this is bbc news. the headlines at 3pm: nhs england rejects claims by the red cross that hospital and ambulance services are experiencing a humanitarian crisis. a former american army soldier has been arrested, after five people were shot dead at fort lauderdale airport in florida. the governor of florida says the gunman will be brought tojustice. the person responsible for this act will be brought to justice to the fullest extent of the law. when you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us. at least 43 people have been killed by a lorry bomb in the northern syrian town of azaz. also the spiralling cost of repairing potholes in england and wales. councils predict the repair bill could reach £14 billion within two yea rs. and coming up in half an hour, the click team visits las vegas. good afternoon and

welcome to bbc news. the nhs in england has denied claims — from the british red cross — that there's a humanitarian crisis in its hospitals. latest figures show a&e departments have had to shut their doors to patients more than 140 times in december, because of a lack of beds. the red cross, which helps patients return home from hospital, is calling for more government money. but nhs england say plans are in place to cope with additional demand and that talk of a humanitarian crisis is overblown. our health correspondent, smitha mundasad, reports. winter pressure on accident and emergency — nothing new. but the red cross now says the strain on hospitals in england amounts to a humanitarian crisis. the charity claims social care cuts mean patients are being sent home

without the right support so they end up back in a&e. red cross volunteers support nhs staff and say they've seen patients sent home without clothes. some who don't receive the care they need to get washed. even some who have fallen and not been found for days. a&e staff recognise the problems too. i think the pressures on the nhs and especially in emergency care are particularly intense at the moment. but what is more concerning is the number of patients who have been managed within four hours and then the delays to admission into the hospital bed base which unfortunately are very, very significant and our staff are working under some pretty intolerable conditions at times. and sometimes they just can't manage. figures from nhs england show that overflowing a&e departments had to close their doors to new patients more than 140 times over the last month. compare that to the same month

in 2015 and it's up more than 60%. so is the strain costing lives? the humanitarian crisis? no, i think that's an overstatement at this stage. clearly, demand is very high and it's higher than it has ever been, but we have probably the most comprehensive plans in place that we ever had, but it is very difficult at the moment. the death of two patients on emergency trolleys at worcestershire royal hospital are being investigated. one of them had waited 35 hours for a bed. the department of health says it's providing billions more each year to ease the pressure. beds are actually not quite as full as they were this time last year. but everyone in the health service knows things could get worse before they get better. smitha mundasad, bbc news. mike adamson is the chief executive of the british red cross. i asked whether his claim that there's a

humanitarian crisis in nhs hospitals in england was overblown. i mean the definition of a humanitarian crisis is something that affects the health and well being of a large population for a prolonged period of time. actually that's what we're seeing in our health and social care system at the moment. we know that between half a million and a million people who used to get help from social care no longer do. we look at the evidence in terms of the figures and statistics that you quoted, some of the nuffield trust report yesterday saying a third of hospitals in crisis, but what we see is, you know, our volunteers are working with people, supporting them to come out of hospital. what they see is increasingly chaotic situations in people estate agency home life. —— people's home life. is there food in the fridge? is the flat or house a complete mess? are bills unpaid? because actually there isn't the soc support that can even —— support, there can even be toileting issues. we feel it personally. someone waiting on a trolley

for several hours for support without anyone and not knowing what's going to happen next, that can feel like a crisis for them and their family. rightly or wrongly, though, the health service and the social care system are two separate things. isn't there a danger you're conflating two different problems here? well, they are, we sometimes use quite unhuman language about the health and social care system, delayed transfers of care, bed—blocking. but it's all the same people at home, going to the gp, going to a&e, going to hospital and spending more time there than they need to. the system needs to work as a system. currently, it's actually quite siloed between health and social care. the cuts in social care make that problem more acute but it can be siloed within the health service within different organisations and specialties. when our volunteers work with and support people,

we look at the whole person b, what they would like to be able to do when they come out of hospital, or what we can do to help them avoid a hospital admission or avoid going to see their gp. what are the things they would like to achieve in their life. those are the things, if you nip things in the bud you can avoid the humanitarian crisis. when, if ever, has the red cross been involved in providing this kind of help in this country before? well, we're a partner to the nhs and indeed local authorities and social care all across the country. we help nearly 100,000 people a year. we work in more than 100 locations with more than 100 hospitals. we're an active and we're very pleased, i must say, to be a really active partner in the nhs. it's not that everyone isn't working really hard and as well as they probably can. it's just that the system is stretched at the moment towards breaking point. it's notjust us saying that.

