THE HEADLINES AT 0800 ON THURSDAY 21ST DECEMBER

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It's eight o'clock on Thursday the twenty first of December. The news headlines:

European ministers have agreed new fishing quotas the government says Britain has got a good deal but Scottish fishermen aren't convinced.

Fog is causing continuing disruption to holiday flights.

More details have emerged about the British soldier on spying charges.

FISH

EU ministers have reached agreement on the level of next year's fishing catches. Cod quotas have been reduced, but there are increases in the number of prawns, haddock, hake and monkfish that can be caught. The fisheries minister, Ben Bradshaw, called it a good deal for Britain. From Brussels, Emma Jane Kirby reports:

KIRBY: The agreement reached in Brussels today has been described as a "fair deal" by UK ministers, but inevitably will disappoint British fishermen, who had hoped to see no reduction on the amount of fish they are allowed to catch or the number of days they are allowed to spend at sea. After hours of haggling EU officials agreed to reduce the amount of cod caught in the north sea by fourteen percent and to reduce the number of day boats are allowed to go fishing by between seven and ten percent depending on the size of their nets. Britain's other most popular fish prawn, mackerel, haddock and monkfish all received increases in their quotas. Scientists argued that, many species are in urgent need of protection after years of overfishing and have been lobbying for a total ban on cod-fishing in the North Sea.

FISH MINISTER

But the fishing industry is disappointed. Bertie Armstrong of the Scottish Fishing Federation said the deal was not in the interest of his members who would have preferred a more gradual approach to reducing cod quotas. But speaking on this programme, the Fisheries Minister, Ben Bradshaw, insisted it was the best possible deal in the face of scientific arguments:

BRADSHAW: Fishermen as usual wouldn't have liked to see any cuts in cod at all, but I think given the very dire scientific advice and the still very poor state of the stock, we had to take some action on cod. I think to do nothing would have been irresponsible and unrealistic, but I think it was a more moderate cut than many had feared, but I think enough to build on the small cod recovery we are seeing.

FOG HORROR

As the Christmas holiday gets underway, thick fog has brought cancellations and delays at airports around the UK, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Worst affected is Heathrow, where air traffic controllers have significantly reduced the number of flights that can land and take-off. As a result, British Airways has cancelled all domestic flights today, as well as a large number of European services. More than three hundred flights from Heathrow were cancelled yesterday, and many passengers spent the night at the airport -- including these Americans:

AMERICAN1: All of us have been in this line for hours wondering exactly what we are supposed to be doing, I feel very frustrated. I am not from this country and so I specifically don't know what to do or where to go.

AMERICAN2: Everyone is really angry, everyone is lying around and trying to get comfortable and it is pretty much just bare. There are no true answers nobody knows what they are going to do.

Long-haul services are running, but face lengthy delays. Bob Sinkinson has the latest from Heathrow:

SINKINSON: The cancellation of flight has brought misery and frustration to pre-christmas travellers, many of whom were stranded at Heathrow overnight. They camped out as best they could and kept warm by blankets that were handed out. Tens of thousands are due to pass through Heathrow today, but the message is don't turn up and seek alternative travel arrangements. British Airways has cancelled all it domestic flights from Heathrow and BMI has also been affected with twenty of its flights grounded by the fog. Elsewhere seventeen flights have been cancelled and four at Cardiff. At Coventry airport there are no flight because of the flight with passengers being transferred to Birmingham. THose planning air travel today are being advised to get in touch with their carrier before embarking on their journey.

UK FERTILITY

BBC News has learned that the UK's fertility regulator has given permission for stem cell researchers to recruit egg donors who aren't already having medical treatment. A leading scientist has criticised the decision by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority because a public consultation was in progress. Our health correspondent, Jane Dreaper, explains:

DREAPER: Human egg donation is a controversial area -- scientists need a lot of eggs for stem cell research, but the process involves potential health risks for women. The HFEA has already given a team in Newcastle a temporary licence to offer discounted IVF treatment if patients donate eggs for research. Now it's emerged that the team was last month granted the UK's first licence to begin recruiting female donors who are not already having medical treatment. A leading scientist, Dr Stephen Minger, from King's College London, said it was improper for the licence to have been awarded while the HFEA was still running a public consultation on the issue, and he was flabbergasted. The Authority said it was obliged to consider research applications as they came in, and the licence could be reviewed if the consultation resulted in a new policy which didn't favour this type of egg donation.

ENEMY

Further details have emerged about a man who's appeared before magistrates in London, accused of divulging secret information which would be "useful to the enemy". Daniel James, who's forty-four, was charged under the Official Secrets Act. The judge said there was a risk that national security would be prejudiced if further details were made public. Mr James was remanded in custody. The defence editor of The Times, Michael Evans, told us a picture had begun to emerge about the man and what he might have done:

EVANS: First of all a soldier turned out to be a corporal and that the alleged offence took place in Afghanistan. He is a Pashto speaker, which means that he speaks the main language in Afghanistan and his role in Afghanistan was to be the interpreter of Lieutenant General David Richards who is the British commander of the NATO forces in Afghanistan. I am informed that the allegations concerning this particular soldier relate to Iran.

SUFFOLK

Police in Suffolk investigating the murders of five women will today resume questioning two men held on suspicion of carrying out the killings. This morning, they were given a further twenty-four hours to question the first man they arrested, Tom Stephens -- and yesterday evening were given more time to hold the second man, Steve Wright. From Ipswich, Stephen Chittenden:

CHITTENDEN: Earlier this morning Suffolk police announced that magistrates had granted detectives an extra twenty-four hours to question Tom Stephens a thirty-seven-year-old supermarket worker and former special constable. His home and Trimley Saint Martin remained cordoned off last night as scenes of crime officers searched the house. Detectives have until tomorrow morning to decide whether to charge or release Mr Stephens. There was a similar scene in central Ipswich at the home of forty-eight-year-old Steve Wright the second man arrested on suspicion of committing the five murders, he can be held until Saturday. Meanwhile, police have opened a road and moved back the cordon at Levington where Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls bodies were found on Tuesday.

IRAQ CHANGES

The American military is to announce charges against a group of marines accused of killing Iraqi civilians. More than twenty people -- including some children -- died in Haditha in November 2005. Earlier this year, President Bush promised that any US Marine found guilty of shooting civilians in Iraq would be punished. From Washington, here's Justin Webb:

WEBB: Defence lawyers say the men from Kilo company, in America's first marine division were engaged in a furious battle in Haditha after a bomb exploded. the lawyers accept that innocent civilians may have died during the chaos but they deny premeditated killing, but that is not how many Iraq's see it. Local people said the marines shot people in their homes, after one of their comrades was killed in the explosion. It is known that five unarmed men were shot dead in a car when they approached the scene in a taxi and others including women and children died in three houses over the next few hours. The Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al Maliki has called the deaths at Haditha a terrible crime. It does seem certain that charges are going to be filed today. The big question is whether those charges will include murder.

IRAQ ATTACKS

A suicide bomber has attacked a police recruitment centre in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing at least ten people and injuring many more. The bomber walked up to a group of volunteers waiting at the centre and detonated a belt of explosives that he was wearing.

BANK

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has called for reform of international institutions such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. In a speech in Melbourne in Australia, he's warned they might wither on the vine if a relevant role isn't found. Here's our Economics Editor, Evan Davis:

DAVIS: In an unusually hard-hitting speech for a central bank governor, Mervyn King vent some of the frustration he evidently feels sitting through endless international gatherings, that he appears to think fail to achieve much. Focussing on the International Monetary Fund he says, the frenetic activity of international meetings and the flattering illusions of streams of communiqu?do not add up to coherent policy-making, "impressive offices are not a test of succcess". He supports the existence of most of the institution but argues for more tightly defined roles with less duplication between them. But the one institution he implies should be abolished is the G-Seven group of seven big industrial economies. Its in ability to deal with major economic issues has become more and more evident her argues.

TURKMENISTAN

The President of the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, has died. He's reported to have suffered a heart attack. He was famous for issuing eccentric decrees, such as banning recorded music at public events, and renaming the months of the year and days of the week after Turkmen heroes and members of his family. He was last seen in public two weeks ago when he opened an amusement park named after himself.