the whisky that is meant to be in there. this is a serious problem for the growing market in rare whiskies, but the team who carried out these tests may have found a way to reassure enthusiasts that what they're buying really is the genuine article. james shaw, bbc news, glasgow. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. slowly calming down in the run—up to christmas which is probably good news because we've had more than our fairshare of wind news because we've had more than our fair share of wind and rain this week and today, it's one of those downpour dodging days, some big showers like this one captured by a weather watch in powys. you can see them on the radar picture coming in from the west, some showers are heavy, there could be the rumble of thunder. there will be spelt of sunshine between the showers. quite breezy as well, particularly towards the south and those temperatures this afternoon between —— between

seven and 11 degrees. this evening the showers will continue, they will eventually fade away. we've got this next frontal system on the march. by the end of the night is pushing in from the south—west, arriving into northern ireland and northern england, mild and win near the south, chilly further north. there could be a touch of frost across north—east scotland. tomorrow, the frontal system becomes marooned across parts of the uk, noticed the wavefront stretches quite a long way out towards the west. it's going to sit around across parts of northern ireland, northern england, fringing into southern scotland at times, so we'll see some cloud and patchy rain. early rain in the south will clear away. we'll see some sunshine. we it will be windy but miles, 14 degrees in london. why we have the cloud and patchy rain in northern england and northern ireland, more like 8 degrees. even in northern scotland, 6—8 at best. valley like winds in the north but windy in the south, particularly in —— particularly windy tomorrow afternoon and evening. a big travel

weekend and saturday doesn't look too bad because of this, an area of high pressure a long way away but extending its influence across the british isles. on saturday a lot of dry weather to be had, some spells of sunshine. still a scattering of showers chiefly up towards the north—west. the temperatures are not farfrom north—west. the temperatures are not far from where they should be at this time of year, 7—11. sunday, a little bit of rain across the southern half of the uk. much of it clearing away quite early but likely to have some bursts of rain lingering for southern england and south wales. cooler further north but that's where we'll see the best of the sunshine. the rain in the southis of the sunshine. the rain in the south is likely to linger for a time on sunday night, into the first part of monday, christmas eve of course but the area of high pressure muscled its way in. it kills off the frontal system and for christmas day we keep a high—pressure and that means generally some quiet weather. there could be a bit of frost and fog to start off but it should be largely dry. there will be some sunshine. a fairly calm outlook for

christmas. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. there's huge disruption for travellers, as gatwick is closed by drones being deliberately flown nearby. it means many of the 100,000 people due to use the airport today now face the headache of cancellation or delay. that's all from the bbc news at one. it's goodbye from me. on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. arsenal say they have identified the fan who threw a bottle at dele alli in tottenham's league cup quarter—final win at the emirates last night. in a statement the club say they're embarrased by the incident, and have apologised to both dele and spurs.

they say they know who did it, and they're working with the metroplitan police to apprehend the culprit. afterjose mourinho‘s sacking earlier this week ole gunnar solskjaer is at manchester united's training ground for his first day at work, as their interim boss. the former club hero has been appointed until the end of the season and met executive vice—chairman ed woodward shortly after his arrival. he also held a team meeting with the players before beginning training. it's been musical chairs at the top of the scottish premiership this season. we've got another new leader as celtic go back to the top. they beat motherwell 3—0 thanks to goals from anthony ralston, scott sinclair and this, from mikeyjohnston — his first for the club. they overtake old firm rivals rangers, who were held to a goalless draw by hibernian. britain's olympic gold medallist adam peaty has dared those who run the sport to ban him after he supported the launch of a new competition. peaty and other top swimmers in the world, want to compete in the breakaway international swimming league, with the potential to earn far more. however, the sport's international

governing body, fina, says it'll ban them if they do so. this is my sport. i love my sport of the moon and back. i have got so much passion for it. but i want to make sure that that kid looking up to me winning the olympics can have a stable future and can make a very good living out of the sport that he has worked so hard for. what if people say that they will badly because you will compete in that event? i don't care, banned me. if they have got to, i'm not bothered. i don't care, you know. ban me if you've got to, i'm not bothered. at the end of the day, they're going to have the backlash from that. they know they can't. they know they can't get away with it. you lose all the respect of the athletes, and you can't bully athletes into racing. you need to listen to athletes, to start working together. it shouldn't be take, take, take, orgive, give, give. it should be a give—take

