this is bbc news. the headlines at 11am... motorists are warned of treacherous driving conditions across large parts of the uk — as the coldest night of the year is predicted tonight, with further snow to follow. hundreds spend the night at stansted airport after flights were cancelled or delayed. this is the scene live at stansted airport, which has now reopened. passengers have been warned of continuing delays. 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 and funding settlement that perhaps lasted ten years rather than the 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. 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 four 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. 0ur correspondent anisa kadri is at stansted airport. what is the latest in there? you can still see the ice here that caused so still see the ice here that caused so many problems for hundreds of people who were hoping to get out of the uk quite frankly and get their flights from sta nsted the uk quite frankly and get their flights from stansted airport. we have met some of them at the last few minutes and they are still here. 0ne few minutes and they are still here. one of the girls has managed to rebook but she would be leaving until tomorrow. she hoped to leave last night. they only need to go and so last night. they only need to go and so isa last night. they only need to go and so is a media to see what people have been through. 0ne so is a media to see what people have been through. one person on twitter described as the worst flight twitter described as the worst flight experience ever. another described it as a shambles. flights we re described it as a shambles. flights were cancelled or delayed. the work

queues for information and queues per luggage. the airport said they handed out blankets and beds and obviously they couldn't do anything about the wintry conditions at such, the weather comes and it causes problems in the uk, the advice today from sta nsted airport, problems in the uk, the advice today from stansted airport, there may still be delays that things are getting back to normal and the advice is to check the status of your flight if you are planning to fly. as you say, real anger about the lack of communication for passengers. i think at one stage officials were writing up posters, just scribbling messages with a pen ona just scribbling messages with a pen on a poster. that is what we understand. those are the sort of measures being used to convey information to be passengers who we re information to be passengers who were not sure what time their flights were going to go. 0ne were not sure what time their flights were going to go. one girl told me it was only hours after her flight told me it was only hours after her flight was supposed to go that she was told that in fact it wasn'tjust

delayed, it was cancelled. that happened three hours after she was informed it was just delays and then she was told it was cancelled, is what she had been telling me earlier. i met a couple of people here who have been waiting for relatives as well, wondering how long it is going to take before their mum or whatever is going to be allowed to go abroad where she wa nted allowed to go abroad where she wanted to go. they were apparently taken to a hotel in this particular example, so they were given a couple of hours respite in a hotel and we understand other forms of respite, bottles of water were handled that, some people say they didn't manage to sleep, with a blanket, in fact they were scrabbling around for a seat or they were scrabbling around for a seat oi’ somewhere they were scrabbling around for a seat or somewhere to get a few hours kip. amid all the chaos. part of that chaos has been hours and hours delay in people reclaiming their luggage, their bags. yes, it seems like there was little communication

between staff and customers where this was concerned as well. there we re this was concerned as well. there were queues per luggage, also queues but information is. as you mentioned, people scribbling notes and things like that in order to convey messengers to passengers who we re convey messengers to passengers who were loved waiting, hundreds of them were loved waiting, hundreds of them we understand stranded for the night at sta nsted we understand stranded for the night at stansted airport. it looks like while things may be getting back to normal, the advice still is check your flight and when it is going to go because wintry weather causes chaos. it certainly does. thank you for us standing live at stansted airport. meanwhile a yellow ice warning remains in place for most of the uk with treacherous conditions on the roads. 0ur correspondent jayne mccubbin who is at the catthorpe interchange in leicestershire. it has been really bad. it looks gorgeous now, snowy field behind me. motorway is moving freely this morning. this is a famous spot, it is where the mi meets the m6,meets

the a14. yesterday is where the m1 meets the m6,meets the a14. yesterday all three lanes we re the a14. yesterday all three lanes were blocked when a lorry jackknifed. as blizzard conditions very quickly came in. clear now but you can see behind me conditions on the roads around me are still really bad away from where the motorway has been gritted. look down at my feet and you will see the problem today is that all the soft snow from yesterday is completely iced over, com pletely yesterday is completely iced over, completely iced over. 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 does well. the met office say people really need to be careful and take ca re really need to be careful and 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 still without power today. the thousand homes —— 70,000 homes

power has been restored in other areas. 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 another 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 in eastern ghouta but also even 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 as a bargaining chip or some deal to negotiate a better political position. at least 40 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 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. a 44—year—old man accused of stabbing an aldi supermarket worker to death has appeared at leeds crown court. neville hord was pinned down by customers after he attacked 30—year—old jodie willsher at the aldi in skipton in north yorkshire last week. our correspondent was at leeds crown court and has this update. neville hord appeared in the dock flanked by two security guards. he was wearing a grey sweatshirt and