we see the consequences of that for people. that's what the evidence is saying. some of those numbers about 30% rise in a&e attendances, 20% increase in emergency admissions. those issues put real strain on the system. the chief executive of the british red cross speaking to us earlier. it's emerged that the man accused of shooting dead five people at an airport in florida yesterday had a history of mental health problems — some of which followed military service in iraq. esteban santiago, who's 26, was arrested after opening fire on people in the baggage reclaim area of fort lauderdale airport. 0ur correspondent, jonny dymond, reports. they ran for their lives. as shots rang out in fort lauderdale's terminal 2, the area around the runway became the nearest thing to a place of safety. inside the terminal, panic. some lay on the ground to protect themselves.

0thers lay dying. the gunman is believed to have brought a weapon out of his checked luggage here at baggage reclaim. he loaded, fired, reloaded, fired again, then gave himself up. five people, tragically, are dead. we have the shooter in custody. he is unharmed. no law enforcement fired any shots. the subject is being interviewed by a team of fbi agents and broward sheriff's office homicide detectives. in custody, a young man, esteban santiago. a 26—year—old military veteran with a history of mental health problems. he'd served in iraq and come back, a relative said, as if he'd lost his mind. he'd been interviewed by the fbi.

he'd said the government was controlling him. the individual did walk into our anchorage office in november. he came in and spoke with fbi agents at that time. he clearly stated that he did not intend to harm anyone. however, his erratic behaviour concerned fbi agents that were interviewing him. and they contacted local police. as the police locked down the airport, rumours swirled back and forth about more attacks. but it was just one gunman, a badly disturbed man with training and access to weapons. jonny dymond, bbc news. the governor of florida said the gunman would be brought tojustice. yesterday we experienced an absolute hateful, evil attack on our state. people trying to live their lives and enjoy the weekend were senselessly murdered. it was an absolutely horrific day. the person responsible for this act will be brought to justice

to the fullest extent of the law. when you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us. i arrived in fort lauderdale yesterday afternoon less than two hours after the shooting happened. i spent the rest of the day getting briefed by law enforcement from the state, local and federal levels. they are all working together to get answers. i saw the same thing after the pulse attack, where state, federal and local worked very well together, law enforcement worked very well together. i know we all want answers, and i know law enforcement is working hard to understand exactly what happened. what we do know is individuals have been killed, and some are fighting for their lives right here in hospitals in the county. last night i went to the hospital to visit some of the victims and their

families. some of the victims were still in surgery fighting for their lives. it's just, it's just still in surgery fighting for their lives. it'sjust, it'sjust such senseless acts. the governor of florida. how concerned should passengers be about airport security in the wake of this attack? with me is the travel editor of the independent, simon calder, who has also worked in airport security. thanks for coming in. first of all, it appears that the man who's been arrested in connection with these shootings took this weapon from his baggage. so, what are the rules about travelling with firearms?‘ lot of people have been really surprised to learn that it's perfectly normal, if you have a legally—owned gun, you've got to get it around somehow. so therefore, you typically will check it in as baggage. now, in the us, that's a very straightforward thing. you go to the check—in counter and say by the way, in my checked baggage i have a gun. nothing else will happen. in the uk, it's a lot trickier. the airline would

generally demand that you show that you have the permits to hold it, to transport it and the place you're going to will also do that. but there's only a few rules added onto that. generally, you can only carry five kilograms of ammunition. if are you going to somewhere like italy or south africa, you have to check the ammunition and the gun into separate bags. but as long as you're not trying to take anything onto the aircraft, it's perfectly legal and it happens hundreds, probably thousands of times every day. we're all used to having to go through various security checks to get to the airside part of the airport. if you pick up a bag, you've checked your weaponry in, you can take it out supposedly in the baggage claim area. that's not an area where ordinarily we see security. no, all the focus at the moment in aviation security, and it really has been since 9/11, is what can we do to

