slide along the southern counties of england perhaps getting into south—east wheels and moving up across the london area and into east anglia through thursday evening. this ring following on saturated ground so it could well cause further flooding ground so it could well cause furtherflooding issues. it may ground so it could well cause further flooding issues. it may turn windy for a time down towards the south as well. that weather system swirling its way off into the near continent on friday. still some showery rain across each and scotland in eastern england, sunshine and showers out towards the west. temperatures a little bit lower but the stage, 6—9 c. then as we head into the weekend, low pressure will at long last use in its grip. high pressure will be building across the uk. still, possibly one or two showers but a lot more in the way of dry weather. i am sure that will be good news for the many. however, we will also start to introduce some colder air. saturday looks to be a little bit like this. still some areas of quite a few bits and pieces of showery rain around. properspeaking, a few bits and pieces of showery rain around. proper speaking, those turned drier, brighter, some spots

of centring once and the early morning mist has cleared. temperatures, 69 degrees at best. as we look ahead to sunday, temperatures may drop back even further. lots of dry weather after any early mist and fog it stays mostly dry, but surely into next week. this is bbc news. the headlines... more than 100 people die in iran — in two explosions near the grave of a top revolutionary guards commander. junior doctors in england begin the longest strike in the health service's history — in a six—day walkout over pay. and this history—making teenager is on target for further glory. 16—year—old luke littler could tonight become the youngest player to win the world darts championship.

for more on that and for the rest of the day at�*s sport here's paul scott. the sport of darts has never seen anything like it — 16—year—old luke littler, on his debut, is preparing for the world championship final. he'll take on another luke — humphries — who became world number one after his victory in the semi—finals. matt graveling is at alexandra palace — and explains what we can expect from this much anticipated final. the world number one because of the prize money he won, winning 6—0 yesterday. we were chatting to people here and set in any other year, a 6—0 and at the semifinals of the world championship would be headline news, but here we are talking about the 16—year—old. he's 118 in a row now and comes in here is where the number one. let's look at yesterday's semi final in which he absolutely stormed through against scott williams. and part of that can make it an average three darts of 108. that has put them in

the top ten average of the whole of this tournament. we still don't know who is going to win. 0ne this tournament. we still don't know who is going to win. one thing is for sure, who is going to win. one thing is forsure, if who is going to win. one thing is for sure, if both players turn up, it could be one of the best finals of all times. certainly something to look forward to. to cricket — and an extraordinary opening day in the second test between south africa and india, with the hosts bowled out for just 55. mohammed siraj took six wickets as india skittled the hosts out in cape town. they were then dismissed for 153 themselves, before south africa closed on 62—3 in their second innings, captain dean elgar dismissed twice on the opening day of his farewell test. staying with test cricket, australia are looking to make it a whitewash series win as they take on pakistan in the final to cricket — and an extraordinary opening day in the second test staying with test cricket, australia are looking to make it a whitewash series win as they take on pakistan in the final test in sydney. pakistan got off to the worst possible start on day one, losing two wickets inside the first two overs — josh hazlewood and mitchell starc doing the damage.

but the visitors did recover, muhammad rizwan hitting two sixes on his way to a top score of 88. australia eventually bowling them out for 313, and the hosts ended the day six without loss. in tennis, novak djokovic has lost in australia for the first time in six years — beaten by alex de minaur as serbia lost to australia in the united cup quarterfinals. a defeat too for naomi 0saka in the second match of her comeback at the brisbane international, losing to karolina pliskova. but as britain's emma raducanu continues her comeback tomorrow, she's received the news that she'll not have to qualify for this month's australian open — as she's been given direct entry into the main draw. 0ur tennis correspondent russell fuller explains. she was only about six spots outside the main draw, not with her actual ranking which is 301, but with the protected ranking of 103. that reflects where she was when she left the tour in late april to ultimately have three operations, two on her

hands, one on her ankle. away from the two of the six month and able to use this protected or special ranking. so enough players have withdrawn, including today, lauren davis of the united states with a shoulder injury. her loss is mi's game. she doesn't need to worry about qualifying. she is directly into the main draw for the championships which begin on a sunday this time, a week on sunday. finally from us, roryy mcilroy says he would be open to play in a liv backed competition, if golf's controversial tour became more like cricket's indian premier league, taking up a smaller window in the calendar. he says it would sound like fun, if they could replicate the format — because — in his words, "you are working within the ecosystem." merger talks between the pga tour and saudi arabia's public investment fund, which financialy backs liv are continuing. and that's all the sport for now. don't forget to come you can follow the darts this evening on the bbc sport website. but for now, back to

you. thank you very much. the longest strike in the history of the nhs has begun — withjunior doctors in england walking out for six days. the british medical association is asking for a 35 per cent pay increase — which it says would make up for more than a decade of below inflation wage growth. the government says that's unaffordable — the health secretary is asking the bma to call off the strikes and return to negotiations so that — what it calls — a fair and reasonable solution can be found to end the strikes once and for all. the strike means thousands of appointments and operations have been cancelled — and the nhs says the impact of the strike will be felt for weeks and months to come. let's find out more about the impact of the strikes — louise stead is chief executive of the royal surrey nhs foundation trust. let's begin by asking you what the impact has been of today's action on your hospital trust.— your hospital trust. thank you very much. obviously _ your hospital trust. thank you very much. obviously it's _ your hospital trust. thank you very much. obviously it's been - your hospital trust. thank you very

much. obviously it's been a - your hospital trust. thank you very much. obviously it's been a big - much. obviously it's been a big impact across the country. personally, for us, we have cancelled about the thousand outpatients and about 100 operations. 0bviously we've got consultants covering all our awards, covering our emergency departments. we have got 50% of ourjuniors who have turned up to work today, so that has helped considerably. being a cancer centre, we have really prioritised that patients who are needing treatment for cancer, whether that this chemotherapy or cancer surgical operations. what whether that this chemotherapy or cancer surgical operations. what is the way out — cancer surgical operations. what is the way out of _ cancer surgical operations. what is the way out of this? _ cancer surgical operations. what is the way out of this? you _ cancer surgical operations. what is the way out of this? you have - cancer surgical operations. what is | the way out of this? you have junior doctors saying that they aren't being paid enough. i think we were saying just that they are asking for a 35% pay increase to make up for what they say is more than a decade of below inflation wage growth. he of below inflation wage growth. he of the government saying that is too much. you are trust is caught in the middle of it. what is the way and your eyes and. we middle of it. what is the way and your eyes and-— middle of it. what is the way and oure es and. ~ ., ., , your eyes and. we have to get people around the negotiating _ your eyes and. we have to get people around the negotiating table, - your eyes and. we have to get people around the negotiating table, hasn't l around the negotiating table, hasn't it does make we've got people who

are absolutely believing that they are absolutely believing that they are fighting for it the right thing. i think you've got support across consultants across patients, but the most important thing is for people to get back around the negotiating table. we to get back around the negotiating table. ~ ., ., ., table. we have someone from the institute for _ table. we have someone from the institute for government - table. we have someone from the institute for government on - table. we have someone from the | institute for government on earlier in the programme who have done a bit of number crunching. his take was that the nhs has been underfunded for more than a decade. he did have some sort of sympathy with what the doctors were saying. is that something you see personally in your trust, that there isn't enough investment in the nhs? i trust, that there isn't enough investment in the nhs? i think we are all in a — investment in the nhs? i think we are all in a really _ are all in a really difficult position. he picked enough a lot of money in the nhs during covid that. i think that we absolutely have got to look at how the whole economy is working. we have got opportunities to make things more efficient, but with all things, we are looking at

treatments being more expensive, looking at people living longer, looking at people living longer, looking at people living longer, looking at things like robotics, a lot of robotics surgery. although that improves outcomes of patients, it is more expensive. so as you improve outcomes and you improve technology for patients, that comes at a cost. �* , , , ., at a cost. briefly. this is a six-day — at a cost. briefly. this is a six-day strike. _ at a cost. briefly. this is a six-day strike. what - at a cost. briefly. this is a i six-day strike. what facilities at a cost. briefly. this is a - six-day strike. what facilities and six—day strike. what facilities and services will have to wait in your trust because of this? 50. trust because of this? so, outpatients, _ trust because of this? so, outpatients, if _ trust because of this? so, outpatients, if you - trust because of this? so, outpatients, if you look i trust because of this? srr, outpatients, if you look at trust because of this? s57, outpatients, if you look at certain areas, we'd sort of cancelled ent today. we had three connects running out of seven, so patients who are waiting for a benign, out of seven, so patients who are waiting fora benign, not out of seven, so patients who are waiting for a benign, not cancer services will have their outpatients. they would have been cancelled and put back. the most important thing is it's taken us a week to cancel those outpatient appointments so we've now got to go back and rebook those. the weights

for those patients will be longer. thank you very much forjoining us. thank you very much forjoining us. thank you. luke littler�*s sensational run in the darts pdc world championship has continued. "luke the nuke" — as he's known — has become the youngest player to reach the final. the 16—year—old beat the former champion, rob cross, in the semifinal last night at alexandra palace in london. he'll play the world number one luke humphries in the final tonight. 0ur correspondent nick garnett is at the st helens darts academy, where luke littler has trained since he was a boy. the battle of the luke's tonight. but i can guess which one they are backing where you are. absolutely. the 'ust backing where you are. absolutely. they just want _ backing where you are. absolutely. they just want the _ backing where you are. absolutely. they just want the nuke _ backing where you are. absolutely. theyjust want the nuke to - backing where you are. absolutely. theyjust want the nuke to win - backing where you are. absolutely. | theyjust want the nuke to win this one. is gone so far in such a short time. he 16 years old. he only did his g cse�*s last summer. i've a 16—year—old daughter there's no way they look the same. he the calmest,

coolest person that have ever seen. he is staggering to me he never gets flustered, he never gets upset about things. he isjust absolutely amazing to watch. what's really interesting is, as i say, 16 years old, the youngest person to win the championship before hand, if he was to win, was 2a years old. notjust a few months old, notjust a year older, he was 2a years old. that is a huge difference. it showsjust older, he was 2a years old. that is a huge difference. it shows just how much ahead of the game he is. if you looked on here, you will see all these dart boards here. each one of them has a name of the playwright in them has a name of the playwright in the middle there, look at the nuke, it was a reckoning we can averaging genie brackets, perhaps, we could have nick nasty garnet, or nick not so good garnet if we were to go and have those things. he started playing when he was still in his nappy. i'm not telling a rate of a lie. when he was 18 months old, he was better than you or i will ever be. he's a fantastic player, but he

does come up against a tremendous player today, cool hand luke in the final. he will be playing somebody who won his game last night 6—0. he is the very best, he is the world number one, so to get over the border and get over the line and actually win tonight's match is going to the huge. probably the biggest struggle he's ever had in his life. at these people here are absolutely delighted he's got there and they think he can definitely do it. 50 and they think he can definitely do it. . . ~ and they think he can definitely do it. so nice, nick making fun of my darts prowess- — it. so nice, nick making fun of my darts prowess. i— it. so nice, nick making fun of my darts prowess. i will be _ it. so nice, nick making fun of my darts prowess. i will be even - darts prowess. i will be even again next time i see you. nick there from st helens. the uk's use of gas and coal to generate electricity has fallen to its lowest levels since 1957. a study by climate website carbon brief found that gas and coal power plants made up just over a third of the uk s electricity last year, while renewable energy provided the single largest source of power to the grid.. at a record 42%.

live now to dr simon evans, who is deputy editor of carbon brief and who did the analysis for the study. surely this is good news coming off of the back of the cops on it. yes. of the back of the cops on it. yes, the progress _ of the back of the cops on it. yes, the progress that _ of the back of the cops on it. yes, the progress that the _ of the back of the cops on it. yes, the progress that the uk - of the back of the cops on it. yes the progress that the uk has made in the progress that the uk has made in the financing its power sector has really been the driving force of progress in cutting emissions from the country overall. it has happened quite rapidly over the last ten years. that's primarily down to getting rid of fossilfuels in the electricity, so about ten years ago, two thirds of the uk's electricity came from coal and gas. it's now down to one third. so it's halved pretty much in ten years. coal has been almost eradicated, sit down at 1% of the total of the mix, and even gas is down about half.— gas is down about half. interesting uncle, and gas is down about half. interesting uncle. and of— gas is down about half. interesting uncle, and of course, _ gas is down about half. interesting uncle, and of course, other - uncle, and of course, other countries are also under pressure to reduce their reliance on coal. what do you think was the biggest alternative in terms of this when you are studying what people have

moved from coal to what? is it solar? is it otherforms? so moved from coal to what? is it solar? is it other forms?- solar? is it other forms? so in terms of _ solar? is it other forms? so in terms of what _ solar? is it other forms? so in terms of what has _ solar? is it other forms? so in terms of what has driven - solar? is it other forms? so in terms of what has driven coal| solar? is it other forms? so in i terms of what has driven coal out solar? is it other forms? so in - terms of what has driven coal out of the mix in the uk, you know, we had a period initially where there was a coal to gas switch, and particularly in the 1990s, that continued for much of the recent years. but what we've seen in the last decade is actually something different. we have seen a dramatic reduction in overall electricity demand, roughly, people have heard of the hinkley point nuclear plant being built in somerset at the moment. roughly the equivalent of four of those nuclear plants has been cut in terms of reducing electricity, things like energy efficiency regulations. at the same time, we have seen this absolutely massive build—out of renewables. renewable generation has increased six fold since 2008 in the uk. and that has been something of a pincer movement on fossil fuels. so we have had demand coming down on one side and renewables coming up on the other side, and that has pushed

them out of the next step good news. what is a tapping —— happening fast enough pace? the uk has ambitious goals to cut its carbon emissions by 2050 along with many other countries around the world. we also have interim targets. the current government ambition is to fully decarbonisation electricity system, so zero carbon emissions for electricity. that basically means of getting rid of that remaining third that's coming from fossil fuels now and they want to do that pretty quickly. they will want to get to 95% getting rid of fossil fuels by 2030. that'sjust 95% getting rid of fossil fuels by 2030. that's just seven years away. 100% the carbonised by 2035. if we are going to get there, that requires rapid progress and we are probably not at the moment on track to do that. ., ,, ., ., , to do that. ok, doctor simon evans from carbon — to do that. ok, doctor simon evans from carbon brief, _ to do that. ok, doctor simon evans from carbon brief, thank— to do that. ok, doctor simon evans from carbon brief, thank you - to do that. ok, doctor simon evans from carbon brief, thank you very i from carbon brief, thank you very much forjoining us here.- from carbon brief, thank you very much forjoining us here. police say a man was killed in gloucestershire yesterday when storm henk blew a tree onto his car. there are more than 560 flood warnings and alerts in place across england and wales —

and about 2,000 homes are still without power. phil mackie reports. at first light, things did not look good. the river severn had risen higher than predicted to, and not far short of record levels. these housing association flats are prone to flooding. fearing the worst, susan rescued her mum, christine, last night. almost 2020 levels, i would say, it is up to the bottom of the window sill, which it was, its only got a little bit to go to go over the windowsill, which is where it was in 2020, so just to wait and see. but others were not so lucky. that's paul's car. he's onlyjust moved here and was told this was the safest place to leave it. if it gets much higher it is probably write—off. we've got flooding alarm systems that i have now learned. ijust recently moved into a new block of flats and the alarm system went off on sunday evening so i move the car. this is where i was advised to move it to, and i kept an eye on it over the course of yesterday. and as you can see this evening, over the night it got worse.

storm henk took one life, a man whose car was hit by a tree in gloucestershire. the aftermath of the storm is still being felt across much of england and wales. there are hundreds of flood warnings and one severe one on the river near tenby in pembrokeshire. an earlier severe warning on a river in northamptonshire has been removed but the county is still suffering. in shropshire, the flood barriers are holding the river back in ironbridge but essential supplies are still getting in. back in worcester, some people are taking advantage of the situation but many are dealing with a fourth flood since october. these houses are used to flooding but these floods are happening more often and they tend to be higher and last longer so that means people living there need to take more precautions to remain here and that is happening along the length of the river severn. the government—backed insurance claim have launched a new scheme called �*build back better" so that will enable newly flooded people

to claim an extra £10,000 on top of their insurance claim to put in things like flood barriers as we can see behind us orflood doors, self—closing air brakes or water—proof plaster or even a flood resilient kitchen. the river severn is likely to continue to rise until next week but there is good news is after months of seemingly endless rain, we are in for dry spell. phil mackie, bbc news. a high—profile campaign effort disadvantaged young people —— the founder of the kids company charity — camila batman—gale—ish — has died at the age of 61. she was a high—profile campaigner for disadvantaged young people, and was known for her colourful clothes. she stepped down from her charity in 2015 after allegations of financial mismanagement, but she was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

her family described her as an "endless source of inspiration". some pupils at schools in england are having to change exam courses because the dangerous concrete — known as raac — has caused the closure of some classrooms and buildings. those doing applied subjects have been unable to use workshops, labs and other specialist spaces since september. teachers say it's unfair, but the government says it can't make exceptions on exams. 0ur education correspondent hazel shearing reports. this is the raac. it's through the whole building. so actually it means that we can't use this entire section whilst that's there. students at shoeburyness high school in southend have had to change their whole gcse, from design and technology to 3d design, because they can't get to the machinery they need. obviously we want them to do what their passion is, what their choice is, what they wanted to do. it's very, very difficult partway through a course to be told you suddenly don't have an option that you had before. we'd never want to do that. but what we're looking at is the least worst option for them. one of them is in the it room, so it's not even in an actual woodwork room. these a—level students are still hoping for special consideration in their exams. we found out about the closure,

i just thought of year 13. it had such like a shocking effect on us. i cried, because it was very, like, worrying. we're using stanley knives and rulers instead of the laser cutter, which obviously it makes it pretty difficult. this will affect us for the whole of our course, and it's notjust going to be like a little problem. it is a big problem. we're going to be doing an experiment... not a bunsen burner in sight in this science lesson, not even any test tubes. hadley high school in suffolk has had to close all of its science labs and fill the playground with two storey temporary classrooms. they're cold, they're echoey. i've got different staff in and out because we're trying to be fair so that not everybody teaches permanently in a cold classroom. what help do you want to see for students taking their exams this year? i would like the exam boards to understand that our children have not had the specialist provision that every other child they're competing with in the exam season has had. what could extra help for exam students look like? ideas we've heard about include

teachers assessing students' grades like they did when exams were cancelled because of the pandemic, grades being assessed on a case by case basis, or schools being given a blanket percentage increase on their results. thejoint council for qualifications says exam boards have extended coursework deadlines and england's exams regulator 0fqual says schools should reach out for support. but the department for education said in a statement, "it is not possible to make changes to exams and assessments for only st leonard's catholic school in durham says dealing with raac has been an extremely challenging experience forfamilies, students and staff, and it's in discussions to ensure its students are not disadvantaged. nicola cook wants special consideration for her son, who has his a—levels coming up at the school. he said to me the other day that, "oh, mum, i'm kissing my a—stars goodbye. i'm not going to be able to get that now." it's frustrating. ijust, i have no answers.

i can't, i can't solve the problem myself as one parent. none of us can. we need the government to come together and to really understand what the impact of this is. the government says most of the 231 schools confirmed to have raac in england are teaching pupils in person. but for some students, it's still far from normal. hazel shearing, bbc news. archaeologists in wales have unearthed a medieval cemetery that has provided a rare glimpse into life fifteen hundred years ago. discoveries include at least seventy skeletons, shards of glass from france and pottery from north africa. 0ur science editor rebecca morelle reports. uncovering a medieval mystery. just outside of cardiff, archaeologists have discovered a graveyard they think is 1,500 years old. the bodies buried so long ago

are giving an insight into a period we know little about. what's being revealed is baffling the archaeologists. it's really rare to have a site like this. each one of these is a grave and the team have excavated 18 so far, but they think there could be more than 70 at this site. now they're all aligned in the same position, running from east to west. and in some of them, the skeletons are flat on their backs with their legs outstretched. but in others, like this one over here, the skeleton is in a really unusual crouching position. why this is isn't clear. were burial practices changing over time? or was there something else marking these people out as different? the skeletons are some of the best preserved, we're actually very, very lucky with that. and this particular individual is one of our better preserved ones on the site as a whole. the skeletons are being carefully excavated and they're already providing clues about who these people were and what they did. we have some teeth that are very

worn in kind of a funny way. that might indicate the use of teeth as tools. maybe for textile work, leatherwork, basketry. where they're pulling something through their front teeth. got something that looks like glass. what's being found alongside the skeletons is posing even more of a puzzle. it is glass! a shard of fine french glass has just been discovered. hopefully the rim from a cone beaker. so it would have looked like an ice cream cone and it probably was imported alongside wine in barrels from the bordeaux region of france. a really nice find. it's just one of an array of artifacts from fragments of pottery, perhaps from north africa, to a tiny carved peg. this little object is manufactured from animal bone. could be a peg for fora gaming board. it suggests people were coming to the cemetery to meet up. the living and the dead existing together.

it's notjust a place where people are being buried, but it's a place where communities are coming together. they are burying their dead. but they're also undertaking other forms of activity and social practice, including eating and drinking and feasting. the items unearthed in the cemetery suggest that the people were of a high status. the next step is to work out exactly who they were. archaeologists are onlyjust beginning to scratch the surface at this unusual cemetery. they hope their excavation will reveal much more about the medieval way of life that's remained an enigma for so long. rebecca morrelle, bbc news, cardiff. it is with mediaeval cemeteries that we in this era here on bbc news. there is more on the bbc news website. stay with us here on bbc news. you can watch the six o'clock news in the uk. thank you for watching.

hello. after the wind and rain from storm henk on tuesday — wednesday brought more heavy downpours in places. not helping the ongoing flooding situation, check the latest flood warnings on our website or on your bbc local radio station. and there is some more rain to come as we head through tonight. still some showers around, but some clearer spells starting to spread from the south—west as the night wears on. temperatures will drop away down to around three, four or five degrees in quite a few spots. one or two places could get quite close to freezing. so we head in to thursday with low pressure still in charge to the north that will bring some showers. and then this little weather system here threatening to bring more unwanted rain into southern parts of the uk. so across northern england, northern ireland and scotland, a lot of clouds and bits and pieces of showery rain still very windy in the northern isles. then a slice of sunshine across north wales, parts of northern england, the north midlands through the afternoon,

but to the south of that cloud will be gathering and here comes our next area of rain. now, this is going to deal a glancing blow, really, but it is going to slide along the southern counties of england, perhaps getting into south—east wales and then moving up across the london area and into east anglia through thursday evening. this rain falling on saturated ground so could well cause furtherflooding issues. it may turn quite windy for a time down towards the south as well. that weather system swirling its way off into the near continent on friday. still some showery rain across eastern scotland and eastern england. sunshine and showers out towards the west. temperatures a little bit lower by this stage, 6—9 degrees. and then as we head into the weekend, low pressure will at long last loosen its grip. high pressure will be building across the uk, still possibly one or two showers, but a lot more in the way of dry weather. i'm sure that'll be good news for many. however, we will also start to introduce some colder air. so saturday looks a little bit like this — still some areas of cloud,

a few bits and pieces of showery rain around, but broadly speaking does turn dry up brighter some spells of sunshine once any early morning mist has clear, but those temperatures 6—9 degrees at best. and as we look ahead to sunday, those temperatures may drop back even further. lots of dry weather after any early mist and fog and it stays mostly dry but chilly into next week.

at six — the longest strike in nhs history begins. junior doctors in england walk out for six days. also tonight... how many of you? me and my daughter, she's three years old. a three—year—old and her ma. the dramatic rescue of a mother and child — after storm henk brings widespread flooding. more than 100 people are killed in iran by two explosions. the new year brings new hope for some homeowners as mortgage rates are cut. the medieval cemetry unearthed near cardiff — bodies buried 1500 years ago reveal new secrets. and he finishes it on double ten. and the teenage sensation — will 16—year—old luke littler make it big tonight in the world darts championship final? also in this news hour on bbc london... coming up in sportsday later on the hour on bbc news, the rise of luke littler ahead

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