this is bbc news. our top stories: the women's tennis association suspends all tournaments in china amidst concerns about peng shuai. we are not going to walk away from this and we're not going allow this to be swept away without the appropriate respect and seriousness of the allegations that have been reflected are appropriately addressed. covid cases in south africa have increased sharply, as the first case of omicron is reported in the us. hollywood actor alec baldwin insists he did not pull the trigger in the fatal shooting of cinematographer halyna hutchins. abortion rights in the balance as the united states supreme court

hears the most important case in a generation. and the winner is... the turner prize goes to a traditional irish pub with a twist. hello. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. some of the biggest names in tennis have thrown their support behind the women's tennis association after it said it will immediately suspended all tournaments in china. the head of the wta has told the bbc the decision was taken because chinese authorities have failed to address sexual assault allegations made by the doubles star peng shuai against a former vice premier. courtney bembridge has the latest. it's been a month since peng shuai posted on social

media, accusing a top chinese official of sexual assault. the post was quickly taken down and she disappeared from public view. chinese state media has released a series of videos of her, but there are concerns she was filmed under duress. the women's tennis association says it's still yet to speak to her, and until there is a transparent investigation into the sexual assault claims, it's pulling the plug on lucrative tournaments in china. we're not going to walk away from this and we're not going to allow this to be swept away without the appropriate respect and seriousness of the allegations that have been reflected are appropriately addressed. china is a key market for women's tennis, and the decision could cost the wta hundreds of millions of dollars in broadcasting and sponsorship. but the wta says it can't, in good conscience, asked athletes to compete there.

this is about something that's bigger than the business and bigger than the financials. world number one novak djokovic says: american former world number one billiejean king tweeted: the international olympic committee had a video call with peng shuai last month and said she was safe and well. but with the beijing winter olympics and paralympics around the corner, the ioc has been accused of putting its interests over the safety of athletes. china is yet to respond to the wta decision, but it's clear the questions about peng shuai aren't going away. courtney bembridge, bbc news.

i've been speaking to ben rothenberg is an american sports writer who covers tennis and also co—hosts a tennis podcast, no challenges remaining. i asked for his reaction to the suspension of tournaments. i also think it's been something that's a bit inevitable based on the strong sense they took right off the jump. once they decided to speak out about peng shuai, they made it clear that they were notjust concerned about this issue narrowly, but also about larger issues, about censorship in china, about women's voices being heard in china, other sorts of issues that i don't think the chinese government is ever going to compromise on. i think the writing was on the wall for this for a few weeks now, and now the wta is just following up on its stance and making good on its threat, to pull out its business from china, and people have been really admiring them for being that bold and that decisive given all that is at stake for them monetarily and businesswise in that market. that is a key point, that, financially, this could be

a very big hit to the women's tennis association and its efforts to, for example, achieve equal prize money for women competitors. what needs to happen now to sort of bolster their decision and make sure they do not suffer financially? what does the rest of the sport or tennis world now need to do? i think the wta has gotten a lot of accolades from a lot of politicians and sports leaders around the world, and i think what it needs now is for those same people or same countries who are praising them for standing up to china, as so few of them are willing to do in sports and in business, for those countries now to step up and open their cheque books to support women's tennis in terms of giving it new homes to play. women's tennis is a global sport, it's the most popular women's sport. there's lots of countries that could be interested in hosting premiere elite wta events, but china had been outbidding all of those countries for many years now. now, it's a chance for those countries to step up and fill the void that is there for women's tennis right now as it seeks home for many of its biggest events.

