this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lewis vaughanjones and these are the latest headlines. uk prime minister rishi sunak says he's willing to discuss the issue of pay with the nurses�* union to settle strikes but didn't make a firm commitment to increase salaries. and when it comes to pay we've always said we want to talk about things that are reasonable, that are affordable and responsible for the country. china lifts quarantine rules for people arriving from abroad, for the first time in three years. downgrading covid doesn't mean letting it rip. we are more targeted, efficient in our response. iran faces international condemnation after executing two

more anti—government protesters. at least two people have been killed as russia bombs ukrainian cities overnight — minutes after its self—imposed ceasefire ended. few expected the ceasefire to hold in any way. it was announced by russia in the first place and russia was never going to engage. but there is still heavy shelling coming down from the russian side. tens of thousands of orthodox christians in ethiopia celebrate christmas at churches in the historic town of lalibela for the first time since the conflict in tigray began in 2020. and, the beauty giant l'oreal unveils a smart applicator that helps people with limited mobility apply makeup.

the uk prime minister rishi sunak has given his first tv interview of the year to the bbc�*s laura kuennsberg. mr sunak addressed concerns over nurses strikes and said he will talk to the royal college of nursing union about pay — but does not commit to increasing wages now to end their strike action. our political correspondent damian grammaticas gave us his update. the dilemma that the government has, huge pressures on the health service, nurses are deeply unhappy about their levels of pay, they say they have been falling behind for ten years. taking strike action for the first time in 100 yea rs. the key question is will the government come up with more money, the issue the nurses are arguing about is this current year extending to april of this current year. that is why they are

on strike, they want more money. the government says it is prepared to talk about next year, the next financial year. the prime minister was pressed today, this is the exchange. i i want to be really clear, it isl a yes or no answer, if you can. will you talk to nurses about increasing pay. this year, yes or no? we are about to start that process. that is about next year? no, it is literary about the year we are about to start. is that not the financial year 23, 24? _ they want to talk i about pay this year. we are about to have the conversation. when it comes to pay, it is not appropriate for those conversations to happen in public. he is not talking about the heart of the dispute. the fact that he is willing to start thinking about pay for next year, is something i think a little bit of progress.

what has been the response? the nursing union's leader was listening, she described it as a sliver of light, there could be the start of a back—and—forth over pay but the difficulty that he has is it does not address the concerns right now. this is not about nurses pay and it is not- addressing the issues that— are in dispute. addressing the pay of 22, 23. we will put our case _ but what the government want to talk about tomorrow is pay moving forward and in the broadest terms. _ that is not going to. avert the strike action that is planned. it is not rishi sunak

who is involved with this, it is his ministers who will sit down and talk with the unions. lots of other things to pick up on in that interview. one that is always a tricky issue for prime ministers is the issue of private health care. while these issues are going on with the health service, people are waiting weeks to get an appointment, many weeks to get a treatment in hospital or operations. is he and his own family paying for private health care? are they able to access health care quickly. while he is obviously steering the government with the unions. are you registered with a private gp? i my dad was a doctor...

i grew up in an nhs family. that wasn't the question, were i you registered with a private gp? as a general policy, i would not talk about my family's health care, it is not relevant, what is relevant is the difference i can make to the country. prime minister, i think- there is huge public interest in the decision that you make. actually one of your predecessors, who you admire very much, - margaret thatcher said very openly i that she decided to use her rightl as a free citizen to spend my money in my own way— so i can go on the day at the time i want and see the doctor- and she was proud to talk - about the decision she made. why won't you tell people - about the decisions you made? it is a personal choice. it is about health care, it is private. let us take a step back to the wider issue of strikes. various workers are out on strike in the uk. where is your sense of where we are going? i think in this health sector,

right across it, yes there are more strikes coming. strike this week by ambulance workers, in ten days�* time those nursing unions are due to go out on strike. that seems to be going ahead unless the government shifts on pay this year. looking further ahead, more doctors and health service, wider strikes on the railways too. there is no sign that there is much movement in there, looking ahead. a season of strikes looks likely. thank you very much. for the first time in nearly three years, china has lifted quarantine rules for people arriving from abroad. it's the final step in the government's dismantling of its zero—covid policies. the abrupt change has driven a rapid rise in coronavirus cases and has prompted other countries to impose restrictions on chinese tourists.

speaking a short while ago, china's national health commission spokesperson said that the relaxing of measures doesn't mean that the country is relaxing its approach to the disease. translation: from today, - we categorise and manage covid as a class b infectious disease. our focus has pivoted from preventing infection to protecting health and preventing severe cases. downgrading covid doesn't mean letting it rip. rather, we are more scientific, targeted and efficient in our response. we can do better in coordinating pandemic response and social economic development. tens of thousands of people gathered at border crossings between hong kong and the mainland on sunday to take advantage of the latest relaxation. here's what some of them had to say. translation: i'm so happy, so happy, so excited. - i haven't seen my parents for many years. my parents aren't in good health

and i couldn't go back to see them even when they were ill, so i'm really happy to go back and see them now. i can't wait to go back to the mainland. it's been three years. we have no time to delay now the boarder is unimpeded. last time i came to hong kong i had to wait for two weeks. _ in the end, i had no choice but to go back to turkey . because i couldn't enter china. the bbc�*s martin yip is at the border and told us that there are still are certain conditions for travellers entering mainland china. you have to produce a valid test result, a pcr test with a negative result over the past 48 hours before they could go into that terminal, go through immigration and get onto the bus. i just saw a couple taking five or six suitcases between them, they ended up waiting outside because

they say their test results are yet to arrive on their phones. so, there are still restrictions here but like you said, it's like a big open day today, notjust opening up china's border, in the sense that you don't need to be quarantined any more and you will not be tested as you arrive, you just need to produce a test result, when you reach any checkpoints here to go over. for hong kong and macau there are still restrictions which is the quota system. each way there are some 50,000 people will be allowed to cross the border from today, each day. 50,000 up and 50,000 down. today doesn't seem to be a day when the quotas have been used up, not that easy as it used to be before the pandemic. but it is a start. earlier we werejoined by keith bradsher — beijing bureau chief for the new york times

who told us what he's made of the easing of restrictions. the loosening has happened very quickly with regard to domestic restrictions. international travel is actually not starting that quickly. while china has abandoned the eight day or longer quarantine for international arrivals, they used to have two or three week quarantines. it has not allowed a lot of international flights yet. the international flights will not start on a large scale until the start of april. for example, thailand had 400 flights a week with china before the pandemic started and right now it is 15 flights per week. there is a gradual restart, the focus is on restarting domestic flights and rail travel. getting people moving so they can go home for the new year holiday.

that is often described as the biggest human migration on the planet. it is a vast movement of people. how concerned are the authorities in china about that? the focus has shifted from trying to control covid to trying to get families together again. there is very little discussion by the authorities on the risks that there might be in terms of people bringing the virus to villagers. many villages have elderly people who have stayed behind whilst younger people moved to the cities. the focus is not so much on the health effect of this new year travel but there has been a lot of discussion on how they hope that villagers can try and prepare for cases. many of these villagers don't have

intensive care beds, they don't have hospitals, they only have basic clinics and there is concern about what will happen if there is a lot of travel into the villages. what about criticism ? leading up to the loosening of the restrictions we did see a pretty unusual amount of criticism of the authorities in china. what about now? now the criticism seems to be in a different direction which is why was there not more preparation of the health system so that... for example, why was there not more stockpiling of ibuprofen before this just happened? even doctors had trouble getting more than a few tablets of ibuprofen. also, people were asking why

was so much energy spent on putting booths every few blocks in cities. instead of expanding hospital capacity to treat the sick when the policy changed. the united states has called for iran to stop executing anti— government protesters. the state department said two men who were hanged on saturday were convicted in sham trials. britain and the european union have have also condemned iran's use of the death penalty. earlier i spoke with the bbc monitoring journalist khosro isfahani, who told us more about it. these two men were in their early 20s, they were sentenced to death during court proceedings

that took a one week and they were deprived of the right to choose their own lawyers during the proceedings. in addition, when they were sentenced the supreme court held up the sentences and they knew they would face imminent execution. they were deprived of the right to meet with theirfamilies before they were executed. one of them, his family was literally outside the prison the day he was executed and they were not allowed in to meet their son for a last meeting. some chilling details. what about the aim of all this? part of the aim for the regime is to act as a deterrent to stop people protesting. will that work? the regime, so far has killed 517

people on the streets. 70 children were among these people. they have already executed for people in relation to process. in every one of these killings, anger and rage have built up in the country. we see this anger and rage boiling in iran and every funeral is being turned into a rallying point. right now thousands of protesters are in jail. the numbers could be around 20,000 people. at least 100 of them can face the death penalty. but people are still not relenting, last night we saw videos with people holding up two women, holding up placards with these two men who were

executed yesterday. on friday we saw protests in south—east iran, populated by an ethnic minority with people holding signs saying silence is slavery. iranians are not relenting despite the state's cruelty. to west africa, where 38 people have died in central senegal when two buses crashed into each other on sunday. the serious accident took place near the town of kaffrine, leaving 87 people injured from the collision. the crash is one of the heaviest death tolls from a single incident in recent years. ukrainian officials say two people have been killed as russian bombing of cities continued overnight. minutes after the supposed ceasefire ended, the north—east region of kharkiv came under attack. in a further development, russian media has claimed two thermal power plants were attacked by ukrainian forces

in the russian—controlled donetsk region. 0ur ukraine correspondent, hugo bachego, has more in kyiv. president zelensky said that the fact that russian forces continued to attack ukrainian positions during this alleged ceasefire was proof that moscow's words are false. and he also said the peace would only be restored when russian forces were expelled from his country. this morning, russian—appointed officials in the east of the country have said that two power stations in donetsk were hit by ukrainian rocket attacks. the ukrainian authorities have not reacted to this claim. they rarely issue statements about possible attacks on russian positions in russian—controlled territory. now, the london 2012 olympics promised to inspire a generation. but a report by mps has concluded it failed in this task. the cross—party committee claims

the proportion of adults participating in sport at least once a week fell in the first three years following the games, and there's still been no meaningful increase. the report also said there has been "little progress" in tackling barriers to participation, particularly forwomen, ethnic minorities and disabled people. earlier, huw edwards, chief executive of industry body, ukactive told us how major events like the olympic games do not meet expectations. they do deliver in terms of the excitement and pathways, especially for elite athletes. you saw in the tokyo games and the commonwealth games athletes inspired by 2012 participating. but the drivers of physical activity at population level in this country are walking, cycling, running, swimming and fitness. so you need a plan built around those agents of change and a plan that will improve, especially my members at ukactive, their ability to grow their service across the country. the work we're doing with sport england is

very important on that. now we need to see the government plan, which is going to really unlock the potential of my sector and get it to work, especially in the current health crisis that we're seeing with the nhs. military helicopters in western australia have airlifted more than 200 people cut off by devastating floods. the crisis in kimberley was caused by heavy rain brought by a former tropical cyclone. the state's emergency services minister described the damage as a once—in—a—century event with flood waters stretching for 50km in some areas. rainfall has eased across the catchment with the movement of ex—tropical cyclone ellie towards the nt border. flooding is adversely affecting a number of roads in the fitzroy river catchment. many roads are impassable and many communities are now isolated. we have rescued, evacuated or relocated 233 people from floodwaters and responded to sa incidents, requests for assistance.

an american woman who was convicted two decades ago of spying for cuba has been released from jail in texas. now aged 65, ana montes passed on classified information throughout her career as an intelligence analyst. she pleaded guilty to espionage, saying she'd been motivated by opposition to us policy in latin america. thousands of pilgrims have descended on the historic town of lalibela in ethiopia, to celebrate 0rthodox christmas. it was the first time pilgrims went to the town since the conflict in tigray began in 2020, which disrupted life in the country. a surprise ceasefire was declared on november 2nd. the bbc�*s daniel dadzie reports. peace at last, after two years of war. thousands of worshippers have travelled from far and near to mark the ancient custom of 0rthodox christmas in africa's largest christian site. the medieval rock churches here at lalibela became a world heritage site in 1978.

