this is bbc news, i'm i'm vicki young. the headlines at 8pm: officials from across government are holding talks this weekend to discuss the future of the troubled construction firm, carillion. the african union demands an apology from president trump for derogatory remarks he reportedly made about the continent. warnings of a tooth decay crisis amongst children in england. a record 43,000 operations to remove rotting teeth were carried out last year. also four britons break a world record for rowing across the atlantic. the amateur crew, dubbed the four 0arsmen, travelled from the canary islands to antigua in 29 days — beating the previous record by six days. the task of getting us onto the challenge is the world's toughest row. we were out there just preparing as best we can for it and giving it our all. and in inside out, some pharmacists at boots are worried that work

pressures mean patients could be put at risk. that's in half an hour's time here on bbc news. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the leader of the liberal democrats, sir vince cable, has warned the government it would send out the wrong message if it bails out the struggling construction company carillion using taxpayers‘ money. it's feared the firm, which has debts of £1.5 billion, could collapse after creditors rejected a possible rescue plan. government officials are holding high level talks this weekend about its future. carillion employs about 20,000 people in the uk and is one of the government's main contractors. our business correspondent joe lynam reports. this is liverpool's newest hospital under construction. it will be the biggest single

bed hospital in the uk, and it is being built by carillion. now there is concern that projects like these could be affected if the company collapses. from prisons to hospitals, schools and rail, carillion is responsible for some of the uk's largest infrastructure maintenance projects. so should the government bail the debt—laden company out? i think what has to happen in this case, the contracts have to be kept going and supporting the supply chain and the tens of thousands of workers. that can be done by government taking lots of this in—house, or re—tendering in other cases. the government can'tjust do a financial bailout. the shareholders and creditors — the big banks — have got to take a hit, they cannot just off—load all the losses to the taxpayer. carillion is a major british company with hundreds of contracts running prisons, maintaining hospitals and mod facilities, with almost 20,000 employees here and tens of thousands more dependent on the company.

but it has run up debts of £1.5 billion, including almost £1 billion to its banks, whose patience has run out. britain's biggest ever rail infrastructure project, high speed 2, starts major construction this year. and here at euston station, carillion is meant to build it, but given its mountain of debts there is a very real chance that the government might have to step in and give those contracts to other companies, or simply bail the company out — with all the moral hazards that comes with. the rmt union has called on the government to provide reassurances to thousands of workers who could be affected. also caught in the crossfire, hundreds of smaller companies who carry out subcontracted work on behalf of carillion. potentially it could be devastating. many of them are owed millions by carillion and if they do not get those monies, of course they are at risk as a business. the other thing is there will be thousands ofjobs, potentially, lost as a result.

if carillion cannot be saved or restructured, the consultants ey have been put on notice to take over as administrators, a precautionary measure which the government and thousands of staff hope will not be needed. earlierjoe lynam explained to me the extent of carillion‘s financial problems. i think their appetite for contracts was bigger than their belly, to put it bluntly. basically, to apply for these giant contracts, uk wide, to run prisons and school and mod facilities and build hs2, you need to have scale. so they built up scale by being a genuine construction company and engineering giant. so smaller companies are kind of precluded from applying for those gigs. what happened is they bid for these massive contracts, won them, promising that they would do a certain amount of work within a certain amount of time to the government. but the income flow has been much less than they told their banks, so they borrowed money from their banks to apply for these contracts and franchises, and the income flow back through has

not really been what they had expected and that is what got them into a situation where they now owe their banks £900 million. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30pm this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are anne ashworth, associate editor at the times, and the playwright and writer at the new european, bonnie greer. the african union has demanded an apology from president trump after he reportedly used a crude term to describe nations on the continent. it was apparently made during an oval office meeting on immigration with members of congress. the union, which represents 55 african countries, expressed its "shock, dismay and outrage" and said the trump administration misunderstood africans. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. it has been an extraordinary week, even by donald trump's standards. it ended with a medical, a routine checkup that

all presidents undergo and word from mr trump's doctor that the commander in chief is in excellent health. but the past two days have seen the president mired in controversy, as donald trump arrives in florida to spend the weekend at his golf resort, the international community is still fuming over his alleged use of crude language to describe african countries. as the african union, we were quite appalled and infuriated, outraged, by the comments. and for a country like the united states, which is a valued partner for the africans, this is quite a shock. from the united nations in geneva came the stiffest of rebukes. these are shocking and shameful comments from the president of the united states. i'm sorry but there's no other word one can use but racist. you cannot dismiss entire countries and continents. the allegation has gone unanswered by the president.

he had an opportunity at this ceremony in celebration of martin luther king. but it was awkward. after signing a proclamation in honour of the civil rights leader, mr trump dodged the most uncomfortable of questions. mr president, are you a racist? the president left without responding. he'd earlier tweeted that he'd used tough language in a meeting with senators but not the derogatory language attributed to him. peter bowes, bbc news. staying with the us. president has been briefed after residents in hawaii mistakenly received an emergency alert, and the warning people there was an inbound ballistic missile threat. the text message urged people to take shelter due to the threat of an incoming ballistic missile — and added ‘this is not a drill‘. but it was later revealed to be a false alarm. a full investigation is to begin by the fcc.

we can speak now to sean davenport, who is in hawaii on holiday. presumably it must have been a huge shock when you received this, what happened? hello. this was quite terrifying. i had just come out of the shower and saw the alert on my phone. i tried to show my friend who i was visiting and she was already on the phone with the hawaii county civil defence department and she was unable to get through, because so many people were calling for it. we we re many people were calling for it. we were at a loss for information, not sure what was happening. we searched online but there wasn‘t any news articles immediately. we also searched twitter. so many people we re searched twitter. so many people were tweeting the alert, taking screenshots of it. it was hard to pass through all of that to find any actual information. the fact the alert said it was not a drill was particularly concerning, given our president has recently tweeting about our university... inaudible

raspberry concerning. you and your friends presumably had a chat and tried to establish whether it was real or not. did it cross your mind, presumably it did, that this was for real? yes, absolutely did cross our minds. especially given everything that president trump has treated, irresponsibly so i would say, and the lack of information coming through. there was about a 30 minute gap between the initial alert saying it was not a drill and the alert telling us it was a false alarm. so we we re telling us it was a false alarm. so we were just talking, my friend is reaching out to other folks she knows on the island to try and see what they had heard. unfortunately we we re what they had heard. unfortunately we were unable to get through to someone on we were unable to get through to someone on the main island. but it was a pretty scary half—hour period. you obviously don‘t live in hawaii and yourfriend you obviously don‘t live in hawaii and your friend does. you obviously don‘t live in hawaii and yourfriend does. are they you obviously don‘t live in hawaii and your friend does. are they aware

of this kind of thing? do they know you might get an alert like this if something were to happen and do they know what they are supposed to do if it is for real? yes, actually. they were telling me on the 1st of december they tested the nuclear sigh ridden system, because they are preparing for some sort of attack. i just feel really scared for my friends. —— they tested the nuclear sigh ridden —— siren attack. the folks here are within range of any sort of attack, and knows what could happen. the president isn‘t doing anything to help put the people of the islands at ease. and do they know or have any idea or do they think about what they would do if they were told it was for real? is there anything, any mechanism in place, anything they can do to try and make themselves safe? i'm not

really sure what can be done. this is something the country has to deal with, the threat of nuclear war... anywhere in the world... we are at a loss across the country on what can be done. has been an event. to your holiday. i hope things calm down and you can enjoy the rest of your time. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. let‘s take a look at some of the other stories making making the news today. a 25 year—old model has died after being stabbed in a street in west london. harry uzoka had recently done a photo shoot with gq magazine. friends and family have described him as an ‘inspiration to young black men‘. two men, aged 27 and 28, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. a murder investigation has begun after a woman was injured in a tui travel agents in southport. police were called to the store on chapel street,

where the 28—year—old worked, just before 1.30 this afternoon. she died in hospital. a 30—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. dentists have accused the government of not doing enough to tackle tooth decay in england. new figures indicate there were nearly 43,000 operations to remove children‘s teeth last year — a 17% increase on four years ago. the british dental association says england now provides a second—class service compared to scotland and wales. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes has the story. tooth decay in children is distressing, painful and avoidable. dentists say sugary snacks and drinks are the biggest cause. british children drink more soft drinks than anywhere else in europe. and the number of multiple extractions, which have to take place in hospital under general anaesthetic, is continuing to grow. figures compiled by the local government association showed there were nearly 43,000 multiple

tooth extractions among under 18s in england last year. that‘s around 170 every day of the working week. 0verall, there‘s been an increase of 17% injust four years. dentists say children in england are suffering and are being offered a second—rate service when compared to scotland and wales. the department of health in england says the introduction of a tax on sugary drinks was part of its plan to reduce the number of extractions. we very much welcome the sugar tax, but we need the government to focus on other areas, for example like price promotions, all those discounts, and the level of marketing on unhealthy products. all those colours and animations are always enticing children to prefer those products, making the job of eating healthy products and healthier diet much more difficult for parents. with proper oral hygiene, good brushing and avoiding high sugar snacks and drinks, thousands of children could be saved from experiencing the pain of a rotten tooth. dominic hughes, bbc news. we have had an update on that

situation in hawaii. we were talking to someone who situation in hawaii. we were talking to someone who was situation in hawaii. we were talking to someone who was there on holiday who received an emergency alert saying there was an incoming ballistic missile. it turned out to bea ballistic missile. it turned out to be a mistake. we have now had a statement from the hawaii and governor, after that mistaken missile alerts were sent. he said they will be looking at improving procedures so this doesn‘t happen again. he also apologised for that, saying the false alarm was u nfortu nate saying the false alarm was unfortunate and regrettable. that is an update from the hawaii and governor, apologising for that. and, saying it was unfortunate and reg retta ble saying it was unfortunate and regrettable and saying they will be looking at improving their procedures so it won‘t happen again. the headlines on bbc news: 0fficials

officials from across government are holding talks this weekend to discuss the future of the troubled construction firm that carillion. the african union demands an apology from president trump for derogatory remarks he reportedly made about the continent. dentists have accused the government of not doing enough to tackle tooth decay in england. new figures indicate there were nearly 43,000 operations to remove children‘s teeth last year — a 17% increase on four years ago sport now, and time for a full round up from the bbc sport centre. thank you, good evening. we start with football. a busy evening in the premier league. harry kane‘s incredible season for tottenham continues. he scored twice in a comfortable home victory over everton to become spurs record premier league goalscorer. tottenham are now unbeaten in six matches but remain fifth in the premier league. joe lynskey was watching the action.

spurs are making the most of wembley, where they know it is only a temporary stay, but this stadium feels more like their own place at present. they went into this match ten unbeaten here. but everton‘s upturn has seen them lead the bottom three behind, and for a moment they thought another result was on. but wayne rooney was correctly flagged offside. the first close call of a match where decisions would make a difference. at the other end, son timed his run better, onside. tottenham‘s opener would prove to be a point of debate. harry kane with his 97th premier league strike but it might not have stood. it took him level on spurs goals with teddy sheringham on the cusp of another record. tottenham‘s record scorer in the modern era. a scruffy way to do it but his team can also craft something special. the striker took

a back—seat while christian eriksen finished a brilliant fourth. they are only here for a year but spurs are only here for a year but spurs are mastering this stage. wembley feels like home. before the game we feel that the three points were massive for us to take, and now we‘ve taken them and it is so important, because for fourth it so tough this season. today for us was so important, a massive three points today. there were six other matches in the premier league today. it was goalless betwween the champions of the past two seasons, chelsea and leicester. crystal palace are up to 12th with a 1—0 win over burnley. the david moyes revival of west ham continues — they‘re 11 after a 4—1 win at huddersfield. bottom side swansea earned a point as they drew 1—1 at newcastle. watford and southampton shared four goals, while west brom beat brighton 2—0. it‘s an important day

for teams involved in rugby union‘s euopean champions cup. english premiership champoins, exexter chiefs have kept their european champions cup hopes alive with a crushing 41—10 bonus—point win over montpellier. whle ulster top pool 0ne after victory over french side la rochelle. three tries earned the home side a 20—13 victory. adam wild reports. sandy park is where you find the chiefs and this is certainly an occasion for leaders. top of the english league exeter against montpellier, top of the french. the cross—channel challenge with plenty of state. exeter, defeat would invade hopes. the first half try kept them alive. terence, tight, not much space but then when you have woodburn on the wing, you don‘t a lwa ys woodburn on the wing, you don‘t always need it. that was brilliant, his second perhaps was even better. this secured the bonus point that may yet prove crucial in the fight to the second in their group. the

cheats are back in charge. in ulster, a battle to lead, that is where la rochelle have been for most of the condition. the french side once appearing unbeatable, now seemingly reachable. tries either side of half—time enough for ulster. they now go top with just one game to go. 0nto darts, where lisa ashton has won herfourth bdo world title after beating anastasia dob—rom—islova 3—1 at lakeside. ashton was considered the underdog before the final but the defending champion won eight straight legs in a row, finishing with a 62 checkout to seal victory. ashton is now second on the list of titles won, behind the 10—time champion trina gulliver. we will have an update on the men‘s semifinal a little later in the evening. that is all the sport for now but there will be more on the news channel throughout the evening. thank you, jessica. iran has said the us has crossed a "red line" by imposing sanctions on the head of itsjudiciary

and vowed to retaliate. ayatollah sadeq amoli—larijani is among 14 individuals and bodies targeted. iran also rejected any changes to its nuclear deal with world powers. president trump has warned that he‘ll re—impose sanctions on iran in less than four months — a move that would undermine the agreement under which tehran curbed its nuclear programme. in washington is trita parsi, president of the national iranian american council, and author of the book, losing an enemy — 0bama iran and the triumph of diplomacy. thank you very much forjoining us this evening. thank you for having me. donald trump says he wants to renegotiate this treaty. do you think there are any chances of that happening? there is essentially zero chance that that happening for the very simple reason that donald trump doesn‘t carry any credibility. if he was perceived as someone who actually thought there was a way of

making steel better, perhaps there could have been a chance but he is correctly perceived as someone who is just looking for various ways of destroying and killing ms steel, whether that is by not renewing the waivers or claiming he wants to renegotiate the deal but if you actually take a look at what he‘s demanding, these are non—starter demands that he has. it's non—starter demands that he has. it‘s a more clever way for him to try and kill the deal and that is precisely why you are seeing such resista nce precisely why you are seeing such resistance from europe and others. they don‘t want to enter into a game with donald trump, whose aim is to destroy this deal. iran says it will retaliate if it imposes sanctions, what could they do? the rani and rhetoric is likely to be different to what they actually will do. there will be a need from their sense to speak very tough right now in regards to some of these individual sanctions that trump has impose, but those are not violations of the deal. i think their rhetoric is to

put pressure on europe so europe doesn‘t cave in to trump‘s demands by signalling if this continues on donald trump continues to undermine the deal, there‘s going to be a point in which the iranians themselves will also start withdrawing from the deal and then there is no deal left. since this has been such a critical contribution for your‘s security, i think what the iranians are hoping to do is to ensure the europeans don‘t cave into trump. to do is to ensure the europeans don't cave into trump. if the iranians withdrawal, no deal left, what are the dangers of that? the danger is quite simple. before this deal was reached there was a significant risk that the united states and iran would go to war with each other and a risk that the iranians might actually move towards militarisation of their nuclear programme. those two risks were essentially eliminated as a result of this deal. donald trump ruin are still those will go back on the table and we will once again hear

the drumbeats of a war between us and iran. what is the role of europe? presumably they will try to have a role in bringing the two sides together again? well, i think their primary role right now is to make sure donald trump doesn‘t walk out of the deal, that all of them together negotiate it, the iia is issued nine resorts explaining the iranians have lived up to their end of the bargain, so the question is why isn‘t donald trump living up to his? that is the primary problem. 0k, thank you very much forjoining us 0k, thank you very much forjoining us this evening. thank you for having me. four british friends have broken the world record and become the fastest ever to cross the atlantic ocean in a rowing boat. the amateur crew, dubbed ‘the four 0arsmen‘, made history when they reached the island of antigua just after one thirty this morning, having spent 29 days at sea and beating the previous record by six days. dan johnson has more. and here they go! shouting

the end of an epicjourney rowed in record time, four men who had not even been in a rowing boat 18 months ago, now not only challenge winners but the first to cross the atlantic in less than 30 days. it feels overwhelming. the challenge, as we said before, is just relentless, never ending pain, just rowing, the whole thing, and coming first is something that is beyond our wildest dreams. they left the canary islands 3,000 miles away and faced 40—foot waves, scorching sun and howling winds, not quite the apocalypse but a test of endurance for the four oarsmen. surviving on rations, producing their own water, taking it in turns to eat, to sleep, and to row. it‘s amazing to complete the row. we set out as a charitable initiative, for two

charities, mind, and spinal research. the mind research is commemorative of my mum and her struggle with her mental health. to do it in such justice and in such style and with such great support and great success is amazing. just making it to the caribbean is a fantastic achievement but they have raised more than a quarter of a million and have rowed their way into the record books. dan johnson, bbc news. france‘s president has called for the baguette to be listed as one of the world‘s cultural treasures. emmanuel macron says a unesco listing is needed because the french daily staple is envied around the world, and its excellence should be preserved. it comes after the un‘s cultural agency awarded a similar status to italy‘s naples pizza. now, time for an update on the

weather with phil avery. the weather has been dominated by this weather from which hasn‘t gone very far very fast. 0vernight what i think will happen is the rain will tend to die out in some locations, perhaps the high ground in the north holding onto it for a length of time. if the cloud breaks, you may end up with a touch of frost, but not a particularly cold night if you do keep the cloud. that rain, what is left of it, dissipating away through the course of the day. generally speaking, a cloudy day. the best of the breaks perhaps out towards the west. a lot of cloud around. temperature is a fraction back on where we have had them of late. late in the day, a spell of quite wet and windy weather, initially into the north—western quarter of scotland, but through the night and on through monday we pushed that whole belt of weather

down and across the british isles and following on behind, things turn much, much colder. a lot of showers around, some of those will be wintry. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the government is understood to be holding meetings this weekend to try to avert the possible collapse of one of its biggest contractors, carillion. the company has run up huge debts and liabilities. it employs about 20,000 people in the uk. the african union demands an apology from president trump for reportedly using a vulgar and disparaging term to describe nations on the continent, something which mr trump denies.

the union accused the trump administration of misunderstanding africans. hawaii‘s governor apologises after residents received an emergency alert warning them of an incoming ballistic missile threat, saying it was "unfortunate and regrettable". people were urged to seek shelter and told it was not a drill. dentists are warning of a tooth decay crisis among children in england. it‘s after figures revealed a record 43,000 operations to remove rotting teeth were carried out last year. now on bbc news, some pharmacists at boots are worried that work pressures mean patients could be put at risk. a former manager who flagged up his concerns about understaffing to the industry regulator before he resigned in 2015 has now spoken publicly for the first time to the bbc‘s inside out programme. boots says it‘s confident its pharmacies have enough staff. marie ashby reports.

a trusted household name... a family firm that began by selling herbal remedies in nottingham, is now part of a global business, providing a crucial nhs service in an industry under pressure. and some boots pharmacists are worried. i feel it‘s really, really imperative and critical that the public are aware of what‘s going on. some days, you would easily describe the team as being at breaking point. patient safety is the most important thing to me and to our pharmacists. when mistakes are made, patients can die. we‘re talking about people‘s lives here, and in my case, my mum, without question, accepted what she was given, and yet that system failed. now, for the first time, a former manager has decided to go public. pharmacists are working extremely hard to protect patients,

but they're really stretched trying to keep patients safe. are pharmacists at the uk‘s biggest pharmacy chain under too much pressure? dianne moore has spent the last five years fighting for justice for her father. in may 2012, douglas lamond died after he was given medication meant for someone else. the 86—year—old raf veteran had a heart condition and was registered as blind. he had trust that they would give him the right tablets. he would never have dreamt that the wrong tablets would have been sent out.