hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: heathrow has stopped all planes taking off, while police investigate the sighting of a possible drone. aiport arrivals are so far not currently affected. scotland yard says the police presence outside parliament is to be boosted, after some mps, including the conservative anna soubry, experienced abuse and intimidation. in a democracy, we want people to be able to speak to their politicians and we want people to be able to protest. what has been happening has gone way beyond that, but it is a minority. a very small group of right—wing extremists. the brexit secretary has cast doubt on claims that the departure date for the uk leaving the european union could be delayed, if mps reject theresa may's withdrawal agreement in a vote next week. a court has ruled that a scottish government investigation into complaints of sexual misconduct against the former first minister, alex salmond, was unlawful. and at least seven people have died and several others are missing,

after heavier than usual snow storms in the alps. we'll be bringing you sportsday later this half hour, but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. beyond 100 days will preview president trump's address to the nation, on what he calls a humanitarian and security crisis on america's southern border. we'll have the latest from heathrow, where departure flights have been suspended following a drone sighting. and mps are voting on a measure which may restrict the government's tax powers in the event of a no—deal brexit. that's all ahead on bbc news. heathrow airport has said it has halted flights following the suspected sighting of a drone. in a statement, the airport said it was working closely with the met police to prevent "any threat to operational safety", and departures had been stopped

while its investigations continued. it apologised to passengers for the inconvenience. we are now hearing that reuters is saying that flights have now resumed at heathrow airport. it was closed, or at least departures were stopped for about an hour, after about 5pm, it is now just for about an hour, after about 5pm, it is nowjust after half past six, we are hearing now from a couple of news agencies that flights have resumed, departures seem to have resumed, departures seem to have resumed from heathrow. you looking there at a satellite map of the departure area, we can see one actually beginning to proceed along the runway. actually, no, that is coming in to land. but you get the

sense there is activity following this alleged sighting of a drone a little earlier. bbc cameraman martin roberts was driving on the m25 at the time, right next to the motorway‘s junction with the airport. hello, martin. what did you see earlier today? hello, clive. iwas driving north on the m25 between junctions 15 and 16 at about 5:45, the traffic was fairly slow, so i could see eye to say about 300 feet up, very bright flashing red and green lights, stationery, which were stationery, i could tell it was a drone, these things are quite distinctive lights on it was not a helicopter. it was a very clear night and the object was still, it

was turning very slightly and i could see it very clearly from idc —— for i'd say about four or five minutes. so as far as you are concerned, was it a drone? yes, i would definitely say that was a drone. it was quite a large one as well. about 250 to 300 feet, if you are looking at the airport from the top, it would be in the kind of northwest corner of the airport. near the top of the northern runway. we were just looking at some pictures sent in to us. they seemed to suggest... yes, you can see that flashing light there in the night sky. that's what you felt you saw as well today? that's exactly what i saw, yes. very distinctive, bright

green, bright red, closely clustered together, at about 300 feet. definitely not a helicopter. i would put money on it being a drone, clive. i have worked with you, you know how these things work, you use drones everyday. what happened next? iam drones everyday. what happened next? i am keeping an eye on the traffic, we began to move a bit faster, than i had to concentrate on my driving. but yes, i would definitely say that was a drone. the north—west corner of the airport, probably quite new to the airfield boundary, if not just over the fence. obviously, other people saw that as well, including the person who filmed it, they called this in to the police. we know flights were prevented from taking off from the airport for over

an hour. are you getting any sense that planes are taking off from your vantage point? is there much you can still see? we're hearing flights have now resumed taking off. interestingly, as i was driving north on the m25, i noticed i had not seen any aircraft taking off. you can see quite clearly them coming in from the east, you can see this great column of lights as they are arriving, but nothing was departing, and as i got closer, i could see this tiny cluster of red and green lights. sort of very near to the airport, quite close to the edge, the end of the runway. and i just put two and two together and thought, well, this is a drone. ok, and following on from what happened in gatwick, very concerning. the authorities are taking this very

seriously. martin, many thanks for that. martin roberts, a bbc cameraman, who saw what he firmly believes was a drone in the night sky. the transport minister, chris grayling, has put out a tweet, saying the military were preparing to deploy equipment similar to that used at gatwick last month during similar destruction, if it proves necessary. we know the authorities at heathrow have been in touch with the home secretary and the defence secretary as well as the transport minister to put into place measures to deal with this. but clearly, the authorities taking this very seriously, the transport minister saying in a tweet that the minister we re saying in a tweet that the minister were playing —— the brain to deploy equipment similar to that used at gatwick. we know that for more than 36 hours, flights in and out of gatwick were shut down after multiple drone sightings there. the travel expert simon calderjoins us now. given what we saw at gatwick, the

authorities couldn't take any chances with these lights that seemed to appear in the sky today. 0bviously, airports across the country are now incredibly concerned and worried about this possible eventuality? they certainly are, but i'm afraid the government could be possibly calling a cobra meeting to discuss what appears to be a sustained attack on national infrastructure. bear in mind that gatwick, the busiest single runway at the airport in those 36 hours you mentioned, you had 1000 flights cancelled, 150,000 mentioned, you had 1000 flights cancelled, 150 , 000 people mentioned, you had 1000 flights cancelled, 150,000 people had their christmas travel plans ripped up. we have seen the closure for an hour, but it has happened at the world's busiest two runway airport, that means there are about 40 aircraft which did not depart. yes, they will

now be able to start getting away, but all the time, you have had arrivals coming in, gates not being available, it is going to be, i'm afraid, messy for the rest of the evening, and the hope will be first of all that there is no repeat of a drone activity, but secondly, you can get the operation back and working ready for tomorrow morning without having too many knock—on effects. yes, sure. a delay on planes taking off atjust over an hour, not catastrophic, but obviously there will be inconvenience for some people will stop but during the discussions and debates about what happened at gatwick, the suggestion was, we heard this from tom burridge earlier, that heathrow had measures in place to stop this kind of thing happening? yes, and heathrow told me that they had actually provided equipment and personnel to help

their big rival, gatwick, out during their big rival, gatwick, out during the event. clearly, if we need military style protection for the uk's biggest airports. remember, the third biggest airport is manchester, the fourth biggest is stansted, then luton, then edinburgh. that is a lot of investment simply to stop things not being too disrupted. it remains to be seen whether this was part of some really quite alarming, sinister campaign to shut down the busiest airports in britain, or whether this particular one, lasting an hour or so, was just somebody weighing whether drone they got for christmas! i hope it is the latter andi christmas! i hope it is the latter and i hope he or she gets out fairly quickly. but if it is more serious, more professional if you like, more sustained, then airports across the uk, across europe, will be worried. simon, many thanks. just to

reiterate, we're hearing from a spokesperson at heathrow airport that flights have resumed following reports of a drone sightings a little bit earlier on today. flights have resumed from heathrow. any more on that, we will bring it to do. now it is time for sportsday. hello, i'm 0lly foster, here's what coming up on sportsday this evening. rivalries will be renewed in the league cup semifinal. we'll be live at wembley in just a moment for spurs against chelsea. a ryder cup winner as player and vice captain — harrington is given the top job with europe. it's a massive year for netball — we talk to one of the roses stars making her return to the squad. cup football just doesn't stop at the moment —

tottenham and chelsea made it through to the fourth round of the fa cup over the last few days, and tonight they face each other in the semifinal of the league cup. the first leg is at wembley, spurs' temporary home — our correspondent katie gornall is there. good evening, katie. they rested players over those cup ties, expect them both to be back at full strength for this first leg. yes, i think we can expect changes for this one, not least because it is a second cup tie injust one, not least because it is a second cup tie in just a few days for both sides. you imagine that maurizio sarri would be wanting to namea maurizio sarri would be wanting to name a strong starting line—up to atone for their poor performance when these two teams last faced each other in november. chelsea were beaten 3—1 that day by spurs, it

