this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 10.00: a ‘catastrophic fire warning' is issued for parts of eastern australia, including sydney, amid record—breaking temperatures following months of severe drought. we saw the smoke and fire basically

rushing towards us over the hill, and basically, every minute it was probably another kilometre closer. eventually, it just hit probably another kilometre closer. eventually, itjust hit our fence and we were there at the house. the government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist cobham by an american company. a man who confronted the fishermongers‘ hall attacker with a narwal tusk describes his "deep hurt" that he couldn't save the two people who died. prince philip spends the night in hospital in london, to be treated for what's being described as a pre—existing condition. and coming up in half an hour, lucy hedges rounds up some of the travel show‘s best adventures from 2019.

good morning and welcome to bbc news. emergency services in austrialia have described conditions as "catastrophic" as hundreds of fires burn across the country, threatening every major city. firefighters in new south wales issued the highest possible warning, telling some people it's now too late to leave their homes. jon donnison reports. new south wales continues to burn. firefighters are battling more than 100 blazes across the state. for some, it is already too late. scores more homes have been destroyed, many have lost everything. it is horrific, devastating driving around. we feel pretty isolated where we are with the roadblocks. 0ur loved ones can't come in cs. everyone is offering to help, but there is nothing they can do. not for us now. just stay out,

stay safe and we hope that the forests can do theirjob. high winds, low humidity, and temperatures in the 40s have worsened conditions. we saw some partsjust north of worsened conditions. we saw some parts just north of sydney go upwards of 47 degrees. what we are currently seeing is a strong and vigorous change moving through. behind that, we have seen temperatures drop quite rapidly, but unfortunately, those winds are pushing defies new directions. the authorities have warned people not to travel at the christmas, with many drivers getting caught out.|j have driven through the mountains before when there have been fires. i guess it wasjust before when there have been fires. i guess it was just the extent, before when there have been fires. i guess it wasjust the extent, the extent, the amount of distance that you drove in the smoke. it is quite surreal. it is like driving through fog, except it is a slightly yellow, orange colour, the fog. the smell is really strong, the smell of burning and itjust

really strong, the smell of burning and it just keeps really strong, the smell of burning and itjust keeps going on. and with much of the state, including sydney, blanketed with smoke, doctors are warning people with breathing difficulties need to stay indoors. it isa difficulties need to stay indoors. it is a problem because we have never been exposed to such prolonged smoke before. and because we have never experienced this before, we don't know what the eventual outcome of this will be. and all this comes with us still in december. australia has not even reached a peak fire season. our correspondent, shaimaa khalil, is in the town of mittagong in new south wales. earlier she explained the scale of the fires. as you can see, catastrophic warnings still continue throughout the day. there were a group of firefighters and their trucks just a few moments before we came on air, and then all of a sudden, they got a call, their sirens were off, and then they were off onto the highway. itjust shows how

unpredictable it is. they have been speaking to me and they have been patrolling this area around mittagong for the whole day because another village has had a fire at an emergency level throughout the day, and they are really worried about what that would mean for this area. the main thing they are worried about at the moment is the wind. the wind behaviour is so unpredictable that it is not really possible to predict where the next fire is going to hit, where those embers that it is carrying are going to go, and how big it is going to be. the resources are so stretched all over the place, that at some point, it is impossible to put out a fire in its entirety. they are basically working building by building, house by house, and some cases, it is too late for people to leave their homes. that was our sydney correspondent. the government has approved the takeover of uk defence and aerospace company cobham. advent international, a us private equity firm, made its £4 billion offer

to buy cobham injuly. shareholders approved the deal last month. the cobham family, though, raised concerns about the security implications of a foreign takeover deal. our business correspondent, katie prescott, is here. asa as a result of those concerns, the government would conducted a review with its own. what were its conclusions? as you can see from this video here, most of that has been redacted, so it is quite hard to get into exactly what those national security concerns were, but the ministry of defence and the home 0ffice the ministry of defence and the home office space raised issues. particularly in relation to cobham's airto air refuelling, particularly in relation to cobham's air to air refuelling, which is what it is best known for. fuelling aeroplanes in the air. they are very dependent on this technology, so there are concerns that going forward , there are concerns that going forward, they might not have access to it. the government has said they are minded to approve this takeover. we had expected this, it is worth saying. they have

received assurances from cobham and advent international going forwards. they are saying that those assurances wouldn't be worth the deal —— the paper they were written on, once the deal was done. but clearly, the government is satisfied? the government is satisfied? the government is satisfied? the government is satisfied. they will get things like notice if advent international do intend to sell cobham. i spoke to a defence analyst earlier, he said that to become a military defence contractor, the rules are so rigid, that in many ways, it doesn't matter who the owner is because as a supplier, you need to behave in a certain way. very much. eric grove is a visiting fellow at the international institute for strategic studies. thank you for being with us on bbc news this morning. what you make at the government's decision? well, of course, it is an american

company, and are so closely integrated with the united states, our aircraft carriers will be carrying a us marine core, on the first deployment. so in fact, having an american company taking over is not really a tremendous security risk because we are so really a tremendous security risk because we are so integrated anyway. cobham have more factories in the united states than in britain. look at the figures, 1700 —— 1700 of them are in dorset. what are the significance of this technology? this airto air significance of this technology? this air to airfuelling? significance of this technology? this air to air fuelling? it is very significant indeed. flight refuelling is very important part of any organisation's capability. but on the other hand, we are so dependent on the americans anyway that i don't really see this making a huge amount of difference. we are heavily integrated already probably even more so after we heavily integrated already probably even more so after we leave the eu and so on, so i am

not too concerned. i understand why the cobham family i bit concerned about this because this was very much a british initiative and so on, in—flight refuelling was very much pioneered by our —— by cobham. so i don't see this being a problem. as i say, we are so don't see this being a problem. as i say, we are so integrated with the united states anyway, that this is just an additional... a slight change in the balance. the government says it relied on legal assurances that the company will ta ke assurances that the company will take what is offered. are those assurances enforceable? yes, well, i think any kind of company is not going to fall out with its major customers. cobham had problems. they have had problems with the united states. there was a legal case with a flight refuelling equipment for the latest american in—flight

refuelling. this is an area where it is very much in the company's interest to get on with its customers, and therefore, i don't really see why. .. customers, and therefore, i don't really see why... as much as i agree with the government, there is not really a national security concern here. the united states is our ally, it is just here. the united states is our ally, it isjust a here. the united states is our ally, it is just a part of the integration. thank you very much. the man who fought off the attacker at fishermongers' hall near london bridge using a narwhal tusk has given a dramatic account of how he was able to stop the knifeman and pin him to the ground. two people died in the attack last month. civil servant darryn frost has described how usman khan was running towards people with knives raised above his head, and wearing what looked like a suicide vest. this report from rich preston. this is the dramatic moment passers—by attempted to stop convicted terrorist usman khan. his attack had begun at fishmongers' hall, where he had just killed

two people. it was there darryn frost, a civil servant, took on khan, with others attending a prisoner rehabilitation event. describing for the first time what happened, mr frost told the press association that he took a narwhal task to defend himself after hearing a commotion from the floor below. he described the moment khan ran at him with knives raised above his head. he went on to recall chasing khan onto london bridge, where a group wrestled him to the ground, stopping him attacking anyone else, or set off what they thought was a suicide vest. talking about jack merritt and saskia jones, who were both killed by khan, mr frost said he will always feel the deep hurt of not being able to save them. he said he hoped speaking out would urge people to unite against terrorism and raise money for the victims‘ families. borisjohnson will serve christmas lunch to british troops in estonia later, during a visit to a nato

mission. the 850 soldiers from the queen's royal hussars at the tapa military base near tallinn represent the uk's largest operational deployment in europe. it might be the first time he's going as prime minister, but mrjohnson has been there before, as you can see from these pictures. in 2017 he went to the same base while he was foreign secretary, donning a uniform and even rode around in a british tank. the duke of edinburgh has spent the night in hospital in london, after being admitted for treatment for a pre—existing condition. prince philip — who's 98 — travelled there yesterday from the sandringham estate in norfolk. buckingham palace officials said the admission was a ‘precautionary measure'. he's expected to remain there for a few days. as usual at this time of year, much of the royal family is as usual at this time of year, much of the royalfamily is in residence at the sandringham estate. alison freeman is at sandringham, where the royal family traditionally spends

