this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughanjones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the united states has announced it will require negative covid tests for travellers from china, following growing alarm at the rapid increase in chinese infections. tighter measures have also been announced by italy, japan, taiwan and india amid concern china's case numbers aren't accurate. it's sparked an angry response from beijing. translation: the argument. you mentioned is a biased smear campaign and political manipulation with a hidden agenda, which does not stand up to scrutiny or facts and runs counter to the truth. as people flee kherson, ukraine says russia has carried out more than 30 rocket attacks in the past 2a hours alone pope francis asks people to pray for his predecessor, benedict xvi — who he says, is very ill.

the vatican says benedict's condition has worsened in recent hours. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. america has become the latest country to impose mandatory covid tests on chinese tourists, after beijing announced it would reopen its borders next week. it comes as china's covid cases surge. tighter measures have also been imposed by italy, japan, malaysia, taiwan and india. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. from the world's most populous nation, alarming scenes —

china's hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country's abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding worrying results. wards full of desperately ill people. outside this hospital in chengdu, a queue for emergency services. government officials say the situation is under control. that's not what these pictures suggest. at this funeral home, one of the city's biggest, more evidence of the scale of the problem. one funeral procession after another — workers here say they're so busy they have no time to eat. and yet china is opening up — about to relax rules for inbound travellers and making it easier for chinese citizens to travel abroad. welcome news for travel companies after three bleak years.

translation: since this morning, we have had lots of inquiries - from oui’ customers. they're asking whether they can travel abroad normally again, whether they will need to quarantine on their return, and when international tourism will return. it's hard to knowjust how bad china's coronavirus situation really is. china says it recorded 5,231 new covid cases yesterday and just three deaths nationwide. but people are no longer required to declare infections to the authorities, so the official figures are unlikely to tell the full story. and so neighbouring countries — japan, malaysia, taiwan and india, all worried about the possibility of importing covid cases — have already announced tighter measures for chinese travellers, including the requirement for negative tests. tonight, american officials, citing a lack of chinese transparency, have followed suit. in a week's time, all people arriving from china will have to have proof of a negative test. and in europe, italy has become

the first country to say its making coronavirus tests mandatory. back in beijing, officials are rejecting any suggestion china has lost control. translation: the argument. you mentioned is a biased smear campaign and political manipulation with a hidden agenda, which doesn't stand up to scrutiny and runs counter to the truth. after last month's nationwide protest, this is the image china wants to project — a country finally turning its back on the virus and on its own draconian response. but china's long, hard battle with covid is far from over. paul adams, bbc news. earlier i spoke to professor of medicine at harvard medical school, doctor daniel kuritzkes, who was sceptical of the efficacy of travel restrictions. i can certainly understand the concern about the potential for importation of new variants from other parts of the world.

but in reality, these measures are very unlikely to have any significant impact in reducing risk. so i think these are more about public relations and perhaps a bit about foreign policy than about public health. interesting, because most people watching i'm sure will be looking at the increase in case numbers in china and won't want to see that kind of numbers and potential variants being imported into the country. it seemed to make common sense, are you suggesting the evidence from what we know over the last couple years doesn't actually make a great deal of difference. i think that's right. unless you impose truly draconian limits, as was done successfully in australia and new zealand, having testing or other sorts of partial travel bans are really not effective. look what happened a year ago when the us imposed travel bans to south africa and other south african countries in response to the detection of omicron —

that did nothing to help the explosive spread of omicron in the united states because it had already spread to other parts of the world. i think the same will be true here, if there is to be a new variant that arises in china, it most likely has already spread elsewhere. and because of travel to other countries and the likelihood of someone travelling from china to france could infect someone in france, then infect someone in the us without testing. interesting, what do you make of china and its handling in recent weeks of the epidemic there? i think that the relaxation of their very strict lockdown measures has happened a bit abruptly considering how vaccination has not been as widespread, and certainly not as effective of a vaccine as indicated in most of europe and the united states.

