today at five, going off the rails — campaigners warn that rising rail fares are pricing out commuters from travelling by train. average rail ticket prices have risen by 3.4% across the uk, in the biggest hike in fares since for five years. i don't know why we have to pay such a lot of money for such a poor service. if i am not a lot of money for such a poor service. ifi am not more than a lot of money for such a poor service. if i am not more than five minutes early for the train, i am not getting home. we'll be looking at whatjustifies the hike in fares. the other main stories on bbc news at five... people in the north east of england are being urged to think before dialling 999 after the ambulance service said it was operating under extreme pressure. iran's supreme leader blames foreign enemies for stirring the protests in his country — at least 22 people have been killed. there are calls to limit children's snacks to 100 calories,

as figures show that children consume half of their average sugar intake in unhealthy treats. an investigation is under way after 13 monkeys were killed in a fire at woburn safari park in bedfordshire. and rob cross, a former electrician who only turned pro last year, becomes the world darts champion at his first attempt. welcome to the bbc news at five, i'm jane hill. our top story tonight: rail passengers, commuting on the first working day of 2018, have been hit with the largest fare rise in five years. average ticket prices across the country went up by 3.4% this morning,

prompting protests outside around a0 railway stations. campaigners warn that the rise is pricing ordinary people off the railways — but the rail delivery group, which represents train operators, says higher fares will lead to better services. our transport correspondent richard westcott reports. back to work after the holidays. rail commuters are shelling out for yet another fare rise. this time, it's the biggest increase for five years. this is a busy commuter line, people coming in from cambridgeshire and hertfordshire into london. plenty of people on this train are just a few pounds shy of the £5,000 club — £5,000 for an annual season ticket. that's gone up by about £600 in the last five years. price rises have been relentless. other countries in europe don't pay anywhere near as much as we do and their services tend to be better

than ours, so i don't know why we have to pay such a lot of money for such a poor service, really. 0n the way home, it's normally a massive crowd of people at king's cross, all trying to get on the train at the same time. if i'm not more than five minutes early for the train, i'm definitely not getting a seat home. you don't get a choice, really. we've got to make the commute from hertfordshire into london, so when it's so expensive and there are cancellations, especially during winter... average fares across britain go up by 3.4% this year. season tickets, which are regulated by the government, go up by 3.6%. it will add just shy of £150 to the price of a season ticket for people coming into london on the strike—riddled line from hove in east sussex. nearly £110 to a yearly ticket from liverpool to manchester. and commuters going to birmingham from gloucester must find £140 more this year. this is where a lot

of the money is going. london bridge hasjust had a £1 billion makeover. and there's a whole new line coming under london — crossrail. the government says it's investing record amounts to improve the trains, but it's also changing who foots the bill. a smaller proportion now comes from the taxpayer, which means more has to come from ticket sales. for every £1 a passenger pays in fares, 97p goes directly into running and improving the railway. but also, with more people using the railway, that means we have more money to invest and it enables investment and the sort of improvement we see here as well. but the biggest survey suggests that fewer than half of passengers think they're getting value for money, and the latest figures show that season—ticketjourneys have actually started going down. passengers are already putting in over £9 billion a year into the railways through the fare box, it's a lot of money, and the industry and government

should work much harder to get better value for money out of that, so that one year, let's have a fares freeze for christmas, that would be a really good present. if commuters do put that on their christmas list this year, they're likely to be disappointed. jo black is at milton keynes central station for us. what have passengers been saying to you? yes, this is milton keynes central rail station on the west coast main line. it is one of the busiest stations on this line, and commuters can go to london in about 40 commuters can go to london in about a0 minutes if they get on the right train. 0r a0 minutes if they get on the right train. or if they are going north, they can go to places like birmingham or manchester or further on up to scotland. the fare hikes today show how the fare from milton keynes to london has gone up. if you area keynes to london has gone up. if you are a season—ticket holder, you would pay £5,028. as you can see,

commuters are starting to come home from their day at work and the first day of the price hike. i have been speaking to them to see if they are getting used to the new prices they have to pay. this is what they had to tell me. nobody wants go up but if we want rail infrastructure, we need to pay for it. it makes it more inconvenient to get around and about. it's not very affordable. will it put you off using the railway? it does, buti will it put you off using the railway? it does, but i still have to use it because i don't have my own car. so just makes it inconvenient. i feel it is a bit unfair. it is quite a price increase when salary isn't going up by as much. we need to invest in the railways. there are more people travelling by rail today, so the infrastructure needs updating and

