this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at ten: warnings of treacherous driving conditions across large parts of the uk. sub—zero temperatures cause disruption for a second day. hundreds spent the night at stansted airport after flights were cancelled or delayed. i'm in the midlands where drivers are being told to watch out for black ice. 500 people are waking up to a second day without power. used as "bargaining chips", the un's special envoy to syria speaks out about the children who desperately need to leave a rebel—held area of damascus. also, the health secretary tells bbc news he would like nhs funding in england to be planned much more in advance. if we could have a workforce plan underfunding settlement that perhaps lasted ten years rather than three orfour lasted ten years rather than three or four years, lasted ten years rather than three orfouryears, i lasted ten years rather than three orfour years, i think that

lasted ten years rather than three or four years, i think that would make things a lot easier for people in the system. a record—breaking day for alastair cook in melbourne with a double century and his highest ever score against australia in the fourth ashes test. coming up, we look back at some of the biggest stories and original journalism our programme has shown that the last 12 months. that's in half an hour here on bbc news. that's in half an hour here on bbc news. good morning and welcome to bbc news. there are warnings of treacherous driving conditions this morning, as sub—zero temperatures cause disruption for a second day across large parts of the uk. hundreds of people have spent the night at stansted airport after flights were cancelled or delayed. the met office has issued 6 weather warnings. andy moore reports. the snow had long gone by the time

these images were taken at stansted airport, but the disruption it caused has lasted into another day. the airport said up to 300 people were staying in the terminal overnight. it said it was handing out beds and blankets, though some passengers said they saw little sign of them. many people complained of chaotic scenes as they tried to get their luggage back from cancelled flights. this was the scene that greeted passengers returning to luton airport yesterday. no significant snow is forecast today, but the airport is warning there could again be delays because aircraft will have to be de—iced. overnight there were warnings of ice and especially black ice in many areas as the snow and slush from yesterday refroze. at the height of the bad weather yesterday, more than 70,000 homes were without power, but by this morning the vast majority were back online. flooding in many places yesterday

brought more problems, though not for all vehicles. there are still flood warnings in some locations, but in most places water levels have gone down. driving conditions are likely to remain difficult in many places this morning and the wintry weather is not over yet. there's a met office warning of snow showers across northern england and southern scotland tomorrow morning. andy moore, bbc news. let's go live to jane mccubbin who was at the catthorpe interchange in leicestershire. it looks lovely and sunny where you are, but some pretty treacherous conditions out there?m has been really bad. it looks gorgeous now, snowy has been really bad. it looks gorgeous now, snowy fields behind me, the motorway moving freely this morning. catthorpe interchange is famous, it is where the m1 meets the

m6, and yesterday a lorryjackknifed here as conditions closed in. you can see that things are still barred away from the where the motorway has been gritted. the problem is that all the lovely soft snow from yesterday has completely iced over, so we have got these yellow severe ice warnings in from the met office across the country as well as snow warnings up in scotland and northern england as well, with the met office saying that people do need to take ca re saying that people do need to take care as they go out. as well as the traffic chaos in the midlands, the other story yesterday was of power outages, not just here other story yesterday was of power outages, notjust here but across the country. 500 homes in the midlands are still without power today, though 70,000 homes have been restored in other areas. we heard

already about sta nsted restored in other areas. we heard already about stansted airport, there are still 100 passengers stranded there waiting for their flights to be put back on. stansted have put out a message this morning saying that they do expect flights to return to normal later on, although warnings from all airlines to check before you travel. other warnings this morning, too, from the environment agency. they have put out 82 flood alerts saying that flooding is possible in areas, and six flood alerts have now been downgraded to five flood warnings, that means that flooding is expected along the river nene, the river anke, the river blyth. jayne mccubbin in catthorpe, thank you. it's proving to be a busy time for car breakdown companies. i've been speaking to pete williams

from the rac about how drivers should treat these hazardous conditions. hazardous conditions again on the roads, black ice proving to be a big problem, but we are likely to see a lot of stranded motorists today. yesterday our rac patrols attended over 9000 stranded motorists with all sorts of problems from battery failure to punctures to minor accidents where they had skidded on ice, so really the warning is to take extra care and drive slowly, leave plenty of space between your car and the vehicle in front and take it easy on the roads today. you have seen quite a big increase in the number of call—outs compared to this time last year? absolutely, it's 20% up. we expect a similar volume today. we have been rescuing members stranded in snow and ice conditions, but when you think that not many people have actually returned to work, so this is people returning from festive trips,

maybe even doing a quick dash to the sales, but running into problems on the roads, ice and high winds and heavy rain forecast, and obviously in the north, and south of scotland, more snow on the way. so expect delays, really. so treacherous conditions that drivers really need to prepare for. so what is the advice if you are heading into pretty large delays? what sort of preparations should you make? first of all do some quick checks on your vehicle, your oil and coolant levels, screen wash, and check your tyres and make sure you have good tread and they are well inflated, that should keep you safe on the road, they keep you gripped to the road. check the traffic and travel reports, and the weather, and pack accordingly. have your own winter breakdown kit with plenty of spare warm and dry clothing, a flask, some snacks, a shovel and certainly a fully charged mobile phone.

all of these things might sound a bit daft, but if you have a breakdown and get stuck, you will be very grateful that you packed them. and what is the outlook for the next couple of days? do you expect it to be pretty busy for the next 2a, 48 hours? absolutely, i expect it will run on into the weekend with heavy localised ice patches, heavy stormm conditions coming back in, and it could get colder again at the weekend, and then beyond that, next tuesday, the second, when everybody is returning to work, we are anticipating that will be the busiest breakdown day of the year as people get back into the car, many people have left their cars idle over the festive period, and that is when we find that people's batteries are tired and exhausted and fail, and that looks set to be a busy day for everyone on the roads, and certainly for our patrols out there rescuing people.

pete williams of the rac. the un's special envoy to syria, jan egeland, says he fears children who desperately need to leave a rebel—held area of the capital, damascus, are being used as "bargaining chips". last night 12 people were allowed out of eastern ghouta, a further 13 are due to leave today. mr egeland said he understood that rebels had agreed to release captured government workers, in exchange for the safe passage of critically—ill children. he believes that kind of deal violates the youngsters‘ rights. if it has been an exchange, i find it problematic. it is wonderful for the families, wonderful for these children that have had their life saved, but it is not good if they have become bargaining chips in some kind of exchange with detainees. it has been all along an issue here that medical evacuations that should happen in any war at any time, where civilians have the right to be evacuated out of harm's way, have been part of

a novel negotiation. the president of the syria american medical society said he too is suspicious that there may be other deals being made involving the children. some of them that are being evacuated, they are happy that there is hope for the future. having said that, we're talking about 29 total out of of patients who are in dire need, and they are at risk of death from treatable conditions. so that does not make sense that this is not a humanitarian deal, so to speak. unfortunately, we have seen many elements that undermined the humanitarian need, and there are people we need to treat in eastern ghouta at this time. four months ago we started to reach out to the un

security members and leadership, we provided a list of 29 patients back then, those were the ones in urgent need. since then the list grew to 500 plus, and now we are seeing those 29 being approved, but not just that, now starvation is going up just that, now starvation is going up in eastern ghouta but also even the evacuation process itself, the d raft the evacuation process itself, the draft that is being shared is different to what we proposed. it has many violations of international humanitarian laws, and that is what makes a suspicious that another deal is in place using humanitarian needs asa bargaining is in place using humanitarian needs as a bargaining chip or some deal to negotiate a better political position. the president of the syria american medical society. here, the health secretary, jeremy hunt has told the bbc he'd like funding for the nhs in england to be planned much further ahead. if implemented, it could mean budgets spanning periods longer than individual governments.

but mr hunt says it would make things easier for those working in the health service. if i was going to do things differently, well, i would like the nhs to move to a system where we had a longer time horizon for planning, instead ofjust the cycle of spending reviews. if we could have a workforce plan, a funding settlement, that perhaps lasted ten years rather than three or four years, i think that would make things a lot easier for people in the system. a group of british doctors, nurses and firefighters are preparing to fly out to bangladesh to help treat a deadly diphtheria virus outbreak in some of the world's largest refugee camps. they are home to more than 600,000 rohingya men, women and children, who have been forced to flee neighbouring myanmar. richard main reports. the united nations has called it the world's fastest growing refugee crisis. more than 600,000 rohingya muslims have fled persecution by the myanmar military.

most, settling here in the vast camps around the bangladeshi city of cox's bazar. crowded, squalid living conditions, inadequate water supplies, and a lack of sanitation facilities has led to waves of disease, including diphtheria, a potentially fatal illness long forgotten in most parts of the world thanks to increasing rates of vaccination. more than 2,000 cases have been reported here since the start of november. most of the patients are between five and 1a years old. over the next two days, a0 british doctors, nurses, and firefighters travel to bangladesh to lead an urgent vaccination programme. they're members of the uk's emergency medical team, a group of volunteers from the nhs and emergency services, ready to respond at short notice to humanitarian disasters. it's the team's first deployment since it was certified by the world health organization last year. but with warnings that cholera

and tuberculosis may also be on the rise, this could just be the start of a long campaign against disease in these vast refugee camps. richard main, bbc news. we spoke to one of the british medical team, before he set off to help try to combat the outbreak of diptheria and asked him if his team would be equipped to deal with the disease. identity anyone worldwide these days is used to taking on diphtheria itself. one of the problems with it especially in children is that it restricts the airways, so we have epidemiologists and experts such as ourselves, my experiences in airway management and

emergency care, and that is the challenge of doing this job. there are over 600,001 camp, maybe 150,001 of the other camps that we're going to be mainly working in. at the minute there are 22 recorded deaths of children from diphtheria, but it isa of children from diphtheria, but it is a treatable disease, within 48 hours with the right treatment, lives can be saved. so by getting teams in there like ourselves, this can makea teams in there like ourselves, this can make a difference. we are going for a six—week deployment, but that will be extended if who and other organisations require us to, so that could be an ongoing deployment as required, basically. the united nations says children have suffered shocking levels of violence in war zones around the world, during the past year. in a new report, the un's children's agency, unicef, describes how children have been killed, maimed, used as human shields, or recruited to fight.

it's calling on warring factions to abide by international law, and end such violations. at least a0 people have been killed and more than 30 others injured in a bomb attack in afghanistan. it happened at a shia cultural centre west of the capital kabul. a spokesman for the afghan government said the suicide bomb was followed by two other explosions in the area. the headlines on bbc news: motorists are being warned of treacherous driving conditions across large parts of the uk, with sub—zero temperatures. hundreds of people have spent the night at stansted airport after flights were cancelled or delayed. the un's special envoy to syria says he fears children who desperately need to leave a rebel—held area of damascus are being used as "bargaining chips". the health secretary has told bbc news he would like nhs funding in england to be planned much more in advance. jeremy hunt said ten year spending

reviews would be better for those working in the health service. sport now and for a full round up, we go to the bbc sport centre. the psychiatric looking good for england? very good for england. that is because alastair cook is doing so well. he admitted to doubts about his place in the team after a run of poor form but he his place in the team after a run of poorform but he put his place in the team after a run of poor form but he put away any negative thoughts firmly behind him as he made a record—breaking double century. that put england in a strong position on day three of the fourth ashes test, at stumps they we re fourth ashes test, at stumps they were 491—9, with a lead of 164. cook himself was 244—0. before this test, many were asking whether cook had the ability and desire to keep

scoring test runs for england. this was his answer. 244—0, impressive even for a man with nearly 12,000 test runs to his name. england needed him. they seemed untroubled until root put cummings into the hands of nathan. malan went lbw. it wasn't reviewed. bairstow caught behind and moeen ali slogged his ca res behind and moeen ali slogged his cares away and ended up being caught off line. batting with the lower order building a lead. he was dropped by smith for the second time. he found an able lieutenant in broad, brave in the face of the short ball, and increasingly bold as he went on, making 50 of his own. cook passed 200 then became the higher run scorer of any visiting batsman in tests at this ground. he batted for ten—and—a—half hours, a tribute to his fitness, concentration and resilience and how england needed him. because of him

they should avoid a whitewash and may be able to get a first victory. what did he think of it? i caught up with him after he'd taken his pads off? meant a lot. iwas with him after he'd taken his pads off? meant a lot. i was proud that myinged to back it up after all the emotion to get a big one for the tea m emotion to get a big one for the team was very important. do you ever doubt yourself going into this match? 10096, i doubt myself for all 12 years, probably continue to doubt myself. obviously, the longer it goes, the harder it becomes but i suppose that's mile why i can be proud going well again and delivering a performance like that was pleasing. it's a shame it's three—and—a—half, four weeks too late. i'll have to live with that for a long time but it's nice to score a few. can anyone catch manchester city at the top of the premier league? a 1—0 win over newcastle saw them stretch their lead to a massive 15 points and their word record—breaking win

stands at 18 games. sterling got the only goal on a night where city didn't have it all their own way against nafrt. guardiola's men can make it 19 victories in a row, set by guardiola's bayern munich side, if they beat crystal palace on new year's eve. it was difficult to play when the other team doesn't want to play. so after the last minute, you play. so after the last minute, you play in the rhythm. then it's always much easier because the game was not over at 1—0. we create enough chances to win two, three or four derow. neil lennon says scottish football's failure to use video evidence is causing problems. hibs thought they should have been awarded a goal, it would have been the only goal of the game. there is no goal line technology in scottish football so the officials couldn't tell if this shot had gone in or not. in the end it wasn't given and

the match stayed goalless. there we re the match stayed goalless. there were wins for aberdeen and rangers. virgilvan dijk were wins for aberdeen and rangers. virgil van dijk says he is delighted to bejoining one of the biggest clu bs to bejoining one of the biggest clubs in world football after liverpool agreed a word record deal to bring the defender to anfield from southampton on 1st january. he'lljoin for £75 million, a world record fee for a defender, despite barely featuring for the saints after handing in a transfer request in august. that is all the sport for now. there is more on those stories on the bbc sport website. www. bbc.co.uk/sport. i'll have more in the next hour. new research suggests nearly half of people in england and wales haven't seen a uniformed police or community support officer walking the beat in their area over the last year. a report by her majesty's inspectorate of constabulary also found that three in 10 people consider crime and

anti—social behaviour to be a problem in their area. chi chi izundu reports. it was once a very common sight on british streets, the bobby on the beat, high—profile and reassuring. but a new survey suggests that uniformed police and community support officers are becoming much less visible. i think a presence does make a difference. i think if you see the police on the streets, people are more wary and think more about what they are doing. to be fair, i think the police are doing all right. i think the budget is not enough, but they are doing all they can do. they are doing a good job. the survey by her majesty's inspectorate of constabulary and fire and rescue services found four—fifths of people asked in england and wales thought it was important to have a regular police presence in their area. but in the last year, 44% of people had not seen a uniformed police officer patrolling their streets, while a quarter said they felt the service provided by local police was getting worse. budget cuts, police numbers are at their worst since 1985, and a shift in resources

to focus on things like terrorism and cybercrime are just some of the reasons police chiefs say they are not walking the beat as often anymore. in a statement, the home office said it was announcing an increase of police funding by up to £450 million for local, national and counterterrorism policing next year. chi chi izundu, bbc news. the uk is on course for its greenest year ever in electricity generation, national grid figures reveal. 13 clean energy records have been broken in 2017 thanks to the rise of renewable energy helped break 13 clean energy records in 2017. for the first time, thisjune wind, nuclear and solar power generated more of the uk's energy than gas and coal combined. since 2012, britain has halved

carbon emissions in the electricity sector and now provides the fourth cleanest power system in europe. gareth redmond—king is head of head of climate and energy at wwf. he spoke to me a short while ago and says that although 2017 has been a positive year for renewable electricity in britain, there's more to be done. we had ourfirst day we had our first day without coal, we have seen the price of off shore wind absolutely plummet and basically we have seen renewables become a much bigger part of the story. that's important because we need to clean our electricity up if we are going to tackle climate change. and is this a trend that's going to keep on getting better, do you think, or was this a year that sort of stands out, obviously, but is it something you see as continuing in the next year and the yea rs

