this is bbc news. storm malik batters northern britain, leaving two people dead — a nine—year—old boy and a 60—year—old woman. thousands are without power as forecasters warn storm corrie will bring further high winds tomorrow. in the united states, warnings of historic blizzards as a fierce winter storm bringing heavy snowfall hits the east coast. as the ukraine border crisis continues, borisjohnson is to travel to eastern europe and will telephone the russian president in the coming days. senior conservative mps join the opposition in calling for the report on downing street parties during lockdowns to be published in full. a more detailed study is under way after initial research finds some people with long covid may have hidden damage to their lungs.

good evening. a nine—year—old boy and a 60—year—old woman have died after they were hit by trees as storm malik swept the uk. the boy was killed after a tree fell in winnothdale in staffordshire, on saturday afternoon. the woman was killed in aberdeen. in other developments, power lines have been affected with thousands of homes in scotland and england without electricity. an amber weather warning is in place along the east coast of scotland and north—east england. and a major incident has been declared in county durham. earlier, my colleague kasia madera spoke to alan patrickson from durham county council, who gave an update on the situation. here in county durham we had some

really strong winds, some terrible weather overnight and through the first part of today. what that has left us with was a huge number of trees have fallen and blocked roads. we had about 180, 190 call—outs for trees, so we've had a very easy day across our highway services and our tree services. as the day has gone on, we have found out that we have widespread outages across the county and we are now working with the power provider in our area, which is northern powergrid, to get people back connected. as we sit here tonight, we still have a number of issues on going, we think we have around about 8000 properties still without power across county durham and we have at least two roads fully closed and many others with quite a lot of disruption around them. so we have been working as a multi—agency crew across emergency services, the county council, northern powergrid and because of the uncertainties that we have, particularly on reconnecting properties in the county,

we have decided that we needed to declare a major incident, which means that we can deploy all of our collective resources across blue light services and the council to support households through the incident and to get people on the ground as quickly as we can in support of the restoration of power and the reopening of roads. and the area, this is the second time in as many months that the area has been hit by a powerful storm. had it recovered from storm arwen two months ago? had it recovered to an extent after that? you are right. it is only two months and it feels like a much shorter amount of time for those of us here in county durham since storm arwen hit. we were of course ready for this one, as we were with storm arwen, but we knew this was coming, we had good warnings from the met office and in terms of recovery, there was still a number of actions on going across the county in terms

of recovering from storm arwen, notjust in terms of power outages but in terms of the landscape and fallen trees. and we still really, to be honest, had not caught up with that work before this storm. again, we were ready and we deployed resources where we needed to very quickly today across blue light services and across our own services from the county council. and if nothing else, we learned an awful lot of lessons from storm arwen that we have put in place today and we will do tomorrow and potentially into the week coming. now that you have declared a major incident, you touched upon some of the support, the additional support that the council will get. does that come from the government itself? the current position is that we are managing this locally. of course the main issue we have is the power outages. northern powergrid are the main resource to help us do that.

northern powergrid do have arrangements with other power companies across the country where they have reciprocal arrangements to get resources into the areas where it needs it most, so that is being brought to bear. so we are getting extra resources into the area and of course across council services, blue light services but this is work that we do day in, day out, week in, week out so we do have our own on—call and out of hours staff working as normal. we are not at the position yet where we have had to request for additional resources from central government as we had to with storm arwen. of course this is just one day, storm arwen lasted for more than a week, it lasted for more than ten days for some people, so we are not in the same position now as we were then, thankfully. and the numbers that we are dealing with are much smaller this time but, of course, for anyone affected by it, it is a significant disruption to their lives. in the us a fierce winter storm

bringing heavy snowfall is sweeping across the east coast with forecasters warning of "historic" blizzards, hurricane force winds, power outages and travel chaos. this is newjersey, which is among five states to have declared emergencies. over 5,000 flights have been cancelled. and in new york's times square, tourists braved the conditions to take pictures in the snow. kathy hochul is the governor of new york, and gave this update a short while ago. just because the snow stops, doesn't mean life gets back to normal. that is when the true clean—up is going to continue and that's when we need just a little more time to take care of the roads safely and again, we all know everyone knows to do that, so let's see if we can follow that and again, our wind chills that i mentioned, this is what is the dangerousness we're talking about. we are expecting temperatures in the single digits tonight into tomorrow morning and this is when frostbite kicks in, look at how serious that can be, so we are trying to remind everybody, take this very seriously.

