good afternoon. the prime minister's been setting out her plans for the year ahead as she prepares to reshuffle her cabinet. theresa may told the bbc that problems in the health service were not simply due to a lack of funding. labour said the government had no plan to deal with the severe pressures facing the nhs. our political correspondent susanna mendonca reports. it has been a tough year for theresa may. she lost her majority in the election, faced a rebellion from her own backbenchers, had to deal with resignations and even had to sack her second—in—command, meaning she now needs a cabinet reshuffle. no prizes for guessing, andrew, obviously damian green's departure before christmas mean some changes need to be made. now in an interview with the bbc, mrs may has made it clear that she wa nts mrs may has made it clear that she wants her premiership to be about more thanjust

wants her premiership to be about more than just brexit. but the new year has already brought in old problems. 73 outstanding ambulances right how. . . 73 outstanding ambulances right now. . . the 73 outstanding ambulances right now... the latest challenge for mrs may, a winter crisis in the nhs from a first—hand perspective. the woman filming this weighted in an ambulance for hours before her mother, who had suffered a stroke, could be seen by doctors at a chance that hospital. it is gobsmacking and devastating. it is gobsmacking and devastating. it feels like a sick feeling, like a sickening feeling that this is how bad it is. the prime minister was asked about the case. i recognise that people have concerns that they have experience of that sort. if we look at what is happening across the nhs, we see that actually the nhs is delivering for more people, treating more people and people... more people are being seen with the four hours every day than a few years ago. labour blames government cuts for the latest crisis and has warned the

prime minister against promoting health secretaryjeremy hunt in the reshuffle this week. they do not have a plan to get those people of the trolleys in corridors, elderly people this january being treated in ambulances. she has no plans for them. apparently her only plans for them. apparently her only plan is to promote this health secretary, they should be demoting him. if she promoters health secretary tomorrow it is a betrayal of the 75,000 people in the back of ambulances. the steep hike in railfares is another issue putting the government under pressure at the start of the year, as is the decision to release the serial six attackerjohn warboys on parole. the government is going to review how those kinds of decisions are made. the parole board operates independently but i think it is right that we as a government will look at the question of openness and theissue look at the question of openness and the issue of how victims are kept in touch. those challenges aside, theresa may is keen to move the conversation

onto more positive ideas, like creating a new forest. but by the end of this year she needs a deal on brexit, so it is an issue band to keep dominating her time. susana mendonca, bbc news. some of the uk's biggest retailers — including b&q, wickes, morrisons and the co—op — have agreed to stop selling acids and corrosive substances to customers under 18 years old. the scheme is intended to help reduce the number of acid attacks until the government passes legislation banning such sales. our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani has more. the human cost of an acid attack. where's it hurting, mate, your eyes? police officers pour water over the victim, jabed hussain, lastjuly. thieves wanted the london delivery driver's moped. his helmet saved him from serious injury. police recorded more than 500 attacks involving corrosive substances in england and wales in the year to last april. officials think the true figure could be twice as high. ministers have launched an acid action plan to cut attacks.

today the first part of that plan, a voluntary ban by diy chains — including b&q — on selling harmful chemicals to under—18s. waitrose and the co—op are also involved, agreeing to challenge underage customers, just like they would if they were buying alcohol. acid attacks are most horrific crimes, and what we want to do is make sure that we restrict access, support victims, police these attacks really effectively. it isn't just major retailers who are signing up to secure their shelves. the association representing hardware shops is urging them to play their part too. this one in london says the move is long overdue. definitely a good idea. we've always checked id for acid. same thing as if you go to a supermarket and you go to buy alcohol, you are asked for id. it should be the same thing here. the voluntary scheme wouldn't have stopped this man, arthur collins, jailed for 20 years for this appalling nightclub attack.

watch the cctv. you can see the 25—year—old throwing acid on his victims. ministers are however proposing a new crime of carrying acid without good reason — saying the harmful substance, just like knives, shouldn't be in public. dominic casciani, bbc news. more than 30 people are missing after an oil tanker caught fire after colliding with a cargo ship off the east coast of china. the tanker — which is registered in panama — was travelling from iran to south korea when it hit another vessel around 160 nautical miles off the coast of shanghai. it had more than a million tonnes of crude oil on board. the 21 chinese crew members of the cargo ship have all been rescued. the german chancellor, angela merkel, says she's optimistic that her centre right christian democrats can reach a coalition deal with the centre—left social democrats. five days of talks began this morning. it comes three months after the election in germany. the french president, emmanuel macron, has been paying tribute to the victims of the islamist attack on a satirical magazine and a jewish

supermarket in paris three years ago. at the former headquarters of the charlie hebdo magazine, president macron laid a wreath for the 12 people shot dead by two brothers. the first major ceremony since hollywood was hit by the harvey weinstein scandal gets under way later. stars attending the golden globes are expected to wear all black on the red carpet, in support of women who have brought forward complaints of sexual harassment in the industry. our north america correspondent james cook reports from los angeles. in hollywood, they're getting ready to put their best foot forward. but this year's awards season may be more protest than party. the dirty secrets of the movie business have been exposed in recent months, and now scores of stars say they will wear black to the golden globes to promote a campaign called time's up. it's time to deal with this. it's time to deal with this and not put up with it any more. we are all wearing black to stand

in solidarity, not just for women and what is happening in hollywood and in this industry, but to represent and to stand for all women across all industries and to support them. the cleansing has already begun. kevin spacey, facing multiple allegations of sexual assault, was cut out of this film just weeks before its release. co—star michelle williams told me she reshot her scenes for free. i couldn't bear the thought of being in a movie that glorified somebody who had hurt people in these ways. i didn't want to have anything to do with it. while hollywood is gathering to pat itself on the back as usual, everything has changed this year. just a few months ago, the entertainment industry was thrown into turmoil, and everyone here is onlyjust beginning to work out what that means for the future. james cook, bbc news, los angeles. cricket and england are facing another defeat in the fifth and final ashes test in sydney. the tourists closed the fourth day

on 93—1; in their second innings, still 210 runs short of australia's total. patrick gearey reports. when australians say it's hot, it's hot. the weather of the outback at the end to england's arid ashes — take shade, take water, take wickets if you can. not easy. shaun marsh hadn't even sweated when he went to a century. the celebration a family do with brother mitch, who was soon hosting. on going to his own hundred, the marshes were so keen to hug that they almost forgot to run. australia had enough anyway. this was now both physical and mental disintegration. punishing england in a0 degrees heat. the aussies declared mercy on 649—7. so england 303 runs behind and the chatter here is just how quickly australia can win this. england's batsmen have one last chance in this ashes series to show some character. under the glare of the sun and the scoreboard, england tried to hang on, but less than 15 minutes

in mark stoneman was gone for none. next the survival expert alastair cook, battled by nathan lyon. sydney recorded its highest temperature and all england wanted to do was stay out of it. —— stay out in it. james vince couldn't, head in a haze. dawid malan went too, and though jonny bairstow accompanied joe root to see england through, this was a day which brought their problems to the boil. patrick gearey, bbc news, in sydney. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 6:05pm. bye for now. the prime minister has defended her

government's record on the nhs, saying it was better prepared for a winter crisis than ever before. in an interview with the bbc‘s andrew marr show, she said she recognised people's concerns over the nhs, but that extra funding was being put in to the service. league nhs has been better prepared for winter pressures than it has been before. operations being postponed well part of the plan. the only operations to be reinstated as soofi as only operations to be reinstated as soon as possible. it is about those who need urgent care are able to get that treatment when they need it. i visited finlay park hospital in a few days ago, i also know that the

nhs staff have been doing a fantasticjob. they do that day in and day out and have been working really ha rd over and day out and have been working really hard over this time of winter pressure. and really delivering for people and doing a fantasticjob. you say there is a plan. let me tell you about leia butler snafu was in an ambulance in a hospital outside essex. she was in the ambulance and had a stroke and then went into hospitalfor a had a stroke and then went into hospital for a father four hours before seeing a doctor. her mother was going in and out of consciousness. this is about life and death up and down the country. people are having horrendous experiences with the nhs. there is a real problem. what would you say to her and her mother? you have raised an individual case of me which i have not seen the details of and i recognise that people have concerns that they have experience of that sort. if you look at what is

happening across the nhs, what we see is that the nhs is delivering for more people, treating more people, and more people are being seen within the four hours than has beena seen within the four hours than has been a few years ago. nothing is perfect. there is more for others to do. we have planned for the winter pressures this cheer. we did put some more money in. “— pressures this cheer. we did put some more money in. —— this year. hospitals have dealt with it in different ways. when i met staff at frimley park hospital, they were very clear about what they had been doing. i saw dedication of the nhs staff which is so important to us all. given what happened, you have apologised, whatever you said sorry for? what i said was that i was apologising for the fact that some operations have been postponed and some people have been delayed in being admitted to hospital. if you look across the nhs, experience is

different from hospital to hospital as to what is happening. there are some hospitals we are very few operations have been cancelled. and some have bed occupancy of 99.9%. above what is safe. in addition to the work we are doing putting extra funding in, we need to see with it is the case that hospitals have been able to cope better than others, what has enabled them to do that? what can we learn from this. you say you have put the money but according to the institute for fiscal studies, this is the tightest spending squeeze in the history of the nhs. are you saying sorry for that? we have put extra money into the nhs, we have done that year in and out. not nearly enough. what we have done, consistent like when we think

it needs more funding, we have put funding in. we put extra money in for coping with the winter pressures. we have also got the budget in november that we announced that for the next couple of years they will be extra money going into they will be extra money going into the national health service. we look at what is needed and we do recognise that. we also need to ensure that we are seeing across the whole of the nhs is the best possible practice. we should be proud of the fact been named as the safe st proud of the fact been named as the safest and best health care system in the world. is there more than we can do? yes there is. the headlines on bbc news. theresa may defends the government's record on the nhs, insisting it is properly funded for coping with the winter pressures. the prime minister will carry out a cabinet reshuffle tomorrow, there are reports that several minister could either lose theirjobs or be moved. some of britain's largest retailers agree to stop selling acids and corrosive substances to customers under the age of 18. as we've been hearing,

some of the uk's largest retailers have voluntarily agreed to stop selling acids and corrosive substances to customers under 18—years—old. earlier i spoke to journalist russell findlay, who told me what happened when he was the victim of an acid attack three years ago. it was before christmas a few years ago. the door bell rang. i answered the door to what appeared to be a postman in a royal mail uniform. he distracted me by getting me to sign for a supposed delivery. as he did so he threw sulphuric acid into my face. he also had a knife and came through the door at me with the knife but thankfully he lost control of that and he was overpowered and detained at the scene for the police who arrived and then duly arrested him. i was extremely lucky in that one of my neighbours fetched

some water and got that onto my face very quickly. that was perhaps the difference between the outcome which was suffering no permanent injuries and it could've been worse by losing my sight of been scarred for life. i was fortunate. lots of victims who are less fortunate have to have dozens and dozens of operations and scarred for life. what do you think of this new voluntary code by the retailers not to sell acid and corrosive substances to people under the age of 18? it is easy to be cynical and dismiss it as a gesture and tokenism. it is a good thing and a step in the right direction. good on the retailers for signing. whether it in itself makes much difference, i doubt it. people who perpetrate such attacks are not going to be put off by the slight difficulty in getting it in a high street store.

it is a good sign. about one fifth of known attackers are under the age of 18. it is a sizeable chunk of those who do carry out these attacks but only about 20%. if you are able to acquire alcohol and cigarettes whilst under the legal age i think cleaning products or whatever they might be just as easy to get hold of. i think what needs to be done more than simply this measure, and what is likely to happen, is legislation. notjust in terms of the sale and control of the products but also in terms of sentencing. i think the message needs to get through to these people who are mostly carrying out these attacks that series prison time awaits if they are to do so. there is one school of thought

is that success in clamping down on knife crime, the unintended consequence of that is for young gang members to turn towards acid. it has to do the same way that we successfully treated knife crime. the other thing that needs to happen is education. these gang members, they need to be made to realise how cowardly and depraved these acts are and how despicable and life changing it can be to so many of the victims. plans to create a new ‘northern forest‘ stretching from liverpool to hull have been announced by the government. it's providing £5.7 million to increase tree cover along a belt spanning manchester, leeds and bradford. the woodland trust is running the project, which will cost 500—million pounds over 25 years. most of that money will need to be raised by the charity itself.

our correspondent roger harrabin has more. the bare hills of the north. one of the most denuded parts of a country which itself has less woodland than almost anywhere in europe. the land stripped over centuries fortimberand farming, scarred by industry, overgrazed by sheep farming. at smithils near manchester, things will be different. planting has begun for what will be known as the northern forest. we think the northern forest will be a pathfinder for extending forest and woodland right across country. we think trees and woods can add value in many different landscapes. we just want to do it here first and do it big. it isn't really a forest. the project will create new woods near towns, and plant river valleys liable to flooding. but money is tight, and many of these hills will look just as bleak in 25 years. what's more, the woodland trust

expects some of their cash to come from environmental funds linked to the hs2 rail line. the supreme irony is that the government is giving with one hand and taking with the other, and i'm referring to the route of h52. north of birmingham, to manchester, threatening ancient woodlands. why can't the government give with both hands and stop threatening ancient forests? here is what some ambitious planting can do. this is the national forest in the midlands. begun in the 1990s, now delighting local people. acorns grow. it was one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of modern times. in 2003 the complete genetic code of a human being, the genome, was published. by the end of this year, it's hoped this code will help thousands of nhs patients who have rare diseases and unexplained conditions.

this wouldn't have been possible without families taking part in the ‘genome project'. ben schofield went to meet one of them. this is you in the incubator. for 19 years, doctors treating the symptoms of alex masters without knowing what caused them. genetic tests proved it was not a genetic conditions. alex had 8 operations. every time he went to see a doctor or paediatrician, it was always something else that was wrong. he had a skin condition, then his vision, and his hearing. you just need to know the answer. and as a parent, you want to know what is wrong with your child. this is the letter i got in march telling me about your diagnosis. it was only by reading and decoding alex's entire genetic code known as a genome, that finally have a diagnosis, delivered in a letter last march.