continuing in the next year and the years after that? we certainly hope so and we'd expect 2018 to be as good if not better. we need the government to keep on supporting renewable electricity to make sure we do see that trend continuing and we do see that trend continuing and we need to see the government doing more in other sectors of the economy as well. we haven't done quite so well on emissions from our homes, for example, or from transport, which have been going up a little bit in recent years. how do we compare with, i suppose, our nearest competitors, for example, industrial competitors? we compare pretty well. we have cut emissions by over 40% since 1990, at a time when our economy's grown by two thirds. we are on track with our carbon targets to date. the risk comes in the next decade when a gap starts to open up between what we need to be doing to continue tackling climate change and what we have actually got plans for. that is why we need to cut emissions from homes and transport and also why we need to build more renewable

electricity generation. a good year then. how much difference is this making to the whole climate change issue, do you think? it makes a huge change. it proves that we can do it, it proves that we can cut emissions, that we can change the way that we generate energy. it would have been unthinkable ten years ago to not generate electricity without coal, so almost just generate electricity without coal, so almostjust proving that we are capable of tackling climate change and not just that we capable of tackling climate change and notjust that we have to spend a fortune to do it. these technologies have come down in price diploma cha rtly, have come down in price diploma chartly, they are creating jobs and contributing to growth. you would say more investment is needed? all electric generation needs government support to enable it to get built. solar and wind are already the cheapest forms of electricity generation, we need to make sure they stay that way and get to the stage where they can be built without any form of government support. that's when we have really cracked it. if we are going to heat

our homes using electricity and going to drive electric vehicles, we need toe make sure we are not putting coal into our cars, we need to be putting clean electricity into our cars cars to charge them. on that point about electric cars, do you think we are on track to make as much progress as you would like the see on that? the uk government has said that it will end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. we think we should be going much faster than that. scotland has said they'll do it in #20e 32. india, ireland and austria are doing it in 2030, for way in 2025. the fact is that the car manufacturers are signalling the move towards affordable electric vehicles and over half of british motorists say that they expect to be buying an electric vehicle in the next five years, so motorists are on it as well. a baby elephant born on christmas day has made its first public

appearance at a belgian zoo. its birth was captured on video and the infant has been heavily guarded by family members in the enclosure since. the calf, which is the ninth asian elephant delivered at the zoo, tried to stand 25 minutes after it was born. welcome to the world. time for a look at the weather now with simon king. good morning. after yesterday's rain sleet and snow and freezing temperatures, the main risk today is ice. it could be treacherous in places. but there'll be lots of sunshine over the course of the day. a few showers affecting northern and western scotland, perhaps in north wales and north—west england. for most, enjoying the blue skies of sunshine. it will be a cold day however. it's a little milder towards the south—west. that is

where we'll see more cloud moving its way in. tonight, we have this blue hue. as the rain moves into the south—west, it will turn to snow, even at lower levels, in north wales, eastern and northern england and through southern scotland throughout the day as well. turns milderfor throughout the day as well. turns milder for the south—west but still cold in the north. bye. hello again. you're watching bbc news with me, ben brown. our latest headlines: motorists are being warned of treacherous driving conditions across large parts of the uk, with sub—zero temperatures. hundreds of people have spent the night at stansted airport after flights were cancelled or delayed. the un's special envoy to syria says he fears children who desperately need to leave a rebel—held area of damascus are being used as "bargaining chips".

the health secretary has told bbc news he would like nhs funding in england to be planned much more in advance. jeremy hunt said ten year spending reviews would be better for those working in the health service. now on bbc news, victoria derbyshire takes a look back at the exclusive interviews and films which have featured on her programme in 2017. hello and welcome to our programme. over the next half an hour, we'll bring you some of the exclusive interviews and original stories that we have broadcast over the last year.