welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... new evidence from south africa appears to show that the latest coronavirus variant causes less serious illness. it looks like at this stage, early data and doesn't want to over interpret it but these signs are certainly looking good. interpret it but these signs are certainly looking good. the tornado tragedy — now kentucky's governor says a hundred people are missing in his state alone. the capitol riot investigation — a committee will vote on holding donald trump's chief of staff in criminal contempt. and after a diversity row —

can this year's nominations help the golden globes restore its reputation? live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news, it's news day. it's seven in the morning in singapore, and 1am injohannesburg south africa where key information about the severity of the latest covid variant has begun to emerge. the country was the first to identify omicron and doctors say early indications are the number of deaths and people needing intensive care is lower than at the same stage in previous waves of the virus. our africa correspondent andrew harding reports.

behind their mouse south africans have watch the oma crown spread through their country. although hospitalisations are climbing here the early data is now being widely shepherded as encouraging. take the number of people needing oxygen or intensive care in the city where i am was first detected. in intensive care in the city where i am was first detected.— intensive care in the city where i am was first detected. in the past three waves _ am was first detected. in the past three waves of _ am was first detected. in the past three waves of our _ am was first detected. in the past three waves of our two _ am was first detected. in the past three waves of our two out - am was first detected. in the past l three waves of our two out of every three waves of our two out of every three patients admitted were cases of severe disease and right now we have only one out of four cases is severe. a marked difference. so it looks like at this stage, early data and doesn't want to over interpret it but the signs are certainly looking good.— it but the signs are certainly looking good. it but the signs are certainly lookin: aood. �* . ., , , , ., looking good. and that applies to other important _ looking good. and that applies to other important indicators - looking good. and that applies to other important indicators to. - looking good. and that applies to | other important indicators to. this was the first _ other important indicators to. this was the first wave, _ other important indicators to. this was the first wave, the second wave

so the _ was the first wave, the second wave so the third — was the first wave, the second wave so the third wave... this was the first wave, the second wave so the third wave. . ._ so the third wave... this graph shows the _ so the third wave... this graph shows the death _ so the third wave. .. this graph shows the death toll— so the third wave... this graph shows the death toll in - so the third wave... this graph shows the death toll in the - shows the death toll in the past three waves.— shows the death toll in the past three waves. , , ., three waves. yes, exactly. comparing this fourth wave _ three waves. yes, exactly. comparing this fourth wave in _ three waves. yes, exactly. comparing this fourth wave in south _ three waves. yes, exactly. comparing this fourth wave in south africa - this fourth wave in south africa against — this fourth wave in south africa against other waves we see less mortality— against other waves we see less mortality rate than the other ways. so if mortality rate than the other ways. 50 if we _ mortality rate than the other ways. so if we make a comparison i will say there — so if we make a comparison i will say there is— so if we make a comparison i will say there is no need to be worried. we do _ say there is no need to be worried. we do need — say there is no need to be worried. we do need to be careful when comparing south africa and britain. the population here is far younger. on average 30 years younger. there are farfewer on average 30 years younger. there are far fewer south africans over the age of 60. still, doctors and scientists are cautiously optimistic about this new variant. south africa's president has just tested positive but is said to be experiencing only mild symptoms. as for the travel bands imposed so quickly by britain and other nations, calls for a rethink are getting louder.—

nations, calls for a rethink are getting louder. over a period of time this is _ getting louder. over a period of time this is going _ getting louder. over a period of time this is going to _ getting louder. over a period of time this is going to have - getting louder. over a period of time this is going to have a - time this is going to have a devastating impact on business, the whole of the airline industry and it's going to be hugely difficult to recover from this if this goes on much longer. recover from this if this goes on much longer-— recover from this if this goes on much loner. , . ., ., much longer. only a quarter of south africans have — much longer. only a quarter of south africans have been _ much longer. only a quarter of south africans have been fully _ much longer. only a quarter of south africans have been fully vaccinated. i africans have been fully vaccinated. omicron may help change that. but what's clear from now is that people here are taking this new variant in their stride. another country where the omicron variant is spreading rapidly — is the uk. according to the government there are now an estimated 2 hundred thousand new infections every day. and that's set to keep rising. the response? widening the availability of a third, booster vaccine, to everyone over 30. our health editor hugh pym has the story. they were queueing for boosters in plymouth this morning, and there were lines of people hoping to getjabs in solihull.

