hello and welcome, if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the netherlands has embarked on a month—long lockdown in response to an expected surge in cases of omicron — the first european country to introduce such stringent measures in response to the new variant. non—essentialshops, bars, gyms, hairdressers and other public venues will be closed until at least mid—january. our correspondent, anna holligan, reports from the hague. silent high streets... a wholly locked down society. last christmas, the dutch thought covid would be under control by now. instead, the netherlands has become the first country in europe to lockdown in response to the highly contagious omicron variant. now, it feels like it's starting all over again, to be isolated and, yeah... it feels really bad. we're used to going to the cafe, to a bar and with this lockdown, it's impacted me a bit. so, yeah, it's going to be difficult. so, tomorrow i'm working just to throw away a lot i of fresh food, lots of... basically, everything - that we can't sell any more. so that's...uh... the dutch prime minister said the lockdown was an unavoidable this covid crisis is partly of their own making. the slow response to the delta strain and the slow roll—out of the booster vaccination programme have meant that hospitals have no extra room to deal with an impending surge of omicron cases. across the border, germany is battening down the hatches. from this evening, most travellers from britain will be banned from entering the country in an effort to stall the spread of omicron. german nationals and residents will still be allowed to arrive from the uk. they must have a negative test and quarantine for two weeks. france has already introduced similar restrictions, as infections in britain swell. for many people this christmas, coming together will be harder and riskier than anyone would have wished. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. the uk health secretary sajid javid says he can't rule out further restrictions in england as he urged everyone to be cautious in the run—up to christmas. more than 82,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in the latest 24—hour period. mrjavid said the omicron variant is already the dominant strain in england, as well as scotland — so far 12 people have died having contracted this latest form of coronavirus. here's our medical editor fergus walsh with the latest in the uk. # driving home for christmas...# this christmas, the hot ticket for many is not to see a football match but to get a boosterjab. wembley stadium had 10,000 vaccines available today and many were keen to get them before heading home to the family. i would prefer to have it done before christmas. i've got an elderly grandfather who's 90 years old, so i want to be able to see him. i am getting a booster vaccination and my family members already have got the vaccinations but i think it is best to be as contained as possible. so, it's the booster versus the variant. omicron infections are thought to be doubling every two to three days. the epidemic is growing so fast, the health secretary could not rule out fresh restrictions before christmas. there are no guarantees, in this pandemic. i don't think... at this point, we just have to keep everything under review. he urged people across the country to be cautious in the days ahead. if i'm going to see my mum, for example, who's elderly, like most very old people, she's more vulnerable than young people, i will take a test. i might, you know, just not have the usual amount of hugs i get from my mum! just take a bit of caution and that's a sensible response. but the most sensible thing anyone can do right now is to get boosted. ministers have been given a stark warning by sage, the scientific advisory group on emergencies, that without further intervention, the scale of hospital admissions due to omicron would almost certainly lead to unsustainable pressure on the nhs. the scenarios for curbing omicron are an echo of lockdown controls from earlier this year, including closing indoor hospitality and limits on mixing of households. i think the longer we wait, the more problematic this is going to be. we have learned from previous experience, surely, that if we dither and delay, we get ourselves into more trouble. the problem here is, of course, we don't fully understand the implications of the omicron pandemic and infection in this country, in terms of severe disease. and that is the dilemma for ministers — do they wait until the threat from omicron becomes clear and hope to avoid lockdown measures, or act now as a precaution and risk the wrath of many in their own party and beyond westminster? fergus walsh, bbc news. the uk foreign secretary liz truss is to become the chief uk negotiator in talks with the european union. it comes after the former brexit minister, lord frost, resigned over the introduction of further covid restrictions. ms truss has the task of finding a solution to the trade status of northern ireland. the current arrangement, called the northern ireland protocol, avoids a hard border with the irish republic, which is in the eu. but it has disrupted commerce between mainland britain and northern ireland. for the latest, here's our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. well, he said in his resignation letter that was made public yesterday, that this was because he disagreed with the direction of travel of the government policies, and he pointed to taxes going up and spending, he said he was in favour of low tax and he pointed to covid restrictions and being made mandatory and that he was against that sort of compulsion. what he did not point to, interestingly, was areas in his own remit. those were not his remit in cabinet, of course, his remit was relationship with the eu and eu countries and brexit negotiations and he had led this very sort of combative line towards brussels. what we had seen was that he had been insisting