tonight at ten — the duchess of sussex launches a scathing attack on the mail on sunday after winning her high court privacy battle. meghan accuses the paper of illegal and dehumanising practices, after a two—year fight over the publication of a letter she wrote to her estranged father. the duchess said the mail on sunday had blatantly exploited her privacy after winning the case for misuse of private information. the newspaper group said it was surprised and disappointed by the judgment. also on the programme tonight. the impact of the pandemic — almost a quarter of a million people

in england have now been waiting more than a year for routine treatment on the nhs. i'v e i've been put on antidepressants because of it and i don't know what the future holds now because i don't know how long i'm going to be waiting for the operation. researchers discover that combining two drugs and using them for people who are seriously ill with covid could cut deaths by up to a half. ten years to the day since the fall of egypt's president mubarak, we assess the past decade under military rule. and looking for love in lockdown — how more and more people are searching for soulmates online. and coming up in sport on bbc news, just over a week after their 9—0 defeat, southampton reach the last eight of the fa cup with a 2—0 win at wolves. good evening. meghan, the duchess of sussex,

has won her two—year legal battle with the mail on sunday over the publication of a letter she wrote to her estranged father, thomas markle, after her wedding to prince harry. today, the high court ruled that the duchess had had a reasonable expectation that the letter would remain private. in a statement she thanked the court for holding the newspaper to account and said the damage the paper had done, and continued to do, runs deep. associated newspapers, the publishers of the daily mail, mail on sunday and mail online, said they were surprised and disappointed by thejudgement. this report from our royal correspondent nicholas witchell contains flash photography. this is a significant victory for the duchess of sussex. meghan, strongly supported by her husband, prince harry, has shown herself to be absolutely determined robustly to defend her right to privacy. this case began after the mail on sunday published lengthy extracts from a letter she'd written in late 2018 to her estranged father, thomas.

meghan�*s lawyers had told the high court that the letter was a heartfelt plea from an anguished daughter. they applied for something called a summaryjudgment, a judgment without a full trial, on the basis, they said, that the mail on sunday had no real propsect of success. and thejudge agreed. mrjustice warby examined the evidence and found: "taken as a whole, the disclosures, published by the newspaper, where manifestly excessive and hence unlawful. there is no prospect that a differentjudgment would be reached after a trial", he said. meghan has also won on the separate issue of copyright infringement, but privacy is the one that really counts. in a statement, she spoke about what she said were the tactics of the mail group's newspapers. "for these outlets, it's a game", she said. "for me and so many others, it's real life, real relationships and very real sadness.

the damage they have done and continue to do runs deep." the mail on sunday's publishers said they were very surprised by the judgment. they said they would decide in due course whether to lodge an appeal. and, first reaction from media lawyers... this is a significant victory because of who she is. the mail had published a series of articles around meghan and her life and her private life and i think this was the tipping point for her. i suspect it should have quite a sobering impact on sections of the media who think that celebrities and members of the royal family are fair game. for the queen and other senior royals, there will be great relief. the prospect of a full trial on the privacy issue in which meghan markle and herfather, thomas markle, would have been pitted against each other as the star witnesses has been averted. nickjoins me now. it is quite a victory for the

duchess, a judgment many thought could go either way. this duchess, a judgment many thought could go either way.— could go either way. this is absolutely _ could go either way. this is absolutely game, - could go either way. this is absolutely game, set - could go either way. this is absolutely game, set and l could go either way. this is - absolutely game, set and match, a significant and considerable victory for the sussex is that this was a big gamble, to take on a big newspaper group and it's absolutely paid off. i'm sure the rest of the family are pleased for them but their overwhelming feeling will be one of relief. can you imagine how this would have played out in a full trial? meghan markle being cross—examined in the witness box, thomas markle across the court appearing for the mail on sunday and all the strains within the family playing out in public. the mail on sunday and associated newspapers said they had been disappointed they were denied the chance to test the evidence in court. they said they may appeal but this is a very careful, a very detailed 50 page judgment by thejudge careful, a very detailed 50 page judgment by the judge and he's very specific on question of the privacy of the letter. he said, there is no prospect, no prospect, that a differentjudgment will be reached after a trial. there is one technical issue over copyright still to be decided. there is another

matter still to be decided, the question of damages. this is a pretty salutary day, i would suggest, for sections of the british media. . ~ suggest, for sections of the british media. w' ~ . suggest, for sections of the british media. ~ . . ~ suggest, for sections of the british media. ~ . ., ~ almost 250,000 people in england have now waited more than a year for routine hospital treatment operations like hip and knee replacements. surgeons say without the treatment they need, many people are being left in limbo, reliant on painkillers and unable to get on with daily life. the pandemic has taken a huge toll on millions of people who need nhs treatment. in total, more than 4.5 million were waiting to start treatment in december — the highest figure since records began 14 years ago. but what is really stark is the difference between the numbers waiting for more than a year — as i said almost quarter of a million now. butjust before the start of the pandemic, in december 2019, there were fewer than 1,500 people who had been waiting that long. and the reason for the wait? hospitals have been swamped with covid patients. there were almost 102,000 people being treated for covid

in hospital last month alone. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes has the details. for 15 months, this has been helen bootland's life. just a6, she's waiting for surgery on both knees. off work and in constant pain, with no end in sight. just stuck at home every single day now. i'm housebound, essentially. ijust don't go anywhere now, so i've gone from being a really active person to zero. well, my anxiety levels are sky high at the moment. i've suffered really badly right at the beginning so i've been put on antidepressants because of it, and ijust don't know what the future holds now because i don't know how long i'm going to be waiting for the operation. despite the pressures of the pandemic the nhs in england did manage to carry out more than 6 million operations last year. doctors have stressed repeatedly that anyone with health concerns should still seek help, but still some patients needing for example heart surgery,

are facing long waits. there is a tenfold increase in the number of patients who have waited more than a year for their heart procedure. i don't see procedures like balloon stents, pacemakers or even heart surgery as a luxury. so what are the implications of those long waits? it means that with time there's certainly a risk that people will deteriorate waiting, get heart failure they could have avoided, or even die. clearing the backlog of delayed operations and treatments will be a huge task, but nhs leaders say doctors need the freedom to decide how it will be done. there will be people who have been waiting less than 52 weeks who we also need to prioritise, so what we really need to do, which is where the nhs is best, is effectively let our local clinicians make those prioritisation decisions and effectively say what's the order in which we should get through these backlogs. there is some encouraging news as cancer care seems to have been less affected. the number of patients seen and treated in december was in line

with the months before the pandemic struck. david hawkins was diagnosed late in 2019 and counts himself lucky his treatment continued through the covid crisis. whether or not i'd have actually been struggling to get to see a doctor if it had been later on, and then i wouldn't have got a diagnosis, so in that way, i class myself very lucky. but it's been difficult for everybody. across the uk, exhausted staff face a huge backlog of delayed treatments. the legacy of this virus will last for years. dominic hughes, bbc news. the latest government figures show a small rise in new cases since yesterday. 13,494 new infections were recorded in the latest 24—hour period. an average of 15,171 new cases were recorded per day in the last week. the number of people in hospital with coronavirus across the uk has fallen to 25,621 —

the lowest it has been since new year's eve. the number of deaths has fallen too. 678 deaths were reported in the past 2a hours — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid test. 754 deaths were announced on average every day in the past week. the total number is now 115,529. as for the vaccination programme, more than 450,000 people had a first dose of one of the three approved covid—19 vaccines in the latest 24—hour period. so more than 13.5 million people have now had their firstjab. more than half of the people who have died in england during the pandemic were disabled. new figures from the office for national statistics show that more than 30 thousand people who died with coronavirus between january and november had a disability. nikki fox reports. disbelief, the overwhelming feeling.

i'm in your flat and you're everywhere, but not here. a poem written in grief. andrea's sister kath died last november, after she caught coronavirus. she was 49. it spreads, it spreads so easily. my sister was at home. she never went anywhere. she got it and died. a huge sci—fi fan, kath had many passions and then the pandemic hit, so she stayed at home to stay safe. unless you've got people with, a person with disabilities in your family, people don't realise just how fragile people's lives can be. sometimes i think people think, "oh, well, they're disabled. they're not having

much life anyway." but they do, you know? everybody has a life. today's findings highlightjust how devastating the pandemic has been for disabled people, and the findings are bleak. six out of ten people who have died were disabled. they are up to 2.9 times more likely to die than those without a disability. they don't start with a very good state of affairs. they are more dependent, more excluded and, guess what? sadly, they're more likely to experience this illness. time and time again, disabled people have been an afterthought. just some of the thousands of disabled people who have lost their lives since the start of the pandemic. the government says it recognises the virus has had a disproportionate impact on the millions of people living with a disability and is taking steps to protect them. andrea doesn't want her sister's death to be another statistic.

the sun has set for the day whilst i've been sitting here. it will rise again tomorrow. my heart is heavy knowing that it will not rise again for you. nikki fox, bbc news. a drug that is normally given to people with arthritis could help in the treatment of covid—19. a major trial shows that when tocilizumab is combined with the steroid dexamathsone it can cut by up to half the number of covid patients dying in hospital. as our medical editor fergus walsh reports, the trials were carried out here in the uk. searching among existing medicines for any that can treat covid has been a huge task. first, there was dexamethasone. now, there's tocilizumab. together, they can dramatically improve survival

for patients on oxygen. compared with a year ago, when we really did not know how to treat this disease, we now have two treatments — they both act on the immune system. dexamethasone and tocilizumab, put them together and we've reduced the risk of death by a third or even as much as a half in the sickest patients. that's great news. dexamethasone, a steroid, costsjust £5, whereas the arthritis drug, tocilizumab, at least £500 per patient. but that's still far less than the £2000 a day cost of being in icu. this therapy looks like it keeps people out of the intensive care unit, so they never need to meet people like me, which can only be a good thing. so, as well as improving survival, it actually will decrease the number of people who need to come to intensive care, which is fabulous. there's understandably a huge focus on preventing coronavirus and vaccines, but for those with covid,

it is treatments like dexamethasone and tocilizumab which will save lives now. they need the research, so ijust signed up for them. lawrence spent several days in intensive care at addenbrooke's hospital in cambridge, but now has his bags packed, ready to go home. he's one of tens of thousands of covid patients taking part in nhs trials. if nobody's willing to try, you're back to square one again, aren't you? if nobody's going to do anything. last month, nhs hospitals treated more than 100,000 covid patients. that's around one in three of all those admitted since the pandemic began. covid remains a brutal disease, but the chances of surviving it are improving. fergus walsh, bbc news. the health secretary matt hancock has announced plans to restructure the nhs in england, saying health and care

services need to be more integrated and responsive, with less bureaucracy. the move is set to reverse many controversial changes introduced almost a decade ago, when david cameron was prime minister. but labour questioned the timings of the changes during the pandemic, saying staff were exhausted. 0ur health editor hugh pym has more. the pandemic response has required everyone to work together. the nhs, local and national governments, delivering the vaccination programme and other huge tasks. now ministers want the same for services in england after covid. the pandemic has made the changes in this white paper more, not less, urgent. we have long argued for more integrated care, but how will these new structures be governed? how the will they be accountable to local people? the plans involve legislation to bring nhs organisations together with local government service providers to focus on what people in their areas need. 0ne example's in west yorkshire. here in halifax, a community hub offers food and support

to the disadvantaged and nhs staff are also on hand to deal with any health issues. i think it's really important that we deliver services to these vulnerable groups that don't fit into your normal nhs pathways. you can't expect somebody who has no money, no way of transport to go to a hospital, to go to a health centre. ben has been sleeping rough and feels he does get the help he needs. it's hard because you feel like giving up, because there's no options. but this place gives you an option, gives you a fighting chance. local leaders say it's all made possible byjoined up working between the nhs and local councils. by being available as health care services, in places where people may have to go socially or to get comfort and support, you can then start to join up care

around the needs of the person. the plans will scrap reforms introduced in england by the coalition under david cameron with health secretary andrew lansley. that involved putting contracts out to tender and more private sector involvement and competition. now the buzzword will be collaboration, but health analysts say that will be harder than it sounds. the benefits to patients of integrated care can take some time and just because you allow people to work together more freely doesn't mean to say they will work together and collaborate across services. so i don't think this is necessarily going to be a panacea for suddenly increased patient benefit, but hopefully what it will do is just remove some of the obstacles that were in the way. scotland, wales and northern ireland have all embarked on integrated health and social care. it hasn't always been straightforward. the challenge now in england is to make a real difference to people's lives. hugh pym, bbc news. a serial sex offender has been found guilty of raping and murdering a 21—year—old student from hull

university. libby squire was attacked last february and her body was dumped in a river. her killer, a polish father of two, was convicted after 27 hours of deliberations by a jury at sheffield crown court. danny savage reports. libby squire, a 21—year—old from buckinghamshire who was studying at hull university. she was murdered by a man stalking the student area looking for a victim. on a freezing cold night injanuary 2019, libby — marked by the green arrow — was heading to a nightclub with friends, but she was refused entry because she was drunk. she's put in a taxi, but later gets out and goes her own way, crossing the path of a man called pawel relowicz — shown by the red arrow. he follows her before he makes his move. he wasn't trying to help — he was a predator. a few minutes later, he persuades her to get into his car

and takes her to a nearby park. relowicz drove libby to this lonely spot. they then both got out of the car before he sexually assaulted and killed her. this tidal river runs down one side of the park. he then pushed her body into it to try and cover up his crime. it would be weeks before libby was found. it was such a long period when nobody really knew what had happened to her. it was seven weeks between when she disappeared and when, tragically, her body was found at sea. so, all sorts of theories were circulating and it caused a lot of panic in hull amongst the student community. after today's guilty verdict, libby's parents paid tribute to her outside court. as a family, today's verdict changes nothing for us. there is no closure. we don't get to have libby back and our lives don't revert back to normal. libby will always be with us and we are all

so proud of our beautiful, caring, wonderful girl. and although she has been physically taken from us, the memories we have and the love we share will never be taken. relowicz, who was married and a father, had been committing sexual offences for months before the attack and is already serving a sentence for voyeurism. libby squire's murder terrified a community and devastated her family. they now have to carry on without a daughter and sister who loved life. danny savage, bbc news, hull. bbc world television has been banned from broadcasting in china. beijing has been critical of bbc�*s coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, and on the treatment of the country's ethnic uighurs. foreign secretary, dominic raab, said the move was "an unacceptable curtailing of media freedoms". firefighters are tackling a huge blaze on dartmoor this evening. these pictures were filmed

from about a mile away. devon and somerset fire and rescue say they have five appliances near the scene a few miles north east of tavistock, but can't reach the blaze because of its remote location. the irish prime minister has called on the european union and the uk to "cool it" in their post—brexit dealings, amid fears ireland could be collateral damage in the process. it follows a tense few weeks between the uk and the eu over coronavirus vaccines and the northern line protocol, designed to prevent a hard border between ireland and northern ireland. fergal keane sent this report from dublin. they're remembering the centenary of ireland's guerrilla war for independence here but the age of martyrs is long gone in the republic. taoiseach, how are you? still, the taoiseach knows this could be a critical moment in the story of the peace process. and that's what's prompted this message to british and eu leaders.

i just worry a bit about the post—brexit noise from eu member states towards britain and vice versa. what would you say to your european...? i want to tell them they need to dial it down. this isn't an ongoing battle between the uk and some of the bigger beasts of europe. they need to cool it. we'll be collateral damage in all of that. britain wants a two—year extension to the grace period. mr martin wants it extended. it to the grace period. mr martin wants it extended-— it extended. it has to be modest, it can't be a year- _ it extended. it has to be modest, it can't be a year. that _ it extended. it has to be modest, it can't be a year. that would - can't be a year. that would definitely _ can't be a year. that would definitely be _ can't be a year. that would definitely be a _ can't be a year. that would definitely be a timeframe l can't be a year. that would i definitely be a timeframe that can't be a year. that would - definitely be a timeframe that it has to happen within a year? in my view, has to happen within a year? in my view. yeah- — this intervention comes amid heightened tension over the northern ireland protocol. staff implementing checks at the ports of larne and belfast were temporarily withdrawn after worries about their safety. there are growing unionist fears that eu customs checks have created a border

between northern ireland and britain. the atmosphere is potentially volatile. you can see how it can tip over very quickly and therefore we have to be very vigilant that it doesn't. because one of the big fears is that the loyalist paramilitaries are given a new lease of life and that we could see violence, sectarian violence, coming back. is that something that worries you? if we handled this the wrong way, if things are handled wrongly, you could provoke that response but i don't think loyalism wants that. modern irish politics emerged from civil war, division, a partitioned ireland. but 100 years and many thousands of lost lives later... some opinion polls suggest going support in northern ireland for a referendum on reuniting ireland. anathema to many protestants.