i remember opening it and crying, knowing that they had actually got the diagnosis. i could not believe that this letter appeared in the post. for mum, relief and certainty. for alex, a more modest response. it has been a big journey. it is part of my life. i don't think about it mostly. he might not think about it much but alex helped lead the way for potentially thousands of other patients to solve the mystery of behavioural symptoms. this is where those mysteries are being solved, the laboratory in cambridge where scientists sequenced his genome. it is a unique genetic code more than 3 billion letters long that has revealed he has leopard syndrome. scientists here are almost halfway towards the target of sequencing 100,000 genomes and will meet that target by the end of the year.

it is hoped that thousands of other patients with rare diseases will get the diagnosis they have been looking for. it could hold the answers to curing hundreds of illnesses... it is 15 years since scientists completed the first human genome professor hubbard appearing on bbc brea kfast. it is an exciting field. 15 years after they sequenced the first genome, we can apply it directly in the nhs. as well as diagnosing rare diseases, knowledge of the genome helped develop personalised medicine, treatments tailored to patients rather than generic diseases. we all are slightly different and lots of that information is encoded in the genes. by looking at your genome, in the future we will be able to work out what is the most

appropriate treatment for you. alex has leopard syndrome's tell—tale freckles and a host of complications affecting his heart and other organs. diagnosis does not mean that you need new treatment but he and his family start 2018 better equipped than ever to manage his condition. the east coast of north america is shivering in a record—breaking freeze. it comes after a massive snow storm that reached as far south as florida. temperatures are forecast to fall below minus 29 degrees celsius, as andrew plant reports. the new year has brought new record low temperatures to america's east coast. this odds, freezing winds. thermometers falling below —20 degrees. in these conditions, the homeless are particularly vulnerable. this shelter in boston are setting

up dozens of extra beds. this kitchen in washington, dc is handing out extra meals. the fear is those sleeping outside could freeze. i don't know if we have recorded any deaths based on the weather yet, but i think it is entirely possible. we are trying to help in any way we can. we are opening the centre between meals, we have warm clothing and we are providing people with hot meals. the weather system is slowly moving north along the atlantic coast. but it could have saved the worst until last. with temperatures of —30 predicted this weekend. the wind has brought flooding, with water freezing around these cars. in new york, road salt has helped to keep things moving, but rural areas are struggling. so far, 19 people have died. temperatures are due to return to something like normal next week, but millions will have to get

through some very tough conditions first. cold and sunny afternoon from many of us. more sunshine than yesterday. it will feel cold in the south and south—east because there will be more winter. further north, light wind. some areas will not get above freezing all day. for the northern isles, some outbreaks of rain. temperatures ranging from freezing to around 6 degrees. into overnight, cold and frosty. especially from central and northern areas. will winter towards the south. monday

morning will start on the cold and frosty zero. lots of sunshine in central and northern areas. windy tomorrow so it will feel colder. cloud across the south move northwards. you're watching bbc news, the latest headlines: theresa may defends the government's record on the nhs, insisting it was better prepared for the pressures of winter than it had been before, despite hospitals having to this bone tens of thousands of non—urgent operations. we put some extra money in for coping with winter pressures and also in the budget in november we have announced that for the next couple of years, there will be extra money, further money, going into the national health service. they haven't got a plan to get those people off the trolleys in corridors, elderly people, this freezing january, being treated in ambulances! the prime minister is to carry out a cabinet reshuffle tomorrow amid reports that several ministers could be sacked or moved.

some of britain's largest retailers, including b&q, wickes, morrisons and the co—op, agree to stop selling acids and corrosive substances to customers under 18 years old. all the sport, including very disappointing cricket news from down under. england heading for a 4—0 ashes series defeat after another dominant day for australia in sydney it was day four, ending with england 93-4, it was day four, ending with england 93—4, still it was day four, ending with england 93-4, still 210 it was day four, ending with england 93—11, still 210 runs behind. patrick geary has been following the action. it has cooled considerably now but this was a day of unforgiving heat and unforgiving australians, they are and unforgiving australians, they a re close and unforgiving australians, they are close to winning the ashes 4—0, in reality they need only one wicket. the day started in the ever climbing temperatures, shaun marsh went to his 100, emotional

celebration with his brother, mitchell marsh, they went to his own 100 and they were so taken with hugging each other, they almost forgot to run. mitchell marsh was bowled on the next delivery, but already it freed up the remaining australians to free up england. shaun marsh, tim paine and the tail adding the moralising runs for the