this is bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm shaun ley. our top stories... the bbc understands no further covid restrictions in england are due to be announced today, but there's uncertainy if this could change before the new year. in new york, children aged 12 and over need to be fully vaccinated for indoor restaurants and leisure facilities, as the city sees infections rise. remembering desmond tutu, south africa begins a week of events to commemorate the anti—apartheid leader who died on sunday. the businesses desperately waiting on new stock, we'll look at why your presents may not have reached you on time this christmas. and revving up our recycling rates, we report on a project in europe that's using new tecnology to sort plastic packaging.

hello and welcome. good afternoon. the bbc understands no further covid restrictions in england are set to be announced today. borisjohnson is meeting with his scientific advisers as he considers whether further measures might be needed to slow the spread of the omicron variant. it's expected he'll hear about the impact on hospital admissions and nhs staff sickness over recent days. further controls have come into effect today in northern ireland and scotland. the new measures there affect the hospitality and leisure industries. in scotland, nightclubs have to close for at least three weeks and one—metre social distancing and table service has been reinstated in hospitality settings

where alcohol is served. table service has also resumed in hospitality venues across northern ireland. no more than six people will be allowed to sit together. dancing is also prohibited, except at weddings. yesterday in wales, the rule of six was reinstated for people meeting in pubs, cinemas and restaurants. then outside of the uk, new york city has become the first us city to require vaccines against covid for private sector workers. it's also compulsory for everyone aged 12 and above to be fully vaccinated, in order to access indoor entertainment and sports activities. indian authorities are imposing a night—time curfew in delhi to try to contain a growing number of cases. the restriction will last for six hours each night. we'll visit all of those stories in a moment. first, let's start with the latest in the uk. here's our correspondent simonjones. after the christmas festivities, tough decisions. borisjohnson will be poring over the latest covid data to see if he thinks new measures are needed in england.

though no new restrictions are expected to be announced today. at this bar in bristol, they say they need clarity as they look ahead to the new year. he needs to get on with it, he needs to get on with it now, and he needs to help people now. people need to know now. they have got staff that they need to put in place, they have security that they need to book, they have stock that they need to order. he needs to tell people now, right now, so they know what they are doing. a key consideration is going to be hospital admissions, whether omicron infections could lead to the nhs being overwhelmed. downing street said before christmas that it would not hesitate to act if necessary. but borisjohnson will face a battle to convince some of his mps that changes are needed. my view is that the government is going to sit tight and wait for more information, wait for a signal that omicron, if it indeed is, is more severe in older people. whereas the devolved governments have decided to act sooner. yesterday in wales, social distancing measures were reintroduced.

from today in northern ireland, there are new restrictions for pubs and restaurants. it will be table service only, and a maximum of six people will be allowed to sit together. we try to be sensible and both protect ourselves and each other. i am slightly bewildered. i don't understand them. i have come over from scotland, so everything is different. table service too has come in in scotland where alcohol is served. nightclubs will have to close for a period of at least three weeks. the scottish health secretary this morning visited a vaccination centre in perth. this is still going to be very difficult for businesses, but of course if we let this virus run out of control or get ahead of us, that would be even worse for the economy. as people wait to hear what further new restrictions might be needed for the new year, the government has insisted that no decisions have yet been taken for england. today's briefing by scientists is one of a series of regular updates given to

the prime minister. borisjohnson has not yet called a cabinet meeting or announced a recall of parliament. simon jones, bbc news. andrew bridgen is the conservative member of parliament for north west leicestershire and hejoins me now.

thank you for being with us, i hope you had a good christmas weekend. it is a slightly downbeat thing to be talking about with the festivities in the way people are worrying about coronavirus restrictions. we are in a different place where we were one year ago. do you think alone is enough for the government to be at this stage of saying we need something more overwhelming before we are prepared to introduce further restrictions introduce further restrictions in england?— in england? clearly the data bein: in england? clearly the data being fed — in england? clearly the data being fed to _ in england? clearly the data being fed to the _ in england? clearly the data being fed to the prime - in england? clearly the data i being fed to the prime minister were not sufficient for him to be able to justify any further regulations. that in mind that we have a lot of information from various positions in south africa where the knock—on variant originated. they have had it for weeks already. what we should be expecting is what we should be expecting is what we are finding. fewer hospitalisations and more transmissibility, people going to hospital, staying in hospitalfar to hospital, staying in hospital far less than under the delta variant. and far fewer deaths. in the delta variant. and far fewer deaths.— the delta variant. and far fewer deaths. in terms of the olitics fewer deaths. in terms of the politics of _ fewer deaths. in terms of the politics of the _ fewer deaths. in terms of the politics of the situation, - fewer deaths. in terms of the politics of the situation, as i politics of the situation, as you will know because you were one of those conservative mps who voted against the government introducing the existing restrictions is it politically impossible now for the prime minister to go before parliament, to go before his party and state we need to do further restrictions. have we reached a high water mark? i think the public, notjust politicians, i think the public will require decisions and hard data is not something doomed up

by —— streamed up by sage which is doom—mongering. —— invented by sage. that data is just not there, so if the prime minister wanted to bang through parliament harsher regulations without the data, that would be a very big as for him. i don't not restaurateurs _ a very big as for him. i don't not restaurateurs and - a very big as for him. i don't i not restaurateurs and publicans in leicestershire are saying, they are certainly saying the sum of the people in london and other parts of england have been saying that they have already seen eight falling off of demand, they have had cancellations, they have had people deciding they will not go out for a meal, they have had people deciding that the meal they booked months ago for christmas is being cancelled. they are already paying a business cost. hasn't the public already shown not that they don't take the data seriously but that they take it very seriously? arguably more seriously than you and your colleagues? ii seriously than you and your colleagues?— colleagues? if there is a pandemic _ colleagues? if there is a pandemic that _ colleagues? if there is a pandemic that has - colleagues? if there is a pandemic that has been | pandemic that has been going around the world, and where

omicron is concerned, the pandemic is one of fear. they will have reacted to that. businesses have been decimated, i have been down in london for the last week, and the city is very quiet, restaurants have closed. some pubs aren't even opening over the christmas period. i do not think that £1 million of compensation —— £1 billion announced by the treasury will be sufficient for the huge losses over christmas. but that is the level of fear that professor whitty went out and claimed that the omicron presented. i do not think that that fear will actually be justified. that fear will actually be justified-— that fear will actually be 'ustified. �* �* ~ justified. andrew bridgen mp, thank ou justified. andrew bridgen mp, thank you for— justified. andrew bridgen mp, thank you for talking - justified. andrew bridgen mp, thank you for talking to - justified. andrew bridgen mp, thank you for talking to us. i new york city has made it compulsory for everyone aged 12 and above to be fully vaccinated against covid, in order to access indoor entertainment and sports activities. it has also become the first us city to require vaccines for all private sector workers. jabs are already mandatory for state employees. cbs correspondent courtney kealy is in new york and gave us the reaction

to the new mandate. here in new york, people are adhering to that, but with this quadruple rate of children in hospital since the omicron variant came here, a lot of those children are not fully vaccinated. in fact, between the ages of five and ii, none were vaccinated. so the department of health right now in new york city is really warning parents to make sure that their children are getting vaccinations. children over 12 have to have both vaccinations to enter public areas like restaurants. so each state and each city does do things differently. new york state has definitely been in the forefront. bill de blasio, the current mayor, has said he doesn't want to see new york go back to the dark days of the early pandemic when the city essentially shut down. there are all sorts of mandates and rules in place here in new york city. courtney, have any measures

been placed in new york on children under the age of 12? children basically right now, under the age of five, they are warning parents, because the department of health is telling people that there has been a quadruple rate of hospitalisations for children. half of those under the age of five. children between five and ii with records dating back to the end of the week of december 19, most of those children were not vaccinated at all. so they are urging people to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible. and what about the reaction from private businesses who now need their employees be vaccinated? that is 187,000 businesses here in the city, and they do have to have at least one vaccination for their workers, if not double or a booster. so, there are fines in place. they don't really have a choice. again, the new york city mayor

and new york state governor are very clear on this issue. so they will be fined, it starts today, the fines start at $1,000. we will have to see how that really goes. also remember because of omicron, a lot of businesses went back to virtual businesses in the last week or so, so we will see a slow start after christmas weekend. and we will have to see if there are any demonstrations or people really refusing. i do see, on a personal level, some people still refuse to mask when they are in stores even though there was a mask mandate everywhere. so you do see these outliers. and we will have to wait and see if there is any critical reaction to this. courtney keely talking to my colleague lucy hockings. more now from india, where a new night—time curfew is being imposed in delhi from tonight to try to contain a growing number of coronavirus cases. the restriction will last for six hours each night. our south east asia editor anbarasan ethirajan has the latest from delhi. this is one of the first steps being announced by not only

the government here in delhi, and also in several other states, that is a night—time curfew to restrict people gathering, especially the youth gathering in the night. and there are new year celebrations coming, and they don't want people to congregate in any one particular place. and if you look at delhi, it is now having the highest number of omicron cases within india, it has surpassed maharashtra state. even though the numbers are only around 185 cases even though the numbers are only around 580 cases of omicron, the authorities are worried given the way it spreads, the numbers could go up very quickly, and what they are worried about especially in delhi is the number of positive tests, and that is why they are imposing these restrictions. but there are health experts who have questioned this move on social media, because many people in the city are not wearing masks, and people are still in the markets. i saw the market yesterday,

it was busy with activity. so only a night—time curfew will not really bring the situation under control if the omicron starts spreading. there have been more covid—related flight cancellations today with more than 1,400 flights cancelled around the world. destinations in the united states and china have been the worst hit, with us airlines saying the disruption is due to crews testing positive or isolating. in all, since christmas eve, more than 8,000 flights have been grounded, an israeli hospital has begun giving a fourth shot of the coronavirus vaccine, in a clinical trial to find out if it is safe and effective in containing the spread of covid. the trial in tel aviv includes about 150 health care workers. israel is considering approving a fourth dose, or second booster, for vulnerable people as it tries to stop a surge in omicron infections. let's look at some of the day's other news. the prime minister

of somalia has accused the country's president, mohamed abdullahi mohamed, of staging a coup attempt against the government. at a news conference, the prime minister, mohamed hussein robe—lay, said he was instructing all security forces to take orders only from him. the two leaders have been in a power struggle over there has been a power struggle over the delay of elections. and critics say the government in poland have been silenced with condemnation of the bill. they have been protests against legislation and opponents say are aimed at men being critical for the government. one of the most prominent nationalists and come salvation rests e0 wilson has died. —— conservationists. he conducted pioneering work into the

underpinnings of social behaviour. the life of the anti—apartheid leader archbishop desmond tutu. he died on sunday aged 90. the bells of cape town's st george's cathedral will toll for ten minutes a day every day at noon until friday. it will mark the ten years he was in office. people have also been gathering outside the city's st george's cathedral and also outside his home, ahead of his funeral on the first of january. others laid wreaths and lit candles in soweto. peter storey was president of the south african council of churches at the time when desmond tutu was the general secretary. he shared some of his recollections of theirfriendship. my first experience of him was, if you like, characteristic of his whole life. i was in nairobi for a conference, and sharing a room with some delegates.

and when i woke up at four in the morning, somebody else had joined the room. and i saw an apparition, a sort of white apparition in the corner. it was somebody that had covered himself with a sheet and who was praying in the muslim way with his face right down on the floor. and the next morning, i discovered that it was desmond tutu. i said to him, "you gave me one heck of a fright last night." and he cackled the tutu cackle. and he said, "i'm desmond tutu." that first moment of seeing him at prayer was characteristic of his whole life and our relationship together. whether we were travelling in dangerous places, on aircraft, in airports, when the time came for him to follow his discipline of prayer, he simply opened his prayer book. a recap of our top stories.

the bbc understands no further covid restrictions in england are due to be announced today, but there's uncertainy if this could change before the new year. new york city has made it compulsory for all people aged 12 and above to be fully vaccinated against covid, in order to access indoor entertainment and sports activities. severe flooding in the state of bahia in north—eastern brazil has caused two dams to collapse. more than 11,000 people were forced to leave their homes, and at least 17 people have died. daniel wittenberg reports. christmas is well and truly over in the city of itabuna. end—of—year cheer drowned out by the effects of nearly two months of intense rain. instead of the traditional december festivities, a season of flooding. residents tried to get out and get about however they can. translation: it is crazy, it's like the sea. - there was a wave almost

two metres high. translation: it is very sad to see our town like this. . it's very sad. i've never seen anything like it in my life. it's the kind of extreme weather pattern that is often linked to climate change. the rainfall, six times greater than average, was already overwhelming coastal areas across the state of bahia. the swollen rivers have forced two dams to give way within the space of 2a hours, swamping the surrounding area. it is a challenge for rescue teams trying to rescue people trapped in homes, now largely underwater, and provide relief for those with nowhere to go. the state's governor rui castro says at least 400,000 people have been affected. bridges and roads have been damaged, making it harder for residents to move to higher ground. and there are fears of further flash floods before the new year. daniel wittenberg, bbc news.

