hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. we will start with breaking news from westminster because in the past have an hour the first secretary, damian green, has announced that he has resigned. that is the sound of major tax reform being passed in the us. there are tax cuts coming for american companies and individuals. opponents says it reform for the rich. the president's having none of that. this bill means more take—home pay, it will be an incredible christmas gift for hard—working americans. the eu is taking unprecedented action against a member state as poland presses on with changes to its judicial. we'll report from brussels and warsaw. and we'll be in barcelona on the eve of crucial elections in catalonia. as with every edition of outside

source, we will take you through the biggest stories around the world in the next hour with the help of the best of the bbc international journalists and we start here in london because damian green from the uk's deputy prime minister, has resigned. it was after an enquiry into allegations about his conduct found he made inaccurate and misleading statements about what he knew about claims pornography had been found on a computer in his office in the houses of parliament a few years ago. this was the letter that has been sent to theresa may, apologising for his conduct and the prime minister has replied accepting his resignation. we can go live to alex forsyth who is in westminster. tell us more about the conclusion of this investigation. this enquiry was

in two broad matters, the first was allegations that damian green had behaved inappropriately towards a conservative activist and the second concerning alleged legal pornography that was found on computers in his parliamentary office in 2008. from the outset he has denied any wrongdoing on either account and maintained that any pornography found did not belong to him and this enquiry has not been definitive when it comes to those two central matters. it does not say exactly what happened in either case but what happened in either case but what it does find is that when damian green says he was not told by police about those allegations of pornography, that was wrong and in fa ct pornography, that was wrong and in fact his lawyers were told by police lawyers and therefore he made misleading statements about what he knew about the allegations and as a consequence he is bound to have breached the ministerial code and has resigned. the reason this so much is because he was the first

secretary of state, the de facto deputy prime minister and very close to the prime minister. they have been friends since university, he was her political ally and confidant around the cabinet table and it is very clear she did not want him to go at this stage and in fact in her letter to him she said she was extremely sad to be writing this letter and she pays long tribute to his role in government as first secretary of state and she talks about their long friendship but she says with deep regret, because he was found to have breached the ministerial code, when it came to what he was told about the allegations of pornography, that she has asked him to resign. there are tweets coming through, one saying another one bites the dust which is another one bites the dust which is a reference to the fact that the prime minister has lost a number of allies in the last few months. she has, the third cabinet minister to go after michael fallon resigned

over allegations about his conduct and then priti patel also resigned over business meetings she had without informing downing street. this is the third cabinet minister and perhaps the most significant for theresa may because he was such a close ally, but the third to go in a short period of time. this follows a period where there have been questions about the stability of the government and the cabinet in the uk. this is injune timing for theresa may to say the least. it is something she would not have wanted —— in opportune timing. but she felt she had little choice but to ask him to resign. we must make it clear that damian green continues to deny any allegations of wrongdoing when it comes to the substance of those matters of the act he said he was not told about the pornography when his lawyers were made aware. thank

you very much. the uk deputy prime minister has resigned at there will be further coverage of this in the coming minutes and you can get more details online right now. we are going to switch to washington. a short time ago president trump gave a press conference marking the major overhaul of the us tax system. these are the people right behind me who have worked so long and so hard. it has been an amazing experience i had to tell you. it has not been donein had to tell you. it has not been done in sa years but actually, really hasn't been done because we broke every record. it is the largest, i always say the most massive but it is the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform, but tax really something special. it's been approved by both houses of congress today because the house of representatives had to vote again today

because a procedural rule hadn't been followed. hugely significant for two reasons. first, the bill gives big tax cuts to businesses, and to lesser and greater extents tax cuts to individuals. second, this is president trump's first major piece of legislation. he's pleased, calling it the biggest in history. that was what he said on twitter. he says the cuts are so large and so meaningful and yet the fake news is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated dems, and only demean. no demeaning going on here, but we are going to look at this in detail. mr trump's been thanking senior republicans. well he might. every single republican senator voted for the bill which got it through 51 to 48 last night. every democrat voted against it, so they're not happy. there are only two places where

america is popping champagne. the white house and the corporate boardrooms including white house and the corporate boa rd rooms including trump white house and the corporate boardrooms including trump tower. otherwise americans have a lot to regret. rajini vaidyanathan is at the white house. it is quite something to see mr trump laughing and joking with paul ryan and other senior republicans. he was at loggerheads with them not so long ago. these are some of the people who criticised him very strongly when he was candid at trump and have not been on the best of terms with him since he moved into the white house. this is a significant moment for the relationship between president trump and the republican party because they have managed to rally together and go back and forth on what this tax plan would contain and come to an agreement. and when

