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. good news on the high street. retail sales rose by more than expected last month, driven mainly by black friday sales and shoppers buying household goods. coming up on afternoon live:

all the sport, with hugh. the person who threw a bottle at dele alli has been identified. indeed, they have. the incident occurred during last night's north london derby in the league cup. spurs dele alli treat struck by a bottle. arsenal are now working with the met police to apprehend the culprit. more later in the hour. thanks, hugh. and ben has all the weather. somewhere over the rainbow. any of the white stuff about? probably not in the run—up to christmas. a white christmas increasingly unlikely. but i will take you to a part of the world where they have had some of the white stuff and it may not be quite where you would expect. join me there. the line that is a proper headline! —— that is a proper headline. thanks, ben. also coming up... buyer beware.

why some vintage whiskey, being sold for thousands of pounds, is not what it seems. hello. this is afternoon live. all flights in and out of britain's second busiest airport — gatwick — have been suspended after drones were seen flying over the airfield. after a new sighting this afternoon, gatwick‘s runway is closed until at least four o'clock. more than 100,000 passengers have been affected, with many facing long delays. flights have been diverted as far away as paris and amsterdam. gatwick has apologised to travellers, but said safety was its "foremost priority." a massive police operation is in place to hunt down the operators of the two drones, which they say are being flown deliberately around gatwick. 0ur news correspondent, navtej johal, reports. the christmas getaway at a

standstill. since nine o'clock last night, these have been the scenes at the uk's second busiest airport. the stories of stranded passengers reverberating around the terminals. a bbc employee who is inside gatwick airport showed just how busy it is. players have been suspended since last night, when at least one drone, possibly two, was spotted above the airfield. there are people passing out in the terminal where it is hot. yes, it isjust a bit of a shame really. you would think and airport of this size would have some sort of contingency plan to cope with a drone. i would have imagined it would be better security in place and emergency action for something like that. amid the confusion, police even boarded planes to reassure passengers. sightings of

the drone continued throughout the morning, as the airport apologised for the disruption. this is deliberately seeking to affect the many tens of thousands of passengers who wanted a flight from gatwick today. this close to the christmas period. and it is them paying the price of this deliberate act. 20 police teams, including a police helicopter, currently on the hunt for the operator of the drone. they don't believe the incident is terror related but still deliberate and unprecedented. there has been an incident or two but only very minor ones web app has been a sighting and that has been negated or confirmed and the person doubt whether any airport has reopened, nothing like this, to this extent. for passengers, some of whom have been stranded as far away as paris and amsterdam, the situation may seem dire, but the airlines are still obliged to complete theirjourney. people will get involved in slightly long and convoluted journeys and it must be stressed that the airline

that cancels your flight is responsible for getting you to your destination as swiftly as possible evenif destination as swiftly as possible even if they have to pay money to another airline to do it. as flights continued to be diverted, delayed or cancelled, at least staff and passengers are trying their best to keep each other‘s spirits up. we will we will to gatwick for an update in a moment. let's go live to lancaster house, in central london, where theresa may is holding a press conference alongside her polish we also recognise the same threats. i want to thank you, both for the support you and your nation showed following the nerve agent attack in

salisbury, mateusz, and for your commitment to attributing cyber attacks to the russian gru. these actions are unacceptable and we will not stand for them. today, we resolve to defend our democracy is through annual consultations on russia's hostile activity and closer collaboration between our defence and security services and discussions will begin early next year. and we will also share our expertise to set up a new unit in poland that directly counters russian disinformation and ensures quick attribution of hostile activity against state or commercial targets. we will also maintain the momentum of the western balkans summit which we both attended here earlier this year, as we pass the bat on from london to poznan, such work is crucial to stability in the region. our trade relationship was almost £20 billion last year and is thriving and we both welcomed the success of the first uk and poland

this is trade and investment forum earlier this year. next year's forum will focus on solutions for queen and sustainable growth, one of the defining challenges of the 2ist—century. we both want to ensure a cleaner world for future growth partnership we have established today puts us at the forefront of the global shift towards greener energy sources such as energy, wind and greener transport. as two the most innovative economies, we will have a technology hub, boosting investment and creating high skilled jobs of the future. and next september's uk and poland signed for will build on the strong links between our universities and research ce ntres between our universities and research centres with a focus on improving opportunities for women in stem subjects. it was a pleasure to meet members of the polish community earlier today and talk about the

immense contribution they make to our economy and society. mosti million polls make their life in britain. the largest die aspar in the uk, and a similar number of brits visit poland each year. and these personal stories are what i think of when talking about the bond between our countries. so securing the rights of polish and other eu citizens was my priority in the brexit negotiations. withdrawal agreements guarantees their rights to live, work and study in the uk after we leave the eu and early this month, we set out our commitment to set out and protect the rights of eu citizens living in the uk in the unlikely event of no deal. my message to polish people is clear, you can stay and we want you to stay. 0r you can stay and we want you to stay. or to put it another way,... she speaks polish a relationship with our closest

relationships like poland remains vital and i have reiterated to prime minister mateusz morawiecki that we will continue to protect our shared values and interests. i'm confident this shared partnership will continue to flourish. prime minister. he speaks polish we will leave that there because i am not up to live polish translation. that is the prime minister of poland, mateusz morawiecki speaking at lancaster house. we have just morawiecki speaking at lancaster house. we havejust heard morawiecki speaking at lancaster house. we have just heard theresa may talking about the relationship between the uk and poland now and after britain leaves the eu as it will do at the end of march. she talked about the future of polish citizens living here, saying they

can stay and we want them to stay. let's return to the situation at gatwick airport. the runway is to be closed until 4pm today at least after another sighting of a drone deliberately flown over the airfield. we will speak to our correspondent injust a airfield. we will speak to our correspondent in just a moment at gatwick. so how is it that drones — only recently on the mass market — can create such havoc at our airports? our technology correspondent, chris fox, has been finding out. a nightmare situation for pilots and passengers, a drone striking a plane at high altitude and top speed. this experiment from the university of dayton shows a worst—case and unlikely scenario, but there have been several near—misses with drones coming within a few feet of commercial aircraft, so the industry doesn't take any chances. depending on the speed of the drone

and the relative speed of the drone and the aircraft and the weight, you can get some significant damage. with a drone collision against something like an a320, you risk killing hundreds of people. it's not the first time an airport has been closed for this reason. injuly 2017, some flights in july 2017, some flights from gatwick airport were delayed or diverted after a drone was spotted on the airport's approach path. previous incidents have been dealt with within a matter of minutes, not hours. now the police say the disruption is deliberate. the price of drones has fallen dramatically. they're now available in catalogues and toy shops and, in the uk, you don't need to register your purchase. although it's illegal to fly within a kilometre or about 1,000 yards of an airport, those wishing to cause disruption can easily flout those rules.

it is an asymmetric threat and we need to deal with it effectively. the people responsible for the security of airports and things need to invest to make sure we have good strength and depth in terms of the security of people operating from airports. drone manufacturers can build in geo—fencing, which stops it flying near an airport, although that can be easy to overcome. they could use a signaljammer, stopping the remote control communicating with the drone, but that won't work if it is flying along a preprogrammed path. now companies are developing counter—drone technology, like this drone—catching net deployed from another aircraft. and aviation giant boeing has shown off this drone—busting laser which makes it catch fire. the rules in the uk are expected to tighten in 2019, with the introduction of a drone register, but the problems at gatwick today show this is not something legislation

alone will fix. all correspondence is at gatwick airport. how long ago was the drone last seen? we have had an update from the airport short while ago and there was a suggestion that perhaps there was a suggestion that perhaps the runway would reopen and 4pm today now we have been told it will remain closed until further notice and that is because in the last two hours, i drone was spotted above the runway, near the runway yet again. so the wait for the runway to reopen continues and it has been like this for around 16 hours. it was nine o'clock yesterday morning that the drone was first spotted we understand by two members of staff, followed by multiple sightings. and the situation hasn't really moved on

a great dealfrom the situation hasn't really moved on a great deal from that point. yes, the hunt for the person or people behind this also continues. the advice from the airport is unless you have checked the status of your flight you have checked the status of your flight first, don't come here, make sure you flight first, don't come here, make sure you know what is happening with your flight before you arrive at the airport and you are not disappointed. throughout this morning and afternoon, we have seen passengers arriving with their suitcases and being incredibly disappointed and angry and frustrated by what they have seen on the departure board. so avoid that, check the status of your flight first is the advice from the airport. what is being done to get this drone out of the sky and trace the operators? well, we know there are currently 20 police teams on the hunt for the person or people behind this. we have been told this is not believed to be a terror related attack terror related incident. but they do believe it to be a

deliberate act. there was some suggestion that perhaps this drone may have drifted into the space around the airport. that does not appear to be the case now, they do very much believe it is a deliberate act. the police, you might have heard my report, run the hunt for the or person behind this incident and that search continues. we also saw a police helicopter short while ago having a look for the drone as well. the operation to bring it down, however, remains quite convert. you have seen and heard some of the options available to the authorities in the report before you came to me so that appears to be the range of options available to the police. but currently, 20 police teams, we think around 60 officers, run the hunt for whoever is behind this incident. and if they found and to justice, then the this incident. and if they found and tojustice, then the prison this incident. and if they found and to justice, then the prison sentence is around five years for endangering an aircraft. it is an incredibly serious criminal offence. thank you

very much. from gatwick airport. will guyatt is a technology expert — he's done civil aviation authority drone training and owns a drone. how clear is it to you when you do do training help clear the dos and don'ts? very clear and this is at a very early stage, the training. i took a course because i was interested in seeing what it would be like. there is a big issue here, we have sold hundreds of thousands of drones to people across the uk, £25 up to several thousand pounds. the reality is some of them are used for beautiful sweeping shots on bb she shows and bbc news, but some are used for people who want to take them into the air —— bbc shows. it is incredibly easy to fly them. i could fly up to four miles from where i am now. legally, i can only

have at 500 metres away from me, but i could fly it up to four miles away. the current talk of the police and government saying they are dealing with this, this is like finding a needle in a haystack. if these people don't want to be found, it will be very hard to find them. it could be flown from indoors. some drones can be predetermined and plotted so that people might not be in the uk, they could be running along a geolocation and that is how this could be done. the very fact we are 12 plus hours into this and there seems to be no solution, i am really concerned now about a copycat attack over airports. it is perfectly clear the uk, despite talking about this for a long time, drone safety, we have no response and no answer. how drone safety, we have no response and no answer. how can drone safety, we have no response and no answer. how can you get a drone out of the sky if you are not operating it so you could maybe trace it, is it registered to someone? this is the problem, some of the most expensive commercial ones, licensed to somebody, will be,

but the chance here is somebody has purchased one even potentially outside the uk and there is no registered yet in the uk. despite the government and baroness 0h registered yet in the uk. despite the government and baroness oh this morning saying they are exploring the options and speaking to the manufacturers, the big issue here is that most drones sold in the uk come in via chinese auction sites...|j that most drones sold in the uk come in via chinese auction sites... i am so sorry, i have to interrupt you. we have to go to america, new york. harvey weinstein, you will see in the centre of the picture at adjusting his jacket and making his way into court interdict in new york. his defence lawyer has gone back on the offensive and petitioned to have his entire remaining sex assault case thrown out. his lawyer says there is new evidence that would undermine the case and he is also claiming that there is fresh evidence of police misconduct.

