this is 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 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. a fire at a casino hotel in cambodia leaves at least 10 people dead and several people are still reported to be trapped. pope francis asks people

to pray for his predecessor, benedict xvi, who he says is very ill. and us politicians are ordered by congress to delete the chinese—owned app tiktok from their phones, saying it represents "high risk to users". welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. america has become the latest country to impose mandatory covid tests on chinese tourists, amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus after beijing announced it would reopen its borders next week. the uk is now also considering something similar while tighter measures have also been imposed by italy, japan, malaysia,

taiwan and india. not all countries are on the same page, however, australia has said it will not change its policy on chinese arrivals. china has announced one further death in the last 2a hours, bringing the official death toll to 5,246, though experts believe the real toll to be far, far higher. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams has this report. 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 yea rs. translation: since this morning, we have had i lots of inquiries from our 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 it's 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 harry nelson, who is a healthcare lawyer and author. i asked him how effective he thought the travel restrictions will be. i think in some ways the cat is already out of the bag. in the north—east of the united states the chinese variant now accounts for 50% of all cases. a little under 20% in the rest of the country or in the whole country, so i think this is going to slow things but it will not fundamentally alter the situation. it is just buying a little time. china says that this is all some sort of smear, of course, it has a point. there is politics involved, isn't there? it is hard to know. i think there are many domestic chinese politics in the sense that the chinese government has ended zero—covid policy and does not want

the population to turn on it, so it is easy to point to the us and all these other countries, but i believe this is not political, or a political decision in the us. i think this is reallyjust trying to get ahead of another winter with a fast spreading variant to try to contain a pandemic. it looks more like a real public health decision in the united states to me. could these travel restrictions lead to other restrictions in other parts of the world making this more and more a geographical solution or attempted solution to the problem? it is a risk that we will see rising covid rates around the world and fast transmitting strains lead to more restrictions. this was a little unusual because china was keeping a tight wrap on cases and has now allowed to open up, adding chaos but i think this is on the horizon, i think we will see more

of these kind of restrictions as new variants start to spread quickly. ultimately, though, it is endemic. there really is no way of keeping this virus under control so why bother? i think that is a great question. we are living in a time now where a significant part of the population, and i am probably in this camp, think that this is something we have to live with and we have to get back to life and treat it as endemic. clearly not everyone feels that way and many people will make decisions to postpone travel, will be more conservative, and i think we will live in that divide for a little while to come. ultimately, does it come down as well in part to greater supply of vaccines, particularly in china? absolutely. that is a huge issue, making sure that, first of all, the vaccines work against this variant and that we have enough of them and i

think this is a wake—up call that china was a little flat—footed after it lifted these restrictions. harry nelson there. some breaking news now. a big fire is blazing at a casino hotel in north—west cambodia on the border with thailand. the authorities in the city of poipet say at least ten people are confirmed dead as the fire in the gambling complex continues to rage after several hours. 30 people are being treated for injuries. reports say more are trapped in the grand diamond city hotel. authorities say the fire broke out around 11:30pm local time. footage shows flames shooting into the air. the grand diamond city is one of a number of casino—hotels along the thai—cambodian border. we'll bring you more on the story as we get it. authorities say some of the

injured are being transported to hospitals there and they are providing as much assistance as possible. at the vatican, pope francis has urged people to pray for his predecessor, pope emeritus benedict, whose health has worsened. pope francis was speaking at wednesday's general audience. officials say the former pope's health has deteriorated overnight. benedict xvi, who is 95, left office in 2013, the first pope to resign in six centuries. earlier, i spoke to matthew bunson from the catholic television network, ewtn, and i asked him about the pope's current condition. based on our reporting, we also have a number of sources in rome that tell us that as pope francis himself pointed out earlier today, in his general audience, that the pope emeritus' overall medical condition is serious. we understand he is gravely ill, from what the vatican

itself refers to as �*the advancing of old age.�* we were able to report that the pope emeritus has kidney failure as well as complications from a pacemaker. so looking at all of these different conditions we certainly need to keep the pope emeritus in our prayers. benedict's resignation caused an unprecedented situation, really, in which both he and his successor were in the vatican at the same time and his papacy, benedict's was beset by infighting. what do we know of the relationship between benedict and his successor? that is been one of those interesting developments in the hundreds of years in the life of the church. we had the unusual circumstance of a pope, a reigning pope in pope

francis and then a pope emeritus in pope benedict xvi. by every measure, the two of them, that we are aware of, have cordial relations. pope benedict has been very careful however in always acknowledging that pope francis is the legitimate pope, the reigning pope and i think that has been reflected in many of the decisions he has made in his retirement to keep a very low profile. always acknowledging that pope francis is in fact pope and i think that has been a great assistance to pope francis. francis himself acknowledges as well that pope benedict is one of the very few people, the only other person on the face of the earth who can give him advice from the very, very unique position of having been a supreme pontiff of the catholic church. we can bring you some pictures now live from the vatican as we continue and benedict has been active, hasn't he, in retirement despite adopting that low profile which

you just spoke of. he writes daily homilies for his masses on a daily basis, i am told? that is right. in his retirement while he is still able to say mass on a daily basis, one of the things that pope emeritus benedict loved to do was to write a daily homily. for those of us who follow him for many years those will be a treasure at some point and hopefully will be published but he has also responded from time to time to some of the controversies that have surrounded the church, in particular in defending his own reputation, his own record on how he handled the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the time before he became pope and then as pope benedict xvi after his election in 2005. so those letters themselves i think are important milestones in what has been, i think we can safely say, one of the most remarkable

theological and ecclesiastical careers in the history of the 20th century and certainly in terms of the catholic church. matthew bunson. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we'll tell you how this hairdresser�*s in belgium is playing a small part in saving the environment. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're gonna use money we picked up in belgium today and then, we'll be in france, and again, it'll be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. crowd yelling george harrison, i the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed - at his oxfordshire home.

a 33—year—old man from liverpool- is being interviewed by police on suspicion - of attempted murder. i think it was good. just good? no, fantastic. big ben bongs this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the us has announced it will require negative covid tests for travellers from china following growing alarm at the rapid increase in chinese infections. a fire at a casino hotel in cambodia leaves at least 10 people dead and several people injured,

and others are still reported to be trapped. in the united states, congress has ordered all its members and staff to delete tiktok from their phones. they've been advised that the social media app poses "high risk to users due to a number of security risks." the social media app is owned by the chinese tech company byte da nce. a short while ago, i asked our news reporter azadeh moshiri what had prompted the move. the headline is there are concerns around the app being used for surveillance by the chinese government. now, given the tensions that exist right now between the united states and china, that is obviously something the government is not going to take lightly. it is also why in countries like the united kingdom, australia, taiwan, there have been concerns raised as well, and why india banned the app outright two years ago. now, specifically, what the fbi director christopher wray told congress last month is that there are concerns that personal data is being shared with the chinese government —

things like a user's location or mobile phone data, and there are also concerns that perhaps the chinese government would want to use this app to influence users in the united states. now, bytedance, the chinese company that owns tiktok, insists that data is not stored in china, but the problem is millions of people use this app. in america, 100 million people do, and two—thirds of american teenagers do as well, and that is partly why politicians are so tempted to use it, because they want to reach voters where they are, and they are on tiktok right now. we have the same issue here in the united kingdom — parliament set up their own tiktok profile and it was met with a lot of criticism from several members of parliament who have been sanctioned by the chinese state. eventually, parliament did delete that profile, but they said they were just trying to educate younger citizens. this is not the first time, of course, that american officials have sought to take moves against tiktok. so, what does this actually mean for government staff now? that's right.

it was actually under the trump administration that the first serious steps had been taken. president trump tried to ban new users from downloading the app altogether. that was blocked by the courts and eventually overturned by president biden, but also, at the state level, several states don't let their government employees use the app, and a federal bill has also been signed by the senate, which will eventually be signed into law by biden, but the problem is — how do you stop average citizens, when it is so popular, especially when you are not talking about cold—hard proof that you are sharing with them, you are just talking about a lack of transparency about how that data is used. let's get some of the day's other news. for the second day running, an iranian woman has taken part in an international chess tournament without wearing a head scarf. sara khadem is competing at the event in kazakhstan. going without a hijab is a violation of iranian laws governing the female dress code.

