with industrial action, it's very hard to continue to meet these targets, but what i would say is we are making very good progress despite industrial action. we'll ask what the prime minister's comments mean for patients. also on the programme... thousands of people could have been saved from libya's devastating flooding, says the un, as fears grow that 20,000 have died. two women arrested during a vigil for sarah everard on clapham common receive substantial damages from the metropolitan police. and, rumours of the death of cash are greatly exaggerated — payments with notes and coins rose last year. coming up on bbc news, trending in the right direction. england's captain says ben stokes's record innings is timely with just three weeks to go until their world cup defence begins.

hello and welcome to the bbc news at one. in the last hour, the prime minister has acknowledged that his target of reducing nhs waiting lists in england is in doubt. his comments come as it's revealed that the number of people waiting to start routine hospital treatment in england has risen to a new record high. an estimated 7.68 million people were waiting at the end ofjuly. the prime minister called the figures "obviously disappointing" but said industrial action by doctors was a significant cause. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes is in salford. good afternoon. waiting lists hitting nearly 7.7 million people in

england, that represents around one in seven of the population. this morning the prime minister, rishi sunak, has acknowledged those figures are, as he said, obviously disappointing, and he has admitted really for the first time that his target of reducing waiting times in england was now in doubt and it could be very hard to meet that. you have to say, that with the context of increasing demand, ongoing industrial action and ongoing staff shortages in the health service, it is very hard to argue with that argument. even before the pandemic hit, nhs waiting times had been growing month or month. growing month on month. now they've reached record levels, nearly 7.7 million people waiting for routine hospital procedures, including hip and knee operations. some are also facing long waits for the treatment of more serious conditions, and it's having a profound impact on their lives. i think individually everyone is doing their best and i can sometimes sense their frustration.

andrea needs a heart operation. she's already faced long delays for important tests and is now living with the anxiety and stress of waiting for surgery. i haven't worked since the end of april, and i don't get statutory sick pay because i'm on short term contracts as a supply teacher, and i'm also partly self—employed. so, yes, i'm living off my savings at the moment until they run out. there's so much being lost from the labour force. you know, all these people who are waiting for operations can't be doing other things. but actually it's, for me, the biggest thing has been the time and frustration and the stress. what do we want?! pay rise! _ how do we get it?! strike! _ ministers point to the impact of the series of strikes by nhs staff since december last year, which has meant that close to a million appointments

and treatments have been postponed. junior doctors and their consultant colleagues are set for further industrial action next week. hello, how are you all doing? the rising number of people waiting for treatment threatens the prime minister's pledge to bring down waiting lists. at north devon district hospital this morning, rishi sunak, who has just announced an extra £200 million to help the nhs in england get through winter, said there were signs of improvement. well, with industrial action it's very hard to continue to meet these targets, but what i would say is we are making very good progress despite industrial action. last year we virtually eliminated the number of people waiting two years for treatment, and earlier this year we practically eliminated the number of people waiting a year and a half. now those were interim steps that we had. we have delivered those and we are also, we are delivering a record amount of care but industrial action, obviously, makes meeting these targets very challenging.

while waiting lists were growing long before strike action was announced, nhs leaders say they pose a real danger heading into winter, and the mood is one of frustration. there's hardly been a let—up since the pandemic. nhs staff are pulling out all the stops to deliver, but it really is difficult at the moment with rising admissions, potential uptick in flu, covid, heading into winter, with this drag anchor of industrial action that everyone really wants to see resolved. nhs bosses will welcome the extra government money as they head into what will be another tough winter. but the big underlying problems facing the health service — waiting lists, a shortage of staff, and the ongoing industrial unrest — are still very much with us. dominic hughes, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent leila nathoojoins me. how significant is this? these comments from rishi sunak, how significant is that concession? it’s significant is that concession? it's a bit of a significant is that concession? it�*s a bit of a shift. it's certainly the most pessimistic i think we have

seen rishi sunak about this specific target but he makes it very clear that he is linking the stalled progress on this target on nhs waiting lists to the ongoing industrial action. we heard him earlier in the summer make that link before that ongoing industrial action was stalling progress towards bringing those waiting lists down but i think today is more of an acknowledgement that the industrial action he thinks is having more of an impact and it will perhaps cast doubt on whether he will fulfil those promises. remember, it was one of the five pledges he made at the start of the year to voters, asking them tojudge him and hold him to account on, and i think we are hearing from him today that he thinks at least one of them is in doubt. leila nathoo, thank you. most of the thousands of people who died in libya's catastrophic floods could have been saved, if early warning systems had worked properly, according to the united nations. the head of the un's world meteorological 0rganisation said people could have been moved to safety if emergency management