harvey weinstein was one of hollywood's most powerful figures until scores of women, many of them a list actresses, came forward last year to allege that he had sexually assaulted them. so back in court to have that case, the remaining case, to try and have it thrown out. waiting patiently, our technology expert. thank you for that hiatus and bearing with us. we were talking about how difficult it is to trace the drone, many not registered. about how difficult it is to trace the drone, many not registeredm is almost impossible, and the issue is almost impossible, and the issue is that many people buy them from china or overseas because that is often the cheapest way to buy them and they'll simply not registered. the big challenge is if there was a clear way of taking these drones out of the sky, we would have seen something happen already because this is very damaging at this time

of year, but also, the big concern is that it has been a case of, i have expected something for a long time, likea have expected something for a long time, like a major disruption, and if it is as easy as this to do it, i am just concerned about how many more examples of this we to see. what sort of regulations do we need to try and get drone usage under control? in particular, the kind of technology they have on board that prevents them or can prevent them flying over airfields? it is so easy to override that is, that is the apparent issue, even the drones that have that will stop mine tells me i cannot lie in mod areas but i can press a button that overrides it, it is as simple as that. there needs to be more education. drones are so easy to fly, that is what makes them so dangerous. it is quite easy for anybody come up with limited understanding, to grab hold of the

smartphone or controller and literally fly straight upwards. and we have seen what happens in these tests a nd we have seen what happens in these tests and these issues when they have come close to planes. sometimes, and when this began last night, i thought this would have been somebody who got one for christmas and was trying to capture footage of the planes nearby at gatwick, but it has become more sinister. i think the uk civil aviation authority, there needs to bea aviation authority, there needs to be a response to this in that, how can we quickly get these drones out of the airand can we quickly get these drones out of the air and also educate people? and when they find the people involved with this, the five—year prison sentence and the fine doesn't seem strong enough for the amount of disruption. and the fact you have over 60 police officers out there trying to find a drone pilot, it is a big waste of police resource. i think the crime and the more people get caught and found guilty of incidents like this will send a stronger message and put people off from doing something stupid with a drone. thank you very much for

joining us. thank you. the number of homeless people in england and wales who die has increased by nearly a quarter over five years to almost 600, according to official estimates. it's the first research of its kind carried out by the office for national statistics. life expectancy for the homeless is nearly half that for people in stable housing, with homeless men and women dying on average at the age of 1m. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. matthew died in a public toilet. martin hyde was tragically murdered while sleeping rough. david was holding down a full—time job, but living in a small vehicle, and died in the fire. at this charity in stockport, they have long remembered those who died homeless. they were friends who cared for them, helped them and, in many cases, attended their funerals. when homeless people pass away, they leave friends and associates behind and people

are loved and missed. mark is a regular visitor to the charity. the last thing, i wished him dead, which i regret. a few months ago, he fell out with his brother, and was rough sleeping in manchester. the 31—year—old was hooked on drugs, and died. he was asleep in an alleyway or on a bench or something with a blanket. somebody thought he was sleeping, but he was dead. this reason vigil in manchester remembered some of those who had died homeless. the north west of england has one of the highest levels of death. more than 2,600 people died homeless in england and wales in the last five years and the number of deaths has increased almost 25% in that time. alcohol, drugs and suicide account forjust over half of all deaths of homeless people, whereas only 3% in the general population. that's a big difference

and producing that information will help decision—makers take the right intervention to help that from happening. are you 0k? it is suzi, the nurse. this is how they are trying to prevent rough sleepers in nottingham from dying. most mornings, outreach workers will walk the streets with a qualified nurse, offering medical help from bandages to taking blood samples. does being on the streets shorten people's absolutely, does being on the streets shorten people's lives? without any doubt. the average age of dying on the street if you are homeless is something between a0 and a7, roughly half of the general population, and those folks will die of chronic long—term medical conditions that you attribute the elderly. what is your health like? on this morning, she comes across chris, who is blind in one eye and is getting radiotherapy as he has pancreatic cancer. do you worry about dying out here?

yeah, ido. i've got children and stuff, yeah, and i haven't seen my parents for 18 years because i get no benefits. i always send them a card saying i'm doing really well and all of this but, basically, ilie. more than £1 billion is being spent tackling all forms of homelessness, and deaths are being properly investigated. a problem long hidden is finally getting attention. joining me now from south west london is matthew bennett, a children's care home owner, who is handing out winter kit to the homeless across the capital this christmas. thank you, thank you forjoining us. we will come onto what you are doing, but you are spending a lot of time each day talking to homeless people, what are you hearing from them? for the last six weeks, i have been taking a couple of hours each day and sitting down with the

homeless and bringing out what brought them to be homeless. and the problems they are facing. what is apparent is a lot of the people that are homeless have come from care homes and they have ex—military backgrounds. i'm literally spending the time to see what we can do to help them. there are times i get told by people it is a choice, it is a lifestyle choice. i struggle to believe that is really true. no, very few i would say have said it was a lifestyle choice. the people that come into care, by the time they are 18, they are out of the ca re system they are 18, they are out of the care system and just abandoned. society isn't doing enough to look after them. for the last ten years, we have seen multiple reports on the damage of ptsd and veterans returning from war and that has led them onto the streets. we have higher levels of drug intake and another thing facing homeless people now is most people pay with

co nta ctless now is most people pay with contactless payment so they don't have the opportunity to get the money they used to get. you have donated money, you have raised money, thousands of pounds to buy winter kit, what sort of kit is it? well, last week, i approached a clothing company in scotland called highland 0utdoors, they have sponsored me for expeditions i have donein sponsored me for expeditions i have done in the past and they gave me winter sleeping bags, coats, thermal leggings, gloves, hats, to distribute across the uk. a lot is going into london and it goes out this evening. some is going down to kent and we have distributed some to cardiff and newbury. why are you giving it direct to people on the streets rather than through a charity? so, a couple of weeks ago, i looked into this and money for charities can often be lost if you make a donation, i don't always

believe the money goes directly to the cause. there are very good charities out there and i am working for crisis and christmas. but this isa for crisis and christmas. but this is a direct campaign and if i purchased the sleeping bags, we know that person is getting the one they need. what can individuals do? you often see people in shop doorways or right by the bbc here in all souls church, on the steps. it can feel overwhelming sometimes, what can we do individually? just stop and give these people the time of day. make them feel humans again. we walk past them feel humans again. we walk past them as if they don't exist. picking up them as if they don't exist. picking up somebody‘s morale by asking if they are ok. we don't carry money like we used to but you can buy that person a copy, a bottle of water. just caring and showing they are a human being. what about long term? although you are trying to keep people warm and make people feel like they are human beings again,

that doesn't get them off the streets. no, the government are starting to look into new projects. it is going to come down to the politicians to get up and do something. i think we need to do more with care leavers. they don't have the backstop so if anything happens, if we fail all we have financial problems, most people can go back to their parents. care leavers don't have that opportunity. the same with people in the military. and there is a great crossover between the two, people from care going to the military and then they come out and they have nothing. thank you very much and the best of luck with your winter kit project this year. thanks very much. retail sales jumped more than expected in november, despite warnings from retailers that it was one of the worst on record. figures from the office for national statistics said sales rose 1.4% from october, despite economists' forecasts of just 0.3% following two months of decline. sales were helped by black friday promotions. more money should be spent

on changing the layout of our town centres, an independent report into the state of the high street has recommended. an expert panel, chaired by the owner of timpson's, says local authorities across england don't have enough money and central government needs to contribute more. sirjohn timpson says town centres should be turned into communities and meeting places. this isn't just about shopping. it's about community, about creating a hub, and that includes lots of other things, whether its medical, social services, whether it's entertainment for all these other things, and housing. because it's pretty obvious if you go around, there are probably about twice as many shops as we need in this country, and we're short of housing. there's a pretty obvious message there. and the other thing is, i think, in this digital age, we do need social contact. that's part of being human, meeting together. and if we want our children to have a place where they are going to meet, then every community needs to create its hub and do that

by putting things together in a way that's attractive. time for a look at the weather. we are going to start quite far away. 0bviously, we are going to start quite far away. obviously, if you been watching the last couple of days, we've been talk about how were not going to have a white christmas and you're thinking, where have we had some of the white stuff? and, yes, as you hinted, not at home, going far away, your thinking snow, we are going south, where it is summer, we are going to australia. look at where sydney is and look what happens on the satellite picture. these are storm clouds just blossom into life. thunderstorms which spark off and gave a lot of thunder and lightning and gusty wind, but also well, we have had some hail. it is

the summer there. that's exactly the question i want to do to ask. it is the summer they are. how do you go to hail in the summer? it happens most to hail in the summer? it happens m ost ofte n to hail in the summer? it happens most often in the summer. especially hail, as big as this. you can see what it looked like in sydney. watch this picture quite closely because not everyone was sheltering indoors. someone was having a run. this would hurt when it hits you. look at how big these hailstones are. falling onto the roads, bad travelling conditions. we've been having a conversation about how big they are. people talk about tennis balls, baseball —sized in the usa. it has to be bigger! we've kind of come to the conclusion it is smaller than a tennis ball but bigger than a golf ball. a snooker ball. we thought that wasn't very festive so

actually, i have brought a prop. a small satsuma. just imagine if we throw is this a small satsuma and throw is this a small satsuma and throw it at you. i'm not going to throw it at you. i'm not going to throw it at you. i'm not going to throw it out you. if simon mccoy was here, you might throw it. why does it happen in the summer? with big ha ilstones it happen in the summer? with big hailstones you need a cumulonimbus cloud. thunder clouds. there is ice c rysta ls cloud. thunder clouds. there is ice crystals in the cloud, you have ice c rysta ls crystals in the cloud, you have ice crystals moving up and down, very, very quickly. they bash against each other. when it gets heavy enough, it comes down in a big thunderstorm so actually, hail is more of a summer thing than a winter thing. that doesn't help us out here. it doesn't. i don't know where i'm going to put the satsuma now. we won't suggest anything. we have

had cumulonimbus clouds but little ones, not capable of producing hailstones. we've had some thunder and lightning in one or two places, and lightning in one or two places, and this is the radar picture which shows the starry scenario at the moment. we've had a little bit of sunshine. shah was racing in from the west, some heavy, and through the west, some heavy, and through the afternoon we will continue to see that downpour. you will be fine and dry one in minutes, the next, a big shower will drench you. quite windy in the south. tonight, turns dry. there are showers fade and then we will see more rain pushing in from the south—west. some of it will be on the heavy side. mild and windy in the south. a little bit chilly across the north—east of scotland, a touch of frost, but this frontal system dominates as we go through tomorrow and noticed there is a piece of this frontal system that stretches a long way west and that is just stretches a long way west and that isjust going to stretches a long way west and that is just going to act like a pipeline across the central parts of the uk. so for northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england, cloud

and patchy rain throughout the day tomorrow but for the south of that, some sunshine blustery winds and it will be mild, 1a celsius. further north, cooler, particularly where you had that patchy rain but even across northern scotland where you will see some sunshine, those temperature 6—8 at best. as we head into friday evening, it turns quite windy. showers pushing in from the west about the start of the weekend looks quite promising. a big travel weekend of course. high pressure along the way but notice the way it causes the isobars to bump. it's an area of high pressure which settle things down for a while, so saturday, few showers in the north—west but temperature is about where they should be for the time of year, 7—11. sunday, chance of rain particular during the first part of the morning. much of it clears away although we could have some patchy rain down towards the south—west. further north, largely dry, some sunshine, cool in the north, milder

further south, and then the all—important further south, and then the all—importa nt christmas period. well, as we move into christmas eve, this might linger enough to give some rain but the front brakes apart and high pressure which was a long way away, builds its way and across the uk and that means things will be fairly quiet. the forecast for christmas day could well bring some frost and fog in places through the morning but it should be largely dry with some sunshine and those temperature is about where they should be for the time of year. this is bbc news. our latest headlines. huge disruption for tens of thousands of travellers as gatwick airport remains closed because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield. are you all right 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. retail sales rose by more than expected last month, driven mainly by black friday sales and shoppers buying household goods. sport now on afternoon

live with hugh. another bit of fan behaviour football really doesn't want to see last night. bottle throwing at dele alli. it's something football clubs around the country would not want to see at their home ground. arsenal say they have identified the fan that threw a bottle at dele alli. that was in the totte n ha m bottle at dele alli. that was in the tottenham league cup quarterfinal win the stadium last night. arsenal responding say they are embarrassed by the incident, working with the metropolitan police to apprehend the culprits they say, but they do go on to say we are not responsible for the actions of one individual. we send our apologies to dele alli and eve ryo ne send our apologies to dele alli and everyone at tottenham hotspur for this incident. rousseau pointed to no spoke about the incident, the way dele alli reacted saying he was

quite calm and measured and spoke to the media earlier this afternoon. quite calm and measured and spoke to the media earlier this afternoonlj the media earlier this afternoon.” think what's amazing, the reaction, in our country the player is going to be down on the pitch. a big problem. dele alli was so honest. so professional. and he behaved really, really, really well. the story does not end there. arsenal went on to say that anyone identified will receive a lengthy club bans, their details would be passed to the police, as well, to commence legal proceedings. adam peaty making waves outside the swimming pool. yes, indeed, although he does not really want to make these sorts of waves, adam peaty has dared those that run the sport of swimming to ban him after he supported the launch of a brand—new competition. he and other top

swimmers want to compete in a breakaway competition called the international swimming league, with the potential to earn far more than they currently do. the first event was due to take place earlier this month in italy. that was cancelled after the world governing body threaten to prevent those that raced on it from competing at next years world championships. most competitors did not want to risk that would adam peaty does not think that's fair. here is what he had to say. this is my sport, i love it to the moon and back and it's my passion. but i want to make sure in 20 years' time that kate is looking up 20 years' time that kate is looking up to me winning the olympics will have a stable future you can make a living out of the sport that you work so hard for. have any athlete spoke about if people do start being banned? of course, yes. i don't care, actually, ban me. if you've got to, i'm not bothered. at the end of the day, they will have the backlash from that. they know they

can't get away with it. you lose the respect of the athletes and you can't bully athletes into racing. you need to get them to work together. it shouldn't be a take ta ke ta ke together. it shouldn't be a take take take situation, how we can work together and for me, yes, a bit of anger we have not been listened to but, at the same time, i'm just trying to get by and break world records and win gold medals for my country. the multiple olympic champion missy franklin has retired at the age ofjust 23. she says she does not 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. he celebrated in the face of a japanese opponent during their second round tie which he won. he says he's disappointed with himself that the actions were out of character and his outburst

was related to his mental health. and the british rider guy williams has shared the big prize at the 0lympic horse show last night. he was thejoint winner of 0lympic horse show last night. he was the joint winner of what's called the event, pre—sums. it's mainly about jumping over a called the event, pre—sums. it's mainly aboutjumping over a big red wall which keep getting taller and taller. if you don't know about it, you are out, both the horse and rider were 0k in this incident but guy williams and his horse missed it, successfully jumped seventh guy williams and his horse missed it, successfullyjumped seventh at fourfor it, successfullyjumped seventh at four for a it, successfullyjumped seventh at fourfor a share of it, successfullyjumped seventh at four for a share of the top prize. that's all the sport for now. more in the next hour. thank you very much. let's get more on our top story. all flights in and out of britain's second busiest airport, gatwick, have been suspended after drones were seen flying over the airfield. after a new sighting this afternoon, gatwick‘s runway is closed until at least four o'clock. tom burridge understands flights are cancelled until at least 7pm tonight. 722 flights were scheduled tonight. 722 flights were scheduled to and from gatwick today across all airlines. the latest sighting of the drone in the vicinity of the airport was around lunchtime today.

