benedict xvi who he says, is very ill. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. america has become the latest country to impose mandatory covid tests on chinese tourists, after beijing announced it would reopen its borders next week. it comes as china s covid cases surge. tighter measures have also been imposed by italy, japan, malaysia, taiwan and india. 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 worrying 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 this funeral home,
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
bolivian police have detained the governor of santa cruz on charges of fomenting a coup. luis fernando camacho a prominent right wing opposition leader who helped oust president evo morales from power in 2019 is believed to have been taken to the administrative capital la paz. his supporters have condemned his arrest as a kidnapping. the united states and european union have appealed to kosovo and serbia to exercise maximum restraint, as tensions are rising in northern kosovo. kosovan police have closed the main border crossing into serbia after roadblocks were set up on the serbian side. ethnic serbs have been blocking roads in the north of the country for weeks, in protests sparked initially by a dispute over car number plates. the serbian president says that the barricades will start to be removed on thursday morning, after holding talks with the protesters. let s get some context. kosovo was part of the former yugoslav republic serbia until war broke out
between them in 1998. this ended the following year after nato troops forced serb troops out of the country, and in 2008, kosovo declared its independence from serbia. lars gunnar veegermark is head of the eu rule of law mission to kosovo. i think we ve all been very concerned by the increase in tensions and escalations that we ve seen, especially over the last couple of weeks and since these illegal barricades went up in response to the arrest of a former kosovo, serb police officer. this is really unprecedented. we have to come back at least ten years to see anything like this. of course, it comes at a time where all eyes are on ukraine and the war. the last thing that europe needs is another conflict. pope francis has asked roman catholics, to pray for his predecessor, pope benedict, who he says is very ill.