go on and why do you advocate for a people's vote when there's already been a people's vote? scotland yard investigates the protests outside parliament when a pro—remain mp was called a nazi. in the numberof in the number of allegations from yesterday and we are currently assessing those as to whether they meet the criminal threshold. —— we are aware of a number of allegations from yesterday. we'll have the latest from westminster and brussels, where there've been reports that british officials are in talks to delay brexit. also this lunchtime... the scottish government admits its handling of sexual misconduct allegations against former first minister alex salmond was unlawful. festive joy for the supermarkets — a rise in sales for morrisons, but the big christmas winners are the discounters aldi and lidl. and a fear of more avalanches in the alps after heavy snowfalls kill several skiers and climbers. and coming up on bbc news, a ryder cup announcement is expected imminently.

it's thought padraig harrington will be announced as the next european captain. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. senior mps from both sides of the commons have joined forces to try to stop a no—deal brexit. they've tabled an amendment to the finance bill that would limit the government's spending powers if britain leaves the eu without a deal. it comes as scotland yard faces calls to improve the way it deals with protestors outside parliament — after a pro—remain mp was called a nazi. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. if you flipped on the radio today,

you mightjust if you flipped on the radio today, you might just have if you flipped on the radio today, you mightjust have heard this —— flicked on the radio. will travel be affected when we leave the eu? will mobile roaming change? you might have questions about how leaving the eu will affect you. an advert from the government. ministers want us to be ready, particularly if no deal is done with you, but plenty of them people might want to do whatever they can to ensure there isn't a no deal brexit. parliament has to be sensible and say, "we have to rule out the worst option, we need to make sure we prevent the kind of damaging no deal that would hit manufacturing industry so hard and also put our policing and security at risk as well." also put our policing and security at risk as well. " very few mps would happily embrace a no deal brexit, but some say stop panicking about it. if you look at all of these

individual errors, planes, trains, freight, drugs, there is a perfectly good reason why there will not be a catastrophe and life will continue pretty much as normal. meanwhile the cabinet has been meeting this morning. will brexit really happened in march? will it be delayed? the government does not want no deal but thinks parliament is trying to make it harder to make sensible preparations, but take a look at this senior minister, setting out his own view. it is essential we should be able to continue to trade, and it is why i have therewith been clear, representing the views very strongly of small and large business, that no deal should not be contemplated. what does the diary look like an brexit at the moment? mps will start five days of debate about the eu withdrawal agreement tomorrow, the big vote will take place a week today on the 15th of january, and as things stand the uk

will leave the eu at 11 o'clock at night on friday, the 29th of march. with time running out, tension is rising, and after these ugly scenes yesterday, police are now the end... as part of our assessment we are looking at that particular incident as to whether we believe it meets a criminal threshold, but it is important as well that people have a right to protest and to voice their opinion. so far today things are much quieter, but with so many big days ahead there is a real concern it may not stay like this. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. well, in a moment we'll get the latest from adam fleming in brussels — but first to our assistant political norman smith in westminster. norman, the cabinet has been meeting this morning on brexit? interesting, because there appears to be developing a growing backlash against the possibility of a no—deal

brexit, which matters because mrs may has always made the possibility of no deal central to her strategy. how many times have we heard her say "no deal is better than a bad deal?" and if agreement is voted down, that on march the 29th we will leave without any deal? tonight mrs may faces the possibility of a symbolic defeat in the commons over the issue of no deal planning, but perhaps more importantly we are seeing the signs of that discontent bubbling up in the cabinet, with this morning the work and pensions secretary amber rudd apparently telling fellow cabinet ministers that history would ta ke cabinet ministers that history would take a cabinet ministers that history would takea dim cabinet ministers that history would take a dim view of the government if it allowed britain to leave without a deal, that such an outcome would leave the uk less safe. the home secretary sajid javid warned it would be harder to deport illegal immigrants if we left without a deal. last night the business minister richard harrington said he would quit, and others would follow. why this matters now is because in a

week's time, we will get that vote on mrs may's deal with all the signs it could be voted down, which could begin the process of britain heading towards leaving without adil, and the implications are that may well prompt widespread revolt against mrs may, with the former conservative attorney general dominic grieve, no friend of mrs may, admittedly, nevertheless warning this morning that if mrs may went down the route of no deal, the government would fall. all right, norman, thank you very much indeed. let's get the latest on this from adam fleming who's in brussels — adam, what more can you tell us? our rather windblown correspondent there in brussels! yes, get rid of there in brussels! yes, get rid of the brolly. there are newspaper reports that british officials in brussels are putting out feelers about delaying brexit altogether, delaying article 50? yes, the heavens have just opened

delaying article 50? yes, the heavens havejust opened in brussels and there is a shower of rumours about this as well. if these discussions have happened, i have not been able to find an eu politician on the receiving end, which suggests they have been taking place it is very tentative and very unofficial, and very much at the early stages, if they have been taking place at all. the fact is if the uk wanted to extend the brexit process beyond the 29th of march, the eu treaties say they could, they could ask for permission and it would have to be granted by all 27 other eu countries, and the irish foreign minister simon coveney was saying today he would not stand in the way of that happening. if it did ever happen. it is 100% not the uk government policy to postpone the date of brexit in anyway. british ministers are focusing instead, as they have on the last few weeks, and getting further assurances from the eu about their intentions for the irish border and that controversial back—up plan known as the backstop.

some more assurances could be coming off the uk's way in the next couple off the uk's way in the next couple of weeks ahead of that vote, but they will just be of weeks ahead of that vote, but they willjust be assurances. the eu is ticking for it will not reopen the treaty itself. so there could be some warm words but no actual changes to the deal —— the eu is sticking to the position that it will not reopen the treaty itself. adam fleming and —— in brussels, and norman smith in westminster, thank you. the scottish government acted unlawfully while investigating sexual harassment claims against former first minister alex salmond, a judge has ruled. the scottish government now admits it didn't properly follow its own procedures when it investigated the claims. a separate police inquiry is taking place into the allegations against mr salmond, which he denies. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon is at the court of session in edinburgh. lorna? yes, ben, nota yes, ben, not a good day for the scottish government, frankly a bit ofa scottish government, frankly a bit of a mess, and the mess that will

cost the taxpayer many hundreds of thousands of pounds. the scottish government today admitted it breached its own guidelines by appointing an investigating officer who had prior involvement in this case, and as a result conceding in the legal fight against alex salmond. alex salmond arriving at court for a hearing against the government he used to leave. a review into that government's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against mr salmond on allegations he denies. the last time mr salmond was in court room to in scotland's highest civil court he was being sworn in as first minister. today it was to his submissions by his legal team to the judge, lord pentland, that the scottish government acted unlawfully while carrying out their investigations, that the investigations, that the investigation be dismissed. the decision is unlawful in the respect that it was taken in circumstances which were procedurally unfair and

it was tainted by apparent bias. allegations date back to allege events five years ago in the run—up to the scottish referendum, when mr salmond lived and worked here at bute house, the residents of visually of serving first minister. he was accused of sexual misconduct by two female civil servants. in court, the scottish government admitted to one key mistake in its handling of the complaints, and agreed its inquiry into the allegations must be set aside. the scottish government now accepts that in relation to one specific aspect of the procedure there was a failure which this year it's the investigation, and hence the decision under challenge. -- which damages the investigation. alex salmond called on leslie evans, in charge of the investigation, to resign. a former first minister of scotland requiring to take the administration of the scottish government to court to establish

that point should not have been necessary, and the person who is responsible for that, that institutional failure, the permanent secretary to the scottish government, should consider her position and take the appropriate action. in a statement, the scottish government's permanent secretary leslie evans said... the scottish government said it will considerably investigating the complaints, but only ones ongoing police have concluded. —— once. today was about the procedures followed, not about the substance of the allegations themselves, allegations which mr salmond strongly denies. we have had comment from scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon in the last hour or so and she says she has full confidence in scotland's top civil

