fergus walsh, bbc news. and our medical editor fergus walsh isjoining me now from the newsroom.ring insights into our health care market is an extraordinary resource that gets richer and deeper with every year that passes. richer and deeper with every year that passes-— that passes. with each year that asses, that passes. with each year that passes. more — that passes. with each year that passes, more of— that passes. with each year that passes, more of the _ that passes. with each year that passes, more of the volunteers | that passes. with each year that . passes, more of the volunteers like me begin to succumb to the diseases of ageing. and as a result that gives more information for researchers. as i said in that report, already nearly 7000 peer—reviewed medical studies have been published using uk biobank data, and it is free for use by researchers around the world. there are other biobanks and other countries but none has been going is long as uk biobank and they haven't had as much detailed information, so it is the sheer scale and duration which is giving these insights

, fergus walsh there. - million people. 0k, fergus, many| thanks, fergus walsh there.e eve of the coronation of king charles iii. letsjoin my colleaguejane hill outside westminster abbey, where tomorrow's historic ceremony will be taking place. good evening. clive, thank you so much, yes, welcome to westminster abbey tonight, where we are just a matter of hours from the coronation of king charles iii. the stage inside the abbey has now been set. visitors and special guests from around the world have been arriving in london throughout the day. thousands of people have come to the capital for the event and a little earlier this afternoon the king was joined by the prince and princess of wales and they went on a surprise walkabout on the mall to meet some of the well—wishers gathered there. our first report is from our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. standing in front of the high altar of this ancient abbey, a sight which hasn't been seen for 70 years. the 700—year—old coronation chair complete with scotland's stone of destiny underneath it. the chair upon which ki

older, uk biobank will yield ever more information on how to combat the diseases of ageing but a fergus walshe and the biobank on our website. let's take a look at some other uk stories making headlines. the details of last week's here six sacks test in england have been published after some teachers and parents said it was so difficult it left was in tears. the dip for education says papers are rigorously trialled. the national association of head teachers says that even staff had to really think about the answers. a nswers. a survey answers. a survey by citizens' advice suggests that up to 1 million people cancelled their broadband in the last year because of the high cost of living. the charity said those struggling could have benefited from cheaper social tariffs or special low—cost packages. the watchdog 0fcom has warned 4.3 million eligible people are missing the deals. a bbc investigation has revealed that britain has so far failed to find thousands of foreign companies for breaking a new transparency law with legislation introduced last year which required overseas companies with prop

fergus walsh, bbc news. when it comes to space exploration — we're living in interesting time5. private businesses who are leading the way. the newest kid on the block is a small british company with big ambition5 — as tim allman explains. anything jeff bezos can do... we have liftoff. ..elon mu5k can do just as well. but space forge mission control cardiff have ideas of their own. it's a problem nobody�*s tried to solve before in terms of catching a satellite as it's falling. and so new problems require new thinking. but it's always good to go back to the innovations of the past and see what you can bring forward to the new products of the future. the theory goes something like this. it's actually quite handy to make things in space. you're able to create products that can't be made on earth or would be too expensive. once the work's been done, the production satellite fall5 to earth and space forge catches it using a giant shield that expands like origami. no human has to go to space or return to earth, which may be a relief to some. astronauts de5cribe landing, even in water

fergus walsh, bbc news.promise to bring down legal immigration levels to below where they were four years ago. the 2019 tory manifesto promised that "overall numbers will come down", but speaking to reporters on a trip to japan, rishi sunak said the priority is illegal immigration. mr sunak hasjust arrived in hiroshima for a summit of g7 leaders. illegal migration is a topic that is concerning i think almost everyone in our country and i'm working night and day to stop the boats. i've just come from a meeting of european leaders in iceland where i'm pleased that we've opened up negotiations with the eu to cooperate with their border agency frontex. that's a positive step forward, that intelligence sharing, that increased cooperation between our border agencies will help us tackle illegal migration, one of the many things we're doing to stop the boats. 0ur political editor chris mason is travelling with the prime minister and joins us from hiroshima now. is this a change in direction on immigration? it is def

fergus walsh, bbc news.y half a century. they won 1—0 in the netherlands against az alkmaar to go through 3—1 on aggregate. andy swiss watched the action. some 47 years after their last major european final, could west ham finally reach another? they began 2—1 after the last leg against az alkmaar. a lead they were soon threatening to extend. off the outside of the post and away! lucas paqueta agonisingly close — a case of the hammers denied by the woodwork. as things stood though they were going through. alkmaar had to score and after the break the dutch side ramped up the pressure. but west ham held their nerve and deep into stoppage time they struck. he can finish it all here, can he? yes, he can! pablo fornals sending the hammers into dreamland and into the final, and if you ever wondered what that meant to them, well, this should give you the answer. delight for manager david moyes and for west ham a first european final since 1976 — after years of waiting nowjust one match from glory. andy swiss, bbc n