that money has to come from somewhere. sure, but for people who use the rail regularly, should it hit them or should it hit people who use trains on a less regular basis? and how will it affect you personally? my season ticket is about £100 more a year, so it is a significant impact. that is quite a charge to bear. says some mixed views that. some people will suck it up and bear it saying they don't want to pay more, but they realise more investment is going on. some people are genuinely worried about this and say, i can't afford to pay this extra money, but i will have defined it from somewhere because i have still got to go to work. campaigners are talking about how some people are being forced off the rails. campaigners of course don't want people on the roads, which are

heavily congested. so there is genuine worry, with lots of protests at stations up and down the country. if you speak to the department for transport, they will say they are investing in the biggest modernisation of railways since victorian times, and they say that for every £1 paid in fares, 97p goes back into investment. honourable gentleman, thanks. —— jo, back into investment. honourable gentleman, thanks. ——jo, thanks very much. members of the public are being urged to think before dialling 999 after the north east ambulance service announced it had reached its highest level of operational alert. that means its response standards to potentially life—threatening calls has deteriorated because of the pressures on the service. let's go to our correspondent fiona trott, who joins us from newcastle. the ambulance service has only recently put out this statement. what is behind this? they are putting it down to unprecedented levels of demand. they have released figures over the past hour which

show that between the 23rd of december and january the 1st, the north—east ambulance service took more than a0,000 nhs111 calls and more than a0,000 nhs111 calls and more than a0,000 nhs111 calls and more than 16,999 calls. that is up by more than 30,000 calls in the same period last year. this level four is quite significant. most ambulance services across england are on a level three at the moment. we know services are stretched that this time of year, but the east of england is also on a level four. what that means for patients is that they are being urged not to dial 999 u nless they are being urged not to dial 999 unless it is a genuine emergency. they will be asked in some cases, where appropriate, if they can get somebody else to take them to and from hospital instead of relying on an ambulance. for staff, from hospital instead of relying on an ambulance. forstaff, it from hospital instead of relying on an ambulance. for staff, it means that from this afternoon, there will be more nurses and paramedics in a call centre at the ambulance

headquarters to try to resolve medical issues over the telephone. and there will be administrative changes as well. all nonemergency meetings will be cancelled. this comes at a busy time of year for the nhs. just before christmas, visitors in this part of the world were banned from nine hospitals because of the norovirus outbreak. today, as a result of this level four alert, the nhs foundation trust in northumbria is urging people with flu symptoms to stay away from hospital to help ease the pressure on local services. so today, the north—east ambulance service is announcing a level four alert in place, the highest level of operational alert. that is due to be reviewed again tomorrow. thanks very much for now, fiona. iran's supreme leader has accused the country's enemies of stirring days of protests that have claimed

at least 22 lives. ayatollah ali khamenei was speaking for the first time since demonstrations began last thursday. state media says nine people, including a child, died overnight in clashes between demonstrators and security forces — as authorities struggle to contain the biggest challenge to the country's clerical leadership since 2009. this report by our correspondent richard galpin. the protests, and the authorities‘ response to them, are becoming increasingly violent — buildings being burnt and shots fired. last night, at least nine people killed, including some members of the security forces. the focus of people's anger is this man, the country's supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei. the spark for the protests — rising food prices and unemployment running at 60% in some areas. people are actually fed up

with political corruption. people are fed up with economic corruption. and they believe that the only way to pave the way to a meaningful change, a meaningful economic change, is through radical political reform. as the pent—up frustration with the country's leaders continues, people from different parts of the country have been contacting the bbc. translation: iranian people's demands on long postponed. none of the authorities gave platforms to these demands to be heard. people we re these demands to be heard. people were not heard during these years. translation: we can't be patient any more. i lost my money in a building society. previously, we gathered and protest in front of government buildings, but no officials responded. instead, they laughed at us responded. instead, they laughed at us and took our money. in response,

