12/01/2017 Victoria Derbyshire

sunshine. It won't do much for those temperatures. 56 degrees at the

best. Meanwhile, America's intelligence

chief has told Mr Trump he doesn't believe his colleagues

leaked the allegations. Also today, hit-and-run drivers,

what makes them flee We'll talk to a mother of two

who hit a cyclist head-on Literally about 15 seconds before

the policeman came, and I saw the carnage, he came, pulled me out, and

told me what I had done. How did you respond? I was sickened and scared,

full of fear. Hear the full interview at 9:30am. And, we are

going to get "Thunder snow" today, but what is it? Carol will tell us

just before 9am. Hello, welcome to the programme,

we're live until 11 this morning. Not according to the manufacturers,

who are hitting back at claims that one of the ingredients,

palm oil, is cancer-causing. European food experts reckon it

might be bad for us, Do get in touch on all the stories

we're talking about this morning. And if you text, you will be charged

at the standard network rate. Our top story today, the US Director

of National Intelligence has rejected suggestions made

by Donald Trump that official agencies leaked claims that Russia

had compromising material on him. In a statement, James Clapper said

he had called the President-elect to say the information had not come

from the security services. Our Washington correspondent

Laura Bicker has the story. Donald Trump's not a huge

fan of the press corps, but he had a message to send

to the media and to US He believes they leaked

unsubstantiated allegations that his election team

colluded with Russia. It is all fake news, it is phoney

stuff, it didn't happen. There are also claims that Russian

spies have compiled material to blackmail Mr Trump,

including salacious videos Does anyone really

believe that story? I'm also very much of a germaphobe,

by the way, believe me. The BBC understands the Russian

memos on Mr Trump were compiled by a former member of MI6,

Christopher Steele. The Director of National

Intelligence, James Clapper, He said the leak did not come

from within US intelligence, and they have not made any judgement

that the information is reliable. As Donald Trump moved the media

towards his business dealings, he confirmed he was handing total

control of his empire These papers are just some

of the many documents that I've signed turning over complete

and total control to my sons. The ethics committee has now

said his plan does not meet past This performance was a typically

eccentric and bombastic piece of political theatre,

which his supporters will love. But it did little to calm the swirl

of controversies which surround Sarah Rainsford is following

the story for us in Moscow. What does Russia say about these sex

allegations? Russia has dismissed them out right. Essentially what

we've heard from the Kremlin is the spokesman talking about it as "Pulp

fiction" and a whole series of politicians saying it is

anti-Russian hysteria. They are suggesting Donald Trump is coming

under pressure from those who don't want better relations between Moscow

and Washington, that this is all invention, fabrication, utter

nonsense. That's the line coming from the Kremlin. There has been a

lot of focus on this issue, and a lot of focus on the press conference

yesterday. People watching for any signals from Donald Trump about

whether his position had changed. People were fairly positive as a

result of what he said, they saw him speaking positively of Russia and

glossing over the negative side of what he said. Which was to say, OK,

I want to be friends with Vladimir Putin, if that's not possible, don't

expect me to be soft on him. Which is pretty much the message she gave

yesterday. Is it possible the Russians could be behind false sex

allegations about Mr Trump to potentially destabilising? In theory

anything is possible, I guess. There are different theories about what

Russia might have been up to, if anything, in terms of its alleged

interference in the campaign. One of the series has always been that

President Putin and Russia wanted Donald Trump to win and to have an

ally in the White House, the other theory has always been that Russia

simply wanted to mess things up in America, that it wanted to undermine

democracy, that it wanted to undermine the liberal system in

America, and just wanted to create doubts about the entire liberal

democracy of the United States. If that was the intention, then I

suppose you could say that perhaps in some way it has succeeded, at

least in throwing the cat amongst the pigeons. Thank you.

Annita is in the BBC Newsroom with a summary

More than 3,000 American troops, tanks, and armoured vehicles

arrive in Poland today, the United States' biggest military

presence in the region since the Cold War.

It's to support a Nato operation to deter any Russian aggression

towards countries in eastern Europe, since the conflict in

Ukraine and the Russian annexation of Crimea.

The troops' arrival comes just days before the inauguration

of Donald Trump, who's signalled he wants to improve

The Afghan Taliban has released a video of two professors

kidnapped in August, in which they plead for Donald Trump

It's the first time the Australian, Timothy Weeks, here on the left,

and the American, Kevin King, have been seen since

they were abducted as they left work at the American University in Kabul.

A number of major retailers have published their sales

figures for the Christmas period this morning.

M reported a 2.3% rise in clothing sales in the 13 weeks

Meanwhile, Tesco says its third quarter sales were up by 1.8%.

And John Lewis has reported a 2.7% rise in like-for-like sales over

It seems the any negative story so far this year have been a Next

Dismore report and what we can confirm from Asda's performance.

Overall it seems to be quite robust Christmas for everyone.

Temperatures across the UK are expected to fall over

the next couple of days, bringing the possibility

The Met Office has issued yellow "be aware" warnings

In Scotland, snow and winds of 70 mph forecast throughout the day.

Plans for the UK's first hydroelectric tidal lagoon will take

A report from the former energy minister Charles Hendy concludes

that the technology can deliver a secure supply of clean energy,

with Swansea Bay the front runner for the ?1.3 billion project.

Will this be the UK's latest source of low-carbon energy?

The tides in Swansea Bay are some of the highest in the world,

so why not build a seawall to capture the outgoing tide?

That is the plan from a private firm.

They'll use hydroelectric turbines to generate power,

as the water flushes through gaps in the seawall.

The cost was thought too high for bill payers to bear.

A review says it will need subsidy, but it's not as dear as it looks.

If you look at the cost spread over the entire lifetime,

120 years to the project, it comes out at about 30p

And that's where I think we can start a new industry,

and we can do it at an affordable cost to consumers.

Supporters hope we will see lagoons dotted around the coasts,

that will bring down the cost, they say.

But anglers fear the impacts of lagoons on wildlife,

and the review advises government to agree terms for just one of them,

Doctors believe they are closer to understanding why chronic stress

increases the risk of heart disease and strokes.

Their findings, published in The Lancet, suggest that

increased activity in the part of the brain which responds to fear

and anger prompts the production of extra white blood cells.

This can make the formation of blockages in the

The Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, will join the Greek

and Turkish foreign ministers in Geneva for talks

The former British colony has been divided since Turkish troops invaded

more than 40 years ago following a coup by Greek Cypriots.

The United Nations says it doesn't expect a deal

to be reached this week, only a framework.

Mr Johnson said he thought a deal was within reach.

There's been an increase in the number of hit-and-run

Researchers at Leicester university have interviewed hundreds of people

who admit they failed to stop after an accident.

Many say they panicked and fled, while others said they didn't think

it was serious enough to report, or didn't realise it was

We'll be speaking to a woman who has confessed to being a hit and run

driver in half an hour. Kurdish activists in Syria say

they have recovered the body of a British fighter from territory

controlled by Islamic Ryan Lock, who was 20

and from Chichester, was killed last month

during a battle for the IS The Kurds say they now hope to be

able to return his body to the UK. That's the latest BBC News. Later,

is Nutella back to you? Jerome on Twitter says palm oil is cheaper and

more addictive than sugar but does it give you cancer? Please get in

touch with us in the usual ways. If you are texting you will be charged.

Now some sport. Southampton are halfway to Wembley. Advantage

Southampton after the first leg of their EFL tie with Liverpool last

night. The goal from Nathan Redmond giving them an advantage. It was

that poor performance from Liverpool, you have to say.

Southampton will be frustrated they didn't score more. That poor

performance riled manager Jurgen Klopp. We wait to see who they will

face. It could be Hull or Manchester United in the final. Explain why

Manchester city have been charged over anti-doping rules? They have

failed to lay out the rules. Football clubs have to outline where

their players are at all times, be it at home, in hotels if they are

travelling for matches, so that the drug testers always know where they

are. Manchester City have failed to do this on three occasions. It has

led to this charge. We wait to see what punishment will come. We think

it will be a financial punishment but that depends whether City will

appeal and can argue there have been some mitigating circumstances as to

why they failed to disclose this information.

