good morning — welcome to breakfast, with louise minchin and chris mason. our headlines today: a man and a woman are arrested by police investigating the drone disruption at gatwick. today, more delays are expected but flights have resumed in the past hour. we'll be live at the airport with the latest. also this morning: the defence secretary, gavin williamson, tells the bbc the arrival of a royal navy warship in ukraine sends a strong message to president putin. natasha ednan—laperouse was just 15 when she killed by an allergic reaction to a pret a manager sandwich. as they fight to change food labelling laws, her parents tell us how she'll never be forgotten. christmas for us isn'tjust christmas. also her birthday. it will never be the same really because we find it too difficult to because we find it too difficult to be here on christmas day because she is missing. liverpool top of the tree — jurgen klopp‘s team will be top of the premier league for christmas after beating=. good morning. some sunshine on the

way today. more cloud and some rain tomorrow. we will be taking a closer look at what the weather has in store as we move into christmas. it's saturday the 22nd of december. our top story. police have arrested two people on suspicion of illegally flying drones over gatwick airport. flights were halted for more than a day after the first sighting on wednesday night. thousands of people have had their christmas travel plans disrupted. sussex police released this statement overnight: after hundreds of cancelled flights, this was the reaction when passengers heard they were up and running again. it came after the airport was closed forjust over an hour after the sighting of another drone. they told us that the flight was cancelled and that we had to collect our luggage. after

unprecedented disruption, flights we re unprecedented disruption, flights were resumed. virginia goncalves from cornwall is seriously ill and spent the night in an airport chair. it goes against your human rights, isn't it? i have stage for cancer. spread to the bones. for god's sake. last night, sussex police said they had arrested two people suspected of involvement in the illegal use of drones. meanwhile, flights of continued throughout the night of the country's second busiest airport as it attempts with the severe backlog of passengers. let's take a look at the live departure board for gatwick airport. the first flights left just after 5.30 this morning. the airport says that it is expecting to run a full schedule

today, but it warns passengers should expect some delays and cancellations. as has been the case over the past three days the advice is to check with your airline before travelling to gatwick. and we'll be speaking to someone who's been affected by the distruption at gatwickjust after seven o'clock. four stowaways found on a cargo ship in the thames estuary have been detained under the immigration act, after the vessel's crew was threatened. the grande tema left nigeria 11 days ago. the group are thought to have armed themselves with iron bars, forcing crew members to retreat to the bridge of the ship. no—one was injured. hundreds of thousands of federal workers in the us are facing christmas without pay because of a partial government shutdown. it's because democrats refuse to sign off on funding

for president trump's mexican border wall. roughly a quarter of federal agencies are affected — including the departments of homeland security, transportation and national parks. donald trump has warned that it will last for "a very long time" if the funding isn't granted. a british warship has arrived in the black sea in response to russia's seizure of three ukrainian navy vessels and their crew last month. the defence secretary, gavin williamson, says the presence of the royal navy will send a strong message to moscow. our defence correspondent, jonathan beale has more. these are the increasingly volatile and contested waters of the black sea. navigating his way through them, britain's defence secretary steering a ukrainian gunboat. just a month ago, russia seized three sets to boats nearby off the coast of crimea, land also now occupied by russia. —— sister. but he is here to visit a royal navy warship docked in ukraine's port of odessa. hms echo,

an armed service vessel, or what moscow calls a spy ship. it is meant to send a clear message. what we are saying to russia, we are saying to president putin, they cannot continue to act with no regard all ca re continue to act with no regard all care for international laws or norms. in november, a ukrainian tugboat was rammed by a russian vessel. blocked from entering the narrow kerch straight. working with you to ensure your loved ones are back with you. 24 ukrainian sailors are on board, relatives waiting for news. the uk's defence secretary is listening, they even sent a lesser better letters of the cream. —— the

queen. the has not heard from his sums “— queen. the has not heard from his sums —— his son since they were captured. he says, "i feel pain, i feel helpless. we are looking for the support of britain to get them released. the presence of this royal navy warship here in odessa is to provide ukraine with reassurance of assurance in the face of what they see as a russian aggression but they are not looking for a confrontation with russia and this is not expected to sail through the kerch spake —— straight. the defence secretary says this is not a provocation. the crew will be here for christmas. it's quite a long stint. another british warships will be returning next year. spinal surgery for unborn babies with spina bifida is to become routinely available on the nhs from next spring. the procedure, carried out during pregnancy, involves repairing spinal tissue — which can improve mobility. our medical correspondent fergus walsh has more.

