this is bbc news. i'm nicholas owen. the headlines at 7pm: labour accuses the government of slashing spending on the nhs. it comes after the british red cross warned hospitals were in a "humanitarian crisis" — a claim nhs england rejects. for the first time for probably 30 years, school budgets are falling, the nhs is in crisis. we're campaigning on all of those issues. we want real social justice in this country. more than a0 people are killed in a bomb blast in northern syria. the islamic state group is suspected of carrying out the attack. a 26—year—old us army veteran is in custody on suspicion of shooting dead five people at fort lauderdale airport in florida. and wayne rooney equals sir bobby charlton's record as manchester united's best ever goal scorer. the striker reached the landmark in today's 4—0 victory over reading. we'll bring you all the action from the game and the rest

of today's sport in half an hour. potholes on the roads — calls for the government to increase fuel duty to pay for £14 billion of repairs. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the nhs in england has rejected claims that there's a ‘humanitarian crisis‘ in its hospitals. the comments from the british red cross come as 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. this afternoon, the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, called upon the government to take urgent action, but nhs england says plans are in place to cope, and that talk of any humanitarian crisis is overblown. there are flashing images

in smitha mundasad's report. winter pressures on accident and emergency — some patients waiting a long time to be seen, beds closed because of the winter vomiting bug. this picture isn't new. but the british red cross says the strain on hospitals in england is so great it amounts to a humanitarian crisis. the charity claims social care cuts mean patients are being sent home without the right support so they often end up back in a&e. at the very least it is a significant human crisis and if you think about it, someone waiting on a trolley to be seen at an a&e departmnent, not knowing what may happen, perhaps with no famnily or friends around them i can assure you when we talk to people, they describe that as a crisis. the red cross says its volunteers are seeing increasingly complex and chaotic situations in people's homes — people discharged without clothing, others with no food at home and no—one

to look after them. 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%. nhs england denies the situation is at such an extreme breaking point. a 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 the most comprehensive plans in place that we ever had, but it is very difficult at the moment. eyebrows may have been raised by the red cross choosing to use words more often used to describe a war—torn country, but last year's figures show there were some 350,000 more visits to a&es like this one between december and february 2016 and that's a pattern that front line staff are worried is set to get worse. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn

is calling on the prime minister to give an urgent statement on monday about what the government is going to do. this is a wake—up call to properly fund our nhs and the social care so that those who are in a desperate situation needing care outside of hospital are able to get that care. local authorities don't have the money to do it. the department of health says it is providing billions more every year to ease the pressure. beds are not quite as full as they were this time last year, but everyone in the health service knows that things could get worse before they get better. smitha mundasad, bbc news. you saneremy corbyn in smitha's report and, a little earlier, i asked the leader of the opposition why he thought the situation was so bad this year. it's got worse this winter compared to last and it's got worse over the last few years and it's a combination of underfunding

of the national health service, terrible pressure placed on a&e departments, lack of beds to move people on to and, of course, part of the problem is the backup caused by the lack of social care provided by local authorities, so many cannot leave hospital when they should have been discharged in order to be cared for at home. how much though of a responsibility do we, as the public, bear in that we turn up sometimes at a&e with anything that we feel might needs urgent treatment but it's not actually a proper emergency? i think it's the wrong emphasis to start blaming the public for this. the issue is the lack of funding of the health service and social care. 0bviously, people should only go to the a&e when they need to be there and i think most people behave in a proper and responsible manner. one of the problems is that the delays on getting a gp appointment or a shortage of gps means people go to a&e because they can't get access

to any other form of health care. we need to deal with the social care crisis urgently, the funding crisis urgently for our hospitals, most of whom are in debt and many of whom would have been on emergency alert over the past few weeks because of the crisis and it needs government intervention now. to be criticised by the red cross is unprecedented, in my memory, when the red cross, essentially a voluntary organisation, is helping out the nhs. now, obviously thank you to everyone that helps people out, that's how of course good society work, but we have health care as a human right in this country. that's what the nhs is for. the nhs needs the money now in order to care for everybody. but how much would that cost? if you look at labour's nhs policy about securing nhs and social care, bringing them into a publicly provided service and reversing marketisation, as your party calls it, how much would that cost

and where would the money come from? it would come from a combination of ending the internal market in the nhs which is very expensive and also reversing the corporate tax cuts that the government announced it was going to put through in the autumn statement and which i raised with the prime minister during prime minister's question time. we raised it at over 500 events in december when the labour party organised a national day of action on the nhs. the crisis is now, real and it's here and surely it's the biggest wake—up call ever, that the red cross calls it a humanitarian crisis in our hospitals. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30pm this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are the sun's deputy head of sport, martin lipton and martin bentham, home affairs editor

at the evening standard. at least a0 people have been killed by a massive bomb in a fuel tanker in syria. so—called islamic state is suspected of carrying out the attack. the blast ripped through a central market in the town of azaz, which lies on the border with turkey. from neighbouring lebanon, alex forsyth sent this report. fear, panic and chaos — the aftermath of this morning's explosion. many were killed, others wounded by the attack outside a courthouse in a busy commercial district in the centre of the city. translation: a car bomb went off in the city centre near civilians. there are no fighters here, all of them civilians. as rescue workers searched for survivors and bodies, no—one had claimed responsibility for this attack, but the city is no stranger to such scenes. azaz is a stronghold

of turkish—backed syrian rebels involved in a major operation to clear so—called islamic state from northern syria, close to the turkish border. in recent days, turkish forces and rebels have continued to target is, which isn't included in a fragile ceasefire covering much of syria. azaz has become home to people who have fled fighting elsewhere. the ceasefire, while largely holding, does not mean that people are not buying. today's attack, while devastating, is unlikely to affect this ceasefire or derail peace talks planned for later this month. despite a halt in fighting, people in syria are continuing to die. in southern thailand, at least 18 people have died it's emerged that the man being questioned over the shooting dead of five people at a florida airport has a history of mental health problems. esteban santiago, a veteran who served in iraq, had been receiving treatment at his home in alaska. from fort lauderdale,

gary 0'donoghue sent this report. this is the man who police say killed five people at fort lauderdale airport, opening fire indiscriminately as travellers collected baggage. he is esteban santiago, a former member of the military. his family said he had been receiving psychological help after his discharge last august. his aunt said he was never the same after returning from serving in iraq in 2011. police say that santiago used a semiautomatic handgun in the attack in the baggage hall, scattering terrified passengers before throwing away his weapon and laying spread eagle on the ground as police moved in to arrest him. as things started to return to normal at the airport, it has emerged that santiago had been interviewed by the fbi as recently as november last year. 0ne anonymous source has said that he told agents that the government was ordering him to watch videos from the islamic state group. we are hearing that contact,

that the agents noted the erratic behaviour and that it concerns them and motivated them to call the local authorities to have him taken into custody and evaluated at a medicalfacility for his mental health. questions are being raised about the ease with which santiago was able to transport and use his weapon in a supposedly secure a place like an airport. it is legal to put a gun in checked baggage in the us as long as it is locked in a case and unloaded but you can carry ammunition in the same case. santiago will appear on monday in court on federal charges. while his motivations will be probed, there will be serious questions about how a man who had already appeared on the authorities‘ radar could go on to commit such a heinous crime. 0ur correspondent gary 0‘donoghue is in fort lauderdale

in florida for us. americans are going to be very shocked at the apparent ease with which this man was able to bring a gun in and is probably the ammunition, even if they were separate? i'm not sure they will be that shocked, to be honest. it is legal to carry a gun in your checked baggage here in the united states. a lot of people do it. perfectly legitimately, for reasons like hunting and other things. i don‘t think that will be a particular shock. i think what it highlights of this particular moment in the process of travelling, whereby you can get yourgun process of travelling, whereby you can get your gun and have your checked baggage and still be inside the airport. a lot of people in a confined area, and do this kind of

damage. i think it will raise questions about that. in the meantime, we are starting to hear some of the names of those who died yesterday, some of the five people who died. 0ne yesterday, some of the five people who died. one of them was a british—born woman. she had been living in the united states for many yea rs. living in the united states for many years. her church, her local church in atla nta, years. her church, her local church in atlanta, hosted a tribute on their website, describing her as enormously caring and as someone who, with her unmistakable english accents, went around calling eve ryo ne accents, went around calling everyone loved. she will be missed. another victim was a man from iowa who was heading to the caribbean with his wife for a cruise. he died in the shooting yesterday. his wife was shot in the shoulder as part of that, and she survived. starting to get a much more human face, if you like, to the consequence of this terrible act here yesterday. thank