so, here are these two great portraits. and is office, micheal martin has portraits of two revolutionary comrades who ended up as bitter enemies. his sense is that holding a border poll anytime soon would a mistake. if we just see this as a simple, numerical majority issue, we are going backwards, not forward. i don't believe the future of the island of ireland is about majoritariansm, in the crudest sense. i think it's about consensual relationships, trust. micheal martin is a product of ireland's complex history. his grandfather rebelled against the british but an uncle fought for britain in world war ii. he wants a reinvigorated anglo—irish relationship. it's a very important relationship and it's a strong relationship, notwithstanding the difficulties of brexit and the challenges it presents. i am very passionate about it. you know, i have witnessed the transformation of the british—irish relationship and the degree to which it underpinned the progress in ireland and the peace process. but more than that. i have first cousins in the uk.

we are very close, whether we like it or not. in dublin, the determination is to try to de—escalate the tensions that have come with brexit and quickly. fergal keane, bbc news, dublin. ten years ago today, egypt's president hosni mubarak was forced from office after weeks of demonstrations in cairo. it was a seismic moment in the middle east, and helped encourage other uprisings across the region. but hopes that people power would transform egypt were short—lived. the military seized control and have imposed a much tougher police state than the one mubarak led. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen looks at the decade that's followed mubara k�*s fall. nobody who was there will forget it. the night egypt's president hosni mubarak stepped down, and tahrir square in cairo erupted. it tookjust 18 days of protest, danger and death to remove

a president who had been an immovable fixture in the middle east since the 1980s. the people have taken on a brutal police state and overthrown an authoritarian leader who appeared to be in control. their achievement will change the middle east. it did... but not in the way that the people who cleaned up the square the next morning, symbolically reclaiming their country, were hoping. mohammed suliman, now a political analyst in washington, was a 19—year—old protester. we did, we did believe that this was the moment in history where arab people could finally be free, and be the master of their own fate. but egypt's revolution lacked leaders. more powerfulforces did not. mohammed morsi, the muslim

brotherhood's candidate for president, beat the military�*s. as egypt lurched between crises, the generals seized power back in 2013. gunfire at least 2,500 people, almost all civilians, many of their muslim brotherhood supporters, were killed in the next seven months. in the last couple of minutes, there was fire into the walljust above where we were. all this is a sign of the danger on the streets in cairo, about the divided nature of society. the president, abdel fattah el—sisi, a former general, has jailed tens of thousands of opponents of his regime. among them, members of this family, prominent human rights campaigners. alaa abdel fattah was tortured

during years in sisi's jails. he is still a prisoner, along with his sister, sanaa. she shouts anothersister, mona, live streamed this video after sanaa was arrested. both women were beaten. their mother, laila soueif, says it's much worse for thousands of other egyptians. worse than under mubarak? much worse than under mubarak. i mean, all of the things that i'm saying used to happen during mubarak's time, but the scale is completely different. is there something that the west should be doing now? i know that western politicians are selling their people the line that they have to back singular regimes in the area, because it is the only way to achieve stability. now, this is their alibi. it's not true. british people should hold their government accountable for what it's doing,

for how it's, you know, working for the benefit of arms and energy companies, rather than people. in cairo, and across the middle east, millions don't want another decade of upheaval. they wantjobs. young people drove the 2011 uprisings, angry about corruption, repression and unemployment, still the highest in the world. in egypt, a third of under—30s arejobless. the old grievances of 2011 still exist, but the hope has been crushed. history shows that repression works, until desperation overcomes fear, and then it doesn't. jeremy bowen, bbc news.

life has changed in so many ways with coronavirus — the way we work,