some of netflix's most binge—worthy original programming, all part of our 100 women series. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. there's a renewed push in the uk for everyone eligible to get a coronavirus booster jab to come forward for one after british scientists warned that two vaccine doses weren't enough to stop people catching the omicron variant. early analysis suggests the booster reduces the chance of developing any symptoms by around three—quarters. here's our medical editor fergus walsh. the omicron variant is spreading incredibly fast despite our highly immunised population. the growth rate is even more rapid than last christmas when the alpha wave hit and very few of us had been vaccinated. new analysis shows that having two vaccine doses is unlikely to stop omicron infection. however, boosterjabs will give around 75% protection against a mild infection. both two and three doses should give significant protection against severe disease, but to what extent is still unclear. it's the sheer growth rate of omicron which is worrying scientists. it may produce the biggest wave of infection so far in this pandemic. if we continue to double in this rate, then i would expect that without any mitigations, we could have 100,000 or 200,000 cases, or even more by the end of the month in the case numbers that we see every day. what we don't know is how many of these cases will translate into hospitalisation. but what we do know is the more cases we have in the community, the more pressure that will put on hospitalisations. even if omicron is causing mostly a milder illness than delta, which some early data from south africa suggests, a huge wave of infection here could still result in a sudden peak of hospital admissions within a matter of weeks. the government is not ruling out further measures beyond plan b to control omicron, but no—one yet is using the l word — lockdown. we absolutely do need to keep everything under review. i think the approach that we're taking is proportionate, we recognise the importance of balancing people's ability to get on with their lives with the need to protect them against this virus, but action is absolutely required, and as new data comes in, we will consider what action we do require to take in the face of that data. care homes were especially hard—hit in earlier covid waves. under new guidance, residents in england will be allowed a maximum of three visitors, and more vaccination teams will be deployed to offer boosters. the omicron puzzle is still being pieced together. for now, it remains unclear just how big and how serious it will prove. fergus walsh, bbc news. the white house says presidentjoe biden is "very concerned" by the supreme court's decision to leave in place a ban on most abortions in texas. it follows a ruling by the court on friday that abortion providers can pursue legal challenges to a controversial law that bans the procedure in the state of texas after the first six weeks of pregnancy. but the court also ruled that the legislation will remain in place for now. the law has been sharply criticised by doctors, women's rights groups and the biden administration. julie f kay is an attorney and author of the book controlling women. she helped litigate the first direct challenge to ireland's absolute abortion ban before the european court of human rights. she's been explaining what this supreme court ruling does. this ruling was really more procedural at this point. as we all know, by now, the law in texas has been in effect for 100 days. it has almost ground abortion to a halt in texas and the supreme court has been ok with that and it has been playing a really rough game with women's health and with access to abortion. so now it's saying that the lawsuit can go ahead, but it's not putting pause on what's going on in texas while we figure out whether this is constitutional or not. so, you're saying it's not really that surprising, and many people watching would say six weeks, i mean, that is a time many women don't know they are pregnant? right, these are the steps towards having a complete undermining of the federal right to an abortion in the united states. this supreme court has its eyes set on completely dismantling roe. it heard a case out of mississippi just last week that would prohibit abortion after 15 weeks. a pretty extreme change to the land of the law in the us and the texas case would be really devastating and would essentially allow states to ban all abortion. talk us a little bit through the us judicial system, if you may, because this obviously goes back to the trump era and the supreme court and the number ofjudges on that. just talk us through that. right. so we lost the abortion issue when we lost the 2016 election and president trump had promised his base that he would deliver supreme courtjustices and, because of that promise, they overlooked a lot of bad behaviour on his part. so we're now looking at the next era coming up, that some states will be choosing to ban abortion, as many as half the states in the united states will enact legislation to ban abortion once the federal right is no longer there. so we'll have some states, sort of �*blue states�* as we call them, and mostly on the coast, it'll look like a doughnut with a giant hole where abortion services should be that will have some states where people can travel to for abortion services, but the majority of them will not have legal abortion available. the annual rate of inflation in the united states is now at a 4—decade high, and although president biden has acknowledged that inflation is affecting people's lives, he said he thought the inflation rate had now peaked and would come down faster than people thought. prices rose by 6.8% in november compared with the same month last year. fuel, food and housing costs have all seen rising prices. a little earlier, our washington correspondent nomia iqbal gave me this update. reasons for inflation going up can be pretty complex, but, ultimately, it's down to the pandemic and the impact the pandemic has had also on the supply chain here in america and, quite simply, living in america is getting more expensive. so in the last six months, as you mentioned there, things have gone up — food, housing, gas, gasoline prices have gone up by 58.1%, which is a staggering amount, the cost of meat, fish and eggs gone up by 0.8%. here in dc, the cost of groceries is already pretty expensive i would say compared to most other cities, but even now, you see the cost of a pint of milk is more than you think it should be. if you want to buy stuff for your home, buy furniture, that will cost you 14% more than it did a year ago, used cars, that's gone up 31%. so life is getting expensive. but as i say, the pandemic is largely to blame. that's had a huge impact, lots of businesses shut down, people were staying at home, millions ofjobs were lost, economic output plunged, and that, along with the supply chain, has all contributed to inflation going up. joe biden loves to talk aboutjob growth and rising wages, but what does inflation mean for him and for his economic policies going forward? well, yes, president biden has said that this is all temporary and that this inflation rise does not reflect what he expects to see happen the next few weeks or months of prices going down. the word �*transitory�* keeps getting used and �*temporary�*, but economists are saying, how long it is going to last? is it a few weeks, is it a few months, is it well into next year? and as you can imagine, it's become a real line of attack against him by his opponents, because when prices rise, when the cost of living goes up, of course it's going to be a political sore point for the party in power, and it is something that the opponents, the republican party, can use. i don't think it helps him that he's trying to pursue his spending bills, his build back better plan as well. but he has maintained that things will go down eventually, that this is just a peak, and the white house points out that whilst inflation has gone up, the unemployment rate has gone down and that the wages have gone up, so these are the silver linings they say, but then critics sort of hit back at that and say, well, wages haven't gone up nearly enough, as much as they should in order to keep up with the pace of prices. the wikileaks founder, julian assange, can be extradited to the us to stand trial the uk's high court has ruled. assange faces charges in the states of publishing classified documents. his extradition was blocked in january because of concerns about his mental health, but nowjudges have said that assurances given about mr assange�*s treatment allow the move to go ahead. dominic casciani has this report. free, freejulian assange! a day ofjudgment, but is it the end of the road in washington for a man who has been wanted for a decade? today, the high court ruled julian assange should go on trial in the us for disclosing state secrets. his supporters say he'll kill himself in jail. the americans say they'll treat him humanely. mr assange�*s partner says those assurances are worthless. the high court decided againstjulian on this occasion on the basis of political assurances. amnesty international has analysed these assurances and have said that they are inherently unreliable. it's taken 11 years to get here. in 2010, julian assange�*s wikileaks posted video of iraqi civilians killed by us forces, just one of thousands of us secrets. two years later, he flees into the ecuadorian embassy in london. in 2018, the us begins preparing a prosecution. the next year, assange is removed from the embassy, and he's been in a british jail cell ever since. for his supporters, julian assange is a warrior for truth and justice. but our extradition law says he must stand trial for his alleged crimes. his lawyers will try to get the case into the supreme court to overturn this judgment, but that's not guaranteed. time is running out. if he can't launch a final appeal, one of the most controversial figures of the internet age will be on his way to trial in america. dominic casciani, bbc news, at the high court. heavy rains from storm barra that swept across south—west france and northern spain have left dozens stranded and at least one person dead, with officials evacuating homes flooded by rivers breaking their banks, and no end to the flooding in sight. our reporter stephanie prentice has this report. this used to be a suburban street and these were family homes. the rain in spain has created chaos for many when the river broke its banks and spared nothing. cars, homes, belongings all submerged. translation: i belongings all submerged. translation:— belongings all submerged. translation: ., �* , translation: i don't remember an hinu translation: i don't remember anything like _ translation: i don't remember anything like this. _ translation: i don't remember anything like this. it _ translation: i don't remember anything like this. it is _ anything like this. it is impossible. the houses are flooded. , , ., . impossible. the houses are flooded. , , ., flooded. residents watch from hi . her flooded. residents watch from higher ground. _ flooded. residents watch from higher ground, tracking - flooded. residents watch from higher ground, tracking the . higher ground, tracking the debris from their houses. police say at least one person was killed after a landslide question outbuilding at a farm. it is a scene mirrored in towns nearby as well as across the border in france after three weeks of rain fell in 12 hours, causing rivers to overflow and triggering landslides. footage uploaded by residents show the water taking over the centre of one town. this street is several blocks away from the river. warm winds melting snow in the pyrenees between the two countries have exacerbated the budding and experts say it is expected to stay like this for the weekend at least. stephanie prentice, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we remember mike nesmith, the guitarist with the �*60s band the monkees, who's died aged 78. john lennon was shot at the entrance to the dakota building in the centre of new york. there's been a crowd here standing in more or less silent vigil and the flowers have been piling up. the 14th ceasefire of this war ended at the walls of the old city of dubrovnik. this morning, witnesses said shells were landing every 20 seconds. people are celebrating the passing of a man they hold responsible for hundreds of deaths and oppression. elsewhere, people have been gathering to mourn his passing. imelda marcos, the widow of the former - president of the philippines, has gone on trial in manila. she's facing seven charges of tax evasion, _ estimated at £120 million. she pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wales are to separate. a statement from buckingham palace said the decision had been reached amicably. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: british scientists have warned that two doses of vaccine offer little protection against the omicron variant — although boosters do cut the risk of serious illness. the us supreme court leaves a controversial texas law banning most abortions in place. president biden says he's very concerned by the decision. president biden says he's spoken to olaf scholz and congratulated him becoming germany's new chancellor. the american president tweeted that he was looking forward to working together on a range of global challenges. it comes as olaf scholz is on a whirlwind tour of europe. he's been calling for unity to tackle the pandemic and tensions with russia. mr scholz said he was concerned about a russian build up of troops on the ukraine border. translation: we are of course deeply concerned by the events | unfolding along the ukrainian russian border, and it has to be our responsibility to ensure everyone feel safe within their borders and that the borders within europe are available. meanwhile, the british foreign secretary, liz truss, has warned russia it will face "severe economic consequences" if it were to invade ukraine. she was speaking to the bbc on the eve of a meeting of g7 foreign ministers in liverpool. she stresed there would be a show of unity in making clear to moscow that any military action would be a strategic mistake. i share the view that it would be extremely serious if russia were to take that action. it would be a strategic mistake, and there would be severe consequences for russia. what we're doing this weekend is working with like—minded allies to spell that out. michael nesmith, singer and guitarist with 1960s pop group the monkees, has died at the age of 78. the quartet rose to fame with a string of hit songs and starred in their own popular tv sitcom. in a statement to us media, michael nesmith's family said he: "...passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes." earlier, i spoke to david browne who's a senior writer at rolling stone magazine. i asked how influential and significant he thought michael nesmith was on the 60s pop music scene. you know, he was very influential in terms of, he was, i guess you could call him the serious monkee. the monkees were seen as a disposable pop group, in a way, but nesmith was one of the guys in the band who wrote a lot of his own songs, he was the kind of quality control guy in that group. so that was a really important role in that band at the time. you say quality control and one of the serious guys, he was also a bit of a tour de force regarding the creative control, right? right, they did not have control early on when they started. it was nesmith who led the charge and said, we want to participate on our own records, we want to write our own songs and play on them, and that was a real significant moment for the band. they broke away from don kershner, their original svengali producer, their auteur kind of guy, and went off on their own for a couple of years. nesmith was a real driving force behind the monkees having their own voice as a recording band. often when people think of the monkees, they think of them as being quite fun, they didn't really play by the rules in those days. but he would say maybe they were not too cohesive, they were not really a band, didn't have any kind of cause and they were sort of thrown together? yes, it was an interesting thing. they were actors, in a way, cast to play a rock band. then they became one as the time went on. kind of the exact opposite of what most bands do. most bands get together in garages and all that sort of stuff and they started on a tv show, don't they became more of an ensemble, and he was one of the real driving forces in making sure that the train stayed on the tracks, but they lived up to that legacy of what they promised, in terms of record making. he was also a bit of a pioneer after the monkees, right? he basically came up with the idea for mtv even if it was not in that name. he had one of the most interesting sort of post—19 60s, post—fame careers, of any one of his generation. basically, when the monkees were over by about 1970, he didn't really look to kind of capitalise on it or repeat it. he formed his own band, started making quirky country records, he ventured into the world of video, as you say, he started a company called pacific arts. they made early music videos, they even came up with the idea for, in a way, what became mtv. he produced movies like repo man. he did some sketch comedy tv specials, i mean, he really did kind of move on in a way, creating his own alternate artistic world that we didn't really need that nostalgia, he didn't need the monkees. that was very rare among his generation, tojust cast the pastor side and remake yourself. and given how influential he was, what would you say his legacy is? the hat with the monkees! no, seriously, i think his legacy was notjust writing a bunch of songs with the monkees that have been covered to this day, you know, mary, mary and so forth. but also expanding music into more of a visual medium, you know? we see that to this day, with music videos and so on. he was one of the pioneers of that. he pioneered the idea of a serious band being on tv, in a sitcom, and taking that music to the next visual level after that. as a director of original series at netflix, carolina garcia is responsible for bringing binge—worthy shows such as stranger things, atypical, and raising dion to our screens. born in argentina, garcia moved to the us with her family when she was a child and worked her way to the top of the entertainment industry. named as one of bbc�*s 100 women, she reveals what really makes a hit tv show. i believe that being a woman is a superpower. my name is carolina garcia and i'm the director of original series at netflix. what i do is, i help to pick hopefully the best shows to bring to audiences, and i work with creators and writers to bring those stories to life, to