tonight at ten, riot police on the streets across iran amid the biggest anti—government demonstrations for a decade. at least 22 people have died during six days of demonstrations across the country. iran's supreme leader has blamed foreign enemies for causing the unrest. we'll be asking how serious these protests are for the iranian government and what impact they could have on the region. thousands of routine operations postponed this month because of sustained pressure on the nhs in england — one doctor says conditions are the worst he's seen. i want to do the best i can for the patients that i'm seeing. i want to do the best i can. but i'm not being given the resources to do that. the biggest increase in railfares for five years. train operators say it is vital to address decades of underinvestment. the plastic

problem, wider uk under pressure to find new ways to recycle waste. a helping hand for china's poorest people — as its president vows to lift 43 million from extreme poverty in just three years. and the new kid on the block — a 27—year—old former electrician causes a sensation in the world of darts as he's crowned world champion. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, we'll have all the action from tonight's premier league games, where it has just been raining goals this evening. good evening. riot police are out in force in cities across iran tonight as anti—government protests continue. at least 22 people have died

since the demonstrations began six days ago. hundreds of people have been arrested. today, iran's supreme leader broke his silence for the first time since the protests began and accused his country's enemies of stirring up the unrest. the protests are the boldest challenge to iran's clerical leadership for almost a decade. tonight, america urged iran to exercise restraint and to restore people's access to social media. here's our middle east editorjeremy bowen. in tehran, squads of motorbike police are cruising the streets to break up groups of demonstrators. the protests have changed since they started last thursday. gunshots to begin with, they were about the economy. most of the protesters are young men — more than 50% of iranians are under 30 — and perhaps 40% of them are unemployed. but pent up political frustration

is spilling out and much of it has been directed at this man, the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei. he is the powerfulfigurehead of the islamic republic, and attacks on his posters will be seen as attacks on the islamic system. he's blaming iran's foreign enemies. translation: following recent events, the enemies have united and using all their means — money, weapons, policies and security services — to create problems for the islamic republic. it's notjust ayatollah khamenei, the supreme leader, who's blaming foreigners. mohammad khatami, the former president, who's a reformist, says iranians have the right to protest, but he blamed iran's enemies, led by the united states, for inciting people to destroy public buildings and to insult religious values. president obama, in 2009, was careful not to give the last big

protest his backing. but president trump has tweeted his support. the people of iran, he declared, are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt iranian regime. the americans are encouraging the protests. but they deny they are behind them. we all know that is complete nonsense. the demonstrations are completely spontaneous. they are virtually in every city in iran. this is the precise picture of a long oppressed people rising up against their dictators. the last big protests in iran were in 2009, after a disputed presidential election. back then, they were defeated by the power of the state, even though they were led by top politicians and faced a badly divided islamist leadership. the new street level protests don't have national leaders

and may run out of steam. this is not a new iranian revolution, though it's clear that many iranians are fed up with increasing poverty and years of repression. the fact the protests are happening at all is very significant for iran, its allies and enemies in a chaotic part of the world. jeremy bowen, bbc news. jeremy is here with me. how serious are these protests for the iranians government? very serious, you can the iranians government? very serious, you can see the iranians government? very serious, you can see by the supreme leader's reaction that he is very concerned. things are very fluid, it is unpredictable and chaotic in the wider region, so predictions are, in a way, a mug's game. at these protesters do not seem to be interested in the reform of the

system, they want something new. that will scare quite a few iranians. as well as that, they will draw down upon themselves, if this goes on, the coercive power of the state. they might simply run out of stea m. state. they might simply run out of steam. in the wider region, if all feeds into the most dangerous at fault lines in the middle east, the ones which have iran and its allies ones which have iran and its allies on one side, and the us, saudi arabia and israel on the other. now, if there was three decide they want to up the pressure on iran, because of the internal crisis going on, it could result in all kinds of unpredictable potential escalations. that is something which, again, is dangerous. later this month, president trump himself has a chance to reimpose sanctions on iran which we re to reimpose sanctions on iran which were suspended because of the nuclear agreement. now, were suspended because of the nuclearagreement. now, if he decides to do that, to try to do down an agreement which he has