some breaking news from the premier league, the football authority in england says that 103, 103 tests the players and club staff in the premier league, which explains the large number of cancellations thatis large number of cancellations that is over a six—day period from sunday. the cost of global shipping has risen dramatically this year, as supply chains around the world battle with the impact of the covid pandemic. it's led to frustrating delays for businesses struggling to meet consumer demand, but also to tens of billions of pounds of profits for shipping companies. our global trade correspondent chris morris reports. on a misty morning in leeds just before christmas, at long last a container arrives all the way from china. cheering this family—run business develops and designs fun gifts, and this is the busiest time of year. 90% of their stock is made in china — it helps keep consumer prices down, but nearly all deliveries in 2021 have been late.

several containers full of christmas gifts won't get here until january. if we don't get this stock to them today, the order is gone. it's been a year of good business but increasing delays and rising costs. it was delayed three weeks getting out of china, it was delayed another month on sea. you can see we've lost, for a seasonal business, you know, this is stock that people cannot buy until the last minute, it really hurts for a small business like ours. this is where the container came from, near shanghai. the trouble is they are not enough empty containers in china to meet the demand for sending goods around the world. covid shutdowns and delays have put global supply chains out of kilter. we already know it is a sensitive system — the evergiven, the ship that blocked the suez canal for six days in march, caused massive backlogs. but it is covid that has

done the real damage. container lines are run like train lines. they have schedules and they're meant to call at fixed times for fixed durations, that is just not happening because they can't. and the cost of sending shipping containers by sea has risen dramatically. it is absolutely gone crazy this year. if you're looking at short—term freight rates from asia to europe you are looking at a 366% increase. longer—term rates locked in 12 months in advance have gone up even more. the shipping container industry is on course to make vast record profits this year. ports are working longer hours to keep trade moving, more ships are on order, but it will take time for things to settle down. the huge disruption caused by covid—19 has exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains. in some ways they've held up remarkably well, given the scale of the pandemic, but it's been a reminder for all of us how dependent we have become on getting shipping containers delivered

around the world on schedule. one option is to increase local production, they're starting to do a bit of that here in leeds. but don't expect globalisation to retreat any time soon. this is still a hyper—connected world, and now omicron is creating more challenges for the supply chains that we take for granted. chris morris, bbc news. almost every single day, most of us use products that come in plastic packaging. yet only a fraction of the world's used plastic get recycled. you can imagine the increase in plastic use over a period like christmas. but what if we do a betterjob? a project in europe is using new technology to sort plastic packaging more effectively, with the hope of increasing recycling rates. trials have been taking place in copenhagen, and adrienne murray has been finding out more. early each morning, rubbish trucks are on the streets collecting binloads of household plastic. this is the start of its recycling journey. it's then brought to this facility, ready

to be sent for sorting. in europe, each person generates 35 kilos of waste plastic packaging a year. only 40% gets recycled. globally, it's much less. while plastics are useful, a lot of packaging is difficult to reuse — most of it ends up in landfill or incinerated. a big problem is plastic pollution. and yet more resources get used making new plastic products. here in copenhagen, new technology is being trialled that could help boost recycling rates. it's part of an industry—led project called holygrail 2.0. what we're trying to do is really use intelligence that is embedded in the packaging, using the digital watermarks to revolutionise the way we sort or recycle plastics. more than 100,000 packaging samples are being sent along this line to a smart sorting machine. each piece of packaging is printed or embossed with a digital watermark that's

about the size of a postage stamp. it can barely be seen by the naked eye, but it's like having an invisible bar code stamped all over it. this identifies what it is. consumers can even use a smartphone app to find out more about the product and how to recycle it. inside the machine, a high—resolution camera scans the digital watermarks. this tells a computer what the plastic is, and what it was used for. air jets accurately separate the items. that's important if we want to reuse it. the digital watermark is embossed... american firm digimarc has developed the watermark technology. today's technology is able to identify the type of plastic, but not necessarily whether it came from a food application or non—food application. with watermarks, you can precisely identify what it was. dozens of firms are taking part — including big consumer brands like nestle, unilever and pepsico.

it's sorting very, very accurately. the question now is, will that yield the kind of recycling results at scale that we would need for this to become a commercially viable solution for the future? however, the amount of plastic we consume is growing. yes, we have to improve waste management and recycling. but overall, i mean, the world is drowning in plastic and plastic waste. we have to look more into, how can we prevent waste in the first place? the tech will be tested out further. that means hundreds of watermarked products will be on supermarket shelves in denmark, france and germany as soon as next year. adrienne murray, bbc news, copenhagen. never mind running away from the law, this is the moment the law runaway. it shows a californian police officer closely escaping a charging bull. this is officer pratt facing one of the dangers of working

in rural northeastern california. and here he is a moment later, breathing heavily — it looks like a huge sigh of relief. he lived to fight good afternoon, the latest sports news. we start with cricket, england on the brink of defeat after a roller—coaster day, needing a wind to keep their hopes of regaining the ashes. james anderson led an england fighback in the first two sessions as the aussies were limited to a lead ofjust 82 after their first innings. butjust as hopes were raised, it all went wrong with the bat again, as england stumbled to 31—4 at stumps after a nightmare final hour. our sports correspondent joe wilson reports: england's players were unsure for a while if they'd even be allowed in the ground. four covid cases amongst the support staff and their family. but after the tests, the test continued. and yes, england prospered.

marnus labuschagne batting, ranked world number one, out for one. success for mark wood. and what about steve smith? well, here comes james anderson. he's got him, bowled him. england quickly dismissed australia's most esteemed batters. hey, we're in this! maybe? marcus harris persevered for australia. not always pretty, but past 50. and that feeling of optimism, it was sneaking away from england. as so often, they needed anderson. captain's grateful hands and harris was gone. but a late flourish helped australia build their lead. when their innings finally ended, they were 82 runs ahead. and in the last hour, the true context of the day's play — england batting again, zak crawley out for five. the very next ball — dawid malan — lbw. haseeb hameed couldn't last. faint edge, he was gone. so jack leach was sent in to defend and defy. hm, 31f01’4.

and australia will be back for more. joe wilson, bbc news. that batting collapse took the shine away from what was an impressive england performance with the ball. james anderson, their saviour on so many occasions, produced another masterclass of swing and seam — but ultimately it may not matter, after that frustrating end to the day. we knew that last 12 overs was going to be tough with the new ball but even so, to lose four wickets was really disappointing. i thought the speu really disappointing. i thought the spell from stark and cummings was outstanding but that is what you expect, they are world—class bowlers and have done it into for many years so it should not take anyone by surprise that they bawl like that. it was bouncing. 40,000, it felt like 100,000 and stark was on a hatbick— like 100,000 and stark was on a hat-trick ai— like 100,000 and stark was on a hat—trick at felt unbelievable and

then getting down to 13 at the end, it was_ then getting down to 13 at the end, it was brilliant, so it was great, something _ it was brilliant, so it was great, something you dream of as a kid to be a part— something you dream of as a kid to be a part of— something you dream of as a kid to be a part of and it was brilliant. there's further disruption to the festive season fixture list with two more premier league games called off tomorrow. arsenal against wolves and leeds vs aston villa both postponed due to covid. there have been calls from managers and players to pause fixtures because of depleated squads. chelsea played yesterday and face brighton on wednesday. head coach thomas tuchel thinks, while clubs are dealing with coronavirus, the schedule is unfair. we're just filling holes where we can fill them, and we play teams who don't play international duties. and we have the covid situation, five changes were invented because of covid and now we are in the middle of covid and some teams get their games postponed and some do not, and we have three changes and this is a big disadvantage, and also in europe. there were no fans at

the welsh grand national for the second year in a row. the welsh government's introduced covid rules which prevent more than 50 spectators attending a sporting event. only five horses finished a gruelling race which was won by the 13—2 shot i will do it, ridden by sam sheppard and trained by sam thomas. that's all your sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. i will have more for you later what thatis i will have more for you later what that is all your support for now. this is bbc news, the headlines: the bbc understands no further covid restrictions in england are set to be announced today — but uncertainty still remains on whether future measures will be imposed before the new year. in new york, fresh covid vaccine

rules have come into force. children aged 12 and over need to be fully vaccinated for indoor