the british socialite ghislaine maxwell has been found guilty of grooming and trafficking teenage girls for sexual abuse. the jury in new york found the 60—year—old guilty on five out of six charges connected with procuring victims and facilitating the abuse. the verdict was reached after five days of deliberation. maxwell procured the girls for the late us financier and convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. she faces the rest of her life behind bars with the most serious of the counts carrying a possible prison sentence of a0 years. maxwell's defence team say they will appeal the verdict. record numbers of coronavirus infections have been recorded by several european countries with the omicron variant fuelling a surge in cases. the world health organization says the virus is straining health care systems around the world, warning that the omicron and delta variants were causing "a tsunami" of cases.

there's been a jump in the daily number of new covid infections in the uk with just over with 183,000 people testing positive — that figure does include five days of data from northern ireland. here's katherine da costa. another record day of covid cases in the uk. five days of data from northern ireland added from the christmas break. spiralling cases are leading to an increase in hospital admissions in england. the weekly averages up by more than 50% compared to a week ago. the number of people with covidien hospital has risen above 10,000 for the first time in ten months. there are signs of optimism. quite difficult at the moment with the data. we have very high rates of infection in the community and therefore we may see some of those people naturally in the hospital as well. but those people naturally in the hospital as well.— hospital as well. but equally we're not — hospital as well. but equally we're not the _ hospital as well. but equally we're not the same - hospital as well. but equally we're not the same rate - hospital as well. but equally we're not the same rate of.

we're not the same rate of admission to intensive care units, and so that could be a positive sign. fix, units, and so that could be a positive sign.— units, and so that could be a | positive sign._ well positive sign. a booster. well done. positive sign. a booster. well done- the _ positive sign. a booster. well done. the prime _ positive sign. a booster. well done. the prime minister- positive sign. a booster. well done. the prime minister on | positive sign. a booster. well| done. the prime minister on a visit to this vaccination centre was pushing the message for people to get listed.- for people to get listed. cases auoin for people to get listed. cases going up. _ for people to get listed. cases going up. a — for people to get listed. cases going no. a lot _ for people to get listed. cases going up, a lot of _ for people to get listed. cases going up, a lot of case - for people to get listed. cases going up, a lot of case of - going up, a lot of case of omicron, but on the other hand we can see the data about the relative mildness of omicron, and what we can also see is the very, very clear if of getting those jabs, getting those boosters in particular. that is what is making the difference. mrjohnson says 90% of covid patients in icu haven't had a brewster. but there is still uncertainty over what impact the omicron variant will have on the elderly is the virus surges through communities. the rapid rise in infections is leading to greater demand for testing. george and his wife nikki are both gps in leeds. he tested positive for covid on a lateral flow device. as a health care worker,

his wife tried to book a pcr test, but none were available this morning. for my wife, who could potentially go back into work if her pcr test was negative and she remained symptom—free, that's a huge impact on her surgery. there are only three of them. if she is off because she has to isolate, then that's a third of the workforce down, so it's a real issue not being able to book pcr tests, not getting them in a timely manner, and also, not being able to get lateral flow tests to help direct us what to do. there has been a surge in demand for lateralflow there has been a surge in demand for lateral flow tests as well. that's led to pharmacists warning that supply�*s not keeping up. they've not had any here since christmas eve. it's notjust our pharmacy that's out of stock, its many, many more pharmacies. some customers are very understanding with it, but some are getting very angry about it as well, saying that, "we've been told we need "to test every day, so how are the tests not available?" health officials say they're responding to unprecedented demand, with record numbers of pcr and lateral flow tests being sent out.

the advice is to keep trying back on the government website as more tests are released throughout the day. now on bbc news, becoming andi. falling over myself. that's all right. my name is andi bernabe. this journey didn't start when i found out what the word �*transgender�* that was. honestly, it started when i was born. coming to terms with my identity felt like trying to deny a part of myself that i thought would never be reality. i kind of felt like a someone put a cap on a volcano and i was just sitting on top of that volcano, not trying to let that cap go. but in the end, the volcano exploded. i want to be referred to

as �*andi' from now on. i was just mostly scared of the people around me, what they would think. i'm so happy! after the volcano exploded, all these flowers and trees and life flourished because the ground was, like, re—nourished. but, you know, it's not all peaches and cream, sunshine and lollipops. things didn't go as planned. i can't live like this anymore. fear really does do something to a person. sighs this is my story. ah! this is who i am.

i actually was born in queens, new york. i was there for five years until we moved straight from there to texas, and we haven't moved anywhere ever since. as a kid, i definitely wore a lot of boyish clothes. i did not enjoy wearing skirts, dresses, all that. maybe that was early symptoms of my dysphoria. gender dysphoria is the discomfort and distress in individuals whose gender identity is different from what they were assigned at birth. i didn't even find out what lgbtq even meant until my middle school years, when i had access to the internet through my phone. no adults ever taught me about it or told me anything about it. bisexual, transgender, queer... overlapping voices

repelled by the mere - notion of homosexuality... gay couples on the steps of city hall... and every day it gets better. being here in texas, it's part of, like, the bible belt, so there's a lot of conservative people here that maybe don't agree with the lgbtq lifestyle. in early school days, like, elementary to middle school, they don't really teach you a lot, you know, only about the reproductive system and safe sex between straight couples. and, literally, that's it. no...no...no gay stuff. nuh—uh. that's. .. you can't...you shouldn't...

you can't do that. my dysphoria started to manifest around the start of freshman year, i'd say. it's just a really uncomfy feeling that, like... it feels like it's, like, clawing at the back of my neck and itjust won't go away. at the time, my hair was about, like, this to this long. it was, like, really long. it was really heavy and it was actually causing me neck pain. so, i was like, "huh, i want to get my hair cut." i would use that reasoning almost as, like, a cover—up excuse for, deep down, why i actually really wanted my hair cut. over time, the feeling got stronger and stronger, then i started realising, "i think there's something different here at play." basically, i got it all chopped off. when we went inside the car, i immediately started, like, bawling.

i'm so happy! i've wanted this for so long! this feels better than i ever expected. when i finally, like, realised why i felt like that, it, like... it was, like, a light bulb explosion. it was like, "oh, my god." it got me so excited. it was probably the big changing moment to make me realise, "yeah, no, i'm probably... probably transgender." i want to officially say — hey, i want to be referred to as andi from now on. if you guys have any questions at all, feel free to swipe up and ask me, i will be glad to answer. i was scared, obviously, that some people might not think that it's ok, especially the adults, but i felt like, happy. like, really happy.

the night before my birthday, i kind of was awake the entire time. i remember walking in the school and thinking, "oh, my god, i'm an adult now, i am a legal adult. "it is my birthday, i am 18." then i got a text from my friend, bella, and she was like, "hey, can you come up to the choir room real quick?" she doesn't get upset much, so, like, ithought it was a serious problem. when everything was ready, i brought him upstairs and someone was videoing... i was greeted with the entire room filled with a bunch

of people, yelling... surprise! — happy birthday to you! she spun me around after they stopped singing happy birthday, and then she said, "so, since you're, like, a legal adult now, "we kind of raised enough money for you to change your name." in my head, i was like... a sensory overload. and ijust, as you can see in the video, completely broke down. and started crying. looking back on it makes me so extremely happy, honestly. i didn't have to pay to be comfortable with my name on paper and my legal name, so why should andi have to?

the video went viral. andi just has so many people who love him and support him, it wasn't a difficult task to get the money raised for him, rather than having him have that burden himself. i feel like two completely separate people in my existence — from years ago to now. that's the thing, i was always the same person, but to me, mentally, it felt like two different people that i've lived through. my family, we have talked about my identity and all that, but they're generally, like, ok now. at first, they weren't.

not everything's, you know, perfect in this world, but that's totally fine. they're, like, ok now. now, the story behind this — i actually had a different cardboard sign taped to my door with my dead name, but i was like, "you know what? let's change that." so i did. da—da—da! welcome! these are my paintings that i have done. this is my most recent painting, that i'm very proud of. now, pertaining to my whole trans journey, i've been trying to, like, take a selfie picture of myself with my polaroid on every single one of my birthdays. that's the shortest my hair's ever been before i actually cut it, and that's a year after. these plaques are probably the most important plaques that i will ever own. they're from my all—state days, my all—state choir days.

it was just one huge choir of all the best singers in texas. and i've done that three times! the third time, i actually got to put my name, like, my name—name on my plaque. the infamous birth certificate that i got when my friends gave me $300 to change my name. this is my closet. a lot of colours. and, yeah, that's my room — it's pink. it's very pink. yeah. . .yeah, it sucks. but that's ok, �*cause i'm going to be moving out anyways. i'm going to miss high school, i'm going miss high school a lot. i think the thing i'm going to miss the most is just, like, having so many friends and connections with everyone. but i am looking forward to the next stage of my life and everything that's going to be happening next. it's going to be really

exciting, i'm really excited. i have less than two weeks now till moving day. all the stuff i'm going to need. ah! it's so cool, it's my own card. it's a debit card, wow. i'm excited to move out of my parents' house and into college, where i can just be myself. at home, my family still uses my deadname and misgenders me. being deadnamed and being mispronounced is a lot more serious, a lot more on a deeper level than just, you know, the obvious. so, when you do get misidentified like that, it's a slap in the face every single time it happens.

i understand where they come from, when they've never had a really close interaction with a trans person, and now their kid is one, so i can take the liberty to be like, "ok, like, i get it." today's the day. ah! oh, my gosh. oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god! ok, so, i'm kind of teary—eyed because ijust said goodbye to my parents. but this is it, i'm here. i'm fine. i'm just really excited, and this is all so new, so... this is really exciting. later on, i'm going to be watching a movie with friends, so that's nice. i'm going to freshen up first because i've been

sweaty all day. yeah, this... this is it. first day of college classes. my first class is japanese, and i'm really excited — and that's an in—person class, so i get to go to the language building. yay! ijust got groceries for the first time and i legit forgot my card, so that's fun. i tried to get up, and i hit my head. really hard. i love adulting — i'm waking up early, i'm being productive. this is weird, i don't know, new environment. ok, i don't even know where to begin.

long story short — i wasn't getting messages because my student email changed from my deadname to my actual name. so i had to re—log in with my new email, and it finally got changed. now ijust have to get my id changed, which i... i don't know how. one step at a time. my name is still not andi, legally. the only reason why is, i have such an innate fear of changing it because of, like, how my parents are going to react. there's only so much that i can do to socially transition. i can cut my hair as short as i want, i can wear as much masculine clothing as i want, but that's all that i could do by myself. ifeel more dysphoric

now than i did before. the more that i know that i've been, physically, this way for as long as i have is breaking me down the more that time passes. sometimes you can't even get up in the day, because you just feel extremely dysphoric. despite all of the really bad stuff that i've been experiencing, ever since coming to college, it's done so much good for me, because, obviously, people have been meeting me as andi. they have never known me before i came out, and this is literally theirfirst impression of me. for the past few months —

four months, i believe — i've been dating someone. we met online, met over tinder, of course. he actually took the liberty to go and do research about being trans and, like, how it affects someone. it takes that one little storm cloud away from the rest of my giant thunderstorm. it's just one little thing i don't have to worry about any more. christmas time in the bernabe household is... ..fun in every other sense, but it's outweighed by the fear of what i'm going

to have to wear. hello, it is currently christmas morning! on this beautiful day, on this bike that i'm low—key too short for. merry christmas, happy new year. before, my family would take christmas pictures every single year. we would dress up fancy in the theme of whatever the christmas decorations were. every year before this one, i would wear a dress. but this year, this year was so different because i wore a suit. in any other circumstance, i don't think i would be able to, but because our christmas decorations were pink for 2020,

it gave me the perfect opportunity to be like, "hey, mum, can i wear my pink suit for these christmas pictures, "because it's perfect and it's perfect and everything 7 " she also agreed. she was like, "yeah, sure, you can wear that. "like, its not just perfectly." and i'm like... i really felt, like, normal. like, it wasn't an argument, it wasn't like a thing i had to spend weeks convincing. it just. .. itjust happened. these are like the special moments that people talk about when they think about theirfamily, and now i have one of those, so it's it's really cool. it's my 19th birthday today! it's been literally exactly a year since when my friends surprised me with the gift that they gave me. a year later, and my name is still not legally andi.

fear really does do something to a person. i'm in college, i obviously cannot pay this myself at the moment. i don't have a job, i'm trying to look for one, and so i'm currently depending on my parents to pay my tuition and things like that. there's a possibility that they might not do that any more if i get my name changed. or there's a possibility to where they're going to ask me to have it changed back. so, today is the day that i'm going home. it's currently like 6:00—something in the morning, and i am so exhausted. i think this weekend, i'm going to specifically bring

up the topic of testosterone. because i am at the age where i can go do that by myself. i'm really nervous, honestly. it might get emotional, the conversation, but that's 0k. this is nothing that i haven't talked about before. so it's not like it's anything new. like, "hello, i'm trans," out of nowhere. but, yeah, we'll see how it goes.

the main point within the conversation that we had that weekend was that she does not feel comfortable with me making big decisions, like getting my name change or starting testosterone or getting my surgery, until i am mature. i one day hope that my mum realises, "oh, shoot, this is serious. "this is real. "this is a valid thing that my child is going through, "and i'm now realising that this is really important to them and that "i need to be a supportive parent and help my kid be happy." it's not the last time that we're going to have this conversation, that's just going to be a constant, constant thing that's going to be happening, that's probably never going to stop happening.

it's taken me a while to accept the fact that things just don't go as planned, and you just got to keep going despite that. i'm finallyjust at the point where i can look back at myself and realised that i've become a lot more of myself. i'm so glad that i didn't give up when i really, really, really wanted to — because now i'm here. this is my story and this is who i am, and i'm honestly so glad that you all have, you know, come along with this ride with me and watched my journey this past year.

and ijust wanted to say thank you. hello again. temperatures reached the 16 degrees mark in both london and in exeter through wednesday. and we've got more of the same to come for the next few days, really, as we keep these south—westerly winds flowing across the country, bringing pulses of exceptionally mild air northwards. now, temperatures probably reaching 16, possibly 17 celsius, and in contrast, the temperatures that we'd normally expect at this time of the year, around about eight celsius. so it is pretty exceptional, not far away from the english

temperature record, which is 17.7. as we head into thursday morning, we'll see outbreaks of rain turning heavier across western areas, a very, very mild start to the day with these temperatures. 1a, even 15 celsius to start the day. the rain, though, will be heavy for a time. it does tend to ease off and become a little bit lighter and patchier across north—western areas. otherwise, a lot of cloud. could be an odd bit of drizzle just about anywhere. but later in the day, we'll see another pulse of heavier rain working into wales, and that is likely to reach north—west england as we head into thursday afternoon. temperatures, well, 13 degrees in glasgow and belfast. that's very mild. 16 again the top temperature in london. we could see a high up to 17. thursday night, outbreaks of rain will become much more extensive as this area of low pressure moves in. it will also be bringing some strong gusts of wind quite widely. and into new year's eve, friday, that rain is going to be there for much of the day in scotland, with some fairly brisk winds elsewhere. again, there will be

a lot of cloud around, an occasional spot of drizzle across western area, and those temperatures still reaching 16, possibly 17, in the warmest areas. still mild further northwards, butjust not quite as exceptional. heading to those new year's celebrations, might be a bit more muted for one or two of you, but it stays exceptionally mild. a bit of rain, though, is in the forecast across northwestern areas. and as those bell strike midnight, these are the kind of temperatures that we'll have out and about. heading into new year's day now, which is saturday, we start off with extended cloud, some bursts of rain pushing eastwards. quite a gusty, windy kind of day. the afternoon does look a bit brighter, but with a number of heavy showers flowing in across western areas. it's still very mild, 13 in aberdeen, 1a for glasgow. highs could reach 17 in the warmest areas new year's day.

welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: the british socialite ghislaine maxwell is found guilty on five counts of grooming and trafficking teenage girls for abuse by a jury in new york. maxwell procured the girls for the financier and convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. she faces the rest of her life behind bars. no matter who you are, no matter what kinds of circles you travel in, no matter how much money you have, no matter how many years have passed since the sexual abuse, justice is still possible. we'll be looking at the implications of the verdict for prince andrew who is named in a lawsuit brought by a woman who says she was groomed by maxwell and abused by the prince. and record numbers of covid infections are recorded across europe and the us driven by the omicron variant.

the world health organization warns of huge strains on health systems.