systems had been in place. there are fears that the death toll could reach 20,000, after a tsunami—sized flash flood hit the east of the country at the weekend. joe inwood has the latest. derna is a city overwhelmed. first overwhelmed by the water that brought such terrible damage. then overwhelmed by the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe the flooding has caused. and finally, overwhelmed by grief at the loss of life. "god give me patience. my heart is with you," this man cries as he sees the body of his young son. it's now becoming clearer that this was a natural disaster, but enabled by human actions. the wadi derna river had two dams — both failed. the upper one, ten kilometres from the town, had a capacity of about 1.5 million

cubic metres of water. when that burst, that water, with a weight of about 1.5 million tonnes, rushed to the sea, sweeping the second dam and about a quarter of the city with it. translation: we had warned the authorities since last - week — no, for years — that the dam had cracks and needs to be maintained. we said it and nobody listened to us. and now the whole of derna is flooded. it is not just it is notjust for the maintenance of the dam that the authorities are being criticised. the head of the un meteorological organisation says most of the deaths could have been avoided if warnings had been given. but the politicians and warlords who have tried, and failed, to run this country since the fall of the dictator muammar gaddafi will want to avoid taking the blame. translation: it's to avoid taking the blame. translation:— to avoid taking the blame. translation: �*, , ., ., ., , translation: it's been an enormous shock and i don't _ translation: it's been an enormous shock and i don't want _ translation: it's been an enormous shock and i don't want to _ translation: it's been an enormous shock and i don't want to point - translation: it's been an enormous shock and i don't want to point the . shock and i don't want to point the blame at anyone and create

controversy, even if all measures had been taken there would have been losses, massive losses. itrailiiile had been taken there would have been losses, massive losses.— losses, massive losses. while the overwhelming _ losses, massive losses. while the overwhelming majority _ losses, massive losses. while the overwhelming majority of- losses, massive losses. while the overwhelming majority of victims | overwhelming majority of victims will be libyans, others were caught up will be libyans, others were caught up in the disaster. 7a egyptians, all from the same town, were swept out to sea. i've lost four members of my family, hassan says. my son called his brother last thursday for the last time, telling him that he will get clothing for the children. 0h, will get clothing for the children. oh, my dearson, he will get clothing for the children. oh, my dear son, he finishes. international aid is starting to arrive. but the same crumbling infrastructure that allowed this disaster to happen also prevents the help getting through. it is hard to comprehend the full scale of this tragedy. the force of nature and the failings of government saw entire families, entire communities, simply

washed into the sea. joe inwood, bbc news. it's emerged that a russian military pilot tried to shoot down an raf surveillance aircraft, which had dozens of british military personnel on board, last september. the bbc has learned that the pilot released two missiles, after he thought he'd been given permission to fire. 0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale is here. what on earth happened here? the raf have been conducting these surveillance missions in international airspace over the black sea since russia's invasion of ukraine. the rivetjoint, the aircraft we are talking about, an raf spy plane, can suck up intelligence, and the crew of up to 30 would have been able to listen to the communications that could have potentially led to their deaths. this is what we now know happened. two russian aircraftjets were sent to intercept the raf spy plane. 0ne to intercept the raf spy plane. one of the pilots thought he had permission to open fire. he fired an air to air permission to open fire. he fired an airto air missile permission to open fire. he fired an air to air missile which didn't lock

on to his target and thankfully missed. there was then a row between the two pilots. the second pilot didn't think he had permission to fire, yet that first pilot then fired a second missile, released a second missile, whichjust dropped from the aircraft. the uk went to russia and said, what is the explanation? russia said it was a technical malfunction. the uk officially accepted that explanation even though it knew much more. the us said it was a near shoot down. why wasn't the uk more open about what happened? i think two reasons. they didn't want to tell the russians all their intelligence gathering capabilities. and the second reason, they didn't want the situation to escalate. this could have led to a military confrontation. in the end, nobody was killed, thankfully. raf surveillance planes now are escorted by fighterjets. jonathan beale, thank you. the metropolitan police has paid damages to two

women who were arrested at the clapham common vigil for sarah everard in 2021. patsy stevenson and dania al—0beid took legal action against the force, following the gathering that was held during covid restrictions. here's our special correspondent lucy manning. a picture that shocked. a woman pinned down, handcuffed by met police officers at a vigilfor sarah everard, murdered and raped by a met officer. patsy stevenson was arrested that night. dania al—0beid was also arrested at the vigil for breaking covid restrictions. today, the met has agreed to pay the women damages and says it regrets what happened. we were blamed for going there, for the arrest itself. 0ur motivations were constantly questioned. we were told that we hijacked the event. so to get some sort of recognition that we are allowed to be angry for the murder and rape of a woman by a serving officer, it's kind of like, 0k, we actually feel seen and heard

somewhat and it gives us that sense of validation and our sanity back. hundreds of women gathered in march two years ago on clapham common to remember sarah everard, but the police claimed lockdown restrictions meant they had to clear the area. too abusive, claimed women there. shame on you, shame on you. i was putting a candle down for sarah. a woman held her hand out and asked me to come up to the bandstand to help. the police were very heavy—handed with a lot of women. we just didn't expect to be arrested. ijust wanted to show my support for other women. it sounds like it's still really distressing for you to talk about. yeah. i think it's been a huge part of my life for the past two and a half years. as dania listened, she realised she was the woman who patsy was describing trying to help as police moved in. i'd just found out she was the woman

putting a hand out, and i didn't even know. i didn't know that was you. she sobs. you said it there and it clicked. we never really spoke about it. we didn't know each other before the vigil. i sort of held my hand out. and we grabbed each other's arms and she climbed over with me. and then we put our arms around each other. and you've onlyjust realised now. yeah. just realised, yeah. we've never really spoken about it because we haven't been allowed to. but despite the payouts, the women still feel the met hasn't properly apologised, just expressing regret, and it says its officers acted in good faith. lucy manning, bbc news. that's a lot, that's a lot, yeah. four metropolitan police officers are to face disciplinary proceedings in relation to the strip—search of a 15—year—old schoolgirl it's claimed the girl, who had her period at the time of the incident, was discriminated against because of

her race and sex. our community affairs correspondent adina campbell has been following the story. bring us up to date. this was a case which caused _ bring us up to date. this was a case which caused a _ bring us up to date. this was a case which caused a huge _ bring us up to date. this was a case which caused a huge public - bring us up to date. this was a case which caused a huge public outcry i bring us up to date. this was a case| which caused a huge public outcry at the time. widespread protests and urgent questions in parliament. child o urgent questions in parliament. child 0 had been wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis. she was on her period at the time and there was no appropriate adult present when the search took place. her family say she was left traumatised and the metropolitan police did apologise afterwards. in terms of what is happening today, this is a fairly significant development. four metropolitan police officers are now facing disciplinary proceedings and the watchdog, the independent 0ffice the watchdog, the independent office of police conduct, they have asked the metropolitan police to consider sending formal letters of apology to the girl and her mother. adina campbell in reading, thank you. the time is 1:16. our top story this afternoon...

the prime minister says his target of reducing nhs waiting lists is in doubt, blaming striking doctors. still to come, how a river in somerset is re—routed — to help deal with the impact of climate change. coming up on bbc news... manchester united are expected to be the busiest club on the wsl�*s transfer deadline day, with a world cup winner already signed, as irene guerrero arrives from atletico madrid. the family of a colombian man who's believed to have taken his own life at a heathrow immigration removal centre earlier this year, has told bbc news he had begged for help and was willing to leave the uk. frank 0spina, who was 39, died within a month of being locked up — even though, according to his family, he had no existing mental health problems. here's our home affairs correspondent tom symonds.

5,000 miles from london, a family is mourning. translation: he wanted to return | to colombia to continue his work. | he was a civil engineer, a professional. the sister and brother—in—law of frank 0spina are bewildered by his death in a british immigration detention centre. but they're sure he wasn't an asylum seeker. translation: he said - he could pay his ticket out, but they said he would have stayed there for months. they say he was in the uk to visit his mother before studying in spain, but he was caught working illegally and sent to the detention centres at heathrow. they believe his mental health was fine when he went in, but it went rapidly downhill. translation: he didn't ask for help - he begged for help, _ and he was begging for help not only to us but also to the people there, like the guards. on march the 26th he was found dead.

his family have been told he took his own life. they believe a critical factor was being detained. immigration removal centres are where the government holds people it expects to deport. the government's toughened the law. 0ne change — it'll be removing more migrants who use deception to come to the uk, small boats for example. it says these centres are essential to that policy, so they will be filling up. six years ago... the bbc secretly filmed abuse of detainees at a different detention centre at gatwick. a public inquiry reports next week, highly significant because six years on, doctors who examine detainees are warning the way they are treated is making poor mental health worse. in detention, the first recourse is often to increase

custodial processes. put them in a cell? put them in a cell, put them with somebody watching them, or frequent intrusive checks, which are not by a health professional, they are by a custodial member of staff. in the last year, medicaljustice assessed 66 detainees in six centres, including this one at harmondsworth. 13 had attempted suicide and one factor stood out — the lack of a release date. that kind of sudden nature of detention and the indefinite nature of detention can really be a crisis in their mental health and really can cause a great deal of stress and exacerbation of any current mental health problems. this man who spent time in detention says the system is getting tougher. at one point he was due to be sent to rwanda. translation: i haven't done any crime, i didn't murder anyone, i i didn't rape anyone or assault anyone. i don't know why i was treated this way. great britain is supposed to be the greatest country in the world. the home office said its policy is to detain for the shortest period

necessary, with risk assessments when detainees arrive and systems for raising subsequent concerns. it said, "our staff are rigorously trained to ensure the safety of residents." but the family of frank 0spina believe that if the government's locking up someone who wants to leave britain, something may have gone wrong. tom symonds, bbc news, harmondsworth. the labour leader sir keir starmer has said if he becomes prime minister he'll work closely with the european union to, as he put it, smash the gangs bringing people across the channel in small boats. he's in the hague to visit the eu's law enforcement agency europol — which britain left after brexit. he's been speaking to our home editor mark easton. now, everybody knows we need a returns agreement. the prime minister himself has acknowledged that we need a returns agreement and that would have to be negotiated. but already opponents of yours are saying any kind of deal like that would mean tens of thousands, more than 100,000 asylum seekers

being dumped in britain. yeah, but that's nonsense. that is embarrassing nonsense from the government and they know it. and if they hadn't lost control of the borders, some of what they say might have some credibility. but i think if you look at the last few years, almost every decision they've taken on this issue has led to the problem getting even worse than it was before. so i think many people watching this would say to the government, "stop the nonsense and get on with fixing the problem of your making." and mark eastonjoins us now from the hague. mark, sir keir is keen on working more closely with the eu? yes. i think the labour leader is very clear that he thinks the way to stop the boats and to smash those smuggling and trafficking gangs is to have a closer, not a more distant relationship with the european

union. this morning he met with directors of europol and he came out saying, i am sure we can negotiate a better arrangement with europol. that means we will have better intelligence, our operatives will be able to work faster and more closely with europol officers in ourfight against the transnational smuggling gangs that are operating. 0f against the transnational smuggling gangs that are operating. of course, there will be those who voted for brexit who fear this may be a sign that labour is prepared to betray the results of that referendum and is looking to have a much closer relationship with the european all around. equally there will be people in his own party and outside who will be hoping perhaps this is a sign that labour will want to rejoin the eu at some stage, sir keir starmer says it is neither of those. mark easton, for now, thank you. payments made with cash have risen for the first time in a decade in this country. though new figures from the banking

trade body uk finance show that we are still most likely to pay for things using a debit card. 0ur cost of living correspondent kevin peachey is with me. so is cash farfrom dead? cashis cash is no longer king, but i think it is not ready to abdicate entirely quite yet because these figures show that the number of payments made with notes and coins rose by 7% last year compared with the previous year. the first time in a decade we have seen a rise. two main reasons. the first is that as we came out of the pandemic people had more opportunity to spend money, but the second and most significantly i think is the rise in cost of living put pressure on people's finances and people often find it easier to budget using notes and coins, because they see what is coming in and what is going out. as you say this whole payments picture is still dominated by debit cards. they

account for half of all payments, thatis account for half of all payments, that is the first time that has happened. it is more frequent smaller payments. commuters for example are paying for individual journeys rather than just once for a season ticket, annual or monthly, so into the future the banks expect those debit cards use to continue to rise, for to decline again. that is why the government is really looking to try and support cash, various bits of legislation coming in and that should protect access to cash, either withdrawing or depositing it. as a result i think cash will be with us for a little while yet. kevin peachey, thank you. the only nhs—funded helpline in england for people coming off anti—depressa nts is closing. the health service is to stop funding the bristol tranquiliser project, which also helps patients reduce their reliance on other medication. nhs england suggests support should be provided locally. more than eight million adults in the country took

an antidepressant last year. rachel schraer has this report. phone rings. good afternoon, bristol tranquiliser project. this is the bristol tranquiliser project. despite its name, the helpline takes calls from people all over the uk who are struggling to come off prescription drugs. and half of those calls are from people on antidepressants. it's the only nhs—funded phone support service in england to do this. what usually happens is, by the time people have come to us, they have exhausted the medical profession. they are in extreme distress. symptoms of withdrawal can include an increase in psychological distress, as well as physical symptoms like dizziness, fatigue and shaking. earlier this year, jane spoke to bbc panorama. she'd been told the helpline's nhs funding was being withdrawn. it will close at

the end of september. 8 million adults now take an antidepressant in england. as many as one in four of them might experience noticeable withdrawal symptoms. in recent years, the nhs and other health bodies have said services should be provided to support people going through antidepressant withdrawal. angela is one of the service's volunteers, but 20 years ago she was also one of its clients. i mean, i thought i was going crazy. it wasn't really until i found the bristol tranquiliser project that, you know, it all started to fit. now she's worked with hundreds of clients and says their experiences today mirror her own. you'd be amazed at how many people there are out there. the local nhs body that funded the helpline said the project was commissioned to provide support for people in bristol. even though it does in fact take calls from around the country.

now a cross—party group in parliament is calling for a formal national helpline to support people coming off prescribed drugs. it's astonishing that the health service does not provide support to people who have been harmed by the very drugs they have taken as prescribed through the same health service. as the bristol tranquiliser project shuts its doors at the end of this month, some of its volunteers, including angela, are looking to set up a new helpline, but crucially it will be funded by private donations, not by the nhs. rachel schraer, bbc news. a man has been arrested in spain on suspicion of sexual assault, after he appeared to touch a female reporter's bottom while she was broadcasting live on a street in madrid. an on—air confrontation followed. the incident continues a public debate in the country about sexism, in the wake of spain winning

the women's football world cup. from flooding and droughts, to sewage and plastic pollution — there are many issues facing our country's rivers. now to try to tackle some of that, a river in somerset has been reconnected to its original flood plain — to help mitigate the impact of climate change. john maguire has been to see the pioneering project. 0ur beautiful countryside has been shaped by centuries of agriculture, with straightened rivers and regularly shaped fields. but here at the holnicote estate on the edge of exmoor — and for the first time in the uk on this scale — the national trust is turning back the clock, filling in a one—kilometre stretch of the river aller, and allowing the water to find its own course across open land.

this illustrates pretty well how the scheme works. this part of the river hasn't been changed. it's straight, the banks are quite deep — albeit not a lot of water in the river at the moment, but in winter it'll really fly through here as the water flows down. so let me show you what difference the new work has made. where the channel has been filled in, the water's finding its own way — reconnecting the river with its flood plain, they say. already — in only the four or six weeks since the work was completed — lots and lots of greenery and an abundance of wildlife. the project has been very, very successful. it's almost like a ctrl—alt—delete reset of a river system, and this project really delivers on a broad range of benefits. so... it helps reduce flooding downstream. as you can see, it's really dry at the moment, but this site's really wet, so it holds water in the landscape. it sequesters carbon.

as you can see today, it's amazing for wildlife, and hopefully over time it will help us engage people in nature, as well. so i think with this type of river restoration, you get a lot of bang for your buck. this is what the site looked like last autumn. the wet summer has worked wonders ever since. the logs you can see mimic the deadwood that would be found naturally in a wetland environment. and one ambition is to allow the estate's wild beavers to inhabit this area. early signs are showing immediate improvements to the local wildlife and the water's cleanliness. but the team here believes this, or versions of it, can help to reduce the biggest threat we face — climate change — a major cause that may be helped by allowing water to find its own course. john maguire, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes.

we