good afternoon. the group which represents most of the uk filling stations says the fuel situation is getting worse in london, the south east and parts of eastern england. but the petrol retailers�* association also says scotland, the north of england and parts of the midlands have seen what it calls a "distinct improvement". the government has announced that 100 military drivers will start delivering fuel to petrol stations from monday. our business correspondent katy austin reports. there were queues to fuel again this morning in parts of southern england. this is the first time i'm queuing up because my boy normally gets it for me, but today, oh, my gosh. the organisation which represents independent forecourts says the supply picture has improved in the midlands, the north of england and into scotland. no problems at all, ijust put £100 in. a few days ago it was hard but i think it's picking up. i there is a warning the situation appears to be worsening in london and the south—east. we've been asking government and i had a long conversation with grant shapps this morning. it's very good. the government are talking closely to industry about the problems and i've asked him that the prioritisation now go to london and the south—east and to the independent forecourts which make up 65% of all forecourts across the uk. 200 military personnel have been called to help with deliveries, 100 of them are drivers. they are currently training before the first cohort to start on monday. the first big amount will be working through this weekend, deploying on monday, probably on their own and then by the end of the weekend another 60 or 70 will come online. this comes amid a chronic shortage of hgv drivers across the economy. last weekend visas were announced for 5000 to come in from overseas lasting until christmas eve. that includes 300 fuel tanker drivers. now we know they will be able to start immediately and the length of time they can stay in the uk has been extended to the end of march. 11,700 of the visas are for food lorry drivers. they won't be able to start until later this month but the length of their stay has also been extended until the end of february. the government still says visas are only a short—term fix and businesses must invest in building the domestic workforce. ministers insist the fuel situation will continue to improve if people buy only what they need. even when supply levels return to normal, motorists are being told they should expect to pay more as wholesale prices rise. katy austin, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley is in manchester where the conservative party conference is due to begin tomorrow. he told me it's not the ideal backdrop for the event, with the fuel situation getting worse in london and the south east, and the army being brought in to deliver petrol from monday. there is the fact that you have these issues with fuel, you add into the mix the rising energy prices we are seeing, prices we are seeing, inflation, which many tory mps are really worried about, and you have this nervous air that although the conservative party is in quite a strong position electorally and in parliament, there are nerves about exactly what the next few months and weeks are going to look like. and specifically on the fuel point, i think there is a hope in downing street that we are past the worst of this, they have been saying that for a few days, but there has been the consistent message that even if there are pockets of problems, like in the south—east of england, other parts of the country are getting slightly better. that said, the government is doing some things that it didn't want to do, so it didn't particularly want to send in the army to send petrol tankers around the country from monday, but it's also worth bearing in mind how the government's position has changed in terms to visas. we heard consistently from borisjohnson that he doesn't think immigration is the answer to supply chain issues, he wants people to get betterjobs and pay and that will encourage more folk into the hgv driving industry but overnight, the pressures are such that 300 emergency visas are being issued in the next few days and the 11,500 of these is that the government is issuing more broadly for hgv drivers, the time for which they will apply has been extended as well. it was supposed to run tilljust before christmas, they will now run until the end of february, so there is also nervousness about those supply chains. we have heard it from various ministers and as you say, the backdrop to this conference where borisjohnson wants to talk about the economy rebounding after covid, getting some of his plans back on track, you can see it back there, getting on with the job, that can be tricky when you have all those other pressures. let's ta ke let's take you through the latest corona virus figures. in terms of the daily cases, 30,301 and that is down slightly on yesterday's figures of 35,577. and in terms of deaths, 121 and that compares to 127 yesterday. those are the latest coronavirus figures, 121 deaths and 30,301 new cases in the latest 24—hour period. the home secretary has said police must �*raise the bar�* by taking the harassment of women more seriously. priti patel said crimes such as indecent exposure and verbal abuse should not be taken lightly. she said women should feel confident to call out such offences. ministers have promised reform to the criminaljustice system, after the murder of sarah everard by a serving police officer. simonjones reports. the death of sarah everard prompted an outpouring of public grief. now the government says it�*s determined her murder will bring about permanent change in how society deals with violence against women and girls. the prime minister says there are too few prosecutions and convictions for sexual violence. the time from report to referral, from referral to court proceedings, from court proceedings to the conclusion — all three of those segments — is far too long. and what you�*re seeing is the whole system snarled up with evidential problems, data issues, mobile phones disclosure, all that kind of stuff, and it�*s a nightmare for the women concerned. wayne couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered sarah everard. he then dumped her body in woodland in kent. cars registered to him had previously been linked to two allegations of indecent exposure, but he wasn�*t identified as a potential sex offender. it�*s claimed couzens also used a whatsapp group to swap misogynistic messages with officers from the metropolitan police, the civil nuclear constabulary and the norfolk constabulary. we�*ve also got to address the issues going on within the police force, and you�*ll have seen this stuff about the officers on the whatsapp group. we�*ve got to come down very hard on them. the home secretary says the police must raise the bar by taking harassment and flashing more seriously. priti patel told the telegraph, they should not be considered low level crimes. the met says it�*s putting more officers in places where people feel unsafe. we're absolutely committed to tackling violence against women and girls. that is going to be our focus. it is one of our priorities. so you will see us out on patrol in hot spots. but there are calls for more scrutiny of the police themselves. this has been going on for many, many years and i�*m rather tired of hearing police forces say "we are going to learn lessons from some tragedy." the lessons don�*t seem to be learned, and the lessons are that women�*s suffering of this kind of stuff has to stop. and women up and down the country are saying that. and you have to listen, and police forces are not doing that. and so it has to be listened at a lower level, and i�*m sorry that means resourcing and more police available and more money put into policing and into the court system. but we also have to have much better processes of training police and those in the justice system. 0pposition politicians accused the government of starving the police and courts of resources, but there�*s a growing consensus that the death of sarah everard must act as a watershed moment. simon jones, bbc news. the health secretary sajid javid said says reforms of the police are needed. what the metropolitan police have said about the reforms they will be looking at is absolutely right. we also need to look at what more government can do to build confidence. building on the violence on women�*s and girls a strategy that was published in the summer. this is obviously an appalling, shocking case, and we must make sure that at least something that comes out of this is that we can give more confidence to more women about their own safety. an american private investment company has won a bidding war for morrisons, the uk�*s fourth biggest supermarket. clayton, dubilier and rice offered almost 7 billion pounds for the group. it�*s advised by the former tesco boss, sir terry leahy. some charities have warned that many vulnerable people are still waiting for a third dose of a covid vaccine. 0fficials recommended the jabs for eligible patients a month ago — but kidney care uk and blood cancer uk say the rollout has gone "badly wrong". nhs england say all those affected should be offered the injection by the end of next week. there could be a breakthrough in the way we treat covid—19. interim trials suggest a new, experimental drug could cut the risk of hospitalisation, or death, by about half. if authorised by regulators, the treatment will be the first oral, antiviral medication for covid—19. mark lobel reports. this is the first covid pill. trial results suggest it can cut hospitalisations or deaths by half. the news of the efficacy of this particular antiviral is obviously very good news. the company, when they briefed us last night, had mentioned that they will be submitting their data to the fda imminently. the data are impressive. pills were given to 775 unvaccinated, elderly or medically at risk volunteers within five days of them showing coronaviruses symptoms. the data from a phase three trial showed 7.3% of patients on the drug were hospitalised, compared to 14.1% of those who didn�*t take the tablets. eight patients who were given a placebo or dummy pill later died of covid, but there were no deaths in the group taking the pill. the trial was stopped early because the pill was so successful. but data still needs to be peer reviewed. so how does it work? as coronavirus replicates itself inside your body, these antiviral pills trick it into using the drug, which then inserts errors into the virus�*s genetic code, blocking the virus from replicating. it completely corrupts the genome of the virus so it can't replicate, and that's the beauty. and then, even if the virus mutates, it could be still useful. people are now talking about this, that if we have another coronavirus pandemic in the future, this drug will still work for that coronavirus. because it is agnostic to variants. there are existing clinic—based intravenous treatments which are even more effective, but this appears to be the first pill to treat covid, and as long as it�*s taken early on could offer an alternative at roughly a third of the price — at $700 per treatment. accessibility is a problem with a monoclonal antibody. for this one, it�*s a simple pill so obviously a lot easier to administer and a lot easier to administer as an outpatient as well. merck hopes 10 million courses of the treatment will be available by the end of the year. it has agreed to supply the us with close to 2 million, and to license the drug to several india—based generic drug makers, which could supply it to low and middle—income countries. for countries that don�*t have the vaccine available, this could be another stopgap. the us authorities say the drug is no substitute for preventative vaccines, but this is an exciting development — as the us drug company seeks emergency approval within weeks as the first company to report trial results of an effective and relatively cheap pill to treat covid. as others companies also work on similar treatments. mark lobel, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: the home secretary says police must �*raise the bar�*, by taking the harassment of women more seriously. after days of queuing at the pumps — the army will begin delivering fuel to petrol stations across the uk from monday. provisional clinical trial results suggest an experimental drug for severe covid cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half. sport and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre. man united dropping points. indeed so. both manchester united and everton failed to take the chance to move top of the premier league, in the lunchtime kick off. it finished 1—1 at old trafford. united without a win in the last two premier league games. at 0ld premier league games. at old trafford and 70,000 expectant fans. 0ptimistic due to the present form of a legend from the past. although cristiano ronaldo started on the bench and it would be the away side who came closest to opening the scoring. the speed at which they winger covered the ground and even impressed 0lympic which they winger covered the ground and even impressed olympic champion usain bolt. the game�*s first goal step fort —— step forward anthony martial. 