they are important for christians as places of pilgrimage and devotion. but this year's ceremony is special. it's laced with the relief of a country recovering from war. translation: last year- we were in our home crying. i normally always come here for christmas, but i couldn't come for the last two years. more than the pandemic, the war was scary because it was a massacre that was visible to our naked eyes. i couldn't come and celebrate it because i was afraid. not long ago, lalibela was on the front line of the brutal conflict between government forces and the tigray people's liberation front. the town changed hands four times during the fighting and miraculously the ancient churches appear to have been spared the scars of war. there is obvious relief here that a peace deal

was signed last november, though memories of the war are never far away. translation: my prayer and wish is god may grant us freedom - for myself and my country. many problems remain, with 2.3 million people still thought to be in need after being cut off from humanitarian aid. but today's ceremony rings with the hope that life will return to normal for ethiopians. french beauty industry giant l'oreal has unveiled a smart applicator at the consumer electronics show in las vegas to help those with limited mobility apply make—up. ika ba koyi reports. the first hand—held smart make—up applicator created... sassy, shiny and swift.

l'oreal has just launched a make—up applicator with a difference — to help those with limited mobility. so, my disability is cerebral palsy and past—it quadriplegia, so i have mobility issues. my hands are very limited and my legs as well. ten years ago, i had a stroke. makes my life different now. the smart applicator was unveiled at the consumer electronics show in las vegas to help those with limited mobility to apply make—up. the technology is for people that have mobile and motor skill challenges today. this is one in ten people in the united states. that's 43 million people in the united states that cannot experience beauty with their own arms because of issues like stroke. another device showcased by the cosmetic giant is brow magic, which uses augmented reality to create and draw the perfect eyebrows. it's apparently easy peasy.

to do the brow magic experience, you have to turn on the application. it will scan my face. and then measure the geometry of my face and find my brow. and once it finds my brow, right here, it will then give me a recommended shape that i can see in augmented reality. so, you will see here. but with a price range between $1119 to $199, the applicators don't come at the cost of your average lipstick. it's also not easily tucked into your handbag, but it will be welcomed for sure.

hello there. we are looking at a blustery day, a day of sunshine and heavy showers. it is a day where there are lots of showers around, lots of downpours to come through. it has been pretty windy, we have an area of low pressure, this cloud is going into north—west england bring in some heavier rain, earlier this morning we saw some very strong winds in the far west of scotland. we had gusts of up to 76 mph in the western isles, 60 mph winds in stornoway. those wins combined with high tides bring large waves leading

to flood warnings being issued by the scottish environment protection agency. could be some debris hurled onshore by those large waves. in england and wales there is also flood warnings on account of the heavy rain we have seen in recent days. some of the rings also suffering with large puddles and things are getting worse as these bands of rain are going across the skies. temperatures today are ranging from eight to 10 celsius, thatis ranging from eight to 10 celsius, that is above average for this time in january. that is above average for this time injanuary. showers will continue to move from west to east but later in the night the winds will calm down and that will allow temperatures to drop lower than they did last night. we could even have a few patches of frost in some of the deep valleys in scotland. tomorrow is another showery day, the bulk of the showers coming in parts of western scotland and northern ireland. elsewhere, one

or two showers around but generally more in the way of sunshine to look forward to compared to the last few days. temperatures not changing much but perhaps not feeling quite as chilly given that the winds won't be a strong. tuesday there is another area of low pressure, another wet and windy day. we'll see a bit of snowfall over that high ground, above 400 metres elevation. scottish ski resorts will benefit from that before milder air pushes in and much of the snow turns back to rain. across the country, a mild day, seven celsius above average, the rest of the week is looking unsettled expect more rain and more strong wind at times.

this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughanjones and these are the headlines. prime minister rishi sunak says he's willing to discuss the issue of pay with the nurses' union to settle strikes but didn't make a firm commitment to increase salaries. china has fully opened its borders for the first time since the start of the covid pandemic with international travellers no longer having to quarantine on arrival. at least two people have been killed as russia bombs ukrainian cities overnight, minutes after its self—imposed ceasefire ended. ukraine reportedly retaliated by attacking two thermal power plants in the russian—controlled donetsk region.

iran has been widely condemned after executing two more anti—government protesters.