i understand the pressure to relax the very strict shutdowns that they had had, but after so many years you'd thought they might have done so a little bit more gradually and with more forethought. the authorities have come out very strongly criticising foreign countries for turning a blind eye, as it says, to their own measures and problems, instead focusing too much on criticising china's approach. but when you take a step back from the politics of it in different countries criticising each other�*s approaches, where does the world stand now? it seems like you're saying that actually, all borders should be open, it will spread as it will spread, and it will be as it will be? i think the most important things we can do are to ensure that the world population is vaccinated with effective

vaccines, highly effective vaccines, and that where there are high cases of numbers, that appropriate nonbiological measures such as masking and social distancing are implemented in order to minimise the spread. i think the experience has shown that travel bans by themselves are unlikely to have any significant impact in halting the global spread of this pandemic virus. ukraine says russia has stepped up mortar and artillery attacks on the recently liberated city of kherson in the south of the country. kyiv�*s armed forces said, in the last 2a hours — 33 rockets had targeted the city. russian forces abandoned kherson last month in one of ukraine's most significant gains of the war. but it's come, under renewed attack. on saturday, a russian strike on kherson killed at least 10 people and wounded nearly 60. our correspondent, hugo bachega,

sent this report from kyiv. tears in kherson. a final goodbye for another life lost to the war. this city was liberated by ukraine just last month. but liberation hasn't brought relief. russia's bombing has been relentless. it doesn't stop — even for the dead. natalia was in her flat when a shell hit. she was a7. ukraine's advance pushed russian forces out of kherson. they're now on the other side of the dnipro river, from where they've been pounding the city, day and night. in the last 2a hours, more than 30 missiles were fired at civilian targets. this was one of the places hit — the maternity ward of a hospital. luckily, no one was killed.

the road leading out of the city used to be clearjust days ago. now, it's full of families fleeing. "we stayed all this time, but when the home next "to ours was hit, we became scared", this woman says. the danger is not only kherson. here, in kyiv, the air raid alert sounded again this morning. on the battlefield, neither russia nor ukraine have made significant gains in recent weeks, but away from the front lines, people are being warned of the russian threat coming from the sky. hugo bachega, bbc news, kyiv. well that's the latest on the ground. ukraine's president zelensky has been making his annual address to parliament. here's some of what he said. translation: ukraine has united the eumpean union- _ now, europe is defending itself. europe is overcoming the crises despite the enormous amount of resources that russia

is deploying to break our continent. everything russia has tried to do against europe has not worked. the huge storm, that killed dozens in north america over the christmas weekend, continues to inflict misery on new york state. stories have been emerging, of families trapped for days, during what's being called the "blizzard of the century." thousands of flights have been cancelled with southwest airlines the worst affected. zach griff is a senior reporter at the travel website the points guy. he has the latest detail on the travel situation. southwest has cancelled about two thirds of its schedule today. they're doing that through the end of the week, which is such a popular time of course, with the new year holiday coming up. and what happened to southwest is not necessarily an isolated situation — every airline experienced a major disruption from the winter weather that came through much of the country during the christmas

week, but southwest has failed so miserably at recovering from that winter storm. and it's really about two things — the first is that the airline has a very unique route network within the us, not that it doesn't typically operate a hub—to—hub service, it goes typically point to point and planes zigzag across the country all day. and when one flight cancels, it puts the crew, the flight attendants, the pilots really out of position. and when the airline went to go reschedule many of those crew members, their crew scheduling system also got backed up, leading to hours—long waits and, of course, into this major meltdown we're seeing today. buffalo in new york has been one of the places worst hit by the storm — jared webber owns �*bradley tree and landscaping' — he and his crew have been helping with the clean—up there. he's been telling me what he's seen.

we went down to the city of buffalo and christmas morning and the roads were impassable. we had to bring plough trucks down just to get the trees that were cross roadways. the city's people were down there every day working as hard as they can to get things opened up. one big issue is all of the cars that had been abandoned because the weather turned so quickly, we cannot get equipment and where we need to go. one of the other things that we are fighting is the fact that it was very, very wet before we got the snow storm. there are uprooted trees all over the place. it is a disaster in everyone is working as hard as they can to get things cleaned up as quickly as possible. as you were describing that we were seeing these photos that you and your colleagues have been out there doing an amazing job helping, but i gather

you are not the only people helping what is the community response been like? the community response, we are seeing trucks coming in from indiana i saw multiple trucks from there. trucks from down by new york city, eight hours away from us. people coming in from ohio, community members are bringing in snowmobiles from the outer lying neighbourhoods and going from car to car checking to make sure that there is no one in there. running to different peoples houses with water and food. for people who have been trapped inside. some of the local snowmobile clubs have brought their trail groomers in, navigating the streets that are otherwise unnavigable with just regular trucks and equipment. so the outreach has been great. bring us up to date, if you can, we have been following this for a while now what is the latest on the weather conditions, are things easing? things had eased up here. the sun was shining

today, but it has added a new dynamic to the whole situation where the snow is actually melting and becoming more compact and more to move. so that is requiring bigger equipment, the other issue is there is no where to put the snow. so there are trucks loading it out and driving it elsewhere where there is space to get rid of it. 2022 will be categorised as the warmest year on record for the uk, according to the met office. this summer saw temperatures reach a0 degrees celsius for the first time. the national trust, which manages vast areas of land in england, wales and northern ireland, says the prolonged droughts, and the repeated storms have affected many species, and described this year's weather conditions as �*the new normal�*. our climate editor justin rowlatt reports. 2022 began as the year was to continue — with extreme weather. storm malik in january. ..