stop people with guns, with explosives getting onto aircraft and taking over those aircraft or destroying them. so it's really very muchjust destroying them. so it's really very much just looking destroying them. so it's really very muchjust looking at destroying them. so it's really very much just looking at passengers, looking at staff, looking at everything that's going airside. the rest of the airport, yes, there will be some security staff around, some police, but you don't need any kind of special documentation to get in there. there is absolutely nothing, i'm afraid, to stop a repeat of this, although it must be said that i think we're probably dealing here more with somebody with mental health issues who has a firearm, who decides to go on a shooting spree as sadly we see all too often in the us, where you've got such relaxed gun control laws, that it means that for instance you're allowed to have the kinds of weapons that simply wouldn't be legal here. but of course, it does generate a discussion about wherein airports security is put in place. yes. and the more you make it difficult for terrorists actually to take over

aircraft, the more they are going to be looking for high profile targets elsewhere. as we've seen very sadly last year, in brussels, in istanbul, before that in moscow, with isolated attacks in places like los angeles, the landside areas, the check—in zone, the baggage reclaim area are simply unprotected and therefore there's a lot of people saying look we've got to look at this whole thing holistically rather than simply focussing on people stuff through onto aircraft. thank you. at least 43 people have been killed by a car bomb in a rebelled—held syrian town. the bomb damaged a government building and a lowingal court house ina building and a lowingal court house in a busy market town, and a key staging post on the supply route for rebel groups. sir ivan rogers has confirmed his resignation from the foreign office

and the civil service. formerly britain's most senior diplomat at the european union, sir ivan rogers resigned last wednesday — just months before he was due to play an important role in the complex negotiations on the uk‘s exit from the eu. the us department of homeland security will increase security to guard against siebary tacks. a report has come out directly accusing president putin to boost donald trump's election bid. the report from american intelligence claims russia's president, vladimir putin, personally ordered what it called an influence campaign to help donald trump's chances of winning the american presidency. it said the goals were to denigrate his opponent hillary clinton and harm her electability. the conclusion, the kremlin developed a clear preference for donald trump. the president—elect had earlier described the russian hacking claims as a political witch—hunt

by his opponents. at trump tower, he met america's top intelligence officials for a classified briefing. they claim russia's actions included gaining access to the e—mail accounts of the democratic national committee and top democrats, and using intermediaries such as wikileaks to release the information. russia has previously denied this, and wikileaks founderjulian assange has said before that moscow was not the source. a former cia director who resigned from donald trump's transition team gave his view. it depends how you phrase it. "russia was involved" looks supportable as a proposition in no small measure i think because they were able to come up with the identities of the intermediaries between the russian government and the people who did some hacking, they did not have that before and that, i think, was one thing that got a lot of people's attention, including mine. after the briefing, mr trump did not single out russia.

in a statement he said... and the incoming vice president says the us will strengthen cyber defences. the president—elect has made it very clear that we're going to take aggressive action in the early days of our new administration to combat cyber attacks and protect the security of the american people from this type of intrusion in the future. donald trump said he had tremendous respect for the work and service done by those in the us intelligence community. but with two weeks to go until he moves into the white house, questions remain over how they will all work together to keep america safe. catriona renton, bbc news.

the headlines on bbc news: nhs england has rejected claims by the red cross that hospitals and services are experiencing a "humanitarian crisis" because of winter pressures. a former american soldier has been arrested after five people were shot dead at fort lauderdale airport in florida. at least 43 people have been killed by a lorry bomb in the northern syrian town of azaz. and in sport: fa cup holders manchester united are through to the fourth round of the competition after a 4—0 win over reading — with their second goal comnig from wyane rooney, as he equalled sir bobby charlton's club record of 249 goals. sir mo farah is starting his 2017 with the great -- sir —— sirmo farah —— sir mo farah has finished in seventh place in the great edinburgh cross—country. sir andy murray is playing in his first final of 2017.