a lwa ys down an agreement which he has always said is completely worthless and useless, the real risk of war that existed in the region before the agreement was signed would come snapping back into sharp focus. jeremy bowen, thank you. hospitals in england have been told to postpone tens of thousands of non—urgent surgery and outpatient appointments until the end of this month. nhs chiefs say it's to ease pressure on services after a busy christmas period. it comes as some doctors have been speaking about the extremely difficult conditions at a&e. our health editor hugh pym reports. there is always great pressure on the nhs in the new year. some patients have held off until after the seasonal holiday. but the strains seem even bigger this year. two ambulance services in england, covering the north—east and east, are on the highest state of operational alert, asking families to use their own transport to bring patients into hospital for possible. here in the north—east, they say they've prepared as much

as they possibly could. it's unprecedented levels of demand that we're dealing with — you know, if i take just the period from the 23rd of december until the ist of january, we've seen 30% more calls. now, you know, we do plan for winter. we start planning in the summer, so we are predicting and forecasting activity from historic periods, but we didn't anticipate a 30% increase. the trust running scarborough and york hospital said there were high numbers of patients, and staff were under considerable pressure. one doctor said in his view it was unprecedented. i've worked in a number of different emergency departments around the country, and that's the worst i've seen. ijust want to do a good job, i want to do the best i can for the patients that i'm seeing. i want to do the best i can, but i'm not being given the resources to do thatjob properly. i feel like i'm fighting a losing battle. i feel like i've already lost the battle, because i can't do any more. twitter carried reports from some staff at other hospitals. an emergency doctor in stoke said

he personally apologised to local people for what he called third world conditions due to overcrowding. nhs england has told hospitals to postpone all nonurgent operations and outpatient appointments til the end of january, an escalation of temporary measures announced just before christmas. in that time hospitals won't be penalised for putting patients in mixed—sex wards. this is a planned response to a winter that we knew was going to be difficult, and we are managing that in the way that we expected, and we are taking early action. we're not waiting to have to respond to a problem. have you got pain at the moment? the authorities in scotland, wales and northern ireland are saying they are facing higher demand from patients and more pressure on front line services. with flu cases on the increase, the worry now is that the predicted outbreak may become a reality. of course, many hospitals are

getting on with implementing plans drawn up for just this getting on with implementing plans drawn up forjust this sort of winter scenario. they say while they are very busy, they are basically coping. i was at one such hospital earlier today and we are told repeatedly this is always the busiest time of the year. the question is, will be pressures ease up question is, will be pressures ease up in the weeks ahead? the fact that energetic blend needs its hospitals focusing on just emergency care, evenif focusing on just emergency care, even if it means nonurgent work, shows that there is concern that things could get worse before they get better. a man who killed two previous partners has today admitted to murdering a third. theodore johnson attacked angela best in north london a year ago after they broke up and she began a relationship with someone else. the old bailey heard he was an abusive and controlling man. he'll be sentenced on friday. train operators have been defending the biggest rise in rail fares for five years, insisting that it's necessary to address decades of under investment. average ticket prices across the uk

have gone up by 3.4%. unions say commuters are being priced off the trains as the burden of paying for the system falls increasingly on passengers. here's our transport correspondent richard westcott. this report contains flashing images. it's one of the most reliable things on the railway — every january, without fail, the fares go up. this year's rise is especially steep, the highest in five years. this is the busy commuter line, people coming in from cambridgeshire and hertfordshire into londona and plenty of people on this train and hertfordshire into london and 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, the price rises have been relentless. average fares across britain go up by 3.4%. season tickets, which are regulated by the government, go up by 3.6%.