hopefully create something that the world will love and enjoy. if we had a crystal ball, all of the shows that we programme would be the biggest hits in the world. unfortunately it's really hard to predict what's going to strike and what's going to feel, what's going to puncture the zeitgeist. so what i really rely on when picking shows is my intuition, my heart, and my instinct. so when someone's telling me a story, if i'm moved by that story, there's no algorithm in the world that's going to be able to predict that human movement in me. growing up, i think latino immigrants — i'll speak personally — you just want to fit in. you just want to be part of the americana and really be the same as everyone else. i remember growing up, i have a pretty cool name, my name is carolina, and i always was like, "why can't my name just be sarah orjessica?" orjust, you know, whatever the american name was. because ijust, i really want fit in, and now i'm like, "oh, carolina, that was your superpower." being who you were was your superpower. you didn't have to be anyone else. it's important to have examples, visible examples of people that look like you doing things that you aspire to do and to be. part of it is making sure that in the casting we're representing the full breadth of who can do what role. so part of myjob is to pay it forward. and to open the door and create new opportunities for latino excellence to come through the door and foster that talent. i think women especially, and i know this is true for me, growing up, i always wanted to think like one of the guys. it used to be there was only one seat at the table for a woman and women were often, you know, trying to make way for themselves to be that woman, and now we created more seats and it's not at the expense of anyone else but it really is just about opening up opportunity for other people to come join the table. honestly, the more the merrier. like, why not? in the cricket, england's ashes campaign has begun with defeat, losing the first test to australia after their batsmen were quickly dispatched, leading to a painful 9—wicket loss. on the fourth morning, england lost eight wickets for 77 runs as early optimism turned to outright despair in brisbane's gabba stadium. england have not won at the so—called �*gabbatoir�* since 1986 and this was their seventh heavy defeat in their last nine visits. england went from 220—2 overnight to 297 all out the following morning. not a great start. the duke and duchess of cambridge have chosen a family photograph taken on a visit tojordan as the image for their official christmas card this year. the photograph was released on the royals�* social media accounts with the caption: "delighted to share a new image of the family, which features on this year's christmas card." hello. a big change in the feel of the weather through this weekend, with some milder air spreading from the west. but with that, a fair amount of cloud, some mist, and murk and hill fog and some outbreaks of rain at times. on the earlier satellite picture, a slice of clear sky, and where that clear sky remains, quite a cold start to saturday morning. the coldest weather of the whole weekend, in fact. out west, more cloud, and with that some milder weather, which is slowly but surely going to crawl its way eastwards through the day. so, temperatures in eastern parts starting the day below freezing, western areas well above. belfast at six, plymouth at eight degrees, and as we go through the day, the milder but cloudier and wetter conditions will work eastwards. so early sunshine in eastern scotland, eastern england, that won't last long, things will tend to cloud over. briefly a bit of sleet and snow over high ground in scotland. but as you can see, it will turn back to rain because as this wet weather continues to track eastwards, it will introduce ever milder conditions. so 12 degrees for belfast, for cardiff, for plymouth, just six in aberdeen, seven in norwich. but actually, as we go through saturday night, we will bring that milder weather further eastwards. whereas we normally expect temperatures to drop through the night, they won't across some eastern parts of england, for example, ending the night at 10 degrees in norwich and hull, five there in aberdeen, very mild out towards the west. all the while some cloud, some outbreaks of rain, some clear spells across the northern half of the country. then through sunday, again, there's going to be quite a lot of cloud. that cloud producing some outbreaks of rain at times, especially through northwest england, northern ireland, up into southwest scotland. some brighter glimpses here and there and a very, very mild afternoon, eight to 1a degrres. now, we have to keep a close eye on developments during sunday night, because this small but potent weather feature is expected to pass closer to the far north—west, a deepening area of low pressure. that is set to bring some very strong winds across parts of northern ireland, but perhaps most especially in exposed parts of western and northern scotland, particularly for the western and northern isles, there could be some really quite stormy weather for a time. we will keep you posted on that one throughout the weekend. into next week, it stays relatively mild. a bit of rain around for a time, perhaps settling down later in the week. this is bbc news, the headlines: the uk's health security agency says the country could have more than a million omicron cases by the end of the month — and that two doses provides little protection against the new variant. a senior government minister has described the situation is "seriously worrying". the white house says president biden is very concerned by a supreme court decision to leave strict new abortion laws in place in texas. the controversial new law bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. the legislation is being challenged by abortion providers. the high court in london has ruled thatjulian assange should be extradited to stand trial in the united states, following assurances from washington about the way he'll be treated. the wikileaks founder faces charges linked to the leaking of classified military documents. his supporters say the us could not be trusted. downing street has rejected suggestions that borisjohnson