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 amid concern china's case numbers aren't accurate. as people flee the ukrainian city of kherson, kyiv says russia has carried out more than 30 rocket attacks in the past 2a hours. president zelensky has told lawmkarers at his end—of—year address that ukraine would continue fighting to recover all its territory and free those held captive by russia.

the head of the catholic church, pope francis has urged people to pray for his predecessor, pope—emeritus benedict, whose health has worsened. officials say his health has deteriorated overnight. benedict xvi — who is 95 — left office in 2013, the first pope to resign in six centuries. now on bbc news, our world: welcome to the metaverse around the world a new type of worker is emerging. they make big profits for companies but rarely leave home or break into a sweat.

they generate millions playing a new breed of online video game. for me, it comes as a blessing. in a virtual world where work and play are one and the same. could this be our future in the metaverse? the philippines has been hit by its deepest recession

since records began. dom rescued his family by playing an online video game called axie infinity. with millions of others, he earns money breeding and battling fantasy fairy creatures called axies in their digital universe, lunacia. in his first month he doubled the money he made in his

previous job as an accountant. to play you must form a team of three axies. you then do battle, and if you win, you are rewarded and in—game currency called smooth love potion. when you have enough, you use it to breed more powerful axie fighters. to make hard cash, you can sell your love potion and axies on online exchanges. but before you can make a cent, you must first buy your axie team from the game's owners, sky mavis.

this can cost hundreds of dollars, more than most can afford. i'm kookoo, and i became a millionaire from from playing a video game. but kookoo tv is here to help. a lot of people are cheering and shouting my name. he's one of the philippines�* most influential axie managers recruiting players to the game. also their love games, they want to compete. he works with the yield guild games, or why 66, a group of investors who buy axies and rent them out to players. these players are known as axie scholars, and every time they produce a smooth

love potion of the guild takes its cut. we have 20,000 plus scholars, most from the philippines, onboarding from different places. they have the opportunity to earn while they are playing. and then eventually they can buy their own axies. playing axie can be yourfull—timejob. the game has given him wealth and fame, but for him it is about more than just the money. it is like running a business but you are helping other people by providing opportunities. seeing the results, for example, from the parents who are buying milk or paying their bills from their earnings makes us so happy. and when a typhoon struck in 2021, kookoo tv and the guild stepped in.

that is actually my vitamins to keep positive, keep energetic and also to continue what i am doing. i think that is my compensation. that is my reward for helping people. he was signed up to be a scholar and desperately needed money to replace lost revenues from his ailing holiday lets business. he is one of kookoo tv�*s most ambitious players.

but recently, axie players were rocked by crisis. it has been quiet for too long. slp has been going down and down and down. smooth love potion was hit by inflation, wiping out nearly its entire value. many scholars refused to produce love potion and were sacked or left the game. however, others, like kooya kevs and dom, remained loyal.

for me, it comes as a blessing. and now he is doing his part to recruit players to the guild to work in the axie economy. this is gail, dom's sister.

kooya kevs has enlisted his own brother to work as a scholar for the guild. so it is a win—win situation for us. kabee is unable to get a job using his computer science degree.

but his axie earnings have taken a nosedive and kooya kevs must rely on side hustles to pay the bills.

however, axie infinity is still worth over $2 billion and remains one of the most popular play—to—earn games in the world. its success is down to its ingenious design that has transformed everything in the game into a financial asset that can be owned and bought and sold. every bouncing axie is, in fact, a non—fungible token, or nft, a unique piece of digital data that represents ownership and value. and every drop of smooth love potion is actually a unit of crypto currency, or digital money. both exist on a blockchain, an online ledger that is stored on computers around the world and is protected by powerful cryptography.

making axies and love potion digital assets that can be owned and traded incentivises players to invest their time and money in the game. and, as they are exchangeable assets, axies and love potion can be traded for other crypto and traditional currencies, such as dollars. every time this is done by its millions of players the game's owners charge a fee, turning play into a highly efficient way of making profits. many think that the fusion of play and work in virtual economies like axie infinity is our future... ..and a new business opportunity for the philippines.

other countries have silicon valley. in korea there is samsung. in vietnam a lot of people are creating new technology. so in the philippines we want to be known as the centre of the play—to—earn concept. it changed the narrative that philippines is notjust for call centres or 0fws. now we are becoming the centre of the play—to—earn metaverse games. by 2018, venezuela's economic crisis pushed nearly 90% of its citizens into poverty. and forfirst—time dad miguel margo, scarcity became a way of life.

