notjust to rich westerners, but to local people as well. alastair leithead, bbc news, zakouma national park, in chad. the world's largest known colony of a "brilliant but shy" species of shellfish has been discovered at the bottom of a loch. the rare reef in loch carron — on the west coast of scotland — had been wrecked by dredging but is now on its way to recovery after the scottish government banned fishing in the area. our environment correspondent kevin keane reports. this was the devastation caused when a dredger dragged its gear through a rare flame shell reef in loch carron. hundreds of disturbed and broken shells littered the floor. divers have now found that this reef is the biggest of its kind in the world. it pretty much spans the sea bed of the 5.5 kilometres tide swept channel. we believe it covers an area of about 194 hectors or two square kilometres. this is what the reef should look like, a carpeted sea bed below which the flame shells live. and an important nursery ground for scallops and other species. there has been some industry

resistance to banning fishing through marine protected areas or mpas. at too many sensitive sites. but ministers said for loch carron it is the right thing. flame shells are highly sensitive to damaging fishing activities. scallop dredging, prawn trawling, and itjust does not make sense to tow across these fragile habitats. ministers will now seek to ban fishing on loch carron permanently but it may take many decades for the damaged part of the reef to recover. brilliant but shy is the shellfish. they say much the same about ben rich. come out whether you are and tell us what the weather has in store. giving away our secrets. pretty cold

out there. not on the balcony, that's not why i've come in here. pretty cold outside, ice and frost a contender with heading through tonight. the ice particularly where we've had rain, sleet and snow through the night, through the day, to the south—east, where we keep wintry showers, in northern and western areas. these places prone to seeing ice. even if it isn't slippery where you are tonight it'll be cold. towns and cities around freezing, in the countryside as low as minus ten. could be freezing fog gci’oss as minus ten. could be freezing fog across northern ireland which will struggle to clear away through tomorrow. aside from that, a nice looking day, blue skies and sunshine. if you're cold, temperatures 2—6d at best. one or two wintry showers and down to the patchy rain later in the day. general rain on friday. not only rain, sleet and snow for northern england, southern scotland, some of it settling to fairly low levels. it looks milder with outbreaks of way

at times. that's all for now. —— outbreaks of rain. this is bbc news — our latest headlines: heavy snow and ice have been causing disruption across many parts of the country — with hazardous conditions on the roads, and thousands of homes without power. the environment agency has issued ii flood warnings, and more than 90 flood alerts in england and wales. the first of a group of critically—ill syrian patients have been evacuated from a rebel—held suburb near damascus. the family of the briton laura plummer — jailed in egypt for drug offences — says she has already been transferred to notorious prison. laura plummer‘s lawyer told the bbc that he's planning to apply for her to be moved to another prison with better conditions closer to cairo. prince harry has set out how he views his role as a senior royal. he promises to remain above politics — but shine a light on certain issues and causes.

he was speaking as guest editor of radio 4's today programme this morning. thank you for your company through the afternoon. clive myrie will be here with more news at the top of the hour. we leave you now with sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday, with me marc edwards the headlines for you this evening. centurion cook ends his ashes drought as england strike back on day 2 of the 4 test. liverpool agree a world record £75 million fee for southampton defender virgil van dijk. we catch up with tommy fleetwood as he reflects on his life changing year. hello and welcome to sportsday.

there was finally a little bit of christmas cheer for england's cricketers as former captain alastair cook made his first ashes century for almost seven years. the visitors finishing on top after day 2 of the fourth test. cook's knock helping england close on 192—2, after stuart broad had earlier returned his best figures of 2017 taking 4 for 51 to spark an australia collapse. patrick gearey was in melbourne for us. mercury rising at the mcg. stay in the shade, conserve energy and under no circumstances try to bowl at steve smith. the australian captain not out in tests here for three yea rs. not out in tests here for three years. was this a mirage? tom curran‘s first test wicket, a rare and valuable one. this might look like a replay but it isn't, mitchell marsh falling to chris woakes in exactly the same way. the old

reliable stuart broad and jimmy anderson did the rest. australia are all out for 327, only 83 more than they started the day with. at half one commits over 30 degrees and england bowlers will be pleased they are back in the shade of the pavilion. they have their side back into this, what can the batsmen do? they made 35 before mark stoneman ran into deep goat. short for greatest of all time, a nickname extended to nathan lion. james vince went, too, but england could cheer the revival of a reassuring presence, alastair cook's first 50 ofa presence, alastair cook's first 50 of a straining series. he knows the value of luck. so rarely does steve smith that these escape. cook on 66. questions have been asked about his appetite for batting but look at the reaction when he went to his hundred in the last over of the day. his a nswer to in the last over of the day. his answer to those who doubted him. the celebrations were huge when he got the hundred, people jumping celebrations were huge when he got the hundred, peoplejumping up. it's

testa m e nt to the hundred, peoplejumping up. it's testament to the blokey is. a very calm character, not someone who gets particularly fazed or down. he went through so much stuff of his captaincy, i'm not sure stick about scoring runs is going to bother him too much. this might be seen as too little too late. afterwards to the ashes. at least at last england have had their day in the sun. patrick geary, bbc news, melbourne. southampton have accepted a £75m bid from liverpool for defender virgil van dijk. that sum would be a world record for a defender. the netherlands international had been expected to join the reds last summer after he handed in a transfer request but will now make the move on the ist of january. and with me in the studio for more on this story is our sports reporter simon stone. hi simon. looks like the central defender has finally been granted his wish? correct. he wanted to go in the summer. correct. he wanted to go in the summer. liverpool thought they were going to sign in summer. southampton weren't too keen on the way liverpool had gone about that deal.

it's cost liverpool more money. but yes, they've got their man. he gets the number four shirt previously won by mark lawrenson and phil thompson. if he has half the success they did, you have done very well. liverpool have said he will sign on the ist of january, you actually sign on the second. the first day you can sign. it means the first game he is available for is the fa cup tie against everton. the following weekend. what about southampton losing van dijk on that pretty poor run of one win in ii losing van dijk on that pretty poor run of one win in 11 games? a big blow for them. it is, but a blow cushioned by £75 million, which gives them some money to go into the tra nsfer gives them some money to go into the transfer market injanuary themselves to try and buy some players, maybe not central defenders. they have a lot of central defenders. van dyck injured for a lot of last season. he's not played the last couple of games.

southampton do have options, but they are deficient in other areas. they will now try to reinforce their squad, try to push up the league, and maybe do a little bit better than they have been doing recently. thank you, simon. record breakers, manchester city show no signs of slowing down, they play at newcastle tonight with an unprecedented i8th successive premier league victory in their sights. that one kicking off in about 10 minutes time and pep guardiola's side looking to extend that domestic record, with the european record of 19, incidentally also held by guardiola when he was in charge of bayern munich, on the horizon. but even though newcastle are just one point outside the relegation zone and withjusti win in 10 games, he's approached this match as seriously as any other. we wina we win a lot of games, that's why we're happy to our life is better when we win. it's simple like that. it's not thinking about i'm going to sleep thinking about it, i'm going to break a record. nothing special.

it's newcastle. i could not see them. now in this three days. i'm going to sit down with my staff, la pto ps, going to sit down with my staff, laptops, discover what they do. keep oui’ pace, laptops, discover what they do. keep our pace, high—intensity. that is oui’ our pace, high—intensity. that is our target. the chief organiser for next summer's world cup in russia has stepped down to concentrate on government work. it's been a tough month, he temporarily left his post as the russian football union president a couple of days ago. this comes off the back of his life ban from the olympics at the start of december after having been accused of running a huge "state—directed" doping programme. bath have been fined 60—thousand pounds for releasing taulupe faletau to play for wales in their autumn international against south africa. the match fell outside the official

international window allowed by premiership rugby. bath say they understand the position but they're pushing for a resolution to the conflict between club and country schedules. now one year ago southport‘s tommy fleetwood finished the golf european tour way down in 41st in the rankings, at the time he was struggling with his game. fast forward to the end of 2017 and he's now europe's number 1, and in the world's top 20. he finished the season in dubai with 5 and a half million pounds of prize money. and in what he's described as the best year of his life bya mile, he became a dad, and got married. our very own, stuart pollitt has been to meet him. two wins, one marriage, one baby, and europe's number one golfer. it's not until now, getting home,

and we sit down, what have we done? christmas coming up, new baby, the wife, it's very cool at the moment. a year ago it was anything but cool, tommy was struggling. he got his best mate to caddie and went back to his childhood coach. i'm certainly like a relative and i do feel responsible for him. you won't forget this year, that's for sure. absolutely not, this has been a heck ofa absolutely not, this has been a heck of a year. we get an brilliant and he's my best mate, we get on really great, he'sa he's my best mate, we get on really great, he's a good lad. if he messes up great, he's a good lad. if he messes up i'll have a fit. i've been from behind bushes talking to myself. i love it. you can't get any better than this can you? from the dubai sunshine to the cheshire snow, tommy's stepsons have been among his biggest supporters. you want to tackle and shoot? are you nervous

watching all good watching? i'm quite good i would think but when he's doing well i get quite nervous. when he wins on sunday i come back into school on monday and everyone is talking to me about it. especially the teachers. to have that many people your close with around you, can't thank them enough. an amazing year on course and of course has been better than i could ever hope to four. phenomenal year for tommy fleetwood. supermaxi wild oats xi has won the gruelling sydney to hobart race in record time. but, they now face the possibility of a protest from second—placed ldv comanche after a near—collision at the start. wild oats crossed the line in the river derwent in a time of1 day, 8hrs, 48min and 50 sec — that's several hours inside the previous record set last year. that's all from sportsday.

coming up next, steroid nation. the way people chase the dream of their perfect body is changing. the pressure men are now facing is similar to what women have had to deal with the decades. diets, workouts, days spent in the gym, and for many, young men especially, anabolic steroids are being increasingly used to help achieve that dream. in this film, i'm going to find out from one user why he takes them, and put him through a series of tests to see what damage, if any, they've done to his body. i'll hear from the experts, look at the law surrounding steroid use in the uk,

and speak to a dealer about why he does it. garethjenkins, who is 29 and lives just outside of cardiff, is one of the estimated hundreds of thousands of people who regularly take anabolic steroids to build muscle. been using steroids for about four, five years. when you train naturally, which i have done for a number of years before using steroids, you tire quicker, you ache more, and obviously when you use the performance enhancing drug, which is the steroid, you don't have the muscle soreness anywhere near as much. i feel more awake, i feel better in myself, ifeel more manly, i've got a higher sex drive. there are some serious potential risks you're running, from a medical perspective, about using steroids, things like increased risk of heart attacks, increased risk of strokes, mood swings, infertility.