and the chinese tennis star peng shuai appears to have retracted her claim of sexual assault, as concerns persist around her wellbeing. hello and welcome to our viewers in the uk and around the world. it s nine in the morning in singapore, and 8pm in the us east coast. the fast spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus has become dominant in the united states with lightning speed. the variant now accounts for 73% of new infections in the us, according to estimates from the centre for disease control. in the new york area, it s thought 90% of cases are omicron. with coronavirus cases rising quickly in new york, mayor bill de blasio says the city must move faster in its response to the omicron variant. based the omicron variant. on everything we have seen based on everything we have seen so far, the cases are more mild than what we have experienced previously but again, a lot of research and evidence we are still waiting for. what we do know is omicron moves very fast, it
welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. some of the biggest names in tennis have thrown their support behind the women s tennis association after it said it will immediately suspended all tournaments in china. the head of the wta has told the bbc the decision was taken because chinese authorities have failed to address sexual assault allegations made by the doubles star peng shuai against a former vice premier. courtney bembridge has the latest. it s been a month since peng shuai posted on social media accusing a top chinese official of sexual assault. the post was quickly taken down and she disappeared from public view. photos and videos like this released by chinese state media were supposed to show her safe and free, but did little to allay concerns for her safety. there were concerns she was filmed under duress. and now, the women s tennis association has pulled the plug on lucrative tournaments in china. we won t walk away from this and we won t al
south africa has recorded a big increase in coronavirus infections which have doubled across the country since monday. health officials fear the newly discovered 0micron variant may be fuelling the surge. total case numbers have risen sharply from a weekly average of 300 a day a fortnight ago to 3,500 each day. and in the past 2a hours, 8,500 covid infections have been registered. 0fficials there say 0micron is rapidly becoming the dominant variant . the first case of 0micron has been detected in united states and president biden is preparing to announce stricter testing rules for travellers. in the uk an additional 114 million doses of covid 19 vaccines have been secured. the health secretary, sajid javid, said he wanted to ensure britain had what it needed for the long term. and the chief executive of pfizer, albert bourla, said 5 11 year olds should getjabbed too and he believes that annual vaccinations will be required to maintain a high level of protection. more on th
by past governments. head to head for the only time before sunday s french presidential election. emmanual macron and marine le pen clash, in a tough televised debate. and in a virginia courtroom, the actorjohnny depp says he felt driven to drugs and alcohol, because of arguments with his then partner, amber heard. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. in his latest initiative to save the lives of thousands of people trapped in the ukrainian city of mariupol, president zelensky has offered to exchange russian prisoners of war for a guarantee of safe passage for his fellow citizens. the port city is still under heavy bombardment, as the russians intensify their attacks. the azovstal steel works has become the last centre of ukrainian resistance, as our correspondent mark lowen reports. in the fog of war, russia s ferocious firepower is unrelenting. mariupol, once a thriving port city, besieged and broken. explosion the last bastion of ukraine s resista