relationship. saying look, how can we work together? i'm a little bit angry that we haven't been listened to but at the same time i'm easy and that just trying to get by in it, break world records and win more gold medals for my country. meanwhile the multiple olympic champion missy franklin has retired from swimming at the age ofjust 23. the american says she doesn't want to be in pain every day after struggling with a shoulder injury for a number of years. james wade has apologised after being accused of bullying at the pdc world darts championships. wade celebrated in the face of his japanese opponent sago asada during their second round tie which wade won. he says he's disappointed with himself, that the actions were out of character, and that his outburst was related to his mental health. and the british rider guy williams shared the big prize at the olympia horse show last night. he was the joint winner of what's called the puissance event. if you don't know puissance, it's mainly aboutjumping over a big red wall that keeps getting taller. if you don't make it — like this pair — then you're out. both horse and rider were ok.

guy williams and his horse mr blue sky, successfullyjumped a whopping seven foot four, for a share of the prize. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. we will be back with more after 2pm. let's get more on the problems affecting gatwick airport. the chief operating officer has just said that a drone was seen within the last hour so the runway remains clsoed for the forseeable future. we've just had this update from the chief operating of gatwick airport, chris woodfroofe. the current state of play is that the runways closed and i want to open by apologising again to all of the passengers affected. 10,000 passengers were due to fly today and

the vast majority of those will see cancellations and disruption. it is our intention to get open again but only when the safety do so, and clearly, we've had another drone siding in the last hour so at this stage we are not open and i cannot tell you what time we'll open. tell me about this new coinciding. tell you what time we'll open. tell me about this new coincidingm tell you what time we'll open. tell me about this new coinciding. it was on the airport, seen by the police, corroborated, so having seen that a drone that close the runway, it is u nsafe to drone that close the runway, it is unsafe to reopen. tell me about the situation inside the terminal at the moment. there are a number is —— enormous numbers of people in there. we're working closely with the airlines to cancel flights for passengers not at the airport yet, we don't want passengers to believe they will be flying when they are not flying today, so our efforts in terms of welfare, i've got my own staff out in the terminal building, our efforts on those passengers who arrived this morning who will not fly out today and what we are doing

with airline partners is making sure that we don't add to that by bringing in any more passengers. realistically people if you reopen today what will happen? ‘s realistically people if you reopen today what will happen? '5 the airlines will seek to get those passengers who are on site, and to prepare for an operation tomorrow morning where we seek to repatriate the passengers who are in the wrong place. this is realistically going to ta ke place. this is realistically going to take several days. realistically, you're correct, yes. the russian president vladimir putin says attempts to link moscow to spy scandals in the west are designed to damage the country's international standing. at his annual press conference, he referred to the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter in salisbury and said moscow's ties with the uk had broken down. translation: with respect to russia—uk relationship, it's gridlocked, i believe. it is in the interest of both our countries to withdraw our ties from this gridlock.

are we interested in restoring the fully fledged cooperation and relationship with britain? yes, we are, and i think britain also is, especially the business community of the uk. thrill—seeking tourists are putting themselves in danger by heading towards volcanoes when they erupt, according to the royal geographical society. a report warns that "volcano tourists" underestimate the risks and create dangerous problems for rescue services. the dangers posed by eruptions, like this one at mount etna last year, include poisonous gases and falling rocks, as well as the extreme heat. when a child becomes seriously ill, they understandably become the focus of attention within the family. but there's a warning today that we should also be doing more for the child's siblings. according to the rainbow trust, the brother and sisters of seriously ill children risk being left with long—term mental health issues, unless there's more funding to support them. as part of our "who cares?"

series, our disability news correspondent nikki fox has been to meet one family who've been affected. cancer is a terrible thing to have to deal with. childhood cancer is so aggressive and it's such a nasty disease. around four years ago, the finch family's world was turned upside down when adam was diagnosed with a brain tumour and aggressive spinal cancer. clare had to be with her son in hospitalfor nine months. you are interested in christmas stuff? yes. family life for megan completely changed. what paintbrush are you going to use? the tiniest paintbrush in the pack, ok. i really noticed that megan was becoming more withdrawn from me, more distant. at one point i felt like i'd lost my little girl. not wanting to burden her mum with her own fears, megan did everything she could to help out.

