this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 11: the immigration minister is to visit dover later amid mounting concern about the number of migrants crossing the channel in small boats. more than £100 million is to be spent chartering extra ferries to bring in vital supplies in the event of a no deal brexit. named in the new year honours list — the british divers who rescued a boys‘ football team from a cave in thailand. also on the list — alistair cook and michael palin knighted, and twiggy is made a dame. i'm very surprised because i've done a lot of things in my life, none of which i felt would be worthy of such recognition, but maybe the cumulative effect is one of some kind of achievement. also coming up this hour: an army officer has become the first british person to complete a solo trek across antarctica. it took captain louis rudd 56 days, and he's only the second person to cross the continent unaided. and in half an hour's time, dateline will be looking ahead

to 2019 and predicting the fate of donald trump and others. hello. good morning. welcome to bbc news. the immigration minister, caroline nokes, is to visit dover today, amid mounting criticism of the way the government is handling the surge in migrants crossing the channel in small boats. more than 200 people have arrived since the start of november, leading the home secretary, sajid javid, to declare a major incident. simonjones reports. almost two months after migrants started arriving in numbers, the home secretary has declared the situation a major incident. two more boats carrying 12 people were intercepted yesterday. the immigration minister caroline nokes has been dispatched to dover. there she will meet border force

officers, as well as the town's mp. he says that for too long the home office has not been taking the issue seriously enough and wants additional border force cutters in the channel. i think it is fairly clear that one is simply not enough and i think we need to ask questions — what are the two patrol craft doing in the mediterranean? would they be better placed in the english channel? so i will hopefully get to meet the immigration minister to talk to her about whether we are getting the balance right. but the home secretary has deferred an immediate decision on that. he has asked the border force to consider whether additional vessels in the channel could encourage more people to make the crossing, because they could be seen as rescue rather than patrol boats. he is set to talk to his french counterpart this weekend, but both will know that tackling the people traffickers behind the upsurge in crossings will not be quick or easy. simon jones, bbc news. 0ur correspondent caroline davies is in dover. caroline, what is the immigration

minister, caroline nokes, going to do when she comes to dover today? she is due to meet borderforce officials and the local mp. now, we know we heard from him in that package that he has been very outspoken about this particular issue. he has suggested that the government hasn't taken this seriously enough and of course called for more of the border force cutters to be out on patrol around dover. now, we have also heard that there has been plenty of pressure being put on the government to deal with this issue. since christmas time. so this week. there have been over 60 people intercepted trying to ci’oss over 60 people intercepted trying to cross the english channel. now, what are the reasons for this? well, one of the suggested reasons if it could be related to brexit. according to some people who've spoken to some of the traffickers who are trying to recruit people to come across here, they had been suggesting to their potential that it might be easier to come across now than after the uk

believes that the eu. they suggest that the uk's orders might become too tight and too difficult to get across. that is generally been regarded as a bit of selling technique for those human traffickers to get people to make a decision quickly, rather than put this off to a later stage. alternatively, we have also heard from a french mp who earlier this month said that he thought that hard brexit could actually increase the number of illegal migrants into the uk. his suggestion was that if there we re uk. his suggestion was that if there were any longer queues at customs, that would make it easier for people to try to sneak on board to those lorries to come across to the uk. so we know that caroline nokes will be meeting the border force officials. she will be speaking to the local mp. he has described the situation of crisis. thanks very much. more than 1,000 people have been recognised

in the new year honours list including some of the emergency workers who responded to the terror attacks in manchester and london in 2017. also honoured were the british divers who helped rescue a team of young footballers from a cave in thailand. leading figures from the worlds of showbusiness, sport and fashion are on the list. 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba has more details. michael palin says he's immensely grateful to receive a knighthood for services to travel, culture, and geography. i've done lots of things in my life, none of which i felt totally worthy of such recognition. but maybe the cumulative effect is one of some kind of achievement. newsreel: the world's top fashion cover girl... leading fashion figure lesley lawson, better known as twiggy, has been honoured for her work in the arts, charity and fashion. i didn't expect it. it was completely out of the blue, a shock. but the nicest shock in the world. who wouldn't want to be dame twiggy? british divers involved in this year's thai cave rescue have received awards for their bravery and expertise. in the world of sport,

