�*welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. the us announces a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 winter olympics, because of china's record on human rights. china calls the boycott "a pretentious act" and against the spirit of the olympics. condemnation from across the world as the former elected leader of myanmar, aung san suu kyi, is given a prison sentence. as omicron continues to spread around the world — confirmation that the covid—19 variant is also being transmitted, within communities —— across the uk. and the bbc�*s 100 women list is being published — with half of this year's entries

dedicated to women from afghanistan. it's seven in the morning in singapore, and 6 in the evening in washington dc — where the white house says us government officials won't attend next year's winter olympics in beijing because of china's human rights record. however, us athletes will be able to take part in the games and the white house said they had its support. well, china's embassy in washington reacted to the u.s. decision calling it "a pretentious act" and "political manipulation". in a statement they said that it's a grave distortion of the spirit of the olympic charter but it would have no impact whatsoever on the successful

holding of the games. there have been numerous calls for a partial boycott of the games, most of them over the treatment of the uighur minority. here's the white house press secretaryjen psaki explaining whyjoe biden felt the move was necessary: the biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the beijing 2022 winter olympics and paralympic games given the prc�*s ongoing genic genocide and crimes against humanity. and for team usa, the athletes of her full support and will be behind the miniature percentage of each of them on from home and will not be contributing to the fanfare of the games. our north america correspondent peter bowesjoins me now from los angeles, peter, always get debbie on the programme. we talked a while ago

about the fact that this diplomatic boycott was coming. athletes can still go but what signal does this diplomatic boycotts send? i still go but what signal does this diplomatic boycotts send? i think the sianal diplomatic boycotts send? i think the signal is _ diplomatic boycotts send? i think the signal is the _ diplomatic boycotts send? i think the signal is the united _ diplomatic boycotts send? i think the signal is the united states i diplomatic boycotts send? i think| the signal is the united states are not backing down over its long—held belief that they should be held accountable over human rights abuses, oppression over the uighur muslims and there has been considerable pressure in washington on the white house from both parties, the democrats and republicans and there's been support that the us should be taking this stance and they should not be heading to the olympics — partisan support. to a large extent, it is nothing on the scale of the 1980 boycott of the moscow games which was protests of the soviets invasion of afghanistan the year earlier and athletes were withdrawn. thatcher

but not on that scale but making a very significant political point. peter, do you see other countries following suit with their own diplomatic boycotts? it’s following suit with their own diplomatic boycotts? it's quite ossible. diplomatic boycotts? it's quite possible. now— diplomatic boycotts? it's quite possible. now that _ diplomatic boycotts? it's quite possible. now that the - diplomatic boycotts? it's quite possible. now that the united | diplomatic boycotts? it's quite - possible. now that the united states is taking the stance that others will follow suit, we are not looking at and allow people in the sporting world are making this point and of course a lot of people in the sporting world do not like the fact that the olympics are used, in some senses, as a political tool. but the point is being made that whatever action is being taken politically or diplomatically by the united states and potentially other countries, it is not going to affect the nature of the games themselves and the sporting activities of the china as you refer to, are protesting this and saying that the games shouldn't be used essentially to make political points like this. i think

manipulation was the expression the use. russell hearing them say look, at this stage, american diplomats had not even been invited the games. almost pulling down the american action. = almost pulling down the american action. , , almost pulling down the american action. , ._ ., and you can get much more on this story on our website bbc.com — forward slash news — including a look at how china has been preparing for the winter olympics, and its plans to let foreigners again enter in large numbers — something it's not been doing for some time now — ever since the pandemic began. so head over to our website or download the bbc news app. in other headlines — myanmar�*s military rulers are facing international condemnation, after the deposed civilian leader aung san suu kyi was given a four year prison sentence. she was convicted of inciting unrest and violating covid restrictions during last year's election campaign. state media said her sentence was reduced from four to two years after a partial pardon by the head of the militaryjunta. although she still faces further

charges — our south east asia correspondentjonathan head reports it has been an extraordinaryjourney. aung san suu kyi has gone from acclaimed human rights icon to elected leader unrivalled in her popularity and then something of a fallen idol when she defended her generals against charges of genocide at the international court ofjustice. those same generals over through her government in february. they've now imposed to the first of what is expected to be a series of dubious criminal convictions on her. these fleeting courtroom photos are all we've seen of her for more than ten months. today is simply a shameful day for law and justice and accountability in myanmar. the junto have confirmed that they see themselves as above the law.

the huge rallies seen earlier this year in the support of democracy that aung san suu kyi hoped to build have long gone, driven off the streets by volleys of military gunfire. young activists are now arming themselves instead, conducting drive—by shootings and bombings. actions that might horrify aung san suu kyi with her non—violent beliefs. a few brave souls came out today to show their anger over the verdict, but quickly dispersed. peaceful protest is no longer possible in myanmar is the country slides ever deeper into armed conflict. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok.

john blaxland is a professor of international security & intelligence studies at the australian national university and was australia's defence attache to myanmar. hejoins me from canberra obviously, hearing international condemnation in the international community condemning this trial and thejudgment. but will this have community condemning this trial and the judgment. but will this have any impact, do you think on the military, given your experience dealing with them and me and mark? it's pretty clear to me that the military of burma are set on their ways and they are by discrediting and marginalising her. and ensuring that she has no opportunity to make a political comeback sentencing her makes her deemed unfit for

parliament, and this is sending a clear message to her supporters as well in the national unity government, and the insurrections around the country, and the major cities, that this is about demoralising them and trying to suck the oxygen out of their will to fight. because they know that there is momentum that had been building for some time and they had not been a strong position to really grapple with the incredible resolve and persistence to the militaries will ever since the coup in february. given what you just described, will the hunter be successful when it comes to taking the oxygen out of the resistance?— the resistance? look, it depends. certainly facing — the resistance? look, it depends. certainly facing more _ the resistance? look, it depends. certainly facing more resistance l certainly facing more resistance than they had anticipated. but they had set up the road map which i would contend would actually more of a cul—de—sac than a highway and all

along, they had a plan to contain democracy and use it for their own purposes to gain economic advantages, really for the selfish reasons and when that started to unravel in the national league for democracy started winning hands down, electoral outcomes in the electoral assembly last year, it became the leader that essentially were they to retain power, they would need to marginalised aung san suu kyi. they had not anticipated the push they thought they could suppress things like they've done in the past, repeatedly through the history of me and more and we are saying is that that's proving much more difficult for them to achieve. the question now is what is the international community do? find international community do? and briefl , international community do? and briefly. what _ international community do? and briefly, what does it do? china i

international community do? and | briefly, what does it do? china has an enormous _ briefly, what does it do? china has an enormous way _ briefly, what does it do? china has an enormous way here, _ briefly, what does it do? china has an enormous way here, enormous| an enormous way here, enormous investment in china but its neighbours in southeast asia, the southeast asian nations have a role to play in thailand in particular, the prime minister of thailand himself, former general who managed actually have a form of democracy that taking the extreme brutal measures that the burmese of taken scribes a model, but australia has introduced in the united states has it, this is something they have proliferated.— it, this is something they have proliferated. thank you so much for “oininu us proliferated. thank you so much for joining us on _ proliferated. thank you so much for joining us on the — proliferated. thank you so much for joining us on the programme. - a second woman who says epstein sexually abused her has been testifying in the ghislaine maxwell trial in new york. ms maxwell has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges. our correspondent nada tawfik is in new york.

great depth on the programme. we know you've been reporting on this extensively, what happened in court today? extensively, what happened in court toda ? ., ., ., today? today, we heard from the second woman _ today? today, we heard from the second woman in _ today? today, we heard from the second woman in the _ today? today, we heard from the second woman in the indictment | today? today, we heard from the i second woman in the indictment and she's going by the pseudonym kate. it is interesting here is the defence and prosecution have both been arguing over her age because she was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse and that is the age of consent in britain. and thejudge ruled on this saying that she could testify as a witness but the jury was meant to view the sex act as an illegal act. so this is an indictment in regard to crimes, alleged crimes committed on underage girls. but her testimony did become important for the prosecution. this idea of ming that maxwell allegedly

groomed young girls for epstein. we heard from kate that she met him at 17 years old and had tea at her home in london they got on very well and she said she want to be like her when she grew up and was fascinated by the prospect of a friendship with someone is what the end is connected to she was. and said that she even offered for her boyfriend at the time to help her with her music career. she says that the next time she visited, maxwell asked her to massage jeffrey epstein she visited, maxwell asked her to massagejeffrey epstein and that turned into a sexual encounter and that continued for a number of years and so, to be home prosecutors about maxwell, her role with recruiting and grooming young girls allegedly forjeffrey epstein and will suffer the defence in the cross—examination talking to her, they really want to poke holes in her memory and said that she was addicted to drugs and

alcohol and questioning of her events were accurate. thank you for “oininu us events were accurate. thank you for joining us on — events were accurate. thank you for joining us on newsday. _ if you want to get in touch with me i'm on twitter — @bbckarishma you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. the uk adds nigeria to its list of countries facing covid travel restrictions — which nigeria calls travel apartheid. john lennon was shot at the entrance of the building at the centre of new york. there's been a crowd here standing and putting on a silent vigil in the flowers of been piling

up. vigil in the flowers of been piling u -. ' vigil in the flowers of been piling u . _ ' . ., , vigil in the flowers of been piling u -. ' . ., , ., vigil in the flowers of been piling u a . v . ., , ., , vigil in the flowers of been piling up. the 14th cease-fire of this war ended at the _ up. the 14th cease-fire of this war ended at the old _ up. the 14th cease-fire of this war ended at the old city. _ up. the 14th cease-fire of this war ended at the old city. when - up. the 14th cease-fire of this war ended at the old city. when this i up. the 14th cease-fire of this war ended at the old city. when this isj ended at the old city. when this is say that the shells were landing every 20 seconds.— every 20 seconds. people up celebrating _ every 20 seconds. people up celebrating the _ every 20 seconds. people up celebrating the passing - every 20 seconds. people up celebrating the passing of i every 20 seconds. people up celebrating the passing of a l every 20 seconds. people up i celebrating the passing of a man they hold — celebrating the passing of a man they hold responsible for hundreds of deaths _ they hold responsible for hundreds of deaths and depression. elsewhere, people _ of deaths and depression. elsewhere, people have been gathering to mourn his passing. the people have been gathering to mourn his -~assin. ., ., ., his passing. the widow of the former resident his passing. the widow of the former president of — his passing. the widow of the former president of the _ his passing. the widow of the former president of the philippine _ his passing. the widow of the former president of the philippine has i his passing. the widow of the former president of the philippine has gone | president of the philippine has gone on trial_ president of the philippine has gone on trial in_ president of the philippine has gone on trial in manila. _ president of the philippine has gone on trial in manila. she _ president of the philippine has gone on trial in manila. she is _ president of the philippine has gone on trial in manila. she is facing i on trial in manila. she is facing seven— on trial in manila. she is facing seven charges _ on trial in manila. she is facing seven charges of— on trial in manila. she is facing seven charges of tax _ on trial in manila. she is facing seven charges of tax evasion, i seven charges of tax evasion, estimated _ seven charges of tax evasion, estimated as _ seven charges of tax evasion, estimated as £120 _ seven charges of tax evasion, estimated as £120 million. i seven charges of tax evasion, i estimated as £120 million. she pleaded — estimated as £120 million. she pleaded not— estimated as £120 million. she pleaded not guilty. _ estimated as £120 million. she pleaded not guilty. the - estimated as £120 million. she pleaded not guilty.— estimated as £120 million. she pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of— pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wells _ pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wells are _ pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wells are two - pleaded not guilty. the prince and| princess of wells are two separate. they said the decision had been reached amicably. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm in singapore. our main headline.

the us announces a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 winter olympics —— because of china's record on human rights. china calls the boycott "a pretentious act" and against the spirit of the olympics. there's good news and bad news as the world comes to grips with the spread of the omicron variant. on the one hand, experts say that while its very transmissible, the symptoms are relatively mild. that's eased some fears. the bad news, though, is that many countries are tightening their restrictions on travel and mask—wearing, just ahead of the holiday season. our health correspondent sophie hutchinson reports. this scottish school, the first in the uk to be suspected of an omicron outbreak. parents were told last night to keep pupils away and switch to remote learning after two classes and multiple teachers had to self—isolate. this afternoon, the health secretary

told mps omicron had now been reported in 52 countries around the world, and that in the uk, there was community transmission in multiple regions. we don't yet have a complete picture of whether omicron causes more severe disease or indeed how it interacts with the vaccines, and so we can't say for certain at this point whether omicron has the potential to knock us off our road to recovery. and labour responded, calling on ministers to commit to a framework of tighter controls for the future. just how concerned we should be about omicron is the big unknown. scientists are working around the clock to test whether it can evade vaccines, but there is no lab test for whether it causes serious disease. that data will come from infected communities, and it may be many weeks before we have the answer. officialfigures for the uk put the number of omicron cases at over the early signs are that it - will probably spread quite quickly and probably start out—competing delta and become the dominant. i variant probably within the next i weeks, or a month or so at least.

the likelihood is, therefore, that by christmas, there'll be a lot more omicron around, and perhaps by then, we'll have a slightly better understanding ofjust how this new variant will affect us. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. the mayor of new york, bill de blasio, has issued a vaccine mandate for private—sector workers. it will come into effect on the 27th of december. he called it a pre—emptive strike, designed to stem rising cases of covid—19 as the new omicron variant was gaining a foothold. from new york here's the bbc�*s samira hussain. the specific rules regarding how it's going to work actually are going to come out in december 15. but the office is calling this the most sweeping vaccine mandate that we are seeing anywhere else in the country. we have long seen vaccine mandates for public sector workers

in new york city and there's also been rules about dining indoors are going to the movie theatres or go to the gym that you need to show proof of vaccination. so, now the city is going one step further and is going to mandate this for private sector employees and it's really going to affect some roughly 184,000 businesses here in the city. nigeria has become the 11th country on the uk's covid travel red list, meaning strict limits on travel to britain and 10 days in quarantine for all who do travel there. the uk government says the measure will buy time, to study the omicron variant the bbc�*s west africa correspondent mayenijones reports from lagos. lagos, africa's largest city, usually becomes even busier at this time of year. but the news that nigeria would be added to the uk's red travel list has thrown christmas plans into jeopardy. binta is a british national, now stuck in lagos. she's the main carer

for her disabled daughter in london, and is desperately worried about her. i'm fullyjabbed, i've also got the booster, and i feel that people should be allowed to isolate in their homes based on those principles. to me it makes no sense that we have followed the rules and tried to comply, being punished. this man was in nigeria for a friend's wedding. a delayed flight meant he couldn't make it back before the deadline. he has three disabled children, and his wife now has to care for them alone for an extra ten days whilst he quarantines in a hotel at his own expense. right now, she's really struggling. that's what i feel. and financially, because i'm self—employed, she's not working, you know. it's really a strain. part of the frustration here is that nigeria doesn't seem to have been as badly affected by the pandemic as countries in other parts of the world. confirmed cases stand at about 400,000, and there have at about 200,000, and there have been just under 3,000 deaths.

the government also has been making big efforts to encourage more people to get vaccinated. it's now compulsory for civil servants, and they're offering boosters to everyone over the age of 18. all this to protect africa's biggest economy and its largest population. only around 2% of nigerians have been fully vaccinated. the british government says the decision to red—list nigeria was made after 21 people with the omicron variant who travelled to england had come from nigeria. but the nigerian centre for disease control said last week it had only identified three cases of the variant in the country. my response is the response of the government and - the people of nigeria. we align ourselves with the position of the un secretary general, - and he has classified the selective ban as travel apartheid. _ around 200,000 people born in nigeria live in the uk. many of them planned to visit relatives this holiday season after two years of travel disruption.

now they may have to wait even longer. mayenijones, bbc news, lagos. se covid—19 pandemic disrupts health services come there 14 million more cases in 2020 and two thirds of the 69,000 deaths were attributable to the treatment and prevention. clubs in france were close with his friend after a certain covid—19 cases in the country and stricter social distancing in the extended use of facemasks will also be required in schools. the bbc�*s 100 women list is published on tuesday, celebrating the achievements of women from grassroots activists to global leaders. half of this year's list is dedicated to women from afghanistan — the bbc�*s yalda hakim has this special report. every year, the bbc names 100

inspiring and influential women as part of the bbc 100 women season. and this year, for the first time, 50 of these women are from one country. afghanistan. this year's season will recognise the stories of afghan women. the scope of their bravery and their achievements. after the taliban took control of the country earlier this year. over the next four days, the bbc 100 women will also share the stories of women around the globe who are hitting the reset and creating lasting change. 2021 has been a year where many women, especially those in afghanistan have had to reinvent their lives. women's rights activist and one of the women named on today's list spoke to me in kabul. the trouble that afghanistan is in right now, apart from the whole political whatever, is poverty, it is brain drain, a collapse of society in a country

on the verge of becoming in pieces, of being destroyed. you've become the public face of afghan women afghanistan. someone who has remained and calling on others to come back. but what are they coming back to? but they're coming back to is not really very, very different from what they have left. that is something i want to tell you. i want to tell them. but they're not working on it and they're not being around and by not raising our voices and by not asking the right questions at the right time, and by not bringing everything to the attention of the ones that are taking care of things, whether they are the taliban, afghans, the international community, it can get a lot worse. for them to come back now, we can start working again and make things happen again for afghanistan. because i'm sure there's

going to be a day when taliban are going to realise that without women, it's just not going to happen. and are you willing to work within the sharia system? they are saying, we allow anything, as long as it's within sharia. we really want to make sure that whatever it is that the sharia says, it is not the interpretation only of a group of people. that's not what we want. there's a lot of islamic countries that have women in there and how do they thrive? we want to be a thriving, beautiful, a successful muslim country. what is wrong with that? and if the taliban don't listen? well, they have to listen if they want to survive. do they want to survive? afghanistan is a country and we have to keep it as a country and make it better. do they want to understand this? if they do, then they will work at it. if they don't, then though do with the doing right now and afghanistan will disappear. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

hello there. we await the arrival of the second named storm of the season. storm barra will bring the worst of the weather during tuesday as windy weather develops widely. added to that later on snow and blizzards over some of the hills in the north. this is the center of the storm approaching western parts of ireland. it will push a band of heavy rain northwards and eastward across the uk. but ahead of that we start the day with a frost widely and some icy patches in western scotland and the northwest of england. a very cold start then. we got that rain sweeping its way across northern ireland, wales and the southwest in the morning, the winds

picking up as well. that will be followed by some sunny intervals in heavy, blustery showers in the afternoon as that band of weather weather continues to push its way northwards and eastwards. may make double figures again in the southwest but it's much colder elsewhere, especially north of england and scotland where into that cold air the rain will fall as snow. particularly in the hills, a couple of centimetres, peak district, pennines, cumbria and the fells. heavier snowfall, blizzards likely in the southern opulence and that snowy weather will work its way up into the highlands later on in the day as the main rain band sweeps away from eastern parts of england, heavy showers follow and it stays very windy.

strongest winds are likely to be through the irish sea, english channel, gust 70, 80mph near coast. generally 40 or 50 or so but could get windier around some north seacoast in the evening. now, after steaming into the uk storm barra is just going to stall overnight and into wednesday. and it will weaken as well. wednesday is still a windy day, just not as windy. the strongest winds are going to be in south wales and the southwest of england. and around that area of low pressure showers or longer spells of rain rotating with some brief glimpses of sunshine. but it's still cold, temperatures around five to 7 was up by the time we get to thursday our storm really is no more. it's continuing to weaken, the winds are continuing to drop. this band of rain from the atlantic will arrive into northern ireland later in the day. but otherwise, it's a much quieter day on thursday. a fair bit of cloud around, many places are going to be dry, some sunshine at time but we are still in cold air,

temperatures typically at sixes and sevens. this is bbc news, the headlines.

washington has announced a us diplomatic boycott of the beijing winter olympics. it doesn't effect athletes but us government officials will not be attending the games. myanmar�*s military rulers are facing international condemnation after the country's ousted civilian leader aung san suu kyi was given a four—year prison sentence, later reduced to two. the us has described her conviction as an affront to justice. there have been more cases of omicron around the world. new york has issued a vaccine mandate for private—sector workers to come into effect after christmas. it's aimed at stemming rising covid cases as the new omicron variant gains a foothold. a second woman who says jeffrey epstein sexually abused her has been testifying in the ghislaine maxwell trial in new york. ms maxwell has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges.