this is bbc news. the headlines at seven. there's disruption for many people around the uk with snow and ice causing problems for travellers and for households. we're stationary here on the a14. i've been here forfive hours and so have these. and the runway at stansted airport was closed twice, with some passengers spending hours on planes out on the tarmac. the first of a group of critically ill syrian children are allowed to leave a rebel held area of damascus. laura plummer, the britonjailed in egypt for drug offences, has been moved to a different egyptian prison. also in the next hour. prince harry takes a turn editing the today programme on radio 4. he interviewed the former us president barack obama, who said irresponsible use of social media is spreading misinformation and reinforcing bias. and at 7.45pm newsbeat investigates

the use of steroids in gyms. good evening and welcome to bbc news. snow and ice are still causing disruption for many people in parts of the uk, with thousands of homes without power and dangerous conditions on the roads. the runway at stansted airport was closed twice during the day, with a number of flights cancelled and there are currently yellow weather warnings for icefor parts of scotland, all of wales, the south and east of england, and the midlands. let's go to kenilworth in warwickshire — and our correspondent phil mackie. well we had the snow and the floods

today and also power cuts. across the central swathe of england, it is a day to heed the warnings. horn blasts. the motorway at a standstill. it's always busy here anyway, but throw in five centimetres of snow, and you've got chaos. on the a14, things were even worse. this lorry span out of control, leaving drivers stranded. good morning. it's just gone past ten o'clock in the morning. as you can see, we're stationary here on the a14, not going anywhere. i've been here for five hours, and... so have these! my name is tara, i'm on the a14 trying to go eastbound to northampton. i set off from my house in hinckley at 6am this morning, i've been on the a14 for three hours now. as you can see, there's nothing going in the other direction.

i'm a bit cross, i'm canadian so i'm used to this kind of weather. i know you guys are not. in the end, they were stuck for seven hours before the road was cleared. there have been problems all day here at this interchange, which is where the m6, the m1 and the a14 alljoin. it is the snow that has caused accidents and jackknifed lorries which has led to long delays, notjust here but elsewhere on the motorway network. and it wasn'tjust the roads. stansted airport had to close twice to clear snow from the runway. birmingham airport had to do the same for a short while too. and the weather kept ground crews busy, as planes had to be constantly de—iced. a swathe of central and southern england was worst affected, from gloucestershire, to warwickshire, to the chilterns. and it didn'tjust lead to hazardous driving conditions. thousands of homes lost power, too. obviously the snow came in, it settles on our overhead conductor. then, with the cold wind chill, it freezes into ice and therefore that takes

the conductors down. likewise, it's the same with tree branches. normally they would not be near the line but they've taken our conductors down. as the snow started to melt, there was a new danger... flood warnings followed the thaw as streams became swollen and rivers started to rise. that meant more hazards to negotiate, and not everyone made it... and tonight, there's another warning as temperatures have fallen, snow and slush is beginning to freeze. and temperatures have dropped noticeably in the past hour or so and a weather warning in place for ice in areas where snow has already fallen. western power told us around 50,000 customers lost power overnight. nearly all of them have got their power back on but the last few will not get power restored

until around midnight. aid workers have begun started to move critically—ill children from a rebel—held suburb near the syrian capital, damascus. four patients were taken out of ghouta overnight. another 25 are expected to be moved in the coming days — although hundreds more are in urgent need of treatment. some 400,000 residents have been under siege by government forces since 2013. from beirut our correspondent martin patience reports. seven—year—old imjy is preparing for a shortjourney, and it will almost certainly end up saving her life. she is suffering from haemophilia, but last night she was among four critically ill patients to be evacuated to damascus for life—saving treatment. this is what she's leaving behind. eastern ghouta is one of the last remaining rebel strongholds, fighting the government of bashar al—assad. it's been bombed and besieged for four years, with fighting intensified in recent weeks.

i think it's a combination of everybody‘s efforts, that at this really low time in syria there is a ray of light, and it's the children. it's the children who are missing growing up in syria — we must sort them out, to give syria a chance of a prosperous and peaceful future. but food is hard to come by. malnutrition is now widespread. human rights groups accuse the syrian government of trying to starve the rebels into submission. this evacuation may have the appearances of a humanitarian gesture, but that's simply not the case. we've been told by two sources that the syrian government only agreed to it as part of a prisoner exchange. the main rebel faction in eastern ghouta agreed to free 29 syrian government hostages, and in return the same number of critically ill patients are being allowed to receive urgent medical care. but the united nations says hundreds

of others need to be evacuated. among them, three—month—old karim, who was injured by government shelling. he lost his left eye. his mother was killed. despite a prominent social media campaign, he is not being allowed to leave eastern ghouta. translation: karim is injured, he's going to lose his sight. here in the ghouta he can't get treated. the doctor wants to perform an operation, so that he doesn't lose the sight in his other eye. for some there is no hope, but for most help is not coming any time soon. martin patience, bbc news, beirut. robert mardini is the middle east regional director for the international committee of the red cross — earlier i asked him about the condition the patients are in. of course they are exhausted

