency of it can be very satisfying but is there a danger when you do a contactless payment, you don't have to put your card into machine, you don't press numbers, it... feels like you are getting it for free, you are it... feels like you are getting it forfree, you are not spending money. is it dangerous for consumers? i certainly think if we go to pounds and is his, as it was in my generation and you are talking it out of your wallet or purse and handing over hard cash, it slows the process down, it can put you into a more conscious mode of what you are spending. i think it is a lot easier to spend when you have either a debit card, credit card or co nta ctless debit card, credit card or contactless card t removes that barrier and indeed research does

suggest that this christmas, particularly, people are spending it much more on high value items. the old idea of buying jewellery or luxury goods is decreasing, the kind of things people are spending money on this christmas, seems to be high price electronics, for example, and also much increased spending on travel. so these seem to be the two to spending items, electronics and travel. there is a statistic that says on average we spend six hours and 42 minutes christmas shopping over the christmas period shopping for gift. does that sound about right to you? i would've thought it was slightly on the low side. our research suggests people do — the time in the shop that possibly is right but the time people spend thinking about t going online and doing research, because we are price conscious these days, we are looking for ways of driving down the price this, applies whether we are going shopping, and going shopping as a leisure activity, we want to buy

things we have fun with and doing the shopping, which is buying the things like bleach, kitchen towels, that you have to have to keep the house running, nobody likes that, so the faster you can get through to doing the shopping and moving on doing the shopping and moving on doing the shopping and moving on doing the shopping, that's the best way people like to live their lives. well u thank you very much for your time. we'll look at the markets: you can see the ftse is up, ever so slightly. big gains on the european markets yesterday, holding steady today and in this state we are heading record highs of markets in the states. we are expecting that long—awaited tax reform legislation from president trump to be voted through at some point in the next 24 hours and the markets can't wait to see the impact. they are shooting up across the pond having an impact and we have put up gocompare their shire price was up earlier, they have announced the be a which says of my voucher codes for just announced the be a which says of my voucher codes forjust over £36 million. investors like what they are hearing. that's it from me. i

will be back with more business throughout the afternoon. thank you. president trump's national security adviser has told the bbc that the us is ready to force north korea to give up its nuclear weapons with or without their co—operation. general hr mcmaster told the bbc‘s yalda hakim that the regime of kim jong—un remains a grave threat. are you committed to peaceful resolution to this? of course, that's what we want but we're not committed to a peaceful conclusion, but a resolution. we want it to be peaceful but as the president said, all options are on the table and we have to be prepared if necessary to compel the denuclearisation of north korea without the cooperation of that regime. leading republicans, such as senator lindsey graham have said there is a 30% chance of war. if they continue with the threats it could go up to 70%. is war imminent?

the chances of war could go up or down based on what we all decide to do. north korea is a great threat to all civilised people across the globe. let's talk about russia. all of the us intelligence communities have said that russia interfered in the 2016 elections. putting the politics to one side, would you say that this is a national—security risk and threat? certainly it is. with this strategy, we say explicitly in the document that the strategy views the world as it is, it does not create an aspirational model, so that's what we have to view russian behaviour as, look at what they are actually doing. of course we have to counter their destabilising behaviour and the sophisticated campaigns of propaganda and disinformation, efforts to polarise communities and pit them against each other especially in the democratic world in a free and open society. they use it against countries to weaken their popular

will and resolve. do you believe that russia meddled in the 2016 elections? i believe russia has engaged in a very sophisticated campaign of subversion to affect our confidence in democratic institutions... they meddled? including your elections? they used propaganda and disinformation on both sides they'll support very left groups, they'll support the very right groups, and so what they want to do was create the kind of tension, vitriol that undermines our confidence in who we are. is this something the president is saying as well? yes, of course. he's acknowledging this meddling took place? yes, publicly. will you ensure this kind of interference does not happen in the future?

certainly, to the degree we have agency and control over it but one of the most important things to do is to pull the curtain back on this activity and expose it. would your life be easier if the president stopped tweeting? aristotle said "focus on what you can control and you can make a difference."! the president will do what he wants to do. and it's his way of reaching the american people. it's a communication which is very successful for him. he has quite a number of followers around the world. myjob is not to worry about twitter. back it the breaking news, the home office has announced extra funding for the police in england and wales for the police in england and wales for the police in england and wales for the next financial year which could amount to hundreds of millions of pounds. the home office minister, nick hurd made the announcement to the halks a short time ago. this is what he had to say as a government, we are acutely aware that the

demands facing our police forces are considerable and changing. that is why this government made the decision to protect police funding in the 2015 spending review. and thatis in the 2015 spending review. and that is why today we are proposing a settle m e nt that is why today we are proposing a settlement for our place that will increase funding for police forces bya increase funding for police forces by a further £450 million in 2018/19. let me break it down, mr speaker, we propose that police forces get the same cash grant from the centre as in 2017/18. on top of that, we want to respond positively to requests from pccs for more flexibility around the levels of police preset. so we propose empowering them to raise council tax contributions for local policing by £1a contributions for local policing by £1 a month, per household. £12 a year. if they all use this

flexibility that will result in a £270 million increase in the money we invest as a society in our policing system. the home office minister, nick hurd speaking a short time ago. more on that throughout the afternoon but 110w that throughout the afternoon but now time for a look at the weather. still chilly today. a frost in some parts of the uk you can see some mist and parts of the uk you can see some mistand a parts of the uk you can see some mist and a nice picture from london. and also the temperature contrasts we re and also the temperature contrasts were enormous this morning, minus—4 in bournemouth. around about 15 in the north of scotland due to something called the fone effect. so what will happen through the course of this evening? a lot of cloud across the uk. rain heading into north—western parts of scotland. the bries picking up here as well. with all of this tale mild tonight. no frost expected. temp truce will be around 5 or 6 in most major towns and cities across england and wales. with scotland and

belfast up to around about 10 or 11. here is thejet belfast up to around about 10 or 11. here is the jet stream for tomorrow. helping push in mild air off the atlantic, which is pushing as farer north and east as scandinavia there and into finland as well. tomorrow we have the mild south—westerly wind, thejet we have the mild south—westerly wind, the jet streams way above us pushing in a weather front, wind, the jet streams way above us pushing in a weatherfront, too. a little bit of rain around. parts of the lake district into lancashire and northern wales. by the side of that a little dry but the best of the weather in scotland, in won't be quite so mild there, 11, 12 and also similar values across the south of england. that's the middle part of the week, let's see what is happening towards the end of the week. thursday a lot of cloud. still pretty much in the south—westerly strea m pretty much in the south—westerly stream of air, temperatures relatively on the high side for the time of the year. 11 in london, sunshine across northern areas. this is the pressure amount for friday. high pressure to the south of us n this high, a lot of low, grey cloud and the wind coming out of the

south—west being pushed in our direction a few weather fronts moving into scotland. the end of the week and into the weekend, it looks like things will be damp in the north. in the run—up to christmas, staying mild across the uk. there will be a lot of cloud and hill fog a bit like in this picture behind me. any rain will probably be falling across northern areas. this is just falling across northern areas. this isjust a falling across northern areas. this is just a sneak peek. an approximatation, by no means a weather forecast for christmas day but it will a' look like this, rain moving across the country, middle of the afternoon, evening, and some sunshine. if there is going to be snow, it'll be fleeting showers across the hills of scotland, maybe the pennines and the north hills of wales at a push. that's it from me. hello, you're watching afternoon live.

i'm martine croxall. today at 2pm: four arrests in early morning terror raids in sheffield and chesterfield. the bomb squad's called to one of the houses. police in england and wales get a cash boost of £130 million with the option for local authorities to raise even more from taxes. the government outlines ways to tackle racial bias in the criminaljustice system in england and wales, but is criticised for ruling out diversity targets for judges. iam afraid i am afraid that without that they're going to see more of the same and we'll be back here in ten yea rs' same and we'll be back here in ten years' time still with the judiciary not reflecting on our country. a leak is discovered on the uk's largest and most—expensive aircraft carrier, hms queen elizabeth. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with holli hamilton.