this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines at nine o'clock: is tsunami hit indonesia causing widespread disruption. at least 168 tributes are paid to former liberal democrat leader lord ashdown who's died at the age of 77. flights return to normal at gatwick as police investigating the drone disruption continue to question two people. in sport, a winning start for ole gunnar solskjaer as manchester united's caretaker manager. and our sunday morning edition of the papers is at 9.35. this morning's reviewers are claire cohen, women's editor at the telegraph and james rampton, features writer for the independent. good morning.

rescue teams in indonesia are searching for survivors of a deadly tsunami that has killed at least 168 people. the death toll is expected to rise. around 750 others were injured, and many are missing after the waves struck beaches around the sunda strait, which connects the java sea to the indian ocean. caroline rigby reports. it began as any other evening, then this. the tsunami struck indonesia on saturday night, hitting beaches including popular tourist spots along the sunda strait, the channel between the islands of java and sumatra. the pop group seventeen were performing when the wave engulfed their stage. their singer confirmed on social media that the band's bass player and tour manager had died, and others, including his wife, were missing. officials say the death toll is likely to continue to rise. hundreds more were injured in the disaster, which authorities

say may have been caused by underwater landslides following an eruption by the nearby krakatoa volcano. earlier in the evening, it was quite a happy buzz of activity butjust prior to the wave hitting the beach, there was no activity at all. it was just dark out there and suddenly, i saw this wave coming and i had to run. when the second wave hit, then it was much bigger. streets have now turned to mud and hundreds of buildings are seriously damaged. the country's disaster management agency says high seas from a full moon could have contributed to the strength of the waves. indonesia is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis because it straddles the so—called pacific ring of fire, where tectonic plates collide. this latest disaster will bring back memories of the boxing day tsunami, 14 years ago, which killed more than 225,000 people.

caroline rigby, bbc news. our indonesia editor rebecca henschke spoke to us a short time ago from the coastal town of anyer. where we are now is in anyer on the edge of the affected area. you can see behind me, the houses and shops along the beachfront has flattened by the waves. the buildings are made of wood, bamboo and leaves. the woman here that runs this shop says that she was hoping that this holiday season would be a time of great income coming in. this area is a very popular tourist destination for indonesians at this time. yet now, she has lost everything. her house over there collapsed. they had to flee, running to higher ground to get away from the waves. you can

hear the sound of ambulances going by on the main road here, coming into the area. we are hearing reports of local health centres struggling to deal with the injured so struggling to deal with the injured so people are being taken out of this area to the main hospitals for treatment. more than 600 people injured, according to the officials, and saying that number is also likely to rise as they get a clearer picture of the devastation. friends and colleagues have been remembering the former leader of the liberal democrats, lord ashdown, who's died at he age of 77, just months after revealing he was being treated for bladder cancer. he led the lib dems for more than a decade, from 1988 until 1999, and is credited with making the party a significant third force in british politics. vicky young has taken a look back at his life. this is how most people will remember paddy ashdown — the action man, the party leader with the least affection for westminster. long before he fired his

first political salvos, he was a military man. a marine, he saw active service in borneo and malaya. after a period as a diplomat, and some time on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovil in 1983. later, in 1988, after the painful merger with the sdp that formed the liberal democrats, he became leader. i say to the millions out there who are concerned about poverty and about unemployment, come and join us. the party was at rock bottom in the polls, and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again, but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary, tricia howard. what paddy said stands. he's made a statement already, and i was perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded, and in 1997 he guided it

to its greatest election achievement since the ‘20s, doubling the number of lib dem mps. charles kennedy is duly elected the leader... paddy ashdown resigned the leadership in 1999, handing the baton onto charles kennedy, and retiring from the house of commons two years later. he spent time in bosnia, at some personal risk, at the height of the war there. and in 2002, he became the high representative in bosnia and herzegovina. but he wasn't done with westminster politics. in 2015, after the lib dems had spent five years in coalition with the conservatives, lord ashdown returned to chair the party's general election campaign... and we are saying the conservatives are the largest party. ..famously disputing the exit poll's prediction of a dire result. if this exit poll is right, andrew, i will publicly eat my hat on your programme.

