# tochter aus elysium # wir betreten feuertrunken # himmlische, dein heiligtum! when it all comes together, it is something to behold. the conductor reckons he loses seven kilos during the performance. his reward — an ode tojoy like you've rarely heard before. jon donnison, bbc news. glorious! let's have a look at the weather, i wonder whether that is. here is sarah keith lucas. it's actually quite mild over the next few days in the run—up to christmas with a lot of cloud around. here was the scene in worcestershire taken by one of our weather watchers. there has been some fog. it has lifted gci’oss has been some fog. it has lifted across many parts of the country, and there is some brightness to be enjoyed out the too. please guys and lots of sunshine in st andrews in fife at the moment. clear skies,

particularly cross keys departs of the country, but right across the board because we have a big area of high pressure. —— dry across the board. this area will be more of a player as we head into christmas day, particularly across parts of scotland. now, dry and somewhat cloudy weather. cloud and the fog around the coast and hills of the west. the cloud is big enough to produce outbreaks of rain across the north west of scotland, eastern scotla nd north west of scotland, eastern scotland in drawing the line's share of the sunshine through the afternoon. parts of northern ireland and northern england, quite grey and murky. there are some clear spells breaking through, particularly anywhere to be is the firebrand. a bit of sunshine for the likes of lincolnshire down towards kent too. slightly thicker cloud further west into devon and cornwall and across wales. for north wales, we should seek some clear spells into the evening. through this evening and tonight we see the cloud thickening up tonight we see the cloud thickening up from the west, quite a lot of low

cloud bringing the fog. towards the south and east of the uk, patchy mist and fog. mild and frost free to start off your saturday morning. chilly thursday across the east of scotla nd chilly thursday across the east of scotland with clear spells. tomorrow, similar to today, persistent rain pushing into the far north of scotland. but the wind picking up too. much of the country seeing a dry day with a breeze help and —— helping to break up the cloud. temperatures around io—izdc. not much change into christmas eve. we have a weather front bringing outbreaks of persistent rain to the west of scotland. also for northern ireland and north—west england, there could be rain. further south and east you are likely to be staying dry and mild. that continues into christmas day as the band of rain pushes further south into parts of northern england, west wales, to the south and east of that it is

mild and windy. we could just see a flurry of snow on top of the mountains of scotland. little ranks, sarah. —— thanks, sarah. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime: britain and russia say relations between their two countries are at their worst for many years. that's all from the bbc news at one. so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one, we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. time for some sport on bbc news. hello, i'm hugh ferris. the ashes might be lost but england still have selection issues to consider with the fourth test starting on boxing day. with craig overton expected to miss the game, they're likely to decide between two potential debutants for the mcg. if they pick mason crane the 20——year—old would become the youngest specialist spinner to make his debut for england since 1927. and he'd be playing at the home of the greatest leg

spinner in history, shane warne. i've had a couple of chats with him in the mornings, catch up with him a bit more hopefully as the tour goes on. what sort of things does he say to you? nothing about bowling just yet. wait until he sees me up close and personal. hopefullyi yet. wait until he sees me up close and personal. hopefully i will get a game in the next couple of games and he can lead me know what he thinks. meanwhile australia hope wicketkeeper tim paine will be able to play at the mcg despite delaying his arrival in melbourne due to family reasons. the aussies haven't called up a replacement but they are likely to need cover for mitchell starc. the leading wicket taker in the ashes so far has a heel injury and could well miss the next test. the home side are 3—0 up in the series with two matches to play and batsman peter handscomb who played with england captainjoe root at yorkshire last summer has some sympathy for the tourists. obviously i feel forjoe

obviously i feel for joe but obviously i feel forjoe but on the flip side we are not going to win this ashes 5—0 and we said that from the start. we are going on the right track but it is tough forjoe, his second or third series as captain of his country and i dare say he would be feeling the pressure at the moment. he's a smart cricketer. he has a good head on his shoulders and he will bounce back with his team as well. rangers have appointed graeme murty as manager until the end of the season. he's been in temporary charge since the sacking of pedro caixinha and had been given thejob until the end of the year at least after the club failed in their attempts to talk to aberdeen boss derek mcinnes about taking over. rangers are currently third in the scottish premiership. stoke manager mark hughes says he doesn't recognise stories that he has only one game to save hisjob. they're just above the premier league bottom three after only one win in their last eight games and reports have surfaced that defeat in their next match against west brom could spell the end of his four and a half year reign. hughes sez "the longer it goes on,

