this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk government promises it will be christmas as normal despite the discovery of the omicron variant of coronavirus. from tuesday, people in england will once again have to wear masks in shops and on public transport — the health secretary says ministers acted as quickly as they could what we do know is much more about our own country and i think the speed at which we acted at, it could not have been any faster. israel says it will ban the entry of all foreigners — making it the first country to shut its borders completely in response to the new omicron variant. european ministers — minus the uk

home secretary priti patel — meet for talks in calais today about how to stop migrants crossing the channel and weather warnings are still in place in parts of the uk — as the clean up from storm arwen continues hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the uk health secretary, sajid javid, has promised it will still be a great christmas despite the discovery of two cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus in nottingham and essex. the government has introduced new measures to combat the variant. from tuesday — all international travellers arriving in the country will have to take a pcr test within two days, and self isolate until they get a negative result.

anyone who's been in contact with somebody who has the omicron variant, will also have to self—isolate for ten days, regardless of whether they've been vaccinated. face coverings will once again become compulsory in shops and on public transport in england from tuesday. in scotland, wales and northern ireland they're already mandatory on public transport and in many indoor areas. katharine da costa reports. it is hard to believe just a week ago no—one had even heard of omicron, a highly mutated covid variant that may spread more rapidly and could make vaccines less effective. but with the confirmation of two cases of the variant here in the uk, concerns have escalated quickly. our scientists are learning more hour by hour and it does appear that omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated. there is also a very extensive

mutation which means it diverges quite significantly from previous configurations of the virus and, as a result, it might at least in part reduce the protection of our vaccines over time. four more countries in southern africa have been added to the travel red list, bringing the total to ten. from next week, there will be new targeted restrictions, all international arrivals must take a pcr test on day two and self isolate until they receive a negative result, all contacts of suspected omicron cases must self isolate regardless of their vaccine status, and in england face coverings will be mandatory in shops and on public transport as is the case already in other uk nations. the point we have at the moment is there's a lot of uncertainty about the new omicron variant and because of that uncertainty it is sensible to take

a precautionary approach until we know which way things are going. the government had been criticised for being too slow to act with delta — this time they've moved quickly but the opposition thinks they could have gone further. the government's plan b has always been our plan a. - we think that mask wearing should be commonplace in public— spaces, especially indoors. we think that people should be able to work from home - where that is possible. i think we should have been doing all those things - already so of course we want them to be doing that now. _ the message is vaccines are still our best defence. mrjohnson said they plan to boost the booster campaign and would ask the jcvi whether they should be offered to all adults and if the gap should be shortened between the second and third doses. we don't yet exactly know how effective our vaccines will be against omicron, but we have good reasons for believing they will provide at least some measure of protection and, if you are boosted, your response is likely

to be stronger. so it is more vital than ever that people get theirjabs and we get those boosters into arms as fast as possible. the prime minister said he thought christmas would be better than last year. the new measures will be reviewed in three weeks, by which time we should know how big a threat omicron poses and whether ministers have done enough to limit its spread. katharine da costa, bbc news. this morning, the health secretary, sajid javid sais the government has acted as quickly as it could to combat the omicron variant. our political correspondent, jonathan blake, has been telling me more about what the health secretary had to say. a couple of the pressing questions we are all asking, how effective will vaccines be against it? he said they remain the first line of defence, the government encouraging people to come forward as ever to get vaccine doses

which they are eligible for. there will be new advice on whether to expand the booster jabs, the third dose of the vaccine, to more adults and the health secretary said he expected that imminently so within the next couple of days, we could learn more about that. but he did say there is a chance that the vaccines may be less effective against the new omicron variant. he was also asked about measures the government is taking to contain the spread in the first instance, so we are obviously in the early stages, it was found in south africa on wednesday. the government did act relatively quickly as opposed to earlier in the pandemic but still, he was pressed by andrew marr this morning on bbc one about what the government did in the first instance and whether it could have done more to stop passengers coming in from the southern african countries, spreading the new variant. all people coming from southern africa before the red list was a legal requirement, first of all, they have all been contacted, not just all of them