We're building up to the Australian Open,

Good news that Andy Murray. He goes into the Australian open and will be

seeded number one for the first time in his career. Novak Djokovic is

number two. They will be kept apart until the latter stages. A lot of

other British players going well, Johanna Konta faces Eugenie Bouchard

in the Sydney International later. She's going well. Johanna Konta made

it through to the semifinals of the Australian Open last year. Dan Evans

is in third-round action at the moment against Dominic Thiem. I

could see him progress to the semifinals in Sydney as well. Not

such good news for Laura Robson, she fell at the first round of

qualifying for the Australian Open. She has been struggling with a

really bad wrist industry. Really difficult times for her.

And London welcomes another American sport tonight.

The O2 Arena will be sold out later for a regular-season NBA game

between the Indiana Pacers and the Denver Nuggets. Interesting but the

NBA commissioner had to say, he said while they would like to commit to

more regular-season games being played in London, he said the Brexit

vote may lead them to reconsider their long-term commitment to

playing games in London. That will be an interesting one to see how

that plays out. A packed house at the O2 later on.

Eight days before his inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump

is facing the extraordinary claim that he is vulnerable

It all centres around unsubstantiated allegations

which the Russians are said to have compiled

about his private and professional life.

The allegations are contained in a dossier written

Speaking in his first press conference for six months,

the President-elect suggested the American intelligence agencies

could be responsible for leaking the claims,

but overnight the US intelligence chief has denied this.

Mr Trump was openly contemptuous of CNN and BuzzFeed,

the main US outlets responsible for publicising the sex dossier.

Go ahead. Mr President-elect.

since you are attacking our news organisation...

Your organisation's terrible. Your organisation's terrible.

Go ahead. Quiet. Quiet.

Go ahead, she is asking a question, don't be rude.

I am not going to give you a question, you are fake news.

I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful, that the intelligence

agencies allowed any information that turned out to be

I think it was a disgrace, and that's something

that Nazi Germany would have done and did do.

I'm also very much of a germophone, by the way, believe me.

As far as BuzzFeed, which is a failing pile of garbage,

writing it, I think they're going to suffer the consequences,

As far as hacking, I think it was Russia,

but I think we also got hacked by other countries and other people.

If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks,

that's called an asset, not a liability.

Now I don't know that I'm going to get along

I hope they do, but there's a good chance I won't.

And if I don't, do you honestly believe that Hillary

Does anybody in this room really believe that?

We could make deals in Russia very easily if we wanted to,

because I think that would be a conflict.

So I have no loans, no dealings and no current pending deals.

Every President since the '70s has had a required audit from the IRS...

You know, the only one that cares about my tax returns

I don't feel like waiting a year, a year and a half,

and there are many different forms, will reimburse us.

These papers are all just a piece of the many, many companies

that are being put into trust to be run by my two sons,

and I hope that the end of eight years

I'll come back and I'll say, "Oh, you did a good job."

Otherwise, if they do a bad job, I'll say, "You're fired".

Well, Mr Trump has been contemptuous about

the unsubstantiated allegations, calling them fake news.

They've also been dismissed by Moscow as pulp fiction.

But their significance is that, if true, the President-elect

of the United States would be vulnerable

The head of US intelligence, James Clapper,

has denied that the 35-page dossier came from his operatives.

He's also said that his teams haven't decided yet

whether or not the information is reliable.

BBC correspondent Paul Wood says the author of the Trump dossier

is a British ex-spy called Christopher Steele

He was formerly an MI6 officer who worked in Moscow.

Mr Steele has now fled his home in Surrey and gone into hiding

after telling his neighbour to look after his cat.

Our correspondent says he's highly respected

That's why the claims in the dossier,

although salacious and unverified, were said to taken so seriously

by US intelligence and ended up on President Obama's desk last week.

Well, let's not lose sight of the central allegation here,

which is that Donald Trump, President-elect

of the United States, is vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians.

so much depends on the credibility of the author of this dossier.

He has now been named as Christopher Steele,

a former MI6 agent who was in Moscow in the early 1990s.

And speaking to one intelligence source, he is apparently very highly

regarded among his peers as competent and trustworthy,

and that reputation, I think, is one of the main reasons

why what he said, the allegations he repeated from Russian security

by the American intelligence institutions.

I spoke to one intermediary, because you can't speak

to CIA case officers directly, but I spoke to an intermediary,

and a message came back from the people dealing with this file

that they found it credible, that there was more than one tape,

that there was an audio tape, as well as a video tape,

that there were several times that these activities

supposedly took place, and in more than one location,

not just the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, but St Petersburg as well.

Now, the fact that the CIA apparently finds

and credible enough to put on President Obama's desk,

is not them saying they believe the allegations,

they are just saying they are worthy of consideration.

One further thing, this former MI6 officer is not the only source.

I spoke to a retired spy last August,

who said he had been told of the existence of a blackmail tape

by the head of an Eastern European intelligence agency over the summer.

We should stress in all of this these are just allegations,

when he says they are unsubstantiated.

Nevertheless, Americans are in the incredible position,

nine days before the inauguration, of having to decide

whether their President-elect is a Russian agent of influence.

Paul Wood, our correspondent. We're going to talk to some American

voters later in the programme, we have fillip from Kentucky with us.

-- Philip. Also Dr Brian Klaas,

a fellow in politics at London School

of Economics, Alana Horowitz from

the Huffington Post website, and Dr Leslie Vinjamuri,

from the think-tank Let me start with you, you voted for

Donald Trump a little while ago, do you believe these sex allegations?

Believe in what allegations? The sex allegations around Donald Trump. The

sex allegations? Yes. Oh, I'm not sure whether or not, I don't know

whether there is any group at there, really. So you are not clear? If

true, would it be any stew for you that Mr Trump consorted with

prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room? -- would it be an issue. It wouldn't

be a good thing, but there are presidents who have probably done it

before. Is that a fair point? I think the allegations are deeply

troubling, and I don't think we know whether they are true yet. We

definitely don't! What I would like to say is, even if you take the

dossier out of this, Donald Trump last held a press conference

hundreds of days ago, and he invited Russia to hack into Hillary

Clinton's e-mails. He also has a campaign manager... So Russia does

what Donald Trump says? The point is that the allegations go beyond the

dossier, there has been a pattern of behaviour where Donald Trump has

deeply troubling ties to Moscow, in the sense that his former campaign

manager received kickbacks in eastern Ukraine from a pro-Russian

politician. He says he has no dealings with Russia, and there is

no way you can be a victim of blackmail because the allegations

are not true, they are fake, and business dealings with Russia, there

are not. This is the crucial point - he's the first candidate since the

1970s not to release his tax returns. He says he is being

audited. The head of the IRS says he can still release them. Every single

candidate since 1970 has done this, so it is very easily verifiable, he

should do it. What do you think? I agree, I think that, you know, we

can't take the dossier at face value. Apps it is most troubling...

Is it not interesting to you that a former British spy wrote it and it

ended up on Barack Obama's desk? As our correspondent said, that

wouldn't end up on the President's desk unless there is something

credible about it. Intelligence officials told CNN they feel he is a

trustworthy source, so there were these blackmail allegations, and as

much as the salacious sex allegations, they are fun to read

headlines about, it is only a small piece of the puzzle. Just to say,

Paul Wood, our correspondent, says he has been told by an intermediary,

not a source at the CIA, that there is more than one tape, this happened

not just in Moscow but St Petersburg. We still don't really

know how credible all this is. But I think it speaks volumes that a lot

of voters and experts, you know, believe that it could possibly

happen. Like, it doesn't seem that out of character based on his other

Russian ties, based on his behaviour, based on what he has done

when he was running for office. I think that speaks a lot to his

trustworthiness, his approval rating has tagged in recent days. You are

from Chatham House, the think tank, how are you reading all of this? My

concern, of course we are waiting to see, because it is being given a lot

of scrutiny, to the veracity of this dossier. But the real concern right

now is Donald Trump's response to it, right? We are looking to see how

it will affect the next President's relationship with the intelligence

agencies - this is not looking good. How will it affect America's

relationship with Russia, what are the obligations? I think measuring

his response, it was interesting yesterday to watch his interactions

with the media, his attacks on the intelligence agencies, in some ways

the most deeply troubling thing. He is at war with his own intelligence

agencies. The response we would be looking for is that these are very

serious allegations, not only the dossier, but the broader question of

the disinformation campaign. To me, that is potentially the more

troubling part, right? If he was aware of these allegations or

engaged with the broader disinformation campaign, the cyber

attacks, the hacking, then we have a very serious national security

problem on our hands. So where does it go from here? There are senators

like John McCain, Republican, no fan of Donald Trump, talking about

hearing is with the intelligence agencies about the claims, possible

impeachment - this is before he is inaugurated! The timing is

difficult. Bearing in mind this has been framed as the worst kept secret

in Washington, plenty of people have seen this dossier, it is not new

news for people in think tanks and elsewhere. There is a sense that it

needed to be dealt with, but the timing is very difficult, because

this is at the same time, yesterday was quite extraordinary, Rex

Tillerson, Secretary of State, at the same time as the news

conference. Explain the significance of that. One is going back and forth

between Tillerson discussing the future of US engagement with Russia,

being as clear questions, would he stick to sanctions? At the same time

as the President-elect is being forced to respond to questions about

whether he himself was engaged and had knowledge of Russia's attempts

to hack into and influence the US elections. So those are, you know,

contingencies, right? They are developments that affect each other.

Tillerson, you know, said very clearly that his view would be that

we should stick to the status quo until there is a more competent of

strategy for the US relationship with Russia. As a voter, Philip, do

you want to see Donald Trump's tax returns? I don't know it sadly what

we would get out a bit. It would probably clear up a few things for

people if he would satisfy a few people, if he would show them. Are

you interested in an explanation as to why he has not so far, or does it

not bother you? I mean, I'm not too worried about it, I figure somewhere

along the line he will eventually have to show them. But I don't think

it is that big a deal to me. Where are you on relations between the US

and Russia? We had Donald Trump in at press conference, if I get on

with Putin, that is an asset, he is right, isn't he? I don't think so,

because the reason that the US and Russia are not friends is because

Russian foreign policy is predicated on undermining liberal Western

democracy on the global stage. But they might perhaps change his

approach? I think that is a very naive assessment, because every

president that has and estimated Vladimir Putin on the global stage

has been outfoxed by him, and it is something where he is an

authoritarian thugs, and at some point we have to acknowledge that

American values do not correspond with Russian values on the global

stage. That foreign policy disconnect exists for a reason. I

think it is the bleak troubling that Tillerson, the Secretary of State

nominee, was awarded the highest civilian honour by Vladimir Putin.

Even outside this dossier, even if all these claims are false, daddy

bleak troubling allegations about the ties between the soon be most

powerful man in the Western world, the linchpin of Western liberal

democracy, and how much he's willing to do to get along with Vladimir

Putin. Will he say that the invasion of Ukraine and the Crimea, you are

going to get a free pass? You are going to get a free pass for trying

to influence American voting? Those things are troubling, and that some

point you have to say now. I completely agree with that, we have

much more to lose than to gain with them becoming chums. I think Trump

is very vulnerable to, you know, being influenced, he has proven

himself to be very gullible, the conspiracies that he has brought up

over he is - I mean, one point that people brought up yesterday is that

he is attacking the media for bringing up unverified claims, but

he is the one who first started bringing up the idea that Obama was

not born in the US. Really, that was the most unverified claim that I can

think of in modern politics. A quick final thought from you, should

Buzzfeed have published a dossier with unverifiable, and there and

unverifiable claims, with a warning saying, we seriously doubt these

allegations are true? Personally, I wouldn't have, I understand the

logic as to why they did, which is, well, we have the report that there

was this dossier, people are going to debate it, they have the right to

know what they are debating. I probably wouldn't have, but I

understand why they did. Thank you for, another programme.

We'll put your questions on the row over Trump's alleged links to Moscow

to our diplomatic correspondence Paul Adams. Paul has the knowledge

of Christopher Steele, the British spy, former British spy I should

say, who wrote this dossier which ended up on President Obama's desk

last week. Still to come, we'll hear

from a mum of two, who, driving while drunk,

hit and injured a cyclist. She pleaded guilty to drink

driving and leaving Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

flies out to join Greece and Turkey in landmark talks to reunify

the divided island of Cyprus. We speak to a Greek

and a Turkish Cypriot about how Here's Annita in the BBC Newsroom

with a summary of todays news. The US Director of National

Intelligence has rejected suggestions made by Donald Trump

that official intelligence agencies leaked claims that Russia had

compromising material on him. In a statement, James Clapper said

he had called the President-elect to say the information had not come

from the security services. The Huffington Post so there is an

issue with Donald Trump and many US citizens. We still don't know how

many credible this is. I think it speaks volumes that a lot of voters

and experts believe it could possibly happen. It doesn't seem

that out of character based on his other Russia ties, based on his

behaviour. More than 3,000 American troops,

tanks, and armoured vehicles arrive in Poland today,

the United States' biggest military presence in the region

since the Cold War. It's to support a Nato operation

to deter any Russian aggression towards countries in eastern Europe,

since the conflict in Ukraine and the Russian

annexation of Crimea. The troops arrival comes just days

before the inauguration of Donald Trump, who's signalled

he wants to improve A number of major retailers have

published their sales figures for the Christmas

period this morning. M reported a 2.3% rise in clothing

sales in the 13 weeks Meanwhile, Tesco says its third

quarter sales were up by 1.8%. And, John Lewis has reported a 2.7%

rise in like-for-like sales over Temperatures across the UK

are expected to fall over the next couple of days,

bringing the possibility The Met Office has issued

yellow "Be Aware" warnings In Scotland, travellers face another

day of wintry weather conditions with snow and winds up to 70mph

forecast throughout the day. Plans for the UK's first

hydro-electric tidal lagoon will take a significant

step forward today. A report from the former energy

minister Charles Hendy concludes that the technology can deliver

a secure supply of clean energy, with Swansea Bay the front runner

for the ?1.3 billion project. That's a summary of the latest BBC

News - more at 10:00am. Here's some sport now

with John Watson. Southampton are a step

closer to Wembley. They beat Liverpool 1-0

in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final last night,

Nathan Redmond with the goal. The return leg is at Anfield

is in a fortnight's time. Manchester City have been charged

by the Football Association, Clubs must supply information

about the whereabouts of their players so that drug

testers know where they are, but the club failed to do

so on three occasions, having failed to update training

details when schedules changed. England captain Alastair Cook

will meet director of cricket Andrew Strauss on Friday,

but no decision on his role England lost their recent

series against India 4-0. Andy Murray is in Melbourne,

ahead of the Australian Open draw which takes place in the early hours

of Friday morning. Laura Robson and Tara Moore

won't be in the draw, More sport at 10am. You may have

heard, in Britain today we are going to get thunder snow and Carol is

going to explain what thunder snow is and how it's going to affect you

and which parts of Britain. Hit and run driver cause more than

17,000 crashes every year, more than one in ten of road accidents where

someone is injured. But what makes people leave the scene of an

accident? Criminology is in Leicester have interviewed hundreds

of people who admit they failed to stop after an accident. Many say

they panicked and fled or were drunk. Alarmingly, others said they

didn't think it was serious enough to report, or didn't realise it was

a crime to leave the scene of an accident. We can speak to Sarah who

hit and injured a cyclist while driving drunk in 2014. She pleaded

guilty to drink-driving and leaving the scene of the accident. Sarah

isn't your real name, you've asked us to change it because you are now

trying to rebuild your life. I wonder if you could take us back to

the day of the crash and what happened. I remember buying alcohol,

and receiving a phone call from my partner who was in hospital at the

time, saying he could receive visitors. I remember walking to my

car and then I have no recollection of the 35 mile Drive, until I came

to in my car with the wind screen smashed in. I instantly knew I had

been in an accident. How much had you drunk before you got in the car?

I would approximate between a half and a full bottle of vodka. OK. This

was because you had a relapse because you are an alcoholic? I am

an alcoholic, yes. You had a number of years sober and this was a

relapse that summer. Yes. You blacked out, as you say, and what

you remember is effectively waking up and being pulled out of your own

car with the windscreen smashed, by a police officer. Yes. When did you

realise you'd hit a cyclist? 15 seconds before the police man came,

and I saw the carnage, then he came, pulled me out and told me what I had

done. How did you respond to that? I was sickened and scared, full of

fear. He told me straightaway that luckily he was OK and was going to

survive, but he was very cross, the policeman was extremely cross. And I

can understand that. How did you know he was cross with you? His

voice, the way he extracted me from the car. I'm not saying what he did

was wrong in any way. He was doing his job. But I knew what I had done

was serious. How drunk were you when he pulled you out? Berry. -- very. I

can recall the moment when he pulled me from the car but I don't recall

being taken to the police station, I was in a poor emotional state to be

interviewed, so they took me back to the hospital to have me observed

overnight. They were worried about my mental state. Can you tell us,

presumably from what you learned subsequently, the circumstances of

the accident? Where is the cyclist in relation to your car? I have no

idea but judging from the damage of my car, I hit him head-on. When I

saw my car a couple of days later, it made me physically sick to see

the damage that had been done. He must have hit me head on, gone

straight into the bonnet, hit the windscreen, and his bicycle went

down the side of the car. What with the nature of his injuries? He had a

broken collarbone, three broken fingers and a deep cut to his leg.

That police officer was right. That guy was lucky to be alive. Extremely

lucky. Is where you, potentially. Yes. Goodness. He went to court,

pleaded guilty to drink-driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

You clearly accepted what you did was wrong. I did. I did, there was

no, although I have no memory or recollection, there were witnesses

who saw what I did that. I accepted the responsibility. What do you mean

that you have no memory of it? I don't know whether I was blacked out

or asleep. I used to think an alcoholic blackout was when you just

crashed out and went to sleep, but now I know it's where you actually

continue to operate and function, but you have no awareness of what

you're doing. I don't know how I managed to drive that distance. 35

miles. From Bury St Edmunds to Cambridge. I have no idea how I did

it. Did you technically leave the scene of the accident? I pleaded

guilty to that crime, the policeman told me that is what I had done, so

I accepted it. On the advice of a friend who was a solicitor, they

said I could have fought that because of the distance that I had

travelled. As far as I was concerned, no, I was responsible, I

did it and I pleaded guilty. You received a one-year driving ban, a

?500 fine and a 110 hours community service. What did you think of that

punishment? Very lenient. Very lenient for what I had done.

Potentially I could have killed him. Killed myself. Destroyed families,

his family, his career. I don't know what his career was, but he had

broken fingers. If he was a surgeon, or someone who used his hands, that

may have destroyed his career. So I felt that the sentence I was given

was very lenient. Had you been sent to prison, for example, you would

have lost your home potentially, your job, possibly your children.

How many children do you have? Two. You've never met the minute it. He

wrote him a letter. What did you say? I expressed my remorse, I

explained my situation, not that that is any excuse. That you are an

alcoholic? Yes. It is no excuse, but I wanted him to know that I was

sorry and I was very remorseful for what I had done. Did you receive a

reply? No. Did you expect to? No. If you met him now what would you say?

I would ask his forgiveness. I'm not sure whether I would receive it. But

there's nothing that I can say or do that can change my past behaviour. I

would really want him to know that I am sorry for what I did, and I have

put things in place that it won't happen again. Do you live with the

guilt, or have you found a way of managing it? I've found a way of

managing the guilt. What is that? In the summer of 2015 I went into a

rehab centre, which led me to a 12 step fellowship, where I've worked

the 12 steps of recovery. In that, you deal with, you learn how to deal

with guilt, shame, anger, hate, remorse. With the help of my sponsor

we'd been through that and she has given me the emotional tools I need

to deal with issues like this, when I come up. If I was to let it

enveloped me, it would destroy me. If that happens then I go backwards

and I can't move forwards. How long have you been sober this time? 18

months. You took part in a study by Leicester University looking at why

people commit hit and runs. Some people were drunk, others made a

calculated decision to drive away. Or, they just didn't think it was a

particularly serious crime, or they panic. What do you think of those

explanations? I think that, looking at it, I should imagine fear is one

of the biggest things that would make someone leave the scene. It's

fear of the consequences, if they have been drinking, or they are

illegal, the consequences are going to be harsh. They will be taken to

court. I believe, obviously they should stay and face the

consequences, because they have committed a crime, as I did. It's

fear on their part or panic, but that doesn't make it right. Thank

you very much for talking to us, Sarah.

Coming up, Coronation Street star Simon Gregson reveals his wife Emma

as he hits back at trolls criticising his Corrie storyline.

As a popular holiday destination, it's easy to forget that

Cyprus has been a divided country for more than 40 years.

When Turkey launched a military invasion on the island in 1974,

it split into the Turkish north and the Greek south.

Over the years there have been efforts to reunite the island,

but no agreement has ever been reached.

But there's hope that fresh talks in Geneva could be more successful.

So how did we get here? The BBC's Paul Adam explains.

Cyprus has been politically divided for half a century,

That's when Turkey launched an invasion.

it was there to protect the small Turkish Cypriot minority.

There had just been a coup by the larger Greek Cypriot community,

with the express aim of uniting Cyprus with Greece.

Thousands of people were killed, and as many as 200,000 people,

from the north and the south, were displaced.

People lost their homes, they lost their businesses.

The UN was called in to patrol the so-called Green Line,

which divided the island into two parts,

Two United Nations tanks moved in to disperse the crowd...

Well, you have to remember that Cyprus

is a member of the European Union, and, clearly,

a member that is divided, in the way that Cyprus is,

There does seem to be quite a bit of optimism that a deal

is finally possible to resolve this long conflict.

This is going to be difficult, and it's possible.

It's going to be difficult because obviously even if the majority

of issues have been solved in all chapters,

it is not the easiest questions that we have left at the end.

It has to be said - we have been here before.

There was a referendum on a peace deal back in 2004.

This is going to be difficult, and it's possible.

The Turkish Cypriots agreed to it, the Greek Cypriots said no.

So there's been a lot more diplomacy, particularly

in the last few months, and, crucially, the Turkish

president, President Erdogan, also seems to favour a settlement.

So the omens do seem better than they've been for quite a long time.

Let's talk now to Greek Cypriots Elaine Tofaris

and Christos Karaolis, both of their families

are originally from the northern part of the island.

We also have Onur Ibrahim and Hasan Raif,

And Dr Rebecca Bryant, from the London School

of Economics' Europe Institute, joins us from Cyprus.

Christos, tell our British audience how this split affected your dad in

terms of his home. So my dad is from is from the northern part of the

island, and he was a wee here in the 1970s to set up Greek schools, and

following the invasion he was not able to return to his home in

Morphou. He couldn't get access to it. What do you mean? Following the

invasion, there was the establishment of the Green Line, and

my father was not able to get access to his property in Morphou, likewise

his sister gave birth to my cousin on the 22nd of July 1974, two days

after the invasion, in Morphou. She packed in some photo albums,

suitcases, got in her car with their husband, and just drove south. So

for my dad and his family, and my mum's family, it is a really tragic

story of picking up what you can and leaving, just fleeing south. Just

explain, people want to learn more, because as the talks are going on,

why did she drive south? Why couldn't she stay? The Turkish army

was advancing from the northern part of the island, there is about 40

kilometres between Turkey and Cyprus, the army was advancing

north, and so for her it was a question of picking up what you can

get and driving south. She was worried for her safety, she had a

newborn child, get out as quick as you can. Onur, your family and

Turkish Cypriots, tell us what happened back in 1974, how it

affected your family. So my father was made a refugee in the 1960s, so

previous 21974, there was another civil uprising that led to the

situation. -- previous to. They will force to leave their village on the

eastern side of the mountains and lived as refugees until the

beginning of the 1970s, when my father decided he wanted to educate

himself. He managed to work at a beach bar and save the money to come

to London, he enrolled in a college and got a degree in Electrical

engineering. He began his career with the ambition of going back to

Cyprus, to live and work in Cyprus, but he was not able to do that.

Explain why. The situation in 1974 was very complicated. Go is

subsequently, why couldn't he go back? As a community, we were

stronger together before 1974. Post-1974, the division lead to more

than just a geographic division, it was a cultural division between two

people of the same culture, very similar. We're much more similar

than we are different. Would you agree with that, Elaine? I think

Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots are very similar. More similar than

different? My father left Cyprus in 1955, and here are members working

alongside Turkish Cypriots, so he was not really involved in trouble

in that sense. But I mean, the war that happened in 1974, it has often

been described in the media as being almost amicable, drifting

separately, the Greeks going south, the Turks going north. And actually

it was a very brutal time, a very terrible time. As Christos has just

described, tell us about your family. I was born here, but it is

an overriding memory, I remember the frantic worry, nobody knew where

anybody was, our family literally packed, they didn't even have time

to take photos, they literally fled for their lives, people were

dropping out of the sky, you know, armed soldiers and bombs. And they

left in literally what they had on. So as I understand it, you have the

deeds to land that your family owned before they had to flee. Why can't

you reclaim that? My grandfather was an orphan, he had nine children, and

he worked really hard to try to get land so that his children would have

some land, as was the way at that time. And it was occupied, and my

family, when they fled, they scattered, they dispersed, the whole

family, it took away our whole kind of culture and heritage, really,

because we were never able to go back. That land was occupied. I

mean, so... Sorry, so if there is justice from these talks, that land

should be given back to your family? Well, that would be my idea, the

original deed owners should be returned to the land, but it goes

beyond financial gain. It is a lost history and culture. I have angles

and aunties living alone in high-rise flats, but they should be

living in their community. I am not saying that time would have stood

still. I understand that. Hasan, what are your hopes for these talks

in the future? You don't want to ask me the history, then? No, go for it.

Well, I believe the whole story started just after the Cypriots

Republic fell. You know what? I don't want to go to far back, since

1974, the impact on your family, what do you hope from these talks?

Well, we had to move from south to north, I stayed three is and then

came back to England. -- three years. I am very hopeful for these

talks, and hopefully it is going to be sorted out, so we can find a

solution. But what about land, property, homes? You know, are

people going to be poring over maps to draw lines and borders? What do

you think? I think we have representatives that we trust, that

we have voted in democratically to represent us on both sides. And as a

nation, we have to think about the young people that are coming next.

The future generations of a lack of jobs, a lack of infrastructure, and

a non-stable financial system. Is that because of the divide? We have

a private banking system European banking in the South. We have mixed

feelings about transport and travel. We have people migrating from north

to south and south to north to work. There is a lot going on. Rebecca

Adams,, sorry, Rebecca Bryant, from the London School of Economics, you

are in Cyprus, in terms of unifying this land, what are the prospects

through these peace talks in Geneva? Well, with these particular peace

talks, it is hard to say. I would say that right now the mood in

Cyprus, where I happen to be for some research right now, is subdued

optimism. People want something to happen, but Cypriots have gone

through so many rounds of negotiations, over so many years,

that there is a type of exhaustion. So even though people are

obsessively following the negotiations that are going on in

Geneva right now, people are not entirely sure whether they can hope

for it or not. Can I ask you, Rebecca, what are the issues? I feel

like I am honing in on property, thousands of people lost homes, is

it about territory, boundaries, land? Governance, security. Yes, the

main sticking point is that, and part of the reason the main sticking

point is that, well, two reasons - one is the complications of what has

happened to the land of displaced persons since 1974, particularly in

the north, the way that the land was distributed first two displaced

Turkish Cypriots, and later to non-displaced Turkish Cypriots, and

also people coming from Turkey. And the way that the land has been

developed since then has created an incredibly complicated system that

is very difficult to unravel. And so how that is going to happen is

something that is still really up in the air. It is not entirely clear

yet what the mechanisms will be for resolving the property issue. That

then is tied up with issues of return - in other words, people may

be able to reclaim their property but not necessarily go back to it.

Or people may be compensated for it and so on. And it is also tied up

with issues of territory, as you say, because for example, yesterday,

last night, the two teams, the two leaders presented maps to the United

Nations of how they are going to reduce the amount of territory in

the Turkish Cypriot constituent state. These were two competing

maps, they had agreed at the end of 2016 of the percentage of land that

each would present on their maps, how much land would belong to the

Turkish Cypriot state after a solution - those maps were put under

lock and key by the United Nations, but they became the key to the

conference that is going on today. I am going to pause there, Rebecca,

thank you very much, I appreciate your time, a lane, Christos, Hasan,

Onur. Thank you very much. -- he -- Elaine. The latest news and sport in

just a moment, excuse me, thank you very much. We are going to get

thundersnow, people are excited about this, including Carol, what is

thundersnow? Thunderstorms happen all the time

and all over the world as well. Normally, thunderstorms come out of

a cumulonimbus cloud, a lot going on inside the clouds, and as they fall

into milder conditions, the atmosphere, you will find they fall

as rain. But if it is colder at surface level, they fall as snow, so

that is essentially thundersnow. But they do create some fabulous

displays, because they reflect the snow, and Nick Miller will be

talking about it later in the programme, explaining what happens

inside a cumulonimbus cloud, easy for you to say! Thank you very much,

see you later. Today what we have got is quite a bit of snow, and you

can see from these lovely pictures, we have seen it through the course

of this morning. This was taken earlier on in the Highlands, and we

have got another one as well, lovely sunrise, lying snow in

Aberdeenshire, and another one in South Lanarkshire. So there is some

snow around. The snow was largely across the northern half of the UK,

and it is snow showers, and to the squeezing of those isobars, it is

also very windy, so there will be blizzards on the hills. Further

south, we have rain coming in Curtis of this area of low pressure. --

courtesy. At the moment, we have got mild south-westerly winds, later the

wind of years to more of a northwesterly, which is a cold

direction, and then we will start to see some sleet and snow in the

forecast. This morning, snow showers across covered, northern England,

Northern Ireland, some of the heavier showers there, a lot of it

in the hills of Wales. A lot of rain, actually, there could be some

issues with flooding on the roads, surface water flooding, that is. A

cold day in prospect, when you add on the effects of the wind, it will

feel even colder, that is the wind chill. As we head to the evening and

overnight, we carry on with the showers, through the afternoon as

well, across Northern Ireland, across Scotland too. Then there is a

risk of ice, as we have got this morning, the same across northern

England, in between dry conditions. For the rush hour, we are looking at

a snow showers across parts of Wales, trying up across the

south-west, and then we run into this rain falling as sleet and snow,

particularly over the hills, but we could see some at lower levels. Into

the evening, there it goes, pushing down to East Anglia and into care.

Behind that, we are looking at a risk of ice, so take care if you are

travelling. Now, through the evening and overnight, you can see what is

happening, snow showers around, then this band coming across Scotland,

moving eventually into northern England. Snow showers across

Northern Ireland, Wales, the south-west. This will continue to

push southwestwards, getting into the North Midlands and North Wales

by the end of the night. Ahead of it cold, but at this stage dry. Picking

this up for tomorrow morning's rush-hour, it will continue south,

pushing across the London area, East Anglia and Kent before it clears

away. Then a lot of dry weather, a bit of sunshine, still chilly in the

wind, a peppering of showers, wintry in nature, out towards the north and

west. Down the east coast, gales through the North Sea, whipping up

some large waves. That will also coincide with the spring tides, so

there is the risk of some coastal flooding across parts of the east

coast of England. The other thing is that there are also going to be

wintry showers. Hello it's Thursday, it's 10

o'clock, I'm Victoria Derbyshire. Our top story, a former British

spy is now at the heart of the story about claims -

ferociously rubbished by Donald Trump - that in Moscow

in 2013 Mr Trump fraternised with prostitutes on a bed previously

used by President Obama. All fake news, it's phoney stuff, it

didn't happen, and it was gotten by opponents of hours. They at that

nonsense that was released by, maybe the intelligence agencies, who

knows? But maybe the intelligence agencies.

But America's intelligence chief tells Mr Trump he doesn't

believe his colleagues leaked the allegations.

Coronation Street star Simon Gregson - Steve Mcdonald in the soap -

reveals his wife Emma has experienced 11 miscarriages

as he hits back at trolls criticising his Corrie storyline.

Nutella makers fight back after claims that palm oil, one

What do you think - does that make you think

Here's Anita in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of today's news.

In the past few minutes new figures have been released showing the

continuing pressure on the NHS in England. Monthly performance data

for November shows key targets continue to be missed. These include

the 62 day target for cancer treatment to start and the 18 weeks

target for routine operations. Victoria will have more on this

story in the next half an hour. The US Director of National

Intelligence has rejected suggestions made by Donald Trump

that official intelligence agencies leaked claims that Russia had

compromising material on him. In a statement, James Clapper said

he had called the President-elect to say the information had not come

from the security services. And at 12:30pm on the BBC

News Channel, I'll be putting your questions

on the political row over Trump's alleged links to Moscow

to our diplomatic correspondent Paul Please get in touch with us

to ask those questions. You can text us or send an email

or contact us via Twitter More than 3,000 American troops,

tanks, and armoured vehicles are arriving in Poland this morning

- the United States' biggest military presence

in the region since the Cold War. It's to support a Nato operation

to deter any Russian aggression towards countries in eastern Europe

- since the conflict in Ukraine and the Russian

annexation of Crimea. The troops arrival comes just days

before the inauguration of Donald Trump, who's signalled

he wants to improve A number of major retailers have

published their sales figures for the Christmas

period this morning. M S reported a 2.3% rise

in clothing sales in the 13 weeks Meanwhile, Tesco says its third

quarter sales were up by 1.8%. And, John Lewis has reported a 2.7%

rise in like-for-like sales over We've had some quite robust figures

across the board. It seems the only negative story

so far this year have been a Next, with a dismal report,

and what we can confirm Overall, it seems to be quite

a robust Christmas for everyone. There's been an increase

in the number of hit and run Researchers at Leicester university

have interviewed hundreds of people who admit they failed to stop

after an accident. Many say they panicked and fled

while others said they didn't think it was serious enough to report

or didn't realise it was One woman who drove after drinking

heavily told Victoria she hit a cyclist and left the scene.

Potentially I could have killed him, killed myself, destroyed families.

Temperatures across the UK are expected to fall over

the next couple of days, bringing the possibility

The Met Office has issued yellow "Be Aware" warnings

In Scotland, travellers face another day of wintry weather conditions

with snow and winds up to 70mph forecast throughout the day.

Plans for the UK's first hydro-electric tidal lagoon

will take a significant step forward today.

A report from the former energy minister Charles Hendy concludes

that the technology can deliver a secure supply of clean energy,

with Swansea Bay the front runner for the ?1.3 billion project.

That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 10.30.

Thank you for your comments on the interview with the hit and run

driver, Sarah, not her real name. John e-mailed, in 2015I hit a

pedestrian walking in the road in the early hours of the morning. The

pedestrian had been drinking. I wasn't charged with the accident

because it wasn't my fault. But my first thought after hitting the

pedestrian was to run. I didn't, but it was my first thought. The

pedestrian survived and made a full recovery. I still have flashbacks

and nightmares. Another viewer says, is your hit and run driver expecting

sympathy? A tweet, the punishment for the crime of the hit and run

driver was ridiculous and I'm glad she knows it. Another viewer says,

I'm shocked at the leniency of the sentence for what that woman did.

Do get in touch with us throughout the morning use

If you text, you'll be charged at the standard network rate.

We try to read as many comments as we can, particularly if you have got

pertinent experience. Here's some sport now

with John Watson, and news of a good Southampton are a step

closer to Wembley. They beat Liverpool 1-0

in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final last night,

Nathan Redmond with the goal. In reality, it should have been more

for Southampton. It was a poor Liverpool performance, one that left

Jurgen Klopp frustrated. The return leg is at Anfield

is in a fortnight's time. If you want two disappointed

managers after the game, won because they lost, one because they only

lost 1-0 and has to go to Anfield. We will strike back, we will be a

different team. We will be different everything. For us it's still

possible to go to Wembley. We kept clean sheet, we can do a good

performance with the ball. I think it's... At the end of the game, with

just this win, with one goal up. Manchester City have been charged

by the Football Association, Clubs must supply information

about the whereabouts of their players so that drug

testers know where they are, but the club failed to do

so on three occasions, having failed to update training

details when schedules changed. It is thought they will be handed a

fine rather than a sporting sanction.

England captain Alastair Cook will meet director of cricket

Andrew Strauss on Friday, but no decision on his role

It is thought there is no pressure to make any decision.

England lost their recent series against India 4-0.

Andy Murray is in Melbourne, ahead of the Australian Open draw

which takes place in the early hours of Friday morning.

It'll be the first time in his career that Andy Murray has been the

top seed at a grand slam. Laura Robson and Tara Moore

won't be in the draw, Going well at the moment is British

number three Dan Evans who is through to a world tour semifinal

for the first time in his career. He produced a stunning comeback to beat

Dominic Thiem in the Sydney International. Johanna Konta faces

Eugenie Bouchard next. And NBA basketball returns

to London this evening. The Denver Nuggets are taking

on the Indiana Pacers The NBA Global Games London

is celebrating its 10th They'll be excited about being here

in London. It's a unique experience that them. Of course they travel a

lot throughout the United States and a bit to Canada, but the most part

all of our games are on the continental United States. They are

going to treat this as a deal for them. The NBA Commissioner speaking

there. More sport at 10:30am. With top line involving

former British spy now He is now in hiding. Our

correspondence says Christopher Steele fled his home in Surrey

either yesterday or the day before after asking his neighbour to look

after his cat. The dossier contains unsubstantiated claims that Mr Trump

watched prostitutes defile a bed in a Moscow hotel room that the Obamas

had previously slept in. A furious Donald Trump singled out CNN and

Buzzfeed, the main US out that is responsible for publicising the

report, he also took a swipe at the BBC.

Go ahead. Mr President-elect.

Mr President-elect, since you are attacking our

Go ahead, she is asking a question, don't be rude.

I am not going to give you a question, you are fake news.

I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful, that the intelligence

agencies allowed any information that turned out to be

I think it was a disgrace, and that's something that

Nazi Germany would have done and did do.

I'm also very much of a germophone, by the way, believe me.

As far as BuzzFeed, which is a failing pile of garbage,

writing it, I think they're going to suffer the consequences,

As far as hacking, I think it was Russia, but I think we also

got hacked by other countries and other people.

If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks, that's called

Now I don't know that I'm going to get along

I hope they do, but there's a good chance I won't.

And if I don't, do you honestly believe that Hillary would be

Does anybody in this room really believe that?

We could make deals in Russia very easily if we wanted to,

I just don't want to, because I think that

So I have no loans, no dealings and no current pending deals.

Every President since the '70s has had a required audit from the IRS...

Oh, gee, I've never heard that(!) You know, the only one that cares

about my tax returns are the reporters.

I don't feel like waiting a year, a year and a half, we're

Mexico, in some form, and there are many different

These papers are all just a piece of the many,

many companies that are being put into trust to be run by my two sons,

and I hope that the end of eight years I'll come back and I'll say,

Otherwise, if they do a bad job, I'll say, "You're fired".

We'd be interested to know if you believe the sex allegations. Let me

know if you think BuzzFeed should have published the dossier when it

is unverified and unverifiable. Even they said, we doubt these

allegations are true. Let's talk to our security

correspondent Frank Gardner. Who is Christopher Steele and why is

he now at the centre of this story? You could not make up a more

salacious, more fascinating story of sex, of intrigue, of political

machinations than this one. And trying to find out what is true and

what isn't is quite difficult. But it's fascinating. Christopher Steele

is a former intelligence officer. He a former officer for the secret

intelligence service, better known as MI6. He wasn't an agent, he was

an officer. He would have operated as an intelligence gatherer for

Britain's overseas intelligence arm. He has worked for something called

Orbis which is a business intelligence firm in Britain. He is

the author of a 35 page dossier which was compiled last year and

which he thought contained or said contained such scurrilous details

about President Trump that he handed it to the FBI in August.

He was allegedly hired by Trump's opponents to compile this. In

America? In America. Well, the allegations in this, and it has been

published, by the way, not by the intelligence agencies who have

leaked this, but it has leaked out. 35 pages of this, and I think you

alluded to it, some pretty salacious details about goings-on in a Moscow

hotel room. I don't know if you ever saw the film From Russia With Love?

It bears a striking similarity to the fake glass, filming somebody's

sexual activities from behind a two-way mirror. There is all of this

involved, Donald Trump has said it is nonsense, fake news. Last night,

an e-mail when Turan from the directorate of national intelligence

in Washington, going around to all the journalists, saying, we did not

leak this, we briefed the President-elect, we have briefed the

FBI, we have talked to the president, and we did not leak it.

If US intelligence agencies are briefing the president, Barack

Obama, the President-elect, Donald Trump, the FBI, does that mean...

What does it mean? What is the significance of that? If it is fake,

why would a bland Barack Obama's desk? That is a very good point.

Once was handed to the FBI and was assessed in August, it started to

get taken seriously, because I suspect there are elements of it

that are true, and elements which are not. There are some misspellings

of names, which are causing people to say, well, hang on. People, my

colleagues have spoken to them, they have said Christopher Steele is a

serious player, you know, a respected intelligence officer, and

like many of them, they start second careers at the age of about 50. They

leave MI6 or MI5, or wherever they are working, the CIA and the FBI,

and they start working for more money with more freedom, working for

business intelligence, and he is one of those. It is unusual, I have to

say, for someone to be so involved in politics, because obviously the

intelligence officers have to be completely apolitical. But he is in

the private sector, probably there was a fair bit of money involved.

The Russians are delighted that this is being denied by... -- denied by

Trump, and one of their organisations as retweeted what

Trump has been saying. The allegations are that Russians have

kompromat, compromising material on Donald Trump. It involves a tape,

details of basically they hold they have got over him. You can see that,

given that this guy in less than ten days, is about to have access to the

nuclear codes, he is about to be the most powerful man in the world, if

there was any truth in this, is it in America's interest for another

power, which could possibly come into conflict with the United States

one day, we hope that, is it in the US interest for them to have

compromising material? Of course not, so they have got to look into

it. They have got to alert the people concerned. But so far, the

directorate of national intelligence in the US has not said if they think

any of this is true or not. OK, thank you very much. Thank you,

Frank Gardner, our security correspondent.

So what about Americans who voted for Donald Trump?

I asked two of them, Amanda Head in California

and Alex Chalgran in Colombia, if they believe the claims

published by BuzzFeed about Mr Trump fraternising with prostitutes

in a Moscow hotel as they defiled a bed slept in by the Obamas.

I believe this is about as much as I could throw a Volkswagen.

About as much as you could do what?! Throw a Volkswagen! What does that

mean? I can't throw a Volkswagen very far! You mean literally! Sorry,

OK, I am being really thick! Something that wouldn't happen in

real life! Alex, let me ask you, do you believe the claims in this

apparent intelligence dossier? Absolutely not, I agree with Amanda,

and I think that these allegations, that are completely unsubstantiated,

could be borderline seditious almost, because they are assuming

that our President-elect, the future President of the United States, has

ties with Russia, and that is just, wow, unbelievable. I mean, yeah, it

is dangerous dog. I just want to add that BuzzFeed sent out a memo to

their employees, admitting there was no fact checking or cross sourcing,

and they said, and I quote, we have serious reason to doubt the

allegations, but they chose to publish it anyway. The latter half

of that... They need to cut them off. You are right, the editor in

chief said there are serious reasons to doubt the allegations, but it is

not true to say that they had not tried to verify them for a number of

weeks - they have tried and failed and took the decision to publish. So

you should go ahead and publish it? That is not journalistic integrity.

Well, they say, because it is a real story that this dossier is being

handed around politicians in the higher echelons of Washington, and

they wanted to put it at there for their readers, they is eight, for

them to make up their own minds. -- they say. If I may intercede, I

think we know that the higher echelons of the seats were not

pro-Trump, and I think they have tried to do everything they possibly

could to make sure he was not elected, and then to make sure he

did not win the electoral vote confirmation. So it is OK for the

CIA and some senators, including John McCain, Republican, I know he

is no fan of Donald Trump, but it is OK for these people do read the

dossier but not the rest of us? Absolutely not, I think these are

things which should be substantiated first. All right, yeah, that is fair

enough. What do you think, Amanda, of Donald Trump lashing out at the

intelligence surfaces for what he said was leaking details of Russia's

compromise in information? Here is the thing, and this is one of the

things about my radio programme. I call it like I see it, I voted for

Trump because the option on the other side was Hillary. I will

support him as long as he continues to do the things that he has said he

is going to do, and he does it in a manner of integrity. Unfortunately,

what he portrays when he is out in public, and at a press conference,

bashing our intelligence, this is where it seems a little bit like,

you know, like when you are in the elevator with a husband and wife who

are bickering, it is just really uncomfortable, not something that

anyone else needs to see. I understand there are issues with our

intelligence agent, even Barack Obama talked about doubting the

credibility of them back in 2012, but those things need to be handled

behind closed doors, and you know, sorry Trump, but this is the kind of

stuff which you have to bring the public persona down, you cannot

tweet every time you argue? Are angry. If you are going to tweet,

use facts. Let's talk about his defence of these allegations, he

could not possibly have been consorting with prostitute because

he is a one! -- he is a germophone. I did not see him say that! Well,

that is funny. If this was any other person, I would be, like, that is

not a substantial response, but I can see it coming from him. He

clearly has some of those OCD tendencies, and I think a lot of

those tendencies, and you see this in psychological studies, that they

often result in successful people because they are so particular about

certain things, and Donald Trump is a success, whether you agree with

him or not. I want to ask you about his tax returns, do you want to see

his tax returns published? He did refer yesterday to the fact that his

business interests will be handed over, the leadership of his business

interests will be handed to his sons wily as President, do you want to

see his tax returns published? No, I care what he does in office. I would

kind of like to see dad, to be honest with you. And the reason why,

I trust Trump completely, and that is why I voted for him, and I worked

very hard with his campaign. But there again, I think that to make

sure that everything is completely detached from his duty as president,

from his former work, I think it is safe to see that is happening. You

know, there are so many different things going around right now, the

company and all these other things, it is just hard to tell. OK, thank

you both so much for talking to a British audience, we really

appreciated, thank you very much. Still to come, Coronation Street

star Simon Gregson, Steve McDonald in the soap,

reveals his wife Emma has as he hits back at trolls

criticising his Corrie storyline. The NHS has released its monthly

figures for November operation waits and delays

on patients being discharged. The data shows key targets are still

being missed, including the 62 day target for cancer treatment to

start, and the 18 week target for routine operations. Yesterday the

Prime Minister defended the Government's handling of the NHS.

Jeremy Corbyn accused her of being in denial. We can talk to people

across the country about the pressure of the NHS impacting on our

lives. her grandad's cancer operation

was cancelled twice in one week. Nigel Charles, talking to us

from Devon, was rushed to hospital with a clot in the lung

caused by cancer. He had to wait 12 hours on a trolley

before they could find him a bed. And Pip Holman in London, who's been

in agonising pain since August and had her operation cancelled

last minute this week. Welcome, all of you, Nigel, I will

begin with you, if I may, tell me what waiting 12 hours on a trolley

with a clot on your loan is like. It was actually 13 hours! They relieve

the pain very quickly, but it is not a very pleasant experience, being

stuck in a trolley in the middle of a huge waiting room, very tedious,

very boring and unpleasant experience. You have worked in

health care yourself, I gather - when you suddenly find yourself in

the middle of this, what is it like? Well, it is shocking. One reads

about the stories, but to experience it is another thing altogether,

astonishing to see these incredible delays in A, and what is more

scandalous is that I was mostly surrounded by older people, and they

were having to wait hours as well. I think it is the older people that

I'm really concerned about, that they are being subject to this

dreadful experience. Emily's grandad, in his case, the operation

being cancelled, it turns out that there wasn't really a need to cancel

it, but you wouldn't have known that unless your mother had stood her

ground. Exactly, it was cancelled twice, and then cancelled again the

following day, and my mum has been a manager elsewhere in the NHS, and

she was able to kind of find out what the problem was and what was

going on, and what she found was that it was a bed management issue,

so while the front-line staff were brilliant, the senior managers in

the background, essentially, weren't doing their job properly, and in our

case we were able to resolve it, and my grandad was able to have is

operation yesterday, and he has just got home, so he is doing really

well! Your mum works for an NHS Trust, what does she say about

morale amongst medical professionals? I think it is

inevitable that it must be quite low, because they are facing these

stresses, often on their own, because the managers above them who

should be taking responsibility are not. Pip, hello, you have been on

morphine for your pain for several months, and you still don't know

what is causing it. No. Go on. I have an outside of the box illness,

so yeah, quite difficult. No-one knows. Because I don't need

emergency surgery, or it is not something serious that has been

shown in my bloods, no-one really knows what to do with me. Clearly,

that is a difficult issue, the medical professionals are doing

their best to find out what is wrong - what is the issue for you with the

NHS at the moment? I feel that they have treated my symptoms more than

my cause, and just being active personally and stacked inside the

house for seven months, in pain, like feeling sick, and also having

to ring an ambulance because my pain hasn't been fully looked after. But

would you be able to say that you think the staff are doing their best

to help you out, to sort you out, to find out what the issue is? They

have helped as best as they can, but when it comes to doctors talking to

doctors, I've seen so many, some people have tried to be lovely, just

didn't know what was wrong. Other people didn't even bother to talk to

other doctors, and some people generally just didn't know what to

do with me. And other people talked down to me like I was a two-year-old

and thought I was lying about all this pain.

There are thousands of staff with so many doing their absolute best

comedy you have a solution? I do not hold hospitals responsible for this

at all. The problem with social care is they couldn't free up beds

because they can get people out of hospital because there was

inadequate care in the community. The solution is to fund social care

properly. The government notes what to do and they need to act now. --

the government knows what to do and they need to act now.

Let's get more from our health editor, Hugh Pym, and Norman Smith,

This is a familiar story. The problem is, this is November. We get

the figure is two months after the event. There were some figures

leaked to the BBC a couple of days ago telling us how bad things were

in the first week of January but official figures don't come out for

a while. Back in November, even then there was an increasing number of

people going to A 1.9 million people in November. An increase in

the number of emergency admissions. There is this relentless increase in

patient demand, all the key targets missed including the wait for cancer

treatment, the delays generally for getting operations, and also the

four hour wait at A 95% of patients should be seen or assessed

within that for hours. That hasn't been met since July 20 15. It is one

of the lowest on record. You've probably how that target compares

with a year earlier. What about the others. Is it getting worse? These

targets which NHS in England is supposed to meet have been missed

consistently for several months now. It's part of an ongoing narrative,

if you like. People have been warning about this for a while. The

demand on the NHS has been rising more rapidly, year-on-year, than the

money available. The government is right to say it's put in more money

to the NHS, but if you've got a workload that's even better,

something has to give. There have been warnings that what gives if

there is no extra money is people have to wait longer for operations,

you get more people stuck on trolleys in hospitals. And, as was

identified in your discussion, social care is one of the big

issues. If hospitals can't release people back into the community,

elderly patients, that bed is occupied and not available to

somebody coming in through the front door. There was a hospital leader

Isil interviewed yesterday saying it is one in one out, every bed is

occupied -- a hospital leader I interviewed yesterday. These figures

we've just had show there was a really big increase year-on-year in

the so-called delayed transfers of care in November, compared with the

previous November. This is the big issue, how you can discharge people

back into the community when in England social care has been cut in

terms funding. Norman, how much pressure is the government and on

the issue of the NHS in England right now? I don't think there's any

doubt Mrs May is under real pressure. There's almost a sense at

Westminster she's been blindsided and caught off-guard by the way this

issue has blown up over recent weeks. Maybe she's just been focused

on Brexit. There is another view that she doesn't quite get the NHS

as an issue, not in the same way that David Cameron did. He famously

said the three letters that mattered most to him were NHS. Now Theresa

May is reeling from terrible stories about trolley waits, criticism and

letters from medical professionals, the Royal colleges. We've got

cross-party groups banding together to demand something is done about

social care. We've had the Health Secretary floating possibly

backtracking on the four hour target on A Now Mrs May seems to be

involved in a public stand ups but with the man running the NHS, Simon

Stephens. When, he has publicly clashed with Mrs May over how much

cash he's getting. He's called for more action on social care,

suggested using some of the pension perks like free bus passes to

provide more money for social care. Yesterday he took a dig at Mrs May,

saying, running the NHS isn't like running the criminal justice system.

But its funding that is the real sharp end because the government

have consistently said, we've given Mr Stevens more cash than he even

asked for. Listen to Theresa May saying that.

We asked the NHS themselves to come up with their five-year plan. We

asked the NHS themselves to say what extra funding was needed to deliver

on that. They came up with their five-year plan, led by Simon

Stephens as chief executive. He said it was ?8 billion, we are giving ?10

billion of extra funding to the NHS. Well, yesterday Mr Stevens in effect

said, not true. You have not given me more money than I asked for. Have

a listen. It's a matter of fact, it's not news, I've said it

previously to the select committee back in October, that like every

part of the public service, we got less than we asked for in that

process. I think it would be stretching it to say the NHS has got

more than it has asked for. This has all fuel suggestions of a rift

emerging between a man running the NHS and Theresa May. We had the time

day, Downing Street are saying they retain full confidence in Simon

Stephens. If you look at other top officials who have clashed with Mrs

May. Ivan Rogers, the man in Brussels who was supposed to be

doing the negotiations to get us out of the EU, he walked the plank over

Christmas after publicly accusing Mrs May and the government of

muddled thinking of a Brexit. Then we have the governor of the Bank of

England, Mark Carney, publicly very, very gloomy about what would happen

after Brexit and the implications for the economy, enraging many of

those in the Brexit campaign. Now, he is leaving his post two years

earlier. Perhaps inevitably there are questions surrounding the future

of Simon Stevens and whether he also might have to walk a plank. The one

thing I think that might save him is, amidst all this pressure and

outrage, just think, is the head of the NHS was to walk, how much more

pressure Mrs May would be under. So perhaps the fact there is such a

huge row at the moment means, maybe, Mr Stevens is untouchable. Thank

you. This is an e-mail from a viewer, I

disagree with increasing taxes to fund the NHS, however I would like

to see at setting up a lottery to support it. I'm pretty sure British

people would support this kind of lottery if they were sure all the

cash would go to the organisation. Another view says, if I had to wait

62 days the cancer I wouldn't bother, by then it would probably be

too late. Another viewer, you can't take ?42 billion out of the NHS and

expected to manage. Closing A puts pressure on everywhere else. If

you have pertinent experience of the NHS then let me know. Still to come.

The makers of Nutella fightback after claims that palm oil, one of

its ingredients, could cause cancer. We'll speak to a cancer specialist

and a nutritionist to ask them whether it should put us off

buying the spread. Now a summary of the main

stories this morning. Figures released in the past half

hour show the continuing pressure Monthly performance data

for November shows key targets These include the 62-day target

for cancer treatment to start and the 18-week target

for routine operations. The US Director of National

Intelligence has rejected suggestions made by Donald Trump

that official intelligence agencies leaked claims that Russia had

compromising material on him. In a statement, James Clapper said

he had called the President-elect to say the information had not come

from the security services. More than 3,000 American troops,

tanks, and armoured vehicles are arriving in Poland this morning

- the United States' biggest military presence in the region

since the Cold War. It's to support a Nato operation

to deter any Russian aggression A woman has been jailed for 21 years

for the murder of an elderly neighbour in Fife. She attacked Mary

Logie with a rolling pin last January. Mrs Lodi suffered more than

30 injuries to her head and neck. The High Court in Edinburgh heard

that Sandra Weir had stolen thousands of pounds from her to fund

a heroin addiction. A number of major retailers have

published their sales figures for the Christmas

period this morning. M reported a 2.3% rise in clothing

sales in the 13 weeks Meanwhile, Tesco says its third

quarter sales were up by 1.8%. And, John Lewis has reported a 2.7%

rise in like-for-like sales over Southampton are a step

closer to Wembley. They beat Liverpool 1-0

in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final last night,

Nathan Redmond with the goal. The return leg is at Anfield

is in a fortnight's time. The England captain Alastair Cook

will meet director of cricket Andrew Strauss on Friday

to discuss his future, although no decision on his role

as skipper is expected to be made. England lost their recent

series against India 4-0. Andy Murray is in Melbourne,

ahead of the Australian Open draw which takes place in the early hours

of Friday morning. He'll be the number one seed at a

grand slam for the first time in his career.

Laura Robson and Tara Moore won't be in the draw -

Dan Evans is through to a World Tour semi-final for the first

The British number three beat top seed Dominic Thiem

This comes ahead of the start of the Australian Open on Monday. Big hopes

for a lot of British players in action. That is all the sport now,

plenty more on the BBC News channel throughout the day.

Coronation Street actor Simon Gregson has revealed that

losing 11 babies with this wife influenced the storyline

in which his on-screen partner suffered a miscarriage.

Last night's episode saw harrowing scenes in which Michelle Connor,

played by Kym Marsh, suffered a late miscarriage.

Gregson, played by Steve McDonald, revealed the tragedy

as Kym Marsh, said recreating the stillbirth

was the best way to "honour" the baby she lost.

When they ask me how many kids I've got, what do I say?

Listen, you don't have to explain anything to anyone.

But if I don't, it's like he never existed.

Gregson is played by Steve McDonald, who yesterday hit out on Twitter

at trolls who had tweeted his wife, Emma Gleave.

He tweeted, "To the people who tweeted my wife.

"We've lost 11 babies, first being 21 weeks and 4 days.

"Maybe think or do your research before tweeting someone."

In a moment, we'll be talking to Erica Stewart

from the stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands.

But first we're going to show you a clip

from an interview we did in October last year.

22-year-old Jack Davis spoke to the programme about the ordeal

of having to deal with the loss of two babies within 12 months.

dealing with such a heartbreaking loss.

In a tragedy like this, or even just a normal pregnancy,

the main focus stereotypically is the one.

the main focus stereotypically is the woman.

Because she's delivered the baby, she's carried

But I think people forget, in the background, there is a man

There's a man there who's got to go through all of this as well.

And it's not just the mother who's lost a child, it's the father who's