clearly, the more difficult it gets. but i don't sense any apprehension about where we are." it looks likejonny evans could well be one of the big names to move in the january transfer window after west brom failed to convince him to sign a new contract. the defender has 18 months left on his current deal and it's understood he has no intention of extending his stay at the hawthorns. manchester city, arsenal and leicester all expressed interest in the northern ireland international in the summer. finally cricket has only been included at the commonwealth games once. that was back in 1998 with south africa beating australia in the final. but now with birmingham being awarded the event for 2022 there's a chance it could return. but it's not clear whether the competition would be men's, women's... or mixed... it needs to work for everyone, it needs to fit for everyone and we needs to fit for everyone and we need to see what that looks like for everyone. i think it would do a

disservice to start speculating on exactly what that will look like. what's important is that cricket does have a place in the commonwealth games. it is one of the optional sports in our constitution. it already has its mark. it's just now, how do we make that happen? that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. plenty of premier league news conference is going on throughout the afternoon. we hearfrom pep guardiola atjose mourinho amongst others. and i'll have more for you in the next hour. thank you. good afternoon. we will take a look at some of the other main stories today. a new migrant crisis is unfolding in greece, where the authorities are struggling to cope with thousands of asylum—seekers now being held on islands close to turkey. the deal reached between the european union and turkey at the height of the migrant crisis last year reduced the number of arrivals, but it hasn't stopped them completely. more than 50,000 people have arrived since that deal was signed. our europe correspondent damian grammaticas sent this special report

from the moria camp on the greek island of lesbos. nestled on a greek hillside, europe's dirty secret — moria camp, bursting at the seams. it's so full, families are forced to sleep outside the wire. all around them on the ground, human excrement. this is europe's migration policy in action. more than 6,000 squeezed into a camp built for a third of that number. today, riyad from algeria didn't get any lunch as the queue was too long. every day. you cannot think about yourself, your life, your future. you just think how you can keep yourself alive. nothing else. he's has been here a year

since lodging his asylum claim. waiting stuck in this place grinds many down. he showed a video of a man who was suicidal. that man wants to kill himself. he is crying and screaming. he wants to get out from this prison. there are up to five breakdowns like this every day at the camp. so, at night we went into moria to see for ourselves. what strikes you first is the rubbish everywhere. tents crammed into every corner, because thousands still arrive every month. this family from afghanistan came two months ago. how many of you? 15. how many children? six children. how is the situation in this tent for you? very, very difficult. it's the policy of greece and the eu to keep the arrivals here on the island.

processing their claims is slow, so numbers are rising. winter is here and the conditions are grim. this man and his family from iran were re—cooking food given to them for lunch to try to make it more palatable. winter is coming. no showers. toilet? no toilet. we shower inside the tent. with cool water. and moria's toilets are filthy. there's no running water, so people have to use bottled water to try to flush. that's why many choose to defecate in the fields outside. what you have to keep reminding yourself is that we are in europe. this camp has received funding from the eu, this is how europe is treating some of those who are coming here seeking protection. there's no question that it's pretty shocking. and those who can't find space in the camp are even worse off. this is it?

a piece of plastic and a couple of blankets are all adnan from syria has. his 17—year—old wife is four months pregnant. officially, pregnant women should be a priority, but the system isn't working. translation: it's terrible. i'm always cold. they gave me a prescription, vitamins and medicine for my baby, but i have no money to buy them and i don't know what to do or who to ask for help. who should help these people? the eu continues to argue about it. jonathan from congo fled here after his father, an opposition politician, was burnt to death by government supporters. translation: after the traumas we have suffered in our own countries, the situation here in moria, this is what pushes people to the edge of a breakdown. and as the cost of europe's indecisiveness, the desperate and destitute living a sort of limbo, dumped here on the edge of europe. meanwhile, in libya,

efforts are intensifiying to repatriate some migrants who have found themselves being sold as slaves. the international organisation for migration has brought back about ili,000 people to their home countries, and hopes to increase that next year. in ghana, the bbc‘s thomas naadi met one 30—year—old returnee who had been sold into slavery in libya. the taste of freedom back home in ghana. after many months of detention in libya, this 30—year—old left for libya in 2016 in search of greener pastures. but he faced the exact opposite. he had paid traffickers to facilitate his movement to libya through the desert. but he was captured, tortured and sold as a slave. the driver sold me to one ghana man.