i'm nowjoined by travel expert, simon calder who's in gatwick airport. quite a mess, isn't it, simon? what are passenger's' rights if they are caught up in this? it's been absolutely heartbreaking seeing the tens of thousands of people, many of them still turning up even though them still turning up even though the airport is saying don't go to gatwick unless your flight is definitely going and of course none of them are. but if you have been on holiday in britain, returning to see family abroad because you've been working here, i can see why they would be turning up hoping for the best, but what has been really alarming for people i have been talking to this morning is the way that their passenger rights have been misrepresented or simply ignored by the airlines. it's very straightforward. if an airline cancelled a flight for whatever reason, it doesn't matter if it's theirfault or not, reason, it doesn't matter if it's their fault or not, then they are obliged to find you a flight on a different airline. if need be, if

they can't get you on one of their services, in a reasonable time. so lots of people should be going around the m25 up to heathrow and getting on flights from there. very few seats available of course at this time of year. if you wait for a day or two, the airline has to provide meals and hotel while you wait. all the evidence i'm seeing from the people i've talked to, the airlines are simply not delivering what they are required to do. then what they are required to do. then what do you do? well, if you have got enough headroom on your credit card, it's quite straightforward, you book a flight with a different airline. if your originalairline are saying we can't get you anywhere until boxing day. you then book a hotel. you've obviously got to do these things as cheaply as possible. don't book yourself a first—class seat and stay in a 5—star hotel but be reasonable at all times and also if you are in this position, you need to keep a careful note of who

said what when. i have been hearing stories of entire planeloads of passengers, they sat down for four hours this morning and the airline just said, you are on your own. that is clearly a breach of the rules. i imagine the civil aviation authority will be looking into what airlines we re will be looking into what airlines were telling their passengers but you've got to write these things down. that means if you are challenged when you send in your claim or recompense, not actual compensation, you will actually stand a better chance of getting the money back. what is your understanding of an gatwick airport might get back to something approximately normal? its i'm afraid been a series of rolling delays. of course, like everyone else, nine o'clock last night i thought it's bound to be over very, very shortly because the only previous example we've had a year—and—a—half ago, it was all over in 1a minutes and only had five diversions. but no, 21

until three and i thought things will get back to normal but they didn't. we then had eight rolling delays, then 12, then now we are hearing 7pm. effectively, i think we have to write off the rest of the day because even if they suddenly said, right now, hooray, the airport is open again, you can start, airlines are in complete disarray. aeroplanes, passengers, pilots all over the place. literally. therefore it will be very difficult to get things back to normal. supposing things back to normal. supposing things do get going again this afternoon, certainly it will take all of tomorrow to get the planes and pilots where they need to be. and you will still have tens of thousands of passengers who are desperately trying to find seats on the new flights which do have a bit of room, so they can get where they need to be before christmas. and every minute that goes past, that's another planeload of people, 180,

who see their christmas plans just turn to tatters. simon, it's a miserable thing to happen at any time of year but especially now. thank you very much. in the last half an hour the prime minister was asked about this — this is what she had to say. i feel for all those passengers who have had disrupted travel plans by the strong activity and the action which it had to be taken in response to it and at this particular time of year this is particularly difficult for people. we have already passed legislation in relation to the use of drones so the activity we have seen is illegal and those who are caught endangering aircraft could face up to five years in prison. that legislation we have already introduced and we are consulting on further aspects of this including further aspects of this including further police powers but we will work with the gatwick authorities and the police will be working with

the gatwick authorities in order to bring this to a close so people can actually get on to the travel they we re actually get on to the travel they were expecting over the christmas period. mps begin their christmas holidays today with cabinet divisions over brexit spilling into the open. work and pensions secretary amber rudd said another referendum was a "plausible" way forward if mps rejected theresa may's withdrawal deal. but the leader of the commons andrea leadsom said that would be "unacceptable," and argued instead for what's being called a "managed no deal". mps begin their christmas holidays today with cabinet divisions over brexit spilling into the open. at westminster it looked like theresa may's cabinet where having a traditional christmas. you know, when everyone gathers on the table in good spirits, then things get a little tense. disagreements begin and long better lips give way to loosen to tongues. this is how the primer to describe the prospect of an eu referendum on monday. finally let us not break faith with the british people by trying to stage

another referendum. another vote which would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics. these days are half a week is a long time in politics. it's a rather different tone from one of her cabinet ministers. i have said i don't want a peoples vote or a referendum in general, but if parliament absolutely failed to reach a consensus absolutely failed to reach a consensus i can absolutely failed to reach a consensus i can see absolutely failed to reach a consensus i can see it would be a plausible argument for it. hang on a minute, her cabinet colleague did not like that. well it is not government policy. i myself think it would undermine the biggest democratic exercise ever. there is cabinet unity up to a point. they all say they want to get theresa may's deal through parliament when it comes to a vote in mid—january, but because the prime minister has made it clear she won't be leading her party into the next general election, some of her top team seem to be emboldened to put forward their own alternatives in case a

dealfalls. andrea leadsom talked about her own plan b, the prospect of no deal with the eu. in the event we can't agree to this deal that there could be a further deal which looks at a more minimalist approach but enables us to leave with some kind of deal, and some kind of implementation period that avoids a cliff edge, avoids uncertainty for businesses and travellers. but the international trade secretary struck a different note when asked about no deal in the commons. of course if the house decides we are not to come to an agreement with european union there will adverse consequences. i'll be going to have a second referendum? the prime minister met a polish counterpart to talk about life after brexit hoping her plan will prevail and various alternatives would look less attractive by comparison. for that strategy to fail, well perhaps plan b could be to hope for a christmas miracle. ian watson, bbc news, westminster. jamie is here and will

tell us what's happening in the business news but first i look at the headlines. disruption continues at gatwick airport for tens of thousands of passengers — after another drone sighting this lunchtime means 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 sales and shoppers buying household goods. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. bank of england keeps interest rates on hold as it frets over a no—deal brexit, and says the economy will only grow 0.2% in the last three months of the year, not 0.3%. even so, signs of growth? retail sales bounce back in november as black friday promotions keep the uk tils ringing. and britain has twice as many shops as it needs, says the man officially tasked by the government to come up with a plan to revive

the nation's high streets. interest rates on hold here but they went up in the us. what is happening? quite odd to here actually. it comes in with his gdp growth figures for the economy. just looking at this quarter, both the us and the uk have reduced their forecasts, their central bank forecasts for the economy. here for the last quarter this year is gone from 013 down to not point to and the usa looking ahead to the whole of 2019, gone down from 2.5 down to 2.3. they are coming down. they are not very optimistic, and that's one of the reasons why interest rates have not gone up here and even though they've gone up here and even though they've gone up here and even though they've gone up in the usa, they've gone up cautiously. from now on it could be a lot slower. we just think the economy hasn't got the kind of power

it had a few months ago and people expected to have for the next year. samira hussain, north america business correspondent. waiting patiently. what is the fallout from this small rise? well to pick up on your words, jamie, yes, markets have been reacting to the lack of power the federal reserve is predicting for 2019. a big part of the reason we saw big drops in the markets on wednesday after the rate rise was announced, we saw these drops today, the word is uncertainty. as we know us markets really like clarity, they like to know what's going to happen and they will want to know well in advance but what we heard from the federal reserve yesterday is that we are going to see two rate rises but that's not guaranteed, because now they have to look at the

fundamentals, so looking at labour markets, looking out inflation numbers, looking at economic growth and really reacting to the most up—to—date numbers, so any of those rate rises is not guaranteed. but come on the other hand, one of the things they are always worried about is trade wars, with china, but that seems to be easing off a little bit? donald trump said putting up interest rates just like this is dangerous and can actually itself be damaging to the economy. i'm glad you raised the issue of mr trump. the kind of communication that we have seen from the president to the federal reserve has really been unprecedented. he's been very negative and did not want to see any more rate rises and from his perspective he feels that, look, the economy is doing well by raising interest rates, it could damage the us economy. but, you know, the

federal reserve isn't independent body and the federal reserve and its committee members have to block out all of that outside noise and focus on the numbers that they are seeing in front of them. i love the way you mime it with your hands. it looked really good. thank you so much. making the most of the medium of television. the ftse, rather lacklustre. 0il continuing to look a very weak, heading down. 0nly lacklustre. 0il continuing to look a very weak, heading down. only a few weeks ago it was over 18. i know. the reason why it was pushing up was basically because there was an increase in demand and then demand began to slacken off but also the shale producers came in and produced more and more and more and that, coupled with a slowdown, was too much oil, that's the reason why the

oil price has fallen off. see you in an hour. thank you. a quick return to new york where we saw harvey weinstein arriving in court. the case against him is going to move forward after a new york judge, james burke, refused to dismiss the charges in a criminal case against harvey weinstein. the next pre—trial hearing is now set for march the 7th next year. the judge had multiple options, codes are found in favour of harvey weinstein and dismissed this sexual assault case, some or all of the charges, but instead has thrown it out and the case will go ahead. scientists who carried out a lengthy study of a number of rare scotch whiskies found that more than a third of the bottles' contents were fake. the research, at a carbon dating laboratory, established that 21 out of 55 whiskies were not what they claimed to be. at least one of them didn't even qualify as whisky. james shaw has been

finding out more. vintage whiskies can cost thousands of pounds. these bottles may look like the real thing, but they are not what they seem. scientists at the scottish universities environmental research centre spent nine months testing allegedly vintage whiskies and made some surprising discoveries. we tested 55 bottles of single malt scotch whisky, out of which 21 have proved to be fake. we've come across bottles that were meant to be from the 18505, and clearly they weren't. when they dated out, the liquid was dated to around the 1980s. the team used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the age of the whiskies they were testing. the technique is based on radiocarbon dating. we have to take a sample through the cork as carefully as we can, probably about a millilitre or so. we then have to distil the ethanol, the alcohol, from the sample. we then convert that ethanol through to solid carbon, and in the carbon is measured

in a mass spectrometer, which we can then relate to the age of the whisky. because of the potential money to be made, the business of creating fake rare whiskies has become highly sophisticated. this is a closure that's been made to look like it is turn—of—the—century, because it's a driven cork with a lead capsule on top of it. we do find that a number of these bottles will have a blend in them when it's meant to be a malt. we find that there is what we think are just cheaper versions of 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 with ben rich. good afternoon. some pretty hefty

showers around today, some sunshine as well, but those downpours will continue for a time during the late afternoon into the evening but they will fade away as we get into the night. leaving dry weather, clear spells, but not for long. this next band of rain put from the south—west reaching northern ireland, wales, the midlands by the end of the night, turning windy and the south, a little bit colder to the north—east, parts of north—east scotla nd north—east, parts of north—east scotland seeing a touch of frost. tomorrow, a band of cloud and patchy rain which essentially stranded across northern england, northern ireland, southern scotland but to the south of that, some sunshine developing through the day and it will be mild, 1a celsius for london and plymouth, not as mild further north particular sickly where we keep the cloud and rain but even for northern scotland with some sunshine, temperatures restricted to around about 8 degrees at best. we look further ahead towards christmas, if you have travel plans for the weekend, largely dry on saturday, rain on sunday.

hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm martine croxall. today at 3: huge disruption for tens of thousands of travellers, as gatwick airport remains closed, because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield. we have already passed legislation in relation to the use of drones so it is now, as has been made clear, the activity we have seen is illegal and those who are caught endangering aircraft can face up to five years in prison. 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 was just sleeping, but he was actually dead. retail sales rose by more than expected last month, driven mainly by black friday sales and shoppers buying household goods. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with hugh. and arsenal have reacted to an unsavoury incident at their stadium last night? the person who threw a bottle has been identified. yes, a bottle thrown from the crowd during last night's north london derby in the league cup. arsenal are working with the met police to apprehend the culprit. more later in the hour. thanks, hugh. ben has all the weather.