you've got a wet sponge first. it's quite wet, yes. do ijust rub it? we come here all the time, don't we? do you? it's fun, isn't it? megan and adam are helped by family support workers sean and kelly. for megan, just having someone to talk to is invaluable. it must have been a difficult time for you. yeah. and having that person there to talk to. yes, it helps because you don't keep everything bottled up, you get it out in the open. what kind of feelings? there was sadness in there and stuff and there was, like, sometimes a bit ofjealousy of your peers. for mum clare, knowing somebody was there to support her daughter when she couldn't was a huge relief. i was really aware that things were going on at school, she was struggling with her lessons and with homework but she wasn't telling me about it, she wouldn't tell her grandma

and grandad about it either because she didn't want us to worry, yet she could speak to kelly, get it off her chest and then come into the hospital and just enjoy time with us. according to the rainbow trust, an estimated 32,000 families in england have a seriously ill child with one or more siblings. the charity says some will have little to no access to the kind of support that megan and adam have received. we understand councils are trying to focus on what they are obliged to provide by law and that leaves less money for early intervention support and family support services but we think it's a real false economy because in the long term, these children and their families and parents, they are going to need more mental health support potentially, if crises aren't nipped in the bud. you have a really nice relationship. yeah. how have you felt having her through this rough patch? has she helped you? she cheered me up and annoyed me

in a nice sort of way. adam, can ijust say, i don't know how you've managed this but you've painted my arm. i didn't do that! with more sick children surviving birth and living with complex conditions, the need for sibling and family support workers will always be in demand. nikki fox, bbc news, stockport. thousands of british people are being forced to live apart from theirfamilies because their spouses don't meet home office requirements to move to the uk. if their partner is from outside the european economic area, the couple need to show that they earn at least £18,600 a year before they're allowed to come and live here. it's a rule that's meant some 15,000 children with a british parent are forced to live apart from either their mother or father. and many british families living in europe are now worrying that brexit will mean this policy will affect them too. olivia crellin reports. are you going to school today?

yes. imiss you. i miss you, miss you. tom shelton has been living apart from his wife annie and adopted son dandan for almost a year now. the couple missed their fourth wedding anniversary, and dandan turned six with his dad almost 7,000 miles away. all my marriage certificates and the applications i've made through the... it's because he's one of thousands of british people who married someone outside of the european economic area, and are unable to satisfy home office minimum income requirements for a visa. it's taken a toll on his mental health. after three months of separation, i was often breaking down in tears when i saw families together or hear music with, you know, references to families of children. for me, that shouldn't be happening to me, you know? families like tom's keep in touch online, earning the nickname skype families. it means dinners over facetime, constant whatsapp messaging.

one father even taught his baby daughter to learn how to crawl over video messenger, and we could be about to see thousands more after brexit. at the moment, non—european economic area citizens wanting to join their british partner orfamily in the uk can do so via the surinder singh immigration route. this involves a british partner moving to the eu for at least six months, where, thanks to europe's rights of free movement, non—eea family can join them. they can move to the uk together without earning the £18,600 minimum. but with brexit, this could change. the home office told the bbc that surinder singh rights are not protected under the draft withdrawal agreement with the eu, but that anyone who comes via this route before december, 2020 will be able to apply under the eu settlement scheme to remain in the uk. people are still coming to terms and learning really what the brexit negotiations mean and what impact

they will have on their lives. this particular issue is very niche, very complex but the ramifications could be significant. brexit may even mean that brits living in the eu and married to a european citizen will also need to qualify financially if they want to return to the uk together. that uncertainty is worrying many. suzy‘s been living in brussels for 18 years with her french partner and children, and does not meet the minimum income requirement. she anticipates a time where she'll need to return to look after her elderly mother. i came over here in 2000 as an eu worker, you know, travelling around as we could at that time. if somebody asked me at that time if you go it's a one—way ticket, possibly i'd have thought differently about it. dandan, did you see your girlfriend today? just as the clock is ticking

for british politicians to make a deal for the future of the uk, some british families feel like time is running out for them too to make a decision on their futures. olivia crellin, bbc news. in a moment we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news. disruption continues at gatwick airport after another drone siding near by this lunchtime means that flights remain grounded. almost 600 homeless people died in england and wales last year — a rise of 24% over five years according to official figures published for the first time a surprise jump for retail sales last month, driven mainly by black friday promotions and shoppers buying household goods. now the business news. the bank of england keeps interest

rates on hold as it frets over the possibility of a no—deal brexit, and growth is forecast to be 0.2%. signs of growth? retail sales bounce back in november — as black friday promotions keep the uk tills ringing. but britain has twice as many shops as it needs, according to the man officially tasked by the goverment to come up with a plan to revive the nation's high streets. retail sales jumped more than expected in november, helped by black friday promotions and stronger growth in sales of household goods. things like fridges and washing machines and so on. official figures showed sales rose 1.4% from october, despite economists‘ forecasts of about a 0.3% gain. sports direct boss mike ashley said november was "unbelievably bad", while superdry and online retailer asos have also warned of "dismal" trading. we asked maureen hinton, research director at global data

if they were wrong. were they wrong? they cannot be wrong because those are the ones doing the trading. we are getting this message from different types of retailers. if you look more closely at the ons figures clothing retailers have made marginal growth year on year and large food retailers have only made marginal growth. but the ons comes out with different figures to what everyone else sees going on quite often then they get revised a bit later. while there is going to be more positive growth because there's so much discounting going on, it is that the risk of margins, across the board. no change in interest rates from the bank of england. a change from the beginning of the year, though, some economists thought rates would push

up economists thought rates would push up by economists thought rates would push up by1.5 — economists thought rates would push up by 1.5 — 2%, but they are steady at 0.75%. this is the rate set by the bank of england average commercial banks borrow, which then knocks on to the levels at which banks lend to the public. the reason that interest rates have not moved is not only because inflation has been subdued but the uncertainty over brexit is having a serious impact on the economy. janet mui, global economist, casenove capital, joins me now. they are definitely worried about the brexit uncertainty. they use the word, intensified risk. that shows a pessimistic outlook for the bank of england. especially they highlight that global growth has been slowing since the start of the year. that would also have a knock—on effect on the uk aside from brexit. so they are worried about global growth and brexit and that is enough to put

them on hold on interest rates. lets get this straight about brexit, is it the uncertainty, people not knowing what is going to happen after march 29 or are they worried that a no—deal scenario could be damaging to the economy? there is a difference, there. the markets are definitely worried about the uncertainty. because, if you look at the sterling exchange rate, they are not pricing in a no—deal brexit yet, they are pricing in that we do not know what will happen. for the bank of england, that uncertainty element is really worrying one is growth forecast and what are they going to do on policy? lily, they will be worried about a no—deal brexit. —— clearly they will be worried. and companies are starting to prepare, theresa may has said she needs to look into the possibility of a no—deal brexit but there is always this uncertainty. but all this

uncertainty how do you ever get round to managing to make a forecast? what about the next quarter, the beginning of 2019, how do you forecast given nobody knows what is going to happen?m do you forecast given nobody knows what is going to happen? it is difficult to forecast but it is right to take into account the current uncertain environment. we look at investment bank and survey data, a leading indicator that we can use the forecasts for gdp, and we look a lot at the market purchasing index that we send out as a survey on a monthly basis and the leading indicators are not looking at the very good outlook. so we're looking at 0.41; at the very good outlook. so we're looking at 0.44 q1 next year. at the very good outlook. so we're looking at 0.44 01 next year. not much happening on the markets, it seems to have disappeared completely! we don't know what is happening. we will get it to you in

about one hour's time. that is all that we can do at the moment. thank you very much, jamie. budget cuts mean many libraries have to find new ways of providing a service. this week one council in the west midlands has opened the doors of a new library in a rather unusual venue. our correspondent kathryn stanczyszyn reports. places of learning, reflection and culture. something you could say applies to both libraries and churches. this building happens to be both. this is st mary's church here. it's been here really for 800 years. st mary's in the centre of lichfield hasn't been used as a church since the 1970s. now it's been restored to its former glory for a new purpose. litchfield's main library has now closed to make way for this, a new home for its 15,000 books. as well as the library here, there will be a tourist information point, a cafe and this performance space. we are walking into what was a chapel.

