katie prescott, bbc news.land and wales could receive whole—life terms under sentencing reforms described by the government as the most radical in almost 20 years. currently, a life tariff can only be given to those over the age of 21, but ministers plan to reduce this to 18 for exceptional cases, such as terrorism as thejustice secretary, robert buckland, explains. i'm going to be reforming the law further to end the situation where just because you might be under 21, the law bars the possibility of a whole life order, that is somebody serving all their term in prison. i think it's right to give judges that discretion, and later in the week i will be announcing more measures in a sentencing white paper that will finally give the country a sense of what i have worked on for the last 30 years as a professional barrister and as a part—timejudge, that i think sentencing can be better, can be smarter and can be more balanced, genuinely in the interests of public protection and also rehabilitation wherever appropri

our business correspondent, katie prescott, has this report.on town centre. pubs and bars closed for the second time for the local lockdown. this publican in bolton has re—furloughed all of his staff except for the chef and is turning to takeaways, to keep the business ticking over. the future of the business, uncertain. we have had good support. the pub we are in at the moment, the thomas egerton, i think will survive. i think we will be all right here. we have got a smaller pub down the road called the brewhouse, which may not be as easy to start up again. and that may be the difference between the company staying afloat or otherwise. businesses like this in england, forced to close by local lockdowns are getting extra funding from government, but any restrictions can upend the economy. we have seen in leicester, for example, when the restrictions have been lifted, the footfall is still around up to 20% lower than what we would have expected it otherwise, so there is a lingering effect of these local lockdowns on consumer confidence. and it i

katie prescott, bbc news.ian woman jailed for spying in iran, has not been taken to court to face new charges, as she'd been expecting. her husband says she was instead told that she'd be brought into the prosecutor's office in tehran for a discussion. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe was told last week that she was facing a new charge. the foreign office said it welcomed the deferral of the hearing and has urged iran to make her release permanent. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe was told she would face charges of propaganda against the state. she went through the charges against her with her lawyer from what i understand yesterday. they prepared a strong defence. her lawyer reassured her there was not much in what they were plotting against her if you like and they would be able to give a strong defence in her favour. they would be able to give a strong defence in herfavour. she waited all morning and was told she was not going to court, she was meant to be escorted because she has got an ankle tag which prevents him from moving

our business correspondent katie prescott reports.down forcing bars and restaurants to close. and friend to keep apart. for this publican, the new restrictions have turned his business upside down. he started telling takeaways and re—furloughed all his staff except the chef to keep the business ticking over. we won't make any money. we won't make a profit from it necessarily, but it keeps it in the public eye, it us focused and certainly, it's a small community where we are, so we can try and service the community as much as possible, support them and they support us. and it is these sorts of closures like we are seeing here in bolton that businesses say they really fear. but there is a catch—22 going on between trying to open up the economy and get people back to work and indeed going to work counts as essential travel in lockdown areas. all the while trying to prevent a spike in infection that could lead to these sorts of stringent measures being seen in other areas of the uk. it is not game over the bars in halifax, which can still