this is bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: 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's 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. the number of people killed in the philippines by typhoon rai has risen to more than 375 with the military now helping the desperate relief operation.

a new york cityjury begins deliberations in the sex trafficking and perjury trial of ghislaine maxwell. 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 in the us were omicron. in a speech later on tuesday, president biden will outline how his administration plans to address the latest surge in cases. on monday, in a series

of tweets, the president has urged americans to get vaccinated, saying those who aren't will face an extremely difficult winter for theirfamilies and community. mr biden predicts omicron cases are likely to increase even among those who are fully vaccinated. in the new york area, it's thought around 90% of new cases are omicron. and in new york, mayor bill de blasio says the city must "move faster" in its response. 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 bowes, has been looking into the latest omicron data from health

officials in the us. we are discovering in these statistics, really what we expected and what the experts have been telling us over the last couple of weeks, that it is extremely fast moving, really lightning speed, and the data just released in the last few 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 high 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 de blasio couldn't be clearer in a way, could he? get vaccinated seems to be the big clarion 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 either asymptomatic or 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 distinctly 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 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. of course that is a big issue in this country, the rollout of the vaccinations has been slowing down over the last few weeks. let's go from the us to the uk. 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 that 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. plenty of countries weighing up options at the moment. 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. 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. 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. russia 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. japan has executed three prisoners by hanging for the first time since 2019. the prisoners had been on death row for several years since being convicted of multiple murders in the early 2000s. more than 100 inmates await execution injapan where support for capital punishment remains high. i'm joined now by our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield hayes. the details come out and a rather specialised way, it seems, executions injapan? they do stop injapan has a very unique system and

certainly human rights groups and people campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty here have said it is a very cruel and unusual system, in large part notjust because the use of hanging on the fact that japan along with the united states is really the only major industrialised country that continues to use executions as a form of punishment butjapan has a very specific way in which it is done in which the inmates on death row will spend many years not knowing if this day, which day is going to be their last before they are put to death. they are only told literally on the morning that it happens, so these three men and they were all men, would have been woken up this morning before dawn and told, you are now going to your execution this morning. and that is the first they would have known about. and they would have sat there for many years not knowing exactly when it was to happen. knowing exactly when it was to ha - en. �* knowing exactly when it was to ha en. �* , knowing exactly when it was to hauen.�* , , ., happen. and yet support for the death penalty remains - happen. and yet support for the death penalty remains strong, l death penalty remains strong, is that right?—

is that right? very much so. all of the — is that right? very much so. all of the opinion _ is that right? very much so. all of the opinion polls - is that right? very much so. all of the opinion polls that l all of the opinion polls that are taken on this show, the japanese people overwhelmingly support the continued use of the death penalty and they believe it is the right thing to do in extreme, where there has been an extremely violent or multiple murder and the japanese government does stress that it japanese government does stress thatitis japanese government does stress that it is only used for the very worst crimes, so essentially only a you are convicted of multiple killings or a very cruel killing that involves some sort of torture orfor involves some sort of torture or for example kidnapping involves some sort of torture orfor example kidnapping and or for example kidnapping and murderfor orfor example kidnapping and murderfor ransom, for money. those are the three categories that are used and while you said in your introduction around 100 people remain on death row here injapan, this is a country of 126 million people. if you compare that to the united states, something like 2600 people are on death row in the united states so it is much, much less per capita than in the united states.

i presume it is a judicial decision went to go ahead with a moment like this. there is a new prime minister. does is representing people puzzling views apolitical hardening of positions at all? i views apolitical hardening of positions at all?— positions at all? i am not clear about _ positions at all? i am not clear about this - positions at all? i am not clear about this on - positions at all? i am not clear about this on this . clear about this on this occasion because both of them are not known for being hardliners on this sort of thing. it could be that the cabinet have decided they have to show themselves to be tough, but these are not, by their political background, the sort of people who you would expect to be extremely hard line on the death penalty. we have had justice ministers like that in previous years as soon as they have come in and say they will sign death warrants. it is not the case in this cabinet. it may be just the bureaucratic wheels have to keep continuing to return. . ~ wheels have to keep continuing to return. ., ~ , ., , wheels have to keep continuing to return. ., ~ ,, , . 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 said 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. this is bbc world 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 herfederal 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 1994 and 200a. 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 then, ultimately, introducing sexual contact with mr epstein in a sort of — as if it was just normal behaviour, and that is what the prosecution argued, was 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 for ghislaine maxwell, knowing what she was doing and being very involved in this operation of mr epstein�*s sex crimes. one of the two core issues the jurors will have to decide, how much miss maxwell actually knew. and the defence says, well, she didn't actually 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 in that whether the four women are telling the truth. the defence says

no, they're not. they're mis—remembering, they're sort of inserting ms 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 pay—out 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 women, the accusers, and what they think about how much ghislaine maxwell actually knew about what was going on. i want to bring you up—to—date with some other news from around the world now. rebels say they are withdrawing immediately from neighbouring regions. it comes after pro—government forces made significant military games. rebels say they are hoping there will now be a ceasefire. the chilean currency has fallen by 4% to record lows against the dollar and that follows a

victory of the left—wing candidate in sunday puzzling presidential election. mr boric won 56% of the vote, beating the far right candidatejose antonio kast. mr boric will be the country's youngest president ever. turkey has announced moves to stabilise the value of its currency. the lira reversed dramatic losses suffered on monday as investors responded to plans announced by president recep tayyip erdogan. he said no one would need to convert their lira savings into dollars because of concerns about the value of the turkish currency. 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. earlier, i spoke to senator richard gordon, the chairman of the philippine red cross. he gave this update

of the situation. i still expect the death toll to rise, but on the part of the red cross, we're so busy with the disaster, but we're going to eyeball the people that they said have died. in the meantime, the threat is rising because there are people in one island, in siargao, and our people just arrived there. can you imagine, we tried for the last 48 hours to get there. they're finally there, it's an isolated island, it's a tourism island, but 100,000 people are there. and a lot of people are in a panic because none of the facilities are practically working, there's an awful explosion of debris. i have a 10—man team there right now and we're going to be restoring family links and, at the same time, trying to put in a medical team to organise people who may be hurt, with the makati medical centre in manila, whom we are sending as soon as this thing reports. the rest of the islands are still having problems with the lifelines.

there's no power. there's partly power, there's partly communications, unreliable, and at the same time, there are several other people in need of food, in need of water and we are sending a lot of water, but that's not going to be near enough. no, definitely not. and that's what's happening. that sounds like one of the greatest challenges, in a way. i see president duterte talking about, saying, look, "i'm going to find more money, we'll get more money," but it's far more immediate in terms of concern than that. well, the icrc and the ifrc are helping, but the ifrc and the philippine red cross are bothjoining an international appeal. hopefully, we're appealing to the world to take a look at this — this is like haiyan. you know, i said earlier it might be two—thirds of haiyan or one half of haiyan, but the damage is so considerable in many, many departments. in haiyan, there were houses, a lot of houses were destroyed. here, every place that we go, there are houses,

there is power down, there is communications down, which is hampering our efforts. that is senator richard gordon. 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 said or wrote about anyone sexually assaulting me. that's a very important point. the weibo post is my personal issue. i know there are many misunderstandings, but there is no distorted interpretation. that is the latest turn in the peng shuai story.

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 well being. 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 south—west 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 omicron variant is sweeping across the united states — already accounting for three quarters of new infections in the country. this is a very significant jump from a week ago, when about 13% of the new infections in the us were omicron. in the uk, the 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. the number of people killed in the philippines by typhoon rai has risen to more than 375 — with the military now helping the desperate relief operation. with no power, no communications, and very little water.

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.