the forecast up to christmas is for things to slowly, down, largely dry for christmas day. a bit of rain between now and then. i will unpick the christmas forecast for you later. also coming up... buyer beware. why some vintage whiskey, being sold for thousands of pounds, is not what it seems. hello. this is afternoon live. i'm martine croxall. all flights in and out of britain's second busiest airport, gatwick, have been suspended after drones were seen flying over the airfield. after a new sighting this afternoon, gatwick‘s runway is closed until at least 4 o'clock. possibly 7pm this evening. over 100,000 passengers have been affected, with many facing long delays. flights have been diverted as far away as paris and amsterdam. gatwick has apologised

to travellers, but said safety was its "foremost priority." a massive police operation is in place to hunt down the operators of the two drones, which they say are being flown deliberately around gatwick. 0ur correspondent, navtej johal, reports. the christmas getaway at a standstill. since nine o'clock last night, these have been the scenes at the uk's second busiest airport. the stories of stranded passengers reverberating around the terminals. a bbc employee who's inside gatwick airport showed just how busy it is. ok, so this is the beginning of the queue here at gatwick airport. so i'm going to walk round and see how long it takes to get to the end of the queue. flights have been suspended since last night, when at least one drone, possibly two, were spotted above the airfield. there's people passing out in the terminal, where it's hot. yeah, it'sjust a bit of a shame really. you'd think that an airport of this size would have some sort

of contingency plan to cope with a drone. i would have imagined it would be better security in place and emergency action for something like that. amid the confusion, police even boarded planes to reassure passengers. sightings of the drone continued throughout the morning, as the airport apologised for the disruption. this is deliberately seeking to affect the many tens of thousands of passengers who wanted to fly from gatwick today, this close to the christmas period, and it's them who are paying the price of this deliberate act. 20 police teams, including a police helicopter, are currently on the hunt for the operator of the drone. they don't believe the incident is terror related, but still deliberate and unprecedented. there's been an incident or two, but only very minor ones, where there's been a sighting and that's been negated or confirmed and that person's been dealt with and the airport's reopened. nothing like this, to this extent.

for passengers — some of whom have been stranded as far away as paris and amsterdam — the situation may seem dire, but the airlines are still obliged to complete theirjourney. people will get involved in slightly long and convoluted journeys and it must be stressed that the airline that cancels your flight is responsible for getting you to your destination as swiftly as possible, even if they have to pay money to another airline to do it. as flights continue to be diverted, delayed or cancelled, at least staff and passengers are trying their best to keep each other‘s spirits up. # fa la la la lah la la la la #. 0ur correspondent navtej johal is at gatwick airport and earlier told me the airport is unlikely to reopen any time soon. there was a suggestion that perhaps the runway would be reopening at

around 4pm today, now we have been told that it will remain closed until further notice and that is because in the last two hours or so, a drone was spotted above the runway, near the runway yet again. so the wait for the runway to reopen continues. and it's been like this now for around 16 hours. i think it was about nine o'clock yesterday morning that the drone was first spotted winds stunned by two members of staff, followed them by multiple sightings. and the situation hasn't really moved on as far as we know a great dealfrom really moved on as far as we know a great deal from that point. and yes, the hunt for the person or people behind this also continues. the advice, though, from the airport is u nless advice, though, from the airport is unless you have checked the status of your flight first, don't come here, make sure you know what is happening with your flight before you arrive at the airport and not disappointed. throughout the course of this morning and this afternoon, we have seen passengers arriving, wobbling their suitcases in and being incredibly disappointed, angry

and frustrated by what they have seen on the departure board. so avoid that, check the status of your flight avoid that, check the status of your flight burst is the advice from the airport. what is being done to get this drone out of the sky and trace the operators? well, we know there are currently 20 police teams on the hunt for the person or people behind this. we have been told that this is not expected, believed to be a terror related attack terror related incident. however, they do believe it to be a deliberate act. there was some suggestion at the very start of this incident that perhaps this drone may have drifted into the space around the airport. that does not appear to be the case now. they do very much believe it is a deliberate act. the police, you might have heard in my report earlier, they are on the hunt for the people or person behind this incident and that search continues. we also saw a police helicopter a short while ago having a look for the drone as well. the operation to

bring it down, however, remains quite covert. you have seen and heard some of the options available to the authorities in the report just before you came to me a moment ago, so that appears to be the range of options available to the police. but currently, 20 police teams, we think around 60 officers, are on the hunt for whoever is behind this incident and if they are found and brought tojustice, incident and if they are found and brought to justice, then the prison sentence is around five years for endangering an aircraft. it is an incredibly serious criminal offence. the prime minister has been asked about this while she was holding a press conference earlier, this is what she had to say. i feel for all those passengers who have had disrupted travel plans by this drone activity and the action which had to be taken in response to it, and at this particular time of year, this is particularly difficult for people. we've already passed legislation in relation to the use of drones, so the activity we have seen is illegal and those who are caught endangering aircraft could face up to five years in prison.

that's legislation we have already introduced and we are consulting on further aspects of this, including further police powers, but we will work with the gatwick authorities and the police will be working with the gatwick authorities in order to bring this to a close, such that people can actually get on to the travel they were expecting over the christmas period. will guyatt is a technology expert. he owns a drone and has done the civil aviation authority drone training. he told us what that training looks like. it is fairto it is fair to say at the moment that we are at very early stage of training. i literally took a course because i was interested in seeing what it was going to be like. there's a big issue here. we have sold hundreds of thousands of drones to people across the uk, anything from £25 up to several thousand pounds. and the reality is some of them are used for beautiful sweeping shots on bbc shows and bbc news, but

some of them are just used by people who want to take them into the air. it is incredibly easy to fly these. the one i use, i could fly forfour miles from where i am now. now, legally, i can only have at 500 metres away from me, but i can play it up to four miles away so the current talk of the police and the government and everybody saying they are dealing with this, this is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack and these people don't want to be found, it is going to be very ha rd to to be found, it is going to be very hard to find they can be flown from indoors, some drones can even be predetermined so these might not even from the uk, these might be running along the geolocation and that could be held this could be done. and the very fact that we are 12 plus hours into this and there seems to be no solution, i'm really concerned now about copycat type attacks from airports. it is perfectly clear that the uk, despite talking about this for a long time, drone safety, we have no response or

no answer. what sort of regulations, then, do we need to try to get drone usage under control? in particular, the kind of technology that they have on—board the kind of technology that they have on—boa rd that the kind of technology that they have on—board that prevents them or can have on—board that prevents them or ca n p reve nt have on—board that prevents them or can prevent them flying over airfields? it's so easy to override that, though, that is the apparent issue. even the drones that have that. mine tells me i cannot fly in mod areas but i can press a button which overrides it, it is as simple as that. i think there needs to be more education. the challenge with a drone, they are so easy to fly, that is what makes them so dangerous. and it is quite easy for anybody with limited understanding to grab hold ofa limited understanding to grab hold of a smartphone or a controller for a drone and literallyjust play it straight upwards. 0bviously, a drone and literallyjust play it straight upwards. obviously, we have seen what happens in these really, in these tests and these issues where they have come close to

planes. when this began last night, i thought this may have been somebody who got one for christmas and was trying to of planes nearby at gatwick, but it has become more sinister since then. i think the uk civil aviation authority, there needs to be a response to this in, how can we quickly get these drones out of the air, how come we also educate people? and when they find the people involved with this, the five—year prison sentence and the fine just doesn't seem stronger for the amount of disruption. and the fa ct the amount of disruption. and the fact that you got over 60 police officers currently out there trying to find a drone pilot, it is a big waste of police resources. i think the crime and the more he bought that get caught and found guilty of incidents like this is going to start standing a stronger message and putting people off from doing something stupid with a drone. the number of homeless people in england and wales who die has increased by nearly a quarter over five years to almost 600, according to official estimates. it's the first research of its kind carried out by the office for national statistics. life expectancy for the homeless is nearly half that for people in stable housing, with homeless men and women dying on average at the age of 1m.

0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. martin hyde was tragically murdered while sleeping rough. david was holding down a full—time job, but living in a small vehicle, and died in a fire. they were friends who cared for them, helped them and, in many cases, ultimately attended their funerals. when homeless people pass away, they leave friends and associates behind and people are loved and missed. mark urmston is a regular visitor to the charity. the last thing i said to him, i wished him dead, which i regret. a few months ago, he fell

out with his brother, luke, who was rough—sleeping in manchester. the 31—year—old was hooked on drugs, and died. he was asleep in an alleyway or on a bench or something with a blanket. somebody thought he was sleeping, but he was dead. this recent vigil in manchester remembered some of those who had died homeless. the north west of england has one of the highest levels of death. more than 2,600 people have died homeless in england and wales in the last five years and the number of deaths has increased by almost 25% in that time. alcohol, drugs and suicide account forjust over half of all deaths of homeless people, whereas its only 3% in the general population. that's a big difference, and producing that information will help decision—makers take the right interventions to help prevent that from happening. sweetie, are you 0k? it's suzi, the nurse.

this is how they are trying to prevent rough sleepers in nottingham from dying. most mornings, outreach workers will walk the streets with a qualified nurse, offering medical help from bandages to taking blood samples. does being on the streets shorten people's lives? absolutely, without any doubt whatsoever. the average age of dying on the street if you are homeless is something between 40 and 47, roughly half of the general population, and those folks will die of chronic long—term medical conditions that you attribute the elderly. what's your health like? not brilliant, no. on this morning, she comes across chris strachan, who is blind in one eye and is getting radiotherapy as he has pancreatic cancer. do you worry about dying out here? yeah, ido. i've got children and stuff, yeah. and i haven't seen my parents for 18 years because i get no benefits. i always send them a card saying i'm doing really well and all of this but, basically, i lie. more than £1 billion is being spent tackling

all forms of homelessness, ministers say, and deaths are being properly investigated. a problem long hidden is finally getting attention. you're watching afternoon live. these are our headlines... huge disruption for tens of thousands of travellers, as gatwick airport remains closed because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield. 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 sales and shoppers buying household goods. and in sport, arsenal say they have identified an image of the person who threw a bottle at tottenham's dele alli during last night's weak cup quarterfinal. the club say they are embarrassed by the incident. 0le

gunnar solskjar arrived at manchester united's carrington training ground early this morning to begin his stint as interim manager. he met with the club's executive vice—chairman edward wood. britain's 0lympic swimming gold medallist adam peaty has dared those who run the sport to ban him after he supported the launch of a brand—new competition. and i will be back with more on those stories just after half past. retail sales jumped more than expected in november, despite warnings from retailers that it was one of the worst on record. figures from the office for national statistics said sales rose 1.4% from october, despite economists' forecasts ofjust 0.3%, following two months of decline. sales were helped by black friday promotions. more money should be spent on changing the layout of our town centres, an independent report into the state of the high street has recommended. an expert panel, chaired by the owner of timpson's, says local authorities across england don't have enough money and central government needs to contribute more. sirjohn timpson says town centres should be turned

into communities and meeting places. this isn't just about shopping. it's about communities, about creating a hub, and that includes lots of other things — whether its medical, social services, whether it's entertainment — all these other things, and housing. because it's pretty obvious if you go around, there are probably about twice as many shops as we need in this country, and we're short of housing. there's a pretty obvious message there. and the other thing is, i think, in this digital age, we do need social contact. that's part of being human, meeting together. and if we want our children to have a place where they're going to meet, then every community needs to create its hub and do that by putting things together in a way that's attractive. mps begin their christmas holidays today with cabinet divisions over brexit spilling into the open.

the work and pensions secretary amber rudd said another referendum was a "plausible" way forward, if mps rejected theresa may's withdrawal deal. but the leader of the commons, andrea leadsom, said that would be "unacceptable," and argued instead for what's being called a "managed no deal". 0ur political correspondent, iain watson, reports. at westminster, it looks like theresa may's cabinet are having a traditional christmas — you know, when everyone gathers round the table in good spirits, but then things get a little tense, disagreements begin, and long—bitten lips give way to loosened tongues. this is how the prime minister described the prospect of another eu referendum on monday. finally, let us not break faith with the british people by trying to stage another referendum. another vote, which would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics. these days, half a week is a long time in politics. here's a rather different tone from one of her cabinet ministers. i have said that i don't

want a people's vote, ora referendum in general, but if parliament absolutely failed to reach a consensus, i could see there would be a plausible argument for it. hang on a minute, her cabinet colleague didn't like that. well, it's not government policy. i myself think that it would undermine the biggest democratic exercise ever. there is cabinet unity, up to a point. they all say they want to get theresa may's deal through parliament when it comes to a vote in mid—january, but because the prime minister has made it clear she won't be leading her party into the next general election, some of her top team seem to be emboldened to put forward their own alternatives in case her dealfalls. andrea leadsom talked about her own plan b — the prospect of no deal with the eu. in the event that we cannot agree to this deal, there could be a further deal, which looks at a more minimalist approach, but enables us to leave with some kind of deal

and some kind of implementation period that avoids a cliff edge, that avoids uncertainty for businesses and travellers. but the international trade secretary struck a different note when asked about no—deal in the commons. of course, if the house decides that we are not to come to an agreement with the european union, then there will be adverse consequences. are we going to have a second referendum? the prime minister met her polish counterpart to talk about life after brexit. she's hoping her plan will prevail, and that the various alternatives will look less attractive by comparison. if that strategy fails, well, perhaps plan b could be to hope for a christmas miracle. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. the fire service regulator says the number of safety checks carried out across england has fallen by 42% in the past decade. it says cuts in public spending are behind the decline, and warns that people's safety is being compromised as a consequence. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, has more. firefighters — fewjobs attract as much public

support as they enjoy, and the number of emergencies they deal with has been falling steadily. but this, the worst residential fire in living memory, showed that disasters can still happen. it's put firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. cheshire fire and rescue is one of 1a services to be scrutinised as part of the new system. it got a good rating for its emergency service and for the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says when it comes to protecting the public by inspecting buildings, eight out of 1a fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. if fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been in and done safety audits of those high—risk

premises, then there is clearly a danger that there are risks that aren't being addressed and, therefore, the public are at risk. the reason it's not happening, she says, is funding. fire services have prioritised the emergency response over the fire safety checks. but there are other issues — a general shortage of on—call firefighters able to interrupt their daily lives to respond to fires, and what was described as an outdated working culture, where fewer than 6% of firefighters are women, and fewer than 5% from an ethnic minority group. more inspections, including big city fire brigades, are planned. tom symonds, bbc news. photographs taken by one of the british victims of a seaplane crash in sydney on new year's eve last year have helped experts investigating the tragedy. businessman richard cousins died alongside his two sons, his fiancee and her 11—year—old daughter. the canadian pilot also died.