the authorities have been holding big counterdemonstrations like this in many parts of the country. the government has also restricted access to the internet and is now placing the blame for what is happening on its enemies abroad. today, iran's supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei, spoke for the first time about the crisis since it began last week. translation: following recent events, the enemies have united and are using all their means — money, weapons, policies and security services — to create problems for the islamic republic. the statement is a clear sign that this widespread unrest is rattling the clerics, who have ruled the country for decades. this morning, the british foreign secretary, borisjohnson, called for meaningful debate about what he said were legitimate and important issues

the protesters were raising. and he said the government was looking to the iranian authorities to permit this. but with the protests and violence continuing, that seems unlikely. in the capital tehran alone, a50 people have been arrested. joining me is eskander sadeghi, research fellow in modern history of the middle east, at oxford university. hgppy happy new year to you. thank you for being with us. when the supreme leaderfinally comes out being with us. when the supreme leader finally comes out a few days after the protests started and blames it on foreign enemies, let's be clear firstly who he is talking about and what really saying?” think he did specify that he is

going to give his definitive comments in the coming days. as we have seen, president rouhani has said that the protesters' rights to protest should be recognised, although they should refrain from damage and vandalism. so that has been officially recognised, but we still have to see what concessions and what meaningful steps will be taken to alleviate the anger which is currently sweeping throughout the country. and in terms of the anger, there have been more than a00 arrests. and when you see the vast majority of people who have been arrested are under the age of 25, that presumably tells its own story? yeah. first of all, the provincial dimension of these protests is unprecedented. the centres of the protests have not been in the capital as much. it is actually the

north—eastern cities and also places like isfahan and even small villages which have never seen protests of this nature ever. so although people focus on the economic dimension of the grievances, the high inflation and youth unemployment, there is genuine frustration with prices. the price of eggs has bothered a lot of people, and the price of petrol. these are fundamental things which hurt the lower strata in society and it is putting pressure on their lives. and this is given vent throughout the country. we will see how it develops in the coming days, because there is still evidence that the government has not used all its means to clamp down. as you say, it is waiting to see what happens. a lot of conservative mps have said, we need to recognise that there are legitimate even these and economic demands which have been placed on the iranian state on a particularly

in the wake of the nuclear accord, where optimism was very high. president rouhani had an overwhelming vote and 70% of the iranian electorate voted in the election. we are still try to fathom how a mere six months ago, there was so how a mere six months ago, there was so much optimism, and in the space of six months, we have seen protests of six months, we have seen protests of this nature. is it partly that those people who voted for that things would be better by now, that the economic situation would have improved? i think in the wake of the nuclear deal, a lot of people were expecting the economic situation to quickly improve and newjob opportunities to be created and for their children to find jobs and not be struggling as much. part of the blame has to be put on the change of the american administration, which has gone out of its way to break not only the spirit, but i would say the letter of the nuclear accord, where

there was a commitment to try and reintegrate iran into the international economy. president rouhani, because he has undertaken something of an austerity tack in his economic policy as seen in his most his economic policy as seen in his m ost rece nt his economic policy as seen in his most recent budget, because of the ongoing threats and tensions with the united states, has not been able to attract the private investment iran needs to create employment opportunities for the underclass and even the struggling middle class of iran. so in terms of where we are tonight, are we waiting to see firstly whether the protesters continued to be brave enough to go out on the streets, but also what the authorities‘ reaction is? i was struck by something you said earlier about the authorities not having it used the full force of what they could do. one never wants to pre—empt violence, but i am concerned about what you think. exactly. you have to acknowledge

that the state has a deep support base which it has not mobilised in full. there are also a lot of people sitting on the sidelines and staying at home. a lot of the middle class who in 2009 were more active in protest a nd who in 2009 were more active in protest and making constitutional demands on the state have not taken to the streets and are concerned about the violence which is unfolding as the protests are getting increasingly violent. so they are seeing what is happening and are quite ambivalent. as i said, the chief class is pushing this are the chief class is pushing this are the ones who are really hard—pressed economically, the lower class provincial people. thank you very much for now. eskander sadeghi from 0xford much for now. eskander sadeghi from oxford university. this is bbc news at five — the headlines: campaigners say the biggest rise in fares for five years is pricing out commuters from travelling by train. people in the north east

are being urged to think before dialling 999 after the ambulance service said it was operating under extreme pressure. iran‘s supreme leader has accused the country‘s foreign enemies of stirring up protests over the past week. at least 22 people have been killed. and in sport, the board of directors at stoke are said to be considering the future of manager mark hughes. the club is two places above the relegation zone, having lost seven of their past ten premier league games. arsenal manager arsene wenger has been charged by the fa over comments made to match officials after sunday‘s draw at west brom. and there was anger about a late penalty decision given to the home side which led to their equaliser. and andy murray describes his rehab for a long term hip injury as demoralising. he has had to pull out of the brisbane international ahead of the brisbane international ahead of his first match this week, and is

considering surgery. i will be back with more on those stories that 5.30. 13 patas monkeys have been killed in a fire at woburn safari park in bedfordshire. the blaze broke out in the early hours of this morning and is believed to have been caused by a faulty generator. fire crews say the monkey house roof had already collapsed when they arrived. 0ur correspondent chi chi izundu has been reporting from the scene: sadly, when the fire crews arrived, the roof had already collapsed at the patas monkey house, due to the intensity of the heat. they had to wear specialist safety kits because of smoke and the fire, and they did put it out. staff at the safari park who are based here on site have actually had to receive counselling, because obviously, they have special relationships with the animals they take care of. obviously, we have remained open, but we've closed the jungle

for the foreseeable at the moment. we are going to chat with the staff as well, because for them, although many people go to the safari park to see a monkey on top of a car and find it fun, the animal keepers know the monkeys. they are devastated. it is a catastrophic event. so the monkeys are kept inside overnight due to the cold weather. other animals in the jungle drive—through enclosure have been checked over and are being monitored to make sure they haven‘t been harmed as a result of the fire. so far, they‘re showing signs that none of them have been harmed. all 13 monkeys, as we said, sadly perished in that fire. this news comes just ten days after london zoo had its own fire which killed an aardvark and four meerkats. a man who killed two of his previous partners has

admitted murdering a third. theodore johnson attacked angela best in north london a year ago after they broke up and she started a relationship with someone else. the old bailey heard he was "an abusive and controlling man". he‘ll be sentenced on friday. the former england footballer, trevor sinclair, has been sentenced to 150 hours of community service after pleading guilty to drink—driving and a racially aggravated public order offence against a police officer in november last year. sinclair was arrested in lytham. blackpool magistrates‘ court heard he became agitated, and accused police of being racist. air accident investigators in australia hope to retrieve the wreckage of a seaplane that crashed on new year‘s eve by the end of this week. all six people on board were killed — the pilot, and a british family

who were on holiday, including the businessman richard cousins, the chief executive of the catering giant compass. the accident happened just north of sydney, from where our correspondent phil mercer has sent this report. the wreckage of the seaplane lies in more than a0 feet of water on a river bed north of sydney. air crash investigators are searching for clues to explain why it crashed, killing all six people on board. what has emerged, however, is that this is not the first plane of its type to be involved in a fatal accident. four british holiday—makers died when a similar seaplane, a de havilland dhc—2 beaver, went down in canada in 2015. accounts from witnesses will also help australian authorities 1 figrjgi’ég’ g .

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in southwark in south london. yes, this is the noisy, grim, dirty reality of recycling our rubbish.

it‘s become a massive, complicated business, but now, china has said "no more". it‘s got enough waste of its own to deal with, so now we have to work out what we‘re going to do with our rubbish. if you take packaging, for example, we‘re collecting about 1.2 million tonnes of plastic packaging every year, put in the recycling bins. but we‘ve relied on 65% of that tonnage being exported to overseas markets — the vast majority has been going to china. this is the sort of stuff that might previously have been sent to china — different plastic bottles of different kinds that might be recycled in different ways. and if you look at the tomato ketchup bottle, there‘s still some sauce in there. now, that‘s the kind of thing china is now saying it will not take, it will not deal with. so we‘ve got to work

out what to do with it, and this company‘s already recycling its waste here. but with so much of our plastic being shipped to china, there‘s still a lot more to deal with. if we can't send recyclables to china, there are alternatives like india, indonesia, malaysia... there will be other options, such as sending certain rubbish to energy from waste plants if there is literally nothing else to do with it. but in the longer term, we need to be looking to clean up our waste because quite frankly, we need, to make better use of it ourselves — if we have a good quality recycler, we can do more with it. the government says it will look for ways to recycle more here,