is there any obvious place in your mind that could step in as an alternative host country? a couple of things that come to mind for me, london, actually, which hosted the men's world tour finals for many years at the 02 arena there, i think london could be a big market for women's tennis events in the future, especially with emma raducanu breaking through to win the us open. i think there's probably a lot of interest in london there. similarly, on another player driven level, injapan, with naomi osaka, her massive stardom. japan, ithink, had been overshadowed a bit in the asian market by china gobbling up all the rights to big events. this could be an opportunity forjapan as well to assert itself on women's tennis map and maybe become a home for big events as well. and then traditional markets in america and europe had already lost a bunch of their events to china, with the gravitational pull of the chinese money, and it's a chance for them to sort of regain some of those losses as well. the us actor alec baldwin has given his first interview

since a gun he was holding on set went off, killing cinematographer halyna hutchins, back in october. in the interview with abc news, he was emotional as he recalled the 42—year—old as someone who was "loved by everyone". he also said this... the trigger wasn't pulled, i didn't pull the trigger. so, you never pulled the trigger? no, no, no. i would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never. what did you think happened? how did a real bullet get on that set? i have no idea. someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn't even supposed to be on the property. our correspondent in los angeles, david willis, has more details. when news of this incident first broke six weeks ago, it seemed tragic, undoubtedly, surprising, but a fairly straightforward incident. indeed, the local sheriff's department, within a couple of hours of this shooting, issued a statement in which it referred to the discharge

of a gun by the actor, alec baldwin. but as the weeks have gone by, this whole thing has started to seem less and less straightforward. now we have alec baldwin himself coming forward to dispute what had seemed to be up till now an incontrovertible part of the whole narrative, if you like, and namely that he was the person who pulled the trigger of the gun that fired the live bullet that killed the cinematographer halyna hutchins. naturally, this raises a whole load of questions — triggers don't pull themselves, so how did this gun go off? could alec baldwin perhaps have inadvertently applied pressure to the trigger that caused the gun to fire? combined with a range of other uncertainties, disputes on the part of members of the film crew, the inadvertent misfiring of other weapons on the set, and claims of potential sabotage, this all looks now anything but straightforward. just briefly, david,

where are we up to with the investigation? detectives are focusing on how live ammunition could have made its way onto this film set, ben, contrary to all film industry protocols. they've interviewed members of the cast and crew, they number about 100 in total, and their investigation is continuing, they say they reserve the right to press charges against anyone involved in this production, including alec baldwin himself, but no charges have been laid so far. let's get some of the day's other news. the first accuser to testify against ghislaine maxwell has told jurors she wished she never received $5 million in sexual abuse compensation from jeffrey epstein�*s estate. after enduring eight hours of questioning from defence and prosecution, the alleged victim, known only as �*jane�*,

broke down in tears and said she is seeking "peace and healing" through testifying. ms maxwell has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of sex trafficking and other crimes. former president donald trump reportedly tested positive for covid—i9 in the days before he faced off againstjoe biden in a televised debate last year. according to an account by former white house chief of staff mark meadows, in a new book obtained by the guardian newspaper, mr trump tested positive on september 26 of last year. the debate was on the 29th. mr trump was hospitalised just days later. the trial of four people charged over the deaths of 216 people in a nightclub fire almost eight years ago has begun in brazil. more than 600 others were injured. a police investigation concluded that the fire started when sparks from a flare lit by the singer of the band who were performing at the time. two band members and two owners of the nightclub

face 2a2 charges of homicide and 636 of attempted murder. south africa has recorded a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, which have doubled across the country since monday. health officials say the newly discovered omicron variant may be fuelling the surge, although it isn't clear how many of the new cases it accounts for. 8,500 covid infections have been registered in south africa in the last 2a hours. officials there say omicron is "rapidly becoming the dominant variant" after the country became the first to detect the highly mutated new variant last week. since then, omicron has been identified in two dozen countries. the latest is the us, specifically san franscisco, where the city's health department gave more details. well, earlier i spoke to dr celine gounder, an epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist. i asked whether she believed in mandatory vaccinations

to curb the spread of new variants like omicron. ido i do think we should be mandating vaccination. i think we should be mandating vaccinations specifically for travel, whether that is domestic travel or international travel, i think we should be mandating vaccination in addition to testing, and the united states has moved on testing, we are now requiring testing within 2a hours prior to international travel, and based on what we know about the incubation period notjust of omicron, but the prior dominant variant, the delta variant, this is really a move that we should have made months ago, six plus months ago, to move to this requirement they be twisted 2a hours prior to travel as opposed to 72 hours prior to

travel. ~ , u, , travel. with the first case bein: travel. with the first case being identified, - travel. with the first case being identified, first - travel. with the first case | being identified, first case travel. with the first case . being identified, first case of the omicron variant being identified in the u.k.'s, — live us, california, is there any sort of estimate as to how many more there might be? we have seen this with other variants. by the time it is detected in one country, it is too late to stop it being brought in because it travels through the community or other cases have arrived. i through the community or other cases have arrived.— cases have arrived. i think we robabl cases have arrived. i think we probably have _ cases have arrived. i think we probably have a _ cases have arrived. i think we probably have a lot _ cases have arrived. i think we probably have a lot more - probably have a lot more introductions of omicron variant in the us beyond this one case in san francisco. if you look at testing, genomic testing surveillance across the country, there is an average of 15% of cases that are now being tested, undergoing genomic testing in san francisco, it is just under that average at about 12 or 13%. there are parts of the country that are as low as 3%, and so i don't

think it is surprising that we may have missed an introduction of omicron in parts of the country, and i don't think it is surprising that it would have been picked up in that part of the country that was doing a relatively high rate of testing. doing a relatively high rate of testinu. �* ., , ., testing. and given what you have just — testing. and given what you have just said, _ testing. and given what you have just said, to _ testing. and given what you have just said, to travel - testing. and given what you i have just said, to travel bands or travel restrictions make any difference, because once it is present in a country, it is already there.— already there. travel restrictions - already there. travel restrictions can - already there. travel| restrictions can make already there. travel i restrictions can make a difference if they are done rigorously and rapidly. so headway restricted travel into the us on the 26th or 27th of this month, last month i should say, that might have made a difference. had we imposed the travel restrictions notjust on foreigners, but also non—us citizens and us residents, so notjust foreigners, non—us

not just foreigners, non—us residents, that notjust foreigners, non—us residents, that might have made a difference. and then pairing that with testing requirements and quarantine might have made and quarantine might have made a difference. as somebody who worked in south africa personally i worked in south africa from the late 90s up until 2012, and i africa from the late 90s up until2012, and i can africa from the late 90s up until 2012, and i can tell you, flying those flights, for example from atlanta to johannesburg, half of the passengers are american at least. and so you are only restricting or abetting or surveilling half of your passengers on the other half could be carrying, incubating the omicron or other variants, you are really leaving a very wide loophole there. dr celine gounder there. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: and the winner is... a traditional irish pub. the belfast—based array collective wins the turner prize, with an art installation depicting issues affecting northern ireland.

it's quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster are the poor people living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory. i am feeling so helpless that the childrens are dying in front of me and i can't do anything. charles manson - is the mystical leader of the hippie cult suspected of killing sharon tate - and at least six other. people in los angeles. at 11:00 this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. it took the drills just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle. then philippe cozette, a minerfrom calais, was shaking hands and exchanging flags with robert fagg, his opposite numberfrom dover.

welcome back to bbc news. the latest headlines: the women's tennis association has suspended all tournaments in china, saying it has serious doubts that chinese tennis star peng shuai is "free, safe and not subject to intimidation". covid cases in south africa have doubled since monday, as the first case of omicron is reported in the us. the us supreme court has begun hearing arguments in the most important case on abortion rights for half a century. the court is considering a law in the state of mississippi which bans terminations after 15 weeks. a ruling isn't expected until next summer. the court is dominated byjustices with a conservative mindset. and if they find in mississippi's favour, dozens of other states could

ban or restrict abortions. our correspondent sophie long sent this report. singing this is a regular scene outside the last remaining abortion clinic in the entire state of mississippi. it's murder, murdering children is wrong according to the god of the bible. the difficult decision women who come here have made, is judged very publicly. this is the front line in a bitter battle that has gone on for decades. mississippi is trying to ban abortions after 15 weeks. if the supreme court rules in the state's favour, it will roll back the law that has been in place for nearly half a century, known as roe v wade. pro—choice campaigners say that will threaten lives. and it's people in the poorest communities that will feel the impact the most. we'rejust going out in the community...

these students are spreading the anti—abortion message. they want it banned without the exception of incest or rape, and lydia knows how that feels. i actually was in that same situation. i'm very sorry. but i thought... - and i was scared. i was thinking, you know what, even if i am, it's just amazing that there's possibly a baby inside of me. even with the law still intact, many have been forced to travel thousands of miles from states like texas where abortion is banned afterjust six weeks, to more liberal states to access the care they need. one 19—year—old has come across half the country from houston to seattle. she was assaulted, did a pregnancy test that was negative, but over the following weeks, her body continued to change. i was scared. i don't want any memory of that day, any connection to that person. i could not get any help for the pain i was going through.

ijust had to suffer in silence. when people are controlling women's fertility and pregnant people's fertility under the guise they are trying to protect their health, they are really controlling that person's basic human rights and dignity, and that is a form of human rights abuse. the supreme court's decision will likely not come until next summer. over the coming months, many will pray and others will hope it goes their side's way. sophie long, bbc news, seattle. sam lau is a spokesperson for planned parenthood. he's in bethesda, maryland. it's good to have you with us. thank you for having me. we keep seeing _ thank you for having me. we keep seeing these interpretations of the opening of this case that the court

appears to be minded to find it in mississippi's favour. what is your take on things?- is your take on things? yes, no, it was... _ is your take on things? yes, no, it was... listening - is your take on things? yes, no, it was... listening to . is your take on things? yes, | no, it was... listening to oral arguments today was, overall, i think deeply disturbing, deeply concerning. but, unfortunately, not surprising, you know. the former president donald trump, the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnel, broke the rules, broke norms to put three new supreme courtjustices on the court with the express purpose to overturn roe versus wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. and i think what you heard today at the supreme court, unfortunately, was that there are probably a majority of justices who are prepared to turn the clock back 50 years and upend the constitutional right to an abortion in the united states. if right to an abortion in the united states.— right to an abortion in the united states. if the court rulin: united states. if the court ruling is — united states. if the court

ruling is in _ united states. if the court ruling is in favour - united states. if the court ruling is in favour of - ruling is in favour of mississippi and the right to have an abortion is restricted or limited as a result, what happens then?— or limited as a result, what happens then? or limited as a result, what ha ens then? ~ , ., . happens then? well, research we have done — happens then? well, research we have done with _ happens then? well, research we have done with our _ happens then? well, research we have done with our partners - happens then? well, research we have done with our partners at i have done with our partners at in our own voice show that it is possible that 26 days in the united states could quickly move to ban abortion. that would affect about 36 million women of reproductive age and other people who can become pregnant. what we know though is that banning abortion does not stop people from needing or seeking abortions. and we've seen that. in the state of texas, in the second—biggest state in the united states, for three months there has been a man in place at six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most people know they are pregnant, and what we have seen a planned parenthood health centres across the country is that texans are travelling hundreds if not thousands of miles to

access what should be basic essential healthcare. and so if the supreme court was to overturn roe versus wade, it would mean that access to abortion, the ability to make your own reproductive give healthcare decisions will be based on your zip code. in which case, what sort of role does planned parenthood play? is it possible, if it came to it, try to challenge and ask for and overturning of the overturning?— for and overturning of the overturning? well, i can tell ou overturning? well, i can tell you that _ overturning? well, i can tell you that planned _ overturning? well, i can tell| you that planned parenthood overturning? well, i can tell- you that planned parenthood and all of our partner organisations are never going to stop fighting and we will do everything that we can for our patients and to protect the right to abortion. i think what we need to do and what today's oral argument —— arguments meekly is that we can no longer rely on the courts to protect our access to protect abortion

and a central healthcare, we need to do is pursue proactive policies at the federal level, the state level that will ensure that every person who needs an abortion can access abortion, no matter how much money they make, no matter where they live, no matter the colour of their skin. fik. where they live, no matter the colour of their skin.— colour of their skin. 0k. sam, we are out — colour of their skin. 0k. sam, we are out of— colour of their skin. 0k. sam, we are out of time. _ colour of their skin. 0k. sam, we are out of time. but - colour of their skin. 0k. sam, we are out of time. but thank| we are out of time. but thank you very much indeed for speaking to us. sam lau there. thank you. an art installation depicting a traditional irish pub has been unveiled as the winner of this year's turner prize. the piece by the belfast—based array collective features photos, memorabilia, and videos — some of them representing hidden political messages about sexuality and identity. our correspondent david sillito reports from the awards ceremony in coventry. the winner of the turner prize 2021... and it is... ..array collective. cheering array collective, a group of artists and activists from northern ireland whose turn a prize—winning

artwork is more than just a pub, it's a shebeen — a symbolic place of good—natured debate and sanctuary from sectarian conflict. this is your shebeen, your pub, but it's more than that, it has a political overtone to it? we don't all agree on everything and the communities we are within and represented, don't agree on everything, but we still agree to have a laugh together. array collective's origins lie in progressive and liberal campaigns, creating banners and costumes for street protests and rallies — an attempt to bring art to a less combative mood to the street theatre of northern ireland politics. we come at it from a point of view where it's better to come at it from a humorous point of view than an aggressive point of view. you can challenge the conversation through humour, rather than aggression. bringing a bit of civility to the debate? and the human connection. this is more thanjust a little drinking den,

it's a desire to bring to our politics, some of the gentle warmth and conviviality of a friendly pub. david sillito, bbc news, coventry. this is bbc news. thanks for watching. hello. the cold air is back. thursday gets off to a chilly start with a widespread frost and temperatures won't crawl up too far for the day despite a lot of sunshine on offer. the cold air has come chasing down through these isobars all the way from close to the arctic circle, sweeping its way right to south across the uk. overnight starting to plunge down into the continent through thursday. we are all in the arctic air and we will all feel it thanks to a cold northerly breeze. where we've seen some showers overnight there will be a risk of ice to start us off on thursday. as i said, a widespread frost. further showers across eastern scotland, eastern counties of england through the day, a few as well across the west coast of wales particularly i think through pembrokeshire pushing down through devon and cornwall, eastern scotland.

perhaps clearing come the afternoon. but it's cold in the sunshine. highs ofjust 3—4 degrees. sunshine a bit milkier for northern ireland through the afternoon. that is because this weather system will be starting to work its way in. as it runs into the cold air there could be some snow for a time but it will tend to turn back to rain as the air coming in behind this band of rain is relatively mild. actually, temperatures at the end of friday night higher than those we will see through thursday daytime. and on into friday daytime and we will have some rain around for southern and eastern england to start the day, we will get some brightness for scotland and northern ireland, they'll be a few showers on and off here. just some question to the south of the uk weather — this rain could push in through friday afternoon. we will certainly keep a lot of cloud generally across england and wales but temperatures perhaps 11—12 degrees. it's certainly milder than thursday.

to the north, five, six, seven. for the weekend, though, the chill returns. perhaps not quite as cold as thursday but once again will pick up a northwesterly breeze. for saturday, i think that's going to bring in some quite plentiful showers across northern ireland heading into north wales down into the midlands. temperatures, 6—7 degrees but it will feel cooler in the breeze. sunday is a very similar story but i think we can erase some of the showers from our picture. still some for western exposures of wales, and a northerly breeze, so really adding to the chillier feel.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the women's tennis association says it is suspending all tournaments in china. it comes after chinese tennis star peng shuai disappeared from public view for three weeks after she accused a top official of sexual assault. some of the biggest names in tennis have thrown their support behind the wta's move. south africa has recorded a sharp increase in coronavirus infections which have doubled across the country since monday. health officials say the newly discovered omicron variant may be fuelling the surge. at the same time, the first case of the new variant has been reported in california. the american actor, alec baldwin, has given his first full interview since the fatal shooting of the cinematographer, halyna hutchins, on the set of his film, rust. mr baldwin told abc he did not pull the trigger on the gun which killed ms hutchins in october.