..was followed in early february by storm eunice. a day of record—breaking temperatures... - but extreme heat was the defining feature of the year, with record high temperatures recorded across the country. wildfires followed, devastating some habitats on national trust land in the southwest, including rare heathland in dorset. the fire left a large swathe of it completely barren. but there is some good news. the national trust has a well—established fire management strategy here, and the fire service got in here early and limited the scale of the fire, stopping it spreading. and there's something else as well, and you can see that best from the air. the area of natural ecosystem in this part of south dorset has been expanding. we have a much larger reserve, which means we've got better connectivity between those areas of land, and that means that wildlife can thrive.

it's a more resilient landscape, wildlife can move around freely in that landscape. it wasn't just wild ecosystems that were affected by the hot, dry weather. lawns and water features at some of the national trust's most cherished gardens were hit, too. it is a warning of what is to come, says the trust. we're going to have more frequent heat waves, we're going to have droughts, we're going to have torrential downpours, and the way the national trust manages its land is part of the solution to making us all more resilient. that means planting woodlands, re—flooding bogs and, where possible, expanding other ecosystems. species that have suffered this year include the uk's seabird colonies, very badly affected by the bird flu epidemic. many bat species struggled in the intense heat of summer and some species of fungi suffered, too. but some species had thrived. large blue butterflies in gloucestershire, choughs in cornwall also did well.

they are a rare relative of the crow. it was a good year for autumn colour, as well as apples and nuts. and a pair of beavers in somerset had kits in the spring. they're named after two of the england team that did so well in the euros. justin rowlatt, bbc news. the united states and european union have appealed to kosovo and serbia to exercise maximum restraint, as tensions are rising in northern kosovo. kosovan police have closed the main border crossing into serbia after roadblocks were set up on the serbian side. ethnic serbs have been blocking roads in the north of the country for weeks, in protests sparked initially by a dispute over car number plates. there are reports that those baricades will start to be removed on thursday morning according to serbian president aleksandar vucic.

let's get some context. kosovo was part of the former yugoslav republic serbia until war broke out between them in 1998. this ended the following year after nato troops forced serb troops out of the country, and in 2008, kosovo declared its independence from serbia. lars—gunnar veegermark is head of the eu rule of law mission to kosovo. i think we've all been very concerned by the increase in tensions and escalations that we've seen, especially over the last couple of weeks and since these illegal barricades went up in response to the arrest of a former kosovo, serb police officer. this is really unprecedented. we have to come back at least ten years to see anything like this. of course, it comes at a time where all eyes are on ukraine and the war. the last thing that europe needs is another conflict.

pope francis has asked roman catholics, to pray for his predecessor, pope benedict, who he says is very ill. benedict the 16th became pope in 2005 — then stepped down nearly 8 years later in 2013. he said it was a "lack of strength of mind and body" due to his age. he's now 95, and his health has been deteriorating. a short time ago i spoke to our correspomndent bethany bell in rome and asked — are there growing levels of concern there — over benedict's health? yes, this morning pope francis said that benedict was very sick and he asked people to pray to sustain benedict in his witness to the church until the end. a little bit after that the vatican put out a statement saying that, benedict was given constant medical attention and that also he

his condition was under control but gave no details apart from that. so as we already know as he mentioned benedict resigned in 2013 the first since 1413 because he was not "1415, mentally and physically strong enough to run the church any more. then at the age of 95 there will be a great deal of concern about his condition. remind us a little bit about the man and his time as pope. born in germany he was a cardinal by the age of 50 he ran the catholic church's office on doctrine and his papacy, when it came after popejohn paul ii died was marked by a very conservative traditional catholic doctrine. he spoke out against abortion, against contraception, homosexuality.

he also was pope at the time when the church was facing the growing scandal of sexual abuse by priests and he later admitted that he had made mistakes in the way that he had handled that. he stepped down in 2013, the first pope to do that in such a very long time and left the vatican. he flew away from the vatican in a helicopter to the papacy�*s summer home just outside of rome. then the path was made clear for the election of pope francis. pope francis has a much more liberal approach than pope benedict did but he has continued to visit mark or one who lives in the vatican.

