hello. this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: president biden pledges federal aid as tornadoes devastate a string of us states, flattening whole towns and killing at least 70 people. i'm monitoring the situation very closely, since early this morning. this is likely to be one of the largest tornado outbreaks in our history. amazon says it's heartbroken after six of its workers are confirmed dead in a warehouse destroyed by a tornado in illinois. a warning that the uk faces a substantial wave of omicron infections next month that might overwhelm the national health service. piling the pressure

on the british prime minister — a newspaper publishes a photo showing borisjohnson did take part in a virtual downing street quiz last christmas. the eldest daughter of america's first astronaut, alan shepherd, makes a trip to the edge of space at the age of 7a. and it's going to be a nail—biter — max verstappen beats lewis hamilton to pole position for sunday's formula 1 title decider in abu dhabi. hello and thanks forjoining us. president biden has promised federal aid after tornadoes devastated at least five us states, flattening whole towns. the worst—hit state is kentucky, where the governor, andy beshear, says at least 70 people have been killed — many of them in a candle factory in the town of mayfield. there've been reports of deaths too in arkansaw, missouri, tennessee, and illinois, where six amazon workers have been confirmed dead, after the roof of their warehouse collapsed. our north america correspondent

nomia iqbal reports. the scale of the destruction has been extraordinary. in the dead of night, dark funnel clouds roared across six states in four hours at a speed of 220 mph, obliterating everything in their path. this small town of mayfield in kentucky has been hit hard. workers on christmas shifts at this candle factory were buried by several tornadoes that came hurtling in the dark. it is thought up to 110 people were inside. a0 have made it out. this has been the most devastating tornado event in our state's history. and for those that have seen it, what it's done here in grace county and elsewhere, it is indescribable. a state of emergency has been declared in kentucky as a huge rescue operation gets under way, but authorities are facing huge challenges. the police station in mayfield has been destroyed

and firefighters have lost equipment. there is no power. nearly 200 troops from the national guard are helping, and more than half of the population in this town are without electricity and water in one of the coldest months of the year. millions of americans knew extreme weather was coming. they have been issued with weather alerts for several weeks. this country is used to tornadoes. there was one here in kentucky earlier in the week. but this swarm of tornadoes has stunned people due to its speed and ferocity. in the southern state of arkansas, a nursing home was badly damaged, killing at least one person, injuring several and trapping more than a dozen others inside. in the midwest state of illinois, an amazon warehouse with up to 100 people inside was ripped apart after the roof partially collapsed. president biden has called it an unimaginable tragedy.

we still don't know how many lives were lost or the full extent of the damage. but i want to emphasise what i told all the governors. the federal government will do everything — absolutely everything — it can possibly do to help. forecasters say the storm has now weakened, but americans are being urged to get ready for more severe weather as the storms continue to sweep across the country. victorjensini is a meteorology professor at the northern illinois university. he explained the significance of this devastating weather event. in one word, historic. we are looking at a legendary tornado event here in the united states, one like we haven't probably seen since 1925 — 18 march 1925 to be exact — which had a tornado occur that took a path length of about 219 miles. and last night, just to give you some context, the tornado event probably crossed nearly 400 kilometres, 250 miles, starting just north of little rock, arkansas, passing through

the state of missouri, the state of tennessee, and eventually doing probably its most prolific damage in the state of kentucky. right now, many of us are just sort of trying to really unpack what happened yesterday, as it is just absolutely historic. victor, weather is obviously unpredictable, that is the very nature of it. but we didn't really have many warnings, did we, about this? what made it so bad? well, there were actually significant warnings in advance for this storm. i mean, several days in advance the storm prediction centre in northern 0klahoma, which is in charge of issuing severe weather outlooks for events like this, did have some significant outlooks for yesterday's tornadoes. and as we drew closer to the event, tornado watches, which means the conditions are favourable for these types

of events to occur, were issued hours in advance. and honestly even warnings, which means the tornadoes have been spotted, were also issued as well. the big challenge here is that these tornadoes occurred at night, in the dark. people are sleeping, people are not expecting these types of tornado events to occur — which really creates a lot of exposure and vulnerability, which is always a big deal when we have these types of events at night. would you say it is too simplistic to say that these have been linked to climate change? that would certainly be a simplistic view, yes. there's a lot of things unfolding. there's certainly the climate change angle. there's also the human exposure. 0ur cities are growing larger. we're becoming more vulnerable to tornadoes. and where tornadoes are occurring is also changing with respect to time. we cannot rule out climate change in terms of its contribution to an event like last night. it is probably — certainly not the only cause or the only factor, and certainly research going forward at places like northern illinois university and others will continue to try to address these questions. and given climate change

is probably going to get worse and cities are probably going to get bigger, do you expect to see more of these kinds of occurrences? well, if i can hang my hat on one thing, it's that we'll continue to see tornado disasters in the future, regardless of what happens with climate change, as our cities grow larger. it is really our research groups and others that are looking at the future of events like we saw last night. if those continue to get more frequent, we'll probably be talking about these events a lot more, unfortunately. victorjensini speaking to me earlier. let's look at some other stories in brief. people in the pacific territory of new caledonia are voting in a third and final referendum on independence from france. proindependence campaigners are boycotting the vote. the territory's voters rejected breaking with france in 2018 and again last year. farmers in india have begun leaving camps on the outskirts of delhi, where they've been protesting for more than a year. after winning their battle

with the government over agricultural reforms, many are now headed back home on convoys of tractors. a supreme courtjudge in brazil has ruled that foreign visitors will need to produce a covid vaccination certificate in order to enter the country. the ruling invalidates controversial regulations issued previously by the national health agency, who demanded only a negative pcr test for foreigners arriving in brazil. and tens of thousands of people have marched through vienna to protest against a covid vaccine mandate for all adults. since the rules came into effect last month, anyone who hasn't been vaccinated or recently contracted covid—19 has only been able to leave home in special circumstances. around 11100 police officers were on duty to oversee the protest. scientists have warned that without further restrictions the uk is facing a wave of coronavirus infections in january that could be larger than any seen before. people aged between 30 and 39 in england will be able

to start booking their boosterjabs from monday. here's our health correspondent, katharine da costa. at vaccine centres around the uk, the race is on to get even more jabs into arms and boost our defences against what may become the biggest wave of covid infections we've seen so far. people were lining up to get their shots at this vaccine centre in grimsby. it's more worrying, i think, because you just — we don't know exactly what's going to happen, so it's basically just to be safe. ijust want to protect people, as well, that i'm going to be in contact with. the new 0micron variant is spreading fast, doubling every 2.5 days. new modelling has looked at what that might mean for how things might pan out in england under plan b. it is not a prediction but sets out a range of possible outcomes. so what does that mean for cases? researchers expect a substantial wait, bigger than last winter, when daily cases peaked at more than 50,000. there is still a lot of uncertainty about how many

may end up in hospital, because we still don't know whether 0micron causes more severe illness and many people are fully vaccinated, which should help. by the and of april deaths may range from 25,000 to 75,000, depending on how well vaccines perform. but scientists are hopeful they will still provide good protection against serious disease. the research also looked at the impact of introducing new restrictions. working from home was enough to reduce the impact of 0micron in the most optimistic scenario, but in the most pessimistic outcome, it would take lockdown with schools open to prevent intense pressure on hospitals. what we do know is that very stringent restrictions come with their own downsides. they can be devastating for individuals, for families and businesses, especially in the lead—up to christmas, so policymakers have some very difficult decisions to make. the government focus now is on ramping up the booster campaign to 500,000jabs per day, with more age groups

expected to be invited soon. scientists say three doses are now needed to protect against 0micron infection. we know that the booster doses give very effective protection. we do not know how long it will last. it may not be very long lasting. but the booster doses will be crucial. we cannotjust rely on the vaccine campaign to control those. we must wear masks and do all the other things we have learned to do too. health officials say this more contagion variant could cause more significant pressure for the health service. the scottish government is considering further restrictions from next week. the westminster government says current measures in england remain proportionate, and it will take further action if needed to protect lives and the nhs. katharine da costa, bbc news. the uk prime minister's office has admitted that borisjohnson briefly took part in a quiz at downing street

a year ago with two people sat next to him at a time when coronavirus restrictions in london meant social mixing between households was banned. the sunday mirror has obtained a photo of the quiz described by number 10 as a virtual event. here's our political correspondent chris mason. because of the covid restrictions in the uk, but most particularly in london, social gatherings between people who didn't live together were banned. for the last couple of weeks, the last ten days or so, there has been story after story after story relating to gatherings that took place in downing street and the broader british government which have raised questions about whether they were within the spirit or even the letter of the rules. the latest incarnation of this, as you say, in the sunday mirror, has just been published in the last hour or so and in particular a picture. the bbc was reporting the other day that there had been a quiz that had taken place, organised by number ten, with some people taking part virtually and others physically in the building.

what was striking about the development in the last hour is the picture that we can see there. the prime minister popped into this room, one of the state rooms in downing street, to surprise his staff and host a round of this quiz. you will see there is a gentleman to his right, pictured on the left, who has tinsel wrapped around his neck. now, i'm told that neither of the two people you can see in the picture — there is someonejust to the prime minister's left to the right of the screen who you can't see now we have zoomed in. but those two people, we're told, are members of his closest staff who had come in to help him with the technology, the whole business of zoom or whatever it is, remote contributors. there were other teams and groups of staff in the different departments of downing street, i'm told, that did take part in the building but were doing so, i'm told, from their own desk. chris mason, there. there has been a collapse of the building following gas in sicily. 0fficials

the building following gas in sicily. officials are searching for at least ten missing residents and a pregnant woman after the building caught fire. an 80—year—old woman was pulled from the rubble alive. prosecutors have opened a legal case. this is bbc news, the leader headlines: president biden has pledged federal aid after tornadoes devastated a string of us states, flattening whole towns and killing at least seventy people. there's a warning that the uk faces a substantial wave of 0micron infections next month that might overwhelm the national health service. the us state department's top official for europe, karen donfried, is to travel to ukraine and russia for talks about moscow's huge military build—up on the ukrainian border. foreign ministers from the g7 economic powers have been meeting in britain to try to present a united front to moscow. i have made it absolutely

clear to president putin, and this is the last thing i will say, that if he moves on ukraine, the economic consequences for his economy will be devastating. devastating. number one. number two, we will find it a requirement that we will have to send more american and nato troops in the eastern flanks, the b9, all of those nato, countries who have a sacred obligation to defend them against any attack by russia. number three, the impact on all of that on russia and its attitude to the rest of the world's view on russia would change remarkably. he would pay a terrible price. so, we will continue to provide for, we have and continue to provide for, the defence capacities for the ukrainian people. amy mackinnon is a national security and intelligence correspondent with the foreign policy magazine in washington. she was previously based in moscow. she spoke about whether sanctions will have an effect this time.

sanctions are a fairly blunt object but us officials from the 0bama administration do certainly believe in 2014, the first time russia invaded ukraine, sanctions to deter putin from pushing deeper into territory but it's hard to know, it is hard to know what the kremlin�*s calculus is and whether or not this will determine them this time around. what other options do the us and west have? they're keeping cards close to their chest but this is not the first rodeo with sanctions on russia. some likely potential targets are russian banks, companies, potentially sanctions on russian sovereign debt and the oligarchs in the inner circle of president putin and removing them from swift financial systems and they have other cards on the table.

a big buildup on the border, 100,000 russian troops. what are their objections at the moment? it seems that most russian analysts i have spoken to say this is a messaging exercised by the kremlin, they are trying to get the attention of the west and united states and therefore the call between president putin and president biden on tuesday was exceedingly important. what matters now is whether biden has delivered a warning to deter him from invasion but us officials tell us they believe that president putin has not decided yet whether they will invade, so there is a lot riding on what will happen in the next few weeks. germany and other eu companies depend on russia for their fuel, how does this impact on that factor? there are 13 concerns that if this strays into the energy sector, russia could retaliate by limiting gas and energy flow to europe and that would exact a very big toll on the russian economy as well because they are dependent

on hydrocarbons. now it's time for sport, with my colleague 0lly foster. the formula one championship will be decided. lewis hamilton and max verstappen level on points and we have not had that for the final race since 197a. it is a straight race to the line between the two. if both failed to finish, max verstappen will clinch the title. that is because of his nine race wins over max verstappen�*s eight. manchester city are leading liverpool by a point after all three top teams one thanks to penalties for raheem sterling got his 100th premier league goal after a debatable handball decision. wolves played half

the match with ten men. steven gerrard was given a warm welcome. he had 17 years as a liveable player but it was his old side that came out on top. —— liverpool player. just the one goal from a penalty. two penalties for chelsea, as they beat leeds. they were missing their captain for disciplinary reasons and manchester united won thanks to a cristiano ronaldo penalty. bayern munich extended their lead to six points after coming from behind to win that match.

australia have won the first ashes test by nine wickets. england were hoping to build on a brilliant partnership between malan and joe root but both were gone in the matter of a few overs. england added just 77 for the last eight wickets. they were bowled out for 297, leaving australia needed just 20 runs to win reach that with ease to go one up in the series. exceptionally proud. so many different stories within the game. i thought nathan lyon, i told him he would never get his 400th, i said

maybe next summer, but really happy for him. he bowled really well yesterday, without luck. bitterly disappointed because we put a lot of good work in last night, building a big partnership and it was really on me and dawid malan to make most of the opportunity but credit to australia. that is all your sport for now. the eldest daughter of america's first astronaut — alan shephard — has made a trip to the edge of space at the age of 7a. laura shepard churchley took off on board a commercial spacecraft in west texas, owned byjeff bezos' blue 0rigin company. mark lobel reports. main engine start. three, two, one. from rural texas to the edge of space. laura shepard churchley following in herfather�*s footsteps 60 years after his pioneering flight as the first american to make the journey, in a spacecraft named

after him. mission control has confirmed new shepard has cleared the tower and is on its way to space. it was a once—in—a—lifetime ride on board this fully autonomous six—storey—tall commercial flight, reaching an altitude of over 100 kilometres during a thrilling 10—minute trip. long enough to experience zero gravity, though. whoa! never seen anything like this. just like my dad! this tops an unforgettable year for human space flight, with private space companies aplenty, including space x and virgin galactic. blue 0rigin launched its first crewed space flight injuly carrying its founder, amazon's jeff bezos. captain kirk himself! star trek�*s william shatner, the oldest person to make it into space, followed in october.

this third flight is blue 0rigin�*s first full capacity one, with six people on board, which descended safely back to earth. the 74—year—old's verdict? awesome! "awesome," she says. and following in her father's footsteps? i thought about dad coming down, and gosh, he didn't even get to enjoy anything i enjoyed. he was working. he was all business. right, he had to do it himself. i went on for the ride. have you seen how small his capsule was? he wasn't doing somersaults, he didn't have your windows. the only way he knew he was weightless was his straps were flying. right, because he was strapped in. because he was strapped in. underlining just how remarkably space travel has changed since 1961. how it will evolve in 2022

and beyond for the next generation — well, that's anyone�*s guess. mark lobel, bbc news. long queues have formed in bristol, as limited—edition t—shirts made by the street artist banksy went on sale. the artist announced on friday night that the shirts would go on sale at locations in the city. he said they had been created to show support for the four people about to go on trial accused of pulling down the statue of slave trader edward colston. the shirts quickly began appearing for resale online, with one seller asking for £9,000. that's 11,945 us dollars. a reminder of our main news: president biden says the latest outbreak of tornadoes in the united states — which have hit six states — is one of the largest in its history. he has declared a state of emergency in kentucky,

where more than 70 people have died. some are saying more than 100 have died. president biden says emergency services will be provided to those affected, tens of thousands who are without power. in illawarra, six people have been killed when an amazon warehouse collapse, a number are missing. the owner, jeff bezos, says he is heartbroken about the loss of life at his warehouse. don't forget there's much more on our website. you'll find all the news, sport, business — and lots more besides — updated24 hours a day. just head to bbc.com/news — or download the bbc news app. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ si pusey. stay with us on bbc news. plenty more news, sport and business. thank you for

watching. do stay tuned. hello there. the second half of the weekend is going to remain fairly unsettled. a lot of cloud around on sunday but one thing you will notice, particularly in england and wales, is it will be very mild indeed. further north, there will be outbreaks of rain tied in with this area of low pressure, keeping a watch on this area of low pressure, it is going deepen as it passes the north—west of the uk to bring gales, even severe gales, to the far north—west of scotland. but it will bring some rain to the north and west and it will scoop up very mild air across much of the country, particularly for england and wales. we start sunday on a rather cloudy note. some mist and low cloud, a bit of drizzle as well, some brightness breaking into the afternoon. particularly across eastern areas, we have but rebound pushing across areas of the irish sea and eventually pushing up into central parts of scotland by the end of the day.

north of here, the far north—east of scotland will be quite cool, but very mild for the time of year, further south, could see 14 or 15 degrees. sunday evening, sunday night, we see this deepening load bring a swath of heavy rain and gales to the far north—west of northern ireland and certainly for western scotland, especially the hebrides, that is where we will see the strongest of the winds. it will push into the north of scotland by the end of the night, leaving a legacy of blustery showers and slightly cooler air. england and wales will continue to see this weather front bringing outbreaks of rain, particularly across wales and in towards the south—west. here it's going to be mild, it's looking a bit cooler further north. for monday, we start the new week off on a bright note across the northern half of the country, here we will have some blustery showers, wintry on the hills, england and wales will be plagued by this weather front so it could be quite cloudy and quite wet in parts of wales and into northern england, i think the south—east quadrant could be a bit drier, perhaps a little bit brighter.

very mild here, a bit fresherfurther north. that weather front clears away from england and wales into tuesday, we start to see high pressure building in the south, but you will notice low pressure to the north of the uk. that will bring wet and windy weather for a time, but after wednesday, certainly thursday and friday, it looks like that area of high pressure will win out, push northwards and clear the wet and windy weather away from the uk, and we will all be in the mild air. this upcoming week is looking pretty mild for this time of year. we will start off unsettled, particularly in the north, then it will settle down. it's likely to be really cloudy with limited sunshine and some mist and fog overnight.

this is bbc news. the headlines: president biden has pledged federal aid after tornadoes devastated a string of us states, flattening whole towns and killing at least 70 people. amazon says it's heartbroken after six of its workers were killed when the roof of their warehouse collapsed when it was hit by a tornado in illinois. scientists are warning that the uk faces a substantial wave of 0micron infections next month that might overwhelm the national health service. the 0micron variant is thought to be spreading quickly and health officials have renewed their call for everyone eligible to come forward for a covid boosterjab. the uk prime minister's office has acknowledged that borisjohnson briefly took part in a quiz in downing street a year ago, saying the event was to thank staff for their hard work during the pandemic. it was when london was in lockdown and no social gatherings were allowed.

now on bbc news, it's time for click.