to win a—s and reach the semi—finals of the league cup. as the christmas getaway begins, strong winds could hamper the journey for some this weekend. i will have the details from festive —looking hampton court palace. it's friday the 20th of december. our main story. there are calls for tomorrow's deadline for applying for pension credit to be extended, amid fears that thousands of older people will miss out on their winter fuel payment. qualifying for pension credit is the main way to get the fuel payment, but the liberal democrats say there are still vulnerable older people who have not applied, and the charity age uk says it's being inundated with requests for help with the process. our correspondent aruna iyengar has more. since 1997, the winter fuel allowance has been a lifeline for many pensioners. but after the government announced

in july that the payment would go only to those receiving pension credit, there's been a surge in first time applications. now there are calls for the government to extend tomorrow's deadline. the government have made this awful decision to slash winter fuel payments. what we're saying is that the least they can do is to make sure that everybody possible who could qualify for pension credit and qualify for winter fuel payments has the opportunity to do so. and we're saying it's a very straightforward thing. let's just extend the deadline just to make sure that nobody is missing out due to lack of time. the charity age uk states it's already too late. they say there's a three—month wait for pension credit claims to be processed, and has been inundated with requests for help. we know that many of those claims will be successful, but, unfortunately, some won't be. and for some older people, they still haven't heard about pension credit or the form is too overwhelming. and there is help available, but, of course, the system is overwhelmed at the moment. there were 91,000 unprocessed claims

for pension credit in mid—november. the government brought in around 500 extra staff to process applications to help deal with demand. around 9,000 claims are being processed each week and that's double the amount being processed in august. the prime minister said most pensioners will soon be in a better financial position. a pensioner, as it were, a year ago, facing the winter, even with the winter fuel allowance, will not be as well off as a pensioner after the £460, £470 next april. but that is only because we can maintain the triple lock. will this policy be a hit or miss? politicians talk of tough choices, but it's the elderly who are deciding whether to turn the thermostat up or down. aruna iyengar, bbc news. you have an announcement that it is

important about the relationship between the us and uk. particularly with the incoming president in the usa. lord mandelson will be formally confirmed as the uk's next ambassador to the united states today. the labour veteran who served in the cabinets of both sir tony blair and gordon brown will succeed dame karen pierce, whose term in washington will end early next year. 0ur political correspondent helen catt reports. peter mandelson has been a familiar face in the labour party for decades. he was one of the driving forces behind the creation of new labour in the i990s, a trusted adviser to tony blair with a reputation as a master of spin. he'd been rumoured as a potential candidate for a while, but had been cagey when asked about being the ambassador. would you be interested if you were asked? - i would be very interested, indeed, in giving advice about trade to whoever is appointed. elected as the mp for hartlepool in 1992, peter mandelson went on to serve in tony blair's cabinet,

but was forced to resign twice. in the noughties, he went to brussels as the european trade commissioner before returning as business secretary under gordon brown. it's his experience of trade that is one of the reasons behind his appointment as ambassador. donald trump has talked of imposing big tariffs on imports into the us, which the prime minister yesterday told mps the uk needed to avoid. it won't come as any surprise to you that i'm not a fan of tariffs. and, therefore, we have to make sure that we avoid tariffs. we've got very good trade with the us as we've got very good trade with other countries around the world. i want to improve on that. a government source said that lord mandelson was close to the prime minister, with unrivalled political and policy experience, particularly on the crucial issue of trade. it's also thought his political nous will help him handle what could be a tricky relationship with an unpredictable president.

one thing that is a certainty with the trump government is in that 5am tweet storm that comes most mornings of the week, at some point, trump will say something, will tweet something that will be quite a story in the uk — he did so several times in his first term. so peter mandelson, i'm sure, will be prepared for that and be prepared for a bumpy and difficult ride. but he clearly wanted the job very much, so i'd say good luck to him. not everyone is going to welcome this appointment. peter mandelson remains divisive within labour, particularly for those on the left of the party. but it is how he gets on with donald trump and his administration that will really matter. he and the white house had already been told about the appointment. helen catt, bbc news. following a three—month trial that shocked the world, the ex—husband of gisele pelicot is beginning a 20—yearjail term for drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was unconscious.

he was on trial with 50 other men, all of whom were found guilty of at least one charge. 0ur correspondent hugh schofield reports. gisele pelicot left the court to the cheers of supporters. this has been a long ordeal. she could have chosen to stay anonymous, but she insisted the trial be in public so that the shame of rape should, as she put it, be felt by the other side. translation: i want to express my deepest gratitude to all the people | who have supported me throughout this ordeal. i was overwhelmed by your support and i drew from it the strength to come back every day to face these long days of hearings. 0thers left court in a different way. all the accused, including her ex—husband, dominique, were found guilty. most were taken straight to jail. a handful were freed because of time served in pre—trial custody, and they had to run the gauntlet of the public outside.

50 men were identified who had come to her bedroom to rape or abuse the drugged gisele pelicot. 50 men forming a cross—section of society, said some. a psychiatrist who interviewed many of them had a more nuanced view. translation: one thing | want | to debunk is the notion that these are alljust ordinary men. that's what we've heard, right? that they could have been anyone. but committing acts like this is not possible for everyone. it is simply not true. across france, people reacted to the news of the convictions with satisfaction. translation: i think it's good that justice has been done. _ it's so rare for people to be convicted. i hope this is an example. i hope this will be useful and that it will enable women's rights and all forms of sexual and gender based violence to be recognised and to go to trial. translation: now, i think we have to be aware of the danger and, - above all, we have to believe the women who testify to this kind of thing.

we have to support them. gisele pelicot said she wanted the trial to change attitudes, change attitudes to rape and male predatory sex. the respect and admiration with which this unassuming woman is so widely held here give hope that she may be right. hugh schofield, bbc news, in avignon. american diplomats are in the syrian capital of damascus for the first time in more than a decade. they plan to meet the country's de—facto leaders from the militant group hts. washington still classifies the group as a terrorist organisation, but officials are expected to set out conditions which could see that status changed. a deal backed by donald trump to prevent us government services from shutting down has failed to pass in the house of representatives. if an agreement isn't reached by the end of today, hundreds of thousands of government workers will go unpaid from the weekend. luigi mangione, the man accused of shooting dead the head of america's biggest health insurance company, has made his first court

appearance in new york, charged with murder. he was flown into the city amid intense security from pennsylvania, where he was arrested 11 days ago. local councils in england are being told how much they'll receive of nearly £1.6 billion of funding set aside to fix potholes. the conservatives accused the government of not being on the side of motorists, whilst the transport secretary has promised that people will start to see an improvement on the roads. 0ur political correspondent harry farley reports. a burning anger caused by potholes — something many of us can relate to. in the budget, the chancellor promised a £500 million increase in the money to improve roads in england. that's on top of the £1 billion the previous government announced. now we find out how much each area will get. over 372 million for the east midlands and west midlands. 327 million for the north west, north east and yorkshire and humber. 322 million for the south east and london.

300 million for the south west and 244 million for the east of england. a lot of people are going to be driving home for christmas this weekend, many roads are a bit like an obstacle course with potholes and roadworks, and so it's really critical that we get on and change people's experience of the roads and give people some hope that, this time next year when they're going home for christmas, the roads will be in a better state. but such is the scale of the problem, the backlog in repairs could cost more than £16 billion, and a quarter of the extra money will be held back until councils show they are getting on with thejob. we will keep pressing for the fact that, you know, you've allocated the local authorities a particular sum of money. let's have it, let's get on and give us that assurance and certainty that we can start investing. because we can't keep continuing patching. the rac said the potholes are the number—one issue facing motorists. i don't think there's any question that 1.6 billion will put all our roads right,

but it's a question of fixing the dangerous potholes and then starting to starting to do the preventative maintenance that will keep them in good order going forward. long—term, we'd like to see our roads brought back up to a fit—for—purpose state. this, we believe, is the first step in doing that. why does your government need a reset already? - keir starmer wants his government's new focus to be on things impacting daily life, and potholes is one example of the concrete difference he hopes to make. harry farley, bbc news, in westminster. we'd like to hearfrom you on this. do you have a photo of a big pothole that's not been repaired? has your car been damaged because of one? if you are a cyclist,. we will speak to the transport secretary at 7.30. some people in hampshire will be waking up to running water for the first time since wednesday, as engineers have been working through the night to fix an ongoing issue. 0ur reporterjon cuthilljoins us from a leisure centre in eastleigh

where people have been collecting bottled water. we saw you yesterday morning. there must be relieved today?— must be relieved today? there is. the numbers _ must be relieved today? there is. the numbers look _ must be relieved today? there is. the numbers look better. - must be relieved today? there is. l the numbers look better. southern water released figures late last night with 38,000 of the 58,000 people without water have had the supply restored. we expect an update at seven o'clock this morning. behind me is the pick—up station that was so busy yesterday. it reopens at eight o'clock this morning along with three others. clearly, southern water still expect problems. they warned yesterday it might be the weekend before normal services were restored. it seems to be more positive. they sounded more positive about the rate of return yesterday. some of the supply stations were open until midnight last night. 0ne fewer open today,

three will be open. we are getting detail about what went wrong in the water supply. detail about what went wrong in the watersupply. it detail about what went wrong in the water supply. it is going through a quarter of £1 billion upgrade over seven years and when they turned kitbag on on tuesday they noticed a dirty water that could not be released. we will find out how many are still without water at eight o'clock when this place reopens. thanks very much. it was the final night of sir paul mccartney's tour last night and he had a treat for his fans when he welcomed his former beatles band—mate sir ringo starr to the stage while playing to a packed crowd at london's o2 arena. # sgt pepper's lonely. # sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band. the pair then performed their hit sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band. the beatles�* drummer said he'd had a great night as he said goodbye to fans.

a lot of people who went to that say it was fantastic. what an atmosphere knowing probably the last time you will see those two playing together. and did you see how cold jon look? and did you see how cold jon look? and we go to matt at hampton court palace, rubbing your hands warm to keep warm. palace, rubbing your hands warm to keep warm-— palace, rubbing your hands warm to kee warm. ., ., ~' , , keep warm. looking very festive. the friday before — keep warm. looking very festive. the friday before christmas. _ keep warm. looking very festive. the friday before christmas. we - keep warm. looking very festive. the friday before christmas. we are - keep warm. looking very festive. the friday before christmas. we are at i friday before christmas. we are at hampton court this morning, once the home of henry viii. it has seen many a tudor christmas which we will find out about through the morning and before charlie asks, i am not getting on the ice rink. it is something to do with elf and safety. we could see strong winds hampering christmas travel this weekend,

especially on ferries and roads later. today, blustery through the day. rain for some after a dry and bright start in the south and east. scotland and northern ireland, rain pushing into northern and western england and wales. the further south and east, staying dry during daylight hours. the breeze may be gale force in the west later. temperatures average. around 7—9. tonight, rain in east anglia and south—east will clear. more rain in the north and west later. it will help temperatures later. the temperatures you are seeing probably earlier before it is milder tomorrow morning. it is winter solstice with the least amount of daylight tomorrow. it will be cloudy across

england and wales to begin with rain and drizzle which will be confined to southern counties through the day. most places brightening up to sunshine and showers but gale is developing in the north and west, and while it will be a milder day, colder air pushes in from the north later. and sunday looking more windy across the uk but more details in around half an hour.— across the uk but more details in around half an hour. what i got out ofthat around half an hour. what i got out of that is you _ around half an hour. what i got out of that is you know _ around half an hour. what i got out of that is you know me _ around half an hour. what i got out of that is you know me well - around half an hour. what i got out| of that is you know me well because i love the shortest day because it marks longer days ahead. four teenagers are starting life sentences for murdering two boys who were stabbed to death in a case of mistaken identity. best friends 16—year—old max dixon and 15—year—old mason rist were attacked by a gang of youths armed with machetes in bristol. 0ur reporter fiona lamdin was in court yesterday to hear thejudge pass her sentence. the offences are made

worse by these things — taking and using that long and dangerous knife. how scared mason and max would have been being chased by four boys they didn't know. boys who were carrying those long knives. mason being stabbed and dying outside his front door where his mother has to walk every day. four teenage boys handed life sentences for the killing of best friends max and mason. 18—year—old riley tolliver, 17—year—old kodi wescott, a 16 and a 15—year—old. we can't reveal their identities because they're too young. but the judge did decide to name wescott, as he was the main ringleader. mason was and will always be a massive part of our family. he was just a normal 15—year—old. these juveniles have not only destroyed ourfamilies, but, to an extent, their own lives