it adds more than £140 to a ticket between crewe and preston. if you commute into london from swindon, it's now £300 more expensive, and the glasgow—edinburgh commuter goes up by £136. different parts of the country, but most people have similar gripes. it's pretty disgusting. well, you're not even guaranteed a seat. so, i think it's wrong. i travel around cardiff quite a lot using the train, i find that quite convenient, and i find it quite affordable to do that. it compares quite well with the bus and it compares quite well with driving. better service, please, more trains and there'll be more people, wouldn't there? they'll get people off the roads then. 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 snaking under the city, crossrail, although critics argue too much is spent on london. 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. well, for every £1 that 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. campaigners suggest people are being priced off the trains. this graph shows what's been happening to fares in recent years, and here's how it compares to the average pay packet. you can see how ticket prices often outstrip wages. labour want to re—nationalise the network. if we can continue to make savings by bringing the railways back into public ownership, stop wasting money on franchising, stop wasting money on the complexity of the arrangements between all these different companies, and we don't pay out dividends to state—owned companies across the channel. they've accused the transport

secretary, chris grayling, of hiding away today. he's on an official visit to qatar, a trip he's defended. and i make no apology for trying to help win jobs for britain and i'm here because there is a major contract, multi—billion pound investment programme, taking place in the airport. i'm here to try and make sure that british firms win part of that, so we getjobs for britain. many people have little choice but to do this every day and little choice but to pay the higherfares. richard westcott, bbc news. winds of up to 90 miles per hour are expected to hit parts of northern ireland and northern england tonight with the arrival of storm eleanor. so far the atlantic coast of the republic of ireland has taken the brunt, with serious flooding in the city of galway. as the storm moves eastwards, there'll be high winds across much of england, wales and northern ireland overnight. 13 monkeys have been killed in a fire at woburn safari park in bedfordshire.

the blaze in one of the enclosures was spotted by security guards during a routine patrol, but despite efforts to rescue the animals, none could be saved. the safari park's manager says it may have been caused by a faulty generator. britain's recycling system is about to be put under severe pressure. until now, almost half of what we recycle every year has been sent to china to be dealt with there. but yesterday, china introduced a ban on recycling many types of plastic wastes from abroad to try to reduce pollution. so what will happen now to all the plastic we throw away? 0ur science editor, david shukman, reports. ever wondered what happens to our recycling? well, great streams of it are sorted in giant centres like this one in south—east london. the tins are extracted by magnet and are sold to food and drink manufacturers. a vigorous shake separates bottles from paper and cardboard, they're also in demand.

the machines then try to pick out the plastic. the bags make this much harder. but if all this can be sorted, it can be sold on and the biggest market has been china, until now. this is the tip of the iceberg of what we all send off for recycling. what the chinese have done is said that they're no longer going to accept anything that's difficult to handle. so, anything that's dirty or this kind of thin plastic that's hard to recycle. in fact, a mix of different types of plastic. this has sent shock waves through the recycling industry. already huge bundles of recycling turned down by china are piling up in hong kong, and mountains of unwanted plastic waste may build up in britain. i think it's a game change for the uk. i think for the last two decades, at least, all our collection systems have been geared up to having the chinese market. china take virtually half of everything that we produce in terms of paper and plastics

in the uk. so what'll happen? well, there's now a rush to try to sell the stuff to india and other countries, but there's a limit to what they'll take. another option is to burn the plastic here. most incinerators generate electricity, so this wouldn't be a total waste. but the greenest solution is to turn plastic into the raw material to make new plastic objects, like milk containers, and we may see more of this. we've made incredible progress in terms of recycling in this country, but we're stalling now and the chinese ban to import bad quality may be a great incentive and the best chance ever for this country. it takes a human eye to pick out what the machines miss. householders are often confused. most thin plastic film can't be used again. different councils have their own rules and few products are designed with recycling in mind. there is now pressure for all that

