time to think, as was given little time to think, as johanna konta wrapped up the second title of her career in some style. with the start of the australian open days away, she had to melbourne asa open days away, she had to melbourne as a genuine contender.” open days away, she had to melbourne as a genuine contender. i think there's a good opportunity for her to get to the final. if you look at her section, she starts with kirsten flipkens she's got serena in the quarters. jo is playing the best tennis of her career right now. dan evans reached his first atp tour final after beating andre kuznetsov. tomorrow he will face a player ranked nearly 30 places above him. as the johanna konta, ranked nearly 30 places above him. as thejohanna konta, who was born in sydney before moving to england, australian tennis may see her as the one that got away. time for a look at the weather. we've got another couple of days of cold weather. still some wintry showers on the way today across many northern areas of the uk, and we've got that strong wind blowing down that north sea coast, in particular.

let's focus on that. this is the area of low pressure. we still got high tide on the way this evening. it's late this afternoon, so this entire coastline, from the river humber southwards around east anglia, all the way to the south—east, there are severe flood warnings from the environment agency. heed the warnings, stay away from those promenades, those highways could prove life—threatening. as far as this afternoon is concerned, for most of us across afternoon is concerned, for most of us across scotland and in the west we've got snow showers, a cold wind blowing as well. temperatures in many areas below freezing. by the time we get to 5pm, snow showers and other wintry showers in northern ireland and parts of wales. further inland, it's looking fairly quiet. we've got some sunshine. we had the earlier band of wet and time in london. now that's gone. through this evening a lot of clear

skies but wintry showers around some of these western and eastern coasts. temperatures in towns and cities around minus one. 0ut temperatures in towns and cities around minus one. out in rural areas it could be as low as —5 or minus six. tomorrow it could be as low as —5 or minus six. tomorrow once it could be as low as —5 or minus six. tomorrow once again any slush is going to refreeze and it'll be icy on those roads. there will be a lot of sunshine around. the good news is the wind will continue to ease along those eastern coasts. if you more wintry showers, possibly getting into parts of knowledge. we are starting to see slightly less cold aircoming into are starting to see slightly less cold air coming into western areas. that is a hint of things to come as we go through the course of the weekend. today and tomorrow is still cold. this milder air moves in off the atlantic, with that weather front. that basically means a lot of clouds and also some rain. this is what it looks like on sunday, a com plete what it looks like on sunday, a complete change. it may take time for the weather to warm up across

some of these far eastern areas, for example in east anglia could be around 5 degrees only. we are talking about double figures that across many western areas. next week through monday and tuesday, it looks as though we are going to keep those mild conditions with some rain at times. weather you like it or not, it looks as though there is some milder weather on the way. that's all from bbc news at 1pm. it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one, we nowjoin now on bbc news, the latest from the bbc sport centre you are watching bbc news. to begin this half an hour, let's talk about the main story here today, the nhs. more now on our top story and the nhs has released figures which show nearly half of hospitals in england declared a major alert in the first week of this year, as large numbers of patients experienced trolley waits and delays in a&e. so is this reflected in the united kingdom's other

national health services? 0ur scotland health correspondent lisa summers explains how the health service there differs from the the health service in england. bakerin baker in scotland is collected in similar ways but it would be fair to say that the nhs is performing better here —— data in scotland. but it is not that huge challenges. if you look at accident and emergency waiting times here in scotland, the figures show that we are conforming better than england, 10% better, but the scottish government targets of seeing 95% of patients within four hours have not been met in september last year. that goes for other key waiting time targets as well. last year, only one out of eight key waiting time targets was met in scotland. we have also talked about social care, we are quite head ——

far down the journey of blending ca re far down the journey of blending care and hospital today here in scotland, but still people are in hospital longer than they should be. a particular problem is recruitment, there is a crisis in recruitment problems, because we have got so many people living in the islands and in ruralareas many people living in the islands and in rural areas but also in cities, it is quite hard to attract the top talents to work in our cities. it is also worth bearing in mind that in scotland, 40% of the entire budget is spent on health but we have a situation where health boards are struggling to balance the books and cope with the rise in demand is while they also meet the challenging rising costs, staff costs a nd challenging rising costs, staff costs and things like costs of drugs. really keeping hospitals open. and now our northern ireland correspondent marie—louise can bring us up to date on the challenges being faced by the health service there.

obviously not as bad as what people are experiencing in england. but for those, some of those living in northern ireland, they have had some waits in local hospitals, particularly the emergency departments. 0ur figures cover the time between christmas eve and january the 3rd, where we're told that around 8% more people arrived at emergency departments compared to the same time last year. so how does that translate into footfall? well, we understand that around 63% of patients were seen within four hours. of course, the target is 95%. and it's worth noting that people living in rural areas had to wait quite a lot of time longer, particularly waiting in ambulances, waiting for those transfers outside of the emergency department inside in order to get the bed. moving on to the 12—hour breaches, well, around 646 people had to wait more than 12 hours either to be admitted, discharged or treated. and of course, the target

here is that nobody should have to wait that length of time. over the christmas period, ambulances were diverted around six times in as many days. and in one instance, one emergency department closed its doors to any new admissions for around 16 hours. one of the biggest problems that we have here at the moment, like scotland, is that there aren't enough hospital beds. so—called bed blockers, who can't be discharged from hospital as there simply aren't enough care packages for them in the community. so local gps here saying that that really is a major problem. we've had a number, hundreds of beds cut away from the system. and now we are really feeling that, particularly due to the winter pressures. there is a lot of respiratory problems here at the moment, an older population, more people requiring care. and of course the political impasse here at the moment, with the institutions possibly stumbling at stormont, is beginning to have an impact on the health service.

yesterday we revealed that a local strategy which was due to be set up to tackle waiting lists has now been shelved. that is the view from belfast. to bring you some latest news in other stories, the other major story today, the impact of the bad weather in various parts of the country, we have had an update from the environment agency, talking about the risks in essex, and the flood warning has gone up to severe flooding, that means there is a danger to life. there is a severe flood warning in three parts of essex, the coast from clacton to leigh wicks, the tidal river stour at mistley and west mersea and

adjacent marshland. so three areas of essex now at risk of severe flooding. we will hear from our correspondents in some of those areas after 2pm. a public health crisis on a par with obesity and diabetes. that could be the result of not properly assessing the needs of children in care, according to the head of a young people's charity. mark kerr from the institute of recovery from childhood trauma says the failure of successive governments to properly care for looked after children could cost society billions of pounds a year. jayne mccubbin has been to a children's home in yorkshire to see what life is like for those who live there. it's rare for a camera to be invited inside a children's care home. here in yorkshire, i'm struck by how normal it all is. and it feels really homely. everything in the whole house is picked by the young people as well. this is their house, this is their home,

this is where they live. nothing here feels institutional. only two young people live here, looked after by eight specially trained staff. we have one young man who is iii and a young lady who is 17. those who live here will probably have suffered serious neglect, trauma or abuse. to understand how happy feels, or how angry feels, or how anxious can feel like anger but it's not really the same. we have to do a lot of work with them about that. that's one of the sleep rooms just over there, and then this is one of our young people's rooms who, it's just that full of photos and clutter, there's no way... we'll leave well alone. in one room, we've been left a note by a young man who lives here. to jayne, i give permission for you to read this out. i asked him to tell me what kind of things he into, and he says, cars, going to school, playing football, playing on the xbox. jayne, can you say thank you to all my foster parents in the past.

clearly, he's had lots of connections with people in the past. but he feels more settled here. yeah, he bounced through about six or seven different placements. but he's been here now for? over two years with us now. and he's doing well. doing really well. there are no timetables. friends are welcome to visit. day trips and holidays are taken. this is, this is christmas day? yes, so we like to take pictures, we've got memory boxes we keep for young people but then a lot of them do go up around the house. because the plan is always for a young person to eventually move on from here. hopefully back to their own home. not always possible. what is the relationship like with the neighbours, people in the area? i think the majority of the time, it's really good. ijust think, when things go a little bit wrong in the community, we're the first one that kind of gets a knock on the door because unfortunately, our kids are perceived as being bad kids. and that's not the case at all, they've just been through a lot in their lives, a lot of trauma

and theyjust need that help and support from us and that's what we try to give them. for more than 20 years, cubans who've fled the communist island for the united states have been granted an automatic right to remain without a visa. it's become known as wet—foot—dry—foot but now the white house has announced it's to end. the decision comes after 0bama administration reinstated diplomatic ties with cuba 18 months ago. from cuba, will grant reports. for decades, washington's policy towards cuba was based on two things, the carrot and the stick. the stick is the us economic embargo which can only be lifted by congress. the carrot, however, was the tantalising wet foot, dry foot policy, a measure which allowed cubans who made it on to us soil the right to stay without a visa. tens of thousands of cubans made the journey every year, with many risking their lives

in the florida straits inflatable rafts or unseaworthy vessels. since it was introduced, the cuban government has blamed the measure for the brain drain on the island. when president 0bama reinstated diplomatic ties with cuba and visited the country last year, we can safely say the castro government would have urged him in no uncertain terms to lift the policy. despite the temptation of free entry to the us, the decision to remove it was broadly welcomed by some in havana. translation: on the one hand, it is good, because we as cubans are more certain we cannot go through this route and there will not be as much loss of human life nor so much blood spilling in the sea. for every boat that goes there, there are thousands and thousands of cubans who take crazy blind risks without knowing if they can survive or not. translation: it was hurting our young people especially. among the majority of people

who attempted the journey, there was a large percentage of failure and loss of life on the way. the cuban authorities echoed the statement from the white house and applauded the move, especially the decision to lift the policy encouraging cuban doctors and nurses to abandon the country. translation: what we are seeing in this joint declaration is an important step for cuba's national interest, but also for the national interest of the us. that said, i think this question of whether the donald trump administration will support the new accord must be answered by the new government of the united states. perhaps the key line about this change is revealed in the statement from the white house. by taking this step we are treating cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries. now that is something that the government of raul castro has been calling for for decades. but undoubtedly there are cubans

who would have been hoping to use the wet foot, dry foot policy one day, and on hearing this news, had their hopes dashed for a future in the united states. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour. but first, the headlines on bbc news: wintry weather continues to take its toll across parts of the uk. i2 severe flood warnings have been issued, meaning that lives are in danger. nearly half of hospitals in england declared a major alert in the first week of the year as they faced unprecedented pressures. labour's former education spokesman tristram hunt is resigning as an mp, triggering a by—election. in the business news. the department for transport is urgently asking for more information on a us investigation

into fiat chrysler diesel emissions software. the car maker has been accused of not telling authorities about software that could allow excess diesel emissions in thousands of vehicles. fiat has rejected the allegations which affectjeep grand cherokees and dodge ram 1500 trucks. the number of men in low—paid part—time work has increased fourfold over the past 20 years. the institute for fiscal studies has found that one in five low—paid men aged 25 to 55 now work part—time. while wage inequality for men has risen, for women the opposite is the case, as more have received better education and moved into full—timejobs. there were more first—time home buyers in 2016 than at any time since the start of the financial crisis, according to research by the halifax. the lender estimated there were almost 336,000 first—time buyers last year, the highest figure since 2007. however, the average first—time deposit has more than doubled since 2007 to stand at more than £32,000. as you mentioned, the uk department

for transport has asked for details of the us probe into fiat chrysler diesel emissions as a matter of urgency. the car—maker has been accused of not telling authorities about software that could allow excess diesel emissions. can you update us, what is the situation in new york? said they are investigating whether or not there wasn't some software that was on some of the vehicles you mentioned, whether or not they had software that could detect emissions testing and whether or not the cars pollute more than they do. the problem, of course, is the timing of all of this. this comes upjust course, is the timing of all of this. this comes up just off the heels of where we saw a massive

scandal happening with volkswagen, and they had just settled with the usjustice and they had just settled with the us justice department. and they had just settled with the usjustice department. we have even seen some people facing criminal charges with regards to that. u nfortu nately for charges with regards to that. unfortunately for fiat chrysler, they are spending a lot of time trying to defend themselves against these allegations would also do hang themselves —— but also defend themselves —— but also defend themselves against any allegations similarto themselves against any allegations similar to volkswagen. donald trump is seen to be fairly lenient towards the whole issue of emissions. absolutely, and the timing is really, it is interesting. it is from both sides, we are seeing that the justice department and the from both sides, we are seeing that thejustice department and the epa are thejustice department and the epa a re really thejustice department and the epa are really trying to go after companies in the waning days of the 0bama administration but in a couple of days there is going to be a new head of the environmental protection agency and that is something that

the head of chrysler mentioned when speaking with reporters, that he will defend his company against these allegations and he is also hopeful that something better will happen under a trump administration because there is going to be changing of god. fiat are in the good books, they have decided to invest more in the states as well, in terms of the car industry as a whole, donald trump is making some inroads? yes, donald trump has been making a lot of comments in regards to the automotive industry here in the united states and we get a lot of this information via twitter and we see a lot of reaction from the automotive industry, reacting to the changing environment, changing business environment with regards to the election of mr trump. we do not know what will happen with chrysler because so much will happen in the next couple of weeks. thank you very much. in other business stories

we're following today. nintendo has said it will release its long—awaited new console, the nintendo switch. the big day will be 3rd march. it's going to cost you £279.99 if you're interested, more than some analysts and gamers had been expecting. the stakes are high for the japanese firm after its most recent console, the wii u, failed to replicate the success of the original wii. nintendo shares dipped as details of the launch trickled out. male motorists typically pay £101 more a yearfor their car insurance than women, according to the comparison site confused.com. the site says the gap had widened compared with a year earlier, even though insurers are banned from specifically considering gender when setting premiums. luxury retailer fortnum & mason has reported a christmas sales surge of 16%. it's online sales to 121 countries that have made the much of the difference. caviar, hand—carved smoked salmon and white truffles did the best a quick look at the markets, the

ftse 100 a quick look at the markets, the ftse100 is on track to set another high, shares in house—builders leading the way, our development at 3.4%, to 70% higher. thank you my much. we are going to hear a little bit more about one of those stories. the long—awaited new nintendo console has been launched today. called the nintendo switch its been dubbed one of the most revolutionary consoles ever released. the device is expected to hit the shops in march and sell at around £280. president of nintendo tatsumi kimishima spoke at the launch outlining the key points of the new console. translation: thank you very much to all of you who have joined us here today. and thank you to everyone viewing the presentation live online. many people around the world watched the nintendo switch video we released in october of last year and reacted quite positively to it. this video introduced

the nintendo switch console, the nintendo switch dock, joy—con grip, and two joy—con controllers. iam sure i am sure that made a lot of sense toa i am sure that made a lot of sense to a lot of people! sure it is excellent. bbc news takes a look back through the years at the changing fortunes of the gaming giant. music iama bit i am a bit worried that was actually me in some of that and i don't even remember it, that is how old i am. let's catch up with the weather prospects. with the far younger thomas chaffin acker! 0h, thomas chaffin acker! oh, i thomas chaffin acker! 0h, idon't thomas chaffin acker! oh, i don't know! the weather is no laughing matter,

those east coast winds, we are concerned about that, potential flooding, and we have got showers on the way. these areas are, from the river humber southwards, a lot of areas are at risk, he'd the warnings, there is a high tide on the way. combined with the big waves caused by the strong winds out to sea, and a big risk of flooding is there. including, for example, great yarmouth, and around the humber. make sure you say safe, no walks on the promenade. this is what it looks like this afternoon across the north of the country, a frost is already developing, temperatures dipping away rapidly, showers in western areas, temperatures three or 4 degrees in the south. the strong winds are coming down here, we will have high tides here town southwards. this evening and

overnight, clear skies, any of the snow that could have melted during the day is going to freeze again, and on top of that we will see more wintry showers across eastern and western coasts, city temperatures only at minus one degree, but in rural areas, down to minus six. a few wintry showers along the east coast tomorrow, norfolk and suffolk may be catching a few, across wales wintry showers. we are starting to see a little bit more rain rather than slow getting into parts of northern ireland and western scotland, so this is that slightly milderaircoming in off scotland, so this is that slightly milder air coming in off the atlantic. a lot of sunshine around, crisp weather but the milder air is coming in. it is going to take time, this is the cold air we have got now and through saturday, and then the milderair and through saturday, and then the milder air comes in off the atlantic, the weather fronts as well, that spells a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain. not such a pretty

picture, not the picturesque scenes we have seen in the last day or so. it is more like low—grade guys and outbreaks of rain. not looking particularly pretty —— low, grey skies. not looking particularly pretty. whether you like snow or not, good news you, milder weather on the way. this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines at 2.00pm: there are flood warnings along the east coast of england — as a tidal surge and strong winds force people from their homes. snow and ice have affected much of the uk, causing travel chaos and school closures in some areas. the other headlines this afternoon: under increasing pressure — nearly half of hospitals in england declared a major alert in the first week of the year. tristram hunt resigns as a labour mp — triggering a by—election

in stoke on trent central. and british tennis number one johanna konta cruises to victory in herfinal warm up tournament before the australian open.