he's just starting his he'sjust starting his match he's just starting his match against novak djokovic at the qatar 0pen. updates on the 23 fa cup games are all on the bbc website. details in the next hour. talks between london underground bosses and the tssa union to avert strike action are continuing at the conciliation service acas. the rmt union have left the talks. a 24—hour strike is set to start on sunday evening, causing travel misery for thousands of commuters. with me is our business correspondent joe lynam what's the latest you're hearing? the tssa represents around 10% of station staff on london underground. that's around 500 people. it's a lot of people. but the vast majority are represented by the rmt trade union. they have walked out of the talks. they have walked out of the talks. they resumed their efforts to find a solution this morning around 11am. the rmt walked out at around 2pm. the rmt walked out at around 2pm. the talks are continuing with a small rump of the workers. it looks

110w small rump of the workers. it looks now that the strike will go ahead at 6pm tomorrow evening, 24—hour strike. what impact is it likely to have? four million people on a normal work day use the london underground. you can imagine they're scurrying around to find alternative routes into the city. it's one of the biggest transport networks in europe. shutting it down when all the stations in central london will be closed will make getting round the city very difficult. this is a dispute about station ticket offices. for the last three or four yea rs, offices. for the last three or four years, london underground has attempted to save money, so it doesn't have to increase the cost of tickets to the public by closing down ticket offices. the union representing most of the workers at the rmt saying that is dangerous because customers won't have access to the support they would get and there's a security issue as well as helping customers issues because there's no—one. there the management say there will be a number of people patrolling the platforms and in and around the station. theyjust won't be behind the booth that they were.

it's a protracted negotiation. at the moment, we're no closer to a solution. thank you very much. the repair bill to fix the country's potholes could soon reach £14 billion. that's according to councils in england and wales, who say the government should pay for the repairs from fuel duty. the government says it's already putting £250 million into fixing the problem, but the local government association says that's not enough, as duncan kennedy reports. councils fix two million potholes every year. that is about 12,000 for every local authority in england and wales. but it never seems to be enough. now, the councils claim the repair bill could soon reach £14 billion. hard—pressed councils, who are mending, you know, a pothole every five seconds in this country, just cannot get to the core of the problem, which is actually many of our roads arejust being patched now. they need to be fully repaired.

the councils say the government must do more to help, and suggest increasing fuel duty by a couple of pence a litre, a figure they say the public would support. but it is notjust the cost of repairing all these potholes that seems to be on the increase. today's report also found that the time it is taking appears to be on the rise as well, going up from ten years in 2006 to 14 years today. last year, the government announced a £250 million pothole repairfund to help 100 councils fix 4 million potholes. but today's report by local councils suggest that is not enough, and that the pothole problem is actually getting worse. wildfires in north america are getting bigger, more frequent and more destructive, according to official us government statistics. scientists say a warming climate combined with a century of fire suppression by the people

who settled the west has produced the perfect conditions for so—called megafires. 0ur north america correspondent james cook reports from the colorado rockies. welcome to the furnace. across large swathes of north america, this is the new terrifying normal. in the united states last year, there were more than 60,000 wildfires, and the trend is towards bigger and more destructive blazes. huge fires are transforming the landscape of the united states. here in the foothills of the rockies, a blaze burned through here 20 years ago, and still it looks like this. no longer dense forest, but essentially prairie. the buffalo creek blaze was one of several so—called mega fires here in colorado which destroyed homes, polluted water supplies, and left locals lucky enough to escape fearful for the future. it is terrifying. it's devastating, the destruction, it's traumatic. it brings into focus very quickly that there's something wrong here.

so what is wrong? scientists say rising temperatures and years of drought are partly to blame, and so too is a century of firefighting by the settlers of the west, who interrupted the natural rhythm of regular fires so they could preserve life, property and precious timber. the results — thicker forest, more fuel to burn, and often devastation. we are caught in this vicious circle. forests need fire — fire is as natural to a forest as sunshine and rain. no—one ever lost theirjob for fighting a fire. as a fire manager or a policy maker, the far more difficult decision is to allow a fire to burn, to manage a fire for its resource benefit. but sometimes you think that needs to happen? 0h, absolutely. the lead agency for wildfires, the us forest service, is caught in a trap — it can't find enough money for its programmes to thin out