on this renegotiation, as you were just talking about, of the deal that he had done, he had come back to brussels said, we need to change this, particularly the role of the european court ofjustice. this week, the prime minister softened his position on insisting on that existence of the european court ofjustice having no part in the deal. now, the uk is saying, it could have a role in that. lord frost did not mention any of that in his letter, but talked about this direction of travel and that was what he put down as his reason. now we have the foreign secretary taking on responsibilities for those negotiations, tell us more about that. yes. so, this is interesting, because borisjohnson has moved very fast to replace lord frost, i think, to quell some of the disquiet that had risen in his party after all of the strains of the last couple of weeks about this resignation and move someone into the role. he has put liz truss, the foreign secretary, in there. that is quite an expansion of her sort of remit. she is similar to lord frost, it is interesting, she is very popular amongst conservative party members, around the top of the popularity ratings, just as he was. so, many of the tory mps were very sort of approving of lord frost's very combative stance towards brussels and are looking to see who might replace him. they were talking about his resignation as a hero, a disaster, they had been saying, they might be reassured a bit by liz truss, because she has, in her role, first as overseeing trade deals, replicating eu deals, and the new deals she was looking at, now as foreign secretary, she has very much sung from a similar sort of hymn sheet, about being, looking to what she was talking about, the opportunities of brexit, of what the uk's role in the world could be. that is reassuring for mps. what, i think, will be interesting, though, is how she handles the relationship with brussels. as foreign secretary, she is much more aware, i think, of the broader relationship with the european union countries, that is part of her remit, than lord frost needed to be, so will she be as combative and how will she approach it? you're watching bbc news. let's return to covid—i9 now. earlier i got the reaction on the infection numbers from professor martin mckee of the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. the data reported today that many of these cases will have actually been detected earlier, so if we look back, even as far back as last monday, we are still seeing that 55,000 were reported that day, but since then we have had a backfilling in the numbers, and they are substantially higher, so that figure, will in due course, turn out to be much greater than we are seeing today. so, would that then match this expected scenario of the doubling? yeah, we have got lots of data to show that the omicron variant is doubling every two days or less at the minute, so, yes, that is exactly... we have got to remember that it does take time to get the tests back to get the data recorded into the system and there is inevitably a lag and that has been the case the whole way through, despite the fact that we have an excellent reporting system. in terms of public health, there is talk of a circuit breaker, perhaps in the new year, would that work? well, it is too late, really. for the reasons i have given, you know, the figures we know are going to be higher than what we are getting at the minute and with a variant that is spreading as rapidly as this one, we really should have been acting before this time, we should have been acting last week instead of leaving it until the new year. it is going to be the repeat of what we have done so often before, we are going to be acting late and then we are going to have to do much more than we would have done if we had acted earlier, unfortunately. what do you make of the measures that some european countries have ta ken? the latest that we have been talking about, of course, is the netherlands, they have gone into lockdown there, there have been restrictions put on some travellers heading from the uk into some european countries. i am less enthusiastic about the travel restrictions, because the challenges are really within the country, but i think what we are seeing is that they are adhering to what the regional director for europe for the world health organization has said, which is that we need a vaccine plus strategy, not a vaccine only strategy, which is the way that we have been going in the united kingdom and in fact that was a very clear statement that came out today from the council that is advising the german health minister, who himself is an academic, public health professional. i wonder if i could justjump in, really quickly, by vaccine plus, could you just summarise for us what that means? that means that you do everything possible to roll out the vaccine as quickly as possible, particularly the boosters, they are really important. we got off to a good start in the uk, with the basic vaccination programme, although we have stalled a little bit. we are doing really well with the booster programme, compared to france and germany at the minute, but we need other measures, so you need to restrict mixing, you need to restrict the ability of people to transmit the virus amongst each other. scotland is to receive an extra £220 million from the uk government to help tackle covid—i9. the scottish government has made repeated calls for more money from the treasury as omicron numbers rise. it had already said bars and restaurants would receive a £66 million support package but hospitality bosses said this was not enough. the extra funding follows discussions between the devolved nations and chancellor rishi sunak. let's get more on the news that the foreign secretary liz truss is to become the chief uk negotiator in talks with the european union. professor anand menon is the director of the independent research group, uk in a changing europe. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. what do you make of this appointment? what will liz truss be bringing to brexit table? i appointment? what will liz truss be bringing to brexit table?— bringing to brexit table? i think there are three _ bringing to brexit table? i think there are three ways _ bringing to brexit table? i think there are three ways to - bringing to brexit table? i think there are three ways to look - bringing to brexit table? i think there are three ways to look at| bringing to brexit table? i think i there are three ways to look at it, firstly is procedural. here i think it makes a lot of sense that it is the foreign office that is now dealing with the question of the negotiations because there was always something slightly strange about having this part of our external relations, but that dealt with the eu, broken off from the rest so in procedural terms you can see this as a kind of rationalisation politically, think liz truss is an interesting appointment because i think she will satisfy those brexit hardliners in the conservative party who are concerned that the government might be making too much in the way of compromise. but finally, substantively, the very reasons they have appointed someone like liz truss is grounds to wonder as to whether or not the uk government is serious about getting an agreement with the european union, because compromise by both sides is going to be needed if the protocol is to be made to work. pare be needed if the protocol is to be made to work.— be needed if the protocol is to be made to work. are you saying that lord frost wasn't _ made to work. are you saying that lord frost wasn't able _ made to work. are you saying that lord frost wasn't able to - made to work. are you saying that lord frost wasn't able to satisfy i lord frost wasn't able to satisfy those two points you just mentioned? i think lord frost very much satisfied that part of the conservative party. one of interesting things about the time of his departure is of course that last week, the signalled some quite significant optimisers in its previous negotiating position with the eu. they agreed the european court ofjustice should have a role in managing the protocol. that was something that david frost has always vociferously opposed so there are grounds to wonder as to whether it was those concessions are one of the reasons why he decided to leave he did. in the reasons why he decided to leave he did. , ., ., ., ., , he did. in terms of negotiations, what sort of _ he did. in terms of negotiations, what sort of reputation, - he did. in terms of negotiations, what sort of reputation, you - he did. in terms of negotiations, | what sort of reputation, you have touched on it in a first answer, but what sort of reputation does liz truss have an does she have proven form on delivering? i truss have an does she have proven form on delivering?— form on delivering? i don't think an one form on delivering? i don't think anyone has _ form on delivering? i don't think anyone has proven _ form on delivering? i don't think anyone has proven form - form on delivering? i don't think anyone has proven form on - form on delivering? i don't think- anyone has proven form on delivering on something like this. it's a very, very complicated negotiation. but there is a danger in seeing this too much in personal terms. this is about the position the government including the prime minister adopts including the prime minister adopts in the negotiations with the european union. are they willing to make compromises that allow both sides to come away claiming they have got what they wanted, not? i think ultimately, as always in the case of the bricks negotiations, the buck will stop at number ten and not with lord frost or indeed with the foreign office under liz truss. do ou foreign office under liz truss. do you think recent events over the last 2a, 48 hours you think recent events over the last 24, 48 hours gives the eu and upper hand oran last 24, 48 hours gives the eu and upper hand or an advantage in any way upper hand or an advantage in any waj ., , , ., upper hand or an advantage in any way absolutely not, i think they negotiating _ way absolutely not, i think they negotiating strengths _ way absolutely not, i think they negotiating strengths of - way absolutely not, i think they negotiating strengths of both i way absolutely not, i think they . negotiating strengths of both sides have been there for a long time. there's a degree of interest in the eu and a degree of concern that this might slow the process down but the ultimate issues on the table about whether we can lessen those checks in the east west gb to northern ireland border, but whether we can find institutions to satisfy both the european union and the uk government, remain as they ever were. arguably in northern ireland, the problem has not changed at all since it became an issue straight the referendum.— since it became an issue straight the referendum. there is talk that some people _ the referendum. there is talk that some people are _ the referendum. there is talk that some people are concerned - the referendum. there is talk that some people are concerned that l the referendum. there is talk that l some people are concerned that we could see a softening towards those issues. ~ . ., ., , could see a softening towards those issues. ~ _, ., , ~ issues. welcome as i said, i think there were _ issues. welcome as i said, i think there were signs _ issues. welcome as i said, i think there were signs last _ issues. welcome as i said, i think there were signs last week- issues. welcome as i said, i think there were signs last week in - issues. welcome as i said, i think l there were signs last week in terms of what the british government were saying, that they were rowing back from some of the positions on the european court ofjustice, that david frost had outlined earlier in the summer injune and july. we don't know is yet whether when the talks reconvene injanuary, that will still be the case or whether having a new negotiator will mean we go back to the tougher stance that david frost had upheld prior to those changes.— david frost had upheld prior to those changes. david frost had upheld prior to those chances. ~ . , , those changes. within politics, this obviously is — those changes. within politics, this obviously is seen _ those changes. within politics, this obviously is seen as _ those changes. within politics, this obviously is seen as fairly - obviously is seen as fairly significant. but i have noticed on your website that you have done some research regarding whether british people stand —— where the british people stand —— where the british people stand —— where the british people stand on this, do they still see brexit as divisive, is important to them? , , , ., ., , to them? yes, is the short answer. the british — to them? yes, is the short answer. the british people _ to them? yes, is the short answer. the british people remain - to them? yes, is the short answer. the british people remain divided l the british people remain divided and many people in britain, in fact more in the united kingdom still have an identity as a lever or remainer than have an identity as conservative or labour. the other interesting bit of polling recently shows that a small majority of people in northern ireland are relatively content with the protocol, and in that sense the view in westminster that the protocol is something that desperately needs changing doesn't necessarily chime with the majority of opinion over northern ireland.— with the majority of opinion over northern ireland. professor anand menon on. — northern ireland. professor anand menon on, thank— northern ireland. professor anand menon on, thank you _ northern ireland. professor anand menon on, thank you very - northern ireland. professor anand menon on, thank you very much. l the headlines on bbc news: the netherlands goes into a tough new lockdown over christmas, amid concerns over the omicron variant. the uk health secretary refuses to rule out tighter covid restrictions and says people should cautious in their social mixing. britain's foreign secretary liz truss will become the uk's lead negotiator with the european union, following the resignation of lord frost. voter turnout in the first elections in hong kong since china increased its control over the territory has been low. the chairman of the electoral affairs committee says the overall turnout was 30.2% — the lowest ever in hong kong's election history. only candidates approved by beijing could stand, leading to calls for a boycott of the poll. that decision has been criticised by foreign governments and activists. our correspondent danny vincent gave us this update from one of the counts. the authorities here pushed quite hard to try to encourage people to vote during this election. they were obviously concerned that the turnout may be low and if it was low, and it seems that it is low, we haven't got the final figures yet, it indicates that there's a lack of legitimacy in terms of the public support for these electoral reforms. the electoral reforms mean that only candidates that are vetted by beijing and seen as patriotic can stand in this election. controversially, many of the very popular and prominent pro—democracy candidates that have won seats in years gone by, many of them have been imprisoned and many of them have fled the city and the remainder decided, essentially, not to stand in this election at all. many didn't even put their names forward, even though they would have been vetted by beijing. so, many critics say this is another example of the erosion of the political rights that hong kong was granted. many people say there's is no longer an election. many people say this is no longer an election. it's more of a selection process. and regardless of who wins, really, it's the establishment, the pro—beijing side that will be victorious. at least 169 people have reportedly died after a powerful storm struck the philippines on thursday. super typhoon rai sent some 300,000 people running for safety when it hit the country's south—eastern islands. rescue teams have described some areas as looking like they were bombed worse than world war ii. there have been reports of sundanese authorities firing heavy tear gas at protesters outside the presidential palace in the capital khartoum. hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets around the country to denounce the military and mark the third anniversary of protests that led to the overthrow of omar al—bashir. since a coup in october there have been renewed calls for an entirely civilian political leadership. to chile now — people are heading to the polls to vote for a new president in what is the most polarised run—off since the end of military rule over 30 years ago. there are two candidates — here is the former student protest leader gabriel boric casting his vote. the other candidate is far—right lawyerjose antonio kast — who's been likened to donald trump. the country has traditionally been viewed as the region's most stable economy, but it's seen widespread protests in the past two years. president biden's flagship piece of legislation — known as build back better — looks in deep trouble after a key senator from his own democratic party said he wouldn't support it. senatorjoe mancin, who represents the conservative state of west virginia, told fox news he'd tried to reach a compromise on the multi—billion—dollar bill. the finely balanced composition of the senate means president biden cannot afford to lose a single democratic vote. in australia, police say a sixth child has died as a result of an accident with a bouncy castle in tasmania. the 11—year—old boy was among a group of children who fell about ten metres when the inflatable structure was lifted off the ground by a gust of wind. they'd been celebrating at an end—of—term school party. piers corbyn has been arrested on suspicion of encouraging people to attack mps' offices. the met police said the arrest related to a video filmed during saturday's rally in london against covid restrictions. he was arrested in south london in the early hours of sunday. the force hasn't named mr corbyn — however, it previously said it was assessing a video which appears to show him calling for direct action. (pres) richard rogers —— one of the leading architects of his generation, has died at the age of 88. he created some of the most talked about buildings of the last 50 years, including the pompidou centre in paris with its facade of pipes and ducts and the equally startling lloyds building in london. more recently he was behind heathrow�*s terminal 56 heathrow�*s terminal 5 and the millenium dome. our arts correspondent david sillito has been speaking to the leading british architect norman foster, who has paid tribute to richard rogers. my oldest and closest friend, collaborator, architect, humanist, extraordinary individual. for people who have may be only seen one or two of his buildings, what was it that he brought that was different from all the other thousands of architects? his own very personal signature of architecture, an optimistic, generous architecture in which, in the early buildings, those he is perhaps most well known for, the pompidou centre, lloyds, made a kind of bravado display, an order of the structure of the servicing of the building. huge variety, when you go from the pompidou centre to something like the millennium dome or terminalfive. was there a vision that ran through all of these buildings? oh, without doubt. if richard, as a personality, was generous and outgoing and, in a way, colourful, then his buildings reflected that personality. they were opening, welcoming, optimistic and elegant in turn. at a time when many people thought the inner cities and urban life were in continual decay in the 1970s, he was always optimistic about them. absolutely, yes, and vindicated, proved right by the survival of the city, certainly. and what was he like as a person, when you had dinner with him? we would banter, we would argue. but it was never acrimonious. i mean, i think we would almost deliberately take opposing points of view just for the hell of it. but we had a kind of private shared language, which was a shorthand, and it was really about the appreciation of architecture, the criticism of architecture. so, you know, the memories are very dear, very real, and totally positive. norman foster, paying tribute to richard rogers, who has died at the age of 88. the winner of this year's strictly come dancing final was crowned last night. some 11 million people tuned in to watch eastenders actress rose ayling—ellis make history as the first deaf winner of the dancing show. rose and her partner giovanni pernice beat tv chef john whaite and johannes radebe in the final. tv presenter aj odudu was forced to drop out of the final on friday due to an injury. a little earlier i spoke to liam o'dell, a deafjournalist and campaigner. he told me what rose's win means to the deaf community and how it will raise awareness of the measures that need to be put in place to make life more accessible to deaf people. there are so many things that rose's win symbolises for deaf people like myself. i think first and foremost it goes to show how, with the right support, deaf people can achieve anything. i think what people approached the show or this series with was the idea that rose could not hear the music, but in actuality, that showed that that did not have to be an issue, because instead it showed us, through the brilliant connection that she had with her partner, giovanni, what we got instead was these beautiful, beautiful dances and this just wonderful connection between the two of them that led them all the way to the final and i think thatjust goes to show that when deaf people are supported and when accessibility is there, accessibility benefits everyone, notjust the person involved. liam, i wonder if we could just go back to the fact that dancing required hearing, listening, to the tempo, following the tempo, listening to the music, so, so many people are asking how on earth did she do it? what do you understand about how she did it? it is quite a feat, isn't it? yes. in rose's case, if you actually paid attention to some of the dances, looked very closely, you may have seen that rose is actually mouthing in time with the rhythm, so we can actually see her going, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... to the tune of the music and there are other methods, adjustments almost, that they were making in the rehearsal room. unfortunately, i was not privy to the rehearsals, but you can see a few little small changes that help to navigate the same issue or challenge that everyone else is facing, just in a different way. as rose, i think, has said herself, that difference or that different take on a challenge is actually what makes things unique and more creative and i think that certainly connected with a lot of people who watched the series. liam, you mentioned something interesting there, you mentioned navigating and you mentioned achieving anything if you put your mind to it and i have also heard about the barriers that are there and those barriers need to come down. for somebody who is not deaf, what are the barriers that we would take for granted? oh, absolutely, there are so many barriers that deaf people face. one of them is absolutely communication. i think we are still at a point where deaf awareness could be better. i always think that it could be better. that extends to the use of british sign language, for example, it was fantastic that during the time that rose was on the competition, searches for british sign language on search engines went up by 488%, which is an astronomical figure. it is really important that that interest in sign language continues