fergus walsh, bbc news, 0xford.r of sudoku', has died at the age of 69. maki kaji was a japanese puzzle enthusiast who popularised the number game, coming up with its iconic name in the 1980s. after newspapers begans printing it in the early 2000s, the puzzle became a worldwide craze, with tens of millions of people testing their mental agility with sudoku every day. nick baxter is the captain of the us sudoku and puzzle teams. he told me about the signficance of maki kaji. the history of sudoku, a lot of strange things had to happen to make it a worldwide craze and maki kaji, editor and owner of nikoli magazines laid the groundwork by importing sudoku in 1984, publishing that and any other logic puzzles, which became quite popular in japan. and of course in 2004, it was discovered by the uk and the rest of the world. why is sudoku just so popular all over the world? i know you have outlined some of those reasons, but what do you think it is that made it such a popular game for people to play? well, the rules are ve

fergus walsh, bbc news.ver 36,500 new infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period, which means, on average, there were more than 30,000 new cases per day in the last week. 6,379 people are currently in hospital with the virus. 113 deaths were recorded in the past 2a hours, with an average of 96 a day in the past week. on vaccinations, 87.3% adults in the uk have now had their firstjab. that's now measured as the percentage of those aged 16 and over in the population. it was previously measured as a percentage of over—18s. 75.7% of adults have had two jabs. let's take a look at some of the day's other top stories. the number of people waiting for non—urgent hospital treatment in wales has hit an all—time high. injune, there were 624,000 on waiting lists. that's around 20% of the population. those needing orthopaedic or trauma treatment had the longest wait. a coroner has formally opened the inquests into the deaths of the five victims of the mass shooting in plymouth a week ago. in a short hearing, detai

fergus walsh, bbc news, 0xford.people who are visually impaired. called �*the blind spot�* — and based in the city of utrecht — it recreates existing artworks — but adds extra dimensions, including sounds and smells. the bbc�*s tim allman has more. art tends to be, by its very nature, a visual medium. a display of colour and light, texture and contrast. but galleries like this have long struggled to cater for those whose vision is impaired. so, here at utrecht central museum, they are using beyond two dimensions, transforming paintings into sculptures, inspired by one woman's interaction with 3d art. she was blind. she had a lot of emotions, she was touched. so then we have something. based on the theme of inclusivity, that moment was the starting point to actually create this exhibition. you don't look at this art, you touch it, you smell it, you listen to it. the visual becomes physical, spectacle is replaced by something much more tactile. translation: the second painting, from what i felt, | that was just a regu

fergus walsh, bbc news, 0xford. inner workings in unprecedented detail and show the role of black holes in creating and destroying stars and planets. here's our science correspondent, pallab ghosh. 0ur sun is just one among the 100 billion stars in the milky way, which in turn is one of countless other galaxies in our universe. astronomers have now found a way to see inside them in much greater detail. in this image, the galaxy is in the middle. shooting out either side are jets of material across the expanse of space as a result of a gigantic black hole inside it. these jets are shooting out just like a fountain of water, far, far beyond the reaches of the galaxy itself. i walked around with a huge smile on my face for the rest of the day because i felt so proud that i was able to make this image and be able to see something nobody had ever seen before. it's just one of several new pictures obtained with the help of these aerials planted in a small field in hampshire. these pick up radio waves from the galaxies. th

fergus walsh, bbc news, 0xford.st coronavirus figures show there were 26,852 new infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period, which means, on average, there were 29,564 new cases per day in the last week. 6,303 people are currently in hospital with the virus. 170 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, with an average of 93 deaths a day in the past week. 0n vaccinations, 89.6% of adults in the uk, have now had their firstjab, and more than 77% have had two jabs. the number ofjob vacancies stood at a record one million in the three months tojuly, with much of the job growth in sectors hit hard during the lockdown. but employers are finding it difficult to fill all the vacancies, despite rising wages. here's our economics editor, faisal islam. in kent, the fruits of economic recovery from the pandemic. a huge backlog of building work, demand through the roof, but spencer can't find the workers to fix them. definitely a major shortage of personnel. it's across the board. labourers, bricklayers, carpenters, plas

fergus walsh, bbc news.ng advantage of holiday—makers travelling abroad. more than 80 companies listed on the government website are to be warned over misleading prices. a further 57 firms are being removed from the website because they either don't provide the relevant tests or they no longer even exist. 0ur transport correspondent caroline davies has the details. if you travel, you test. and you pay for those tests. the government's own website has a list of providers, but booking through them isn't to guarantee things will go smoothly — as barbara lowe found out coming from her holiday in portugal in june. we didn't get any test results at all. you couldn't get through to them on the phone, you couldn't contact them via the website. well, to be honest, i think it's quite farcical. i'm annoyed, and i'm upset that i've lost my money and i haven't got what i paid for, basically. the government lists companies with the cheapest at the top, but some firms have advertised tests at lower prices, only to charge m

fergus walsh, bbc news.ed, in the latest 24—hour period, which means on average there were 29,086 new cases per day in the last week. 5,894 people are in hospital with coronavirus. 26 deaths were recorded in the last 2a hours — but the number of deaths recorded at weekends normally falls quite sharply. on average there were 89 deaths a day in the last week. over 89% of adults in the uk, have now had their firstjab. and 77% have had both jabs. aid workers in haiti are racing to provide food, water and shelter to survivors of saturday's earthquake, before a major tropical storm hits the country. hospitals are struggling to cope with thousands of injured survivors. nearly 1,400 people are known to have died after the quake struck on saturday. the problems are even more acute in remote areas. 0ur correspondentjames clayton managed to travel to the town of les cayes to the south west of the epicentre, and sent this report. many of these people were asleep when the earthquake hit, their homes caving in. it's hard

fergus walsh, bbc news, 0xford.impaired. called �*the blind spot�* — and based in the city of utrecht — it recreates existing artworks — but adds extra dimensions — including sounds and smells. the bbc�*s tim allman has more. art tends to be, by its very nature, a visual medium. a, nature, a visual medium. a display of colour and light, texture and contrast. but calories like this have long struggled to cater for those whose vision is impaired. so, here at the central museum in utrecht they are moving beyond two dimensions, transforming paintings into sculptures inspired by 1—woman's interaction with 3d artistic it helps to touch the painting when you are blind and you can she had a lot of emotions, she was touched.— she had a lot of emotions, she was touched. and then i called leon and _ was touched. and then i called leon and we — was touched. and then i called leon and we thought _ was touched. and then i called leon and we thought we i was touched. and then i called leon and we thought we had . leon and we thoug

fergus walsh, bbc news.o take a lateral flow test before visiting the county. it follows a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases. in one district it's doubled per hundred thousand in a week. let's talk to our north of england correspondent fiona trott in penrith. this isn't something we've seen before in the pandemic, the authorities there are clearly very worried. well, here they had the lowest catch rates in england a few weeks ago. now, as you say, we think those figures have doubled in around a week. the latest figures suggest 387 per 100,000. week. the latest figures suggest 387 per100,000. is week. the latest figures suggest 387 per 100,000. is that purely down to visitor numbers? we have seen elsewhere in cornwall, where public health officials say the boardmasters music event has contributed to an increase in cases. here, public health officials are saying it is a more complicated picture. while ullswater is close by, a very popular spot, we haven't seen such a spike in the south lakes, b

fergus walsh, bbc news. our top story this evening...nder taliban rule. and it's the most lucrative event in womens golf — event in women's golf — the womens open gets under way on the east coast of scotland. coming up in sportsday on the bbc news channel, the former manchester united and scotland striker denis law reveals he's been diagnosed with alzheimers and vascular dementia at the age of 81. a new global campaign aims to improve the lives of the one billion disabled people, who make up 15% of the world's population. called �*we, the 15,�* many live in poverty, unlikely to go to school and half are out of work. the international paralympic committee hasjoined the campaign, ahead of next week's delayed tokyo 2020 paralympic games. with more, here's paul carter. the leicester cobras used to play every week but, like many other things, the pandemic put a stop to that. for players sam and ray, off the court challenges as disabled people remain. there are still steps everywhere, there is still not enough access or facilities when you get

fergus walsh, bbc news, 0xford.—hour period — which means, on average, there were 29,564 new cases per day in the past week. 6,303 people are currently in hospital with the virus. 170 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours and there was an average of 93 deaths a day in the past week. 89.6% of adults in the uk, have now had their firstjab and over 77% have had both jabs. meanwhile, britain's medical regulator, the mhra, has said that it is safe to give the moderna vaccine to 12 to 17—year—olds. until now only pfizer has been given that clearance. it now goes to the expert vaccine committee to decide on the next step. our health editor hugh pym joins me. before we look at the vaccine, i would like to go back to those figures, what do you make of them? that figure of 170 daily reported deaths is the highest since the middle of march. we should remember, it is a very sad figure for families involved. it does reflect cases which were first reported in mid to latejuly, four weeks or so ago. back then the number of dail

fergus walsh, bbc news.eople are in hospital with coronavirus. 26 deaths were recorded in the last 2a hours — but the number of deaths recorded at weekends normally falls quite sharply. on average there were 89 deaths a day in the last week. over 89 per cent of adults in the uk have now had their firstjab. and 77% have had both jabs. most pupils in scotland will be returning to school this week, with many covid restrictions still in place. secondary school pupils must go on wearing masks in the classroom and socially distancing from their teachers. the measures are expected to continue until at least the end of september. alexandra mackenzie reports. the excitement and anticipation of a new term. many covid restrictions in secondary schools remain in place. so, for senior students, it's all very familiar. i'm really relaxed about it, before we stopped injune and previous to that it was, like, the same restrictions coming in, sanitising your hands, going straight to your classroom, wearing your facemask and s

fergus walsh, bbc news. stay with us on outside source.een happening in the last couple of weeks. here in the uk, walkers on wales's highest mountain, mount snowdon, have been urged to "respect the mountain". there are concerns that increasing numbers of visitors are damaging footpaths and leaving litter. our wales correspondent tomos morgan reports from the snowdonia national park. earlier this month, in poor visibility and treacherous conditions, rafts of people chose to climb snowdon, the uk's third highest and busiest mountain. rescue services say they're in holiday madness, dealing with three incidents within three hours on saturday alone. today, however, with the rugged landscape glistening in far brighter weather, yr wyddfa, as it's known in welsh, is no less of a draw at a time when going abroad is still too much of a trek for most. it feels busier than last time, because we came right at the peak of covid last time when we were allowed to travel. it feels so much better this year. it's busy, but i thought it was going to be packed

our medical editor fergus walsh is here. what more can you tell us?m, on patrol to protect you from coronavirus and you recruit antibodies either through vaccinations or three infection. we know that nine in ten adults in the uk have some level of antibodies but we do not know how big an army you need to fully protect you from covid and that should help tell us. in this study, if you test positive for coronavirus, you are currently infected and you walked in, you will be sent two home finger prick antibody test, up to 8000 people a day in the uk will receive them. the first test is to be done immediately and will show what level of antibodies you built up through vaccination, the second test to be done 28 days later, will show what a boost of antibodies you have got from that recent infection, because it takes four weeks for them to build. people will be texted their results and for the first time you will be able to find out your antibody status and it will really help scientists calibrate what level of protection there is from a combination of vacci

fergus walsh, bbc news.. injune, there were 624,000 on waiting lists, that's around 20% of the population. those needing orthopaedic or trauma treatment, had the longest wait. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. it has been a cloudy day for most of us. but the thickest cloud was across northern england where it earned a wet for a time. to the west we have low pressure lurking and these weather fronts will be spreading rain are way over the next few days. 0vernight, spreading rain are way over the next few days. overnight, for most it is a dry night but we will keep a lot of cloud and if patches are possible as well. temperatures ten to 1a degrees. tomorrow, this rain is going to move quickly eastwards, reaching northern ireland with the rain turning heavier and steady through the day. there is a better chance of seeing breaks in scotland. we may hold onto some of the sunshine for northern scotland and across parts of eastern england, east wales and into the afternoon. at the north ross

fergus walsh, bbc news.navirus. 26 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours — but the number of deaths recorded at weekends normally falls quite sharply. on average, there were 89 deaths a day in the last week. over 89% of adults in the uk have now had their firstjab and 77% have had both jabs. most pupils in scotland will be returning to school this week, with many covid restrictions still in place. secondary school pupils must go on wearing masks in the classroom and socially distance from their teachers. the measures are expected to continue until at least the end of september. alexandra mackenzie reports. the excitement and anticipation of a new term. many covid restrictions in secondary schools remain in place. so, for senior students, it's all very familiar. i'm really relaxed about it — before we stopped injune and previous to that it was, like, the same restrictions coming in, sanitising your hands, going straight to your classroom, wearing your facemask and social distancing from your teachers, whi

fergus walsh, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather. all the. this high pressure has parked itself over the uk and is here to stay for the whole of the week. this is the weather it brings, so areas of a cloud but also big breaks in that cloud but also big breaks in that cloud cover, so there will be some sunshine around as well. this is the satellite picture from monday. let's look at the forecast for the evening hours and plenty of clear skies, but eastern and central parts of the country tending to cloud a vet through the night and that is because there is a wind blowing off the north sea dragging on some cloud. these are the attempt is at six o'clock on tuesday, single figures in some spots but for most ten to 13 degrees. centre of the hypertext right over scotland during the course of tuesday and this is where we are setting the best of the weather, perhaps up to 25 in glasgow. the most, perhaps not quite so warm but there were certainly be a good deal of nice weather. hello, this is bbc news — the headlines. the race against time t