christmas. we saw the queen heading there yesterday on the train. what has been the reaction led to the absence of the duke? -- the reaction to. we had only seen a few people wandering round here this morning, but people are slightly concerned. we have been told he seems to be going 0k. the palace doesn't seem to be saying there is much cause for concern. they are describing him as going into hospitalfor a pre—existing condition. some treatment for that, but it is just a precaution. prince philip spends most of his time on the estate here, now he lives here. he travelled down from london yesterday. there isn't a sense of alarm around what has happened to him at the moment. the queen was carrying on with her business as usual yesterday. as he was travelling to london, she was travelling to london, she was

travelling appeared to start the beginning of her usual christmas holiday. she is going to bejoined over the weekend by the prince of wales, camilla, the duke and duchess of cambridge and their children, but it is not known yet whether prince philip is going to bejoining them as well. going back to his condition, we don't really know what thatis, condition, we don't really know what that is, but in the past, he has had a hip replacement. he has also had a ste nt a hip replacement. he has also had a stent fitted. he has had an abdominal injury. we don't know if any of those are relevant to what he is being treated for. the queen is going back to business, getting the train up to sandringham yesterday. the cameras were on her as usual as she arrived here, and she didn't seem she arrived here, and she didn't seem to be showing any outward sign of concern. the prince is 98 years old, so of course, they are going to be taken care with his health. the big question is whether he will make it happier to spend christmas with the rest of the royals. it is a big deal. we all know those pictures of the family going to the local church

here on christmas day for the local service, and spending time chatting to local well—wishers afterwards. so whether they will get to do that this year, we don't know. we will have to see where they come to sandringham. we are hoping he will be. it looks like the queen will have been glad to have left behind at the london rain. it looks lovely where you are. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: a ‘catastrophic fire warning' is issued for parts of eastern australia, including sydney, amid the government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist cobham by an american company. a man who confronted the fishermongers‘ hall attacker with a narwhal tusk describes his "deep hurt" that he couldn‘t save the two people who died. sport, and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s holly

hamilton. the champions of europe will be playing the champions of south america, and liverpool are taking this very seriously. yes, from the moment we knew we were going to be part of this, it was yes! we want to go, we want to play, we wa nt yes! we want to go, we want to play, we want to win because as a player, you don‘t have a lot of opportunities in life to win this competition, so let‘s give it a go. and the world cup final is live later on bbc one. arsenal, after weeks of speculation after naming former captain mike too as new head coach yesterday, we spoke to him at a press conference. i have to try to convince the players of what i want to do, how i want to do it.

they have to start accepting a different process , have to start accepting a different process, a different way of thinking, and! process, a different way of thinking, and i wanted to get all this stuff from everybody with the same mindset. you know, you have to build a culture. you have to sustain the rest. no difficult moments, the tree is going to shake. so myjob is to say to everybody, this is how we are going to live. so this kind of conversation, we have to live in these terms and this way. now to everton, who are also looking for a new manager. a name on the cards is carlo al gelati,. there are six more games this afternoon, including leicester away at manchester city, who are third. the scottish premiership leaders, celtic, host aberdeen today. rangers are behind after a 3—0 win against hibs. but

things turned pretty ugly when ryan was sent off for a reckless challenge. and objects, including a glass bottle, were thrown at him while he was lying on the ground. assista nt while he was lying on the ground. assistant manager and rangers coach john culshaw being sent to the stands. the battery was not impressed full stop macclesfield town are unlikely to face more punishment from the football league, after their home game against plymouth had to be postponed. they weren‘t convinced that their ground was safe, and served a zero capacity notice, meaning no funds will be admitted. they have already been docked six points. gloucester thrashed their local rivals, wister, 36-3, to thrashed their local rivals, wister, 36—3, to move up to third in the rugby union‘s premiership. it took them a while to get going, gloucester scored five tries, including a double.

and there were two tries for max deegan, as lei nster two tries for max deegan, as leinster beat ulster, 44 — 50 two —— and onto the darts. peter wright went dressed there as an elf. he was nearly left on the shelf though, in the pdc championship. he is known as snakebite, and he is on the verge of going out. but he avoided nightmare before christmas as he went on to when, ina before christmas as he went on to when, in a deciding set to beat his opponent 3—2. that is all your support for now. back to you. thank you. more than 100 flood warnings remain in place in england — with further heavy rain expected across the south of the country. the met office says up to 30 millimetres is forecast in some areas and yellow weather warnings are in place. 0n the final weekend before christmas, flooding is causing disruption to travel plans for those

intending to take the train — with lines in parts of kent and sussex submerged. with warnings of further flooding and disruption over this — the busiest travel weekend of the winter — i‘m joined by the independent‘s travel editor — simon calder. there are good to have you in the studio with us. probably the safest place to be at the moment. what about those problems festival yesterday that travellers experience to? absolutely. one of the busiest rail lines in europe is the london to gatwick to brighton line, and from the very first thing, there was flooding in a placejust from the very first thing, there was flooding in a place just south of gatwick airport. as a result of that, the entire line was severed there. almost nothing running, tens of thousands of people trying to either get to london or to gatwick airport, and hundreds of them sadly missed their flights. they finally, after a lot of hard work, got the line open late yesterday. and then there was a power cut at gatwick airport, so they couldn‘t use most

of the platforms. that is all running absolutely fine now, they say. but problems on the kent to medway valley line. elsewhere, south—west of london around epsom, there are problems there. and a new one has just popped there are problems there. and a new one hasjust popped up between yeovil and salisbury, on one of the relatively rare trains that are running on the south—western rails way that the minute, with the strikes. yes, so they still running? that has stopped running for the time being, but hoping to get it back but by lunchtime. waterloo, the busy station normally, it is not now, as the strike is causing that half the trains around surrey, yorkshire and devon... what about the roads? this can be a horrible day to travel. yes. actually, because of one christmas day is, in

the middle of the week, this has actually spread the load. we have already seen wednesday thursday and friday being the estimated peak days. right up to this afternoon, if you could postpone yourjourney after that, that would be good. the rac is particularly warning of going southbound on the m42 bucks. probably the worst of the whole christmas bell will be tomorrow, between 10am and a 4pm, going on north on the m1, two daventry. and then also, on the good old m25. you mentioned problems with gatwick yesterday. any other problem at the airport so far? the airports are looking relatively calm. we have got a few odd cancellations. dublin to heathrow. hq big planes set off late this morning, so there are going to bea this morning, so there are going to

be a lot of people wondering if they are going to make their connections in dubai. but they are looking 0k. we are more worried about ferries, actually, particularly in the western channel. some ferry companies have cancelled their ferries this evening from portsmouth to... we are expecting some vile weather coming in from the atlantic. those are very busy, one car every six seconds they say. and the fts say to turn up two hours ahead. if you‘re getting the eurostar to paris, not all of them have been cancelled. most of them are actually still running, but once you get to the french capital, your problems could simply be beginning because there are so many —— like there is so there are so many —— like there is so much disruption caused by the nation‘s protests. so much disruption caused by the nation's protests. yes, the prime minister was saying he hopes people can go home for christmas. people hoping to escape for sunshine in

australia, that prospect might not be so appealing right now? well no, new south wales, as you have been reporting earlier, there are catastrophic risks. sydney of course, a popular holiday destination, but it appears so far that none of the is airline allowing people sex ability. so your tickets as you are going to sydney tomorrow, time to get there by —— allowing people flexibility. time to get there tomorrow,... and you have been reporting, they have been experiencing some awful natural disasters. thank you very much. president trump has signed into law the creation of a us space force, the country‘s first new military service in 70 years. he described space as "the world‘s newest war—fighting domain". the force‘s creation is part of a $738 billion this defence bill voted through by congress last week.

there are going to be a lot of things happening in space because space is the world‘s newest warfighting domain. amid grave threats to our national security, america‘s superiority there are going to be a lot of things happening in space in space is absolutely vital. and we are leading, but we are not leading by enough. but shortly, we will be leading by a lot. the space force will help us deter aggression and control the ultimate high ground. christmas celebrations in the uk often centre on food, drink and family gatherings, but campaigners are warning that the party season can place additional strain on those living with eating disorders. the nhs and the eating disorder charity, beat, have issued new advice for people with conditions such as anorexia and bulimia on how to cope at christmas. stand—up comedian dave chawner discusses his experience of living with an eating disorder. when it first started for me, i was 17, and i remember back then, i had

got exams, i had got essays, i had research, all of the stresses and strains that most teenagers have. but i didn‘t have a coping mechanism, i didn‘t have a way of dealing with it, and actually focusing on calories, focusing on exercise and weighing myself was something that i could control. so it was something that became really important because when everything felt really unmanageable, those are the things that i could manage. those are the things that i could focus on, and over time, that became an obsession, and addiction, it became a control that, it was something that i could focus on when everything else felt like it was completely unmanageable. one of the misconceptions about anorexia is people think that anorexics don‘t like food or don‘t think about food, but that was my every waking thought. because as soon as i say to you, you can‘t have anything, that is the only thing that you can think about. so i was constantly thinking about food, i was constantly totting up calories in my brain, i was constantly thinking of excuses or

ways i could get out of things. and also something that we see with people is they tend to binge and purge a lot. so i was eating whole sausage rolls and stuff, not even chewing them, just getting them down. tom quinn is the director of external affairs at beat, the charity involved in this campaign. dave, who is a comedian, was making a joke that, but for a lot of the people, this is incredibly serious, particularly at this time of year. it must be one the most stressful? absolutely. for many of us, it is a holiday that is focused on food and eating. so for many people who struggle with eating, it candy a really difficult time. also, it is a time often, unusual —— usual routines and structures are quite in place. so it is important that people who are struggling with their families plan at

this time. what helps people suffering from conditions like this in terms of managing it, not throwing them into unexpected situations? what we would suggest is the family get together beforehand and actually plan out the meal, so that the person suffering knows exactly what is coming. we would also recommend that any relatives who are coming along are also sensitively spoken to about, actually, let‘s not make it about the food. let‘s not make comments about how people look or about eating. let‘s make it a family time, but not focused on the meal. the twin difficulties that come from that, i suppose, twin difficulties that come from that, isuppose, is twin difficulties that come from that, i suppose, is the house is filled with a lot more people. secondly, people are in the house for a lot longer than they might otherwise be. and thirdly, there is a tendency to snack or have food around you at all times over christmas. it is kind of hard to ta ke christmas. it is kind of hard to take this thing out, without them becoming an issue in and of itself?

that is true, but we would say, try to keep the food in one room. clear it away once it has finished. there are it away once it has finished. there a re lots of it away once it has finished. there are lots of other activities that are lots of other activities that are nice to do around christmas. board games, i walk, a are nice to do around christmas. board games, iwalk, a movie. lots of things to do that under radford. your charity operates around christmas, so people can get in touch if they are worried about the christmas period? absolutely. our helpline is open throughout the christmas period. for pm three to 8pm. the number is 0808, 801, 0877. you can also go to our website. for young people at the moment, how does it affect young families? yes, but in some ways it is a good thing. we are not sure that eating disorders amongst young people has gone up. what has happened is more people are

coming forward for help, there is more awareness. the nhs are making sure there are places available, so support is out there. if people are worried about their loved ones, seek help. thank you. from next month, around 2000 children with severe epilepsy will become eligible for a cannabis based treatment on the nhs in england. the charity epilepsy action said it could be life—changing, as our health editor hugh pym reports. children with two types of severe epilepsy will be eligible for the cannabis—based medicine. they can suffer with multiple seizures each day. epidiolex has been shown by clinical trials to reduce the number of seizures by 40% in some children, if used in combination with another medicine. it will be available on prescription on the nhs in england from 6th january, and is already accessible to patients in wales. epidiolex is still being appraised by regulators in scotland. the medicines contains the cannabis compound cdb, but not

the compound thc. campaigners argue that only medicines with both constituents will help people with epilepsy. no deal has changed on the 1st of november 2018, so that specialist doctors could write a prescription, for something containing both cbc and thc. but shockley, to our knowledge, since the law change, not a single prescription has been issued on the nhs that the medicines that contain both the cbd and the thc. charlie hughes used to have up to 120 seizures a day. but, since he has been treated with cannabis oil, that number is down to single figures. the family, though, has to spend more than £1,300 a month to get the treatment through a private prescription. the latest announcement won‘t help

them.