this is bbc news. our top stories: free covid tests for all americans — president biden tries to stop the spread of the omicron variant, urging people to get vaccinated. let me say again and again and again and again, please get vaccinated. it's the only responsible thing to do. israel becomes the first country in the world to make a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine available. new covid guidance comes into force across england — with quarantine for infected people being reduced from ten days, to seven. london's high court orders the ruler of dubai to pay more than $700 million in a divorce settlement to his ex—wife — princess haya ofjordan.

and: a text back in time — the first ever text message has just been sold for $120,000. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start with the one issue that is on the minds of so many around the world at the moment — how to deal with the rapid spread of the 0micron variant. we still don't really know if the rise in cases seen in the uk, us and other countries will translate to a similar rise in deaths or severe illness. and that makes it difficult for governments to settle on a common response.

on monday more countries announced their own measures in an attempt to keep case numbers manageable, while still allowing society to continue. in the us, president biden has announced a major increase in testing capacity, with half a billion rapid tests to be made available for free. israel has become the first country in the world to offer a fourth vaccine dose. it will be given first to the over—60s and to medical workers. and in england, people who test positive will be able to reduce their isolation period from ten days to just seven. we've got more on all of the those stories — first here's gary 0'donoghue with the latest from washington. more than two million people a day are travelling home for christmas through america's airports, and many of them are worried. the way i look at it is as long as we've been fully vaccinated, we're always masked up, should be ok. but it's quite dangerous still. i don't think anything's100% safe unless you stay in your house the entire time, so, yeah.

0micron has exploded in the united states. in the space of two weeks, it's gone from less than i% of new cases to almost three quarters. so, for a second time in less than a month, president biden has announced more measures, extra vaccine sites and, in a change of direction, free home testing kits. i'm announcing today the federal government will purchase one half billion — that's not million, billion with a b — additional at—home rapid tests with delivery starting in january. we'll be getting these tests to americans for free. those free at—home tests won't be available until next month, so testing sites like this recreation centre are opening up all over the country. and 1,000 military, nurses and doctors are being readied in case the hospitals get overwhelmed. while cases have been rising sharply, one encouraging sign is that hospitalisations haven't gone up anything like as much as they did earlier in the pandemic.

but infections amongst the unvaccinated could change all that. we've first got to get the 50 million or so people who are eligible to be vaccinated who've not gotten vaccinated. that is critical. if you want to keep the level of spread in the country as low as possible, which would get us back to some degree of normality, you've got to get those unvaccinated people vaccinated. in new york, they've seen record numbers of cases in the past few days, leading the mayor to offer a $100 incentive to those getting a boosterjab. it will not be a normal christmas once again. gary 0'donoghue, bbc news, washington. i've been discussing president biden�*s plans to distribute 500 million coronavirus testing kits with dr craig spencer. he's the director of global health in emergency medicine at columbia university medical center. it's certainly a positive step. everyone that i know has been

looking for tests over the past few weeks and, really, months. it has been incredibly difficult for us to buy tests, it's incredibly expensive. you know, i talked to people here and let them know that in the uk you can walk into a pharmacy and get them or order them online. in the us, you know, you're talking $10, $15, $25 a test sometimes. that's if you can find them on the shelves. this makes it really difficult for people to stay safe when they do indoor gatherings and i'm particularly concerned about the upcoming holidays. so 500 million tests is great but that's about 1.5 tests for every single american and those aren't going to start being rolled out until next month. i'm sure that the first supply is going to be immediately gone and by then we're going to have hundreds of thousands of more cases. do you think it's inevitable then that the pressure will be on to keep those tests being provided at no cost? this is something that was unfortunately mocked just a few weeks ago by the white house press secretary, when pushed. public health experts like myself have been saying for a long time, we need access to more testing,

and the white house responded, well, what are we gonna do, give a test to everyone, and then what? well now they're going to give a test and a half to everyone. now, look, it's better than nothing and it will help expand through the defense production act, access to testing, increased supply, because right now if you look online or you try to go into a pharmacy to get tests, the great likelihood in the majority of the country is you're not going to be able to find them. yeah, i can feel the frustration there in your voice. just stay with us for a minute because i want to draw on another issue that's cropped up on an international level. i'm just going to refer for a moment to what's going on in israel, in fact, because that's become the first country in the world to make a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine widely available. so it's ahead of the rest of the field, if you like. it's going to be offered first of all to people over the age of 60 and to medical workers. the country's prime minister naftali bennett welcomed the news, he said that the measure would help get through the 0micron wave that is engulfing the world. well, craig, iwant to ask you about this.