authorities are yet to release their findings on what caused the crash. hywel griffith reports. today's report has helped us understand a lot more detail as to what happened, but very little in terms of findings and why it happened. we know that on new year's eve last year, richard cousins, his two sons, his fiancee and her daughter all boarded the seaplane a few miles north of sydney, all planning to take a sightseeing tour to bring them down to the harbour here. their pilot, gareth morgan, had carried out similarjourneys several times that day using the plane. there were no known mechanical faults, but within a few minutes of taking off, the plane veered off path and it came down — we understand from an eyewitness — almost vertically, nose first into the water, and sunk upside down. the investigators were able to find a digital camera on—board which they believe belonged to one of the passengers sat beside the pilot in the cockpit.

and vitally, they were able to recover pictures taken that show the exact flight path. they've even recreated it with police pilots, in order to understand what may have happened. they also recovered a phone that helped them from a photo understand who was sat where within the plane. but in all the investigation now, in almost 12 months, they still haven't put forward a theory as to what exactly went wrong. they've looked in detail at the pilot's health. he was said to have been well the day before and in a good mood. but they will investigate further his health records. they'll also look again at the plane's contents. there was no black box or voice recorder on—board. that's not required for a plane of this size. so we may never know what was said before that plane plummeted into the water. however, we expect a final report with some findings in the next six months. 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 brothers 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. claire had to be with her son in hospitalfor nine months. you're interested in christmas stuff? family life for megan completely changed. what paintbrush are you going to use? the tiniest paintbrush in the pack, 0k. i really noticed that megan was becoming more withdrawn from me, more distant.

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 be have been a difficult time for you. yeah. and having that person there to talk to. yeah, it helps because you don't keep everything bottled up, you get it out in the open. yeah. 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 longer with complex conditions, the need for sibling and family support workers will always be in demand. nikki fox, bbc news, stockport. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. good afternoon. some pretty hefty showers around today, some sunshine as well, but those downpours will continue for a time during the late afternoon into the evening, but they will fade away as we get into the night. leaving dry weather, clear spells, but not for long. this next band of rain pushes in from the south—west

reaching northern ireland, wales, the midlands by the end of the night, turning windy in the south, a little bit colder to the north—east, parts of north—east scotland seeing a touch of frost. tomorrow, a band of cloud and patchy rain which is essentially stranded across northern england, northern ireland, southern scotland. to the south of that, some sunshine developing through the day and it will be mild, 1a celsius for london and plymouth, not as mild further north, particularly where we keep the cloud and rain, but even for northern scotland, with some sunshine, temperatures restricted to around about eight degrees at best. we look further ahead towards christmas, if you have travel plans for the weekend, largely dry on saturday, some rain on sunday. good afternoon. this is bbc news.

our latest headlines. huge disruption for tens of thousands of travellers as gatwick airport remains closed because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield. can i talk to you, my darling? nearly 600 homeless people, most of them men, died in england and wales last year — up by a quarter since 2013. retail sales rose by more than expected last month, driven mainly by black friday sales and shoppers buying household goods. sport now on afternoon live with hugh. arsenal say they have identified the fan who threw a bottle at spurs player dele alli. 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. arsenal have responded, saying they‘ re embarrased by the incident and are now working with the metroplitan police to apprehend the culprit. they go on... "we are not responsible for the actions of one individual, but send our apologies to dele alli and everyone at tottenham hotspur

for this incident." the spurs boss mauricio pochettino had this to say about dele's quite calm reaction to it, earlier this afternoon. i think it was an amazing reaction. my i think it was an amazing reaction. my feeling, in another country, it's going to be down on the pitch. and create a big problem. dele alli was so honest, so professional. and he behaved really, really, really well. and arsenal went on to say in their statement... "anyone identified will receive a lengthy club ban and their details will be passed to the police to commence legal proceedings." let's talk about swimming. a bit of disruption in that sport.

yes, indeed. 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. they don't quite agree with him doing that. now peaty and other top swimmers in the world, want to compete in the breakaway international swimming league, with the potential to earn far more. the first event had been due to take place in italy this month, but was cancelled after fina threatened to prevent those who raced from competing in next year's world championships. peaty doesn't think that's fair. here's what he had to say. this is my sport. i love my sport to the moon and back and i've got so much passion but i want to make sure in 20 years' time that kid who was looking up to be winning the 0lympics looking up to be winning the olympics is going to have a stable future, he can make a living out of the sport that he worked so hard for. have any athlete spoke about

what happens if they do stop throwing out people and banning events? of course, yes. i don't care, ban me. if they've got to, i'm not bothered. but, at the end of the day, they will have the backlash from that. 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 get the athletes working together, not a take take take or a give give give a relationship. how can we work together and for me, yes, there is anger with that we have not been listened to but at the same time, i'm trying tojust have not been listened to but at the same time, i'm trying to just get by and break world records and win gold medals for my country. staying with swimming. meanwhile, the multiple 0lympic 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 0lympia 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 0k. 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. more for you in the next hour. thank you very much. let's bring you some breaking news now regarding china and the security situation here. the uk is accusing the chinese

government, along with the united states also making the same accusations, of an extensive cyber campaign targeting commercial secrets around the world. this is a p pa re ntly secrets around the world. this is apparently to do with a cyber campaign bya apparently to do with a cyber campaign by a group called a pt ten, linked to chinese intelligence, where it service providers were targeted so that their corporate clients could be, firewalls could be breached, and confidential business information could be stolen. in a statement, the foreign secretary said the campaign is one of the most significant and widespread cyber intrusions against the uk and allies uncovered to date, targeting trade secrets and economies around the world and these activities must stop. at the moment, though, officials will not comment on the scale of any losses or the companies which were affected. the government

here has gone on to say that hackers we re here has gone on to say that hackers were working on behalf of china's ministry of state security to steal commercially sensitive information in europe, asia and the usa. and this has apparently gone beyond a normal sort of scale of cyber hacking that you might see to something widespread and significant. so we will get more on that story no doubt through the afternoon from our security correspondent. let's get more on our top story. all flights in and out of britain's second busiest airport — gatwick — have been suspended after drones were seen flying over the airfield. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge understands that flights are currently cancelled until at least 7pm tonight. 722 flights were scheduled to/from gatwick today across all airlines. the latest sighting of a drone in the vicinity of the airport was at around lunchtime today. i spoke to travel expert simon calder and asked him what delayed passengers' rights are. it's been absolutely heartbreaking

seeing the tens of thousands of people, many of them still turning up people, many of them still turning up even though the airport is saying don't go to gatwick unless your flight don't go to gatwick unless your flight is definitely going and of course none of them are, but if you have been on holiday in britain or returning to see family abroad because you have been working here, ican because you have been working here, i can see why they would be turning up i can see why they would be turning up hoping for the best. but what has been really alarming from people i've been talking to this morning is the way that their passenger rights have been misrepresented or are simply ignored by the airlines. it's very straightforward. if an airline cancelled a flight for whatever reason, doesn't matter if it's their fault or not, then they are obliged to find you a flight on a different airline. if need be, if they can't get you on one of their services, in a reasonable time. so lots of people should be going around the m25 up to heathrow and getting on flights from there. very few seats available of course at this time of year, and if

you are waiting for a day or two, the airline has to provide a hotel and of course meals while you are waiting. and all the evidence i am seeing from people i've talked to is that the airlines are simply not delivering what they are required to do. then what do you do? well, if you have got enough headroom on your credit card then it's quite straightforward, you book a flight with a different airline. if your original airliner saying we can't get you anywhere until boxing day. and then you book a hotel. you've obviously got to do these things as cheaply as possible, don't book yourself a first—class seat and stay ina yourself a first—class seat and stay in a 5—star hotel. but you've got to be reasonable at all times and also, if you are in this position, you need to keep a careful note of who said what when. i have been hearing stories of entire planeloads of passengers sat on them, hoping to get away, and the airline said you are on your own. that is clearly a

breach of the rules and i imagine the civil aviation authority will look into what airlines were telling their passengers but you've got to write these things down and that means if you are challenged when you sendin means if you are challenged when you send in yourclaim means if you are challenged when you send in your claim for recompense, not compensation, you will actually stand a better chance of getting the money back. what is your understanding of one gatwick airport might get back to something approximately normal? its i'm afraid been a series of rolling delays. of course, like everyone else, nine o'clock last night i thought it's bound to be over very, very shortly because the only previous example we've had like this year year—and—a—half ago it was all over in11t year—and—a—half ago it was all over in 1a minutes. we still had five diversions. the no, 21 to three, and then i thought things will get back to normal. they went. we then had rolling delays. eight, ten, then 12, and then four and now seven or eight. i think effectively we have

to write off the rest of the day because even if they suddenly said right now, hurray, the airport is open again, you can all start, airlines are in complete disarray. planes, passengers, pilots all over the place, literally, and therefore it's going to be very difficult to get things back to normal. supposing things do go going again this afternoon, certainly it will take all of tomorrow to get the planes and pilots where they need to be and you will still have tens of thousands of passengers who are desperately trying to find seats on the few flights which do have a bit of room, so they can get where they need to be before christmas. simon calder at gatwick. thousands of british people are being forced to live apart from their families because their spouses don't meet home office requirements to move to the uk. if their partner is from outside of 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. 0livia 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. 0ne 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 then 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. 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. 0livia crellin, bbc news. jamie has the business news but first the headlines. huge disruption for tens of thousands of travellers as gatwick airport remains closed because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield. 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 sales and shoppers buying household goods. here's your business

headlines on afternoon live. bank of england keeps interest rates on hold as it frets over a no—deal brexit, and says the economy will only grow 0.2% in the last three months of the year, not 0.3% even so, signs of growth? retail sales bounce back in november as black friday promotions keep the uk tills ringing. and britain has twice as many shops as it needs, says the man officially tasked by the government to come up with a plan to revive the nation's high streets. sorry to leave you hanging there but we arejust sorry to leave you hanging there but we are just hearing via our defence correspondentjonathan we are just hearing via our defence correspondent jonathan beale that the army has been called in to deal

with a drone situation in gatwick. of course, we've seen tens of thousands of people hoping to fly into or out of gatwick airport affected by these drones which appear to have been deliberately flown over the airfield at gatwick, britain's second busiest airport. the problem started several hours to go with the most recent sighting of a drone around lunchtime today. gatwick saying that they are very sorry to inconvenience so many people at a time of the year when so many people are trying to get away on holiday, but therefore most priorities of course security but now we hear the army has been called in to deal with a drone situation. jonathan beale our defence correspondent confirming that. we will bring you more on it as soon as we hear anything. let's return to the business situation talking about the business situation talking about the high street and how we can change them and make them fit for

purpose in the future. yes, it's interesting because in many ways, one of the big change is happening is everyone is moving on to online and everybody says that but when you look at the numbers, it's not quite as big as you would imagine. it's something like 18% and that's including the online departments of existing stores, and also pure online players, who make up 18% of all sales, so if you were to ask ordinary people, people would say 40% or so, but not quite as much as that, so that's not quite as dramatic, but also there is a general slowdown. a change away from the way people shop, so they don't go to as many shops these days, and they may go to two or three shops but not ten shops in the way they used to because maybe they checked online beforehand and had an idea of where they are going to go and only go to one or two shops so they will end up buying less in the shop or may be they will buy one thing, so