with hyperinflation rampant, alongside millions of others, miguel tried to escape his misery abroad. he hitched and walked 2,000 kilometres to peru, but was unable to make a living. but on his return to venezuela, he discovered the axie promise.

venezuela's government has even set up its own axie academy, to give people like ana a way of surviving. and to earn cryptocurrency for itself. but until recently, the regime saw the game as a threat.

however, for miguel, doubts crept in when he realised the axie economy is no more stable than venezuela's. it made him question the whole idea of play—to—earn gaming. some even think that axie

is a form of digital piecework, but done when you think you're playing. and what use is an axie asset if there is no axie game? so he turned to another job to survive. miguel is a very efficient assassin in his home town.

he grinds away up to 15 hours a day playing an online video game called old school runescape. although never intended to be a way for players to make money, today, many venezuelans rely on it to survive.

miguel does this for wealthier, mostly foreign players, who pay him to boost their avatars�* status in the game. he completes missions, defeating monsters and other players in battle, and collects valuable items such as armour, weapons and gold that can be sold to other players. and runescape is much better suited to miguel�*s world than axie infinity. venezuelans endure constant power blackouts, high data costs and low—grade computer hardware supplied by the government.

but this is no problem for runescape, which uses simple, old—fashioned graphics to please its nostalgic players. miguel works long hours to provide for his son.

but playing is taking its toll. however, runescape is much more than just work for miguel.

a better way to escape... ..with one catch. even though runescape, a game madejust for having fun, is a safer bet than axie infinity, miguel knows he can take nothing for granted.

hello there. despite some cold weather earlier in december, the met office has announced that, provisionally, this year has been the uk's warmest year on record. every month apart from december has seen temperatures above average, and, actually, as we close out the year, we are going to stick with some relatively mild weather. it means that most of us will see outbreaks of rain

and some strong winds, any snow, really, confined to high ground in the north of the uk. there is going to be a lot of rain for some. over the next five days, we will see close to 100 millimetres of rain accumulating over some high ground in the western side of england and parts of wales, all of that being brought to us by this big stripe of cloud, a succession of weather systems working in from the atlantic, bringing some outbreaks of rain. we saw some quite heavy rain pushing north—eastwards during wednesday. that's clearing away to leave a mix of sunny spells and showers for thursday. some of the showers will be heavy, wintry over high ground in the north of the uk. and a widely windy day, as well. the strongest winds will always be around some of our coasts. temperatures a little down on wednesday's values, but still, five to ten degrees is not too bad for this time of year. into friday, here comes another weather system from the atlantic. that is going to bring some

outbreaks of heavy rain moving through quite quickly, sweeping its way north—eastwards but cold enough for some snow over high ground in northern scotland. there may even be something wintry to relatively low levels here just for a time. wintry, temperatures of 12 or 13 degrees. as we get into the weekend, into the new year period, of course, things do get a little bit complex. to the south of us, we'll see various frontal systems with the potential for outbreaks of rain. for the northern half of the uk, colder air tries to dig its way in. so something of a split in our weather fortunes for new year's eve, cold enough for some wintry showers, especially over high ground in northern scotland. further south, a little rain likely, and temperatures ranging from five degrees in aberdeen and glasgow to 13 in london, maybe 1a in norwich. towards midnight, we may see rain gathering down towards the south. it's likely to be quite cold in the north. and for new year's day, some of this wet weather may

spill a little further northwards. there is uncertainty in the detail by this stage. any of that wet weather that does get up into scotland could turn to sleet and snow over high ground. temperatures four or five degrees, but it's mild to start the new year across the south. into monday, computer weather models suggest there'll be another area of low pressure passing through, butjust how big a feature this will be, just how deep it will be, remains open to some question. but there will be outbreaks of rain, maybe some snow over high ground in the north, temperatures generally between five and ten degrees. for the first days of the new year, a brief ridge of high pressure, probably around tuesday, giving drier but colder weather. and then, later in the week, weather systems push back in from the atlantic, bringing further bouts of wet weather but, with that, something milder. it looks like most will have double—digit temperatures through a good part of next week, into the start of 2023.

bye for now.

welcome to bbc news. i'm david willis. our top stories: the us announces it will require negative covid tests for travellers from china, as alarm grows at the rapid increase in chinese infections. tighter measures are also 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 the ukrainian city of kherson, kyiv 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,