servant leslie evans in the individual who carried out the investigation. she is expected to make a statement at holyrood, nicola sturgeon, a little later this afternoon. studio: many thanks, lorna gordon they are, in edinburgh. lorna gordon there, in edinburgh. a bbc investigation has found that young victims of sexual assault aren't being forensically examined in a critical time period at some privately—run referral centres. doctors say they've also seen incorrect recording of injuries and evidence contamination. faye kirkland, who is also a gp, has this report for us. we have spoken to eight doctors who wanted to blow the whistle on the poor care in some sexual assault referral centres run by private companies. one doctor, who works across multiple centres, and needs to remain anonymous, says she is aware of ten cases where young children were not forensically examined within three days of being assaulted

because the staff weren't available. ten children missing out on forensic samples is quite a significant number. when you lose the forensics, that is something you can't get back. probably a quarter of the statements i look at have something that concerns me. dr helena thornton reviews evidence, typically including videos of genital examinations. i have seen one dvd where gloves were not worn. i have seen one dvd which did not show the injuries that were documented to have been there. it's very distressing when, if... to feel that somebody at their, at possibly their most vulnerable ever, having been through a traumatic experience, has then been let down. do you think we are letting people down?

ido, yeah. the first three days of forensics are crucial for young children. but four doctors have told us that, in the last two years, they have seen cases of young children who have not been forensically examined within 72 hours, because there's been no—one who has been qualified to examine them. for nine months, the crown prosecution service refused to provide us with an audit of forensic evidence from a centre run by the company primecare produced in 2009. but the information commissioner has now ordered its release. all 13 cases went to court, but the audit reveals widespread failings. only one provided acceptable documentation of injuries. and there were just two cases where the correct forensic samples were taken. in one instance, where a victim was raped, no samples were taken from these areas. in a statement, the cps said the centre fell short of standards but, following the report, they worked alongside the police to formulate an improvement plan. primecare has since been incorporated into

allied healthcare. it said the audit was historical, and the centre was now run by different provider. i think it's absolutely terrible to read that report. i am so shocked. the victims' commissioner now wants to see change. i would like to see proper training, not just a two—day training. and i think, more importantly, though, we need to have annual inspections. if we are not being inspected and accredited, that doesn't give confidence for victims. nhs england, whojointly commissions the services with police chiefs, said it had not been made aware of the concerns, but called on the doctors to report them to the forensic science regulator. it now says it plans to set up a whistle—blowing hotline for people with concerns. the cqc, the regulator for the health care, says it has now changed the way it inspects services, but we understand this still doesn't include reviewing forensic medical evidence itself. faye kirkland, bbc news. president trump is to make his first prime—time tv

address to the nation, as the partial government shutdown in the united states continues. it's now in its 18th day, making it the second longest in history. the president is expected to talk about his plans for a border wall with mexico. how it's paid for is at the centre of the political row with congress. let's speak to cbs correspondent marc liverman, who's in new york. what's trump hoping to achieve with this address to the nation? the big focus in all this will be the border wall. president trump is expected to argue his case to the american people, and issue the president has been making since the day he announced he was running in 2015. he is deadlocked with congressional democrats over his demand for $5.6 billion for border wall funding. hundreds of thousands of federal workers face mr paycheques friday as the partial

government shutdown drags through a third week. —— face byrd paycheques. mrtrump is third week. —— face byrd paycheques. mr trump is saying that he can build the wall with steel rather than concrete, but democrats say they object to the wall itself, not how it is built. thank you, marc live from cbs. there are more indications this lunchtime about how the uk's supermarket chains performed during the crucial christmas shopping period. our business correspondent emma simpson is here. and, emma, amid the gloom of high street, some better news for the supermarkets? a bit. today we had morrisons, one of the big supermarkets, reporting christmas numbers. overall, sales we re christmas numbers. overall, sales were up 3.6%, pretty healthy. but that was largely driven by its wholesale business. if you look at what has been going on in its core

