simon jack, bbc news.line in the uk that are not normally found here. this is a sea slug that was found in the wild light trust's annual marine review, and this visitor, a rainbow sea slug usually found in the mediterranean. right, just want to bring you up—to—date what we are keeping across here. let's take it to the us, to new york. this is the courthouse, we are waiting the arrival of luigi men she only, in the next 20 minutes or so. we don't have exact timing �*s but he has arrived from pennsylvania to new york via police escort to hear charges there in new york. we'll bring them to you as soon as that happens. for the moment, i'm lewis vaughan jones, this is bbc news. hello there. the festive forecast into next week does look fairly mild, so a very slim chance, i think, that any of us will see a white christmas. but before we get there, the weather really changeable in the run up to christmas. some rain around on friday, some very strong winds through the weekend, could cause some disruption, and then

simon jack, bbc news.oing to be a little closer from later today when a new high speed rail link opens to connect the two cities. the new direct service will take roughly 8 hours and be a daily service. so what's behind the rail revival and what it could it mean for the cities respective economies? i'm joined by matt shepherd, associate director transport practice, frontier economics. this is an economic link as much to sit a rail link, talk to me about the significance. of course, paris and berlin have been well connected for summertime. there are 729 direct flights a day, and approximately 20 or so trains. if you want to get by train between paris and berlin previously, you'd have had to change at least once, maybe two or three times there is today, going forward, you'll be able to get their direct and that has economic and of course a very symbolic importance as well. ., ., . , very symbolic importance as well. ., ., ,, well. how long has this been in the making. — well. how long has this been in the ma

simon jack, bbc news. anticipated thatjerome powell will see in the last cuts of cost of borrowing from 2024 but it is bitcoin making the headlines again, the world leading cryptocurrency hitting fresh record highs on comments from president elect donald trump, let's talk all about this. let's not first of all with the fed, it could be another cut before the end of the year, ritika? it before the end of the year, ritika? , ., ., ~ ~ ritika? it is looking like that, the _ ritika? it is looking like that, the fed _ ritika? it is looking like that, the fed expected | ritika? it is looking like i that, the fed expected to deliver a 0.25% cut to interest rates but what is more uncertain is its future path of interest rates so investors are going to be watching for the newly released economic projections which will be released alongside that interest rate decision and they are expecting that to be more hawkish, may be indicating they could be pauses in rate cuts ahead or at least less commitment to cutting rates

simon jack, bbc news. in other news...ata published today. s&p global�*s pmi data for december rose by more than expected, with a marked reduction in manufacturing output offset by improvement in the services sector. it's not great news for retailers in the uk ahead of christrmas, with a drop in visits to the high street, retail parks and shopping centres in the last two weeks. according to new data from rendle intelligence and insights, footfall during the first half of december has fallen by over 3% compared to the same period that is all we have time for, thank— that is all we have time for, thank you _ that is all we have time for, thank you so much for watching, stay with— thank you so much for watching, stay with us here on bbc news. welcome back. we have some more developments to bring you on this alleged chinese spy with links to prince andrew. he has now been named after a court order protecting his identity was lifted, he is here a businessman named as yang tengbo, previously only being known as h six. he was ban

simon jack, bbc news.be the first train operator nationalised under the labour government. ministers are expected to announce the move this week, with it going into public ownership in may. our business correspondent ben king is at waterloo station. labour's stated aim is to nationalise all the train operators eventually — just remind us why? that's right. here at waterloo, south western railway runs its services through the commuter belt and across southern england as far as devon. it is currently owned by first group and when their contract expires in may, the railway will be run by the public operator of last resort, a government company that will be rolled into a new organisation, great british railways which is designed to act as a guiding line for the whole of the british railway network. this news comes days after the passage through parliament of the passenger railway services public ownership act which gives the government power to take over railway franchises from private companies as and when th

widely expected to ease regulations around crypto—currencies, when he re—enters the white house, as simon jackisen faster in value. worth next to nothing ten years ago, it's now worth over $100,000 per coin, making some people very rich along the way. investing in bitcoin has completely changed my life. i was given a $1000 cheque from my grandmother back in 2011 and i put that all into bitcoin, back when bitcoin was $10 a pop. with each bitcoin now worth over $100,000, eric's 100 bitcoin is now worth $10 million. around £8 million. but it's not been a smooth ride, anything but. have a look at this. it was worth next to nothing for years, then it started rising, and then basically gets very volatile. if you bought in 2022 it fell 50% very, very quickly, very uncomfortable. but look, it recovered and here it's risen 50% since donald trump, a big advocate of bitcoin and cryptocurrency, won the us election, and he's proposed other bitcoin fans to key financial positions in the us government. so what is bitcoin? well, for a start there are no physical coins or notes. each coin or fraction of a coin

simon jack, bbc news.the bank of england voted to hold borrowing costs. the bank said it thought the economy had performed worse than expected, with no growth at all between october and december. inflation was also higher than the bank's target. rates are still expected to fall gradually next year, with the first cut possibly coming in february. russia's president putin says he is ready for talks at "any time" with the us president—elect donald trump, who has vowed to bring the war with ukraine to a swift end without saying how. president putin was speaking at his lengthy end of the year press conference — and our russia editor, steve rosenberg was there. it would have been hard not to notice vladimir putin today. his marathon end of year event was live on all the main tv channels in russia. it was half phone—in, half press conference. he used it to deny that the fall of bashar al—assad in syria was a defeat for russia, and to say he was ready for talks any time with president—elect trump. after more than

simon jack, bbc news.on. a group of care home residents — average age 94 — have set a new guinness world record for being the world's oldest choir. our correspondent phil mackie watched them in action in stratford—upon—avon. # good tidings we bring # to you and your kin...# warming up in the green room. this was going to be a very big day in some very long lives. all 17 singing nonagenarians live in residential care homes. known as the prime timers, the choir was getting used to some late life fame. chris, at 91, is a mere youngster. in the first place, when they just talked about it in the home, i thought, do i want to be part of the oldest anything? and then when i heard them practising, i thought, well, i do like to sing. i love choral music. i decided to come along and enjoyed it. it's been good fun. # here we are with a song to sing. then the big moment came, with a bit of stage fright at first before they got into the swing of things. # it's christmas. around half of the members of the group have dem

simon jack, bbc news.bc radio1 about the behaviour of former bbc radio 1 and one extra dj tim westwood. he has denied claims of misconduct. 0urwill westwood. he has denied claims of misconduct. 0ur will correspond in joe inwood is with me now. tell us more about this development. it goes back to an investigation _ more about this development. it goes back to an investigation the _ more about this development. it goes back to an investigation the bbc- back to an investigation the bbc published along with the guardian in 2022 foot that they found 18 women had allegations against tim westwood of predatory behaviour, unwanted behaviour and touching. those events were alleged to have taken place between 1992 and 2017. in the wake of that the bbc got an external qc, gemma white, to put together a report into what they did and didn�*t know, which was supposed to take six months. we found out today that the met, who are obviously also looking into these serious claims, have asked the bbc to pause any publication o

well, there are some of jack theories, simon consensus is one, but the new address find itself in a very unusual situation is this is a candidate timeframe. and for the 1st time, the problem isn't the candidate country decides to withdraw the from the process to the leaders of the country. a basically equate to conditionality, which is the tried and tested process for the you enlargement with the black males and said that they basically had enough and they want to deprive the you of this leverage. but at the same time, uh they for the new they feel that needs to engage whoever is in the effective control because this is immediate neighborhood. as i said, it's a candidate country. and the solution out of those crisis needs to be solved. there is no consensus so strong signals are not being sent, but the you did adopt as large, the symbolic, but still important decision to suspend research liberalization for the holders of diplomatic ad service passports. now this is not going to prevent georgia and officials from traveling to europe, but it is a signal to international mediators or pushin

simon jack, bbc news.ad of ofwat's announcement on bills, thousands of people in hampshire have been affected by a supply fault at southern water, which has also closed schools and impacted southampton general hospital. our reporterjon cuthill is in eastleigh this morning. jon, morning to you. what a time for this to happen, what is the scale of the problem? it is this to happen, what is the scale of the problem?— the problem? it is a biggie, naga. 58,000 peeple — the problem? it is a biggie, naga. 58,000 people without _ the problem? it is a biggie, naga. 58,000 people without water - the problem? it is a biggie, naga. 58,000 people without water or l the problem? it is a biggie, naga. i 58,000 people without water or with low water pressure and it is miserable here this morning, because people will be waking up unable to have a hot shower, bath, cup of tea, no water at all. i am at one of the water pick—up stations in eastleigh, not quite open yet, they open at 8am. southern water say they will try to op

simon jack, bbc news. ben boulos is at a royal mail super—hub in northamptonshire this morning.. what we do about this takeover and what might it mean for the businesses and all of us who use it —— good morning, ben. the the businesses and all of us who use it -- good morning, ben.— the businesses and all of us who use it -- good morning, ben. the hope is that this deal — it -- good morning, ben. the hope is that this deal will _ it -- good morning, ben. the hope is that this deal will improve _ it -- good morning, ben. the hope is that this deal will improve the - that this deal will improve the service that for many people feels like it has been lacking, we saw it in the missed delivery targets, it is meant to get a 93% of first class post delivered within one working day, last year it only achieved that for less than 75%. the hope is this deal will improve the service. it's also got much more expensive to send also got much more expensive to send a post, a first—class stamp is now £1 65. and the problem for the organisations is that despite the price rises, it is an organisat