coming up in sport england are doing their best to defy australia, but can they bat out the final day and draw the fourth test in sydney? a look at what the weather has in the week a look at what the weather has in the week ahead. it s sunday ninth january. our main story: a senior government minister has given his support to reducing the coronavirus isolation period in england. speaking to the sunday times, the former vaccines minister now education secretary nadhim zahawi backed the idea of isolating for five days instead of seven. our political correspondent ben wright reports. at the moment, people who test positive for covid are required to quarantine for at least seven days of the process is a straining staffing levels in the public and private sectors. the united states recently shortened the self isolation window to five days stop earlier this month, the uk health security agency said doing the same here would be counter productive, but, it would keep the pol
and says he s initiated high level talks with the us. translation: if we are plunged in a conflict? i but we don t want that. it is not our choice. this is why i responded to president biden s proposal. hello and welcome. tighter restrictions against coronavirus have come into effect in some european countries, amid concerns over the highly infectious omicron variant that continues to spread rapidly. there s a fear that a wave of omicron infections could overwhelm health services , despite preliminary studies suggesting that omicron is milder and that the risk of being hospitalised is up to 75 percent lower. we ll look at mainland europe in a moment, but let s start here in the uk. over 1.3 million british people were infected with covid in the week ending the 16th of december the highest level of infections recorded since the pandemic began. here s our health correspondent, dominic hughes. the last few days before christmas have brought some better news. early studies of t
a very warm welcome to the programme. austria has introduced a lockdown for two million people who are yet to receive two doses of the coronavirus vaccine. they ve been told to stay at home except for work and essential shopping. the country has one of the highest infection rates in europe, but new restrictions are being brought in or considered across much of the continent, amid rising infections. courtney bembridge has this report. there was a last minute rush at vaccination centres in upper austria, on the eve of new restrictions for those not yet protected. unvaccinated austrians were already barred from visiting restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas, but they re now told to stay home except for work and food shopping. it ll be policed using spot checks with hefty fines for those caught breaking the rules. austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western europe around 64% of the population is fully vaccinated, which leaves 2 million people yet to get two d
and the actor roy barraclough, best known for his role in coronation street, has died at the age of 81. and in sport, ahead of theirfirst test on saturday, british and irish lions head coach warren gatland says there ll be a battle for the number 10 shirt, with jonny sexton set to start on saturday. good afternoon, and welcome to the bbc news at one. the us president donald trump is coming under growing international pressure to honour the paris global climate change deal. he s expected to announce this evening whether the us will withdraw from its commitment to reduce carbon emissions. china s premier said this morning that they will honour the agreement, and urged other countries to do the same, but donald trump has previously described climate change as a hoax , and an american job killer . our environment analyst roger harrabin reports. its coal that striving president trump away from the global climate deal. before his election he promised jobs for american minors. we