it came to the senate, all of the republicans voted with the party, only 12 on the house side dissented. the majority rallying together and thatis the majority rallying together and that is why they all joined the majority rallying together and that is why they alljoined him on the steps. it is worth noting what some of the republican leadership have been saying in the last few days, people like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell conceding that the job now is to sell this planned to the american people all the polls suggest that the majority of americans are concerned about this tax plan, and as you heard with the democrats saying it will only be the democrats saying it will only be the wealthy and billionaires who will be the winners in this. and one thing i don't understand, president trump has expensive plans for infrastructure, a wall along the mexican border, and yet the government taxation income is going to drop from this so where will he get the money from customers in many ways this is based on the idea of

what is known as trickle—down economics. the republicans have been saying that yes, this could be something like a $1.5 trillion tax bill that this plan could end up costing but they believe if you cut corporation tax it will stimulus growth in the economy because businesses are more likely to invest in things and create jobs. that is what republicans have been saying. if you do this, more money will flow around the economy and it will boost growth but not everybody is buying into that theory and certainly democrats are concerned that something is going to have to pay for this huge price tag. their big concern is that in the new year the republicans may come back to congress and start slashing welfare and entitlement programmes which could impact of lower income americans the most. thank you very much. if you still have questions about this tax reform, send them in because we will be covering this

again ina because we will be covering this again in a few minutes. we started in westminster, then to washington and now brussels and warsaw. the european union is doing something it's never done before — it's taking action against one of its members, poland, overjudicial reforms that it it believes are anti—democratic. frans timmermans is vice—president of the european commission. he says they've acted with "a heavy heart. but the facts leave us with no choice. we have no other option. this is notjust about poland, it is about the eu as a whole." a number of things to play you on this. this is adam fleming in brussels. for about two years the european commission has been monitoring the situation in poland and they say there have been 13 pieces of legislation put in place or proposed which threaten democracy in the country, threaten the rule of law. what happened today is that frans timmermans, the first vice president of the european commission, recommended the triggering of

article seven which is the eu's way, never used before, of disciplining countries with the rule of law under threat. now it moves to the european council, the eu leaders and they have the right to call in the prime minister poland and asking what he's doing and get him to explain himself. if four fifth of those leaders agree, pollen can be put under observation and recommendations can be made and the situation observed. what we are looking at is part one of article seven of the lisbon treaty. you can read it all online. let's look at the second part, the so—called ‘nuclear option‘. that allows for sanctions and the suspension of voting rights. but for that to happen, all of the eu's members states need to approve it. and hungary has already said it'll block such a move. perhaps that helps us understand how defiant poland is. president duda has announced that he's signed into law two bills

on the judiciary that particularly concerned the eu. and he said this earlier. translation: these reforms were passed in parliament, first by the upper house and then by the senate without amendments and i made the decision to sign these two laws. we cannot allowjudges decision to sign these two laws. we cannot allow judges to decision to sign these two laws. we cannot allowjudges to govern themselves and decide on matters that concern them without any oversight. it is notjust the separation of powers which is important, there also has to be the right balance between powers. now, the centre of the polish government's argument is that its judicial system is inefficient and corrupt. and it argues that communist—era judges are pursuing their own agenda. it says addressing these issues is its sovereign right. let's get to warsaw. adam easton is there. i put it to him that the government is right and that there are judges

from the commonest era who resisted democratisation and still pursue their own agenda. the government says that essentially commonest era judges are still sitting in court and communist era collaborators infiltrated the system and resisted any change. —— communist era judges. the case of the government would be reinforced if it were not for the fa ct reinforced if it were not for the fact that the governing party's point man on judicial reform was a communist era prosecutor. it is ok for him to be in this position even though his history was in the communist era as a prosecutor but not forjudges who are of a certain age and were judges during the commonest era. and in terms of the confidence we are seeing from the polish government, do you think it

is rooted in the fact they don't believe all of the eu member state would vote through serious sanctions against them? i think they are almost assured that will be the case. budapest, hungary is a very close ally of this current polish government and it has said many times it will veto any sanction against poland and let's not forget that to have any, the second stage of this process, which could end in poland having its voting right inside the eu suspended and other sanctions, that requires the agreement of all eu member states and hungary has said it will not sanction it. i think it has ground to be confident. and is the position taken by the government are proving popular at home? certainly overwhelmingly polish people think