the chief executive of the natwest companyjoins the chief executive of the natwest company joins us now. i'm joined now by jace tyrrell, chief executive, new west end company. tell us what's been happening on the high street recently in terms of your members. it's been a challenging christmas, we've seen quite a good bump in the last week with more shoppers coming in and spending but your comments earlier, it's fundamentally changing the high street, customers are going online, spending less, less football but higher spending which is quite an interesting trend for us but this idea of in—store experience, that's all playing out here in the west end and we are seeing at this christmas, as well. are you optimistic about this christmas? this is probably the most challenging ten years for us so it's a christmas crunch and we have seena dip it's a christmas crunch and we have seen a dip in spending. it's not as bad as 2007—8 but nowhere near our

best levels. brexit is affecting confidence and the value of the pound so this is playing out. there's a lot of good discounts and promotions for those shoppers coming into town. ok, we are talking about redesigning the whole high street, in ten years' time, if i go to my high street, what kind of experience will it be? we think it's about 2596 too much retail in the west end and mayfair and the country is over retailed. what will be replaced? the bhs stopped in oxford street so it's been taken over by a golf shop, and now we have yoga studios and is about experiences and we've seen it on the west end and we'll see what across the uk in high streets, as well. it won't be tumbleweed blowing down the high street?” well. it won't be tumbleweed blowing down the high street? i don't think it'll be quite like that. retailers

will have to rationalise their portfolio and for the big cities around the uk, the central london, significant investment, making it bigger and better and on the secondary high street is a lot of closures and that's where government planning policy, business rates, and changing what they become in the future, is a fundamental and time is running out. expand on the word levers, the kinds of things local authorities have to do in order to make the most of the opportunities which show the declining retail high streets. it's a planning policy. at the moment you can only have a retail and restaurants. surely restaurants and retail comes together so freeing up that flexibility, getting more money into the economy of his high street will be key if they are to survive. thank you very much indeed. it could look very different in a few years' time. yes. we could have industries in high streets. crazy golf or

whatever. entertainment. it depends whether people make the most of it. it could be very exciting. the most exciting thing here is the fall in the oil price which a lot of people will be welcoming but it's a lot to do with oversupply because as the price went up, the shale producers jumped on board but also in the background there is a worry about global growth, the fact whether the world needs quite so much oil at the moment. the fact the price is going down means there's a lot of it going around. china is not growing as much as it was. none of us are. right. jamie, thank you very much. see you later. scientists who carried out a lengthy study of a number of rare scotch whiskies found that more than a third of the bottles' contents were fake. the research, at a carbon dating laboratory, established that 21 out of 55 whiskies were not what they claimed to be. at least one of them didn't even qualify as whisky. james shaw has been finding out more. vintage whiskies can cost

thousands of pounds. these bottles may look like the real thing, but they are not what they seem. scientists at the scottish universities environmental research centre spent nine months testing allegedly vintage whiskies and made some surprising discoveries. we tested 55 bottles of single malt scotch whisky, out of which 21 have proved to be fake. we've come across bottles that were meant to be from the 18505, and clearly they weren't. when they dated out, the liquid was dated to around the 1980s. the team used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the age of the whiskies they were testing. the technique is based on radiocarbon dating. we have to take a sample through the cork as carefully as we can, probably about a millilitre or so. we then have to distil the ethanol, the alcohol, from the sample. we then convert that ethanol through to solid carbon, and in the carbon is measured in a mass spectrometer, which we can then relate

to the age of the whisky. because of the potential money to be made, the business of creating fake rare whiskies has become highly sophisticated. this is a closure that's been made to look like it is turn—of—the—century, because it's a driven cork with a lead capsule on top of it. we do find that a number of these bottles will have a blend in them when it's meant to be a malt. we find that there is what we think are just cheaper versions of 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. a little bit more detail about this idea that there may be some kind of

military help dealing with a drone situation at gatwick. an mod spokesperson said their ongoing discussions with the police about any military capability that could be provided to assist with their operation. we know there are 20 teams police currently trying to trace the operator of these drones which have been flying as recently as this afternoon over gatwick airfield. we understand police have made a formal request to the ministry of defence for military assistance to deal with the gatwick incident, but there is no actual detail yet from the mod about what kind of support that could be. but police are in discussions about any military credibility that could be provided to help the situation. more on that when it comes in. time for a look at the weather with ben rich. good afternoon. we've had a fair share of wind and rain this week, but through the next few days, as we

had ever closer to christmas, the weather will be slowly coming down. yes, there has been some sunshine today but there's also been some hefty showers. as we go into the evening, those will tend to fade away but only because we will have this next band of cloud and rain pushing in from the south—west arriving across wales, the midlands, northern ireland by the end of the night, pretty mouth down towards the south, turning windy as well. further north, one or two spot see a touch of frost. so we go into tomorrow and this frontal system is going to be wriggling its way eastwards a cross going to be wriggling its way eastwards across the country and it is this frontier extending out west which will get stranded across the central parts, so for northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england, seeing some outbreaks of rain and cloud through the day but for southern areas, early rain will clear away to leave sunshine. it will be windy but mild, 12—1li. further north, under the patchy rain, and also across the northern

half of scotland where we will see some sunshine, temperatures restricted to 6—8. northern areas having light winds tomorrow, further south, quite blustery and we will see some further showers pushing in from the west during friday evening, but as we get into saturday, high down here starts to bridge its way in and you can see the bump in the isobars here, more dry weather to come on saturday, many having a fine and dry day with spells of sunshine but always the potential for a shower up towards the north and west, but if you have travel plans on saturday is not looking too bad. 7-12. on on saturday is not looking too bad. 7—12. on sunday, another band of wet weather, much of the rain clearing away quite early in the day, some of it left behind across southern england and south wales, but of the further north you look, dry weather, spells of sunshine, temperatures in the north around 7—8, milder down towards the south but as we move through sunday night and into monday, christmas eve, of course, there are rain in the south will fade away under high pressure builds

its way in killing off the weather front and we keep the high pressure through into christmas day, so the christmas forecast is looking like it will be largely derived. perhaps and fog to start but there should some sunshine. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at four. police have asked the army to assist at gatwick where the airport remains closed because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield. tens of thousands of passengers have been affected we have already passed legislation in relation to the use of drones so it is now, as has been made clear, the activity we have seen is illegal and those who are caught endangering aircraft can face up to five years in prison. 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 was just sleeping, but he was actually dead. good news on the high street: retail sales rose by more than expected last month, driven mainly by black friday sales

and shoppers buying household goods coming up on afternoon live all the sport hugh — a player struck by a bottle thrown from the crowd last night, what's the fallout? arsenal say they are embarrassed after delhi ali was hit by water bottle last night. the update is, the club have identified the culprit and they are liaising with the met police in tracking the person down. we are looking towards a white christmas? no, christmas looks quite calm but i will show you somewhere in the world where they have had something white falling from the sky, but it might not be what you would expect. thanks ben also coming up —

in news nationwide — we'll be speaking to three women from hull , to hear how they have turned their lives around by creating a successful cafe cafe in the area. hello everyone, this is afternoon live. the police have formally asked the army to help find the drones that have thrown gatwick airport into chaos for the past 19 hours. all flights in and out of britain's second busiest airport have been suspended because two drones have been flying over the airfield. the bbc understands gatwick‘s runway could be closed until at least 7pm this evening. over 100,000 passengers have been affected, with many facing long delays. flights have been diverted as far away as paris and amsterdam. gatwick has apologised to travellers but said safety was its "foremost priority." navtej johal reports

the christmas getaway at a standstill. since 9pm last night, these have been the scenes at the uk's second—busiest airport. the stories of stranded passengers reverberating around the terminals. a bbc employee, who was inside gatwick airport, showed just how busy it is. ok, so this is the beginning of the queue here at gatwick airport. i'm going to walk round and see how long it takes to get to the end of the queue. flights have been suspended since last night, when at least one drone, possibly two, were spotted above the airfield. there's people passing out in the terminal, where it's hot. yes, it'sjust a bit of a shame really. you would think that an airport of this size would have some sort of contingency plan to cope with a drone. you would imagine there would be better security in place and emergency action for something like that. amid the confusion, police even boarded planes to reassure passengers.

sightings of the drone continued throughout the morning as the airport apologised for the disruption. this is deliberately seeking to affect the many tens of thousands of passengers who wanted to fly from gatwick today, this close to the christmas period, and it's them who are paying the price of this deliberate act. 20 police teams including a police helicopter are currently on the hunt for the operator of the drone. they don't believe the incident is terror—related but still deliberate and unprecedented. there's been an incident or two but only very minor ones where there's been a sighting and that's been negated or confirmed and that person has been dealt with, and the airport has reopened. nothing like this, to this extent. for passengers, some of whom have been stranded as far away as paris and amsterdam, the situation may seem dire but the airlines are still obliged to complete theirjourney. people will get involved in slightly long and convoluted journeys, and it must be stressed that the airline that cancels your flight is responsible

for getting you to your destination as swiftly as possible, even if they have to pay money to another airline to do it. as flights continue to be diverted, delayed or cancelled, at least staff and passengers are trying their best to keep each other‘s spirits up. # fa—la—la—la la—la—la—la! the prime minister has been asked about this while she was holding a news conference earlier, this is what she had to say. i feel for all those passengers who have had disrupted travel plans by this drone activity and the action which had to be taken in response to it, and at this particular time of year, this is particularly difficult for people. we've already passed legislation in relation to the use of drones, so the activity we have seen is illegal and those who are caught endangering aircraft could face up to five years in prison. that's legislation we have already introduced and we are consulting on further aspects of this, including further police powers, but we will work with the gatwick authorities and the police will be

working with the gatwick authorities in order to bring this to a close, such that people can actually get on to the travel they were expecting over the christmas period. since the prime minister spoke, we have heard from the prime minister's spokesman saying officials from across government departments are meeting to discuss the situation at gatwick and that meeting is to make sure all resources are being used appropriately to bring an end to what they describe as a serious incident. our correspondent navtej johal is at gatwick airport. what is the latest? the latest is the same as it has been for a number

of hours. still the runway remains closed and flights are grounded. the last sighting of the drone, which has been behind a lot of this disruption over the last 18 hours or so, we understand was at around lunchtime this afternoon. we have had some fresh numbers come in from the airport in the last half an hour and they had said 246 departure flights and 202 arrivals have been cancelled, each flight with roughly 162 passengers per flight. cancelled, each flight with roughly 162 passengers perflight. that means 72,500 passengers have had their flights cancelled today. that number could rise potentially by tomorrow, 126,000 passengers expected to take a flight tomorrow. also over the course of the last hour, the police have made a formal request to the ministry of defence for military assistance in the search for whoever is behind these

incidents involving the drones. on top of the 20 police teams that have been searching for the people responsible. the police helicopter has been out today as well. the advice from the airport continues to be check the status of your flight before travelling here. in the last few minutes, british airways has released a statement saying it is offering a range of refund and reebok options to its passengers on its website. but there remains plenty of anger, frustration and disappointment about what has happened overnight and today so far as well. lots of plans now lie in tatters. we spoke to a family earlier who were on the runway on the plane for around eight hours with a toddler and that is just one story among thousands of how plans have been disrupted during the course of today. one of the busiest periods of the year, five days before christmas. thank you very much from gatwick airport. the number of homeless people

in england and wales who die has increased by nearly a quarter over five years to almost 600, according to official estimates. it's the first research of its kind carried out by the office for national statistics. life expectancy for the homeless is nearly half that for people in stable housing, with homeless men and women dying on average at the age of 44. our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. matthew died in a public toilet. martin hyde was tragically murdered while sleeping rough. david was holding down a full—time job but living in a small vehicle and died in the fire. at this charity in stockport, they have long remembered those who died homeless. they were friends who cared for them, helped them and in many cases attended their funerals. when homeless people pass away they leave friends and associates behind and people are loved and missed. mark is a regular visitor to the charity. a few months ago he fell out

with his brother, and was rough sleeping in manchester. the 31—year—old was hooked on drugs, and died. he was asleep in an alleyway or on a bench or something with a blanket. somebody thought he was sleeping but he was dead. this reason vigil in manchester remembered some of those who had died homeless. the north west of england has the highest levels of deaths. more than 2600 people died homeless in england and wales in the last five years and the number of deaths has increased almost 25% in that time. alcohol, drugs and suicide account forjust over half of all deaths of homeless people whereas only 3% in the general population, that is a big difference and producing that information will help decision—makers take the right intervention to help that from happening.

this is how they are trying to prevent rough sleepers in nottingham from dying. most mornings, outreach workers will walk the streets with a qualified nurse offering medical help from bandages to taking blood samples. does being on the street shorten people's absolutely, without any doubt. the average age of dying on the street if you are homeless is something between 40 and 47, roughly half of the general population, and those folks will die of chronic long—term medical conditions you attributed the elderly. what is your health like? on this morning she comes across chris who is blind in one eye and is getting radiotherapy as he has pancreatic cancer. do you worry about dying out here? i do. i've got children and stuff, and i haven't seen my parents for 18 years because i get no benefits.

i always send them a card saying i'm doing really well and all of this but basically i lied. more than £1 billion is being spent tackling all forms of homelessness, and deaths are being properly investigated. a problem long hidden is finally getting attention. retail sales jumped more than expected in november, despite warnings from retailers that it was one of the worst on record. figures from the office for national statistics said sales rose 1.4% from october, despite economists' forecasts of just 0.3% following two months of decline. sales were helped by black friday promotions. more money should be spent on changing the layout of our town centres, an independent report into the state of the high street has recommended. an expert panel, chaired by the owner of timpson's, says local authorities across england don't have enough money — and central government needs to contribute more. sirjohn timpson says town

centres should be turned into communities and meeting places. this isn't just about shopping. this isn'tjust about shopping. it is about communities, creating a hub and that includes lots of other things, medical and social services, entertainment and all these other things and housing. it is pretty obvious, there are probably about twice as many shops than we need in this country but we are short of housing. there is a pretty obvious message. yes, the mathematics is simple. in this digital age, we do need social contact it is part of being human. if we want our children to have a place where they are going to have a place where they are going to meet, every community needs to create a hub and put things together ina way create a hub and put things together in a way that is attractive. mps begin their christmas holidays

today — with cabinet divisions over brexit spilling into the open. work and pensions secretary amber rudd said another referendum was a "plausible" way forward — if mps rejected theresa may's withdrawal deal. but the leader of the commons andrea leadsom said that would be "unacceptable," and argued instead for what's being called a "managed no deal". our political correspondent iain watson reports. at westminster, it looks like theresa may's cabinet are having a traditional christmas — you know, when everyone gathers round the table in good spirits, but then things get a little tense, disagreements begin, and long—bitten lips give way to loosened tongues. this is how the prime minister described the prospect of another eu referendum on monday. finally, let us not break faith with the british people by trying to stage another referendum. another vote, which would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics. these days, half a week is a long time in politics. here's a rather different tone from one of her cabinet ministers.

i have said that i don't want a people's vote, ora referendum in general, but if parliament absolutely failed to reach a consensus, i could see there would be a plausible argument for it. hang on a minute, her cabinet colleague didn't like that. well, it's not government policy. i myself think that it would undermine the biggest democratic exercise ever. there is cabinet unity, up to a point. they all say they want to get theresa may's deal through parliament when it comes to a vote in mid—january, but because the prime minister has made it clear she won't be leading her party into the next general election, some of her top team seem to be emboldened to put forward their own alternatives in case her dealfalls. andrea leadsom talked about her own plan b — the prospect of no deal with the eu. in the event that we cannot agree to this deal, there could be a further deal, which looks at a more minimalist approach, but enables us to leave with some kind of deal and some kind of implementation period that avoids a cliff edge,

that avoids uncertainty for businesses and travellers. but the international trade secretary struck a different note when asked about no—deal in the commons. of course, if the house decides that we are not to come to an agreement with the european union, then there will be adverse consequences. are we going to have a second referendum? the prime minister met her polish counterpart to talk about life after brexit. she's hoping her plan will prevail, and that the various alternatives will look less attractive by comparison. if that strategy fails, well, perhaps plan b could be to hope for a christmas miracle. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: police have asked the army to help at gatwick where the airport remains closed because drones are being deliberately flown over the airfield.

tens of thousands of passengers have been affected 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 sales and shoppers buying household goods. in sport, arsenal say they have identified the image of a person who threw a bottle at delhi ali. the interim manager has taken training and manchester united today. his first match is against cardiff at the weekend. we hearfrom first match is against cardiff at the weekend. we hear from the formula 3 driver who says it is a miracle she survived a high—speed crash in china. i will be back with more on those stories just after 4:30pm. more now on our top story.

the defence secreatary gavin williamson has confirmed that the armed forces have been called in to help resolve the drone issue at gatwick airport. he says they'll be using their unique capabilities to help get gatwick reopened. sussex police have requested assistance from the armed forces and we will give them the help they need to be able to deal with the situation of the drones at gatwick airport. it goes to demonstrate how our armed forces are always there ready to support the civilian authorities. can you tell us about what support they are giving? authorities. can you tell us about what support they are giving ?m authorities. can you tell us about what support they are giving? it is not something we can reveal, but the armed forces have a range of unique capabilities and this isn't something we would usually deployed, but we are there to assist and do everything we can so they are in a position to be able to open the airport at the earliest possible opportunity. the defence secretary, gavin williamson. the foreign office has accused the chinese government of mounting

what it calls a "widespread and significant" cyber campaign against the uk and its allies. officials say hackers, acting on behalf of the chinese ministry of state security, have targetted intellectual property and sensitive commercial data from firms across europe, asia and the us where charges have been brought against two chinese nationals. a court in new york has refused to dismiss sexual assault charges against the disgraced hollywood mogul, harvey weinstein. lawyers for mr weinstein argued the case had been irreparably tainted by allegations that police acted improperly during the investigation that led to his arrest. but the judge ruled that the criminal case against the film producer should proceed. harvey weinstein, who denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex, is facing five counts of assault against two women, including rape. photographs taken by one of the british victims of a seaplane crash in sydney on new year's eve last year have helped experts investigating the tragedy. businessman richard cousins died alongside his two sons, his fiancee and her 11—year—old daughter. the canadian pilot also died.

authorities are yet to release their findings on what caused the crash. hywel griffith reports. today's report has helped us understand a lot more detail as to what happened, but very little in terms of findings and why it happened. we know that on new year's eve last year, richard cousins, his two sons, his fiancee and her daughter all boarded the seaplane a few miles north of sydney, all planning to take a sightseeing tour to bring them down to the harbour here. their pilot, gareth morgan, had carried out similarjourneys several times that day using the plane. there were no known mechanical faults, but within a few minutes of taking off, the plane veered off path and it came down, we understand from an eyewitness, almost vertically, nose first into the water, and sunk upside down. the investigators were able to find a digital camera on—board which they believe belonged to one of the passengers sat beside the pilot in the cockpit. and vitally, they were able to recover pictures taken that show the exact flight path.

they've even recreated it with police pilots, in order to understand what may have happened. they also recovered a phone that helped them from a photo understand who was sat where within the plane. but in all the investigation now, in almost 12 months, they still haven't put forward a theory as to what exactly went wrong. they've looked in detail at the pilot's health. he was said to have been well the day before and in a good mood. but they will investigate further his health records. they'll also look again at the plane's contents. there was no black box or voice recorder on—board. that's not required for a plane of this size. so we may never know what was said before that plane plummeted into the water. however, we expect a final report with some findings in the next six months. there has been a sharp increase in violence in the indian—administered part of kashmir. this year has been the deadliest in the disputed region for a decade. more than 500 people have been killed including civilians,

security forces and militants. the area has long seen conflict between indian troops and armed insurgents backed by pakistani groups. yogita limaye reports from indian—administered kashmir. behind the fog, a bustling neighbourhood. now a battle ground. these sounds have become all too common in the region. a policeman leads us to safety as a bullet flies over others. indian armed forces are fighting what are believed to be three militants who are hiding in there. this gun exchange has just intensify but the operation has been going on all through the night for the past 12 hours. it is these kinds of operations the armed forces have really ramped up, that have been more than 102,018 alone. a few hours

later, it ended. six homes destroyed, three militants killed. scores have been shot down this year. this man died in a similar gun battle in november. demanding freedom from indian rule, thousands came to his funeral. as they do every time a militant dies. for his family, he is a martyr. as sun they are proud of. translation: it was his mission to fight for the people of kashmir. there are lots of atrocities against brothers and sisters. he couldn't stand this. on the other side of this battle, more deaths, more grief. this army man was shot by militant when he was at

home on leave. kashmir is tired of this situation, his mother tells me. it is better to bomb this place and finish it once and for all. there has been a sharp increase in targeted killing of security personnel in recent months. with the death toll mounting on both sides, i ask a senior policeman what they are achieving? we cannot sit and watch them attacking people with weapons. we just cannot. we them attacking people with weapons. wejust cannot. we have them attacking people with weapons. we just cannot. we have two act. caught in the crossfire, civilians like this lady, who was pregnant and kill just like this lady, who was pregnant and killjust outside her home. she leaves behind a family in despair. a daughter who is too scared to go out of the house now. in village, after village, there are stories like these. in this trail of destruction,

no family left untouched. 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. claire had to be with her son in hospitalfor nine months. you're interested in christmas stuff? 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. 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 be have been a difficult time for you. yeah. and having that person there to talk to. yeah, it helps because you don't keep everything bottled up, you get it out in the open. yeah. 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 longer with complex conditions, the need for sibling and family support workers will always be in demand. nikki fox, bbc news, stockport. time for a look at the weather. you are taking us to a different

pa rt you are taking us to a different part of the world first? yes, we are close enough to christmas to say we probably won't have a white christmas. but look where i am going to take you. i am going to take his south into the southern hemisphere where of course it is summer. why is their white stuff falling from the sky in the southern hemisphere in sydney. look at this cloud close to sydney. they are basically done the clouds. thunder, lightning, lots of rain and gusty winds. but the other thing they can produce is hailstones. some of it is pretty big stuff? yes, the stuff they have had from sydney in this lump of cloud has been assessed as being a little bit smaller than a tennis ball. i say is that, this is people on social media. it gets that scientific. if anyone was watching a

couple of hours ago i brought a satsuma onto the set. very seasonal. no expense spared. the reason being, he said why do we get hailstones in the summer? people think of it as a winter thing. it is something we get asked a lot. people do ask. but actually, the summer is the time when you get the big hailstones because you need to form clouds like these. they happen because the air of the service gets very warm and rises very quickly and you can see ice crystals at the top of the cloud. we have violent motions up and down of those ice crystals and they banged together and theyjoin and that is why they grow. but we talk about this hailstones, let me show you what it looked like in sydney. this stuff falling from the ground. not so great if you are out for a walk. you need a crash helmet.

you do in these sorts of conditions. you do in these sorts of conditions. you can see this stuff falling. snowballs, they are so huge. when we have held stones in this country, it is smaller. we do get it in winter sometimes, p people can look at it and go, it is snowing. a lot of the time it is hailstones. because a lot of the time in this part of the world, it will melt very quickly. but you can get damage to cars and even some buildings from hailstones this big. you have had to take us to the other side of the world to show us the other side of the world to show us the white stuff because we will not have any of our own? it is like we are skirting round the question. i have got to get to the uk weather, u nfortu nately. some people like it to be quiet and quiet is what we are going to get. as you can see from the radar picture today, we have had some showers but there has been sunshine as well. some of the showers have

been on the heavy side and as we go into the evening the showers will continue, it is quite windy towards the south as well. during the night the south as well. during the night the showers will fade away, only because we have this more general rain pushing in. mild and windy in the south, something more chilly in the south, something more chilly in the far north—east of scotland. there could be a touch of frost here. tomorrow dominated by this weather system, quite a sprawling one, and this piece of it out of the west will pipeline its way in. it will get stuck, fringing in with increasing rain. 14 degrees in london and plymouth, further north where we have the cloud and patchy rain it will feel disappointingly cool rain it will feel disappointingly cool, even for north—east scotland with the temperatures pegged back to

6 degrees. quite light winds in the north but windy towards the south, particularly as we go once a friday evening and there are showers to come. over the weekend if you are travelling it doesn't look too bad. saturday, this area of pressure to the south will try to exert its influence, enough that many won't see showers on saturday. those temperatures actually are about what we would expect to see at this time of year. sunday is likely to bring some rain but we are hopeful it will scoot its way through quite quickly for most areas. some rain in southern england and south wales, further north the better chance of seeing sunshine. as we move into christmas eve, we could keep some of the rain in the south for a time but the rain in the south for a time but the weather front breaks apart. this

area of high pressure is expected to build, killing off the weather front and it means we will say farewell to the rain and seymour in the way of weather. christmas day could start with patchy frost and fog as well, it should be largely dry with sunshine and temperatures will be about where they should be at this time of the year but it doesn't look like we will seek any of the white stuff. this is bbc news — our latest headlines: the military has been called in to stop drones flying over gatwick airport. it's been shut since last night, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

police say it's a deliberate act of disruption. have you arrived just say hello to my have you arrived just say hello to m 7 nearly 600 homeless people, most of them men, died in england and wales last year — up by a quarter since 2013. retail sales rose by more than expected last month, driven mainly by black friday sales and shoppers buying household goods. sport now on afternoon live with hugh. arsenal are trying to identify the culprit after spurs forward dele alli was struck by a bottle last night... yes indeed, they are trying to get closer to finding out the name of the fan. they have looked at cctv to find out who threw the bottle last night. arsenal responding to the incident today with a statement saying they are embarrassed. they are working with the met police to

apprehend the culprit and went on to say they are not responsible for the actions of one individual but did send apologies to delhi ali and eve ryo ne send apologies to delhi ali and everyone at tottenham hotspur. the spurs boss mauricio pochettino had this to say about dele's quite calm reaction to it, earlier this afternoon. we are growing and learning, but i think it's a situation that, when i think it's a situation that, when i think in that, i hate this type of situation, this action. i know they will take responsibility and fix that problem, but we need to praise delhi ali because his behaviour was fantastic. meanwhile, arsenal and spurs have been fined 45,000 and 50,000

pounds respectively after both clubs admitted an fa charge of failing to control their players. players from both sides clashed during arsenal's 4—2 premier league victory over spurs earlier this month. the seriously injured teenager has been talking about surviving a remarkably horrible crash? sophia floersch is a name you may not be familiar with but the 18—year—old had a miraculous escape... fracturing her spine after losing control of her car during a 170mph crash at the macau grand prix in formula 3 a little over a month ago. the outcome could have been far worse — the car left the ground before flying through the air and smashing into a fence and photographers' bunker backwards. it left the crowd in china stunned. brought well wishes from the likes of former f1 world champion who said "it could have been worse" but it hasn't deterred her. the german is hoping to become the first female formula 1 world champion.

i remember the crash. it felt different for me because it was happening so fast so it doesn't look nice at all, it is really horrible. i had two broken bones, one part of the bone went into where the nerves go. it is a miracle but that's also the reason why i am happy and normal. for me, it isjust the reason why i am happy and normal. for me, it is just to the reason why i am happy and normal. for me, it isjust to be happy and to continue and see it positively. afterjose mourinho's sacking earlier this week, ole gunnar solskjaer has taken training at manchester united today in his first day at work as their interim manager. 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. the multiple olympic swimming champion missy franklin has retired from the sport

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 seigo 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. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. now on afternoon live, let's go nationwide and see what's happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. scott ellis is in bristol to tell us more about the new government figures on homelessness death in the south west region. and peter levy is in hull

where a former heroin addict who says she sold herself and destroyed her family to fund her drug habit, is now one of three women behind a successful cafe in the area. first to scott. it's the first time homeless deaths have been fully investigated and follows a campaign by a bristol journalist. how did he come up with this idea? through michael yung's voluntary work, on one occasion he ended up giving chest compression is too rough sleeper who had collapsed. paramedics took over but later when he tried to find out whether the person had survived, what michael yung found out was that most officials didn't know because they didn't know what his name was. he

looked into it further and realised they were very sketchy records and in his own words a lot of information about homeless people was being swept under the carpet so he began an investigation to find out who had died, putting names to faces, which turned into a project called dying homeless, which prompted another investigation. we are going to start keeping a record of names, ages, and making sure it is correct, all of the ages right and names spelt correctly. it's important because we are talking about resources but also remembering them as human beings. what is being donein them as human beings. what is being done in the bristol area to tackle this? within bristol, michaelyung discovered 50 people had died over

the last five years. in bath over the last five years. in bath over the last five years. in bath over the last year they have had 13 deaths. it's a very acute problem, ons figures telling us on average about 50 people are dying so almost one a week in the broader area. in bristol they have outreach workers talking to rough sleepers trying to give them help but once a week they are taking a gp with them so it's almost like they take the health service to the people on the street and that is something they hope will improve health and reduce deaths. and that is something they hope will improve health and reduce deathsm we can make it easier for people to access health care, we can tackle these difficulties at an early stage and get them help they need, and hopefully prevent deaths. and get them help they need, and hopefully prevent deathsm and get them help they need, and hopefully prevent deaths. it seems anecdotally this is a success because they have seen more rough sleepers turning up to what they call the afternoon wet clinics which is where alcoholics and people dependent on drugs can talk directly toagp dependent on drugs can talk directly toa gp so we dependent on drugs can talk directly

to a gp so we hope those figures will come down in years to come. scott, thank you. peter, tell us about the three women who have turned their lives around. any, julie and donna live together and work together, running a cafe in lincoln but their past has been eve ntful lincoln but their past has been eventful and hard. penny was a heroin addict for 18 years and spent ten years in prison. donna was on and off heroin for 12 years, and julie started taking drugs — she is in the middle — at the age of 13 and heroin and crack at the age of 18. she had a heroin habit until age 36 and was constantly in and out of arisen. she sold drugs and she sold herself to make money. she stole £150,000 from her parents, remortgaged the house without telling them. it's a powerful story. let's listen to julie. i started

taking heroin and crack when i was about 18, i was selling drugs and myself for the habit. i remortgaged myself for the habit. i remortgaged my parents' myself for the habit. i remortgaged my pare nts' house, myself for the habit. i remortgaged my parents' house, sold the money and nearly had the house repossessed. everybody was a means to an end for me to get what i needed. tell us about this cafe. they've turned their lives around through a charity that operates in 26 countries, 100 cities around the world. the cafe opened in march 2016 and all of the women work together running it. julie, who has been to prison forfraud, now running it. julie, who has been to prison for fraud, now works in the office dealing with the finances. she said at one time she wouldn't even be trusted with a 50p coin. the cafe is doing well and it gives people a chance. the charity doesn't just restore the addict, it restores

families as well. it's a great turn around and proves that however bad your life is with drugs and crime and also being the victims of abuse, you can turn your life around. if you can turn your life around. if you fancy going on a glamorous assignment, the cakes look good. my first port of call! thank you, both, for taking us nationwide. if you would like to know any more on those stories, you can find them on those stories, you can find them on bbc iplayer. more now on our top story. the military has been called in to stop drones flying over gatwick airport. it's been shut since last night, affecting tens of thousands of passengers. so how is it that drones — only recently on the mass market — can create such havoc at our airports?

our technology correspondent chris fox has been finding out. a nightmare situation for pilots and passengers, a drone striking a plane at high altitude and top speed. this experiment from the university of dayton shows a worst—case and unlikely scenario but there have been several near misses with drones coming within a few feet of commercial aircraft so the industry doesn't take any chances. depending on the speed of the drone and the relative speed of the drone and the aircraft, and the weight of the drone, you can get some significant damage. with the drone collision against something like an a320 you risk killing maybe 200 or 300 people or more. it's not the first time an airport has been closed for this reason.

previous incidents have been dealt with in a matter of minutes, not hours. now the police say the disruption is deliberate. the price of drones has fallen dramatically. they are now available in catalogues and toy shops and in the uk you don't need to register your purchase. although it is illegal to fly within a kilometre or about 1000 yards of an airport, those wishing to cause disruption can easily flout those rules. the real point is it is an asymmetric threat and we need to deal with it effectively. the people responsible for the security of airports and things need to invest to make sure they have good strength and depth in terms of the security of people operating from airports. drone manufacturers can building geo—fencing which stops it flying near an airport, although that can be easy to overcome. they could use a signaljammer, stopping the remote control communicating with the drone,

but that won't work if it's flying along a preprogrammed path. now companies are developing counter—drone technology, like this net deployed from another aircraft. and aviation giant boeing has shown off this drone—busting laser which heats up the battery and makes it catch fire. the rules in the uk are expected to tighten in 2019 with the introduction of a drone register, but the problems at gatwick today show this is not something legislation alone will fix. let's return to the drones situation. we have a statement from chris railing. he says "this is clearly a serious ongoing incident in which drones have been used to bring about the temporary closure of a major international airport. the

people involved should face the maximum possible custodial sentence for the damage they have done and government is doing everything they can to support sussex police those quote. military are trying to end this situation and get the airport running again. jamie is here with the business news and some fair fashion advice to me about my trousers but first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. the military has been called in to stop drones flying over gatwick airport. it's been shut since last night affecting tens of thousands of passengers. police say it's a deliberate act of disruption. 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 sales and shoppers buying household goods. here's your business headlines on afternoon live.

bank of england keeps interest rates on hold as it frets over a no—deal brexit, and says the economy will only grow 0.2% in the last three months of the year, not 0.3%. even so, signs of growth? retail sales bounced back in november as black friday promotions keep the uk tills ringing. and britain has twice as many shops as it needs, says the man officially tasked by the goverment to come up with a plan to revive the nation's high streets. what about interest rates — up in the us, unchanged here? the bank of england has said it is worried about the uncertainty, not so much and no deal brexit, the problem is the uncertainty and as a result of the uncertainty refusal

from businesses to make investment decisions. if you look out further into the beginning of next year, we just don't know what will happen so asa just don't know what will happen so as a result rings are not really moving. that's why the bank are not putting up interest rates. the united states are putting up interest rates but saying similar things about global growth. they think it is not perhaps going to be quite what we have expected. we are not going to get the growth we expected next year so they say ok we put up rates now but next year maybe once or twice but that's it. not nearly as hawkish as people used to think about the central bank in the state. have you got a guest you want to talk to? i have but i thought you we re to talk to? i have but i thought you were going to ask me a couple of questions. you can ask me about retail sales, that was written on your prompt sheet. no, it wasn't! i have one question on here. retail

sales, jamie? i've forgotten what i was going to say now. would you like me to do it? they are better than expected in november but that was all to do with black friday. but friday was very good, but it's actually rescued the whole of the last three months from being a disaster. you also have people like mike ashley saying actually november was a disaster, it was just rescued at the end. the other thing i want to talk about is a company called keir, the construction group whose shares are down about 6.5% today. let's find out with tom stevenson. it isa let's find out with tom stevenson. it is a construction company involved with a lot of government projects and in that regard it doesn't look too dissimilar to some

recent disasters like carillion and we have had problems at in to serve —— interserve as well. the people who have underwritten their offer to effectively promised to buy shares if no one else would have been left with £100 million worth of shares so thatis with £100 million worth of shares so that is a big problem for them of course. but we are big banks, they can take it? some of them are big banks, hsbc for example, but two of the underwriters, for them £25 million or so each of kier stock which they didn't plan on owning is a problem they could have done without before christmas. a quick

word on retail sales. we were rescued by black friday in terms of the figures for the last three months but december is not looking that good, is it best unite if you look at the headline retail sales, we saw 1.4% growth in november compared with october which looks quite good and in the context of people worrying about the high street you might think that is encouraging but you are right, that is all about black friday. people didn't buy things in october because they thought they would wait until november to get them in the black friday sales and it says nothing about what will happen in december. interest rates on hold, because of the uncertainty. i get the impression they haven't really priced in a no deal, they arejust worried about the effects of the uncertainty on people spending and investment and the rest of it? yes, if you compare it with the us where the federal reserve is determined to

raise interest rates, the bank of england is determined to do the opposite. it doesn't want to take risks with the economy when there's still so much uncertainty over the brexit situation. thank you. do you want me to ask you about markets? it's terrible, we have told the viewers you have a prompt sheet. it's not magic, i need guidance and ididn't it's not magic, i need guidance and i didn't get it. markets, please. the floor manager is taking the blame, what a team player. the oil is the interesting one. the dow is down quite sharply. tom was saying, if you have a very hawkish central bank determined to put up rates because it is worried about inflation, and you have the oil price coming down, the market doesn't like that. no, they like certainty, don't they? you have

learned that one very well. it's like a zoo in here some days! that is it from your afternoon live team for today. time for a look at the weather forecast. we have certainly had ourfair share of wind and rain through this week but for the next few days, as we head closer to christmas, the weather will be slowly calming down. there has been some sunshine today but also some hefty showers. as we go into the evening they will tend to fade away but only because we have this next strike of cloud and rain pushing in by the end of the night. pretty mild towards the south, turning windy as well. further north it may be that some spots see a touch of frost. this frontal system will be wriggling eastwards a cross frontal system will be wriggling eastwards across the country. it's really this weather front here extending out westwards that will

get stranded across central parts so for northern ireland, southern scotla nd for northern ireland, southern scotland and england we will see outbreaks of rain through the day. for southern areas, any rain will clear away and it will be windy but mild. furthermore, under the clear away and it will be windy but mild. furthermore, underthe band clear away and it will be windy but mild. furthermore, under the band of cloud and patchy rain, also across scotla nd cloud and patchy rain, also across scotland where we will see some sunshine, temperatures restrict it to around 6 degrees. northern areas with light winds tomorrow, further south it will be blustery and we will see showers pushing in from the west on friday evening. as we get into saturday, this area of high pressure m oves into saturday, this area of high pressure moves in. you can see the bump in the isobars here. more dry weather to come on saturday, many having a fine day with spells of sunshine. also potential for showers up sunshine. also potential for showers up to the north and west but if you have travel plans on saturday it's not looking too bad. on sunday another bout of wet weather. that will clear away quite early in the

day, some wet weather left behind in southern england and south wales. as we move through sunday night and into monday, christmas eve of course, the rain in the south will fade away, the high pressure building and killing off the weather front, and we keep the area of high pressure through into christmas day. so the christmas forecast is looking like it will be largely dry. perhaps some frost and fog to start but there should be some sunshine. today at 5pm — police ask for help from the army to track down the drone operators who've brought chaos to gatwick airport. britain's second busiest airport remains at a standstill — as the authorities try to hunt down those responsible. the armed forces have a range of unique capabilities and this isn't something that we would usually deploy, but we are there to assist and do everything we can so that we are in a position to open the airport at the least

possible opportunity. flights have been cancelled until at least 7pm this evening. it's meant misery for ten of thousands of travellers and the knock—on disruption could last for days. we'll have the latest from the airport, and talking to both a commercial drone operator and airline industry experts. the other main stories on bbc news at 5pm...