there have been months of demonstrations in iran following the death of a young woman in custody who was arrested for what officials called her "inappropriate attire". bolivian police have detained the governor of santa cruz on charges of fomenting a coup. luis fernando camacho — a prominent right—wing opposition leader who helped oust president evo morales from power in 2019 — is believed to have been taken to the administrative capital, la paz. his supporters have condemned his arrest as a kidnapping. the serbian president says that ethnic serbs in northern kosovo — who have been blocking roads for nearly three weeks — will begin dismantling their barricades on thursday. ethnic serbs have been blocking roads in protests sparked initially by a dispute over car numberplates. the united states and european union have appealed to kosovo and serbia to exercise maximum restraint.

in may next year, king charles will be crowned, an event that will be watched closely in australia where he is also the head of state. while most of his school years were spent in the uk, for two terms in 1966, he was sent to the mountains of australia, and to a campus offering a very different kind of education. the bbc has been given exclusive access to timbertop in rural victoria to meet the man hand—picked to accompany the future king on his aussie adventure and the students studying there today. shaimaa khalil reports. the students here cut a great deal of the firewood used annually. deal of the firewood used annually-— deal of the firewood used annuall . , ., annually. some things have chanced annually. some things have changed at _ annually. some things have changed at timbertop - annually. some things have changed at timbertop since j annually. some things have - changed at timbertop since the 19605. changed at timbertop since the 1960s. for one, there are boys and girls here now. a lot hasn't. ., ., ., ,

and girls here now. a lot hasn't. ., ., ., hasn't. you have to shop would to have showers. _ hasn't. you have to shop would to have showers. and - hasn't. you have to shop would to have showers. and if - to have showers. and if we don't, we have cold showers, which is pretty unpleasant. foraging for fuel has been going on for decades that is rural campus at geelong grammar school, and it is rare footage, you can see teenage charles getting stuck in. this was a very different experience to what the young prince was used to back home. it was here that he took a break from his royal duties and enjoyed a much quieter life away from the close and relentless gaze of the cameras. it was, he said, by far the best part of his schooling. by far the best part of his schooling-— by far the best part of his schooling. by far the best part of his schoolina. . . . , ., schooling. the accent is on the outdoor life. _ schooling. the accent is on the outdoor life. the _ schooling. the accent is on the outdoor life. the physical - outdoor life. the physical fitness plus self—reliance... i am not sure why the royal parents _ am not sure why the royal parents chose timbertop, they certainly — parents chose timbertop, they certainly wanted him to be in a practical— certainly wanted him to be in a practical environment and learn to live — practical environment and learn to live with others out of the hurly— burly and royal engagements, hurly—burly and royal engagements, and that is what happened. he mucked in with everyone _ happened. he mucked in with everyone else, working away, linking — everyone else, working away, linking to _ everyone else, working away, linking to the other boys who

were — linking to the other boys who were not— linking to the other boys who were not scared of him, but very— were not scared of him, but very interested. one of them celled — very interested. one of them called him a pommy... he laughed _ called him a pommy... he laughed. i called him a pommy... he laughed-— called him a pommy... he lau~hed. . ., , ., laughed. i am not sure how he tookthat! _ laughed. i am not sure how he took that! he _ laughed. i am not sure how he took that! he laughed! - laughed. i am not sure how he took that! he laughed! he - laughed. i am not sure how he took that! he laughed! he was --rearin~ took that! he laughed! he was preparing for _ took that! he laughed! he was preparing for university - took that! he laughed! he was preparing for university during | preparing for university during his time here, and as an older student, he took on a supervisory role, but still participated in the tough stuff. stuart mcgregor was his companion. the school had arranged it, and stuart, a former pupil, was happy to return and help.— former pupil, was happy to return and help. this is a very secial return and help. this is a very special place. _ return and help. this is a very special place, really a - return and help. this is a very special place, really a focal i special place, really a focal point for the school. it special place, really a focal point for the school. it was an unusual experience _ point for the school. it was an unusual experience for - point for the school. it was an unusual experience for both i unusual experience for both young men and a lot to take him for the new student.— for the new student. started out as almost _ for the new student. started out as almost bemusementl for the new student. started i out as almost bemusement to some extent, what on earth is going on? why am i here? that quickly resolve itself and he started to embrace the concept. of started to embrace the concept. of course when we look up here, that brings back a lot of memories and that is where i shared quarters with our king, and it worked pretty well stop