the man told me i should pay money, he need money in ghana. there are a lot of people, over 100 in a small room, they just beating us, beating us, everyday. i spent almost three months in that room. so, it's not easy. we arejust facing problems over there. some people are dying. if you didn't pay money, what they would do to you is not easy. they would give you a number in ghana, his wife's number in ghana. you call your mother and give the number to your mother and your mother would send over money to his wife, that guy. he told me that i should pay the money, so i called my mum and at that time my mum wasn't feeling well, so she said she has some distant... taxi. she sold the taxi. and some property, she sold it and sent the money to his wife. the government, with support

from the international organisation for migration, has helped to repatriate over 300 ghanaian migrants. the iom is also helping to reintegrate the returnees into society. sylvia lopez is the organisation's representative in ghana. we will be working with government agencies but also with other development partners and ngos on the ground. connecting them to educational opportunities, vocational training is extremely important. connecting them with livelihood options. a recent study shows that four in ten ghanaians want to migrate in search of better economic opportunities. the young people in this country travelling to libya is not new. but the biggest concern is that the horrific treatment of their brothers doesn't deter most of them from travelling. the government has promised to create more jobs

to stop young ghanaians from leaving the country. but until that is done, people like ahmed will continue making the dangerous journeys to libya. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc news: the foreign secretary, in moscow, says britain can't ignore russian cyber activities but he wants relations between the two countries to improve. theresa may denies she knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour against damian green before promoting him. after separatists made gains in catalonia's snap election, their ousted leader calls for talks with the spanish prime minister. i'm jamie robertson — in the business news: it's been a big year in the world of business

and economics for the uk. we hearfrom a leading economist about what it all means and what we can expect for the new year. britain's biggest high street bookie is gobbled up by its online rival, g—v—c, they own foxybingo. the deal is worth about £4 billion. the deal follows mounting pressure on the industry over betting machines, which have been blasted as the "crack cocaine of gambling" by shadow culture secretary tom watson. and turning the tide on plastic pollution in our seas. mps says people should pay a deposit on plastic bottles to help cut waste. the report also wants free drinking water fountains at all places that serve food and drink. now, christmas presents. imagine it is christmas morning and you gleefully open aunty edna's present. it turns out it is the pair of socks you really did not want. first step is not to hurt aunt edna's feelings. next step is what to do about them. can you return them?

do you dare ask aunty for the receipt? do you need the receipt? even if you steal it out of her handbag does the shop have to change the socks? or have to give you your money back. and supposing aunt edna bought the socks on line? to answer all these puzzles i am joined by helen dewdney, consumer consumer expert, the complaining cow. firstly, does a shop have to take things back if you take them back and say i didn't want this. it doesn't. many big stores will that they are under no legal obligation to do so unless it is faulty or not as described. how do you know? where do you find the information? you can look online and at their returns policy, and simply ask. how necessary is the receipt? you will need that in most places, but some of the big companies will be kind and say you don't need it but in the main, most will say you need some kind of proof of purchase. can you

demand cash rather than just exchanging it? because they are under no legal obligation to give you a refund for change of mind, you should really be grateful for a credit note or a gift voucher. they are under no legal obligation to do so. are under no legal obligation to do so. if you do get something, take it with open arms. but if it is faulty they are under obligation? absolutely. consumer rights act 2015 you can quote. if it is faulty and was purchased within 30 days, you can demand a full refund. after 30 days, it will be repair or replacement might be offered. what about on services? if you got given about on services? if you got given a gym membership and say i don't wa nt a gym membership and say i don't want this, can you change that? that will come down to the terms and conditions of the individual provider. that would definitely need looking through with a fine tooth comb. is there anything you simply cannot return under any

circumstances? you will probably find that personal items, earrings that may have been warned, they can't be returned for hygiene reasons. but you will have to look at the terms and conditions. usually those are the things and bespoke items. so if somebody has made special jewellery with your items. so if somebody has made specialjewellery with your name on it and those kinds of things, you would not be able to attend that u nless would not be able to attend that unless it was faulty. what about stuff online, how does that work? do you have any rights? you have slightly more for a change of mind. if it is bored within11i days you have a cooling off period, it can be returned. the purchaser needs to returned. the purchaser needs to return that. after 11i days, the same space as everyone else. after 14 days you have a right to get it changed or return? -- before 14 days. whether you pay for the posters will be down to the terms and conditions of the company. if it is faulty the company pay. thank

you. tricky and puzzling area of returns after christmas. so a snapshot of the economy as 2017 comes to a close: a good year for the stock markets — notjust in the uk but around the world. but the economy is more than just the stock market. morale amongst consumers is sinking, inflation is higher than wage growth, which means people generally feel poorer. so not surprising then, we've found out today — for the first time since 1987 — we've been borrowing more to fund our lives than we've been saving. on the plus side, confidence among businesses is on the up. business investment is starting to come back. but not all companies. larger ones report the weakest business prospects and the biggest concerns about the impact of brexit. simon french, gave us his opinion. the uk economy ona number of gave us his opinion. the uk economy on a number of measures is doing very well. certainly in the jobs market, unemployment at about a 40 year low. since the financial crisis

in 2008-2009, year low. since the financial crisis in 2008—2009, there has been quite a bit of get paid down as a proportion of gdp. we go into this potential slowdown in 2018 in fairly decent health. the fly in the ointment is that we still don't know what that trading relationship will look like going forward. we also don't know whether a lot of the debt which is being accrued because of the generosity of international investors, whether their confidence is going to be retained against the backdrop of quite difficult political messages. as we mentioned earlier, mps are calling for ‘urgent action' on bottle and packaging waste. mps in the environmental audit committee say people should be made to pay a deposit for using plastic bottles all in an attempt to protect the seas from the "devastating effects" of plastic pollution. while firms using plastic packaging should pay more for the waste they create. for more on this story, and many others, head to our website: bbc. co. uk/news/business. there's an extra angle as well about

the ban and restrictions on imported waste from china. in the uk, states and europe we will have to do a lot more recycling and reprocessing of waste in the future. let me just update you a few more stories before we look at the markets. the price of bitcoin has tumbled by nearly 20% today. this follows a week of warnings from global regulators as well as some high—profile security problems at two cryptocurrency exchanges. the rugby union team, wasps, has overstated its profit by over a million pounds. auditors found that the 150—year—old club had put the money in the wrong part of its accounts, but in doing so, the club has breached promises made to its bondholders. and finally: most people lavish their generosity on friends, family and good causes. but some select a more unusual recipient: the treasury. 15 "patriotic gifts", totalling £180,000 were made to the nation in the tax year to march. the money was used to nibble away

at the national debt. but worth comparing — we also gave £9.7 billion to charity over that same period. a quick look at the markets. not a huge amount down, the footsie. the busiest time of year for sainsbury‘s. a takeover, ladbrokes up. glaxosmithkline had a good run but just coming off a bit, down, the biggest loser on the market. back in an hour with more. with one of the busiest atlantic hurricane seasons, and storm ophelia battering parts of the uk, 2017 has been a busy year meteorologically. of the uk, 2017 has been a busy what you may not know though is that the the weather in space was as tumultuous as it was on earth. nasa also recorded the biggest solar flare for over a decade in september, which caused radio blackouts, but why should a flare have such an impact? matt taylor has been to cambridge to get the answer from the british antarctic survey.

there are few sites in this world more spectacular than the aurora borealis, the vast displays of covers dancing before the skies, a result of gases in our atmosphere reacting to the arrival of charged particles from the sun. these displays were captured in september, following one of the most powerful solar flares in a decade. it's a pretty side of space weather but other changes above our atmosphere could have a catastrophic impact on our daily lives. one organisation monitoring these dangers in space is the british antarctic survey from the ideally placed halley ice station. it's very, very radio quiet... we pick up radio signals in the antarctic, which we can't do elsewhere, we detect special types of radio waves. those charged particles, when they are accelerated at very high energies, they pose a risk of damage to satellites. in fact, they are called killer electrons, because they have been known to kill spacecraft in the past.

one of the largest solar flares ever to have been witnessed was the carrington event. named after the british astronomer who observed it in 1859. he sketched what he had seen on the sun, telegraph systems went haywire worldwide. scientists have estimated that something similar today could cost billions, if not trillions, given our ever—increasing reliance on satellite technology. colour coded out here, you can see the first radiation belts. these are the regions of very high energy charged particles. electrons. they're trapped inside the earth's magnetic field. geostationary orbit is out here. in the outer edge. and the gps satellites, they fly pretty much through the heart of this radiation belt where the radiation is most intense. ideally, you want satellites to be stationed in between the radiation belts? there's a gap between the inner and outer belt, where the radiation levels are much, much lower. but there are periods where that region gets filled in with high energy charged particles. that's a high—risk period for those spacecraft. that could have a big impact on daily life here on earth, can't it?

if you think we rely more and more on our satellites for mobile phones, for tv, for internet, for all kinds of communications, banking, that kind of stuff, yeah, it's a really important, major part of our life in the modern world. so, next time you gaze skywards or simply pick up a smartphone, just think how seemingly small changes in the sun could cause sudden and drastic changes to the way you live your life. matt taylor, bbc news. fascinating. and you can see more on that, as well as an insight into the fake snow industry, on weather world, tonight at 11.30pm. who knew?! time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. more mundane, dare i say that? good afternoon. that works did sum it up quite

nicely. it is mild if you are doing your last—minute christmas shopping. some sunshine to be seen. the view at st andrews at the moment. blue skies but not the same across the country. a lot of cloud around, trapped underneath his big area of high pressure keeping our weather mostly dry and settled. a weather front lingering to the north, much more of a player in our way as we go towards the weekend. this afternoon, lots of low cloud in the west, particularly over hills where we will see hill fog. brighter skies developing further east across the country. western scotland fairly cloudy. the north—west, outbreaks of rain and brighter towards the east where it is fresher. northern england and northern ireland, some mist and fog lingering but equally, brighter spells. particularly to the east of higher ground. some brightness down towards lincolnshire, kent. furtherwest across england and wales, you have a

bit more in the way of cloud and hill fog. that continues through this evening and a knife. cloud will thicken from the west. quite a lot of hill fog once again. some mist and fog at lower levels, further east across england. for —— further north, the breeze less foggy. heavy rain moving into the far north. frost free start to saturday morning. saturday similar to today. most places look try. still pretty cloudy. more they breeze tomorrow, that should break up the cloud, especially to the east of higher ground. north—east wales, eastern england, some more rain moving into the northern half of scotland. rainfall totals mounting up over the next few days. to the south, cloudy, mild and dry. 10—12. christmas eve, no great changes, just the front moving further south across northern ireland, southern scotland, the far north—west of england. to the south

of that, fairly cloudy, most places dry, some showers in the west and temperatures around 11. christmas day, north— south split. northern and western parts of the country is outbreaks of rain. southern scotland, northern england, west wales and to the south, pretty windy, cloudy and mild. 11 degrees. it will turn colder from the north. if you are expecting a white christmas, you might have to head to the mountains of scotland. this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at two. britain and russia admit relations are at their worst for many years — the foreign secretary says

he hopes they'll improve. theresa may denies knowing about allegations of innappropriate conduct against damian green before promoting him. catalan separatist parties win a majority in the region's elections — plunging spain into renewed crisis. the prime minister says he is prepared to hold talks. translation: i hope that now, in catalonia, we will have a new phase based on dialogue, cooperation and plurality. also in the next hour, preventing plastic pollution. calls for deposits on plastic bottles and free drinking water fountains, to protect the seas from the effects of plastic debris.