the omicron variant sweeps across the united states with lightning speed, already accounting for three—quarters of new infections in the country. omicron moves very fast, it is very transmittable. it moves fast, we have to move faster. the british prime minister says no new covid restrictions for now, but he doesn't rule out bringing them in if needed. we ask what is president putin planning as russian forces continue to mass on the border with ukraine, increasing fears of an invasion. a new york cityjury begins deliberations in the sex trafficking and perjury trial of ghislaine maxwell. and the chinese tennis star peng shuai appears to have retracted her claim of sexual assault as concerns persist around her well being.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the fast—spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus has very rapidly become dominant in the united states. according to modelling by the centers for disease control, omicron now accounts for nearly three—quarters of the new infections. and this is a very significant jump from a week ago when about 13% of the new infections were omicron. in some parts of the country, including new york, the variant is even more widespread, making up more than 90% of the latest cases. new york's mayor, bill de blasio, says the city must "move faster" in its response to the omicron variant. based on everything we've seen so far, the cases are more mild than what we've experienced previously,

but again, a lot of research we're still waiting for, lot of evidence we're still waiting for. what we do know is omicron moves very fast, it's very transmissible. it moves fast, we have to move faster. that's why we are focusing even more on vaccination and we do know that vaccination helps address omicron. our north america correspondent peter bowesjoins me now from los angeles. the speed is staggering in terms of the acceleration of omicron, but it comes with this mixed message. it is far more contagious, but at the same time a lot of people think it is milder. time a lot of people think it is milder-— time a lot of people think it is milder. ~ . ,_, is milder. we are discovering in the statistics, _ is milder. we are discovering in the statistics, really - is milder. we are discovering in the statistics, really what. in the statistics, really what we expected and what the experts have been telling us over the last couple of weeks, that it over the last couple of weeks, thatitis over the last couple of weeks, that it is extremely fast moving, really lightning speed, and the data just released in the last two hours really backs that up. 73% of new cases now in the united states are as a

result of the omicron variation of the virus. it varies across the country, some cities have higher numbers, you mentioned nine out of ten cases in new york city and some other cities around the country, and that is particularly concerning because there is a higher level of vaccination rates in new york city, and the real concern is for those parts of america where a vaccine rates are significantly lower and there are still many people holding out and refusing to have the jab at all, and then of course on top of all of that, we are just a few days away from christmas and people are planning to criss—cross the country, to see relatives and loved ones, and the real concern is come the end of christmas and new year, those figures could search even more. bill deblasio couldn't be clearer in a way, could he? get vaccinated seems to be the big call. as you say, it is 90% of

omicron cases or all cases, far less in other parts of the country. i presume you still have a bit of a patchwork view as to how best to tackle this? it is very much a patchwork view, and we are also going to be hearing from president biden later in the day on tuesday, and he will again reinforce this message that those people who have the vaccination and the booster, if they are infected by this virus at all, are likely to be a symptomatically at least have very mild symptoms, whereas those who have not been vaccinated will continue to, as the press secretary at the white house said earlier today, drive hospitalisations and deaths, and it will be a very tough winter. very discreetly setting out, in fact in the last few minutes, he has been tweeting about this, and in some detail which is unusual for this president to tweet as much as hejust for this president to tweet as much as he just had. for this president to tweet as much as hejust had. but again, laying out the situation as it

faces, this virus, this variant will move very quickly over the next few weeks and the key is to get the jab. that is a big issue in this country, the rollout of the vaccinations has been slowing down over the last few weeks. been slowing down over the last few weeks— been slowing down over the last few weeke— few weeks. there are certainly a crescendo — few weeks. there are certainly a crescendo of _ few weeks. there are certainly a crescendo of concern - few weeks. there are certainly a crescendo of concern as - few weeks. there are certainly a crescendo of concern as we | a crescendo of concern as we build up to christmas. thank you very much indeed. the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has stopped short of bringing in new covid measures in england, but he insisted the government would take further action if needed. there had been speculation that the rules in england might be tightened amid reports of splits among senior ministers over whether to take action. meanwhile, scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, confirmed there will be no new restrictions in scotland ahead of christmas. it all came as the queen cancelled her traditional christmas at sandringham in norfolk amid concerns about omicron, choosing instead to stay in windsor. here is our deputy political editor vicki young.

the decorations are up, celebrations in full swing. there was no shortage of christmas cheer in bristol this evening. some are too young to remember last year when festive plans were thrown into disarray. everyone would welcome some certainty. after a two—hour meeting with his cabinet, borisjohnson said the arguments were finely balanced. we agreed that we should keep the data from now on under constant review, keep following it hour by hour, and, unfortunately, i must say to people we will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public, and to protect public health, to protect our nhs, and we won't hesitate to take that action. the government insists it's not sitting back doing nothing. manchester city's football stadium among the sites helping get vaccinations up to a record one million on saturday.

people have already been told to work from home, use covid passes and take tests before socialising — that's not enough, says labour. instead of being hamstrung by his own cabinet and hiding from his own backbenchers, it's time borisjohnson stopped putting the politics of the conservative party ahead of public health and levelled with the country. last week, more than 100 conservatives refused to back mrjohnson�*s plan for covid passports. then, at the weekend, his ally, lord frost, resigned as brexit minister, blaming the government's pandemic response. i don't support coercive policies on covid. the prime minister's got some very difficult decisions to ta ke and i'm sure he'll be thinking very hard about them. in scotland, nicola sturgeon has issued new guidance, but offered reassurance about the christmas weekend. between now and the end of the week, i'm asking people to reduce their contact with those in other households as much as possible —

effectively, to stay at home as much as is feasible. over the weekend, christmas day, boxing day, we're not asking people to cancel or change their plans. wales has put guidance in place for the run—up to christmas and will introduce tougher legal restrictions on december 27. it's still unclear what borisjohnson wants to do. his tone suggested it's a matter of when, not if, new measures will come in. but during their meeting, several cabinet ministers made it clear they're more reluctant to go down that road again. several aren't convinced the data yet justifies the economic hit that any new restrictions bring. when it comes to rules, critics say downing street lacks moral authority. in this photo, taken during lockdown, the prime minister, his wife and staff are drinking wine in the garden. these were people at work talking about work, according to boris johnson. tonight, the queen is among those scaling back their plans. she's cancelled her traditional christmas in sandringham — a personal decision reflecting a cautionary approach, says buckingham palace.

and as borisjohnson weighs up his options, the uncertainty continues. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. an add—on to the covid situation. new zealand will delay its reopening plans until the end of february as the government tries to stop a rapid spread of the omicron variant there. the country had originally planned for its citizens to return to non—quarantine travel by january. and while that date has now been pushed back, anyone now entering the country must stay in quarantine facilities for ten days instead of seven. a little ratcheting up of the restrictions there. tensions and anxieties on the eastern border of ukraine. the tensions and anxieties along the eastern border of ukraine continue to grow as russia has for weeks been massing troops and tanks there.

and it's prompted ukraine, poland and lithuania to call for more western sanctions against russia in fear of an invasion. moscow has denied preparing for any invasion and has accused the west of threatening russia through nato expansion. and it's demanding the removal of nato battalions in the region. our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has been investigating just what president putin might be planning. in russia too, it is the season of goodwill. but peace on earth is in short supply. russian armour is massing near the border with ukraine. at the same time, moscow is demanding an end to nato enlargement and nato military activity in eastern europe. what is russia signalling? i asked the deputy foreign minister, has moscow decided to reverse the results of the cold war? translation: we're not re-examining the results j of the cold war, we're reassessing the expansion the west has carried out in recent years against russian

interests with hostile intent. enough is enough. state tv has been echoing vladimir putin's claim that nato activity close to russia threatens russia's security, and moscow has this warning. translation: if ukraine joined nato, _ or if nato develops military infrastructure there, we will hold a gun to america's head. russia has the world's best weapons, hypersonic. you'd get the cuban missile crisis all over again, but with a shorter flight time for missiles. we propose trying to avoid this situation. otherwise everyone will be turned into radioactive ash. critics of the kremlin say this isn't about genuine security threats, it's about moscow trying to restore a sphere of influence.

we don't know what the kremlin is planning, but what is clear from what president putin has been saying is that — 30 years after the fall of the soviet union — russia's leader remains deeply resentful of how the cold war ended with russia losing territory, influence and empire. and if vladimir putin has decided that now is the moment to try to reverse that, that will be a huge challenge for russia's neighbours and for the west. right now, most russians are focused on celebration, not confrontation. if there is a full—scale war with ukraine or a clash with the west, the kremlin may be skating on thin ice in terms of public support. "i don't want any war," irina says, "any killing." "slavic people are like a family," says roslan. "i can't bear the idea of fighting with ukraine."

ultimately, it's the president who will decide whether russia takes the path of compromise or confrontation. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. let's build on that a little bit. for more on this, i'm joined now by evelyn farkas, former us deputy assistant secretary of defence for russia, ukraine and eurasia, who was in the situation room when russia annexed crimea in 2014. nearly seven yea rs nearly seven years ago now. let me ask you this. we hear those demands about you cannot have ukraine entering nato, you must remove nato military forces from eastern europe effectively. those are not new demands essentially, are they? what is a significant at the moment?— what is a significant at the moment? ., �* , , what is a significant at the moment? . �* , , ., moment? that's right. they are not new demands. _ moment? that's right. they are not new demands. right - moment? that's right. they are not new demands. right now i moment? that's right. they are | not new demands. right now the significance is that vladimir putin and the kremlin has perceived that somehow the west

is weak, politically, militarily, primarily, politically. and i think this is a deep miscalculation because with president biden on the scene now, with the europeans, largely i would say across because nato and the european union, understanding now in a very different way from seven years ago when i was in the pentagon and working with the president white house situation room. they understand the threat posed by the kremlin. this is not the same scenario. i don't think vladimir putin understands that we do have the resolve to stand up we do have the resolve to stand up to russia, but more importantly, he does not down the ukraine and the ukrainian people, and for that, he will have to pay a higher price if he does indeed invade further. but isn't the fact these are not new demands and they are probably impossible demands from a nato perspective in any case, this provides them with the trigger and the answer is no to do something, to make, to move those troops and perhaps open the front up further. fin

open the front up further. on one hand. — open the front up further. on one hand, yes, it could open the front up further. q�*i one hand, yes, it could divide pretext for him, although it does not appear that that would move the russian people to view any invasion, any new invasion of ukraine favourably. he might have a pretext but it won't make him popular. and i think the reality is that again, as i said, it is going to be quite costly, and he's not going to achieve his objectives at the point, the barrel of a gun with regard to the west. i think the only thing that might come out of it for him, is he is at the core now of the discussion with the united states, and all attention is on the united states and russia rather than the united states and china, for example, so he benefits in that way. maybe there will be some discussion about some items on his laundry list where we can work with him. frankly speaking, on the big things, there is no way, and he thinks there is no way, and he thinks there is no way, and he thinks there is a new moment for him.

there is a moment in as much as there is a genuine russian perception of concern, of fear at what is always being described as western expansion, but pushing up ever closer to the russian border. you know that, we know that, it has always been there, however it is manipulated. it is not something more the west could be doing in terms of reassurance? if be doing in terms of reassurance?- be doing in terms of reassurance? ., , , reassurance? if it was 'ust about uni reassurance? if it was 'ust about the strategic h reassurance? if it was just about the strategic fear i reassurance? if it was just l about the strategic fear that they have because they are nato forces on their border, certainly something we can do. we have a nato russia council, we have venues where we can discuss these issues with them. the reason why there are an increasing number of nato troops on the periphery of russia is because a rush poz much invading and seizing territory of their neighbours, not just territory of their neighbours, notjust ukraine, but george as well. their behaviour has provoked nato to, in response, baldridge deterrence. at this

point, the only thing i would say is fundamentally, it is not actually about that. it is really about democracy. but amir putin is afraid that what happened in ukraine, where you had a transformation who ran to take cover to a democracy, which is not perfect, to an economy which is also not perfect but has the potential to thrive, in the way poland has since the end of the cold war, that experiment, but new vision opportunity is a model that russian people might find attractive. one last point. we spoke a week ago about the likelihood of something happening and whether it might happen, your concern is that would be december 25, to go at a difficult time, i suppose. are you any more confident that that is not going to happen or do you still

believe there is a chance that in a matter of days something is going to give? i in a matter of days something is going to give?— is going to give? i am a little less confident _ is going to give? i am a little less confident on _ is going to give? i am a little less confident on december. is going to give? i am a little i less confident on december 25 because i am told by my friends to spend much more time in russia that the russian people and the russian government is in more of a celebratory mood. so it may be after orthodox christmas. even so we're just talking about a matter of you very much. talking about a matter of you very much-— stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why questions remain over the well being of chinese tennis player peng shuai despite the release of this new video. the world of music has been paying tribute to george michael, who's died from suspected heart failure at the age of 53. he sold well over 100 million albums in a career spanning more than three decades.

the united states' troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon says it's failed in its principle objective to capture noriega and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle| was hastily taken away. m its place. — the russian flag was hoisted over what is now— no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. | day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am's maid of the seas, nosedown in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide falls from 30,000 feet. christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass in the town of shkoder, where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the omicron variant sweeps

across the united states with lightning speed — already accounting for three quarters of new infections in the country. the british prime minister says no new covid restrictions for now — but he doesn't rule out bringing them in if needed. the jury in the trail of ghislaine maxwell have begun their deliberations in her federal sex trafficking trial. in the closing arguments, prosecutors called her a sophisticated predator. ms maxwell has denied grooming underage girls for abuse by the late paedophile jeffrey epstein between i994 and 2004. barbara plett usher is following developments. they recapped their argument, i suppose, that ghislaine maxwell was absolutely crucial for this operation, that her demeanour, as you mentioned, she was age—appropriate, smiling, posh, made the girls comfortable, and so she provided a cover to what the prosecution called the creepy behaviour of mr epstein. he never could have done it without her. and they talked about the fact,

or they said she had a playbook of how to lure these girls in, getting to know them, offering them gifts, spending time with them, making them feel comfortable, and ultimately introducing sexual contact with jeffrey epstein in a as if it was just normal behaviour, and that is what the prosecution argued, her grooming them for him. and they also said that she had been paid by him $30 million, over the period that this trial is looking at, something that one lawyer said, "that's $30 million of �*we did this together, we did this crime together�* money." so those are the arguments they made — ghislaine maxwell knowing what she was doing and being very involved in this operation of mr epstein's sex crimes. that's one of the core issues the jurors will have to decide,

how much miss maxwell actually knew? and the defence said she did not know that much because her partner, her long—time partner, kept secrets from her, and now that he has died, he committed suicide, the prosecution is going after her as a sort of substitute. they're scapegoating her because somebody needs to pay for his crimes. they also argue that the witnesses are not credible. and this is the other core issue, whether the four women are telling the truth. the defence says no, they're not. they're mis—remembering, they're inserting ghislaine maxwell into their memories now because they have the prospect of a payout from a compensation fund, and the details are, you know, not consistent. and again, the prosecution has come back and said, "well, if they are mis—remembering, they're all mis—remembering the same thing," and actually money isn't an issue because that payout was for civil suits, and that's done. there's no money involved in what happens in this trial.

so those are the two issues — how credible the jurors see the accusers and what they think about how much ghislaine maxwell actually knew about what was going on. police in the philippines say the number of people who've died after a super typhoon hit last week has risen to more than 375. the red cross says it's "carnage" in many areas, with no power, no communications, and very little water. thousands of military, coast guard and fire service personnel, have been deployed to help in the relief operation. with the latest from the capital manila, here's howard johnson. four days on from super typhoon rai mad first landfall in the philippines, the extent of the damage it caused is finally becoming clear. nine different islands separated by a distance of more than 800 kilometres, all experienced sustained ferocious winds and heavy rain, flattening thousands of homes and flooding vast tracts of land. translation: we appeal