and that of their own families. and we hope that as they grow older and mature, hopefully in prison, they do fully come to realise the extent of what they have done on that evening of saturday, the 27th of january. on that evening, max and mason were at home on their playstation, until mason became hungry. he messaged max, who sneaked out to call for him. when i see max and mason on the cctv, when i see them meet up with each other, ijust look at him and i can see him smiling. and what's sad is those boys don't know what's going to happen to them. they have no idea what's going to happen to them when they walk out of that gate. and they must have been petrified, because they were just going to get some food. four teenagers tooled up, armed with a sword and machetes, run at max and mason. 33 seconds later, they were

dying on the street. this is an attack on two boys that were unconnected, two children that were unconnected, committed by children. in my police service, thankfully, i never have an investigation like this to investigate again. an hour earlier that same saturday night, bricks were thrown at a house in hartcliffe, three miles away. for the first time, we can report that this attack was on kodi westcott�*s home. he was inside with his mother. she was hurt and had to go to hospital and kodi westcott wanted revenge. he gathered his cousin, riley tolliver, and two other teenagers. they were convinced that people from just up the road in knowle west were responsible. anthony snook, his mum's friend, was the chauffeur. after the attack, the group panicked. kodi westcott�*s older brother, bailey westcott, lit a fire and burnt their clothes

in the back garden. he later messaged his younger brother, telling him to play dumb if he was arrested. kodi westcott replied saying, "i'll tell them i ain't splashed no little kid." with over 300 officers on the case, the police investigation was fast paced. by the end of the first week, all their killers had been caught. 0k, riley. listen, fella, then. all right, so the time is 6.13 in the evening. at the moment of time, you're under arrest on suspicion of murder. and this was the moment there was a knock on the door for the eldest boy, riley tolliver. can i get up, please? yes, of course you can. the jury had heard riley was armed with a baseball bat, which he used to chase and attack mason, but he wasn't carrying a knife. i think people need to realise that you might not attack someone, but, if you're in that group, that you can be done for murder,

because only one person attacked my son, but five have been found guilty of his murder. last month, their driver, 45—year—old anthony snook, was given two life sentences and was told he'd spent a minimum of 38 years in prison. collectively, with anthony snook, they will serve a total of 118 years. they were relentless in their mission to hunt down max and mason. these sentences will never bring those boys back or do them justice. i'm not letting myself feel angry yet, because i'm worried about how how that will change me. because, at the moment, i'm upset — i'm too upset to think about my anger. i try not to think about them because it takes away my love for max. so i try not to focus on them, because i don't want to be angry. so i always put max in front

of everything, you know? so i concentrate more on max than i do them. i think...they've got to live with what they've done for the rest of their life. for max and mason's family, facing their first christmas without their boys, these sentences bring very little comfort. fiona lamdin, bbc news. and if you want to find out more about the lives of max and mason and the investigation which brought their killers to justice , there's a special film on the bbc iplayer — it's called the mistaken identity murders. let's take a look at today's papers. many of them lead with an image of the woman gisele pelicot, whose ex—husband has been jailed for 20 years in a mass rape trial which has shocked france. the mirror describes her as the world's bravest woman. the guardian also leads with that story — reporting on some of the reaction to the verdicts. the paper quotes the german

chancellor 0laf scholz saying that pelicot has given "women around the world a strong voice". the times focuses on the economy for its main story. it looks at comments by the bank of england governor, andrew bailey, who says that "with the heightened uncertainty in the economy", the bank didn't say when interest rates will be cut next. the daily telegraph focuses on the news that lord mandelson will be named as the uk's next ambassador to the us. the paper believes the reasoning for the appointment is so that the uk "may be able to navigate potential trade wars". this weekend, the king will make a special appearance in a festive episode of countryfile, filmed at his private residence, highgrove. the episode features staff and students from the king's foundation, who've been learning traditional skills using british timber, and presented the king with a hand—crafted decoration. is this the one we could try? yeah, sure, yeah, please do. yeah. um, no. choose carefully, your majesty.

i have to go, i think... that's wonderful, isn't it? it's rather nice because you see the light through. yeah. your majesty, you must be so proud of everything here and what you've created. that vision that you had, you know, a long time ago and here it is — all these students. incredible. the great thing is, they're all interested. but it's really trying to get, you know, to maintain the timeless skills which are always needed, really. yes. whatever age we live in. yeah. and they're all rather disappearing, so it's a bit of a battle to try and keep everything — all the special ones going. yeah. well, it's wonderful to see that you're doing what you can. at least we can try and do something here. yeah. well, thank you so much. you're very kind. and a merry christmas. are you coming for a stiff drink of some kind? countryfile christmas at highgrove will be on bbc one on sunday the 22nd december at 5.30pm, and on the iplayer after.

coming up. a vegetarian piranha. a snake named after leonardo dicaprio. they are among new species that have been discovered in the past year. we'll be finding out more about them and others at 7.20 time to get the news, travel and weather where you are. hello, good morning from bbc london, i'm paul murphy—kasp. the number of 24—hour venues in london has dropped by two thirds in a year, according to home office statistics. there are now fewer than 60 pubs, bars and nightclubs with a 24—hour licences in london, with many of them opting not to use their licenses at all, due to spiralling overhead costs. it's extremely challenging to operate 24 hours. there is no infrastructure there in terms of transport through to policing.

there's elements throughout the night where you get to a point where you have no assistance, you have no help, you have no—one to even call if there is an issue, and you are the ones that's having to mop up the pieces, notjust for your venue and for your crowd, but even for the local area. hackney council is to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds more than planned as part of work to recover from a cyber attack in 2020. accounts show that £344,000 has gone towards hiring more agency staff, partly to manage a backlog caused by the attack. a further £413,000 is being spent on it consultants with "cybersecurity knowledge". as the capital gears up to celebrate christmas and new year, london ambulance service says it has already seen demand rising to levels usually only seen on new year's eve, with more than 7,000 calls taken in one day recently. it's urging londoners to celebrate safely and only use 999 in serious medical emergencies. a north london tube station is due to reopen next week following extensive work to replace old escalators and refurbish

the ticket hall. transport for london closed kentish town underground station 18 months ago to fix what it called the most unreliable escalators on the network but that date was pushed back twice because of degrading concrete in the building. let's take a look at how tfl services are doing this morning. 0n the piccadilly line there's still no service between rayners lane and uxbridge because of damage to the trains caused by leaf fall. there are also minor delays on the circle line and on the north—western end of the metropolitan line. now onto the weather with kawser. hello there, good morning. well, it's a chilly start to the day but a dry and bright start initially. but as we head through the day it becomes more unsettled. cloudy conditions with some outbreaks of rain. for the time being, though, still quite dry and bright but that cloud will build and as we head through to the afternoon, some outbreaks of rain arriving in from the west. and temperatures around eight to 10 celsius. so for this evening, it starts off quite cloudy and damp. there will be a window of some drier, clearer weather but by the end of the night, cloud will build once again and with it some patchy rain. and less chilly than last night,

temperatures down to around five to six celsius. so cloudy and damp to start the weekend, outbreaks of rain spreading through and by the end of the day it should become a bit drier and brighterfor some of us. but it will be windy out there, gusts quite widely reaching 30 to 40 miles an hour and quite mild as well. now, for tomorrow night, drier and clearer but remaining windy and then for sunday, too, those winds remain very strong. there will be some sunshine, some showers. it will be drier next week but it will be a bit milder as well. that's it for now, but over on bbc radio london and on bbc sounds, you canjoin riz lateef to talk about your memories of christmases past. i'm back with more in half an hour but for now it's back to charlie and naga. goodbye. hello, this is breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. migrants from vietnam now make up the fourth largest group of people crossing the channel in small boats to come to the uk, with many finding

work illegally in places like nail bars. despite a national crackdown, including raids on suspected businesses, many manage to evade being detected by authorities. 0ur reporter divya talwar has more. mid—morning, south wales. immigration enforcement teams are visiting workplaces where they suspect people are working illegally. you were working when i came in, you were working this week? 0n the basis of what you're telling me at the moment i'm arresting you. can you explain to her that i'm arresting her? so there was a woman working in the shop. she was wearing a pink tracksuit. she saw the the officers and she ran out the back of the shop. and i think the officers have gone, you can see one of them running to try and track her down at the back. have you got some identification on yourself? 0h, in my house. 0k~ _ yeah, at the lights by the train station at the moment. are you in position? the government says it's ramped up

visits on premises like nail bars, barber shops and restaurants, arresting over 2000 people since july. if an employer hires an illegal worker now, they can get fined £45,000 for, you know, for every illegal worker. and if they offend again subsequently, it could be £60,000. it sends a message out that, you know, that you shouldn't be coming here to work illegally. you know, people still do and we'll keep going out and trying to catch them. despite a national crackdown, we found many are still working underground and hiding from authorities. the number of people arriving in the uk by small boats exceeds 30,000 this year, with vietnamese nationals being one of the largest groups making the perilous journey. i met this young vietnamese man who paid thousands to smugglers to come to the uk, and has been working under the radar since. we've agreed to hide his identity in return forfinding out more about his criminal activity. when he first arrived, he worked in a cannabis farm. i would not allowed to leave. staying in that house,

i always felt scared, scared of being robbed, scared of being caught by the police. after he was robbed, he moved to working in nail bars, trying to pay off smuggling debts. but he says the stiff competition forjobs and works dried up because he doesn't have the right skills. there are so many people arriving in the uk recently, it has become much harder. can you understand why people listening to your story may not be very sympathetic? you came to the uk illegally, carried out dangerous and criminal work while you were here. people can think what they want. i want to tell the truth to those wanting to take a similar route as mine. please do not come here to work illegally. she currently has no permission to work in the uk. as immigration raids take place nationally, we find many businesses are on high alert. posts on vietnamese facebook groups

warn businesses about the raids. others offer services to keep a lookout for officers, and there are still hundreds of posts from people here illegally looking for nail barjobs. posing as a vietnamese skilled nail technician in the uk without a visa, a team member called a dozen nail bars to see if they'd give her a job. i got thejob. this shop, she asked me when they can come. so she wasn't deterred that you didn't have papers. within an hour, she'd been offered work at two nail bars. clearly, the risk of huge fines isn't a deterrent to some employers in need of cheap, skilled workers. for those working underground, life in the uk is very different from what the smugglers promised them. this man's been sofa surfing around the country for the last few months with just a few belongings. i am in a difficult situation. jobless, no place to stay. he now plans on returning home

to vietnam, while many others are continuing to make the opposite journey. divya talwar, bbc news. it is coming up to 6:34am. matt is at hampton court palace today. that is a stunning background, the way they have lit up the palace. it's amazing, isn't it? the lights, christmas decorations and ice rink will all be here until the 5th of january, all in line with the tudor christmas. back in the day it was a period of fasting up until christmas day when the celebrations begin in earnest until the 6th of january. it is a cold start this morning, 2 degrees, a bit of frost on the ground. but it will turn milder.

cloud will roll in, bringing outbreaks of rain, blustery wind and it feels a little bit on the chilly side. we have a ridge of high pressure that has been with us pulling away, into the north and west bringing change. scotland and northern ireland this morning will be damp, outbreaks of rain, the wind picking up but it turns brightly to sunshine and showers. best of the morning brightness in the south and east so we will get some sunshine before it clouds over and across the rest of england and wales, outbreaks of rain start to edge in the. part of rain start to edge in the. part of the south and east will stay dry until later in the day. temperatures average until this stage in december, seven to 9 degrees for most. gale force winds picking up across western areas later on. it will turn windier tonight, and an initial dip in temperatures, then it turns mild. temperatures will lift a little bit from what you can see there as we start tomorrow. tomorrow

is the winter solstice, a lot of cloud to begin with across much of england and wales. 0utbreaks cloud to begin with across much of england and wales. outbreaks of rain pushing south and is, turning lighter and patchy and lingering across the south as we go into the afternoon. elsewhere the skies will brighten, sunshine more widely through tomorrow 1458 00:35:18,364