the court system should be reformed. a recent opinion poll said 81% of people here said reform was needed. the main grievances of the public are firstly that trials drag on for months and months, far too long. the second is that the court proceedings themselves are too complicated and themselves are too complicated and the third is this concern about corruption amongst judges. yes, the third is this concern about corruption amongstjudges. yes, the public agrees there should be some sort of reform. but does not mean to say that they agree with the way the governing law and justice party is going about it. there is a difference there of course. tens of thousands of people over the last few months have taken to the streets to protest against this because they share the european commission's fear that these reforms give the governing party the tools to

essentially politicise the media and essentially politicise the media and essentially put in judges who are loyal to the government in positions of power. in a few minutes we will return to the us to talk about donald trump's first major legislative victory and we will get into the detailed of what will change. the metropolitan police is undertaking a review of all of its current sex offence investigations following the collapse of two rape cases. the prosecutions were halted because of the late disclosure of evidence. the attorney general, jeremy wright, has been giving his thoughts. we need to understand and urgently what went wrong in those cases, that is the work underway now but there is the work underway now but there isa is the work underway now but there is a broader issue here. that is about how well or otherwise the disclosure system is working throughout the criminal trial system and we were already aware that there we re and we were already aware that there were concerns about this. concern is

that i think arise not necessarily from failures of individuals to do theirjobs properly but from failures of individuals to do their jobs properly but from from failures of individuals to do theirjobs properly but from the fa ct theirjobs properly but from the fact that we have very large amounts now of mostly digital information in a whole range of trials that it is very ha rd to a whole range of trials that it is very hard to filter and sift effectively so you can find the evidence that ought to be disclosed and that is a problem we are encountering in fraud cases, terrorism cases but also as we have discovered in other cases and that is what we need to look at. the lead story comes from westminster because damian green has announced he has resigned. picking up announced he has resigned. picking up on announced he has resigned. picking up on some announced he has resigned. picking up on some of the main stories from bbc world service. two people were killed in a nightclub fire in kisumu on lake victoria in kenya. authorities believe an electrical fault may have been the cause.

the renowned mexican crime journalist gumaro perez has been shot and killed while attending a christmas celebration at his son's school. he is one of 12 journalists to have been killed in mexico this year. no one has been arrested over the killing. that's on bbc mundo. cardinal bernard law has died aged 86 in rome. he was forced to resign as archbishop of boston 15 years ago over a church sex abuse scandal. back to this tax reform in the us. let's give you some details. it'll lower corporate taxes from 35% to 21%. the argument for this is that if corporations benefit, so do many americans. the president has only one thing at the top of his mind. ultimately what does it mean? it meansjobs, jobs, ultimately what does it mean? it means jobs, jobs, jobs. the tax rates for individuals will also drop, at least until 2025. the highest earners who get a 2% cut. if you look right across the

spectrum, the bipartisan tax policy centre put out this data which shows the more you earn, the more you are likely to benefit and the less you earn, the less you benefit. the democrats have been looking to emphasise that. this is not about anything better for working—class families, this is about champagne glasses clinking and wealthy families across the country and i don't begrudge them success or wealth or their achievement, ijust don't want to see it at the exploitation of america's working families. other key elements in the bill include lower inheritance tax, lower taxes on overseas profits. and what about the cost of this? the joint congressional committee on taxation says it's around $1.11 trillion. but here is the president making the case for the cost. $4 trillion will come flowing back

into the country, money that is overseas that has been stuck there for yea rs overseas that has been stuck there for years and years. we are covering this story in the us. let's talk about the corporations. the idea is that if there is less tax charged in the us they will bring more money back? that's right. at 35% the us corporate tax rate was the highest in the developed world so what president trump and the republicans are saying is that by bringing it down to 21%, and with other deductions and exemptions, the effective rate that companies pay could be much lower and they are essentially making the us competitive on the global stage. making its corporate tax it comparable to other countries. they are also doing, money that us companies earned abroad, when that

was with penetrated to the us there was with penetrated to the us there was tax on it but they have a away with that —— when it was repatriation tip. president trump is saying they are giving incentives to businesses overseas to bring it back here and also for companies to invest more here because they will be taxed at a lower rate. there are questions raised about whether the trickle—down effect they have been talking about will actually happen, if the big companies benefit, making these savings, are they really going to pass them on in the form of investment and creating morejobs or will it just mean investment and creating morejobs or will itjust mean giving higher dividends to their shareholders? and temporary tax cuts for individuals, the fact they are slated to continue until 2025 but what happens then? then it returns back to the situation as it was earlier. you pointed out earlier there would be tax cuts for a lot of people but also concerns that for some people