——benedict. and sometimes the presence of a former pope in the vatican has been seen somewhat divisive. the actor and comedianjohn bird has died at the age of 86. he was best known for satirical comedy, working withjohn fortune and rory bremner, as they exposed some of the absurdities of politics and public life. he won baftas for his work in both the early and late stages of his career, as our entertainment correspondent colin paterson reports. i'd like your reaction to the remarks made by the archbishop of canterbury a few days ago, when he said that people in your position, the top executives in britain, were earning far, far too much money? well, erm, i'd like to say that i yield to no one in my admiration for dr carey. but, at the same time i would respectfully suggest that he is a sanctimonious old fart who can't add up. john bird and his great friend john fortune were famous for their satirical sketches, working for more than 20 years with rory bremner. their sections of the show usually featured one of them interviewing the other to highlight

the pomposity of people in power. let's say you're just going along as normal in the market and then suddenly out of the blue, one of these very sharp and sophisticated people says, "my god, something awful's going to happen! we've lost everything! oh, my god, wat are we going to do? what are we going to do?" it was wonderful watching the - sketches and was just seeing these two friends and how they made it i look so effortless as they took i apart government policy, or took | apart you know the principals in| public life in a way- thatjust made you, just clutch your sides with laughter. john bird was a star of the cambridge footlights in the 1950s, where he directed peter cooke. they would become instrumental in the 60s satire boom — politicians had suddenly become fair game to be mocked. he turned down the chance to present that was the week that was, despite coming up with the name of the show. instead, he recommended his flat mate, david frost. john bird became a tv regular on its sequel,

not so much a programme, more a way of life, where his impressions of the prime minister, harold wilson helped win him his first bafta in 1966. as harold wilson: i admit in the privacy of this - television studio that all is not well within the government. some of my colleagues have not performed as well as i expected them to. even worse, some of them have! his partnership withjohn fortune was under way and and they featured in a sketch with a young alan bennett about tv executives trying to think up new ideas for a show. well, look, could we combine the two, have a professional discoteque in an old people's home? we could call it whisky a—ga—ga! looking back on his career, john bird once said, "i always think by now i should have had a late period — i've had an early period that's gone on". the satiristjohn bird, who's died at the age of 86.

that's it. this is bbc news. hello there. new year's eve, just around the corner. and if your plans involve being outside, please keep watching the forecast. there's a lot of rain in the story over the next few days. the winds will be a feature as well. gale force gusts on exposed coasts not out of the question. the only snow is really to the tops of the mountains in scotland, so we're not too concerned about that for the time being. but as this low pressure moves away, plenty isobars on the southern flank, the winds very much a feature. so for thursday's weather, that's going to be blowing in plenty of showers from the word go, most frequent across scotland, northern ireland and northwest england. but there will be some across west—facing coasts of wales. the only good news is with the strength of the winds, gusts in excess of a0 to maybe 50 miles an hour in exposed coasts, it's going to push those showers

through at quite a pace. top temperatures as we go through the day on thursday ranging from 6 to 10 degrees, so just a degree or so down on what we've seen just recently, but still not too bad for the time of year. there's more wet weather to come, though, as we move towards the end of the week. as you can see, these weatherfronts pushing in. they will for a time on the leading edge bring some snow, but that moves away quite quickly and turns to rain across scotland as that frontal system moves through. and then it will leave a trail of showers through friday afternoon for many. a to 7 degrees in scotland, highest values of 13, perhaps, in the southeast. as we head towards the new year's eve and the weekend, well, we're going to see this milder air clinging on across england and wales, the cold air sitting in place in scotland. that's in some ways where the driest and the brightest of the weather, any showers here to higher ground still wintry, but these frontal systems still open to uncertainty as to exactly where they'll be sitting through new year's eve and into new year's day.

so keep abreast of the forecast if you do have outdoor plans because the rain mightjust be that little bit further north or south. but it looks likely that it is going to be unsettled, wet and windy at times for england and wales, crisper and a little bit colder but drier into scotland. but then those frontal systems will start to push their way steadily north for the start of 2023. so, lots to play for at the moment. but look at the temperatures, still on the mild side by new year's day, with highs of 12 degrees. happy new year.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the united states has announced it will require negative covid tests for travellers from china, following growing alarm at the rapid increase in chinese infections. tighter measures have also been announced by italy, japan, taiwan and india. as people flee kherson, kyiv says russia has carried out more than 30 rocket attacks in the past 2a hours. meanwhile, president zelensky told lawmkarers at his end—of—year address that ukraine's defiance had united the european union. pope francis has asked people to pray for his predecessor benedict xvi, who he says is very ill. the vatican says benedict's condition has worsened in recent hours. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever,

after a summer of blistering heatwaves and a mild autumn and spring.