fergus walsh, thank you.s been arrested on suspicion of shooting dead eight children and a security guard at a school in the serbian capital belgrade. police claim the boy had been planning the attack for a month with a list of the children he wanted to kill. three days of national mourning have been declared. from belgrade, bethany bell reports. a 13—year—old boy is led away by police. he's the main suspect in a mass shooting at one of the best schools in belgrade. he came to school with two guns. he fired at the security guard and three girls standing in the hallway. translation: i was walking up. the stairs and while i was walking up i could hear a sound, and i thought it was maybe boys, some kids throwing firecrackers and that they were having fun. but then i could hear it closer and the sound was coming from in front of the school. and then i saw the security guard falling to the ground so i quickly ran from where i was. i didn't want to go upstairs any more. i didn't know who was up there. he then walke

fergus walsh, bbc news.run up to it cost the government an estimated £162 million, according to the treasury. the state funeral, held in september, followed a period of national mourning when hundreds of thousands of people visited westminster where the queen was lying in state. our political correspondent damian grammaticus has been looking at the figures. yes, just over 161 million the total cost now, and remember this was the biggest stage event in the uk since the second world war. the biggest single item within that, policing and security. so the government says it had to ensure things run smoothly, that they were dignified, that the safety and security of the public was assured. the home office but it about £73 million. then the events in westminster, the hundreds of thousands of people who queued to pay their respects who came for the funeral as well, well, all the crowd management, the stewarding, the accreditation, the infrastructure for that, around £57 million spent by the department for jerk, for

fergus walsh, bbc news. let's speak live to professor naomi alan, professor of epidemiology.hank you for being with us foot up really is a fascinating study, one that goes on for so long. we heard of some of the detail there in that report but give us a sense of what you really hope to achieve from this study. you really hope to achieve from this stud . ., , , , study. so, ultimately, this is the world's largest _ study. so, ultimately, this is the world's largest and _ study. so, ultimately, this is the world's largest and most - study. so, ultimately, this is the world's largest and most unique | world's largest and most unique study looking at changes in our internal organs over time and what we hope to get out of it, it will enable unique research to be done by researchers around the world to try to identify what are the potential causes of diseases in middle and older age, to understand why people develop some diseases and others don't. �* , don't. am i right in saying the reason you — don't. am i right in saying the reason you then _ don't. am i right in saying the reas

drug has been shown to slow down the progress of the disease significantly. 0ur medical editor fergus walshdrugs which can slow early stage alzheimer's disease. the latest one is donanemab, which is given as a monthly infusion. it works by clearing a rogue protein called amyloid, which builds up in sticky clumps in the brains of alzheimer's patients. in a trial, it slowed cognitive decline by around 35% over 18 months in a group of nearly 1,200 patients with early—stage alzheimer's, the best results reported so far. but there were some serious side effects. at least two volunteers died as a result of brain swelling. now, in november, another antibody treatment called lecanemab was the first drug ever to show it could slow the progress of alzheimer's disease. dementia researchers say we're now entering a new era where alzheimer's is treatable. we really see that we're at a revolutionary point in how we treat alzheimer's disease. so what we now need, when we have the full results, is for the regulators to make quick decisions so that patients that could benefit from these treatments are able

attempt to prevent children from being born with mitochondrial diseases, as our medical editor fergus walshld with a severe mitochondrial disease. now, mitochondria, think of them as the power packs that power cells in the body. and if they're faulty, it can lead to children

our medical editor fergus walsh has been looking into the new drug, and has more.icant moment. there are now two antibody drugs which can slow early stage alzheimer's disease. the drug is called donanemab and it's given is a monthly infusion. it works by clearing a rogue protein called amyloid which builds up in sticky clumps in the brains of alzheimer's patients. in a trial, it slowed cognitive decline by around 35% over 18 months in a group of nearly 1200 patients with early—stage alzheimer's. the best results seen in trials so far but there were some serious side effect. these two volunteers died as a result of brain swelling. in november, another antibody treatment was the first drug ever to show it could use slow the progress of alzheimer's disease. dementia researchers say we are now entering a new era where alzheimer's is treatable. we really are — alzheimer's is treatable. - really are seeing a revolutionary point in how we treat our sinus disease so we have the full results, the regulators need to make quick decisions so patients that could benefit from th

attempt to prevent children from being born with mitochondrial diseases, as our medical editor fergus walsh explains. it's designed to help couples who are at risk of having a child with a severe mitochondrial disease. now, mitochondria, think of them as the power packs that power cells in the body. and if they're faulty, it can lead to children being born with severe muscle wasting conditions. it can affect the brain, the eyes, in fact, the entire body. and many times children miscarry. so this is designed to try and help couples have a healthy child. now, what it involves, the mitochondria, they have a tiny amount of dna, which is always passed down through the maternal line from the mother's egg. what happens is they use a donor egg to have the healthy mitochondria, but crucially, the extra dna, and it's about 0.1% of the entire dna that that child will have is outside the nucleus. so all the characteristics, the traits that you get from your parents will be the same. and this extra dna, this tiny amount of dna sits outside. and it's now been done at least once by the team in newcastle,

technique is trying to prevent children inheriting rare genetic disorders as a medical editor fergus walshuples were at the risk of having a child with a severe mitochondrial disease and mitochondria is the power pack of the cells in the body, and it can lead to children with severe muscle conditions that can impact the brain, the eyes and the whole body and many times children, ms. kerry and many times children, ms. kerry and so, this is designed to try to help couples have a healthy child. when it involves the mitochondria, they have a tiny amount of dna which is always passed down through the maternal line from the mothers egg what happens is they use a donor egg to have the healthy mitochondria but crucially, the extra dna and it's about point i% of the entire dna that the child will have and it is outside the nucleus and all the characteristics, traits that you get from your parents will be the same and this extra dna, this tiny amount of dna sits outside and it has been done at least once by the team in newcastle in the north of england. they have launched the case to of europe's uni

our medical editor, fergus walsh, is here.about using the word breakthrough, but could it be heading that way? we're still awaiting the full results, but this does look like another highly significant moment. after decades of failed trials, there are now two antibody drugs which can slow early—stage alzheimer's disease. the drug is called donanemab. it is given as a monthly infusion. it works by clearing a rogue protein called amyloid, which builds up in sticky clumps in the brains of alzheimer's patients. in a trial, it slowed cognitive decline by around 35% over 18 months in a group of nearly 1,200 patients with early—stage alzheimer's — the best results seen in trials so far. but there were some serious side effects. at least two volunteers died as a result of brain swelling. in november, another antibody treatment — called lecanemab — was the first drug ever to show it could slow the progress of alzheimer's disease. dementia researchers say we are now entering a new era, where alzheimer's disease is treatable. so what we n

our medical editor, fergus walsh, is with me. is that it, it is over?id—19 is not the threat it once was. the death rate has plummeted, largely due to the success of vaccines protecting against severe illness. 30 billion doses have been administered worldwide, plus a lot of natural immunity. most of us have had covid now at least once or twice. that is not to say that we will not have a variant to displace omicron in its new forms which has been dominant for some time. covid is still here and is still a threat and that is why the over 75 is and those with weakened immune systems are being urged to have their covid spring booster. the who says this is no time for complacency and remember that 20 million people are estimated to have died worldwide. 0k, fergus, thank you. 0n the eve of the coronation of king charles iii, thousands of people have been gathering along the procession route in central london. let'sjoin my colleague, jane hill, outside westminster abbey where tomorrow's historic ceremony, will take place. jane. yes, clive, thank you. welcome to

fergus walsh, bbc news. er today he'lljoin the likes of eltonjohn and paul mccartney in becoming a fellow of the ivor novello songwriting academy. he spoke to our music correspondent mark savage ahead of the ceremony. # i'll send an sos to the world # i hope that someone gets my # message in a bottle, yeah... sting, welcome to bbc breakfast. thank you, good morning. good morning. we are here because you are being given the fellowship of the ivor novello academy, so for people who don't know what that is, explain why that is so important. yes, fellowship, sounds a bit like lord of the rings. the fellowship. it's very meaningful to me, because that's what i put on my passport, i am a songwriter. that's my profession, and it's a profession i'm very proud of. the first hit song you had was roxanne. do you remember listening to the chart countdown on radio 1 the week that went in? yes, i was in my kitchen in bayswater on top of a ladder, painting the ceiling with some white emulsion and i had radio 1 on and i sudd

we're joined now by our medical editor fergus walsh. what can you tell us about this technique?cause they wanted to protect the identity of families.— the identity of families. what has the identity of families. what has the reaction _ the identity of families. what has the reaction been _ the identity of families. what has the reaction been in _ the identity of families. what has the reaction been in the - the identity of families. what has the reaction been in the medicall the reaction been in the medical community?— the reaction been in the medical community? the reaction been in the medical communi ? ., , . ~ ., community? the only reason we know this has happened _ community? the only reason we know this has happened is _ community? the only reason we know this has happened is because - community? the only reason we know this has happened is because of- community? the only reason we know this has happened is because of a - this has happened is because of a freedom of information request by the guardian newspaper. once this was a licensed treatment, it is regulated, and the