but all of those that arrived in the last ten days, prior to that. they have all been asked to take tests and isolate if they are positive. how did they get home from the airport? they would have got home in the normal way but... public transport? the speed at which we work, it is not possible to go any faster. to be clear, you did not test them as they came into heathrow? then they were allowed to disperse around the country without being tested 7 if the dutch experience is anything to go by, 10% of them have the new variant? i don't want to jump to conclusions about the dutch experience, i think there's a lot we don't know about what is happening and what is happening certainly in other countries. what we do know is much more about our own country. and i think the speed at which we acted at could not have been any faster. in terms of those people that may have already arrived from southern

africa before the rules changed, i think the appropriate and right thing to do was to contact them all and make sure they are taking tests and self isolating if necessary and that is exactly what we have done. the health secretary also confirmed it would be a legal requirement to wear a face covering in england, on public transport and in shops, that brings it into line with the rest of the uk where face coverings are a legal requirement in certain settings. on whether the government may go further, for example asking more people to work from home or introducing other social distancing measures, sajid javid said he was not at that stage. that was not something that was of interest to him so pretty clear indication there that at least the government does not want to go and is not expecting to go any further in terms of restrictions in the near future. and apparently, we can all still look forward to christmas. i think he said it was going to be a great christmas. but what about political support for these measures, broadly? are the other parties in support?

labour says the government should be going further. they said mandatory face coverings should be a part of the plan a which the government set out earlier in the year and which was in force before these new measures came in. they also argue that other measures such as encouraging more people to work from home and covid—i9 passports as well which are part of plan b which has not been fully implemented should now be in place. they are also asking questions about the detail, particularly around the pcr tests which will be a requirement for travellers coming to the uk, how they will be managed, enforced, and to what extent they will be effective if people are left to their own judgment and responsibility to do that? well, with the discovery of this new omicron variant, scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, told andrew marr that imposing tougher measures could not be ruled out. we have stepped up surveillance, we

are monitoring this very, very carefully. i hope we do not identify cases in scotland but i think we should assume we will and therefore i am asking people to behave right now is if this new variant is present in scotland. comply with all medications and protections that are currently in place. pick up our compliance and that will help us, if it is here, to slow down any risk of transmission. it it is here, to slow down any risk of transmission.— transmission. it may be inevitable that it comes _ transmission. it may be inevitable that it comes but _ transmission. it may be inevitable that it comes but to _ transmission. it may be inevitable that it comes but to try _ transmission. it may be inevitable that it comes but to try and - transmission. it may be inevitable that it comes but to try and avoid | that it comes but to try and avoid it, you're taking the same kind of measures as the uk government in terms of people flying into scotland? they are introducing the new checks for on tuesday at 4am which means lots will come in before the checks are there, are you going to do it earlier? we the checks are there, are you going to do it earlier?— to do it earlier? we are looking to do it as quickly — to do it earlier? we are looking to do it as quickly as _ to do it earlier? we are looking to do it as quickly as possible, - to do it earlier? we are looking to do it as quickly as possible, it - to do it earlier? we are looking to do it as quickly as possible, it is i do it as quickly as possible, it is important to get a proportionate response to this, i think we may have to go further on restricting travel in the days to come, i hope i am wrong but we must keep our minds open to that. that was nicola sturgeon- — as we've heard, there

are new rules for people arriving in the uk — our business correspondent, caroline davies, has been explaining what will happen. we know pcr testing will come in from next week for all uk arrivals. there is confusion over which date that will come in from, some previous suggestions from the health secretary they are planning for it to be around tuesday but nothing absolutely confirmed but interesting, earlier today, a government website did put a warning of an important message across for people who were filling in the passenger locator form which is of course the form everyone who comes into the country has to fill in, which said it would be coming in from 4am tuesday. we have not had official government recognition that is the exact date it will definitely come in from but we will bring you more information as we find that out. pcr testing coming back in for international arrivals. that was only phased out at the end of last month. the 24th of october for england, the 31st for scotland, wales and northern ireland,

a relatively recent change to move away from pcr testing to lateral flow testing. lateral flow tests are cheaper but the disadvantage is they cannot be sequenced to be able to identify the variant. they were originally phased out a month or so ago. because the suggestion was with no variants of concern that we knew were circulating there was not necessarily a need to be able to identify it. some epidemiologists said that this was too early, obviously the point of having these pcr tests on entry was that you were able to identify these variants as they come in and that there is a sort of essentially wave of red flags as soon as someone arrives in the country but other people said without any variants of concern currently circulating around the world, there was no need for it, they were expensive, people would take a lateral flow test and if they tested positive for that they would take a pcr test. we are now going back to pcr tests to make sure the government can keep an eye on any variants coming into the country, ideally

as soon as they arrive. more broadly in terms of business and hospitality and the retail sector, they are going to be worried about christmas, the run—up to christmas? how is all of this going to impact christmas? we heard from sajid javid saying it will be a great christmas, borisjohnson said yesterday it will be better than last year. is going to and knock things off track. of course at this stage it is mostly about a crisis of confidence, that people feel like things are changing, they might not make the same plans they would have done if they felt more confident that the virus and life was getting back to some form of normality. that is the major concern for a lot of industries and hospitality, they want people to make plans and be out enjoying their services, and if people start feeling a lack of confidence, then maybe they might change their behaviour just at this crucial and important time in the run—up to christmas. that will be what will be going

through a lot of businesses minds, how will behaviour start to change in the run—up to christmas? that will be all about in the course of the next few days, the more information we get about the variant, how it spreads, how much of a risk this new variant will be, and how people are feeling about it. well, as has been mentioned, 61 people who arrived in amsterdam on two flights from south africa on friday are infected with covid—i9 and have been placed into isolation. they were among 600 passengers who were held for several hours after arrival while they were tested for the virus. the dutch health authorities are conducting further testing to see if any of them are carrying the recently discovered �*omicron�* variant — now classed as a variant of concern. 66,000 people remain without power across scotland — two days after the gale force winds created by storm arwen. there are about 16,000 properties still without power in the north west of england,

the majority in cumbria. three people are now known to have died after the strong winds brought down trees and damaged buildings. heavy snowfall left hundreds of drivers stranded. our correspondent greg mckenzie has more. a winter wonderland for many across large parts of northern britain but for others, a day of disruption, with road and rail travel affected, power lines brought down in swaledale, in the yorkshire dales, leaving many without electricity. the situation made worse in some places by heavy snow. a lot of the people are reasonably well—prepared because they live here and it is sort of a thing that happens occasionally during the winter but we do have people like our neighbour, patricia, who they do struggle quite a lot �*cause they do not have heating, they do not have the sort of flexibility to cope. across the uk, falling trees have killed three people.

one man in aberdeenshire, another in cumbria, and a third in antrim. francis lagan died when galeforce winds brought a large branch down onto his car. he was travelling with his wife and two of his children at the time. scotland and the north—east of england felt storm arwen�*s full force, battered by strong winds of nearly 100 mph. i had two kids in here as well and they were freaking out. is that a thunderstorm? but i think it was the roof coming apart and it sounded a bit like thunderstorm. scotrail says several of its routes will be suspended until the end of today. network rail scotland saying the situation was one of the most challenging in recent memory. lner says its customers should not travel north of york today

because they are not able to run trains between newcastle and edinburgh. and at gwryck castle in north wales, all the celebrities are out and back in covid isolation. while they wait for technical problems to be repaired. storm arwen knocked out the show�*s production base, forcing cancellation of this weekend's planned episodes. as for today, a yellow warning for ice will remain in place until 11 o'clock this morning. it has been issued for northern and eastern scotland, along with much of the north of england. the uk health security agency has issued a coldweather alert until monday afternoon and is advising people to check—in on older neighbours or relatives, especially those who live alone. greg mckenzie, bbc news. and a little more detail about the storm damage situation — the oprator electricity north west says that it has around 100 engineers working

across cumbria to repair faults and damage caused by storm arwen. an emergency centre for people without power has been set up in coniston — at coniston sports and social club, with a generator powering the whole building provided by electricity north west. and for viewers in the uk, we'll have a weather forecast with ben rich coming up injust under ten minutes' time. a reminder of our headlines on bbc news... the uk government promises it will be christmas as normal despite the discovery of the omicron variant of coronavirus. from tuesday, people in england will once again have to wear masks in shops and on public transport. israel says it will ban the entry of all foreigners — making it the first country to shut its borders completely in response to the new omicron variant. and weather warnings are still

in place in parts of the uk as the clean up from storm arwen continues ministers from belgium, germany and the netherlands are meeting in calais to discuss the growing risks of migration across the channel. the meeting comes after at least 27 people died trying to reach uk shores on wednesday. the home secretary, priti patel, was due to join the meeting but was disinvited amid growing diplomatic tensions, as our france correspondent lucy williamson reports. they say that people smugglers are the enemy but the fight is pushing london and paris apart. this is not really a bilateral issue, france says. the uk must talk to the eu as a whole. but today, the eu will be talking together while london has been left out in the cold. more than half the people in migrant camps here have come

from belgium, the government says, in search of the shortest route across the channel to british shores. a few miles from these sodden tents, france's interior minister will meet colleagues from belgium, germany, the netherlands and the eu today to discuss how to tackle the people smuggling networks. the uk's absence highlights the tension this issue is causing. british politicians used to remind their european counterparts during brexit negotiations that the uk was not leaving europe, just leaving the eu. what that distinction means for managing cross channel migration is still being hammered out. lucy williamson, bbc news, calais. a popular indian stand—up comedian has indicated he won't perform any more after hindu fundamentalists forced organisers to cancel several of his shows. munawar faruqui says 12 shows have been cancelled in the past two months following threats by vigilante groups to the artist and the promoters.

mr faruqui — who is one of only a few muslim comics in india — says hate has won and the artist has lost. earlier this year, he spent a month in jail on charges of insulting hindu gods during a rehearsal. his lawyers say he was arrested forjokes he didn't make. the women's tennis association says it remains concerned about chinese tennis star peng shuai's ability to communicate freely, openly, and directly. peng shuai disappeared from public view for three weeks after accusing a top government official of sexual assault. the association's chairman steve simon says he won't engage in further email communications with her because it's �*clear her responses were influenced by others.�* the world tennis associations says it... "remains deeply concerned that peng is not free from censorship or coercion and decided not to re—engage via email until satisfied her responses were her own, and not

those of her censors." yaqiu wang is a senior researcher on china for human rights watch, she gave us her assessment of the situation. i agree with the wta, i don't think she is free even though she appeared on those pictures. and then making them reappear on videos. this fits into the history of doing that. if the government really wants to show that she is free, why not let her talk to whoever, hold a press conference or let her leave china so she can speak to whoever she wants to speak. everybody knows, this must involve some kind of state

surveillance or coercion. what i also envision is a government orchestrated narrative of peng shuai isjust shameful. i am very encouraged to see the wta's response. international business and sports organisations usually cower to the chinese government and to see this is very encouraging and hopefully other international organisations will follow suit. the metropolitan police have named a 16 year old boy who's has become the 28th teenager to die from stab wounds in london this year. rishmeet singh suffered fatal injuries on a street in southall in the west of the city on wednesday evening hundreds of environmental protesters in serbia have blocked

roads in the capital, belgrade, and several other towns. they're angry about government plans to offer the mining giant, rio tinto, the rights to extract lithium in the town of loznitza. lithium is a crucial component of electric car batteries. the protesters say its extraction would pollute land and water supplies. adele's latest album, "30", has shot to number one in the uk and united states, overtaking abba to become the fastest—selling album of the year. # go easy on me, baby... the lead single from it — easy on me — has already been number one for six consecutive weeks. now the success of "30" in its first few days ensures that all four of the british singer's albums have reached number one — a record for a female artist. so, she's back, but is she still as popular? here's sean mandell,

an entertainment reporter in la. she is incredibly popular but there is some comparisons going on right now between her album 30, which just came out, and her album 25, which was released in 2015, that was a really blockbuster rise to the top of the charts. in the us, for example, that had about 3.3 million albums sold in the first week, over 800,000 in the uk, this time with 30 she has had over 260,000 in the uk. about 660,000 in the us. it's still a precipitous decline for her from those numbers back in 2015. but there are a lot of factors at play that don't necessarily have to do with the album itself or the music itself which is to say streaming music is a big difference and a big factor in what's going on here. because back in 2015, adele actually held off selling her album stream available on streaming services for about six months after the debut whereas this time around it was available on spotify

and other streaming platforms immediately. how those numbers are calculated and added to the overall album sales tally is a bit controversial. so some people might look at that and say it's not actually as big a decline as it may seem and at the end of the day, she still is number one. you are watching bbc news. let's bring you up—to—date with the latest in coronavirus in the netherlands. we were telling you about 61 people who had arrived in amsterdam on flights from south africa on friday, infected with covid—19. they have been tested for the new variant omicron and we are hearing from the dutch health institute that 13 cases

of omicron have been found in the netherlands. 13 cases according to the dutch health institute have been found in the netherlands of that new omicron variant that first originated in south africa. we will bring you more on that as it comes into us. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello there. after the damage and disruption caused by storm arwen yesterday, today is going to be a much calmer affair with lighter winds but it will stay cold, and despite some autumn sunshine there will also be some wintry showers. this swirl of cloud here, that was storm arwen, that has cleared out into the near continent. still, though, our weather coming down from the north so a chilly feel to proceedings and there are plenty of wintry showers around continuing to affect eastern coasts of england as we go through the day. one or two across north—east scotland. northern ireland looking fairly bright through the afternoon but this clump of rain, sleet and snow could give someone wintry weather to quite low levels across parts of east wales

and the midlands. by the afternoon temperatures in aberdeen getting up to just two degrees. still one or two showers clipping that east coast of scotland and affecting parts of north—east england as well. these wintry over high ground, yes, but perhaps to relatively low levels. mainly dry and bright for northern ireland. some of those wintry showers affecting east anglia again, to quite low levels. we could see a little bit of snow and this area of wet and wintry weather through parts of the west midlands into wales, that could well give some snow, again to quite low levels. not as windy as it was yesterday, still quite breezy for those eastern coasts. as we go through this evening and tonight we'll keep some of those showers for eastern parts of england and it will bring this band of cloud and patchy rain into northern ireland and into western scotland, a bit of snow on the leading edge of that because it is running into some cold air. many of us having a frosty start to monday morning. it will be a milder start to the morning for parts of northern ireland and western scotland because as this band of cloud and patchy rain sinks south—eastwards,

and notice a lot of the snow turning back to rain through the day, the wind direction will turn round to a westerly and that will bring milder conditions. so by the afternoon belfast, glasgow, stornoway, ten degrees. compare that with just four or five for hull, for norwich, and for london. but that's where we will see some of the best of the sunshine through monday afternoon. but it is the milder conditions that will win out as we get on into tuesday. this frontal system will bring some outbreaks of rain, especially to the north—west of the uk. it will be fairly breezy as well but temperatures topping out at around 12 degrees. it will then turn a little cooler again through the middle part of the week. that's all from me for now.

hello, this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines... the uk government promises it will be christmas as normal

despite the discovery of the omicron variant of coronavirus.