in some state taxes could even go up. right now what happened is that if you pay a state or local tax here there is a certain reduction you can get on yourfederal there is a certain reduction you can get on your federal income tax and that has been curtailed by this bill so for example new york, or new jersey, these are states with higher tax rates so some people here could even find themselves paying more. but all of that is temporarily, lasting only until 2025. thank you. the european court ofjustice has ruled what a lot of people might think is pretty obvious, that uber is a transport company rather than a digital service. that impacts on how eu member states can regulate uber. theo leggett explains in this report. the ride—hailing service uber has become a fact of life in cities around europe over the past few years.

it is certainly convenient. you can call a car, monitor its progress, and pay for it — all over the internet. but what exactly is it? when uber first started operating in europe, it tried to present itself as a kind of digital middleman, connecting passengers with drivers. in other words, it was just a mobile phone based app and didn't need to abide by all the onerous rules and regulations that apply to regular taxi companies. but others, particularly established taxi drivers, disagreed. they said that uber was in fact a transport services company and should be subject to the same rules and regulations as any other taxi business. now the european court ofjustice has agreed with them. it says that legally speaking uber is indeed a transport company. for uber itself there will not be a huge immediate impact from the ruling. it has already given ground to regulators in most of its major european markets. in the uk and many other countries it is already licensed as a taxi operator.

but the decision could affect its future plans. it said today, millions of europeans are still prevented from using apps like ours. it is appropriate to regulate services such as uber and we will continue the dialogue with cities across europe. so that is actually a transport service... meanwhile lawyers said the impact of the ruling could go beyond taxi firms and affect other businesses which operate in the so—called gig economy. i think other companies in the gig economy will be worried by this. this is showing that the courts are not going to be distracted by the technology, they're going to look at what is actually happening and how local legislation should already apply to that. free—market campaigners meanwhile say that is a bad thing. they think policymakers should be moving with the times. if you halt innovation by applying old systems and old patterns of regulation, simply to protect incumbents, or perhaps even you know with some sort of idea about passenger safety, you are constraining the ability of people to do things in their own way.

and at the end of the day people know what is good for them. this is by no means the first legal ruling to affect uber and it is unlikely to be the last as courts and regulators come to terms with the profound impact companies born in the digital age have had on traditional businesses. theo leggett, bbc news. a moment to remind you of the lead story, the uk deputy prime minister damian green has announced within the last hour that he has resigned. this is to do with an investigation, and it should be added that the allegations he is facing he has not admitted to come it is to do with information he provided and whether it was entirely accurate. laura kuenssberg is telling us that the primary suspect to damian green about those findings this afternoon and then he resigned from the government. we will be live from westminster in a moment. it is that time in the evening when

we ta ke it is that time in the evening when we take a look at the weather elsewhere around the world and making the headlines recently u nfortu nately have making the headlines recently unfortunately have been the californian wildfires. the next few days sees easing in the wins but u nfortu nately days sees easing in the wins but unfortunately with high building there is no rain —— in the winds and they might increase again at the end of the weekend. you can see that low pressure and then fewer ice and lighter winds and the high—pressure means little rain. further east, it may be december but severe thunderstorms on wednesday and even the odd tornado before the system clears into the atlantic and we see colder weather plunging southwards alsop by christmas and beyond it looks like we could have very cold weather in deed with temperatures five or 10 degrees below average across the east of the us and canada all stop some snow in the great la kes.

all stop some snow in the great lakes. if you are travelling to or from india the biggest problem is amber warnings for fog across northern state which will persist for the rest of the week and it gets cold as well. this mass of cloud is a tropical storm which has affected the philippines and is moving across southern part of the vietnam towards the malay lindsay. expect more flooding unfortunately. also wet in sumatra and jarba and borneo and this could be another storm for the southern philippines but even further north the monsoon will enhance the reins. quite a lot of rain is set to fall across central and southern parts of africa, it is the rainy season but it looks more intense than it has been. days of that heavy rain could cause further flash flooding while in the north there are strong winds blowing sick dust around which could be a disruptive for travel as well as showers in the art of algeria and

tunisia and libya. it is all tied in with this low pressure developing across the mediterranean pushing across the mediterranean pushing across malta and into greece and the southern balkans and eventually into turkey. pretty inclement here but further west we have high pressure which means fog could still be an issue for travellers in parts of france, germany and iberia. there is the low pressure moving gradually eastwards, stowe further north as well as you can see in parts of western russia —— snow. as for the uk, we have that week weatherford still with us on thursday, brightest to the north that in the slightly told abbott it will be mild further south. more on the outlook for christmas and beyond in the next half an hour. goodbye. hello, i'm ros atkins. this is outside source. we will continue with the breaking

news because the past hour or so, damian green has announced he will resign. and a major tax reform bill in the us has passed. tax cuts for companies and individuals. opponents say it is for the rich. this means more take—home pay, it will be an incredible christmas gift for hard—working americans. incredible christmas gift for hard-working americans. a bbc report from nigeria. the country's authorities are trying to crack down on fake prescription drugs. and we'll be in barcelona on the eve of crucial elections in catalonia. welcome to outside source. damian green was second only to

theresa may as the highest ranking figure in the uk government but he has resigned as deputy prime minister after an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour found he had allegations of inappropriate behaviourfound he had breached his code of office. the allegations were that he made unwanted advances to a female journalist, kate that he made unwanted advances to a femalejournalist, kate maltby, in 2015, and that he viewed pornography on his computer in his office in parliament almost ten years ago. he previously denied the allegations but the report said he had been inaccurate and misleading. laura kuenssberg updated us on twitter saying theresa may's deputy was asked to resign. no definitive conclusion on his behaviour to kate maltby and the enquiry found her account plausible. the resignation letter has been released, as has the reply from theresa may accessing it.

the statement came through from the pa rents of kate the statement came through from the parents of kate maltby on her behalf and read... we can go to westminster. it is increasingly clear that while technically it was a resignation, it was encouraged by the prime minister? theresa may asked damian green to go and he did. he offered his resignation as he was asked and i think once the findings of the independent investigation were presented to the prime minister she felt she had no choice but to ask him to go because of the finding he misled the public with his state m e nts misled the public with his statements in relation to the pornographic material discovered on his parliamentary computer. there we re his parliamentary computer. there were two macro aspects of the

investigation, one about allegations made by a young activist about u nwa nted made by a young activist about unwanted advances and the other about whether he viewed pornographic material on his parliamentary computer in 2008. this was during a police raid the computers were seized. damian green maintained his innocence strongly throughout the investigation. the tone of the letters exchanged between theresa may and damian green are regretful. the first line of theresa may's letter was, i am extremely sad to be writing this. it was clear it was not a conclusion she wanted to reach but the finding, although inconclusive with regards to allegations of unwanted behaviour towards the activist kate maltby, it was more definitive, the findings from a cabinet office official when it came to his statements surrounding the pornographic

material he denied he had been made aware that interior was found on his computers in 2008. in fact, the metropolitan police, the investigation found, had informed him of that, so that led to him having to go. i have lost track how many times theresa may —— people have said theresa may does not have the authority to sack a senior figure but she felt that way today. she has lost three senior ministers are government in the past weeks and she has managed to weather storm. this resignation, damian green is a close ally and they go back many yea rs close ally and they go back many years and he is the de facto deputy prime minister, so this will be a personal blow to her. it shows she is taking action against one of her closest allies. after the recommendations of this committee and although she may appear to have

lost one of her closest confidants, she can be seen to be taking strong action in regards to his behaviour. thank you. tomorrow, thursday, catala ns will vote in regional elections — their core choice is between politicians who want want politicians who want independence and those who don't. the reason this vote is happening is because in october, catalonia's leaders held a referendum on independence — that was deemed illegal by spain's highest court. less than half of eligible voters took part, but according to organisers, 90% of who did, supported independence. that led to catalonia's then president, carles puigdemont declared independence. but within days he'd gone into exile in belgium. plus eight ministers and the regional parliament's speaker were jailed while being

investigated for rebellion. spain's prime minister then sacked the catalan government — and this election was called. tim willcox, barcelona. the last three months of been extraordinary with a whirlwind of events and two months ago the declaration of independence and mariano rajoy imposing, calling these elections on december the zist, these elections on december the 21st, saying he wanted to restore normality to the region that the campaigning in the elections have been anything but normal. one political leader, carles puigdemont, has campaigned fire a hologram by brussels. his deputy leader of the republican party, is imprisoned in

madrid, trying to mastermind his campaign, but facing charges of sedition and rebellion. the only issue on the campaign trail has been independence and those people supporting independence from spain are viewing the vote tomorrow as a referendum on the original referendum on the original referendum deemed illegal by madrid in october. the unionist groups, the silent majority as they describe themselves, using tomorrow as an opportunity to come out on the streets and say we want to remain pa rt streets and say we want to remain part of spain. one group, a couple of months ago we mentioned them, known as the citizens' party, a right wing pro—unionist party, they could be the largest party in the regional parliament tomorrow when we have the initial results at 11pm tomorrow evening. crucially they need to form some coalition with other groups that will be the

problem, because either the separatists or unionists might not have enough political allies in the parliament to form a working coalition. if that is not the case, we are back at new elections probably in the new year. mps have voted in uganda overwhelmingly to remove an age limit for the presidency. the reason is the president wants to run for a sixth term, he is 73 and has been in office since 1986. i guess we were expecting this? yes. the ruling party has the majority in the house and today that paid dividends. we saw mp after mp voting for the legislation. and members of the opposition and independents. what

does the government said to critics who say some african leaders want to hang around too long? this was his point when he first came to power over 30 years ago, and now he says uganda is a young nation that needs more work and things to do to improve the economy and infrastructure. he says if you have an age cap you are limiting options for better leadership and i guess in that case he means himself. an important vote in the parliament in uganda. more details on any of the stories can be found on the website. we are moving to different parts of the world at pace. we have been in barcelona and uganda. now ukraine.

there has been some of the worst fighting in the east of the country for the whole of the year. these are recent pictures. several villages have been shelled in recent days — this is the aftermath in one. bbc russia reports this was carried out by pro—russia separatists. we talk about this conflict less frequently than in previous years because of a reduction in fighting — but it's not been resolved. the un believes 10,000 people have died in the donetsk and luhansk regions since april 2014. the separatists seized territory not long after russia annexed ukraine's crimea peninsula. russia has pulled out ofjoint efforts to monitor the ceasefire. but independent observers are still in place. here's one. the special monitoring mission has

seen the special monitoring mission has seen since the beginning of december a steady increase in violations of the ceasefire and in particular since the 10th of december where the ceasefire violations have reached and passed the 4000 number on a single day. the situation remains volatile and unpredictable and it has been throughout the year. if measures to calm down the situation, the withdrawing of heavy weapons and disengaging are not undertaken immediately, we are afraid the situation will escalate add more damage and injury will be caused. on stories like this we have an invaluable resource. i mentioned advice we had received from bbc russian. and now... irena taranyuk, bbc ukrainian. it seems to have coincided with the announcement of the russian foreign ministry that russian generals are withdrawing from the joint command

control centre that is supervising the conditions of the ceasefire. the spike started on tuesday. a day after russia withdrew from the joint command centre. one of the crucial functions of the command centre has been guaranteeing security to international ceasefire observers from overseas. it looks like ukrainian officers have no choice but to also leave this centre because rebels will not guarantee ukrainian officers' security. in places not on ukrainian government control. it is a big mess and there is no foreseeable end in this spike until, until of course you believe the agreement. a group has agreed a

ceasefire will start on saturday. why have the russians pulled out? thejury is why have the russians pulled out? the jury is out about their motives. they claim the ukrainian side is not guaranteeing russian officers' conditions for any operation. they worked there three years without obstacles. ukrainian experts claim russians are worried that starting from the 1st of january ukraine demands stricter conditions and controls for russian citizens, which includes biometrics. can you imagine russian generals, who according to sources might be connected to secret russian agents. operating on ukrainian territory. that they will have to leave biometric details for the border? it is not clear why. the

russians blame the ukrainian side for creating obstacles. the ukrainians consider russians uncooperative and consider russia wa nts to uncooperative and consider russia wants to push ukraine towards negotiating straight with the rebel commanders and ukraine does not recognise them as an independent entity, it considers them puppets, kremlin puppets of russia. the world health organisation has warned that up to 30% of medicines in some parts of africa are likely to be fake. back in august, in west africa in which they seized 41 million pills worth $22 million. that was part of an international policing operation. nigeria is at the heart of the story. a forceful crack down on fake pills. the police are running after him.

they arrest him and sees the drugs he is serving. over a three hour period eight men are arrested for selling counterfeit drugs. we have seen selling counterfeit drugs. we have seen them falsified. medicines have been sold at this market over 50 yea rs. been sold at this market over 50 years. it is over dramatisation of the pain. many of the shops do not have registered pharmacists and the medication is stored above room temperature. we find a shop selling illegal pills. most of these illegal drugs come from asia, smuggled through nigeria's borders by middlemen looking to profit. but not all middlemen looking to profit. but not a ll stores middlemen looking to profit. but not all stores sell fake drugs and it makes it difficult for the authorities to close down the area. some hospitals and pharmacies get supplies from the market because drugs manufacturers do not sell directly to them and those who do not go through the complex chain of

up not go through the complex chain of up to 20 middlemen to get the drugs which makes it easierforfake up to 20 middlemen to get the drugs which makes it easier for fake wants to pass through. i was doing the procedure and 15 minutes in, there was nothing we could do to restrain the patient, they woke up. or we could do was physically restrain the patient until the procedure was completed and that was my first experience with fake drugs. the patient was lucky but fake medicine can be fatal. i had a friend who died from taking a fake malarial pill and i was devastated thinking it could have been anybody who had taken the medication to the trusted source. taken the medication to the trusted source. this person links up manufacturers with clinics. she has signed up 300 hospitals and pharmacies but until she gets more funding she could not expand. nigerian authorities say they are working with china and india to

crack down on the imported fake drugs and trying to close the market by the end of next year. until that happens millions of lives will be risk. and now they report on the us military. and thousands of foreign nationals on active duty in the us military. the border is the closest richard can get to america. unbelievable, does not make any sense. especially asi does not make any sense. especially as i fought to defend that country. a mexican citizen, richard served in the us military under a programme that allowed green card holders to endless. i spent three years during the vietnam war in vietnam, in the

philippines. was discharged a year early. it had to do with my drug addiction. years after he left the marines he was involved in robbery and after serving time he was deported to mexico. and after serving time he was deported to mexicolj and after serving time he was deported to mexico. i understand, convicted of a crime, but serving the us military in combat should count for something. home for richard is in tijuana, where he has found a group of people who share his story. more than 200 foreign vetera ns his story. more than 200 foreign veterans have been deported from the us. we call this affectionately the bunker, a resource centre, shelter, housing for the us military vetera ns. housing for the us military veterans. hector runs this centre, a former paratrooper he spent time in prison after shooting at a car.|j former paratrooper he spent time in prison after shooting at a car. i am missing out on my daughter's life.

her mother has multiple sclerosis. i am not doing anything for them, that is difficult. many people do not think it matters, arguing that committing a crime is reason enough to deport foreign veterans. committing a crime is reason enough to deport foreign veteranslj committing a crime is reason enough to deport foreign veterans. i take responsibility for the fact i got myself into a situation where i went to prison, but i do not think it right to deport people who served in the military because we made mistakes, it should not define the rest of our lives. hector is taking his case to the federal courts and says he is not giving up his fight to go back to america, a country he risked his life for. we are now staying in the us. the increasing life expectancy of humans and how we are approaching being old and how we are approaching being old and how we are approaching being old and how science might be able to stretch human life. this report comes from california and arizona.

i like to do things. i don't want to sit in the background. enthusiastic, engaged, optimistic. lester dray is 101. the oldest resident at this retirement village in sun city, arizona. you're going to miss something if you just moan and groan about how horrible life is. show me your teeth. do you hear a sound? say ahhh. ahhh. he gets regular medical checks as part of a study into longevity. it's an issue which is attracting interest from unusual quarters. in silicon valley, california, some of the biggest names from google to facebook are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into defeating the diseases of ageing. so why are tech entrepreneurs suddenly interested in human health? i think silicon valley is driven by curiosity. that same curiosity that drives a 14—year—old to programme computers in his bedroom drives somebody in their 20s or 30s

to really apply their minds and their cash to this problem. the dna from the special part of the cell called the mitochondrion... it is why this british scientist set up in silicon valley. aubrey de grey is probably the world's leading advocate of life extension. the idea that humans can and will live in good health for hundreds of years. there will certainly be no limit on how long people can live once we bring ageing under control. people will still die, there are still trucks to be hit by and so on. but the fact is people will on average live a lot longer unless there is some bizarre thing like we get hit by an asteroid or whatever. that's beautiful! that's a minority view. although extending life is possible in the lab, with fruit flies, yeast or worms, it gets more difficult higher up the evolutionary ladder. so in the lab in simple laboratory animals, we can increase life span by 100%, 200, 500%, really extraordinary differences in life span. it turns out ageing is really

plastic in the simple laboratory animals. it may be more complex as we go over to mammals, the mouse, for example. we have been able to increase life span 20 or 30%. and we really do not know what is possible for humans at this point. we do know exercise is a magic formula that can keep us healthy longer. and there are no drugs yet to match it. there is probably an upper limit to life expectancy of around 115 years. so the quest for immortality is still the stuff of science fiction. but increasing our health span, the number of years we spend free of chronic diseases, well that really could be a reality. here we go! # jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock! finding something you enjoy and staying socially engaged are key elements of healthy ageing. like the sun city poms, many of whom are in their 70s and 805. i'm 78.

born on the 4th ofjuly. so i'm still a firecracker, still going and booming. it keeps me physically active, it keeps my brain working and helps my memory. we just get out there and do what we need to do and enjoy. we can't slow time but we can put more life in years. and hopefully become super—agers. fergus walsh, bbc news, sun city, arizona. i wanted to reflect on questions placed against the quality of rome's official christmas tree. it is in the city's main square and there are some good reasons people are concerned. this is in the city's main square, piazza venezia. it's been described as mangy — and looking more

like a toilet brush. local media's reporting that the tree wasn't properly covered when it was transported from northern italy, and died. although a lot of us have trees that have been cut down and we don't get a toilet brush effect. either way, it's 20m high, cost nearly 60,000 dollars — and people aren't happy. that was the first thing i noticed was that it was drooping. the christmas trees we've got in england are all very pert. i thought i should show you our beautiful tree. no drooping, i thought i should show you our beautifultree. no drooping, but i thought i should show you our beautiful tree. no drooping, but it is plastic, which is cheating. see you tomorrow. i can't see the weather having too much of an impact on travel plans to your christmas break, but, on the way back after

christmas, it may be a different story. for the time being things are pretty quiet because the jet stream, the wind higher in the atmosphere, driving weather systems, well up to the north, which means the active weather is up to the north and what weather is up to the north and what we have at the moment is high pressure dominating the scene. but it is not a nice clean sunny high, with this weather front in the middle, which is essentially polluting the high, bringing cloud, hill fog. and patchy rain northwards across northern ireland in northern england on thursday. the best chance of brightness across northern and eastern parts of scotland. on the cold side but mild to the south. on thursday night, remember the frontal system will move around, bringing outbreaks of rain, perhaps heavy at time across the south—west into the early pa rt time across the south—west into the early part of friday. it will be a mild night but perhaps a touch of

frost in the north of scotland. friday and the frontal system remains but high pressure will be squeezing it out of the picture. after a very cloudy and damp start particularly in the south, there is a better chance through the day of seeing brightness, particularly across eastern scotland and down the eastern side of england. cold up to the north—east with 5 degrees in aberdeen but 12 in cardiff. sarcevic should be mild in aberdeen will stop we will pick up more of a south—westerly wind, a stronger wind and if it breaks up the cloud in eastern scotland we could get to 14 degrees but equally rain in north—west scotland courtesy of this system, which will be part of the weather story through to christmas. on christmas eve it will bring outbreaks of rain across north—western parts. the rain moving around in the same places. in the

south, windy, less fog, and less low cloud because the wind will be stronger. on the big day itself, rain in the north—west, still windy but largely dry in the south. notice that temperatures are beginning to drop in the north. as we move from christmas day there is uncertainty about the timing, but it looks like this wet weather will move in southwards and eastwards and start to introduce colder air and some places in the north could see snow for the end of christmas day. cold airon the for the end of christmas day. cold air on the other side of the atla ntic air on the other side of the atlantic will drive the weather beyond christmas. we are expecting a plunge of cold across north america, bumping into mild airfrom the tropics. that clash will supercharge the jet stream and strengthen the wind high in the atmosphere and bring thejet wind high in the atmosphere and bring the jet stream further south, so

bring the jet stream further south, so not only will areas of low pressure drift towards our shores, because of the powerfuljet, some of these areas of low pressure could be cheap, perhaps troublesome. from christmas, turning colder, and into the week, heavy rain and the risk of gales so they could be disruption to travel plans after christmas. who's faced allegations of improper conduct, has resigned. mr green has been the prime minister's closest colleague in cabinet, an official investigation says allegations made against him were plausible. and he's been accused of making misleading statements, about pornography found on his parliamentary computers, in 2008, before he was a minister. the forced resignation came in the past couple of hours. we'll be asking how much of a blow it is for theresa may and the government. also tonight — following the collapse of two rape cases in a week, scotland yard is reviewing dozens of other cases, which are

about to go to court. a warning that uncertainty over brexit is affecting the uk economy, as the imf downgrades its growth prediction for this year. the first big legislative achievement of the trump presidency, as congress approves his major tax reforms.