there was no snoring that i can remember, perhaps i was guilty! i think it must have been pretty daunting for him suddenly to be thrust into a very small suite with someone he never knew in the same bedroom, but he seemed to handle it very well. the media were kept at bay and i think it allowed him to develop in a way that wouldn't have been possible in other circumstances, certainly not backin circumstances, certainly not back in the english environment. so he could be himself, and i think he was for the very first time perhaps in his life. ., , , his life. for the students here, his life. for the students here. it _ his life. for the students here. it is _ his life. for the students here, it is slightly - his life. for the students here, it is slightly unreal his life. for the students i here, it is slightly unreal to know that the monarch was once in their shoes.— in their shoes. crazy to feel like he has _ like he has had this experience pretty much very similar to mine, like, having that connection. it mine, like, having that connection.— mine, like, having that connection. , ., ., ., connection. it is an honour! think, because we - connection. it is an honour! think, because we are - connection. it is an honour i | think, because we are pretty much — think, because we are pretty much doing the same thing is what — much doing the same thing is what he — much doing the same thing is what he did, only been in the same — what he did, only been in the same amount as him, seem the same— same amount as him, seem the same views— same amount as him, seem the same views stop it is pretty incredible.—

same views stop it is pretty incredible. back then, prince charles also _ incredible. back then, prince charles also got _ incredible. back then, prince charles also got involved - incredible. back then, prince charles also got involved in i charles also got involved in all other activities but hikes and cross—country running, which are still a big part of the school curriculum. it is a tough programme, albeit an exclusive one. fees are more than 75,000 australian dollars a year. a view years after he left timbertop, charles windsor with his sister, princess anne. everyone we talked to says the king is welcome back here any time, and if he does return, safe to say he won't be made to drop any firewood. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, in rural victoria, australia. somehow i don't think he will. now for something a bit different. scientists have been warning us for years that we face potential disaster unless we do something about climate change. governments have tried to reach agreement — not always successfully — to reduce carbon emissions and combat pollution. but in belgium the mission to help the environment has taken an unusual turn — as the bbc�*s tim allman explains.

marie has heard good things about this beauty salon in brussels, but she is notjust getting her hair done. she may, in a small way, be helping to save the environment. you see all those discarded locks? well, they are brushed up, bagged and given to patrickjanssen, who takes them away, puts them through a machine, and you end up with this. translation: so, here, we manufacture carpets. that measure about 60cm square. that requires about 1kg of hair. that can absorb around 7—8 litres of hydrocarbon or oil. that's handy for absorbing oil linked to pollution. here is patrick's hair carpets in action at a local garage. they come in various forms — floor mats that can soak up leaking oil and otherfluids, and here, a longer snake—like version

that can be used to clean up waste underground. translation: | find it - very environmentally friendly and very nice in the sense that normally we chuck hair away. here, we use it to collect hydrocarbons that arrive at the waste water treatment plant. no—one is under any illusions. this is only a very small part of a much bigger crusade, but hopefully, eventually, when it comes to carbon emissions, it will be hair today, gone tomorrow. tim allman, bbc news. if only we could say the same about climate change. it is bring you an update on a breaking story, and a big fire is blazing at eight casino hotel in north—west cambodia on the border with thailand. the authorities in the cities say at least ten people are confirmed dead as a fire in the gambling complex continues to rage after several hours. in

the last few minutes, the cambodian authorities have said that the fire is now under control, but did not make further announcements about casualties. 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 of 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 50mph 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. it 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.

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. a large fire has broken out at a casino hotel in north—west cambodia on the border with thailand. the authorities in the city of poipet say at least ten people are confirmed dead and several people are still reported to be trapped. the fire in the gambling complex is still blazing. the head of the catholic

church, pope francis has urged people to pray for his predecessor, pope—emeritus