to change, and china's ban may actually encourage that. david shukman, bbc news. police investigating the death of a woman in north london over the christmas period have charged a 31 year old man with murder. kasim lewis will appear in court tomorrow. the body ofjuliana tudo, who was 22 and worked in a pub, was discovered in finsbury park last wednesday. she had disappeared while walking home in north london on christmas eve. the former england footballer, trevor sinclair, has admitted racially abusing a policeman who'd arrested him for drink—driving. sinclair — here in the grey suit —

was sentenced to 150 hours' community service at blackpool magistrates court. he's been banned from driving for 20 months. scientists in oxford have developed a system which can diagnose some diseases more accurately than doctors. it uses artificial intelligence to analyse scans and in clinical trials it outperformed human specialists for lung cancer and coronary heart disease. the technique could save the nhs billions of pounds through early diagnosis. here's our science correspondent, pallab ghosh. scans are modern medical miracles, but they still need a doctor to make a diagnosis, until now. scientists have developed artificial intelligence, or ai systems, to do the job better than the best doctors. the government's health care tsar says that al systems are set to revolutionise medicine. 20 years from now, health care will have ai embedded in a whole variety of different levels and much of the health care system will be enabled by smart systems that help you identify people at risk, diagnose disease earlier, diagnose disease more precisely and identify who will benefit from what interventions. it changes the whole way the paradigm operates. this is ultromics, the world's first cyber cardiologist. developed at the john radcliffe hospital in oxford,

it's an ai system that can analyse heart scans. here, ultromics has identified areas of heart disease, shown in red. it then gives a recommendation — positive, which means that it believes there's a risk of the patient having a heart attack. doctors get one in five of their diagnoses wrong, the artificial intelligence system does much better. so how much could hospitals save using the new system? 12,000 heart scans alone are misdiagnosed each year, that costs the nhs £600 million. because artificial intelligence is more accurate, it could save £300 million, and that's just the start. ai can be used to diagnose many other conditions. the software tells us the risk of it being cancerous. so we can just click on it and it tells us the risk is 14%. this system looks for early signs of lung cancer,

it can rule out harmless cases several months earlier than human doctors. it can save the nhs money and patients a lot of anxiety. what we have developed is software that will help us decide whether the patient has a nodule that we need to follow up or is likely to be cancer or is one we don't need to follow up, and then we can discharge the patient. britain leads the world in al and the systems currently being developed will be available for free to nhs hospitals next summer. pallab ghosh, bbc news, 0xford. more than 7,000 extra grammar school places have been created in england since 2010, according to new analysis by the bbc. that's the equivalent to opening around 11 new grammar schools. in many areas, the schools have added the new places in areas where there's no demand for more. 0ur education editor, bra nwen jeffreys, reports. the cotswolds, a landscape shaped by tradition, home to some of the oldest grammar

schools in england, schools close to the village where henry and florence have grown up. they're both now at grammar schools after passing an academic test. their mum, ruth, is pleased more grammar school places have been created. it's a consumer society, so if parental demand is there, and there are children that want to go, and i do think it's harderfor children to get good results, get to university and get a job. so anything we do to help them seems to me a no—brainer. was their anxiety here about the number of grammar school places that were available? we are competing with children coming up from swindon, and wiltshire and bristol, and some people are even relocating. you know, they're doing the test and then they're moving from another part of the country. which is fair, i suppose. but another part of me thinks it's unfair, because its five miles from where we live.

every grammar school in gloucestershire has added more places, even though the number of 11—year—olds hasn't been going up. grammar schools can expand because they're so popular with parents. after all, they only take the children who are already doing well at school. but that also means the larger they grow, the greater their effect on other neighbouring schools, and some fear that could reach a tipping point. in many parts of england, grammar school places have increased faster than pupil numbers. in 2010, there were just over 110,000 pupils aged 11—15 in grammar schools. by 2017, that had reached 118,000, the equivalent of 11 new grammar schools. this risks a knock on impact on other schools. results are above average at this secondary in warwickshire, but both the nearby grammar schools have added lots of extra places. with the places, they take a bigger