and in dire need of medical treatment and we are happy to see this evacuation has taken place and we hope more people from ghouta will be able to exit to get the medical treatment in the coming days. this must‘ve been a hard won concession? well it is needed and i think medical treatment should not be part of any political tit—for—tat. but life is such that this has happened and today we're happy that this will take place and hope this is a new and positive dynamic that will enable more evacuations to happen in the coming days. the reality is though a number of people will have died whilst waiting for an evacuation. this is something that your

organisation together with the un has been trying to achieve for some time. what changed, why did it happen now do you think? well this is a political agreement that was negotiated between the parties in the conflict. we have been pushing repeatedly on all sides to have medical treatment inside ghouta and medical supplies flowing on a regular basis because it has been under siege forfour years now. and there has been a steadily deteriorating humanitarian situation. and now there are aggravating factors, very intense fighting for one month now and also the cold that has started in syria. so everything is becoming more urgent and we hope that not only

those who are in dire need of medical treatment will be allowed to get out but for the rest of the people in eastern ghouta and other localities, humanitarian aid is being transferred in to make their life easier. the head of the un humanitarian task force for syria said last week the original list have been 500 civilians in desperate need of evacuation, that was some months ago and the list has been shrinking bluntly because they were dying. you must still be concerned that a large number of people in the city may not be at that stage yet but their health may yet deteriorate not least because the problems of getting adequate food and water supplies 7 well the 500 figure is certainly conservative. what we are reporting is a very dire

humanitarian situation where everything is running low, food, medical supplies, electricity nonexistent, water is not there. and people are dying from preventable chronic diseases such as diabetes, renal failure, cancer and so forth. so there is a sense of urgency today and we hope this will help more evacuations. and an important point, hope and patience are also running low for the people here and we hope that this beginning of something positive will generate more tolerance in order to make things easier for the people there. the family of the briton laura plummer — who has beenjailed

in egypt after prohibited painkillers were discovered in her luggage — says she has been transferred to another prison. earlier i spoke to our correspondent matthew thompson, who gave us this update. well what we do know from speaking to the family and her lawyer is that she has been moved to an infamous prison in upper egypt. it is notorious both for its inmates, human rights groups say it contains a number of so—called islamic state fighters but most significantly for the squalor in which it is supposed to exist. the lawyer has said they're trying to get laura moved to another more sanitary prison closer to cairo but it is not certain if that will be possible. that will add to the worries the family have about her mental condition in terms of withstanding

the stress of her ordeal. absolutely, on christmas day when the trial was meant to happen it had to be stopped in large part because of laura just not being in a fit state to continue. what is meant to have happened is that she has been following the proceedings of the trial through translation and she was in such a state that she misunderstood some of the translation and ended up actually confessing when she had no intention of doing that. so it sounds as if she's not in a great place and i do not think going to a squalid prison will do much to help. what about the prospects of an appeal, the family said they would pursue that? the family are hopeful and hope that they can get the three—year sentence reduced on appeal. but part of the problem, the judge has not given the full judgment yet in the case so they do not quite know exactly what she has been charged with. well the hopeful thing

is trafficking offences can carry a sentence of 25 years, the fact that she's had a three—year sentence is according to her lawyer at least an indication that she has been charged with is more possession of illegal substances rather than trafficking. after all the street value of these tramadol tablets was something like £23. so that is the suggestion that the offence is perhaps less serious and therefore they hope an appeal can happen but it could be 60 days before that can be lodged. the former us president barack obama, in one of his few interviews since leaving office last january, has warned about the irresponsible use of social media. he said social media was, in some cases, distorting people's understanding of complex issues, spreading misinformation and reinforcing people's bias. mr obama was interviewed by prince harry in his capacity as guest editor of radio 4's today programme, as our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. prince harry, first of all. you are very welcome to our studio.

good morning. coming injoining the today programme for the day had been a big learning curve, harry said, but he had enjoyed being the interviewer rather than the interviewed. it was quite fun, especially interviewing president obama. his principal scoop had been to persuade barack obama to give his first interview since standing down as us president. the word "trump" was never mentioned but may have been in mr obama's mind when he warned about the use of social media. all of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the internet. one of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. they can be just cocooned in the information that reinforces their current biases. harry had also interviewed his father — the main focus had been on climate change. the issue prince charles has championed for decades and for which he was sometimes derided. maybe now, some years later, they are beginning to realise that what i was trying to

say may not have been quite as dotty as they thought. i mean, the issue really that has to go one being focused on, big time, i think, is this one around the whole issue of climate change which now, whether we like it or not, is the biggest threat multiplier we face. and then, at the end of the programme, it was time to face questions rather than ask them. first about his fiancee, meghan markle, and herfirst christmas at sandringham. she really enjoyed it. the family loved having her there. and yeah, it's. .. there's always that family part of christmas. work element as well and i think, you know, together we have an amazing time. great fun staying with my brother and sister in law. harry's commitment to issues he cares about like the armed forces and mental health had come through strongly. so how does he see his future? part of my role and part of myjob is to shine a spotlight on issues that

need that spotlight, whether it's people, whether it's causes, whether it's issues, whatever it is. so i will continue to play my part in society and do myjob to the best of my ability, so i can wake up in the morning and feel energised, and go to bed hopefully knowing i've done the best that i can. not so long ago, harry admitted to having doubts about a royal role. clearly no longer. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the headlines. disruption around the uk tonight with snow and ice causing problems for travellers and households. the runway at stansted airport closed twice today. the first of a group of critically ill syrian children are allowed to leave a rebel held areas of damascus. the company that ran grenfell tower

is handing back control of its other properties to the local council, saying it can no longer give tenants the service they expect. the kensington and chelsea tenant management organisation has responsibility for 9000 properties, as andy moore reports. grenfell tower is owned by the local council, but it was run by one of the largest tenant management organisations in the country. this body manages thousands of properties in the area. it was this management organisation that made the now—controversial decision to refurbish grenfell tower in cladding suspected of fuelling the fire. both it and the local council are now under investigation by the police, over possible corporate manslaughter charges. the organisation has now sent out a letter saying it would be in the best interests of all residents that the services which the tenant management organisation currently provides are handed back to the council. the handover, which will start at the end of next month,

means the royal borough of kensington and chelsea will take over repairs and day—to—day running. but a resident on the grenfell recovery scrutiny committee says the council isn't up to the job of running a large housing stock, when, he claims, it has failed to deal effectively with the aftermath of the fire. and there's also a fear the tenant management organisation could escape criminal responsibility if it ceases to be a functioning company. the organisation said that wouldn't happen. the royal borough of kensington and chelsea said it saw this as a temporary measure and residents would ultimately decide how they wanted their homes managed. for the survivors of grenfell, who recently attended a memorial at st paul's cathedral, this comes as one more complication, after the rejection of a special panel to work with the public inquiry and reported delays in special christmas payments. andy moore, bbc news. a man who's serving a 20—yearjail sentence for throwing acid

across a packed london nightclub, has pleaded guilty to being in possession of a prohibited item in prison. 25—year—old arthur collins hid a mobile phone, two sim cards and two usb sticks in a crutch while he was on remand in september. he was awaiting trial over the acid attack, in which 22 people were injured. two people who died following a crash in sheffield have been named. lorraine stephenson and pc dave fields were both killed after the cars they were travelling in collided on christmas day. another man remains in a serious condition. the family of pc fields described him as a "loving husband and dad" and a "dedicated officer". a 47—year—old woman who died after being hit by a car during a police pursuit near blackburn has been named by lancashire police as mother—of—two susan shaw. police were pursuing a vauxhall corsa in rishton at around 6pm on boxing day. the vehicle hit ms shaw as she was walking; the driver failed to stop at the scene.

the vehicle was later recovered nearby and an investigation is underway to identify the driver. workers are being warned to expect the squeeze on pay to continue into next year. the economic think tank, the resolution foundation, forecasts that average wages — after inflation has been taken into account — will continue to fall during the early part of 2018. it suggests the decline will eventually level off, before pay levels start to increase towards the end of the year. earlier we spoke to laura gardner from the resolution foundation. when we talk about pay rising or falling, we are usually talking about it in real terms, after we had ta ken account of inflation. what is going on next year, inflation, which is quite high at the moment, will start easing

off quite soon. it will start not growing quite as quickly as it has been. but the cash value of pay will ease off at roughly the same pace. that means that pay after prices are taken into account, real pay staying around to zero over the course of 2018. that's a lot lower than the 2% real growth we have been used to in the years before the financial crisis. you put a figure on that, the years before the financial crisis, how much worse off we are in real terms as compared to where we were before the financial crisis hit? it depends whether you are looking at household incomes or pay. we still have a weekly pay around £15 a week lower than it was before the financial crisis hit. that leaves you in some reckoning thousands of pounds worse off as a household per year, compared to before the financial crisis. especially compared to where we would be if we had continued at the growth rate of the precrisis years and not gone into this long period of stagnation. one thing that is most striking

about all of this, as you say, it will get deeper before it gets better. but the pay doesn't seem to be responding in the ways the economic theorists think it should. we have employers saying we can't find enough workers with the right skills and yet somehow that is not translating into decent pay rises for people who have those skills already in work at the moment. it is a conundrum with unemployment at such a low level, down at 4.3%, lower than it's been in 40 years. that pay isn't responding how some economists might expect. but the real long—term driver of pay is what's called productivity. that's the amount of output the economy is producing for each hour worked. that's been flat for the best part of ten years. that's the fundamental underlying reason why in the long—term, pay is not growing as we would like. but there are bright spots on the horizon. in the latest data

productivity ticked up a bit. if that is sustained into next year, we can start to be a bit more optimistic about the prospects for workers' pay packet. russia's deputy prime minister has stepped down from his role as chief organiser for next summer's football world cup. vitaly mutko said he has left his world cup role to ‘concentrate on government work'. recently he was banned from the olympics for life after being accused of running a huge state—directed doping programme. mr mutko is contesting the ban. parts of the united states are receiving a full dose of winter, with some northern states in a deep freeze. pennsylvania has declared a state of emergency after smashing its highest ever daily snowfall record — by more than 30 centimetres. georgina smyth reports. winter white—out. trees buckling under the snow, streets choked with ice. all the hallmarks of winter and some, with a record—breaking snow dump of 53 inches —

that's nearly 1.3 metres — in erie, pennsylvania. at four times the city's previous all—time christmas record, it is the snowiest day on record for what is already one of america's snowiest cities. and the white stuff isn't making it easy for motorists. outside the city, it forced the festive traffic to a standstill on christmas day. officials have since declared a snow emergency, with some roads deemed dangerous and impassable. but for those at home with nowhere to go, there was only one thing to do. head out and enjoy the winter magic. scenes like this are likely to continue for several days, with the snow still falling thick and fast, erie could receive another foot of it in the next day. on the west coast, hopes for a white christmas were granted when seattle had its first snow in nine years. portland had its sixth since 1884.

in boston, icy conditions sent a plane skidding down a taxiway. heavy snowfall put a freeze on arrivals and departures at logan international for close to an hour. for decades conservationists in africa have struggled to preserve the continent's elephant population using a variety of techniques and methods to prevent poaching. now an organisation that manages national parks across nine african countries is using military tactics to try to deal with the poachers. one big success story has been in chad where 90% of elephants were lost in one park over four decades. we travelled to the remote region

where the elephant population is finally recovering. they were the herd heading for extinction. but the elephants of zakouma national park have made a dramatic recovery. translation: before, there used to be elephant carcasses everywhere . so what has been the difference, since african parks took over? translation: since african parks arrived here, we no longer see carcasses of elephants in the park. across the continent, a private, not—for—profit conservation group called african parks believes it has the answer to saving africa's disappearing wildlife. and it's controversial. they are arming rangers and giving them military—style training. in some places, it's become a war against poachers. adoum allam is a sniper with fast response unit mamba number two. his father was killed by poachers in this park. he jumped at the chance to join up.

"it's a very dangerous job but i love doing it", he said. it's a good income. but it's also personal. this was zakouma, ten years ago. decades of poaching killed 90% of the park's elephants and many rangers as well. but, today, it's a much healthier picture. they haven't lost an elephant in two years or a ranger since 2012. and last year, the population started to grow again. there were more than 20,000 elephants in this parkjust 40 years ago, but now there arejust over 500. what's encouraging, though, is that they've now got babies, they're reproducing, their numbers are starting to go up. and if the poachers can be kept at bay, the population is going to recover. this is the best way to counter raids from the heavily armed sudanese horsemen.

the main perpetrators who've been poaching ivory here for centuries. but now, both sides have automatic weapons. and local communities are a key to success. schools are being built, kids are learning about conservation. villagers now often tip off the rangers, if poachers are seen nearby. african parks take on delegated management of protected areas in africa. normally where public sector has failed, african parks will step in and, with donorfunding, will then manage protected areas. but eventually it should pay for itself. zakouma national park is now attracting high—end adventure tourists who cover one third of the park's budget. other, marginal reserves in africa will never make money. animals have to be worth more alive than dead, notjust to rich westerners, but to local people as well. alastair leithead, bbc news, zakouma national park, in chad. the world's largest known colony

of a "brilliant but shy" species of shellfish has been discovered at the bottom of a loch. the rare reef in loch carron — on the west coast of scotland — had been wrecked by dredging but is now on its way to recovery after the scottish government banned fishing in the area. our environment correspondent kevin keane reports. this was the devastation caused when a dredger dragged its gear through a rare flame shell reef in loch carron. hundreds of disturbed and broken shells littered the floor. divers have now found that this reef is the biggest of its kind in the world. it pretty much spans the sea bed of the 5.5 kilometres tide swept channel. we believe it covers an area of about 194 hectors or two square kilometres. this is what the reef should look like, a carpeted sea bed below which the flame shells live.