1—0 at half—time and surely after a site the home fans and if they�*re honest even some away fans would have been happy to see. cristiano ronaldo ready for action. the portuguese striker is well known for his trademark goal celebration. the good news, united fans got to see it. the bad news, came from everton�*s andros townsend. five minutes from the end the visitors thought they had the game but they are ruled they were offside. at the final whistle a point each but one team clearly happy with that result. chelsea can go back to the top, with a win over southampton. and they�*re ahead — trevor chalobah with the goal inside 10 minutes there. top spot is up for grabs in the scottish premiership today — with the top two, rangers and hibernian not playing each other until tomorrow. hearts or motherwell would go top, albeit for 2h hours, with a win. it is 2-0 it is 2—0 to hearts. chelsea have moved to the top of the women�*s super league table after a 3—1win over brighton and hove albion. guro reiten scored the first before sam kerr�*s fifth goal of the season gave chelsea a comfortable lead at half time. danielle carter pulled one back for the seagulls in the second half but beth england�*s goal ten minutes from time secured the three points for chelsea. having broken away from the field early on in wet and muddy conditions on the face couples of northern france. she held off the field for 50 kilometres, finishing over a minute and a quarter ahead of three—time world champion. it was the moment women cycling had been waiting for, 125 years after the classic race was first run. she goes into the sport �*s history books. south africa�*s 1995 rugby world cup winning captain francois pienaar is among a consortium of investors taking a controlling share in saracens, in a 32—million pound takeover. pienaar played for the club for three years, and coached them for two, and he�*ll bejoined by another former saracen, maggie alphonsi, on the board. they won promotion back to the premiership last season, after being fined and given a points deduction for breaching salary cap rules in 2019. and saracens are at leicester this afternoon in rugby union�*s premiership — after 15 minutes it�*s saracens who have the upper hand. both sides winning all their games of the new campaign. northampton saints held off a second—half fightback from london irish to win. three wins out of three for saints. that is all the support form as for now, ben. the queen has been addressing msps at holyrood, to mark the opening of the sixth session of the scottish parliament. this will be the snp�*s fourth consecutive term in government, following their election victory in may. the ceremony would normally take place injuly, but was postponed because of coronavirus. alexandra mackenzie reports. the queen and the duke and duchess of rothesay made the shortjourney from the palace of holyroodhouse to the scottish parliament. they were greeted by the party leaders including the first minister nicola sturgeon. msps gathered as the mace and crown of scotland were placed in the chamber, symbolising this new session of parliament. marking this new session does indeed bring a sense of beginning and renewal. the scottish parliament has been at the heart of scotland�*s response to the pandemic, with people across this country looking to you for leadership and stewardship and i hope you will remain at the forefront as we move towards a phase of recovery. due to the pandemic, much of the music was recorded around the country, like here in plockton. and this group of asylum seeking and refugee musicians in glasgow. those of us who sit in the chamber will disagree, often and often vigorously. but in the years ahead we will also, i hope, find the resolve and the courage to reach beyond our disagreements and find consensus and common purpose where we can. the queen also used her speech to reflect on happy memories of the many times she spent in scotland with her late husband, the duke of edinburgh. she said this was a time to look to the future and a new generation. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. delegates at a meeting in the run up to next month�*s cop26 climate change summit have agreed that a 100 billion dollarfinance pledge has to be delivered on. the money is to help poorer countries cope with rising temperatures. alok sharma, the british minister in charge of cop26, was speaking in milan where climate ministers from around the world are holding talks. it is on all of us but particularly for the g20 nations, which make up 80% of emissions, it�*s going to be particularly important. there was a discussion around the fact we need to deliver on the 100 billion a year and i have said many times before, and i repeat again that delivering on the 100 billion is absolutely a matter of trust and of course at this cop, we need to start the discussion on what comes in terms of post 2025 but the delivery on 100 billion will be vital. from the meeting in milan, here�*s our science correspondent victoria gill. as representatives drift away from this closing pre—cop meeting in milan, i think there�*s a sense of cautious optimism that there is hope that we can really tackle climate change and get to an agreement at that crucial un climate conference in glasgow in just a month�*s time. but also there is a lot of work still to be done. in his closing press conference, the us climate envoyjohn kerry said he didn�*t want to single out specific countries, he didn�*t want to target them, but there was a heavy intimation that china and india, the pressure really needs to be put on them to step up and deliver on what they promise. so basically to put in writing what they will do to limit emissions, and reach that climate agreement in glasgow. there are two major issues that have really stood out in this gathering, and that�*s that 1.5 celsius threshold. this is the critical number that scientists have said beyond which we get to the much more dangerous impacts of climate change, and the more vulnerable nations really want us to stay on a trajectory to keep that target within reach. but also finance. developed nations, the richest nations that are responsible for most of the emissions need to step up and deliver on a promise that they made a decade ago to pay developing countries $100 billion every single year to be able to mitigate, but also adapt to a changing climate. the volcano that�*s been erupting for the past 11 days on the spanish island of la palma is spewing out two new streams of lava, threatening further destruction. it is a river of red hot lava. raising fears of further destruction on the island. many homes and crops have been destroyed and thousands of people have been forced to evacuate since the eruption first began last month. we can talk now to the volcano expert cecilia reid. this volcano has got a lot of life in it, hasn�*t it? has got a lot of life in it, hasn't it? �* , , has got a lot of life in it, hasn't it? n , , has got a lot of life in it, hasn't it? �* , , .,. , , it? it's very active. very, very active. considering _ it? it's very active. very, very active. considering the - it? it's very active. very, very| active. considering the activity comes every 75 years, there is a lot of magma that is there waiting to erupt as we can see. and it will continue to in the long term as well. , ,, . ., continue to in the long term as well. ., ,. , well. very spectacular pictures, especially _ well. very spectacular pictures, especially those _ well. very spectacular pictures, especially those two _ well. very spectacular pictures, especially those two rivers - well. very spectacular pictures, especially those two rivers of i especially those two rivers of red—hot lava that we can see they�*re coming out of the volcano, but terrifying for the residentplu—macro on the island and many have had to leave their homes, a lot of the island is uninhabitable and more destruction, it looks very likely. yes, this is a really, really, the locals are aware they live in an active island but it seems communication has been a little bit faulty between the science and then the locals knowing that the volcano was going to erupt. and yes, it�*s now a story about how they build resilience, how they cope in the face of these huge environmental changes. it�*s affecting the economy, their politics, their health, their social aspects, also their psychology, emotions, it�*s a huge change so really now it�*s a story of resilience and how the locals learn to adapt or make changes. tell resilience and how the locals learn to adapt or make changes.- to adapt or make changes. tell us more about _ to adapt or make changes. tell us more about this _ to adapt or make changes. tell us more about this particular- to adapt or make changes. tell us more about this particular volcano and how it compares with other volcanoes we have seen erupting around the world in recent years. la palma is part of an area of volcanism called hotspot volcanism. this means magma has risen from very deep within our mantle over many millions of years up to the surface. it has found weaknesses in the crust and that it has pushed its way through. it is very different to tectonic activity where we have plates of diverging or converging. in this case, a bit like hawaii, magma has forced its way through. 0nce magma has forced its way through. once it stops erupting, once it comes down, will that be for the foreseeable future, for years to come or is there a danger it can erupt in the next year or two? it erupt in the next year or two? it will erupt again. volcanoes are completely unpredictable so you cannot 100% say it will erupt next year or in two years�* time, the last time it erupted was 1971 so it was less than the usual 75 years or so. so there is no real guarantee but we do know it will erupt again because it is an active island and the volcano is still forming, its structure is still building and it�*s a very complex structure so we can guarantee definitely more eruptions in the long term.— in the long term. thank you very much indeed _ in the long term. thank you very much indeed for _ in the long term. thank you very much indeed for being _ in the long term. thank you very much indeed for being with - in the long term. thank you very much indeed for being with us. | europe�*s first mission to mercury is completing its first fly—by. the bepi colombo spacecraft will fly by the planet at high speeds taking pictures and sending them back to earth. it�*s moving too fast to go into orbit but will begin more detailed observations in four years�* time. in the meantime, let�*s take a look at the latest weather forecast. tomorrow should be warmer and drier as well. today we have had the cloud, rain. still some wet weather this evening across the eastern side of the uk, very windy in the south—east. the rain gets swept into the north sea come up to shetland whereby the end of the night, wins could be gusting to 60, 70 mph. clearer skies after the rain further east. we start with showers from the word go across western areas on sunday. the winds will blow them eastwards. they do take some time to reach east anglia and the south—east but more persistent rain with strong winds on the far north of scotland. he should be warmer during sunday with temperatures up to 16 or 17 degrees. more sunshine and scattered showers as we head into monday. tuesday though, some wet and windy weather returns particularly towards england and wales. this is bbc news. the headlines: after days of queuing at the pumps — the army will begin delivering fuel to petrol stations across the uk from monday. the home secretary says police must �*raise the bar�*, by taking the harassment of women more seriously — a view echoed by health secretary, sajid javid. what the metropolitan police have said about the reforms that they will be looking at, i think it�*s absolutely right. we also need to be looking at what more government can do to help build that confidence. the queen officially opens the sixth session of the scottish parliament at holyrood. an experimental drug for severe covid which could cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half.