this hospital in belgium has trained doctors to repair spinal defects before birth. now families won't need to go abroad for treatment. spina bifida develops during pregnancy when the bones of the spine don't form properly. this can cause a bulge from which spinal fluid lea ks out. cause a bulge from which spinal fluid leaks out. the condition can cause a range of lifelong health issues such as paralysis, bladder and bowel problems and affect brain development. the delicate surgery happens at around 26 weeks pregnancy. the baby ‘s nerve tissues are pushed back into the spinal cord which is then closed. the pregnancy continues for another three months.

this must be my baby. this is baby ayes ha fro m this must be my baby. this is baby ayesha from belgium in meeting the british surgeon who create —— you corrected her spina bifida when she was in the womb. doctors suspect she will walk normally. two pregnant women in the uk have had the surgery this year. now it will be routinely available in england, a combined tea m available in england, a combined team at london's university college hope to treat 10—20 babies each year. a builder who has claimed a £76 million euro millions jackpot says he found the winning ticket tucked under the visor of his van, six weeks after the draw. andrew clark had a stockpile of tickets in his van and discovered the winning one in the stash after being asked to check by his partner. the 51—year—old says he will still be having a quiet christmas, but plans to celebrate the win with a meal at a restaurant in skegness on new year's eve.

i love the thought that he is driving around in drop all six will effectively £76 million. anyway, lucky him. let's take a look at today's front pages. the telegraph leads with an interview with work and pensions secretary amber rudd, who has described eu commission presidentjean—claude juncker as "grotesque" and "ghastly" and criticised the way he treated theresa may. there's also a photo of princess eugenie on the front page — she's opened up about her experiences of having surgery. measles cases are at their highest level for 20 years, the guardian reports — according to the article, health experts have blamed the rise on the anti—vaccine movement. the us stock market is heading for its worst december

since the great depression, the financial times reports — it's after president donald trump clashed with congress over money for his mexican border wall. and finally, the daily express leads with the grandfather—of—three who found a winning euromillions ticket in his van, six weeks after the draw. it was only when his girlfriend urged him to check that he found his winning slip — worth £76 million. no upgrades, it's the socks or whatever it was built was wrapped under the tree and that will have to do until christmas next year. he might bea do until christmas next year. he might be a bit more generous. susan will have the weather for us in a

moment. before that we've got a festive brain teaserfor you. maths teacher and author bobby seagull has created 12 puzzles for the 12 days of christmas — especially for us. we'll be posting one on our facebook page every day from christmas day onwards — but to whet your appetite, we can reveal the first question to you now. you put up the words ‘partridge in a pear tree' on a banner, with one a4 card for each letter. the word ‘tree' drops on the floor. without looking, what is the probability of picking up the letters in the word ‘tree' in the correct order? as if it is not enough to ask that at 6:12am. i've got to work out how many at 6:12am. i've got to work out how ma ny letters at 6:12am. i've got to work out how many letters there are. i think that's how you start. there is the whole business of getting right

order. bobby is going to bejoining us. if you're watching now, i'd be really impressed if you can do that. do try. you're watching breakfast from bbc news. the main headlines. two arrests have been made in connection to the "criminal use of drones" which caused major disruption to hundreds of flights at gatwick airport. the defence secretary gavin williamson visits ukraine where a royal navy ship has been sent to demonstrate britain's solidarity with kiev after recent russian aggression in the black sea. i definitely don't know the answer the question. it's miserable outside at the moment. good morning. we are looking at sunshine for many

of us today. of the two days today is likely to be the better one this weekend. tomorrow definitely more cloud around and rain across the southern half of the uk. here we are today with a little ridge of high pressure putting in from the atlantic, that is holding things quite steady. it is as pile—up of ru ns towards quite steady. it is as pile—up of runs towards the south—west that will be pushing our way tomorrow. there are quite a few showers around across the north—west of england at the moment. we will have more of through the morning, into northern and western scotland and some for northern ireland. some bright or sunny spells. a little hazy to the south thanks to high cloud. mild temperatures and double figures to the south already. chilly to start the south already. chilly to start the day across scotland. if any fog lingers temperatures may struggle, two or three degrees. not a bad day all in all. through the evening, a pretty dry picture. a little bit chilly as the evening comes to a close. getting milder into the early

hours of sunday. more cloud and rain will start to phailin. it looks like it will be a wet start to sunday for the south—west of england for wales and northern ireland —— pile in. the rain is not in any hurry to move on through the day. the cloud will be a big feature. also the wetter weather. out to the north, through all of this, and doing nicely will be scotland. a chilly start, yes, the times of fog, maybe patches of freezing fog, something to bear in mind, but the best of the weather for scotland on sunday. further south, the cloud and outbreaks of rain. for many of us until the close of play. still miles to the south. highs of 12 or13 of play. still miles to the south. highs of 12 or 13 degrees. a chilly story as you can see further north across scotland, but at least you get the sunshine. off we go into monday, which is christmas eve. the front to the south will be looming, but high pressure will be building for the 50 —— festive period. that

will try to dissolve any rain in association with that front. monday, for most of us, dry, could get stuck with stubborn cloud to the south and drizzly outbreaks of rain. the prospect is not too bad on monday if you are travelling ahead of christmas day. a little cooler to the south, temperatures still in double figures. for christmas day, i offer you a grey and not a light one. high pressure will mean a loss of fine weather. we are stuck with some cloud or lingering practice of fog. —— not a lot of fine weather. some cloud or lingering practice of fog. —— not a lot of fine weatherlj know fog. —— not a lot of fine weather.” know you will be keeping us company. thank you. how is your progress on the puzzle? i think they have got the puzzle? i think they have got the first thing wrong about the letters. we think that might be a red herring. i have spent the weather forecast counting the numbers. don't give too much away. so many has already got it. very clever viewers. thank you. we will come back to the puzzle that is later. it a good job we are on 44

hours this morning. being a parent of a child with allergies is scary at the best of times, but with temptations all around, christmas can be terrifying. this autumn an inquest into the death of teenager natasha ednan—laperouse, who suffered a reaction after eating a baguette from pret a manger, thrust the issue into the spotlight. bbc breakfast‘s matt taylor, who has two little girls with severe allergies, went to meet natasha's parents. you like this, do you? yeah, ido. like all families, we are looking forward to christmas, the kids especially excited as well. they've got santa coming, there's the presents, also the food, to a certain extent, but with us as a family that comes with huge, huge challenges. i have loads of allergies. i'm allergic to dairy, egg, legumes, lentils, and peas. i also have some allergies, i'm allergic to peanuts. # it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...# brilliant.

look at all that! daddy, what are those? you are constantly thinking about what you are feeding them, what they are eating and up comes even more of a challenge at christmas time, especially when there's parties involved, they go out to other places, to other friends. gosh, that's got everything in it, nope. it is just one mistake that could be the difference between life and basically death. hello, lovely to see you. thank you for meeting me. i am meeting the parents of natasha ednan—laperouse. natasha was just 15 when she died in 2016, after having an allergic reaction after eating a baguette from pret a manger. christmas for us isn'tjust christmas, it's also her birthday, and we will be celebrating that without her and then christmas day... it'lljust never be the same, really, because we find it too difficult to be here on christmas day because she's missing. it is just so palpable that she's not here. natasha's parents are trying

to change the labelling of food in restaurants and take—aways. it'll be called natasha's law. do you think natasha's law would help to change things out there and to make us more confident to eat out as a family in future? most definitely. it has to, that's the whole point. companies who have not had to take allergies seriously or allergens and food seriously will now be required to and if they don't, then they will be in trouble. we will not stop until it is done, basically, because i think that is the legacy we would like for natasha. now, more importantly for those that are living, to protect those that are living so they do not come into that terrible situation that we had as a family. i was incredibly humbled to meet natasha's parents, they have been through a huge, a huge amount of distress and heartache but yet are turning that to try and help other families in the future, to stop them going to the same heartache and loss that they have.

# sure it's christmas...# right, here we go. what do you reckon to them? it has been quite a challenge so far, bringing two daughters up with allergies but i hope that things will change top a certain extent, that they can go out, enjoy christmas, just like any other family. they are allergen—free, let's see, are they tasty? all: merry christmas, everyone! they look tasty. they do. we will talk to a gp just after 8am to explore some of these issues around allergies and christmas and cooking and the huge range of things that are going. shall we catch up with the sport? lizzie is here. good morning. most of the u. nice to see you. —— nice to see you. liverpool have guaranteed the number one spot in the premier league

for christmas after they beat wolves 2—0 at molineux. they're four points clear of manchester city, who play today. nick parrott reports. liverpool haven't had a happy christmas for five years. nowjurgen klopp and his men have delivered an early present to their fans. this was not as comfortable a victory at the scoreline suggests, though, playing at molineux isn't easy. manchester city could only draw near. chelsea lost. and liverpool road of their luck at times. they could easily have slipped up with the rain lashing down. but the difference between the good and the great is that making the most of your chances. that is just what mo saleh did. his goal took into the top of the league scoring charts and it was on song with an assist, taken by virgilvan it was on song with an assist, taken by virgil van dijk. with more prolific strikers, they could have got more. the team that is top of

the table christmas usually ends up as champions. the pressure is now one manchester city. nick harris, bbc news. so the pressure is now on manchester city to reduce the four point gap behind liverpool to just a point. they're playing crystal palace — who they beat 5—0 last time they came to the etihad — but city's manager says they could pose a difficult challenge. all the players have quality, and incredibly experienced manager. it is so difficult, complicated to attack them. maybe the people expect better results than they got so far. but it is going to happen like this if you're not completely focused. manchester united's — ole gunnar solskjaer era starts at cardiff city this evening. the new manager has been speaking about the influence of sir alex ferguson on his management style, and solskjaer says he isn't afraid to bring out the hairdryer treatment on players himself. maybe i should get the hairdryer out

of my pocket, because i have a hairdryer. so you know when my hair needs lifting i use it myself, but i am also not afraid of laying down the law. you know, with your kids, when they disappoint you, you tell them off, you don't give them some chocolate then, do your? you treat players are similar to how you treat your kids, really, you want the best for them to you want to guide them, you want to help them. if i get disappointed, once in awhile you really have do tell them the standards we have got. he would never be as scary as alex. onto rugby union and northampton thrashed worcester 32—6. this interception from cobus reinach earned saints their opening try, running almost the entire length of the pitch. they then added another from luther burrell as well as six penalties to make it a miserable night for worcester — who are just two points off the bottom of the table. there was a dramatic finish at arms park where cardiff blues needed this late penalty to beat local rivals newport gwent dragons, but gareth anscombe held his nerve to seal the points for a 19—16 win. elsewhere ulster beat munster. there was an angry confrontation

between dillian whyte and dereck chisora as they weighed—in ahead of their heavyweight fight in london tonight. both fighters came in just over 17 and a half stone, but after the face—off there were verbal disagreements between them, which continued back stage. the winner of the rematch at the o2 could set—up a potential title bout with anthonyjoshua next year. and there's a big night of boxing in manchester as well, where carl frampton faces josh warrington for the ibf featherweight title. warrington, who's from leeds, is unbeaten in his 27 professional fights. northern irishman — frampton is looking to win back a world title — he previously held the wba version before his first career defeat last year. every christmas, the world's top show—jumpers travel to the centre of london for the olympia international horse show. it's a week long event — and this afternoon is the one they all want to win — the world cup qualifier. britain's ben maher is one of the big names competing —

not only for the huge prize money but also for the points which count towards a place in the world cup final next year. the olympic gold—medallist in 2012 has had a great year and a win at olympia would be a nice christmas present. it is olympia, it is one of the best horse roadshows in the world. for many reasons riders like riding here. london is a great city. i dumped many shows this year and you still don't get the atmosphere like you do in this building. the final show of the year for everybody, and it is the big one of the wii —— jumped. ballet on skis — sounds like an idea for a new celebrity reality show, but it was big in the 1980s. there hasn't been an official international competition since 2000, but one man is determined to bring it back. we sent mike bushell to ‘the chill factor‘ in manchester to find out more. music plays. not so much dancing on

ice, this is a strictly on a snow. ski ballet was popular around the world when they were opening up. evenif world when they were opening up. even if the commentators were confused. if only he would make up his mind which way he is going will stop in britain, the routines flourished on the new dry slopes and, fora time, flourished on the new dry slopes and, for a time, there was ambition of glory medals with it becoming a demonstration sport in the 1998 and 1992 olympic games. but then came the snowboard and freestyle skiing. ali was history. by 2000 or condition was stopped. —— ballet. until now, when the sega has arrived. —— saviour. a former british champion determined to give a new lease on life. it is a little bit of gymnastics, perhaps a little bit of gymnastics, perhaps a little bit of gymnastics, perhaps a little bit of acrobatics, a little bit of dance, and a little bit of ice skating. it is like all sports, they

go through phases. and then along came snowboarding which took the enthusiasm, perhaps, away from ballet, it is what we loved that there is room for ballet as well, we hope. what could be more festive than christmas tunes and the art of ski ballet performed here comedy pirouettes, the spins, and, indeed, the dramatic flips. seeing as these daysis the dramatic flips. seeing as these days is so rare. even rarer than spotting someone dressed as a moose. backin spotting someone dressed as a moose. back in the day, it is a sport that came from america in the hot—dogging times, it will suddenly found we could do short artificial slopes in the uk. all the way around, perfect. beautiful. nearly two decades on, how relevant and accessible is it to the modern skier and a snowboarder? that was great. the kick it in, however, was a real slippery slope. take your downhill ski and lifted a

pie and with the other ski by the tip. beautiful. spin around and stand—up. and that is your first freestyle move. and again. all the way around. big backwards. and it together. sa pa na. way around. big backwards. and it together. sapana. you are a natural. there is a stable ballet routine you have. it looks very complicated. at a lot of fun. the fact that it has died out and being replaced by snowboarding and stuff. snowboarding is cool. it is an opportunity to express yourself artistically but also a way of getting super fit. express yourself artistically but also a way of getting super fitm is unlikely ski ballet will ever graced the olympics again, but at least it is alive and kicking once more. mike bushell for bbc news, in manchester. is doing his very best to make sure it is as popular as it is ever going to be. -- he is doing. he was doing quite a lot of work there. the whole thing seems quite unlikely. quite a lot of work there. the whole thing seems quite unlikelym quite a lot of work there. the whole thing seems quite unlikely. it looks really fun though. it does. i'm not

sure it is for me. the headlines are coming up for you shortly on bbc hello — this is breakfast, with louise minchin and chris mason. good morning. here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news. it's saturday the 22nd of december. our top story. police have arrested two people on suspicion of illegally flying drones over gatwick airport. flights were halted for more than a day after the first sighting on wednesday night. thousands of people have had their christmas travel plans disrupted. sussex police released this statement overnight: