this is bbc news. the headlines. the un has warned that the world is facing its biggest humanitarian crisis since 1916. more than 20 million people in yemen, nigeria, south sudan and somalia are facing starvation. two bomb explosions in the heart of the syrian capital damascus are reported to have killed at least a0 people. the blasts were near a cemetery which houses shia mausoleums. guys marsh prison in dorset has been badly damaged by a fire. the blaze was started by an inmate who climbed on to the roof yesterday. around 64 inmates were taken to a secure area while the fire was brought under control. a female judge has been criticised for saying that women should protect themselves from rapists by not getting too drunk. lindsay kushner qc made the comments at manchester crown court during her last criminal trial. now on bbc news in path to pyeongchang, nick hope brings

you all the build—up from paralympics gb‘s leading medal prospects for the winter paralympics in south korea. from rather basic beginnings to a new age of technological innovations. paralympic sport has come a long way. record numbers watched the london and rio summer games. now the winter paralympians are starting to make their mark, too. sochi 2014 was undoubtedly the biggest winter paralympics to date. from a british perspective, britain at least dazzled,

winning six medals. that was four years after drawing a blank in vancouver. but will that be good and of the podium places in pyeongchang? jade hetherington was one of briton‘s biggest success stories, securing four of gb‘s six medals. but she has since retired. her paralympic team—mate kelly gallagher is still competing. in 2014 she claimed britain's first ever winter paralympic gold and continues to win medals. a heavy crash in training for this year's world championships ended her season early. but she is determined to return stronger than ever. you tend to fall a lot in skiing, you are pushing yourself to the limit, it was a real accident. i didn't land a jump very well after coming of age i didn't land a jump very well after and i could not recover.

i felt there was something wrong. but i couldn't tell what it was. mike i'd got to me first and i asked him to take my engagement ring of, so i have my priorities! i dislocated my elbow and broke some ribs and i hurt my leg. i had a big bone bruise on my right leg, but i'm on the mend at least. no one is harder on me than myself. when i came back, i was so overwhelmed. i don't see it as negative in any way. i think in northern ireland and all of the world we should celebrate people's endeavours and then trying their best in all walks of life. it's taken me a bit longer to put my trust in myself.

i could plan an amazing speech, but i'm not sure i am the best person to plan a wedding. i will just love it. i want to get the skiing out of the road. realistically, i will probably be back training on snow in august and then the idea is to be back for the full season arrays and then the idea is to be back for the full season race and training and then back to pyeongchang in the summertime. hopefully i will have something to celebrate and if not, i am moving onto the wedding.

i'm sure sure we'll be back pushing to the podium and challenging for the medals later this year. the championships gave to the visually impaired rising star british skiers to prove their potential at pyeongchang. i'm 18 and a world champion. pyeongchang, 2008 team will be my second paralympics. it will be my first paralympics. how important is a guide? i can only see 2 meters. they will be disastrous to ski on my own. about 90 kilometres an hour. it feels amazing. i have got brett and he skis two meters in front of me. he said the snow conditions and the terrain and then i can indicate whether i can see him and whether we need to speed up or slow down.

this is a special partnership. i'd say we will probably be friends for life now. it is amazing from a perspective what she does. she must have a screw loose or something! i'm blind in my left eye i can only see about 5% vision in the right eye. i mainly focus on the orange jacket and that is pretty much all i can see at that speed. we get on amazingly well. she is pretty much like a sister. without the fighting. when i come into the sport i started working with millie so i was able to build the knowledge and experience and then when i started working withjenna, we could slot in nicely. it's a huge responsibility. until you do it, you don't realise what the weight is on your shoulders is.

you are in charge of somebody's life in a trust you completely. it's quite restricting, being visually impaired off the piece. but on the skis, the speed i can go the freedom i have, i will never be able to drive a car, but i can ski faster than some people can drive. you have internal rivalries. you can push one another. it is great having competition. she is quite fearless and a good technical skier. she just has strength behind her. she is a fantastic skier. she won the gold in 2014. we are all great competition. despite kelly gallagher's absence, these two helped push each other to the podium positions. they powered to an impressive giant slalom bronze, whilst millie and brett would make history. they claimed britain's first—ever world championship gold medal

in the sport before adding three further silver medals to their haul. ijust come back from an illness, so come into this world championship, i didn't have any expectations. so to win a gold, it was incredible. can you enjoy watching her until she is finished? no. as long as she comes over that ridge and when she comes to the finish line, than i can relax a little. my mother has been there from the start, always fighting my corner. for her to be here is phenomenal. the support is incredible. can you describe how you are feeling now? i'm very proud. they have worked so hard for this. i am really pleased. it is a good preparation for next year.

this gold is fantastic. we couldn't have thought of anything better. but the end goal is south korea. we train every day with a goal of winning a gold. we go to the gym at 6am and then school and then back to the gym. it is tough. winning or getting any type of medal in the paralympics is one of my biggest dreams. it will be absolutely amazing for us together to be on the podium in pyeongchang. winning a medal with your best friend would be life changing. from the super speedy skiers to slightly, calmer curlers. gb have excelled in it in olympics and the paralympics are looking to follow suit. whilst they battled to bronze in sochi three years ago. their journey to pyeongchang could best be described as a roller—coaster.

it may appear quite a simple sport, but unlike in the olympic version, which as sweepers, in the paralympics, if an athlete makes a mistake, there is no one to brush up after them. team gb have been successful though. relegation in 2015 saw their £1.1 million of uk sport funding axed. sochi was one of the highlights of my career. the funding was fantastic to have and it allowed me to give up myjob as a teacher and train full—time as an athlete.

so that was a major blow to take the funding away. there was a lot at stake. we decided to cut our squad so it cut it from 12 to seven at that point. they responded well. they buckled down. they have thrown everything at the challenge of getting back the world championships and qualifying for the paralympics. sport scotland stepped in with some money and against all the odds, they defied expectations to secure their place at the 2018 winter paralympics late last year. this man is one of the new members of the squad keen to show what he can do on the sport's bigger stage after an unlikely introduction to curling. i was in a pub playing dominoes in a wheelchair and the coach asked me if i'd ever tried wheelchair curling and i said, no. i didn't know it existed. but i loved it.

i played rugby growing up and being in a wheelchair, i missed that. dominoes wasn't really fulfilling it. angie malone has competed in all three paralympics since the sport's debut. after winning bronze and silver, only one colour will do in pyeongchang. we had such an exciting time in sochi, coming back with a bronze. we want to go out to pyeongchang and let the rest of the world know what a great team we are. we are confident, we believe we can be on the podium. so we are going for the big medal. still to come: we meet two of gb‘s leading prospects in one of the game's most exciting new sports, snowboarding. british troops injured in active service tell us about their bid to end gb‘s 20—year of absence from nordic skiing. and germany's five—time 0lympic champion gives us a guide to sit—skiing ahead of her bid

to make more history. first to the hosts of the last games, russia. despite holding what was arguably the greatest winter paralympics of all time, the country's reputation has nosedived recently. following the mclaren report, commissioned by the world anti—doping agency, russia was banned from some sports at the rio 2016 olympics. the international pa ralympic committee took an even bolder stance, excluding all russian athletes from the rio paralympics. the report alleged their country had operated a state—sponsored doping programme. further revelations have since been revealed, claiming that over thousand russian athletes they have benefited from cheating in events across london 2012 and the sochi 2014 games. russia remains unable to compete in five of the six winter paralympic sports. the question is whether they'll be allowed back in full for the pyeongchang games.

i asked their president. there has to be a transformation in the manner in which the nation looks at para sport. we have laid down certain conditions and there's a lot of activity and energy being put into getting things right and back to normality, if i can put it that way. sochi was a bigger games and it is somewhat tarnished because of what has come up with the mclaren report. i can understand that. we got this terrible news and we knew nothing of it. it was all new to us. i still have fond memories of sochi, but most certainly what has happened has tarnished it. how confident are you russia will be there in pyeongchang? i'm not looking for someone to get down on their knees and say sorry, i think it's something most people accept occurred. let's fix it and move on.

russia is a great sporting nation. they are missed in the sporting sense of honour but we can't have nations competing when their performances have been tarnished by what has gone on. let's wipe the slate clean if we can and ensure it never happens again. evolving sports and adding new event is vital to the growth of the games and freestyle snowboarding has been huge for the olympics. for the paralympics, snowboarding came before sochi, but there were no gb competitors. but we now possess some of the best in the world. ben moore won a world silver and bronze in 2015 and finished third at this year's competition. his team—mate had to be a little more patient, but has now made his breakthrough with world championship and world cup silver medals in the last two months. but their journey toward the snowboarding summit has been farfrom smooth. i used to be in the army. i was deployed to afghanistan at age 18. 0n patrol, stood on an ied,

had my leg smashed apart. they spent 18 months operating on it and it did not work. i was on my motorcycle a decade ago. i bounced down the road and lost the use of my arm. they said in the end, you can deal with it or you can get rid of it and at that point, i was tired of operations, so i decided to have it off below the knee. and now i've never looked back. it has completely changed my life. i've always been quite competitive and i love getting better at things, so for me it was ok, i've lost my leg, now i've got to learn to walk and as soon as i've done that i will do something else. snowboarding is progressing to the crazy rate. sochi was a big one. they had above is raising and below knees.

off the back of that, they've now got three categories. we've got upper limb. i am in the upper limb category, so anyone with an issue upwards from the waist will be classed enough. i do have my arm, the reason why it is in this sling is because it keeps it from moving around and putting me off balance. snowboarding is about being stylish and we'll do things to keep our own style. new riders pop up everywhere. there were lots of people made aware of snowboarding from the games. it is mind blowing. we can ride the same course as everyone else.

can you sum up what a gold would mean to you? i think you can see with a grin on my face it would mean the world to me. i get to represent my country and to have a gold medal would sum up my snowboarding career. i've got a lot of pressure on us how. there's more people on the teams and it all helps. if we can get medals, it will be massive and will open up so many more ways and getting more new people involved. the bigger and better, the more fun it becomes. the pyeongchang paralympics will not just be about the british athletes.

there are colours international stores looking to challenge for multiple and germany's athletes are among them. i am from germany and i am a paralympic champion. i love skiing, it's fast and when i get out i feel a lot of the journey. when you ski, you have to push your trip into the snow and you can see how it goes into the snow and you can make your turn. the sport has developed a lot. the first games were in vancouver and for me, it was a great event. but when i compare it to sochi, it was bigger. you had a lot more tv stations and lot more crowds. when the snow is a little bumpy,

sochi was magnificent. i came there and knew it was possible for me to win. but i had a lot of pressure. i was so happy when i won the first gold medal and i said, now i have eight kilos left. the hardest thing is to have the balance. we have crutches in both hands, so i can stabilise myself. these would not be good for skiing, so i can push here. i have another little ski and that makes it better. pyeongchang is important to me and i look forward to it. there is now even more pressure for me. it is very difficult, but on the other hand, i want to be in this position

and have the pressure and have this achievement. it feels very cool and things that happened in sochi, it's something i want to do again. she has every chance. she won three world gold medals earlier this year, although her arch rival took the other two, their battle for paralympic honours could be one of the highlights of the 2018 games. another of the ones to watch includes this snowboarder from the netherlands, who won a paralympic gold medal. away from the slopes, one of the most exciting sports to look out for his paradise hockey. previously known as sledge hockey. there will be no british team because they failed to qualify. but the usa will be those to beat having won three of the last four paralympic games. and finally, to nordic skiing. this athlete took silver and bronze

in sochi but is expected to challenge for gold next year. 0n the men's side, canada will be looking to add to their paralympic titles. britain has not had a nordic skier competing since 1998 in japan. but a group of injured british troops are hoping to end that 20—year run. it is a hard sport. everything is full and flat out. if you don't do the training, you get found out very quickly. you are maxed out all the time. your lungs are on fire. in their words, it's a sport that separates the men are from the boys. 0vercoming adversity is nothing new to these two men who were both injured whilst on patrol in afghanistan in 2011. i stepped on an improvised explosive device planted in the ground.

we did that while we were carrying out such operations. in the blast, i lost both my legs above the knee. i managed to treat myself at the beginning, i was awake to be made to sleep and then i awoke in camp bastian awoke on the flight home. so i can picture every stage of it. it was a tough time. you go from being a super able and super strong and capable soldier and then all of a sudden you're in bed for four months having to be fed and having people did the most basic tasks for you. it was very tough mentally to deal with that. once you get injured, you're full of tablets and starts

a bit of weight i do feel pretty rubbish. and then, things start to change. in my recovery i was introduced to various opportunities. sport became the catalyst for rediscovering what i could do instead of worrying about how i couldn't get up and down stairs. now i could go down the ski slope. this man was part of the 1998 team, the last british athletes to compete in nordic skiing events at the paralympics. he was going to coach the new recruits, but gb selectors had other ideas. they saw me skiing and said, no you should be giving us advice, you should try for it again and that is why i have ended up here. it really is an honour and to compete for the country. i have a token medal for being at the 1998 paralympics, but what i want to do is to get a bronze, silver or gold,

that's the main aim. the ultimate goal is pyeongchang. i've not come here for a laugh. it is a chance to redefine yourself. it is a difficult sport but very rewarding. i would love to be part of a legacy and move it on for great britain. with a year to go until the winter paralympics it is clear britain has the potential to win many medals in pyeongchang. and gb‘s best ever haul was ten in the 1984 games and to get anywhere close to that would be an incredible achievement given the strength of international competition compared to them. but achieving a record total is far from impossible and we will keep you up—to—date with all the latest over the next 12 months as the athletes continue on their path to pyeongchang. the weather's not so bad out there

this afternoon. we have some sunshine around but not a lot. a lot of cloud out there. this is the satellite picture from the last couple of hours or so. particularly cloudy across central and northern areas of the uk, clouds streaming in since last night and even here we have a few spots of rain. to the south of that a different story. you can see the clouds in the last couple of hours have been breaking up couple of hours have been breaking up and this is the warmest place right now in gravesend in the south—east, temperatures nudging up to 17. could peak at around about 18 today. nice on the south coast there. nicer in the channel islands,

last few days we have had a fair bit of fog but it's better this afternoon. let's see the second half of the afternoon. still around the high teens across the south—east. coastal areas on the fresh side. the waters are still cold at this time of year. further north this is where the thicker cloud is across the north—west into yorkshire. northern ireland, some sunshine. northern ireland, some sunshine. northern ireland and most of western and northern scotland enjoying a fine second half of the day. fresh atla ntic second half of the day. fresh atlantic air coming second half of the day. fresh atlantic aircoming in second half of the day. fresh atlantic air coming in with those sunny skies. this evening watch what happens with the rain, not a lot initially, and then it reforms. then we have weather fronts coming in off the atlantic. a fairly cloudy night for many of us, as a result not too cold. rain around here and there, nothing too heavy. a damp night. tomorrow morning we start to see some of the blobs of rain, these weather fronts, moving further to the east. a wet morning here. then a

break and then another weak weather front bringing rain from scotland. through the north—west and the midlands and then sunshine around. you get a pattern of rain and sunshine, rain and sunshine. a changeable day on the way for tomorrow. the last place to see the rain will be norwich, i think by the time of 9pm. then a clear night. this is heading our way next week, high pressure stretching out of the azores. fine weather around on monday. not so warm, 15 i think, 11 for most of us. 14 for belfast. for the week ahead it's looking dry. the clouds will come and go. light rain here and there but overall not looking too bad. bye. this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 2pm: the united nations says the world faces the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945. more than 20 million people face

famine in parts of africa and the middle east and urgent action is needed, the un says. reports from syria say at least 40 people have been killed and dozens injured following two explosions in the capital damascus. more than 60 prisoners have had to be moved out of a section of guys march jail in dorset because of a fire started by a protesting inmate. a retiring femalejudge is criticised for saying women can protect themselves against potential rapists by not getting too drunk. the government cracks down on ticket touts. computer software which buys hundreds of tickets within seconds is to be made illegal with law breakers facing unlimited fines. and coming up: the invisible killer.