in hungerford, some had come a distance to have their booster today. we've come from near portsmouth, so about an hour and a quarter. and are you hoping to get a walk—in booster? we were hoping to but we've just heard there is a 3—4 hour wait. i am part of the vulnerable group and i wanted to make sure i get it done. i don't want to ruin my christmas either — that's the main reason. maybe we won't make it today then. we'lljust keep trying. the prime minister warned again about the potential threat created by the new variant. sadly, yes, omicron is producing hospitalisations and sadly at least one patient has now been confirmed to have died with omicron. so i think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus, i think that is something we need to set on one side. the head of nhs england, with the prime minister today, said vaccination sites would operate

sometimes 2a hours a day with port ups and tens required. this is a huge challenge for the nhs and for the country. the prime minister has told us, and public health experts have told us, that the rate at which the omicron variant is spreading presents a serious threat and i have no doubt that the nhs's amazing staff will step up. with a surge in people booking in england the website crashed at times. new target offering every aduu times. new target offering every adult a booster by the end of this month achievable? gps have been told they can set aside some routine work to focus on more vaccinations. pharmacists are concerned they say to step up the vaccination effort they must be allowed to drop a routine form filling and less urgent work. as well as cues for boosters there was very high demand for lateralflow there was very high demand for lateral flow tests with ordering online temporarily suspended though officials said there were no shortages. the scale of the booster

challenges acknowledge and all the uk's nations. since some areas military assistance has been draughted in. senior sources say the end of year target is ambitious and delivery may take longer. hugh pym, bbc news. much more about the omicron variant of covid—i9 on our website, including this guide to how you can detect if you are infected. just log on to bbc.com/news and click through to our special coronavirus section — or download the bbc app. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. england's biggest railway stations were 20% less busy than usual on monday, as people followed the new government advice to work from home if they can. other parts of the uk had already imposed similar guidance as coronavirus cases rose. the crown prosecution service says that it expects the american woman — accused of causing the death of 19 year—old harry dunn

by dangerous driving — will appear before a british court by videolink. harry dunn died when his motorbike was in a collision with car driven by anne sacoolas — in august 2019. mrs sacoolas had diplomatic immunity and was able to leave the uk after the crash. a british national is one of two people who have been taken into custody by prosecutors in sweden after a collision between two ships off the country's southern coast. rescuers say they have recovered the body of one of the two crew members on a danish barge — the other is still missing. still to come a bit later in the programme — how volcano experts are trying to work out how to give earlier warnings of eruptions — particularly following the deadly recent events in indonesia. and we'll look at how the man who was chief of staff in donald trump's white house could be about to find himself being held in contempt of congress. but first...

president biden will go to kentucky on wednesday to see the impact of a string of tornadoes, which killed at least sixty four people there over the weekend. the age of those who died in kentucky ranged from five months to eighty six years. the search for survivors continues — kentucky's governor says there are a hundred people missing in his state alone. from there. ,the bbc�*s nomia iqbal reports. people would normally be back in work, but instead it's a third day of rebuilding their lives. the town's doctor would be seeing patients. instead, he is trying to save his surgery. we're trying to clean out a path to it to get a truck in here, to maybe get some equipment out that could be salvaged. his staff have managed to find computers and stethoscopes. dr williams, he's really close to the town and the people here. he's been here for a long time now,

so a lot of people are relying on us, so that's why we're just trying to clear everything out and get to the patients as soon as possible. the scale of destruction is staggering to see in person. entire homes have been wiped out. residents here are used to tornadoes. they get bad weather alerts. but nothing prepared them for this. elsewhere, emily got out of her home in time. she says it's a miracle herfamily survived, and this town is relying on miracles. we went down to my grandmother in law's and stayed in their hallway for shelter. ijust held my kids tightly and prayed. a rescue operation is ongoing at the nearby candle factory after two people were found alive in this debris by their mobile phone signals more than a day after the collapse. president biden plans to visit

kentucky this wednesday. this administration has made it clear to every governor, whatever they need when they need it. when they need it. make it known to me. we will get it to them as rapidly as we can. he's offered support to help residents recover and rebuild. many tell us that could take years. nomia iqbal, bbc news, kentucky. staying in the usa, where one of the most senior members of donald trump's inner circle could be charged with contempt in the next few hours by the us committee investigating the january sixth attack on the capitol. mark meadows — who was president trump's chief of staff — is refusing to give evidence but he has given the committee thousands of emails and texts and they released some of these over the weekend. one emailfrom meadows said...

the committee says mr trump's former top white house aide is uniquely situated to provide key information. joining us now from washington dc is hugo lowell, he's the guardian's reporter over there and he's been following the story. great to have you on the programme. just to start by asking you, meadows will be recommended for prosecution, how did it come to this, took us through the background of this case. the january six committee targeted mark meadows from the outset of their investigation. one of the first of these is issued including document production at a deposition behind closed doors. and meadows started to some degree produced about 9,000 documents, he said he produce text messages, emails even a powerpoint that talked about ways to

stop the certification ofjoe biden as victory from taking place on january six. and then what happen was the committee went and tried to subpoena the call records from his personal cellphone. at which point cooperation broke down and meadow stopped cooperating and him being recommended for prosecution. does he have a solid legal— recommended for prosecution. does he have a solid legal argument _ recommended for prosecution. does he have a solid legal argument and - have a solid legal argument and saying that he doesn't want to co—operate or testify before the committee? it’s co-operate or testify before the committee?— committee? it's not the ticket leauue, committee? it's not the ticket league. is _ committee? it's not the ticket league. is the _ committee? it's not the ticket league, is the answer. - committee? it's not the ticket league, is the answer. he's i committee? it's not the ticket - league, is the answer. he's relying on the chain of executive privilege and this is invoked by a current president for national security matters. in this instance, if president trump telling his former aides, do not comply with the committee because he believes the conversations that he had with his aides onjanuary six are privilege. but that privilege is exerted by the current executive, it's the power of

joe biden. he won the presidency he gets to decide what is executive privilege and what is not covered by executive privilege. so for meadow to turn around and say well, i couldn't testify because of executive privilege is not frankly will be decided in the courts if he has a leg to stand on.— will be decided in the courts if he has a leg to stand on. indeed. if he is indeed recommended _ has a leg to stand on. indeed. if he is indeed recommended for- is indeed recommended for prosecution, what happens after that in terms of the timeline of events? i'm told according to several sources post investigation and that the january six committee today is expected to recommend him for prosecution unanimously. so this is going to be a real slam dunk case. the committee thanks for prosecution. the way it works is one status charge him in a contempt of congress reported goes to a vote before the full house of representatives with the democrats control valves so we expect that to

also be approved at which point federal law dictates that a grand jury federal law dictates that a grand jury has to be impanelled and they will decide whether to hand down in indictment. to give you a sense of where this is going you just have to look at steve bannon, trump's former strategist who was indicted on two counts of contempt of congress when he refused to comply with his subpoena. meadow, is not testifying but he produce documents. thank you so much for — joining us. 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... fresh calls for an overhaul of indonesia's disaster warning system, after at least 45 people

died in the eruption onjava island. saddam hussein is finished because he killed a lot of people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, end to three—and—a—half years of conflict — conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. the foreign audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border- was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off - from the outside world in order to prevent the details - of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from six at the white house to a trial for his political life. the lewinsky affair tonight

guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is newsday on the bbc. our headlines. new evidence from south africa the latest coronavirus variant causes less serious illness and death than previous waves of the pandemic. kentucky's governor says a hundred people are missing in his state alone after this weekends tornadoes. presdeint biden is to visit kentucky on wednesday. there are fresh calls for an overhaul of indonesia's disaster warning system, after at least 45 people died in the eruption onjava island. many more people are missing. the volcano at mount semeru spectacularly erupted on saturday, ejecting ash clouds and lava.

it appears that messages were sent to local administrators but they did not result in an evacuation order. indonesia is part of the so — called pacific ring of fire where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, occur. so what makes it so—dangerous and why — even now are events so hard to predict? heather handley is a volcanologist and sits on governing councillor of the geological society of australia. wonderful to have you on the programme, heather. we've come so far in terms of the technology and detecting earthquakes but monitoring equipment for volcanoes is quite different, isn't it? there's a lot that we still can't predict.- that we still can't predict. yes, volcanoes _ that we still can't predict. yes, volcanoes are _ that we still can't predict. yes, volcanoes are very _ that we still can't predict. yes, volcanoes are very dynamic - that we still can't predict. 1a: volcanoes are very dynamic regions on the planet. we do have similar techniques to detect in earthquakes with up if you think about magma is

molten rock moving from deep underground to the surface it off and breaks those rocks that are brittle and not irst hard crust of the surface. so we can detect earthquakes, that's one way we look for volcanic activity. other ways now are getting more sick for us to get it injected so we use a lot of satellite observation. from these it's not is not is hazardous to get on the ground, updating the crater of active volcanoes we use a lot of imaging techniques and this can also be detecting gas from satellite data so emissions, changes in the movement of the surface, by very small amounts. movement of the surface, by very smallamounts. so movement of the surface, by very small amounts. so that there are lots of different ways we can look at how volcanoes are changing their behaviour, we can monitor gas on the ground and whether that changes in what it's made of, what's coming out or its temperature. so there's lots of way we can track volcanic activity and try and see any changes in activity. activity and try and see any changes inactivi .. in activity. specifically in the case of the _ in activity. specifically in the case of the eruption - in activity. specifically in the case of the eruption in - in activity. specifically in the - case of the eruption in indonesia this weekend, how did that go wrong

in terms of relaying information to the people who needed to get out of harm's way? i’m the people who needed to get out of harm's way?— harm's way? i'm not too familiar with what the _ harm's way? i'm not too familiar with what the mechanisms - harm's way? i'm not too familiar with what the mechanisms of. with what the mechanisms of communication were from the local authorities. but i know it's a difficult, it's a highly active i do not volcanoes. in its last phases been active in something like 7a of its 80 years. and it's been active in its current irruption basins 2014. so that they were used to regular eruptions of the smaller size compared to the bond that happened recently that was much bigger. the challenge is the top of the volcano in the crater there is a hard plug of lava which acts like a plug to keep some of the pressure in. what they think or believe happened to trigger this recent erection is when aspen a lot higher into the atmosphere come about 50 km or nine miles into the atmosphere and created these deadly flows. it

may have been triggered or was more unstable due to a storm and rain event. when you've got these domes of lava in the craters of these volcanoes, the ones that have lava domes, these can collapse suddenly and the challenge there is to try to predict or recognise when those changes are going to happen. indeed. thank ou changes are going to happen. indeed. thank you so — changes are going to happen. indeed. thank you so much _ changes are going to happen. indeed. thank you so much for— changes are going to happen. indeed. thank you so much forjoining - changes are going to happen. indeed. thank you so much forjoining us - changes are going to happen. indeed. thank you so much forjoining us on i thank you so much forjoining us on newsday with your thoughts on what happened and how we can improve the ability to detect volcanic activity. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines.... the us olympic and gymnastics federations have agreed a 380 million—dollar settlement with the victims of larry nassar. the former national gymnastics team doctor was jailed for life for sexually abusing hundreds of young female gymnasts over three decades. it's believed to be the largest ever for victims of sexual abuse in the us.

california is to re—institute a statewide mandate to wear masks — because of climbing rates of coronavirus infection due to the omicron variant. officials say rules on face coverings in all indoor public spaces will come into force on wednesday, and will last for at least a month. and nigeria's health agencies say they plan to destroy around one million expired covid—19 vaccines. officials said many of the doses they had received from western countries had a short shelf life — and they stop accepting such vaccines from now on. fewer than 4% of adults in the country have been fully vaccinated. until very recently, the golden globes were seen as second in hollywood only to the oscars. but they've become rather embroiled in controversy after it emerged, earlier this year, that none of the people voting for the nominations is black. that led to many hollywood agents saying they would advise their stars against working with the globes' organisers.

nonetheless, the nominations came out on monday so we thought we'd take a look at the favourites. two separate films led the way, with seven nominations each: �*belfast�*, a film made by kenneth branagh, set in the northern ireland of his childhood — and �*the power of the dog' — a western starring benedict cumberbatch. other high proflie actors up for a statuette include will smith, for his portayal of richard williams, the father of the tennis greats venus and serena. kristen stewart, lady gaga, olivia colman, leonard di caprio, and nicole kidman are all also in the running. but with the usual host broadcaster nbc not televising the ceremony this year — it's not yet clear if anyone will actually turn up to take home a prize — or even if the studios and stars will be a part of it. the person whose job it is to organise the awards accepts that they might be a little less

celebrity—driven than before but insists they have made progress. for eight months, we have worked tirelessly as an organisation to be better. we changed our rules, bylaws, added a new code of conduct and restructured our governance. we also have 21 new members, the largest and most diverse in our 79—year—old history. not only have they brought in a fresh perspective, but ideas that will help us continue to evolve. so — the golden globes say they've changed. but have they done enough? here's toronto—based culture writer amil niazee. the big story today is just how quiet hollywood is in regards to these nominations. usually a huge deal, and huge star power ourflight to get ahead of these nominations for the deaf fact that it sort of dead air on outlets like twitter right now says a lot about the irrelevance of the golden globes from just even in this february when the blockbuster piece came out about

how there are no black members. it's also outlets like collider, huge entertainment news saying they won't even cover the nominations of the award show until they enact meaningful change. the publicist saying they feel it's too little too late and they want to see a lot more from the golden globes in the hr pa before they have any sort of return to the stage as they once had. i can't imagine we will see the type of star power that the golden globes usually attracts on its red carpet. i think there will definitely be a lot of people who won't show up to collect the awards, it's pretty early to see any outright rejection of it but i think you will not see the type of star power associating themselves with the globes as they normally would or celebrating these nominations. these are usually a precursor to the oscars are you have people like kristen stewart and lady gaga, hugely favoured to collect oscar nominations getting that early nod. and the fact that no one is

talking about it i think says a lot about hollywood's relationship to the golden globes right now. that’s the golden globes right now. that's it from us. hello. well, tuesday is going to be generally quite cloudy, perhaps damp in a few places, nothing spectacular. it is december after all. you can see a lot of cloud on the satellite picture, but this little gap in the cloud that's over us right now has actually led to some clear spells across parts of northern england and northern ireland, too, perhaps the north of wales. so, i think these are the most likely areas for fog to form early in the morning. the very far north west of the uk, wet and windy first thing. the south of the country, really quite mild. look at these starting temperatures. ten degrees along the channel coast.

so, this is the weather map for tuesday. we have high pressure to the south, which will continue to build through the course of the week, but weather fronts are grazing the north west of the uk. so, for ourfriends in the western isles, it's going to be wet and windy at times. we are expecting some rain or so in orkney and shetland. perhaps a little bit of rain around the lowlands and south—western areas of scotland, but i think eastern areas, in fact all along the east of the country, i think there will be some brightness around. and temperatures typically around 7—9 degrees, but southern areas, london, cardiff, plymouth with the cloud and the murk hanging around, that mild air from the south, it will be around 12 degrees in one or two spots. here's the weather map for wednesday. so, again, high pressure in the south, weather fronts grazing the north, but increasingly these weather fronts will bring less rain as we go through the course of the week. so, more than anything, it's just an area of cloud with some dampness here across parts of scotland and northern ireland. it's because high pressure is starting to build in from the south. and look at these temperatures. double figures right across the board midweek. now, this high pressure

is going to anchor itself across the uk thursday and friday, and i wouldn't be surprised if it stays here, well, right up till christmas quite possibly. this means generally settled conditions across the uk, light winds, some fog in the morning. still mild on thursday, but i think gradually what we'll find is these temperatures, even though we'll have high pressure, gradually these temperatures will ease down into single figures by the time we get to the weekend. but i think it's going to stay mostly settled for the rest of the week. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines — figures from south africa, where the omicron coronavirus variant was first identified, suggest it causes less serious illness and death than the delta variant. the country was the first to identify the new variant. president biden will visit kentucky on wednesday after tornadoes tore across the us state this weekend. the state governor says 64 are confirmed dead and more than 100 people are still unaccounted for. president trump's former chief of staff could be charged with contempt in the next few hours by the us committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol. mark meadows is refusing to give evidence. the us olympic and gymnastics federations have agreed a $380 million settlement with the victims of larry nassar. the former national gymnastics team doctor was jailed for life for sexually abusing hundreds of young female gymnasts.