welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... tensions and covid cases rise in europe — anger, too, as countries reimpose restrictions. the man suspected of driving his car through a holiday parade in wisconsin is to be charged with intentional homicide after killing five people. police have ruled out terrorism. a bbc investigation discovers two women who died after giving birth could have been infected with herpes by the same surgeon. and we hear from the malaysian rapper whose music has been banned in mainland china.

live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore and 1am in brussels — where european ministers will meet early in the morning to discuss a coordinated response to the covid crisis. the continent has seen the number of cases spiral in recent weeks, forcing governments to reintroduce some restrictions and urge more people to get vaccinated. austria is the first eu country to re—introduce a nationwide lockdown. and germany's health minister predicts that by the end of the winter — most germans will be vaccinated, recovered, or dead. our europe editor katya adler has the latest. chanting: freiheit! covid concerns are spreading across europe.

spiralling case numbers are spooking some. others, like this massive crowd in vienna, object to covid restrictions being reintroduced. i'm a free austrian who wants to be free and live free in this country. liberte! today, austria became the first eu country to reimpose a full — if brief — lockdown. vaccinations will be compulsory here from february. in berlin, germany's health minister said his country faced a national emergency. his choice of words caused some controversy. translation: probably | by the end of this winter, as it's sometimes cynically said, pretty much everyone in germany will be vaccinated, cured or dead. that's how it is. so what's gone wrong? the eu's huge headache at the beginning of the year was securing enough vaccines. now it worries too few people have used them.

what we're seeing now, i think, is mostly driven by a lot of contacts between people coinciding with colder weather, a lot of indoor activities. the uk is following a different course. in the uk, you see that the numbers have been high for several months now, but they seem to be relatively stable, whereas in many other countries in western europe and northern europe we've seen a steep increase in cases since october, which doesn't seem to happen in the uk. an average of 60% of europe is now fully vaccinated, but each country is different. the rate in eastern europe, for example, is far lower. the eu is now considering vaccinations for children over the age of five. it approved jabs for the over—12s in may. the economic effects of covid, those rising gas prices, people here in europe say they're in need of some seasonal cheer, so no government wants to be seen to be cancelling christmas — and that, they say, is why they're taking these covid measures now. but what measures?

well, that varies from country to country and region to region. bavaria has cancelled its christmas market. brussels is giving it a good go. the european commission has nothing to say here because, when it comes to health, each eu member state decides for themselves. this weekend there were protests, some violent, against new covid restrictions in austria, italy, the netherlands, croatia and belgium. pressure is mounting in europe on the health services as well as the streets. the world health organization warns there could be half a million more deaths here by springtime unless effective action is taken. katya adler, bbc news, brussels. and you can get much more on our website, bbc.com/news on this topic — including the latest data on vaccinations across the world. lots more analysis and news on the site, or download the bbc news app.

people in the american state of wisconsin are holding a vigil for the five people killed after a man drove his vehicle into a christmas parade in the city of waukesha. police have now detained the driver who's been named as 39—year—old darrell brooks. the vehicle hit members of a marching band, and the local hospital says its treated 18 children among the wounded. our correspondent barbara plett usher reports. this little girl narrowly escaped with her life. she had no idea what was hurtling towards her. and here the moment when the joy and festivity of the christmas parade turned to horror and tragedy. a vehicle travelling at full speed struck members of a marching band. the driver continued forward, hitting and running over others in his path. these young dancers perfectly in step one moment, the next brutally disrupted. people, families and children ran for their lives.

chelsea! others tried to save those crumpled on the pavement. it wasjust carnage, likening it to a war zone. there were adults, children that were injured. some of our first responders were there with their families. they left their families to treat people, helped with incident command, helped transport. the suspect is a local man, darrell brooks, an aspiring rapper. he posted this video on his youtube channel, including what looks like the red vehicle used in the hit—and—run. court documents show he has a lengthy criminal record. police said he had fled a domestic disturbance and that he had acted alone. but the result was devastating. this was the president's message to a community in mourning. last night, the people of waukesha were gathered to celebrate the start of a season of hope and togetherness, and thanksgiving. this morning, jill and i and the entire biden family, and i'm sure all of us,

pray that that same spirit�*s going to embrace and lift up all the victims of this tragedy. this afternoon, the police cordon came down and the road reopened. but nothing feels back to normal. in the coming days, there will be opportunities to grieve and remember the victims together. but right now, the town is onlyjust beginning to absorb the shock and loss. barbara plett usher, bbc news, waukesha, wisconsin. a private investigator has been describing the lengths he says he went to around 15 years ago to get information about prince harry and his then girlfriend chelsy davy. speaking for the first time, gavin burrows has told the bbc that he targeted her voicemails for a newspaper. prince harry is part of a group involved in on—going legal action against the news of the world and the sun that could culminate in a trial. the private investigator is a witness in the legal case. his claims have yet to be heard

in court and are strongly disputed by the publisher of both papers. news group newspapers has though previously accepted that some unlawful activity did occur at the news of the world but denies wrongdoing at the sun. here's our media editor amol rajan — and a warning, his report contains some flashing images. what is referred to is the invisible contract behind closed doors. between the institution and the tablets. the duke of sussex regularly speaks out about what he sees as the ills of modern media. his difficult relationship with the press goes back to the youth in the culture of tabloids in the mid to thousands.

how he basically became the new diana. this private investigator is a witness in legal cases against the news of the world and the sun but by prince harry and others which claim how he became a victim of media intrusion from his teams. the duke is also taking legal action against nera group newspapers. gavin burroughs says he targeted daily for news of the world. there was a lot of voice mail hiking going on. and surveillance going on on chelsea bailey, | on her phones, chelsea . would bring to her friends when she was going to see them. and so her life became an object of obsession for you guys as well. yes, medical records, i had she had an abortion, sexual diseases, ex boyfriends, basically was part of a group - of people that robbed him i of his normal teenage years.

the lawyer representing the group of litigants which include prince harry says that while most victims of hacking have settled, some have not. certain claimants want to have their day in court and want to see there be a trial, so that newspapers are held to account for what they did. meghan markle's privacy case against the mail on sunday has generated plenty of recent headlines, but her husband's ongoing legal battle could be an even bigger moment. how big a moment in british public life do you think it could be, if prince harry gets his day in court, as he seems to want? i think it will be massive. because it's very striking, i isn't it, that he keeps going? all the other people, - up until now, have settled, a financial settlement, with no admission - of guilt on any side. over 1,000 people have settled, and there's a few who haven't, and prince harry's one of those. yeah, he doesn't| want to be 1,001. prince harry says he wants reform of the media. this ongoing case, which could culminate in a trial, shows he intends to use the law as one tool to achieve his ends. amol rajan, bbc news. an investigation by bbc news

has found that two women who died of herpes could have been infected by the same surgeon working in kent. the women died six weeks apart, within days of giving birth, of what is usually a mild infection. east kent hospitals trust said they could not identify the source of the infection, and the surgeon had no history of the virus. our social affairs correspondent michael buchca nan uncovered the story. these two women, both new mothers, died 44 days apart. their families were led to believe their deaths were not linked, until now. she was a real fun—loving girl. great personality. had lots of friends. in may 2018, kim sampson gave birth to a son, her second child. she was a brilliant barber and a brilliant mum. the 29—year—old had undergone an emergency caesarean delivery. but complications set in, the hospital didn't know why and she died 19 days after giving birth. we kept being told everything was going to be ok after she had that first operation, but from then... and then she had a further

operation after that because she was bleeding out from lots of places and there was nothing they could do with her. that trust told the family that kim had died of herpes, a common, usually mild infection that is rarely fatal. but they couldn't say how she had been infected. they didn't give us an explanation other than, she may have come into close contact with someone who had a cold sore. following kim sampson's death, the trust said they told all maternity staff to take precautions against herpes infections butjust seven weeks later, another woman became similarly ill. they went on their honeymoon and i think she fell pregnant just after they got back. and she wanted a child? yes, definitely. they'd always talked about having three children. samantha mulcahy gave birth by caesarean section to her daughter injuly 2018. the 32—year—old again quickly deteriorated, baffling medics, and died eight

