jim reed. — further. 0k, thank you very much. jim reed. our— further. 0k, thank you very much.. i jim reed, our health correspondent. and just to tell you... you can see amol rajan's full interview with novak djokovic in a special programme tonight at 8:30 on bbc one, or catch up with it on iplayer and bbc sounds. germany's chancellor has been holding talks with president putin in moscow as part of diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions about ukraine. russia says it's pulling back some of its troops from its border with ukraine — after their build—up prompted fears of an invasion. the prime minister borisjohnson said this morning there were signs of a "diplomatic opening" to resolve the crisis, but that the intelligence is not encouraging and there are "mixed signals" from russia. more than 100,000 russian troops have massed at ukraine's border, although russia has always denied it is planning an attack. caroline davies reports from moscow. is this de—escalation or a distraction? russia says these tanks are returning to their bases now that some of the military drills are finish

our health correspondent jim reed reports. but with vaccines keeping people out of hospital, the government says those last remaining laws will be lifted in england. the legal requirement to self—isolate if you have the virus will be replaced by guidance. i'm not saying you can totally throw caution to the winds. covid remains dangerous if you are vulnerable and if you are not vaccinated. but we need people to be much more confident and get back to work. the move is part of the government's living with covid plan published tomorrow. there is also speculation that free access to pcr and rapid lateral flow tests could start to be scaled back — something that has worried labour. the key thing is that people have access to free testing, they know their status and do the right thing by staying at home, which means they also need access to the right level of sick pay to do the right thing. the world health organisation and groups representing doctors have described the move as premature. and for people like piers rankin, a cancer pa

our health correspondent jim reed reports.last month she was in pain and her gp told her to call an ambulance. when we got to the hospital, i was sitting back, i had my legs up and i was on gas and air, because i had had a lot of pain at that point. the paramedics said we are going to be in for a bit of a wait. there was a queue of ambulances ahead of us — a long queue. he went out to go and check how many there were and they were probably about 18 ambulances. in the end, angela said she had to wait in two different ambulances for five hours. i was in here all night, there was no heating, i was freezing cold. she spent the night in a side room off a&e before being transferred to a bed on a ward to the next morning. she has nothing but praise for the nhs staff involved but describes the situation as chaotic. it's really opened my eyes to the pressures that they are under and how overwhelmed they are, because i've heard loads of stories, people always talk about these things and you don't really believe it or you think it's only

jim reed, bbc news.n project is africa's biggest hydroelectric scheme. it's designed to double ethiopia's electricity capacity and transform its economy. but the project's caused friction with its neighbours downstream, as water is diverted from the nile before it reaches sudan and egypt. kalkidan yabeltal sent this report. this is the grand ethiopian renaissance dam. a hydroelectric mega—dam that has been a source of controversy and diplomatic rows between ethiopia, egypt and sudan. ethiopia began building it in 2011 as part of an initiative to electrify tens of millions of its citizens. but downstream countries, egypt and sudan, immediately raised concerns about its impact on their essential water supplies. the three countries have sat down for talks throughout the years multiple times, but none of these efforts have led to binding agreements. ethiopia says it had no desire to hurt the interests of egypt or sudan, but the two countries say they need a binding deal, particularly about future mitigations

jim reed, bbc news.

jim reed, bbc news.h took place in the last couple of hours. the two men discussed ukraine and putin told president macron the provocations by ukrainian security forces with the cause of the escalation in the donbas region. in other words, that region in the east of ukraine made up of the two self—declared breakaway republics of donetsk and luhansk, they are on the eastern side of the country bordering russia. there have been various incidents that have happened, both sides, both ukrainian government on the breaker over crab —— the breakaway republics have blamed. the secretary of state said that might be used as a justification for some kind of military intervention by russia. it's the case that president putin was telling emmanuel macron today, according to another newsagency, that ukrainian security forces caused the escalation in donbas region. however, putin and macron say they need to step up the search for diplomatic solutions. you may recall that antony blinken is due to meet sergey lavrov, his r

it's jim reed has this report. been one of the most vis rules it's been one of the most visible rulesose who test positive for covid were told they must stay at home for up to ten days or could pick up a £1000 fine. later this week, that legal requirement will be dropped in england, replaced with less formal guidance. england, replaced with less formal uuidance. , ., england, replaced with less formal uuidance. , . ., . guidance. there is that fine balance because we've _ guidance. there is that fine balance because we've obviously _ guidance. there is that fine balance because we've obviously got - guidance. there is that fine balance because we've obviously got to - guidance. there is that fine balance i because we've obviously got to look after people and make sure they are safe. we've also got to make sure we can allow our economy to recover, because that in itself has positive benefits for people's health and well—being. and, of course, the public finances. the well-being. and, of course, the public finances.— well-being. and, of course, the public finances. the relaxation of the

jim reed, bbc news.cal correspondent iain watson. let's talk first about this delay to the cabinet meeting. it's not, you know, unusual that meetings get rescheduled but this was very late in the day, wasn't it? it rescheduled but this was very late in the day, wasn't it?— in the day, wasn't it? it was, so much so — in the day, wasn't it? it was, so much so that — in the day, wasn't it? it was, so much so that some _ in the day, wasn't it? it was, so much so that some cabinet - in the day, wasn't it? it was, so - much so that some cabinet ministers had actually arrived through the back door of downing street, fully expecting the meeting to take place, and then it didn't. downing street, this may well be usual, but they say lots of things, they also said it was delayed because the prime ministers having security briefing and had other meetings about covid but others have suggested that at the core of this delay was an ongoing disagreement between the treasury and the department of health over the funding

also jim reed, our health correspondent was telling us earlier it may well be she is treated now with are seen as someone does test positive, again to mitigate against the worst effects of covid—19. let's bring you a feel of covid—19. let's bring you a feel of the messages of good wishes that have come in for her majesty, as it is confirmed she has covid. priti patel, the home secretary, has tweeted... we have also heard from the health secretary, sajid javid, who of course is very busy dealing with the pandemic and also the new living with covid strategy that is going to be unveiled this week, ending restrictions for covid in england. sajid javid has tweeted, wishing her majesty the queen quick recovery. labour leader sir keir starmer as well went on to twitter to say, on behalf of myself and the whole of uk labour wishing her majesty the queen did health and a speedy recovery, get well soon. and we have even had from gary lineker. he said that he was sending good wishes to the queen as well. let's just to recap on the latest developments as we have them from bucking them palace —— b

jim reed, bbc news.tudents who start university next year could be paying off their loans for a0 years after graduating under new government plans for england. under the current system, loans are written off after 30 years. the government says extending the repayment period will reduce the bill for taxpayers. but labour says it will hit those on low incomes hardest. the queen has postponed more engagements after testing positive for covid last weekend. she called off virtual audiences on tuesday, but she did have a call with the prime minister yesterday. buckingham palace says she's now postponed two more virtual audiences scheduled for today but she is continuing with light dutes. let's go back to my colleague, clive myrie, with the latest from ukraine. clive. we heard air raid sirens in the last ten or 15 minutes, so we have had to put ourflak ten or 15 minutes, so we have had to put our flak jackets ten or 15 minutes, so we have had to put ourflakjackets on, ten or 15 minutes, so we have had to put ou

jim reed, bbc news.dent, nick triggle, says there is also concern in the nhs about the government's decision to end all covid restrictions a month earlier than planned. a lot of the experts have been expressing concern and surprise that move. 0ne called it either brave or stupid. the theory is that it could push up the impact on rates. the number of infections we are seeing are still very high. the government surveillance programme estimated one in 19 people in england was positive last week, although hospital cases are still falling. 0ne last week, although hospital cases are still falling. one of the fears is it could leave people feeling under pressure to return to work, for example, before they are recovered and perhaps when they are still infectious. we don't know what it means for sick pay and for isolation payments that some people are entitled to, but there are others who say we can overestimate the impact government rules have. for example, the government did not place any rules on mixing at chr

our health correspondent, jim reed, reports.ines keeping people out of hospital the government says there is last remaining laws will be lifted in england. the legal requirement of isolated totally.— isolated totally. covid remains dangerous _ isolated totally. covid remains dangerous if— isolated totally. covid remains dangerous if you _ isolated totally. covid remains dangerous if you are _ isolated totally. covid remains| dangerous if you are vulnerable isolated totally. covid remains - dangerous if you are vulnerable or not vaccinated but we need people to get back to work. the not vaccinated but we need people to get back to work.— get back to work. the move is part ofthe get back to work. the move is part of the government's _ get back to work. the move is part of the government's living - get back to work. the move is part of the government's living with - of the government's living with covid plan, published tomorrow. there is also speculation that free access to pcr and rapid lateral flow tests could be scaled back, som

