this is bbc news. i'm nicholas owen. the headlines. 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. a us army veteran is in custody after five people were shot dead at fort lauderdale airport in florida — a british—born great—grandmother was among those killed. more than a0 people are killed in a bomb blast in northern syria. the islamic state group is suspected of carrying out the attack. 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 — scoring his 249th goal for his club. and potholes on the roads — calls for an increase to fuel duty to raise £14 billion for repairs. stay with us here on bbc news. coming up in half an hour — we report on how the latest artificial intelligence will change the way we make money. that's in talking business at 8.30pm. 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 leaderjeremy 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 in 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 department, not knowing what may happen, perhaps with no family 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. with me is drjeeves wijesuriya, joint chair of the bma junior doctor committee. evening. the military and crisis is that overstating things? —— humanitarian crisis. we have to say just how grateful we are for the red cross‘s work, stepping in when the government has ignored the concerns that our front line staff and patients have been facing. this com pletely patients have been facing. this completely reflects all the things we have heard from front—line staff over the past year about the crisis we are seeing, just the iceberg of it. humanitarian crisis? surely exaggeration? we talk about syria and lebanon and those places. we need to talk about the fact that these numbers do not demonstrated

personal tragedies we are seeing, the red cross works over the world and they are talking about what we can see in a&e in places like worcestershire, we have seen there have been two a gentleman died after a cardiac arrest after waiting 35 hours in a&e, that is unacceptable and the tragedy and grief the family is going through is unacceptable because it is a political choice of this government has made to underfund and under resourced the health service. is it really as straightforward as that? is not that demand for all sorts of medical services is rising and a&e departments are included? services is rising and a&e departments are included ?m services is rising and a&e departments are included? it is a culmination of many things but this chronic underfunding is at the heart of what we have to resolve if we are going to find some solution. and the reality is that is notjust in areas like a&e. fundamentally we must address the lack of resources, the recruitment crisis we have got from gp services all the way through to

social care, to ease the congestion we can see with increased demand and also the under resourcing and understaffing and underfunding of the service. don't you think we all must play our part? a&e departments come under tremendous strain on friday and saturday night, a lot of people who have drank too much? talking about a&e? that puts strain on the service, should not be more education about only going when you really need to? it is easy from us to say, let us look at this one specific area but we have heard from so specific area but we have heard from so many front—line staff, from start to finish, everyday that we see in every a&e. we can see that was not enough funding, not enough staff, and although we are trying to squeeze more efficiencies from their system, we are at breaking point and thatis system, we are at breaking point and that is a reality, we need the prime minister to step in and address this or there will be more casualties of

this underfunding. the casualties we hear about, they are awful individual cases. people being sent home and there is not adequate facilities. what the red cross has seen. facilities. what the red cross has seen. but these are just a few. you cannot say that thousands and thousands of people are having a tough time? what we're talking about is actually an increasing threat to oui’ is actually an increasing threat to our patient population. as we heard today from the royal college of emergency medicine, the society of acute medicine, this crisis is getting worse. this might be the worst january in the view of the society that we have ever seen in the nhs and that is a direct result of underfunding, understaffing and under resourcing and whilst... and the continued attempts by the government to hide that fact will not address the problem. we need to resolve that right now or there will be further tragedy. thank you very much forjoining us. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pagesat 10.30pm and 11.30pm this

evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are the sun's deputy head of sport, martin lipton, and martin bentham, home affairs editor at the evening standard. a british—born great—grandmother has been identified as among the five people shot dead at fort lauderdale airport on friday. in a statement, 0lga woltering's catholic church in georgia paid tribute to her and what it called "her charming british accent". a gulf war veteran, esteban santiago, who's 26, has been questioned and remains in police custody after the attack. 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, where questions are being asked about whether airport security needs to be tightened. 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 at this particular moment in the 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. one of them was a british—born woman. she had been living in the united states for many 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 accent, went around calling everyone "love". 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. we're starting to get a much more human face, if you like, to the consequence of this terrible act here yesterday. 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 are 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. today's attack shows that despite the ceasefire largely holding, people in syria are continuing to die. 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. another union said london underground offered a deal which it will put two members. the headlines on bbc news. 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. 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 a0 people are killed in a bomb blast in northern syria. the islamic state group is suspected of carrying out the attack. sport now and a full round—up

from the bbc sport centre. thank you. we will start with football. arsenal are through to the fourth round of the fa cup — but it took until the 89th minute for them took until the 89th minute for them to beat championship side preston north end at deepdale in today's late kick off. ben croucher reports. the meeting of the invincibles, granted it has been a decade since it apply to arsenal and more than a century for president but this is a competition where heritage and history matters and it was preston who rolled back the years to stand there were decorated opponents. defending for arsenal to do! the flag stays down! what a start! callu m flag stays down! what a start! callum robinson should have turned providerfor a second. callum robinson should have turned provider for a second. the callum robinson should have turned providerfor a second. the pass callum robinson should have turned provider for a second. the pass was not —— was too strong. and they shot

was perhaps should have been stronger. preston stressed, arsene wenger stressed. good arsenal rescue this ina wenger stressed. good arsenal rescue this in a second—half? 50 seconds m, this in a second—half? 50 seconds in, we have the answer. what a fantastic strike from aaron ramsey! first goal of the season! arsenal we re first goal of the season! arsenal were in the ascendancy. mustafi tested the arms of chris maxwell. 0livier giroud beat them. the offside trap, he could not. he tried again. no doubting the legality of this fun or the timing. the aged minute breaking the dreams of preston of a replay. they might not be the invincible is any more but the current arsenal side just do not know when they are beaten. holders manchester united won the first cup game of the day, beating reading a—nil and their first goal came from wayne rooney. and it equalled the record held for 44 years by sir bobby charlton — 249 goals for the club. anthony martial was also on the scoresheet, and two more goals

from marcus rashford sealed the win. a proud moment. to do so at such a massive club as man united. i'm hugely honoured to be able to play for this football club. but to be up there in terms of goals with sir bobby, i really proud moment for me. hopefully i will be out there on my own so hopefully i will be out there on my own so but i will enjoy today because it is a real honour. in perhaps the biggest shock of the day, premier legaue side bournemouth are out of the cup. they were beaten 3—nil away, by league 0ne's milwall. bournemouth made eleven changes to the side that drew with arsenal on tuesday — and didn't have a single shot on target. national league leaders lincoln were just four minutes away from knocking out championship side ipswich. it finished 2—2, but ipswich needed a late equaliser after theo robinson looked to have won it for lincoln with this strike. ipswich twice needed to come from behind after the non—league side had earlier gone 1—0 up. all the results from today's

fixtures are on the bbc sport website — with highlights on bbc one at 10.30. website — with highlights on bbc one at10.30. sirandy website — with highlights on bbc one at 10.30. sir andy murray's winning strea k of at 10.30. sir andy murray's winning streak of 28 atp tour matches is over, after he lost in the qatar 0pen final to the world number two novak djokovic. it was the serb who took the opening set, and who served for the match in the second, but murray was able to save three match points and force the final into a decider. the match lasted nearly three hours, and as both players tired, it was djokovic who just edged it — 6—3, 5—7, 6—4 the final score but despite that defeat, murray retains his number one ranking. sirmo sir mo farah‘s attempt to win the great edinburgh international cross country for a second time ended in disappointment this afternoon. the two time, double 0lympic disappointment this afternoon. the two time, double olympic champion, struggled at holyrood park, finishing seventh in his first race of 2017. great britain's callum hawkins was beaten into second by america's leonard korir in a sprint finish. that's all the sport for

110w. finish. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. thank you. 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. the kremlin developed 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 wikileaks founderjulian assange has said before that moscow was not the source. a former cia director gave his view. it depends how you phrase it. russia was involved. it looks very supportable as a proposition. in no small measure, i think, because they we re 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 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. 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. two people have been arrested

after a smoke bomb was let off during a protest outside harrods department store. the protest, which blocked roads in the knightsbridge area of central london, was organised by the union that represents hospitality workers in the store — as part of a row over tips. sarah harris has this report. chanting a smoke bomb and arrests, not what is expected on saturday in the heart of knightsbridge. this demonstration was in support of harrods restaurant staff, who it is claimed are not allowed to keep most of their chips. the day before yesterday they did admit they had been taking 50% and they gave no explanation. that 50% figure is refuted by staff and we have had access to internal records of

harrods and it is coolly than 50%. many london restaurant staff are allowed to keep their chips. some managers say that does notjust bolstered their relatively low wages. it is a good establishment, if they make good tips, people are likely to be loyal and remain in the business for a long time. and if that happens, the business benefits from the loyalty of the staff and of those customers who are coming and making the business a success. but there is anger over harrods and other businesses using a so—called trunk system are dividing up the service charge that diners pay. in a statement, harrods said they employ 450 staff in 16 different restau ra nts a nd 450 staff in 16 different restaurants and they‘ re 450 staff in 16 different restaurants and they're all earning above the living wage. but they say they are looking into the way they distribute a service charge to save it can be improved. 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 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 former president and prime minister of portugal, mario soares — regarded as a father of the country's democracy — has died at the age of 92. mr soares played a key role after the 1974 carnation revolution — a military coup that put an end to decades of right—wing dictatorship. two years later he became the country's first democratically elected prime minister, when the socialist party swept to power. he went on to serve a second term and 10 years as president. 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. a young fan of the coldstream guards has momentum of his visit to windsor castle. marshall scott wilson rating his fourth birthday at the castle dressed as a miniature guardsmen. one of the guard surprised him by posing for a photograph alongside the youngster. the video were shared online by one of the guards involved. with milder temperatures

reaching the uk this weekend, below—freezing temperatures continue to sweep across europe. in italy, sub—freezing temperatures were blamed for the deaths of a half—dozen homeless people. heavy snow and high winds resulted in re—routed flights, delayed ferries, cancelled trains and closed roads. at least ten people have died in the cold that has gripped poland in recent days and several greek islands have been blanketed in snow. in what let's cross over to the weather. not as cold as we are seeing in other parts of europe. certainly not. there is a change to something at the weekend. and the moment, it is mild, a