days after giving birth. i can remember right at the very end, even then they said they were basically at a loss, they didn't know what was wrong. the hospital said samantha too had died of herpes, two rare deaths but seemingly no link. we were told there was no connection at all with the deaths. but that turned out not to be the case. the trust quickly discovered the same surgeon had operated on both women. documents we've seen show that just two weeks after the second death, they were told "it does look like surgical contamination". public health england concluded the strain of the virus the women died of was rare and maybe epidemiologically linked. these are certainly very unusual cases. very rare indeed. we shared the documents with peter greenhouse, a world—renowned expert on herpes infection. the only common source would be the surgeon who performed the operations, but if you think of the speed at which these women became

unwell and the location of their infection, which was inside the abdomen, it does seem very much more likely and more biologically plausible that was the original site of the infection. peter greenhouse says the strongest likelihood is that the surgeon had a herpetic whitlow, a small, often unnoticeable sore on his finger and that he unwittingly shared the herpes virus. even though he was wearing surgical gloves, a study of caesarean sections found the gloves tear in more than 50% of operations, potentially allowing the virus to infect the women. we showed both families the expert's opinion. that was the original site of the infection. | does that make sense? yeah. i feel sick listening to that. it makes me think even more that there's a problem.

in a statement, east kent hospitals trust said that following detailed testing and analysis, there was insufficient evidence to determine if the infection originated from the same source. they added that the surgeon had told them he had no hand lesions or history of the virus. the women's babies both survived, and theirfamilies now want inquests into the deaths. michael buchanan, bbc news, kent. still to come a bit later in the programme: we'll tell you about a rapper whose popular song has been banned in mainland china — and why he says he has no regrets. if you want to get in touch with me, i'm on twitter — @bbckarishma. the restrictions taking place in europe because of the increase in numbers of covid cases there. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme:

venezuela's election leads to a strong showing for president maduro's ruling party — and renewed worries over democracy in south america. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world — the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number ten to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air - balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed i to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air- that we need, it's hard cash."

cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 19605 — it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines... austria introduces a full national lockdown as european ministers prepare to meet to discuss a response to rising covid cases. police in wisconsin rule out terrorism as they prepare to charge the driver of the car that ploughed into a holiday parade with five counts of intentional homicide. in venezuela, nicolas maduro's ruling socialist party has won a sweeping victory in regional elections. it won 20 state governorships, against three

for the opposition. it's the first vote in four years which the main opposition parties actually contested. our correspondent katy watson is in western venezuela and following developments. i don't think anybody was under the illusion that these elections were free and fair completely. i think what's different about these was the opposition was coming back to participate after several years of boycotting the vote because they didn't think they were the conditions to participate. the general feeling was that the only way to change the physical direction of the country was to get involved in the political process. so, that is what the agreement was among the parties. but there's still a of division between them — and i think that's what we've seen in these elections, is that the government is in a very strong position, these results were no surprise. but at the same time, the opposition is united in the fact that they want to unseat and loosen the grip of power of nicolas maduro.

but they don't have any real cohesive plan, or agreement on how to do that, and that's been the problem that we've seen is the two sides — when you speak to people here in venezuela, certainly so many people feel despondent, the turnout was just over a0%, and there's a real lack of hope in the political system that, no matter the politician, very few people think they'll be able to make their lives easier here. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... it's 100 days since the taliban took control of kabul. the rapid advance followed a decision by presidentjoe biden to withdrawal us troops from the country. the taliban has already moved to restrict media freedom and the education rights of girls. thousands of people, including female judges, have fled the country and are now living abroad.

meanwhile, the international committee of the red cross has warned of severe malnutrition in afghanistan this winter. a lot of development aid has been frozen since the taliban takeover in august. the red cross is currently supporting 18 afghan hospitals. the women's tennis association says it's still concerned about chinese tennis player peng shuai. social media pictures of the star have now emerged as well as images from a video call with the ioc president. the player disappeared from public view after accusing a senior chinese politician of sexual assault. a rapper whose popular song has been banned in mainland china, says he has no regrets about being blacklisted. namewee's social media accounts were blocked after the song, which makes fun of beijing

and young chinese nationalists on social media, went viral. the bbc spoke to the malaysian singer—songwriter.

the brit awards — the uk's answer to the grammy�*s — will scrap gendered categories for the first time at next year's ceremony. the male and female awards for best artists will be combined into a single prize from 2022. artists like sam smith

and will young had previously called for the change, saying the current system excludes non—binary artists. gennaro castaldo is spokesperson for the brit awards and told the bbc why the organisation has decided to make the change. i mean, the brits continue to try to evolve and remain relevant. obviously, we've been aware of that kind of debate. we want to stay in touch with what's happening, notjust in the industry, but society as a whole. and, as markjust said there, this is actually, of course, about promoting inclusivity, removing any barriers so that anybody can actually put their music forward however they identify. but ultimately, it's about seeing the artist exactly as that and defining them, judging them by their work rather than by how they identify, and i think that's a sensible contemporary way of doing it. if you were starting the brits awards from scratch today, or any awards, you would probably think about it in those terms. so, i think first and foremost, that's the key reason, but obviously, if it helps us remove barriers so that it

really makes us open and accessible, i think that has to be a very positive thing as well. now, a very, very bad day in the office for one australian journalist. you've got a big interview with adele for her new album, and you've been sent from sydney to london to do it. but you come back empty—handed. that's what's happened to an australian tv host who's said he is "mortified" over an error that cost his network an interview with the superstar singer. matt doran, from channel 7, met adele for her only australian interview. but after admitting that he had not listened to the album, sony withheld the interview footage. doran apologised and said he had missed an email with a preview copy of the songs. it was an oversight but not a deliberate snub, he told the australian newspaper. "this is the most important email i have ever missed." poor guy.

that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello. after all of monday's sunshine, tuesday will be a cloudier day with the best of any sunny spells across southernmost parts of the uk. despite all the cloud, there'll be a lot of dry weather around, though you may encounter a little light rain or drizzle. it is high pressure, which is why it is mainly dry — it is bringing in the cloudier moist weather from the atlantic with some air which is a little less chilly than it's been — but i'm not sure we'll notice much difference between monday and tuesday because we're exchanging sunshine for so much more cloud — cloud will have prevented much in the way of frost into scotland and northern ireland overnight. it's england and wales that'll start with the lower temperatures and the greater chance for a frost, but also some early sunny spells. a rather cloudy day, though, in scotland and northern ireland, some patchy rain and drizzle north and west scotland, into northern ireland. and northwest england

and north wales could see some of that, as well — and see the cloud just increasing further through wales and england. just east anglia across southern england, to parts of south wales having some sunny spells on through the afternoon with temperatures which are close to average for the time of year. the odd shower near the north sea coast and the far southeast of england into the channel islands, a few of those could continue into tuesday night. with a lot of cloud around, so bear the only frost, and a band of rain working into scotland and northern ireland as we start off on wednesday morning. now, some fog patches for tuesday morning, as there could be for wednesday morning, as well — and particularly through parts of wales and england, they mayjust end with a grey and rather misty, murky day, an already cold—feeling day. ahead of this weather front, which takes rain towards northwest england and wales, and out of scotland and northern ireland with sunshine following, but blustery showers, wintry on hills. it is a colder—feeling day for wednesday. and then, for thursday, the colder air has come back —

but it's a brighter day again with sunny spells, though cloud steadily increasing in scotland and northern ireland. wintry showers in northern scotland, a few coastal showers elsewhere in both the east and west of the uk, but most dry with some sunshine. and then, this at the end of the week that will take us into the weekend, as well, an area of low pressure moves across us — so wet weather pressing south, heavy showers following on behind, and stronger winds with gales in places, as well. and it will feel much colder with a significant wind chill around. and some of these showers may be wintry not necessarilyjust on hills.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from new york. i'm stephen sackur. scratch the surface of everyday american life and you find a society deeply polarised. donald trump may have left the white house, but the culture wars that he inflamed are still raging. my guest today is an increasingly influential young conservative activist, ryan girdusky. he says that america's schoolchildren are being brainwashed about race, and he is going to stop it.

what does it say about america that the classroom has