you very much. in southern thailand, at least 18 people have died in a week of heavy rains and floods, and thousands of villages have been submerged. according to the country‘s interior ministry, 700,000 people have been affected. forecasters are warning that the unseasonal downpours will continue for at least another two days. as david campanale now reports, the deluge has also disrupted beach holidays in several destinations popular with tourists. heavy rains are hammering thailand‘s flood ravaged south, taking the death toll higher and leaving thousands of villages partially submerged. in some parts, the water has risen to the rooftops. the rain is turning roads into rivers, making them impassable. it has also inundated farmland and damaged more than 1500 schools. the downpour is expected to persist for another 48 hours, with thailand‘s meteorologists warning of possible flash floods. its severity is testing the capacity of locals to cope. translation: now we lack food

and trending water but the water level is almost stable. many flights and train and bus services have been delayed or suspended, and power lines toppled in the region. boats are being used to evacuate flood victims, while military bases have been mobilised to help in the process. for many, the downpours and flooding could not have come at a worse time. tourism plays a vital role in the thai economy and this is usually peak holiday season, with weather are normally both cool and relatively dry. social media showed some tourists making light of the floods, using inflatable rings to float down waterlogged streets. but others may choose to cancel or cut short their visits, taking away a desperately needed source of income for many ordinary thais. the headlines on bbc news:

spending on the nhs. it comes after the british red cross warned hospitals were in a "humanitarian crisis" — a claim nhs england rejects/ a 26—year—old former us soldier is in custody on suspicion of shooting dead five people at fort lauderdale airport in florida. more than forty people are killed in a bomb blast in northern syria. the islamic state group is suspected of carrying out the attack. donald trump has said that when he‘s president, russia will have far more respect for his country than it does now. the us president—elect tweeted that having a good relationship with russia was a good thing, and only "stupid people orfools would think that it is bad." an intelligence report yesterday accused russia of interfering in the us election. catrina renton reports. 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 that its goals were to help denigrate hillary clinton. and to harm her electability. the conclusion is that the kremlin had a clear preference for mr 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 say russia‘s actions included hacking into 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 wikilea ks‘ founder julian assange has said before that moscow was not the source. a former cia director gave his opinion. it depends on phrasing. russian involvement seems plausible 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 of the hacking. they didn‘t 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. millions of commuters in london will face disruption from tomorrow night and most of monday after talks to avert a strike on the london underground broke down. members of the rmt union will walk out for 2h hours from 6pm tomorrow in a dispute overjobs and the closure of some ticket offices. in the last few minutes, an acas spokesperson has said: "talks have now adjourned. the parties have no plans to return to acas." 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 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 2 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 are just 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. nasa have released a rare detailed photo of the earth and the moon,

as seen from mars which is some 127 million miles away. the image was taken from nasa‘s most powerful telescope orbiting the red planet. the reddish feature near the middle of the face of earth is australia. 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. our 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? oh, 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—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. 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 moore 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 £1,000, 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 2,500 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‘ve 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. artists from around the world are gathering in northern china to compete at the annual harbin ice and snow festival. ice and snow carvers have been putting the finishing touches to their work, on big chunks of ice dragged out of the nearby river. the sculptures range from animals and cartoon characters to replicas of famous world monuments and landscapes. the contest has attracted over thirty teams from countries around the world. ice, snow, iwonder ice, snow, i wonder if some of that might apply nearer home. let‘s cross over and get the latest on the weather from matt taylor. over and get the latest on the weatherfrom matt taylor. good evening. good evening. we could see some of that faith snow later in the week. at the moment, a great, dull day. a

murky and misty night. there could be some fog around, particularly on the higher rates. it‘s going to be a damp night with patchy rain and drizzle. clearer skies at times. east england at least in scotland particular. in eastern scotland, temperatures may drop low enough for a touch of frost, but most time i‘ll start a sunday. i today, a dull as dismal one. misty this around, patchy rain just about anywhere. the grey should let today. some breaks in the cloud is of wales, northeastern went, eastern scotland. if anything, it gets darker across western scotland later on with outbreaks of rain and drizzle. temperatures around ten or 11 degrees. the week is said to be chilly with cold winds blowing down across the country. a mild spell midweek but then it turns wintry later. nowhere near as wintry as it is in eastern europe. —16 was the

high in krakow in poland this afternoon. cold weather has extended to greece and turkey were they have seen extensive snowfall.