her�*s more from our health reporter, jim reed.g—term side effects might emerge. but they are likely to be exceptionally rare. when you look at other vaccines, any problems occurred fairly soon after people had first been vaccinated. i think the other arguments of scientist would make is, the way that the clinical trial process was speeded up, wasn't to speed up necessarily the science involved in that clinical trial but really to eliminate or try to eliminate some of the weights between each stage. normally you do phase i, phase three trials, between each stage you try to get funding for the next stage, recruiting what they did is constantine or that bed and at the same time as they were doing that they were also producing, manufacturing vaccines before it was approved and were ready to go, as it were. so novak djokovic says it's a �*misconception' he was ever on the side of anti—vaxers but do they still consider him a hero? shayan sardarizadeh is a disinformation journalist for bbc monitoring. i know you've been watching this ver

jim reed, bbc news.d the bbc that she will continue to support victims of domestic violence once she becomes queen. speaking to emma barnett for bbc breakfast and woman's hour, camilla said that to be given the title of queen consort would represent a great honour and help to highlight the work of the charities she supports. the duchess was speaking at clarence house earlier this month, where she was reunited with the woman who inspired her to become a domestic abuse campaigner. how nice to see you again. reunited with the woman who inspired the country's future queen to tackle the difficult issue of domestic violence. it was at this meeting in 2016 that the duchess first met diana parkes. her daughter, joanna simpson, had been battered to death by her husband six years earlier within earshot of their two young children. it's the children who have suffered so much. and the sad thing is, when you talk about domestic abuse, if children are in a family where there is domestic abuse, they grow up thinking th

our health correspondent jim reed is with me.estion, what more information does he need? let me give you one example, the pfizer vaccine, available in serbia and also in the uk, completed successful clinical trials involving 44,000 people across germany and the us, the first part of that trial, and then it was approved for emergency use originally as all the vaccines were but last summer the fta in the us approved it forfull use but last summer the fta in the us approved it for full use so people who say it is still an experimental vaccine, that has been approved now in the united states in the same way that other vaccines have been. it is worth pointing out, if we look the statistics, if you look at the world population as a whole, 62%, of the entire world population have now had at least one dose of a vaccine, that is 5 billion people over the last 14 months, and if you look at research from november last year, thisjust looks look at research from november last year, this just looks at europe, look at research from november las

our health reporter, jim reed, has been reading the data.n different groups. if you look at the most deprived areas in the uk, the highest 10% most deprived areas against the most affluent, you will see that you are twice as likely as a child to have a covid vaccine in the wealthiest areas. in the least deprived areas. it goes up from 36% of children in the least deprived right up to 70% in the most deprived. really big variations there. also between ethnic groups and regional variations. in london and in the northwest, much lower rates of vaccinations. in the southeast outside of london, much higher uptake in that age group. also, if you look at the ethnic breakdown, in children and a family of chinese or indian, it's much higher. in pupils who come from a black caribbean background or a roma background, much lower, 12% of children. you can see some of the challenges, some of the issues for the nhs going forward if they want to increase take—up in those younger age groups. and pupils who speak english as an additional language much less lik

jim reed, our health correspondent, joins me now.igure, 6.1 million, a new record, is or what is called routine treatment so we are talking about things like having a hip replacement or cataract removal, that kind of thing. the health secretary warned earlier this week that is likely to continue rising, some people think it could get up above 10 million before it starts to come down again. something is going on today as well and that is in a&e, so i want to take you through what happens when you go to hospital in an ambulance in england. the first step is you get in the ambulance and it arrived at hospital and then in a lot of cases at the moment, the concern is the ambulances have to wait outside a&e before what is called the handover can take place and you can be given to the doctors. at the moment, they are saying that in the last week, the number of people waiting for more than 30 minutes outside, which is the target, has dropped slightly, it is now around 21% of people, so one in five have to wait outside for more than half an h

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that left sandi's friend from work, cliff reed, cold case detective jim allen now retired decided to ime in the case gave police new tools. >> forensics had changed over the years, so there was the potential of testing a lot of things that had not -- wouldn't have been able to be tested back then for dna specifically. >> they went back to where cliff reed had lived in 1996. all these years later, and tore the place apart. they found what looked to them like a bloodstain under the carpet. could it be something? >> we took all the carpet from his room. >> they had sandi's teal green ford wagon, they ripped that apart too. >> we researched her car, and collected some more evidence, and had that tested to see if we could find anything. >> this sort of analysis churned slowly. in 2006, cold case detectives began working with prosecutors, kristin richardson, and carla karlstrom. >> they were learning more and more and more about cliff's lies and sort of his relationship with sandi, and some specifics about that day that didn't add up. >> for instance, sandi had taken that friday, april 26th