every country has a duty to look after its own, i guess. but would you be supportive of a fourth vaccination at this stage when, let's be honest, there are large swathes of our earth who are seeing little or no vaccination opportunities? israel has been a testing ground for vaccines and for boosters throughout this pandemic. i look forward to reading the science and seeing how they justify this, but you're right, this is a zero—sum game. three quarters of all vaccine doses have gone to wealthy countries. less than 1% of them have gone to low income countries. yesterday i was talking to a friend of mine working in east africa who, taking care of covid patients, doesn't have enough ppe let alone the vaccination. and he said he was going to try to go to the capital city to see if they had any in but he felt that it was unlikely. yes, we all have responsibility to take care of our own but we saw

what happened with 0micron. it came from an under—vaccinated population in southern africa and spread worldwide. it's only a matter of time until this happens again and the best way to prevent that, as we know, is to get the world vaccinated. we've been calling for the world to do this for over the past year, part 1.5 years, and although there's been some ramp—up in, really, the motivation to do so, it's still not enough. we need to get more done much quicker otherwise we're going to be in this scenario again. we're not going to boost our way out this pandemic. that was doctor craig spencer. if you want to find out more about why boosters work against the 0micron variant, when two doses struggle — our health correspondentjames gallagher has written about it in detail on our website. there's lots more too about what we do and don't know about the 0micron variant. find it all on the bbc news app or on our website at bbc.com/news. here in england — new isolation guidelines have been announced, which will allow people who have tested positive for covid—19 to reduce their self—isolation from ten days to seven. here's the uk health

secretary sajid javid. we want to reduce the disruption to people's everyday lives caused by the pandemic, so today we will be cutting the self isolation period from ten days to seven days for those people that take a lateral flow test on day six and day seven and the result of both those tests are negative. this decision has been informed by the advice from our clinicians at the uk health security agency who have looked at this very carefully and they are very comfortable that the protection that is provided by making this change so that people can leave isolation after day seven as long as they have taken these two lateral flow tests and the results are negative, that the protection it provides is very similar to ten days of isolation without test. germany has become the latest european country to tighten

its coronavirus restrictions — although the new measures won't come into force until after christmas. private gatherings will be limited to ten people from the 28th of december, nightclubs will be closed, and large organised events, including the bundesliga football matches, will take place behind closed doors. let's get some of the day's other news. michael flynn — a longtime adviser to former us president donald trump — is suing the congressional committee investigating the deadly january sixth attack on the us capitol. mr flynn's lawsuit alleges that a subpoena issued to him was too broad in scope, and punishes him for constitutionally protected speech he engaged in as a private citizen. the worst flooding malaysia has seen in decades has left at least 17 dead — with fears

that number will rise. three days of torrential rain has partially submerged entire towns and villages, forcing 60,000 people from their homes. government agencies have been accused of failing to issue storm warnings or send enough support. parliament in ghana has been suspended untiljanuary following monday's session in which mps traded punches in a late night vote on a new electronics transaction tax. the proposal — which would include taxes on mobile money payments — has divided the house for months. denmark's former immigration minister inger stojberg who ordered the separation of under—age couples seeking asylum in 2016, has been voted out of parliament. stojberg was handed a 60—day prison sentence last week by an impeachment court. mark lobel reports.

measures to discourage migrant arrivals to europe over the past few years have often seemed controversial. in denmark in particular, they've tried to pull up the drawbridge. they've confiscated valuables from arriving refugees, created a three—year wait until relatives can join and at one point separated young, married refugees. measures prompted by the 2015 refugee crisis when over1 million entered europe via greece and italy, with many seeking asylum further north including in denmark. inger stojberg was immigration minister at the time. over the past two years she has been investigated over the legality of her 2016 decision to separate 23 married refugees under 18 years old from their spouses. she said it was to combat child marriages but her separation policy led some migrants to reportedly feel suicidal, living apart for months. bell rings. last week, she was convicted in an impeachment court

and sentenced to 60 days' detention for failing to adhere to danish and human rights law, that each case must be assessed individually. fellow parliamentarians decided on monday that enough was enough. translation: it is incompatible with the office as a member- of parliament to have received an unconditional prison sentence. a majority voted to remove the independent mp but she remains defiant. translation: i actually believe | that one has a moral obligation| to protect child brides when they come here. once i have served my sentence i can return, it could also be here. some commentators believe monday's verdict may galvanise her supporters on the right wing of politics but this rare case also underlines the consequences for ministers who do not comply with the law. mark lobel, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we'll tell you why the national hockey league looks poised

to pull out of february's winter olympics in beijing. the world of music's 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 that 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 world news, the latest headlines: president biden announces new measures to tackle the omicron variant, promising free testing and 10,000 new vaccination sites. israel becomes the first country in the world to make a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine available. what's thought to be the largest divorce settlement in british legal history has been agreed. a high courtjudge has awarded around $725 million to princess haya ofjordan — in a long—running dispute with herformer husband, sheikh mohammed, the ruler of dubai. our security correspondent,

frank gardner has more on an extraordinary case. this is pretty much the culmination of a very long—running court battle between one of the world's richest men, sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum, who is a huge figure in the horse racing world, he is also the ruler of dubai and the prime minister of the united arab emirates, and the youngest of his six wives, now ex—wife, princess haya ofjordan, who is the daughter of king hussein ofjordan. and as you mentioned, she fled to britain in early 2019 with her two children, saying she was terrified. she was getting some very sinister things. a gun was placed in her room with a bullet on it. a helicopter landed on the lawn of her palace with somebody saying that he had orders to take her to a prison out in the desert. all because she said she had discovered what had happened to two other daughters, sheikha shamsa and sheikha latifa, of the ruler of dubai who had been abducted. he has denied this, but the high court here in britain stood this up. it didn't probably help her case that she had an affair with her bodyguard,

and when that was discovered, he was understandably very angry, wrote a poem that went public called you lived, you died, and she interpreted that as a death threat. she fled to britain where she still continued to get threats from anonymous people saying we can reach you wherever. she took the case to court to try and safeguard, to put in place — which she has now got today — huge financial settlement to safeguard her security and that of her two children, because she worries that harm will come to her and that they will be abducted. he has issued a statement saying, i has only ever wished to provide for best for my children and i've got nothing more to say about this case. the professional ice hockey league in north america, the national hockey league, looks poised to pull out of the winter olympics which get under way in beijing in february. the move would see the omission

of some of the world's top ice hockey players from the competition, as concerns rise around covid—19 and the impact on the remainder of the nhl season. greg wyshynski is the senior nhl writer at espn. hejoined me to explain what's behind the move. the owners have never been fans of the olympics interrupting their season, they don't see any revenue from the games. they can't even put an national hockey league logo anywhere on the ice at the winter games. but in this case it has to do with the material interruption of the nhl season due to covid—19. the players and the owners collectively bargained to allow the players to return to the olympics for the first time since 2014, in the beijing games of 2022 and then again in 2026. the problem is that the nhl also said, look, we'll let you go as long as our regular season can be played through without any problem with covid—19. right now the nhl has postponed 50 games so far in the regular season and they're saying that

that is enough to have to use the olympic break to make up some of those games, play some games and make sure they can play a full 82—game schedule. yeah, i see the challenge. it is interesting though because we think of the north american league so the canadians, the americans, they're going to be affected but it is much wider than that, isn't it? this is really the epicentre of the best players in the world. absolutely, the national hockey league is an international league through and through and those players do represent their countries when they are allowed to in the olympics. so team sweden, the majority of their roster are nhl players. team finland, the majority of their roster are nhl players. same thing with russia. you find nhl players all across the men's ice hockey tournament. so the national hockey league pulling its star players out of the beijing games not only impacts the quality of play but it is also going to impact the amount of interest this tournament gets. i can tell you first hand, here in north america, the pyeongchang men's

international tournament in the olympics when it was russia and germany in the final, you couldn't find a person that cared about that final here in north america. that is just the nature of the beast, isn't it? what about the players? do they feel robbed? how are they going to feel about it? they are massively disappointed. they entered into this agreement knowing that there was a chance that if covid—19 interrupted the season, that they may lose their chance to play in the olympics. but it is a huge disappointment. you have star players in this league that have not gotten their chance to represent their country yet in the olympics. you have star players like alex ovechkin, currently chasing wayne gretzky�*s all—time goals record in the national hockey league, who has been chasing a gold medalfor his entire career for russia. there are young players that feel they could get another shot at this in 2026 but one, connor hellebuyck, of the winnipeg jets, for example, who is expected to be the starting goal centre for the united states said, look, i think i still have a chance to play in four years, but i might not necessarily still be the starter for my nation in four years.

so across the board there is disappointment and regret that covid—19 has caused this kind of interruption to keep them from going to the games. the largest us exhibition by the artist laurie anderson is under way at the hirshhorn museum in washington dc. in this immersive art experience, she blends both avant garde and popular culture and guides her visitors through performance art and multimedia projects. she spoke to the bbc�*s bill mckenna about the exhibition and herfive decade long career. and a warning that this report does contain some flashing images. this exhibition at the hirshhorn is called the weather. it is dedicated tojohn cage because he saw life more like weather than objects and i do too. it is always changing, it surrounds you, it is never boring. my name is laurie anderson and i am an artist.

i make a lot of different kinds of things. mostly they come from stories, but sometimes they look like paintings, sometimes they look like films, sometimes they are books. and sometimes they are electronic experiments. and you can create all of these kind of songs out of the raw materials, the sounds of words. some of the things in the show are little and some are very big. you have to be there to see that. the show begins with a dance about a drum machine, becoming a drum machine, hitting the body and making sounds of a drum which is something i made because i was trying to fix something. which is — i am just a dabbler and a tinkerer so when things break, i'm like, what does this do and what could it do now? something different. at the end of the show, there is a table that you listen to through bone conduction so music comes up through your bones.

it is very much about the body. my motivations for doing work are many. sometimes it isjust to make something so heartbreakingly beautiful and not translatable. and other times i have other motives, which is my own idea ofjustice. is that political? of course, but i don't think i would claim to be a political artist. it is very difficult to change people's minds. you have to be a lot sneakier than that if you are going to work with political ideas. each track of the record is a sustained note. there were also several fits. you can do a little scratching of the thing as well. so it was an early scratching instrument. for me, painting is exactly like playing the violin. is it too loud? is it too beautiful? is it not sharp enough? all the same exact things that

you ask yourself with a piece of music, i asked myself when i'm doing the painting. it is a very physical thing as well. i don't really see the difference, for me as an artist in making these things. they are very much the same. they may seem a little old—fashioned these days — but when they first pinged onto our phones, text messages were the last word in cool. now the first text ever sent has been sold, for more than $120,000. it was auctioned in paris as a non—fungible token. text messaging, it's hard to imagine a world without it, but do you know when people first started texting each other? it was almost 30 years ago, in december1992. and that first message simply said, "merry christmas." translation: engineering teams were working in the 1990s - to develop the technology to transmit sms messages, and on december 3, 1992,

neil papworth, who was part of this engineering team, seen from his computer the sms "merry christmas" to a vodafone manager in the united kingdom. now that piece of digital history has gone under the hammer. it was sold by vodafone for $120,600 in the form of a non—fungible token, or nft. nfts are a type of digital asset that has surged in popularity this year, with nft artwork selling for millions of dollars. the buyer, whose identity was not disclosed, will receive the replica of the original communication protocol that transmitted the sms. vodafone says it plans to donate its proceeds from the sale to the united nations refugee agency. nina nanji, bbc news.

if you go to our website you can find more on our main stories particularly on the omicron variant. hello again. well, we're going to see some changes in our weather pattern through wednesday as this area of cloud, that's just out in the atlantic, starts to encroach. that will eventually bring some rain, particularly into western areas, with milder southerly winds spreading in as well. before we get there, though, it's a chilly start to the day with some patches of frost for central and eastern areas of the country. in some of the deeper valleys in scotland, we're seeing temperatures of, what, —9, —10 degrees, so a very cold start here. now, through wednesday, as i say, this area of rain is on the way, and it's going to be arriving pretty quickly in northern ireland, accompanied by those strengthening southerly winds. so, it will be turning progressively milder here pretty quickly through the day. elsewhere, a few brighter spells across central and eastern england, perhaps for northern scotland, too, but generally a lot

of cloud further west, with that rain continuing to push its way northwards and eastwards through the day. top temperatures around about 4—7 for many, but as that rain bumps into that colder air, well, some of those valleys could still have temperatures below freezing. so, there is a risk, and quite a significant risk i think, of seeing icy conditions out on the roads through wednesday evening, either due to freezing rain or rain falling on frozen surfaces. now, for thursday, we've got another weather front that's set to move its way in. now, i think it may well start off with rather murky conditions across much of the country, a few mist and fog patches over the hills, and rain. well, that rain's going to be heavier, particularly swinging across northern ireland, northern england, into parts of scotland as well. very mild in the south, 13 degrees, but we're starting to get some colder air spreading into the far north of the uk. and for christmas eve, we'll continue to have those kind of temperature contrasts.

another weather front, this one concentrating rain across northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england, still with mild air here. further north, we've got those chillier conditions with wintry showers beginning to spread across the northern isles. and for saturday, which of course is christmas day, we're going to have this battle zone somewhere across the uk. now, this is not set in stone. it could move a little bit further southwards perhaps over the next few days. for the north of the uk, we may well see a few snow showers, that is a possibility. the south—west more likely to see cloudy skies, grey conditions, rain and mild weather. and there's a small chance we could see something a little bit more disruptive, but itjust depends where this boundary ends up being. at the moment, it's here. cold air to the north, milder in the south west, but watch this space.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president biden has announced new measures to tackle the omicron variant, which is sweeping across the united states. mr biden is promising free testing and 10,000 new vaccination sites. he's also urged the public to get vaccinated as soon as possible. israel has become the first country in the world to make a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine available. it will be offered first to people over the age of 60 and medical workers. the country's prime minister, naftali bennett, says the measure will help get through the omicron wave. new covid guidance has come into force across england with infected people now having to self—isolate for seven days — rather than ten. the health secretary said it was based on advice from health experts. scotland, wales, and northern ireland have yet to decide whether they will follow suit.

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