this is a hat. andrew, you are so predictable, aren't you 7 ijust knew you'd... i wanted to get a bigger one. he inspired respect for his constant ideas and enthusiasm, and his efforts to build the liberal democrats into a force in national politics. lord ashdown, who has died at the age of 77. let's have a look now at some of the tributes that have been paid to lord ashdown. the prime minister theresa may sent her thoughts to his family and friends, adding that he had "dedicated his life to public service" and would be "sorely missed". the labour leaderjeremy corbyn praised lord ashdown‘s work as the mp for yeovil, and reminisced on their time in parliament. he said they "often found themselves voting together against damaging policies". former lib dem leader tim farron said lord ashdown had "saved and revived the liberal democrats at their lowest ebb", and current leader of the party vince cable declared it a "hugely sad day" for the liberal democrats,

and said many members of the public had "immense affection and respect" for him. we will speak to another former leader of the party, said nick clegg, ina leader of the party, said nick clegg, in a few moments, with his thoughts about lord ashdown, his life and leadership of the party. let's get more on the indonesian tsunami that has killed at least 168 people. the death toll is expected to rise and there has been significant damage. monica miller is in singapore. what is the latest you are hearing about the destruction this has caused 7 are hearing about the destruction this has caused? what we are hearing from disaster relief officials in indonesia is that the area that was hit the hardest is an area where there are lots of beach resorts which are very popular at this time of year with local residents and at

this point, they are telling people to not go to those beaches and stay where you can on high ground because at this point, it is unclear if there may be another one to come. what we have understood is people who became aware of this went to high ground, many to mosques, in order to seek shelter. some devastating video is on social media ofa devastating video is on social media of a pop band, from indonesia,, who we re of a pop band, from indonesia,, who were performing at a beach resort, seventeen, when you canjust were performing at a beach resort, seventeen, when you can just see a huge way taking them away and washing them into the audience. they have confirmed that their bass player and road manager have been killed and they are looking for other members of the band and even the lead singer says his wife has been washed away and they are hoping to find her. at this point, they are expecting the death toll could be higher, as first responders reach the scene and do a survey. and indonesia is no stranger to tsunamis, of course the boxing day tsunamis, of course the boxing day tsunami in particular which caused

so tsunami in particular which caused so much death and destruction. do you think the early warning systems are better, that people are better at getting too high ground as soon as there is a warning? that is an interesting question because there was a tsunami and an earthquake that had hit back in october and one of the problems is the alarm systems didn't work the way they should have. this is up for question. they are still deciding exactly how it happened. but it is believed they received some kind of warning and people did heed it. this is an area which is called the ring of fire, known for these kind of natural disasters to happen. in the past 15 yea rs, disasters to happen. in the past 15 years, roughly, since the boxing day incident happened, people are acutely aware this could be a reality. monica miller, thank you very much indeed, with the latest from singapore. a man and woman are still being held in connection with multiple drone sightings that brought gatwick airport to a standstill. police searched a house in the nearby town of crawley yesterday.

the disruption lasted for three days, as tens of thousands of passengers had their flights cancelled or delayed. our correspondentjenny kumah is at gatwick for us this morning. is everything getting back to normal there? i am at crawley police station, and it has been 2a hours, well, more than 2a hours, since the two arrests. police have asked for more time to question the two people, before they can charge or release them. they have released very little detail about the people. we know they are a 47—year—old man and a 54—year—old woman. we understand the man is a drone enthusiast, according to some reports. they are from crawley. this is the main town near gatwick.

yesterday, there was significant police activity at a property in the town. i was there yesterday and police officers were searching the property and vehicles nearby. the two people were arrested in connection with the drone sightings that brought gatwick airport to a standstill. i popped into the airport this morning and things are getting back to normal. it was very busy, and flights are running on schedule at the moment. but the airport is saying that safety is their priority and they are continuing to monitor the airfield but they hope to run a full schedule of flights today. they are hoping to run around 785 flights, but the advice is, check the status of your flight advice is, check the status of your flight before you leave for the airport because there might be some delays and cancellations because there is still a knock—on effect from the disruption that happened earlier this week. jenny, thank you very much. universal credit is leaving too many

claimants with children facing a stark choice between turning down jobs or getting into debt, mps have warned. the work and pensions select committee says the way parents have to pay for childcare up front, then claim it back afterwards, is a "barrier to work". the government says the system is designed to cut out fraud and error. for poorer people, for whom the benefit is designed for, they do not have surpluses in the bank and, therefore, however anxious they are to work, but if they have children they will actually need to find money for a month or more to cover child ca re costs while they make that transition from benefit to work. joining us now is louisa mcgeehan, director of policy a the child poverty action group. what are your principal concerns about universal credit? there are

many known problems with the universal credit, which come down to its complexity and crunchiness and just not really fitting around people's real lives. —— clunky nurse. if you are a couple with children and you want to get back into work, your major cost is childcare, an essential cost of going to work on the one thing these families really can't manage is financial risk. the starting point is that you need to pay for your child get up front. if you are using a nursery that charges by the term, if you were heading back to work in january, now, the chances are you have already had to pay the money. universal credit works on the basis ofa universal credit works on the basis of a very strict monthly system so it won't pay you back for that until the month the work is done that relates to the childcare. it may be some months before you get the money back. if you are on universal credit, the chances are, you are already insignificant debt. so any payments upfront will be a major obstacle. it your view that