woodland and prevent fire, because more than half its budget is being spent on firefighting. its boss says that has got to change. it's essential that we find a different way to be able to fund fire suppression in this country, and simply to be able to recognise that 1% to 2% of these fires that start every year need to be considered a natural disaster, not unlike floods are, like hurricanes are, like windstorms are. for a time, some people thought they had tamed the wild west — nature is proving them wrong. james cook, bbc news, in the colorado rockies. in southern thailand, at least 12 people have died in a week of heavy rains and floods, and thousands of villages have been submerged. flights, trains and bus services have been disrupted in the south of the country. the meteorological department says the downpour will continue for another two days.

for the first time, the nhs is providing disabled children with prosthetic limbs that are specially designed for sport. nhs england says it hopes to equip several hundred children a year with the limbs, to allow them to participate in more sport. here's our health correspondent, robert pigott. right, how have you been doing, then, since you had your blade? when ben made the decision at the age of ten to have his stunted right leg amputated, his dream of a future in sport seemed remote. would you like to put it on for me and show me what you can do with it? three years on, ben is one of the first children to receive a running blade on the nhs. as if he were changing a shoe, he can swap his false leg for the blade and feel a new freedom and energy. the spring of it is the bit that makes me go faster. i used to not be able to, like, be able to run as fast or able to kick a ball as well, but now i've got a good amount of power in my leg, and i've got the right size, so i can do loads of skills and hit a ball really well. the blade and the treatment cost

around £1000, but clairejohnson, a health service expert in prosthetic limbs, says the nhs will more than recoup the cost by keeping children active. we're hoping that it will give him a level playing field, so that he can compete with his peers and be able to participate in a lot more sports. it does help in the wider scheme of things, and hopefully give a longer longevity to their lives by giving them the opportunity to do sport. ben is among 2500 children in england with limbs that are either absent or which don't work properly. the nhs hopes to fit several hundred of them with a sports prosthetic every year. the scheme not only opens the way to sport for a group of disabled youngsters, but it comes with an added message. at a time when so many teenagers are couch potatoes, it makes an example of an extraordinary few who overcome all the odds to carve out a life in sport.

the new blade, for me, can do a lot more than my prosthetic can do, cos now i can run with more freedom. ben's mother kathleen says running blades can change a disabled child's whole outlook on life. he seems more confident, and more eager to get out and about now. he's wanting to put it on and go out more, and do more sports, more activities. now he has got the blade, the sky is the limit. ben says he is now training for the paralympics, and he's talking dates — 2024, at the very least. 2020? who knows? robert pigott, bbc news, brighton. a young fan of the coldstream guards now has a memento from his birthday visit to windsor castle. marshall scott was celebrating his fourth birthday at the castle — dressed as a miniature guardsman — when one of the guards surprised him by posing for a photo alongside the youngster.

the video was shared online by charanpreet singh, one of the guards involved. wait for it. due notice that lance corporate rat paul eden didn't smile for the camera. let's look at the weather forecast now. how's it looking? quite right, standards. i will smile for you, because i'll try and cheer you up from the gloomy weather which we've had today. for most of us it's been distinctly drab and some of that fog has been lingering all day long. for a few of us, it's been beautifully sunny. that's the exception to the rule. the satellite picture says it all. you can see the cloud, the murk across the uk and nothing's going to shift it now really. any breaks in the cloud won't amount to much. temperatures into double figures in most spots.

that mild theme continues into the night. that fog could lower down again and become a bit of an issue, if you are on the move, take it steady. there could be thick patches around. eastern scotland having the clearest of the skies. the lowest of the temperatures. touch of frost for most of us. comfortably above freezing. we start sunday with a lot of cloud still. some of that fog, slowly lifting, i think. of cloud still. some of that fog, slowly lifting, ithink. any sunshine again will be conspicuous by its absence. more breaks around than today. east wales, north—east england for example. there'll be rain into the west of scotland by the end of the day. another mild one, though. nine orten the end of the day. another mild one, though. nine or ten degrees. turns chillier to the beginning of next week with rain spreading down from the north west. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: