blistering heatwaves. we ll get reaction. hello and welcome. italy has become the first european country to order covid tests for visitors from china, after concern at the rapid rise in chinese infections. earlier, taiwan said it would introduce a similar scheme. japan and india have already ordered travellers from china to be monitored. the us could follow. there s concern travellers could bring new variants of the disease now that beijing is lifting travel restrictions. our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes. china s hospitals are overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding terrifying results. wards full of desperately ill people. outside this hospital in chengdu, a queue for emergency services. government officials say the situation is under control. that s not what these pictures suggest. at the dongjiao funeral hom
condition has worsened in recent hours. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. we ll look at the impact it s had. welcome to bbc news. the announcement that china s borders are to be reopened next month is prompting a tough response by an increasing number of countries. italy is the latest to announce plans to enforce mandatory covid testing of passengers on flights from china after tighter measures were outlined by japan, malaysia, taiwan and india. the us and the philippines are also considering new coronavirus restrictions. american officials accuse the chinese authorities of a lack of transparency as cases of covid have been surging there. our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes china s hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding worryin
for his predecessor, benedict xvi, who he says is very ill. the vatican says benedict s condition has worsened in recent hours. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. we ll speak to a climate change specialist. hello, welcome to the programme. we start with the fallout from the announcement that china s borders will be reopened next month. in the last hour, the us announced it would require negative covid tests for travellers from china from the 5th of january. that follows tighter measures outlined by italy, japan, malaysia, taiwan, and india. american officials accuse the chinese authorities of a lack of transparency, as cases of covid have been surging there. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes china s hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently
year s military service. in response to the threat from china. here in the uk, a murder investigation has been launched in birmingham, after a 23 year old man was stabbed to death in a nightclub. police have named the victim as cody fisher. we start this hour with a special report from ukraine, from the southern port of kherson, which is under increased bombardment from russian forces, and where today the maternity ward of a hospital was among the places being shelled. kherson is often called the gateway to crimea and because of its strategic importance, was one of the first places taken by russian forces at the start of the war. it was liberated last month, in a significant gain for ukrainian troops. but civilians are now living with a daily onslaught of russian shelling. our correspondent yogita limaye has spent the last four days in kherson, with colleagues imogen anderson, sanjay ganguly and mariana matveichuk, and they sent this special report. a warning, it contains d