for at least some small i help to come to us. now is the time that we need a government, a government ready to help us in our current situation. we are waiting for whoever has a kind heart and i hope they will help us. the breadth of the destruction and the lack of communication lines is causing logistical delays in humanitarian support. food, water, fuel and electricity are in limited supply on numerous islands. today, the british government committed nearly a million dollars to an appeal by the international federation of the red cross to help the relief effort. the ifrc hope to raise a total of more than $20 million. howard johnson, bbc news, manila. the chinese tennis star, peng shuai, appears to have retracted an accusation of sexual assault, that she made against a former chinese vice premier. in a video interview, filmed by a singaporean chinese language newspaper, she said, the comments she'd made

on social media had been misunderstood. translation: first and foremost i must emphasise i have never i said or wrote about anyone sexually assaulting me. that is a very important point. the weibo post is my personal issue. i know there are many misunderstandings but there is no distorted interpretation. the women's tennis association has said it's still concerned that ms peng is still being censored by the state — and although it welcomes her appearance in a public setting, it doesn't alleviate or address the concerns about her wellbeing. we will keep across that story for you here on bbc news. thank you for watching.

hello there. it's been a cloudy and chilly start to the week. things will change. from midweek, we'll start to see atlantic air coming our way. that means temperatures will be rising, but we're also going to find some rain. but what about christmas? well, i'll try and answer that question later on. we start, though, cold in many places on tuesday morning, particularly in the clearer skies in scotland, with a frost in the north. we could see some pockets of frost across some western parts of england and wales, but the prospects of some sunshine during tuesday, which will be good news on what is the shortest day of the year. it's the winter solstice. these are the sunrise and sunset times, but, of course, after tuesday, the days do get longer. we do have some sunshine across northern parts of scotland, some sunshine at times coming through across wales and western england, but more cloud further east. still that blanket of cloud in northern ireland, southern scotland that will push its way into the central belt and make it feel quite chilly here. temperatures on the whole similar to what we had on monday,

and near—normal, really, for this time of the year. but it's from wednesday that the weather starts to change because high pressure that's kept it quiet for so long is moving away. and instead, we've got a big low out in the atlantic. that's going to push bands of rain our way. but we start wednesday with a widespread frost in scotland, england and wales. some early sunshine, but it clouds over from the west. the wind starts to pick up. we've got this band of rain mainly affecting northern ireland, pushing into wales and southwest england and then into parts of scotland later on, bringing in some milder airfor western areas. but for many parts of the country, it's still another chilly day. that band of wet weather moves northwards and eastwards overnight, and then with low pressure still out to the west, another band of rain sweeps around that as well. so we're going to find some wet weather moving northwards and eastwards again during thursday. could stay wet for most of the day across the northern half of scotland. elsewhere, that rain does clear through. we get some sunshine following on behind. and with a south—westerly wind, just look at what it does for the temperatures — widely in double figures across northern ireland, england and wales.

as the winds fall light, though, overnight, and if you're going to be travelling into christmas eve, it could be misty with some patches of fog around in the morning. and then we have that battle between the milder air and colder air that's in the north. now, for many, it looks like we'll stay in the milder air for christmas day, but if there is going to be a white christmas, at the moment, it only looks likely in northern parts of scotland.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the headlines: the omicron variant is sweeping the omicron variant is sweeping across the united states in the country. across the united states with lightning speed, already with lightning speed, already accounting for three—quarters accounting for three—quarters of new infections of new infections

in the country. it's a very significantjump from a week ago when about i3% of new infections in the us were omicron. in the uk, prime minister has said no new covid restrictions for now, but he insisted the government would take further action if needed. there had been speculation the rules in england might be tightened following reports of splits among senior ministers over whether to take action. a new york cityjury has begun deliberations in the sex trafficking and perjury trial of ghislaine maxwell. in the closing arguments, prosecutors called her a sophisticated predator. ms maxwell has denied grooming underage girls for abuse by the late paedophile jeffrey epstein between 1994 and 200a.