england rugby figure bill beaumont has received a knighthood. a knighthood, too, for recordbreaking batsman alistair cooke. following the world cup, england football manager gareth southgate becomes an 0be. captain harry kane, an mbe. and made an 0be, welsh tour de france winner geraint thomas. in the world of entertainment, presenter chris packham becomes a cbe for his work in nature conservation. while westworld actress thandie newton becomes an 0be. as does downton abbey starjim carter. as in previous years, the majority of honours have gone to people who aren't in the public eye and who never expected this kind of recognition. andrea aviet has been recognised for her work campaigning against domestic abuse. it will always be that till the day i die, i'm going to continue with this cause. but, definitely, getting an award like this means the world to me, because, you know, itjust shows others. she's just one of the many people being honoured for exceptional work that's made a real difference. lizo mzimba, bbc news.

the government's spending more than £100 million to charter extra ferries to ensure the delivery of essential supplies, in the event of a no—deal brexit. the plans would allow for almost 4,000 lorries a week to take goods to ports like dover, plymouth, poole, and portsmouth. the department for transport says the arrangements are an important part of its preparations — but insists the government still wants to strike a deal with brussels. let's get more on this now from our correspondentjoe miller, who's in portsmouth. what will these ferries, if they are required, be used for? well, they will be used for the sort of thing the government has been warning would happen in the case of a no—deal brexit, and that is the delay of critical goods like medicines and supplies that will be delayed at ports because of additional customs checks, and the idea is that up to 4000 lorries per week will be diverted from dover, which is obviously the busiest port,

two ports like portsmouth here, plymouth and paul and others and they will take the weight off dover and folkestone, and the hope is that it will mitigate some of the delays and some of the real destruction that could happen on the roads down to the coast by adding all of this extra capacity. as you say, extra capacity in the hope to mitigate some of the effects, but presumably it is those additional checks which will be in place at the newport stew and the ones to which these ferries will be travelling at presumably there is still a risk of quite significant delays for some goods, particularly in those places where the journey will be longer than it is on the channel ports. yes, absolutely. 0ver is on the channel ports. yes, absolutely. over here, the crossing ta kes absolutely. over here, the crossing takes about six hours, and much longer than the crossing at dover, and business organisations, shipping business organisation, have been saying that while this is welcome,

while it will take some of the strain of dover in the event of a no—deal brexit, it is by no means enough that, as you say, there will still be delayed if there are additional customs checks, that could mean delays here as well at portsmouth and plymouth and it is really just portsmouth and plymouth and it is reallyjust spreading portsmouth and plymouth and it is really just spreading the portsmouth and plymouth and it is reallyjust spreading the load, but the transport has been under pressure for a long time to do something about this and to put contingency plans in place —— the department for transport, and it has done so now. it didn't really want anyone to find out about this but it published these papers late on christmas eve and it is only because a data firm alerted us to it that we know about it, but the department is saying it is part of our mutual contingency plan and we have something in place and there will be more to come. thank you very much. new images of the volcano which erupted last week triggering a tsunami in indonesia show the event was so powerful that it destroyed two thirds of its height and volume. more than 400 people were killed when giant waves crashed into coastal towns on the islands of sumatra and java and more

than 150 are still missing. jonathan amos reports. there is little doubt now that the cause of the tsunami was a sudden catastrophic failure of the western flank of anak krakatau. europe's sentinel and terrasar radar satellites have been able to pierce the ash and cloud in the area to allow researchers to see what remains of the volcanic cone, and make some initial measurements — and the data is sobering. what was once a volcano reaching 340 metres high is now little more than 100 metres tall. something in the order of 160 million cubic metres of rock and ash have gone, says indonesia's center of volcanology and geological hazard mitigation. not all of this would have entered the sunda strait in one go, but it certainly explains the volume of sea water that must have been displaced to generate so destructive a set of waves at nearby coasts. jonathan amos, bbc news. early this morning, a powerful 6.9

magnitude earthquake struck off the southern philippines, prompting a new tsunami alert. the quake hit about two hundred kilometres east off davoh city on mindanow island — at a depth of about 60 kilometres. the pacific tsunami warning centre says tsunami waves are possible along the coasts of the philippines and indonesia. three vietnamese tourists and a tour guide have been killed after a bus in egypt was hit by an explosion as it made its way to the pyramids. ten other passengers and the bus driver were injured — two of them are said to be in a critical condition. it's the first deadly attack against foreign tourists in egypt in more than a year. it's been confirmed that administrators have been brought in to run the music retailer hmv, which has collapsed after suffering poor sales.

the store's owners say high business rates and changes in consumer behaviour are to blame. the retailer employs more than 2,000 staff across the uk. administrators from kpmg say they'll try to keep all 125 stores open while they're looking for a buyer. there's a warning that women are bearing the brunt ofjob losses because of automation. the charity the rsa found women had lost almost 400,000 jobs in the public sector, banking and retail since 2011, while the best paid newjobs are going to men. anisa kadri has more. technology has been replacing somejobs for years. but as robots get increasingly clever, new research suggests women are being impacted more. jobs that involve repetitive movements in retail and other sectors are more likely to become automated. machines can help employees with their work. but they can also take jobs from people.

the royal society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and commerce say its findings show that women are being affected. some of the areas that are being most affected by technology — administration, clerical work and retail work, these are areas where there is a lot of women's employment, so women are being adversely affected. the bad news, really, is that the good jobs that are being created, the high—status and high—paid jobs in technology, are predominantly going to men. so going forward, as technology accelerates, we need to think about how to ensure there are new opportunities for those women being displaced, but we also have to change the culture in technology so that more women are employed in that sector. according to its research, some of the fastest shrinking professions are retail cashiers, teaching assistants and hairdressers. meanwhile, the fastest—growing jobs over the same period include software developers and hr managers. the rsa says the growing tech industry is known to be male—dominated, but the charity says there's still time to tackle any

problems so that people, regardless of gender or age, can share in the spoils of new technology. the headlines on bbc news: the immigration minister is to visit dover later amid mounting concern about the number of migrants crossing the channel in small boats. more than £100 million is to be spent chartering extra ferries to bring in vital supplies in the event of a no deal brexit. named in the new year honours list — the british divers who rescued a boys‘ football team from a cave in thailand. also on the list, alistair cook and michael palin knighted, and twiggy is made a dame. siberia may be the last place you'd expect to be a high—tech hub, but with cheap power, conditions in the remote russian region are ideal for crypto—currency mining. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford travelled

to irkutsk to find out more. when there, she discovered some surprising characters involved in mining for the virtual currency bitcoins: russian grandmothers. meet marina — a babushka who mines for bitcoins on her siberian porch. "here's the machines that make a noise and make me money," she tells me. as those machines whirr and mine for virtual currency, marina has been converting that to real cash to top up her pension. it's no wonder she takes care of the things, she's travelled all over europe on the money. translation: they said to me, "marina, why don't you buy some mining machines?" i said "ok", and i don't regret it. the machines paid for themselves in eight or nine months. and marina's been putting the hot

air from the machines to good use. "you can dry the washing here and make dry tomatoes, like in italy," she says. "the dried pumpkin is pretty tasty too." and she's not the only miner in irkutsk. you might not immediately think of siberia as a high—tech hub, but the conditions here are ideal for mining bitcoins. there's cheap power from a hydroelectric plant just up the river here, and there's the harsh climate itself — it can drop to —40 here in the depths of winter — perfect for cooling all those mining machines. that's why when yuri's karaoke bar was struggling, his family got into bitcoins in a big way. they are cryptocurrency pioneers here. that includes yuri's mother, valeria. irkutsk, it's a crypto capital of russia. for this business, you don't need to be a great specialist because it's an easy system.

you only put your computers on electricity and the internet. valeria's miner is here at the family farm. there are gaps in the racks now, where clients removed their machines when the bitcoin's value crashed, but valeria hasn't abandoned her dream. translation: i want some money i've earned myself, and i want a lot of money. when the bitcoin is worth one million, like my son say, then i'll be able to leave my grandchildren a very large inheritance. it is a dream drawn big here, of a new gold rush, this one for virtual cash, and the babushkas of siberia are leading the charge. sarah rainsford, bbc news, irkutsk. an army officer has become the first british person to trek

solo unaided across antarctica. captain lou rudd finished his mammoth 925—mile journey yesterday after 56 days. he's only the second person in history to complete the expedition without any assistance. he undertook the challenge in memory of fellow explorer and close friend henry worsley, who died from exhaustion just 30 miles short of completing the record solo crossing in 2016. captain lou rudd joins us live on the phone from antarctica now. thank you very much for being with us on thank you very much for being with us on bbc news. first of all, congratulations. were you expecting to be able to do it in 56 days? good morning. no, iwasn't to be able to do it in 56 days? good morning. no, i wasn't at all. i've actually managed to complete it quite a bit faster than i expected. i set off with 75 days of food and equipment for the crossing, but managed to make it across in 56, so i'm elated. what was the hardest part? the early phase, actually. the

beginning of the journey. part? the early phase, actually. the beginning of thejourney. i part? the early phase, actually. the beginning of the journey. i was dragging my sledge that had everything in it i needed to survive and it was about a kg. that experience was really difficult and slow at the beginning and progress was really slow, and it was at that time that i was thinking that actually probably i wasn't going to make it and that the journey was just impossible. it was really difficult going. how did you keep your morale? thinking a lot about... i was doing this for an army charity andi i was doing this for an army charity and i was fund—raising for them. so i was kind of doing it for a great cause and also i was carrying henry worsley‘s family crest like that his wife joanna very worsley‘s family crest like that his wifejoanna very kindly gave to me and that he was also carrying at the time andi

and that he was also carrying at the time and i really wanted to make sure this time that the flag made it all the way across and completed the crossing. obviously, and added poignancy to be able to commemorate your friend poignancy to be able to commemorate yourfriend in this poignancy to be able to commemorate your friend in this way, but were your friend in this way, but were you worried about the risk to your own life? yes, i mean, it is obviously extremely hostile and you have that awareness in the back of your mind that one small mistake can have grave consequences down here. but i've got a lot of experience down here. ifirst trekked but i've got a lot of experience down here. i first trekked to the south pole with henry in 2011 and i was quite confident that i had the skills and experience to make the trip. those who have had the fortune to visit antarctica describe it as an absolutely magical place, but also quite a frightening one for you on your own. what sort of contacted you have with the outside world during thejourney? you have with the outside world during the journey? very limited

communication. there is a company that flew me in and drop me up at the start point and they were monitoring my progress and my beacon andi monitoring my progress and my beacon and i had satellite phone calls throughout and i managed to phone home once every sort of couple of weeks and speak to the family of christmas day as well. so that was great. and that kept my morale up. christmas day as well. so that was great. and that kept my morale uplj think that must have been the best christmas present day or you could have hoped for. thank you very much for being with us on bbc news this morning. warmest congratulations to you and we hope you will have the opportunity to celebrate in a bit more comfort once you're back home. yellow great. thank you very much. congratulations to him. that is a great achievement. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's holly hamilton.

good morning. a host of sporting names have been honoured in the queen's new years list, leading the way is alastair cook. the former england captain's been knighted. he's the first cricketer to be given the honour in more than a decade, after a record—breaking career that culminated in a century in his final test this summer. also knighted is the former england rugby captain, bill beaumont. it's a great honour to have, you know. and when i look at the sport nights, they are at the guys that you absolutely respect and also the danes involved in sport in the world and when i embarked on my rugby career locally year at my rugby club, who would have thought in 50 yea rs club, who would have thought in 50 years from when i first started playing down there that year i would be in the recipient of a knighthood. the england football manager gareth southgate has been given an 0be, after a thrilling summer that saw england make only their third world cup semi final.

striker harry kane captained the side, he gets an mbe. it is quite surreal, really. it has been four or five years since i have broken through, and it is another thing that i am extremely proud of, to have that honour. it has been a great year for the club and the country. it is hard to put into words, really. more festive premier league football for you today, and if you're after goals, keep an eye on anfield. liverpool host arsenal in a tie that always delivers attacking football and plenty of goals. jurgen klopp's liverpool side are six points clear at the top of the league, and they're yet to lose this season. the only thing that is different to oui’s the only thing that is different to ours is that our situation is better than last year. but we are not even qualified for the champions league

yet so that means that we have to play football, what we like to do, and then try to get results. and then we will see what happens. nothing changes. it's a big day in scotland — rangers hosting celtic in an old firm derby that's taking on added significance given how tight things are at the top of the premiership. celtic just three points ahead of rangers going into this one. we just have to approach the game and how we always do which is look at our own way of working in respect of that rangers are a good team with some very good results this year and will give them the respect that they deserve, like we do every team, and then focus on our game and play well and get the win. there was a big win for northampton in rugby union's premiership last night. they beat leaders exeter by 31 points to 28 at franklin gardens —

both sides picked up bonus points, but it was this interception and try from northampton's cobus reinach that secured his side the win. meanwhile connacht have done the double over ulster in the pro 14. having beaten them in belfast in october, they scored three tries to ulster‘s two in galway taking them second in conference a. the was a big shock at the pdc world darts championship. reigning champion rob cross knocked out by world number 90 luke humphries. cross was two sets to nil up at ally pally, but humphries won the next four to book a quarter—final against michael smith. 0rganisers of the australian 0pen have unveiled a more extensive extreme heat policy after temperatures reached nearly 40 degrees during last year's tournament. for the first time, men's singles players will be permitted 10 minute breaks if the heat reaches similar levels

to 2018 when many players criticised the existing policy — including six time champion novak djokovic. there'll also be more comprehensive measuring and an increase in temperatures guages across melbourne park. that's all the sport for now. now for the weather. hello, it's brightening up from the north behind the weather front that has brought drizzle through the morning. behind the weather front, it looks like mostly dry weather will prevail, notjust today but indeed for much of the rest of 2018. any rain we have will be light and patchy, mostly in the north. this is today's rain courtesy of low pressure. we also have a weakening weather front sinking southwards, so it's bringing drizzle to southern parts of england and wales, but that is all but dying out. the rain is leaving scotland and the northern isles and then the sky is brighter in the afternoon. drierfor most. the winds will take a little longer to ease down. they have been blustery this morning. but again, nothing exceptional for december. they will take the edge off temperatures, which have been high for the time of year. they will remain in double figures — 11—13 in southern areas, because of all that cloud around. we should see brightness in northern ireland as well as northern england and north wales.

but as we go through the rest of the afternoon, you can see the next weather front approaching off towards the west. it should hold at bay until evening time for northern ireland. these are our temperatures. through this evening and overnight, it will turn chilly quite quickly in eastern areas with a touch of frost and possibly patchy fog if you're travelling. 0vernight, that will lift temperatures and deposit fog on the hilltops. by morning, very mild across southern and western areas and, for many, grey and damp and misty again. although the rain clears, we keep a lot of cloud on sunday. the best chance of brightness will be the eastern side of the hills. across the east of wales, north—east england and scotland. still relatively mild. the breeze picks up and becomes a gale later across the north on new year's eve on monday, bringing the next weather front in and more rain here, but for most parts, by day, it looks brighter

and we should see more sunshine. with more cloud, that should hold into the evening. again, we are in december, so i would not go out without a coat, but it does look mostly dry, if rather cloudy. as we go into the start of 2019, the high drifts away to the west and allows a northerly, much colder wind across the uk. hello and welcome to the final dateline london of 2018, a chance to look ahead to? the people, the countries and the events which, our panel predicts, will shape the year ahead. joining me today: abdel barry atwan, who writes on arab affairs janet daley whose column appears in the uk's sunday telegraph newspaper, maria margaronis from the weekly news magazine the nation, and the american michael goldfarb, host of the podcast, the first rough draft of history. i suppose this could be called that, michael. welcome to all of you.

let's begin in our attempt to map out pittodrie for the year to come with the uk in europe. notjust brexit but perhaps other things on the horizon two. what are you looking for in the year ahead? the year ahead is a long projection! most likely week ahead or the next fortnight. i think were definitely going to leave, there's no question about that even though there is an awful matter of trash talk and noise, it is difficult to know not just what is going on but what eve ryo ne just what is going on but what everyone thinks because everyone is