this is going to be used as a very quiet space so you can study here. it might be an ancient building, but it's been kitted out with everything a modern library needs. this is what churches used to be used for. in the past, churches used to be used as meeting places, community places, places where people would gather to talk. where are you going to talk now in a library? they are no longer quiet any more, so you can talk and explore things. staffordshire county council has spent £1.4 million creating this bespoke space and say it's actually a much better fit than the old premises. it will save them money in the long—term and they're expecting more people to use it. the benefits you will bring to the people of lichfield with the increased footfall and the overall facilities in this building and the fact there is a 30—year tenancy will ensure and guarantee this building is here for the next generation.

and people in the city think it's a nifty solution. i'm a big believer in books so that means people going into a library to have books, that's fine. i think it's a superb idea, bringing it into the centre of the town, making it easy for everybody to get through. i think churches aren't always fully occupied these days unfortunately and if people can come into the centre, it is really good. we got problems with some of the bigger stores closing down in the centre and whatever can bring people in will be really good for the town. around 130 libraries closed across the country last year and more and more local authorities are getting creative when it comes to the future of the service. whether that's help from volunteers, sharing premises or, like here, coming up with a different plan altogether. the library opens this week. a new beginning for this church at christmas. you could say, a marriage made in heaven. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news in lichfield. now it's time for a

look at the weather. we can cross the newsroom to ben rich. thank you very much, good afternoon. the main story in the run—up to christmas is that the weather is going to be slowly calming down. not just yet. today is a day of damp dodging, we have showers around, some impressive cloudscape some like this one sent in from a weather watcher in powys. some of the showers spreading from west to east are heavy with a rumble of thunder mixed in. highs of 7—11 degrees, windy towards the south and going through this evening, showers, for a time at least, will fade to leave more dry weather and clear spells. then the next weather system is on the march, a band of rain across the south—west, wales, the midlands and northern ireland by the end of the night, windy but wild in the south,

cooler in the north, and north—east scotla nd cooler in the north, and north—east scotland could see a touch of frost. tomorrow we start off with this pontal system. notice the way this point hangs a long way westwards. we will see it piling through all day long. it will linger across parts of northern ireland, northern england, southern scotland, rooney and crucially patchy rain, and to the south of that, early rain clearing to leave sunshine, and it will be mild, 14 in london. to the north, it will stay a little bit cooler but for the northern half of scotland where we have sunshine temperatures will be restricted to around 6—8 celsius. in the evening we will see some more showers racing in as well. heading into the weekend, this area of high pressure down here will try to ta ke of high pressure down here will try to take control on saturday. you see that bump in the isobars? that means more in the way of dry weather on saturday. many of us will have a

fine day with sunny spells, scattering of showers into north—western areas, temperatures about where they should be at this time of year, 7—11 degrees, and we will see rain sweeping the southern half of the uk early on, the far south of england seeing some rain coming and going through the day. further north, dry spells of sunshine, very cool, mild again in the south, then we head into the christmas period proper. rain on sunday night into the first part of monday, christmas eve, but that front breaks apart because high pressure will be building, and as we go into christmas day, we keep that high pressure in control. that means the prospects are relatively calm. mostly dry, some frost and fog patches around with the morning, but i'm hopeful we will get to see at least some spells of sunshine. hello, you're watching afternoon live.

i'm martine croxall. today at 2: huge disruption for tens of thousands of travellers, as gatwick airport remains closed, because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield. we have had, within the last hour, another drone sighting, and so at this stage, we are not open and i cannot tell you what time we will open. it was on the airport, seen by the police, cooperated. and so having seen that drone that close to the runway, it is unsafe to reopen. are you all right just to say hello to me, my darling? are you all right just to say hello to me, my darling? nearly 600 homeless people, most of them men, died in england and wales last year — up by a quarter since 2013. he was asleep in, like, an alleyway on a bench or something, with a blanket. someone thought he wasjust sleeping, but he was actually dead.