could have been worse, they were overrun in midfield so he will want a better performance from his site tonight. an interesting subplot to this game, both managers despite all the plaudits coming their way, they haven't won a major honour in their managerial careers so far. they could because to changing that here tonight. i know that a major concern is that, but the behaviour of fans of both teams, both clubs have reminded the supporters of their responsibility after recent incidents. yes, that's right. chelsea as well as all that have said they are bringing in their own stewards to the game tonight to bolster security presence as part of a zero tolerance approach, they say, to anti—semitism and racist abuse. that follows a couple of high—profile incidents involving theirfansjust high—profile incidents involving their fans just before christmas, there were four fans were suspended for allegedly racially abusing

raheem sterling and a few days later, there were reports of chelsea fa ns later, there were reports of chelsea fans singing anti—semitic songs concerning spurs fans, at you rob the league tie in hungary. so chelsea are very keen to see that type of behaviour that is not repeated and that is why they are taking these extra steps here tonight. katie, many thanks. manchester city face burton in the other league cup tie tomorrow night. padraig harrington will captain europe in next year's ryder cup. he has been a successful player and vice captain and also won three major titles, but says he is putting his career on the line by taking over from thomas bjorn, who led europe to a convincing victory last year. i know it really does reflect a legacy, whether i am a successful captain or not. it's not something i just stroll into. even the timing looks like it was right and i was

the right person, the right time in my career. but i had to think, did i really wa nt my career. but i had to think, did i really want it? ultimately, i am doing this for the right reasons, because i really, really want to be a successful captain. let's get more on this now. andrew murray is with us. welcome. he said it there, he has put his legacy on the line, strong words. you were at brookline when he made his playing debut in the ryder cup, 20 years ago now. will he be a good captain? i think he will be a terrific captain. he made a winning start on his debut against a very inform opposition. but he is so studious, diligent, intelligentand brilliant with the media and i think he is an experienced player, really popular. and pretty popular on both sides of the atlantic as well, which is fairly rare. he has won a major

over there, i think he's a terrific captain. if you look at some office adapts, playing ryder cup matches, on the winning side, four times out of six, not fantastic points wise, but he knows the ryder cup inside and out, especially from that vice captaincy role. what do you think is needed to be a good captain? sometimes you think, what do they do? you have to be a great communicatorfor a do? you have to be a great communicator for a start. i do? you have to be a great communicatorfor a start. i think he isa communicatorfor a start. i think he is a terrific communicator. he will no doubt be a terrific communicator with the media as well. his playing record is in the best, but he was there or thereabouts, he played under six different captains as well. he will pick at the best of all those captaincy has played under, from bernhard langer to mark james, to vice captain under more recent captains. so i think he will

bea recent captains. so i think he will be a terrific captain, i hope he does well. i'm sure we will talk about him a lot. many thanks. england have named a squad of 12 for this month's quad series against australia, new zealand and south africa. that's four of the top five teams in the world. shooterjo harten is back in the squad after recovering from a knee injury, and joins us now. good evening. really important, this series, isn't it, with the world cup coming up injuly on home soil? i can't believe that this is the last time you are all going to play together before then. time you are all going to play together before thenlj time you are all going to play together before then. i know, it's a big one for us. everyone departs for their domestic season. myself playing for my club down in sydney. soa playing for my club down in sydney. so a huge test for the top four nations in the world. a great one to

be part of. the first match is coming up on sunday against new zealand in liverpool, where the world cup will be, then down to london for the conclusion. since the commonwealth gold, it seems a long time ago now, but you came as runners—up in the quad series down under, there was a series whitewash againstjamaica, under, there was a series whitewash against jamaica, who have under, there was a series whitewash againstjamaica, who have risen up the rankings, do you think things have gone wrong since that euphoria of the commonwealth? comeback was a little? i don't think we have gone backwards, i think we have put out different squads against some of the top nations in the world, coming second in the quad series was probably our best ever result back in september so that wasn't a step backward for us. the jamaica series was disappointing, but it was a useful side to gain that experience before the world cup. so all hugely important stepping stones. i think

we are getting down to is the business end, we have a strong squad, we are going out to win this one. all the very best to you, well done getting back into the squad after your knee injury. thanks for joining us. we will have more for you throughout the rest of the evening and bbc news. goodbye for now. you're watching bbc news. we have a live event