grey he was wearing a grey sweatshirt and greyj'ogging he was wearing a grey sweatshirt and grey jogging bottoms he was wearing a grey sweatshirt and greyjogging bottoms and remained impassive throughout the eight minute hearing. he spoke only twice to confirm his name and date of birth. it is his second court appearance in connection with the death of 30—year—old jodie willsher, who was attacked while working at the aldi supermarket in skipton on the aldi supermarket in skipton on the 21st of the stumper. there was no application for bail. neville hord was remanded in custody until the case reconvenes in bradford crown court onjanuary the case reconvenes in bradford crown court on january 26. 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 14—years—old. over the next two days, 40 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. i don't think 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 600,000 in one camp, maybe 150,000

in one 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 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 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 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 a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre. england have done pretty well for a change in the cricket. it is all down to one man. alastair cook has admitted to doubts about his place in the team after a run of poorform — but he put any negative thoughts firmly behind him today, as he made a record breaking double century. it put england in a strong position on day three of the fourth ashes test. at stumps they were 491—9, a lead of 164. while cook himself was 244 not out. patrick gearey reports from melbourne. before this test many were asking

whether alastair cook at the ability and desire to keep scoring test runs for england. this was his answer. the hundred and 44 not out. impressive even for a man with nearly 12,000 test runs to his name. in truth england needed him. they had seemed untroubled untiljoe root helped pat cummins into the hands of nathan lyon but the from a familiar wobble. albert milan lbw, johnny ba i rstow wobble. albert milan lbw, johnny bairstow caught behind. moeen ali came out determined to slog his ca res came out determined to slog his cares away and ended up being caught. cook the go with the management of the innings, batting with the lower order to build a lead. he was dropped by steve smith for the second time. he found and able lieutenant in stuart broad, despised by the australians but brave in the face of the short ball and increasingly bold when he went on. he made 50 of his own. cook pasta 200 and became the highest run scorer of any visiting batsmen in tests at this ground. he batted for

ten and a half hours, a tribute to his fitness, contemplation and resilience and how england needed him. they should now avoid whitewash. they might even be able to get a first victory of this ashes series. what did he think of it? i caught up with him. it meant a lot last night. i was proud to back it up. after all the emotion yesterday, to get a real big one for the team. it was very important. do you ever doubt yourself going into this match? 10096, i have doubted myself for 12 years and probably will continue to. the longer it goes the harder it becomes full stop is supposed that is why it can be quite proud of last night, going to do well again and delivering performance was pleasing. it is a shame it is four weeks too late but i will live with that for a long time but it is nice to score a few. attention will turn to the one—day series with australia and they are

getting some practice in down under. jason roy showed early promise of the big bash but he went out cheaply. his team lost by six runs. can anyone catch manchester city at the top of the premier league? a 1—0 win over newcastle last night saw them stretch their lead to a massive 15 points. and their record—breaking winning run now stands at 18 games. raheem sterling got the game's only goal on a night where city didn't have it all their own way against rafa benitez‘s struggling side. pep guardiola's men can make it 19 victories in a row — a record set by guardiola's bayern munich side — if they beat crystal palace on new year's eve. hibernian manager neil lennon says scottish football's failure to use video footage is making a "mockery" of the game after a controversial 0—0 draw between hibs and hearts in the scottish premiership. hibs thought they should have been awarded the only goal of the game. there's no goal line technology in scottish football, so the officials couldn't tell if this shot from

0li shaw had gone in. it wasn't given, and the match stayed goalless. in last night's other games there were also wins for aberdeen and rangers. rafael nadal‘s ongoing knee injury has forced him to pull out of the brisbane international, the traditional warm up event for the australian open. the spaniard hasn't played since withdrawing from the world tour finals in london last month and pulled out of an exhibition event this weekend. however nadal does still hope that he will be fit in time to play at the australian open. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. thank you, see you later on. 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 ten 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. 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 is still more to be done. we had ourfirst day we had our first day without coal we have seen the price of offshore wind absolutely plummet. basically we have seen renewables become a much bigger part of the story. that is important because we need to clean our electricity up we went to tackle climate change. is this a trend that will keep on getting better do you think, or was this year stands out, but is this something that you see is continuing in the next year and the years after that? we thought so and we expect 28 team to be as good if not better. we do need the government to keep on supporting

renewable electricity to make sure that we do see that trend continuing. we do need to see the government doing more in other sectors of the economy. we haven't done quite so well on emissions from our homes, transport, they have been going upa our homes, transport, they have been going up a little bit in recent yea rs. going up a little bit in recent years. how then do we compare with our nearest competitors for example, industrial competitors? we compare pretty well. we have cut emissions by over 40% since 1990 and that at a time when our economy has grown by two thirds. we are on track with our carbon targets to date. the risk comes in the next decade when a gap sta rts comes in the next decade when a gap starts to open up between what we need to be doing to continue to tackle climate change and what we have actually got plans for. that is why we need to be cutting emissions from homes and transport, but also why we need to be building more renewable electricity generation. good year, and how much difference is this making to the whole climate change issue do you think?m