share of local pupils and the cash that follows them through school. over five years with a backfill, it would be, let's say, £600,000 that is brought in by adding an additional class. and that's a tension, regardless of what the school is. it may be selective, it may be non—selective. to offer enough subjects in their sixth form, they need enough cash and pupils coming through. but here, and other places where grammar schools are expanding, the competition is getting tougher. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. you can read more about that story, including in your area on our website, that's at bbc.co.uk/news/education. the chinese government has set itself an extraordinary target, it says it will lift 43 million

people out of extreme poverty injust three years. the country's president, xijinping, says he recognises the pressing political need to close the gap between china's urban rich and some of its desperately poor rural communities. but some of the obstacles facing remote communities will be challenging. 0ur beijing correspondent, john sudworth, reports. it's best not to look down. step—by—step and heavily laden, this is the only way to the village at the top. but the two—hour, 800—metre climb is easier and safer than it used to be. the old, home—made wooden ladder — still visible here and there — has been replaced with a spectacular series of steel ladders. remote mountain communities like these, languishing so far behind china's big cities, now find themselves on the front line of a massive

anti—poverty campaign. the improved access to this clifftop village has won praise from none other than china's president, xijinping. but life here remains tough. while president xi may be promising to lift 43 million people out of this kind of extreme poverty, not everyone's convinced. translation: we have no income. we are poor. we grow corn and potatoes, nothing else. the government says that it wants to wipe out poverty in the next three years in china. do you think it's possible? translation: i don't really think so. china has a more radical solution, though. in the past 12 months alone, more than 3 million of china's poorest people have been relocated to new homes. a smiling president xi looks down

on the new schoolrooms. this family has now left its remote mountain village for good. you no longer have the open fire, you no longer live close to your animals. do you miss those things, those traditions? translation: we don't miss the old way of life or the unhygienic things, like having a pigsty right at the door. meanwhile, the anti—poverty slogans are everywhere. even the new ladder is a national news story. this is poverty as propaganda. it's an issue that's now dominating the domestic news agenda, and it's driven by the vision ofjust one man. president xijinping knows that the continued existence of serious, widespread poverty represents a threat to the very legitimacy

of a communist party that came to power promising to help communities like these, not leave them behind. even if china can help all those living below the extreme poverty line, tens of millions more will be left languishing just above it. but while there are many challenges, no one can doubt the sheer scale of china's ambition. john sudworth, bbc news, sichuan province. this time last year he was working as an electrician, but last night rob cross caused a sensation in the world of darts when he was crowned world champion. the 27—year—old beat the 16—time winner phil taylor to the title at alexandra palace, as well as pocketing £a00,000 in prize money. rob cross — the first debutant to become world champion in 10 years — says he still can't quite

take in what's happened. natalie pirks reports. this time last year, he was watching the final on tv. commentator: rob cross! when rob cross sealed victory, it was clear this wouldn't sink in for a while. he'd not only become £a00,000 richer, he'd beaten the greatest darts player of all time to be crowned world champion. even today, he was struggling with the magnitude of his win. it all feels very surreal. it's like i need to pinch myself or something, because i couldn't have wrote my year any better, really. it's been a bit like a fairy tale. you might not associate the game of darts with fairy tales, yet cross was an unknown electrician until the start of 2017. last year, his winnings included £7 picked up in a pub tournament. the rise from anonymity to acclaim has been dizzying. i would say that anyone what believes they can play the game and sort of aspires to it, then go and have a go because you never know what's going to happen.

if you thought darts wasjust a pub game, you might be shocked to hear what the future holds for a world champion. it's difficult to put a number on it. i would think the value of winning the world championships in today's market would be a minimum of £5 million and possibly £10 million or possibly more. phil taylor won his first of 16 world titles in 1990, the year cross was born. nicknamed ‘the power', last night was his last ever professional match. he will go down as the best the game has ever seen. you're never going to see another phil taylor in any sport, i don't believe.