universal credit needs to be scrapped or reformed? the government say it is a simplification of the welfare benefit system. they have worked very hard to do iron out some of the difficulties it has had in its introduction. there are a number of known issues, both with the design and administration of universal credit. the administration issues are probably easiest defects. the design issues could be fixed as well but it will take a degree of investment and the most important thing at the moment is to stop rolling it out to other people because it is causing a lot of chaos and misery, especially in the run—up to christmas. but do you agree in principle with an idea of the simplification, rolling all the benefits into one universal credit? it isa benefits into one universal credit? it is a lovely idea but in reality, it isa it is a lovely idea but in reality, it is a bit ofa it is a lovely idea but in reality, it is a bit of a myth. what it does is it adds lots of different benefits, or working with their own means benefits, or working with their own m ea ns test, benefits, or working with their own means test, into one mega— means test. the system which is clunky to

determine who gets what and most importantly, in relation to child care, when they get it, makes it virtually unusable for anyone whose life is at all complicated and particularly for low income parents, it is causing enormous problems. and at christmas time, how difficult a time is that for poorer families and society? of course they want to buy presents and so on for their children but it isn't always easy. it is such a difficult time, particularly, families who have moved on to universal credit, so the roll—out is now finished, over the last four weeks or so, the chances are they are still waiting for their first payment, there is a minimum five week wait. the government will offer a loan upfront, if you can't wait and most people don't have those kind of savings. then people ta ke those kind of savings. then people take out a loan and when the payments do come through, they are losing a big chunk of their money to live on, then paying back the loan across the course of a year. money is really tight for people. the impact of austerity, which is still

with us, is taking away the value of so with us, is taking away the value of so many bits of social security that people rely on. christmas is tough. ijust people rely on. christmas is tough. i just heard the people rely on. christmas is tough. ijust heard the other day that also, i think for the first time, there is no christmas bonus payments to meet the cost of christmas for people. so with a system designed to help people get into work and be better off in work, it is failing on a number of counts. thank you for joining us. the headlines on bbc news. a tsunami hits indonesia, killing at least 168 people and injuring more than 700. tributes are paid to former liberal democrat leader lord ashdown who's died at the age of 77. and flights return to normal at gatwick as police investigating the drone disruption continue to question two people. what i the us government will remain

partially shut down over christmas after politicians in the senate failed to resolve their differences over the budget, during a special session. democrats oppose donald trump's plans to use federal funds to build a wall along the us—mexico border. there was further bad news for mr trump as his top official in the fight against so—called islamic state quit over the decision to pull us troops from syria. chris buckler reports. in the us, some government buildings have been closed and many federal employees have been told not to go to work, not because of christmas but because of a government shutdown. senators however, were working. they were called to a special session of congress to try to find a form of deal acceptable to all. but without any sign of compromise, democrats and republicans were left simply blaming each other. they brought this about because they are under a

lot of pressure, we all know this, from theirfar left, and feel compelled to disagree with the president on almost anything and certainly this. the rows about donald trump's long promise for a physical barrier along the border between mexico and america. he's been unable to get mexico to pay for the controversial border wall. in the us, democrats have refused to give the president $5 billion he needs to build it. so mr president, president trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple. relationships between the white house and even some republicans in congress were damaged during the last week, after president trump made a surprise and sudden decision to pull us troops out of syria. it led to the resignation of his defence secretary, jim mattis, and now another member of his administration is leaving as a

result of the president's plans. brett mcgurk is the us special envoy to the global coalition fighting the so—called islamic state group. in his resignation letter, he made clear his concerns that the president's claims that is had been defeated were premature. only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. the point is, the military commitment does not end with the end of the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. when donald trump announced that he was withdrawing us troops from syria and afghanistan, it caused grave concern amongst some allies. there are fears the president's decision may have a negative impact in the fight against

the so—called islamic state, and militants in afghanistan. the bbc‘s martha kearney has been to kabul, where she spent time with british forces, who may now have to work without us help. ofa of a military base in kabul but how much longer can they rely on us allies after reports that 7000 american soldiers are to be sent home in the coming weeks did not especially since it seems the security is worsening. soldiers joked that this is a kabul taxi. aircraft like this are in constant use over kabul. it is a sign of how the increased security problems mean that road travel is more dangerous thanit that road travel is more dangerous than it was in the past. the recent spike in violence makes the idea of speedy us withdrawal all the more surprising. 30 countries support the

coalition but the us provides most of the infrastructure and it seems that america's closest allies may not have known about the trump plan. before the news broke, i spoke in kabul to the head of uk armed forces. everything i've seen during my visit here over the last 2a hours 01’ so my visit here over the last 2a hours or so would suggest they are wholeheartedly committed to this particular mission, as if nato and the international community more broadly and at the recent geneva conference, the international community enhance that commitment. i think these are different missions with different requirements. we are in the back of a british army vehicle, known as a foxhound, a heavily armoured vehicle, travelling from the green zone, where the government departments, nato headquarters, a lot of embassies are. until last night, the city was on black which meant there was a risk or threat and vehicles like this couldn't go out but that has

been lifted so we can travel through the streets now. the british forces here in afghanistan were increased this year by 440. but it is afghan forces who actually fight the taliban. nearly 30,000 have been killed since 2015. those are big numbers and the question of whether thatis numbers and the question of whether that is sustainable is a question we ask ourselves regularly. on the other hand, that is why peace is important. i think afghans are much more committed to this idea because it gives everyone hope. there may be some optimism about the current peace talks but this is certainly a volatile time in afghanistan with presidential elections next april. now, the prospect of us troop withdrawals, which could ultimately lead to the end of the international coalition here. emperor akihito of japan has broadcast his last birthday message before he steps down next april. the emperor, who turned 85 on sunday, appeared to be overcome with emotion when he thanked the people of japan and empress michiko for having supported him throughout his life

on the throne. he said he was relieved that his reign was coming to an end withoutjapan having been drawn into fighting in a war again. ministers have been urged to take urgent action after it was revealed more than 170,000 people, a record high, will be homeless this christmas. the charity crisis also said more than 4,000 people over the age of 65 were facing what it called "the worst forms of homelessness". the government says it's investing £1.2 billion to tackle the problem. they're two of some of our most famous sporting heroes. torvill and dean became british, european, world and olympic champions, cheered on by huge tv audiences. now a christmas day one—off drama tells their story from early childhood to the peak of their careers. lizo mzimba's been to meet them, and the actors who play them on screen. the winter olympics, 1984.

close to half the uk population watched nervously as, to the tune of ravel‘s bolero, two friends from nottinghamshire took to the sarajevo ice. now, the story of jayne torvill and christopher dean's journey to the top of the ice dancing world has been immortalised for a christmas day tv drama. well, we were quite honoured and humbled, really, because no—one has ever done that before. and to think that they thought our story could be a story as part of a drama, it was... yeah, we thought it was a fantastic idea. i think we were very humbled by it, and the fact that somebody would be interested to, as you say, immortalise it and put it on film, and for hopefully millions of people to watch. when they first met, they of course never dreamt they would become two of british sport's best loved figures. you're here — good.

a lot of responsibility for the actors playing them. you have met christopher, haven't you? well, you've seen him around, anyway. there are a lot of people we need to serve. we need to serve the script, we nee to serve the director's vision, we need to serve our own vision, and on top of that, the public's vision of these two amazing skaters, and then them as well. there is pressure. i hope that they enjoy it, and they see some kind of similarities in what we're doing on screen. behind the scenes of their public skating life, there are perhaps hints that their relationship was briefly more than just friendship. the chemistry has to be right. we spent 40—plus years together, and at some point as teenagers, you know... you kind of think about it. yes. and then i think we thought, no, we're all right. we would rather focus on the skating.

yeah, the skating became the most important thing. many of those watching won't have even been born when torvill and dean scored their olympic victory. many, though, could still find it an inspiration. funny to be a fly on the wall in some of the households watching, because you can imagine the young children saying, "well, who are they, what did they do?", and then the parents going onto youtube and showing the actual olympic performances. but also i think kids, whether they're in skating or any sport, they can see the potential. you know, it's all about dedication and passion and perseverance to get to the top. it's not handed to you, you have to work really hard for it. torvill and dean — still remembered today as the nottinghamshire ice dancers who skated their way into sporting history. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell.

hello. the forecast for christmas week is a pretty quiet one. the weather is settling down thanks to a building area of high pressure but the high well trapped underneath it quite a lot of cloud so some quite grey prospects in the coming days. for the remainder of today, some slightly brighter fortunes through the afternoon for northern england and northern ireland, still saying very cloudy to the south and further rain to come across southern england. scotland gets the best of the sunshine but temperatures are struggling after the frosty start. a lot more rain pushing into southern counties of england and southern wales through the evening. clear skies are sinking from the north will set us up for quite a widespread frost for christmas eve morning. mild to the south though where we have the covering of cloud and some rain around. that should continue to push your through monday morning and for many areas, we are looking at a dry christmas eve with some brightness although it will feel a shade cooler than it has

through the weekend, especially in the south. hello. this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines: a tsunami hits indonesia causing widespread devestation. at least 168 people are dead and more than 700 injured. the death toll is expected to rise. tributes are paid to former liberal democrat leader lord ashdown, who's died at the age of 77. and flights return to normal at gatwick as police investigating the drone disruption continue to question two people.