is this making to the whole climate change issue do you think? it makes a huge change. it proves we can do it and that we can cut emissions, that we can change the way we generate energy. it would have been unthinkablejust generate energy. it would have been unthinkable just ten years ago not to be generating electricity without coal, so it isjust to be generating electricity without coal, so it is just proving that we are capable of tackling climate change. and not just are capable of tackling climate change. and notjust that we have to spend a fortune to do it, these technologies have come down in price dramatically. they are creating jobs, contributing to uk growth. but it does need, you would say, more investment in renewables?m it does need, you would say, more investment in renewables? it all requires some sort of government support to enable to get built. we just need to make sure 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 with any —— without any form of government support. but when we have cracked it. we're going to heat our homes using electricity and are going to drive electric vehicles we need to make sure we're not putting

coal into our cars, we need to be putting clean electricity into our ca rs putting clean electricity into our cars tojudge them. putting clean electricity into our cars to judge them. on that point about electric cars, do you think we are on track to make as much progress as you would like to see on that? uk government has said it will end the sale of petrol and diesel ca rs by end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. we think we should be going much faster than that. scotla nd going much faster than that. scotland has said they will do it in 2032. india, ireland and austria are doing 2030, norway in 2025. the fact is the car manufacturers are signalling the move towards affordable electric vehicles. 0ver half of british motorists say they expect to be buying an electric vehicle in the next five years. motorists are honoured as well. —— on it as well. there's a warning that an increased use of robots in the workplace could widen the gap between rich and poor. a report by the think tank the institute for public policy research says new technology could boost productivity but have an impact

on low skilled jobs. the government says it is committed to making automation work for everyone. train users could see an end to phones cutting out in tunnels and a big improvement to wi—fi on trains if new plans to improve britain's railways get the go ahead. the government is proposing that fibre optic cables and mobile masts be rolled out alongside rail tracks, to improve connectivity for passengers on all mainline routes by 2025. what really matters is making sure people can get that connection, whether through the wi—fi or the mobile phone signal because there's nothing more frustrating than being stuck on a train unable to connect if you need to just tell somebody what time you are going to be getting there or if you want to work or stream video and make the time go faster. record—breaking snow is continuing to affect the us city of erie in pennsylvania, where more than 1.5 metres of snow has fallen in 48 hours.

the arctic cold—snap is bringing sub—zero temperatures to large parts of north—east america and canada, and ice has created deadly conditions in several us states. georgina smyth has more. the white stuff coming in thick and fast. time—lapse the white stuff coming in thick and fast. time—la pse of the white stuff coming in thick and fast. time—lapse of storm it pennsylvania fast. time—lapse of storm it pennsylva nia ca ptu res fast. time—lapse of storm it pennsylvania captures the intensity of the record snow that hit this week. more than 65 inches, 1.6 metres, has fallen in the city and while the snow is easing, this is the reality still facing many residents in the northern states, with a conditions have been deadly consequences in several states. snowploughs and figures are working overtime but it is slow work moving the snow that fell so fast. we are all in it together. but for the

young at heart it is about making the most of the extraordinary snowfall while it lasts. we haven't had a winter like this since we were little kids and it feels like the gap yearagain. we little kids and it feels like the gap year again. we haven't even got to ouryard. gap year again. we haven't even got to our yard. there is no end to the fund to be had in this amount of snow. frozen waterfalls, rosen lakes and even an open drawbridge frozen in position, a to the temperatures across the north of the united states. that cold air feeding down from the arctic is set to continue over the next few days. snow will continue to fault but none so heavy as what has been seen. snow and ice here in the uk although nothing quite on that scale. let's get the latest forecast from simon king. lots of snow on the way for tomorrow morning. nothing to the scale that you saw there in america

but we will deal with that in our own special way across the uk. snow and ice this morning. a lovely day for many of us. lots of sunshine. a few wintry showers per north—west england, north wales. many of us dry and sunny. cold. temperatures two or three orfour celsius. and sunny. cold. temperatures two or three or four celsius. through the night temperatures will drop quite quickly. a widespread frost into the first part of the night but then we will see more cloud and rain moving into western areas. you start to notice the white cropping up. the met office has just issued an amber be prepared warning for parts of the pennine region, york, leeds, bradford, harrogate, could see perhaps more than ten centimetres of snow tomorrow morning. it could cause some disruption here. northern england and southern scotland quite a bit of snow through the morning. elsewhere across