supermarkets, the growth was just 0.6%, a slowdown compared to the previous quarter. the boss said today consumers have become increasingly savvy, i think what he means as we were shopping around christmas. he said there was a sense that consumers were a bit more cautious and careful with spending, given the wider political uncertainty. that chimes with the broader industry data from cancer worlds panel out today showing there was overall growth in the grocery aisles, we spent more this year than last, £450 million more, but the rate of growth has been the slowest for a year. i don't think anybody will be popping the champagne corks, but there were winners. aldi and lidl, the discounters, steal a march. they are at their highest ever market share and almost two thirds of uk households shopped in a lidl aldi in the christmas period. we will know more about the other retailers in the coming days.

our top story this lunchtime... senior mps from both sides of the commons join forces in a bid to stop a no—deal brexit. coming up: the mystery of why thousands of female penguins are more likely to die than their male counterparts. coming up on bbc news, jo harten returns for england as the commonwealth champions gear up for the netball world cup. the quad series against south africa, new zealand and australia starts on sunday. at least seven people have died and several others are missing after heavy snow storms in the alps. there are three metres of snow in some areas and more is forecast later in the week. the authorities say skiers face a high avalanche risk across parts of central europe. eliza philippidis reports. roads are blocked, schools are closed. getting out to do the food shop is almost impossible.

but, even so, people are trying to clear pathways to get out of their homes. with so much snow already on the ground and more on the way, officials say the chances of further avalanches are high. the bavarian avalanche warning institute has issued a level four warning, the second—highest, which also poses a high risk of avalanches in unsecured skiing areas. in central and northern austria, up to 1.5 metres of snow has already fallen since the middle of last week. this greenhouse in salzburg collapsed under the weight of the snow. the fire brigade, with the help of local residents, have been shuffling the snow off the other roofs to try and stop them collapsing. translation: we've tried to get the snow away from between the greenhouses so more

snow can escape, to ease the pressure on the building and make it safer. in southern austria, it snowed all day. many roads are blocked. the situation is very difficult. people have been stranded in villages and the helicopters deployed for avalanche control have been grounded because of the bad weather. translation: more than 500 residents are cut off, but i've spoken with the mayor and he said everyone is calm. with around 80 centimetres of snow forecast in austria from tuesday, things look set to remain difficult. eliza philippidis, bbc news. the north korean leader kimjong—un is in beijing for an unannounced visit. it's his fourth summit with his closest ally, president xijinping, and comes amid reports that preparations are underway for another meeting with president trump. the us president said

at the weekend that a location would be announced shortly. china's support is considered crucial for any nuclear deal. the former chairman of nissan, carlos ghosn, has insisted he's innocent of any financial misconduct at a court hearing in tokyo. appearing in handcuffs and tied at the waist, it's the first time mr ghosn has been seen in public since he was arrested and charged in november. he said he'd been falsely accused, and is being unfairly detained. a judge refused an application for bail. a former youth football coach who was due to go on trial accused of the sexual abuse of boys under 16 has died. peterborough crown court heard that michael "kit" carson was killed in a single—vehicle car crash yesterday. the 75 year old had worked for peterborough united, cambridge united and norwich city football clu bs. the government is being urged

to spend more than £200 billion over the next 20 years on social housing in england. the charity shelter says around three million new homes are needed to solve what it's calling a crisis. the government says providing quality and fair social housing is a priority. john maguire reports. it's tea—time for single mum lola and her young family in bristol. put onion in it. they were living in private rented accommodation but were evicted, and have been housed by the local council as an emergency case. lola is thankful to have a roof over their heads but says the uncertainty is stressful. people like us who just want a home, we don't want a six—month let, we don't want to be turfed out after a year, we need somewhere that's going to be a permanent home, and that's just not something that's possible nowadays, so it'sjust a constant kind of worry. i'm in limbo, basically. following the grenfell tower fire, the housing charity shelter brought

together a panel of 16 independent commissioners to consider the crisis in homelessness. they admit their call to build 3.1 million social houses in england over 20 years is ambitious, but insist action is essential now. it is a big amount of money, but it does create an asset for government and, indeed, for the country and, most importantly, it solves a housing crisis, or goes a long way to solving a housing crisis which, affects, i think, everyone in our country. the commission claims that savings in housing benefit and increased tax revenue would help the scheme to pay for itself inside 40 years. in a statement, the communities secretary, james brokenshire, said... the prime minister has previously pledged to get a grip

on the housing crisis. this report by shelter offers one solution to a problem that remains complex but urgent. john maguire, bbc news, bristol. the government has announced £45 million pounds of funding to train 900 new social workers working with vunerable children in england. the profession is facing huge challenges at the moment. according to the charity frontline, who will recruit and train the new staff, there are 6000 vacancies in the field. navtej johal reports. working with quite a lot of young people who are kind of known to youth offending services, and so i work in a team working with teenagers. john was trying to forge a career in theatre, but, after experience working with young people abroad, he decided to become a social worker and applied for a training programme run

by the charity frontline. i would not have been able to afford, at that point, to do a kind of masters programme. i was not in a financial position to take the time off work and also to pay for that course. so the way that frontline is funded was really helpful to me, but also because it was a work—based route that was really attractive to me. the government is hoping others will followjohn's lead. today, it is announcing £45 million of new funding to train 900 children's social workers on frontline's programme in 2020 and 2021. this organisation, it is a voluntary organisation. it does particularly good work and has been very effective in bringing new people into thinking about moving into social work, and we have had great success with that. despite today's announcement, there is concern that this funding simply doesn't go far enough. the latest figures show there are almost 6,000 vacancies for children's social workers across england, and problems with management, caseloads and bureaucracy mean that retaining staff can often prove difficult. frontline, which was set up by former secondary school teacher

josh macalister six years ago, says it believes the money will make a difference. it is obviously in a system that has lots of challenges and there are lots of challenges with caseload numbers and supervision and funding overall. but you only start to get that system better by bringing more great people in, supporting them, making sure they've got manageable workloads and giving them the high expectations that they need to do life—changing work with children and families. it has been challenging, really challenging, and i have enjoyed it a huge amount. it's a really exciting profession, because i think you are constantly challenged and you experience new things all the time. with the funding now in place, the hard work of recruiting those who have what it takes to do the job, and stay in thejob, begins. navteonhal, bbc news. thousands of penguins become stranded on the coastline of south america every year — and most of them are females. why it happens has been

a mystery for years, but now scientists believe they may have found the answer. the female penguins travel longer distances for food, making it more likely they get into difficulty. here's our science reporter laura foster. sounds like a donkey, but it is actually a magellanic penguin calling for a mate. and these penguins, they mate for life. but every year, when breeding season is over, they head to the water to feed. not much was known about where they went until recently, when a team of scientists used trackers to follow a small group and found the males and females went different ways. the males, who are bigger and thought to be stronger swimmers, would fish in deeper waters, whereas the females travelled farther, preferring to search for food in shallower places. researchers say because they're tending to swim further, they're more likely to run into trouble.

they usually appear stranded on the beach once they die at sea. and other times they arrive to the coast in bad condition, because they were not able to get enough food, and so they go to the beach to die. they found the females would venture further than the males, shown by this highlighted area. some even migrate as far as the waters off southern brazil, whereas the males would be happy travelling just as far as uruguay. this could be of great concern, and in particular because it's the female birds that are being stranded further north. and, of course, they need to be back at their colonies so that they can reproduce, and so they can maintain a viable bird colony and a viable population. the penguins are literally being transported in military aircraft and being flown back south towards their colonies. it's not known exactly what causes these strandings, but the fishing industry and man—made pollution is often blamed. magellanic penguins aren't

endangered, but fewer females could affect future numbers of this species. the team in patagonia are going to continue studying the same group to learn more about the routes they take to see what more can be done to help these penguins. laura foster, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's susan powell. good afternoon. a pretty quiet story for most of the uk at the moment, lots of sunshine and a bit of a northerly breeze. butjust look at cromer this morning, combined with