ashley baylor is a meteorologist for wtnh in connecticut, earlier she pinpointed what state the blizzard is currently in. we are still dealing with this storm. we have been tracking some bands of very heavy snow for several hours, especially in eastern sections of our state and since we are talking about that fine snow, it piles up very easily but when you factor in these heavy snow bands with winds that are blowing between 50 and 80 kilometres per hour, it causes blowing and drifting snow, so that contributes to poor visibility, poor conditions on the roads, so we have seen roads that are absolutely snow—covered. it is a tough task for our clean—up crews, our ploughs to actually keep up with this storm because this has been going on since about nine o'clock last night. so this is almost a solid 24—hour storm force. it's very difficult to keep up with mother nature in these conditions. the report by civil servant sue gray into lockdown parties

at number 10 is due to be delivered to downing street and published in the coming days. as opposition parties and conservative mps continue to wait for the results of the investigation, our special correspondent ed thomas has been to macklesfield to gauge how the voting public are feeling about the reports of rule breaking at the heart of government. a moment to focus. waiting for answers. reflecting on past sacrifices. we would try to be careful, had all the screens put in. debbie can't believe that, while some partied, her life was on hold. i still have sleepless nights now, worried sick about it, whether we have to go into another lockdown. when you're hearing these stories come out about 10 downing street parties, what have you been thinking? i was brought up in a conservative family. would i be voting for them again? no. i don't think i'm going to be voting for anybody ever again, i don't trust anybody any more. you'll stop voting? i will stop voting, yeah.

when it first came out, i was really angry. itjust makes you wonder, where they are telling the truth? inside woodlands care home, it's been a constant battle against covid. forjudith, the pandemic has taken the heaviest of tolls. i've lost both my parents through covid. my father was in a care home in april, when itjust started. my mum, on christmas day, she called me to tell me she'd tested positive for covid and she passed away on the 28th of december. you've gone through so much. what are your reflections on where we are right now as a country? we've got a potential war happening in the ukraine, we've got fuel bills escalating, we've got a national insurance increase, which i hope doesn't go ahead, because it's going to impact all of my staff here. we need them to focus on those things, rather than having parties and, you know, whether or not he did have a party. kelly, she loved nothing more . than having fun with her friends. other than having fun with her son.

kelly had stage four bowel cancer. lockdown meant her treatment was paused. it's in my lung, it's in my liver, it's in my brain. the bbc filmed her days before she died. terrified. absolutely terrified. i don't want to die. like, ifeel like i've got so much more to do. kelly passed away approximately 12 weeks after being _ told to self—isolate. you know your life will. never be the same again. when you hear the prime minister's apology for parties and his regret, what is your reaction? it shouldn't have happened. but i don't think that - should be, at this point, the thing we are focusing on. let's get our priorities in order. whatever comes next, it's clear for many, trust and faith in those who lead us needs to be restored. ed thomas, bbc news, macclesfield.

a nine—year—old boy and a woman in her 60s have died after being hit by falling trees during storm malik. for others it was a very close shave — the occupant of this van was in the back when the tree came crashing down. to be honest, i thought my friend was dead. i think he has been really lucky. thousands of homes in scotland and the north of england have been left without power, and a second storm — corrie — is expected tomorrow. also on the programme: russia moves military vehicles to near ukraine's borders — borisjohnson is to visit the region and speak to president putin in the coming days. the medical trial in oxford which is throwing new light on why some people experience breathlessness after covid. cheering. and ash barty becomes the first australian in 44 years

to win the australian open. good evening. a nine—year—old boy and a 60—year—old woman have died after being hit by falling trees during storm malik. the boy was killed after a tree fell in winnothdale in staffordshire this afternoon, while the woman was killed in aberdeen. power lines have also been affected with thousands of homes in scotland and england without electricity. a second storm — storm corrie — is expected to bring more high winds to scotland tomorrow. catriona renton reports. widespread disruption as storm malik swept its way into northern parts of the uk. the northeast of scotland was particularly affected.

in bradford lee warner and his friend richard had been packing up after a bike ride. we were sat between the back seats, just crashing down, really. it pushed me further down. i lay down on the my floor. friend pulled me out of the back. an almighty crash, to be honest, i thought— an almighty crash, to be honest, i thought my— an almighty crash, to be honest, i thought my friend was dead, he has been really— thought my friend was dead, he has been really lucky. northern powergrid says in tens of thousands of customers are still without power, mostly in northumberland and county durham. tonight county durham county council has declared a major incident following the impact of the storm. this is day one, the previous storm lasted _ this is day one, the previous storm tasted more — this is day one, the previous storm lasted more than _ this is day one, the previous storm lasted more than a _ this is day one, the previous storm lasted more than a week, - this is day one, the previous storm lasted more than a week, ten - this is day one, the previous storm lasted more than a week, ten days| lasted more than a week, ten days because _ lasted more than a week, ten days because pebble. _ lasted more than a week, ten days because people, so _ lasted more than a week, ten days because people, so we _ lasted more than a week, ten days because people, so we are - lasted more than a week, ten days because people, so we are not- lasted more than a week, ten days because people, so we are not in. lasted more than a week, ten days. because people, so we are not in the same _ because people, so we are not in the same position— because people, so we are not in the same position now— because people, so we are not in the same position now as _ because people, so we are not in the same position now as we _ because people, so we are not in the same position now as we then, - same position now as we then, thankfuttx _ same position now as we then, thankfully. the _ same position now as we then, thankfully. the numbers- same position now as we then, thankfully. the numbers we . same position now as we then, | thankfully. the numbers we are dealing — thankfully. the numbers we are dealing with _ thankfully. the numbers we are dealing with a _ thankfully. the numbers we are dealing with a much _ thankfully. the numbers we are dealing with a much smaller - thankfully. the numbers we are| dealing with a much smaller this time _ dealing with a much smaller this time but — dealing with a much smaller this time but of— dealing with a much smaller this time but of course _ dealing with a much smaller this time but of course for _ dealing with a much smaller this time but of course for anyone i time but of course for anyone affected — time but of course for anyone affected by— time but of course for anyone affected by it. _ time but of course for anyone affected by it, it _ time but of course for anyone affected by it, it is— time but of course for anyone affected by it, it is a - time but of course for anyone. affected by it, it is a significant disruptioh _ disruption. this-

disruption. . this afternoon disruption. - this afternoon in disruption. — this afternoon in staffordshire police were called after a tree fell near stoke—on—trent, a nine—year—old boy later died in hospital. and in aberdeen in north east scotland, emergency services were called at 10:30am to the place where this tree had fallen. but sadly a 60—year—old woman had died. gusts of 85mph were recorded on the aberdeenshire coast. at one point more than 80,000 homes in scotland were without power, and transport was disrupted. a second storm, storm corrie, is now on its way, expected to bring further high winds, especially to northern scotland tomorrow. catriona renton, bbc news. borisjohnson is to speak to the russian president vladimir putin — and visit eastern europe in the coming days — as the uk steps up its diplomatic efforts to diffuse tensions over ukraine. russia has gathered 100,000 troops, tanks and missiles at the border

with ukraine, but denies plans to invade. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet has more from kyiv. ukrainians have long lived with war. dozens of british soldiers, here since 2015, not long after russia first invaded. but with more of moscow's troops and weapons now massed along the border, diplomacy builds, too. next week, borisjohnson�*s visit to this region takes it up a notch. here in kyiv, there's concern that too much talk of war can be risky, too, but they need their friends. it's a good signal for us, not only for us, not only for ukraine, but also to russian federations, that we have strong partners. we will not be alone with this, if the invasion comes to be, so it's a good signal.

moscow sends conflicting signals. more troops, more weaponry moving in, but its door still open to find a way out. washington does the same — talking to allies in moscow, too, while readying military reinforcements and warning about any war. it would be horrific, it would be terrible and it's not necessary, and we think a diplomatic outcome is the way to go here. this is what it looks like now... russia released these images of its anti—aircraft missiles arriving in neighbouring belarus for next month's military exercises. a month fraught with ever—growing risk. lyse doucet, bbc news, kyiv. a man has been found guilty of stalking the british women's number one tennis player emma raducanu. amrit magar, who's 35, left notes and cards at her home, where he was captured on door camera footage. he'll be sentenced next month.

graduates in england are facing a stealth tax rise because the earnings threshold for student loan repayments is being frozen — according to a leading think—tank. the institute for fiscal studies says a graduate earning £30,000 will now repay £113 more a year than expected. the government said it was necessary to have a system that provided value for money at a time of rising costs. the freeze comes in in april. singer—songwriterjoni mitchell has joined her fellow artist neil young in removing her music from spotify — due to concerns over covid misinformation. she said the streaming platform was allowing irresponsible people to spread lies — and called on spotify to take action. both artists are protesting at it hosting a podcast byjoe rogan who's been accused of spreading false information about covid. the prime minister and the chancellor have made a joint commitment to push ahead with a national insurance rise in april, despite opposition

from some tory mps. it comes after suggestions that borisjohnson was considering scrapping the raise in order to shore up his position as he awaits the official report into lockdown parties in downing street. i'm joined now by our political correspondentjonathan blake. tell us more about what they said. writing jointly in the sunday times the prime minister and doubtless set out the need to clear the nhs and fix social care. now is the time to stick to stick to the plan, they say, and go ahead with the healthcare levy, it is the right plan. the planned increase to national insurance payments which employers, mps and the self—employed will pay from april. a lot of conservative mps are deeply uneasy about it warning it will hit households hard at a time of already rising bills. any suggestion the prime minister was wavering in his support for this policy had been put to bed. they also hint at future tax

cuts attempting to soften the blow, describing them both as thatcherite. this is a show of unity at a sensitive time for the government, the prime minister, all of us awaiting the report by sue gray into lockdown parties in downing street, and depending on how bad that is for borisjohnson and the police investigation, he could face a vote of confidence and leadership contest, the chancellor seen as a leading contender to replace him, but here appearing on the same page. jonathan blake, thank you. and now for an update on the latest covid data. there were 72,727 new cases recorded, in the latest 24—hour period. on average, 88,879 infections have been reported per day, in the last week. 296 deaths have been reported, that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive test, though some will have died of other causes. on average in the past week, 261 deaths were announced every day.

it's thought that 1.3 million people in the uk are living with long covid, and many experience breathlessness. now, researchers in oxford are using a new technique in a clinical trial — which reveals problems in patients' lungs which aren't detected by traditional scans, leading to hopes of better treatments. 0ur health correspondent catherine burns has the story. flo van diemen van thor was never one forjust sitting down inside. but she says long covid has been a horror show. it was not just the breathlessness that was really hard, it was muscle weakness, legs like jelly and just thinking if i try to go down the stairs, they might not carry me. but this is the ct scan of flo's lungs and, like so many long covid patients, everything looks normal and healthy. these are my lungs, i've had them all my life. i know there's something wrong with them.

flo is taking part in a study in oxford. breathe in and out. researchers think they're the first in the world to be able to show abnormalities in the lungs of long covid patients. flo and the other volunteers have an mri scan as they suck in xenon gas. it behaves like oxygen and should cross from their lungs into their bloodstream. the numbers are small so far. 36 patients, 11 who didn't need hospital care when they were first infected but went on to get long covid. it's a very exciting and very encouraging first step. so what we have here is one of the patients from our trial and the ct scan is entirely normal. they have then gone on and had a xenon gas mri. this is the xenon getting through normally into their bloodstream from their lungs and the blacker areas are where the xenon gas or oxygen would struggle to get through. it's early days for this study and there are still lots of questions,

including exactly what is causing these abnormal lung scans. in the meantime, there aren't many of these specially adapted mri scanners across the country. if this research proves they are worthwhile, it would take some serious investment and several months to scale them up across the nhs. and breathe out... lovely, really good. flo says this was the turning point for her, learning breathing techniques with a respiratory physiotherapist. ijust want you to try and slow... it might take her longer to recover after exercise now, but she's moved up a level in karate. she's not back to normal yet, but thinks she will get there. catherine burns, bbc news. major changes to the highway code have come into force today, with the aim of improving the safety of people walking, cycling and riding horses. the rules apply to england, scotland and wales. until yesterday, vehicles had priority when turning

atjunctions, pedestrians had to wait to cross the road if a vehicle was already turning. but now at a junction, motorists should give way to pedestrians crossing the road and even wait for those waiting to cross a road. there is also updated guidance for cyclists. 0n quiet roads, and in slower—moving traffic, cyclists are now advised to ride in the centre of their lane. the adjustments mean a driver is now more likely to be penalised for putting other road users in harm's way. a complete guide to the new rules can be found on the bbc news website. with all the sport now, here's karthi gnanasegaram at the bbc sport centre. thanks, reeta. good evening. ashleigh barty has won tennis' australian open women's title ending a alt—year wait for a home singles champion in melbourne. the world number one and wimbledon champion beat danielle collins of america with another impressive straight sets performance. barty has now won three out of the four grand slam titles.

mike bushell reports. carrying the hopes of a nation that's been longing for this for a generation. and ash barty gave them exactly what they wanted in the first set, impressing those who know what it's like to perform in an arena overflowing with tension. and danielle collins certainly found it hostile, asking the umpire to get the crowd to quieten down when she was trying to serve, but showing why she's heading into the top ten next week, breaking twice in the second set to race into a 5—1 lead. but barty wasn't going to let this opportunity slip away. an incredible fightback took the set to a tie—break. a wall of noise and expectation now too much for collins and, if you're going to write your name in history, this is the way to do it. cheering. i mean, this is, this isjust a dream come true for me. and i'm so proud to be an aussie, so thank you so much, everyone, we'll see you next time. so australia has a home champion again, for the first time since christine 0'neil, who looked on as barty�*s role model evonne goolagong cawley showed her delight in handing over the trophy and all that comes with it. mike bushell, bbc news.

it was an exceptionally good night for australian tennis fans at melbourne park with barty�*s win followed by an all—australian men's doubles final. it was a raucous affair with nick kyrgios and thanasi kokkinakis defeating matthew ebden and max purcell to secure their first grand slam men's doubles title — nine years after they won the wimbledon boys' title together. cricket, and england's men have set west indies 194 to win in the fourth 0ne—day international of their series. west indies are 63 without loss off seven overs. while the four—day women's ashes test between england and australia is heading for a draw despite the england women's captain heather knight hitting an unbeaten 168. england made 297 in theirfirst innings. australia were 12 for two in their second innings, a lead of 52, before rain stopped play on day three.

it's time to pop out of the room if you don't want to know today's football results as sportscene follows soon in a 3—3 draw between rangers and ross county means rangers's lead at the top of the scottish premiership is nowjust two points. second—placed celtic beat dundee united 1—0. there were also wins for hearts and livingston. the hosts of the africa cup of nations, cameroon, are through to the semifinals of the competition after defeating the gambia 2—0. karl toko ekambi scored both of cameroon�*s goals in the second half of the game. burkina faso are also through to the final four after a 1—0 win over tunisia. there's more on the bbc sport website, including news of an announcement made by the nfl that one of the greatest players in that sport's history, tom brady, is set to retire at the age of 44 after winning seven super bowls during a career spanning 22 years. brady himself is yet to confirm the news. you can see more on all of today's stories

on the bbc news channel. and sophie raworth will be here at 9am tomorrow on the sunday morning show. she'll bejoined by the foreign secretary liz truss, and the secretary general of nato, jens stoltenberg. that's all from me. hello. it's a stormy start to our weather for the week ahead. saturday we saw malik battering northern britain. sunday, another storm heading our way will affect fairly similar areas as well. this is storm corrie. 0ur satellite image shows malik now pushing off towards scandinavia. this area of cloud here is corrie and it's barely getting going. in the shorter term there is a ridge of high pressure between those two storms that will mean for first thing sunday, very light winds, clearskies, most

have early sunshine. frosty though first thing, particularly across the eastern side of the uk. although the day will start quiet, things pick up considerably by the time we get to the afternoon. england and wales will become increasingly breezy but will stay fine with a lot of sunshine. northern ireland though and western scotland by the afternoon will see thickening cloud and outbreaks of rain and the wind strengthening all the while. perhaps some snow across the mountains. a chillier feel for sunday. just 4 in aberdeen, maybe 8 or 9 degrees for cardiff and london. it really is sunday evening that this low is set to deepen quickly to the north of the uk, rolling across scotland before diving south into the north sea through monday. and these are the areas currently being flagged by the met office for the strongest of the winds with the greatest risk of damage or disruption. we may see this warning upgraded though nearer to the time but the areas are in many cases similar to those affected by malik and the effects could be

somewhat cumulative. through monday daytime, as corrie heads off into the continent though, the winds actually ease by the afternoon but still enough of a wind on the north sea to push waters onshore into norfolk and suffolk, coastal swelling as we will have high tides here as well. a cooler feel to the north of the uk once again to start this week. for the rest of the week, it is still looking pretty unsettled. we will see pressure systems rolling through to the north of the uk, high pressure neverfar to the south. thejet stream up here to the north just keeping us feeding this system in. what we will notice there is the fronts dive down close to the areas of high pressure. we lose much of the rain on them so for england and wales actually very, very little in the way of rain to come through the next seven days. these are our accumulations. you can see for western scotland, particularly the north—west, perhaps we will get up to 60, 70 millimetres, a couple