between the business secretary, kwasi kwarteng, and the uk's energy industry, to try to resolve the ongoing crisis caused by rising wholesale gas prices. energy companies have warned that bills could go up by 50 per cent next year without government action. theo leggett reports. a midwinter meeting, at a time when the energy industry is battling a deep economic chill. the cost of gas on european wholesale markets has been hitting record levels, and suppliers say consumers will end up paying a heavy price. energy companies themselves have already been badly hit. more than two dozen have gone out of business since the summer, and more casualties are expected. that's because, so far, they have had to absorb most of the extra costs themselves. it's a situation that won't last. household gas and electricity bills are capped by the energy regulator, ofcom, but with wholesale prices at their current levels, it seems inevitable the cap will be raised in the spring and raised significantly. that will leave millions of consumers across the country facing much higher bills. there are millions of households, millions of families, who really struggle to afford to heat their homes in winter. with prices doubling next year, that is only going to get worse. there is going to be more families that need help and those families that do need help will need more of it. people within the industry say ministers could consider cutting the environmental and social levies that energy consumers have to pay. labour wants vat on bills to be removed. a real rethink, listening to the industry leaders, to see what they recommend, would be an important thing to do, before february, and february is when ofgem meets to decide what its price is going to be for the domestic consumer on the 1st of april. today's meeting is unlikely to be the last. the government says talks will continue over the coming days and weeks to ensure uk consumers are protected. theo leggett, bbc news. now on bbc news... our world in the summer of 2014, is militants swept across northern iraq. gunfire. in sinjar, they would go on to commit a massacre, taking thousands of young women like amsha captive. almost seven years later, much of the region remains in ruins and thousands remain missing. despite everything, amsha chose to remain in sinjar. now every day, she confronts the deadly legacy left hidden by herformer captors. on the 3rd of august 2014, is militants invaded sinjar, homeland of the yazidi people. gunfire. the so—called islamic state regarded this religious minority as infidels, reserving for them their most brutal treatment. is militants dragged amsha and her brother from their car and took them to a nearby base. dog barks. for amsha, it was the start of 11 months of torture. during their occupation of sinjar, the so—called islamic state took over 6000 yazidis captive, forcing boys into training camps and girls and young women into slavery. five years on, amsha now lives back at home with her family. dogs bark. is militants might have gone from sinjar, but they are still taking lives — civilians are frequently killed or injured by explosive devices. three months ago, amsha started work as a de—miner, working with a british ngo, the mines advisory group. when amsha firstjoined mag, she worked as a dog handler. it was the start of a new career and an important step in her path to recovery. iraq remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. in sinjar, civilians live side by side with homes still contaminated with explosives and fields laced with ieds. since 2016, mag has cleared over 27,000 items of unexploded ordnance from across iraq, returning thousands of square metres of land back to the community. seven years ago, amsha's family, along with hundreds of thousands of other yazidis, fled to mount sinjar. now, a temple on top of the mountain has become a place for reflection for amsha. back in sinjar, amsha is one of a handful of women who have chosen to stay, to provide for theirfamilies and help rebuild. every week, amsha and her close friend and colleague spend time together in sinjar town. before is militants attacked, around half a million yazidis called sinjar home. amsha was in high school, alongside her sisters and brothers. is militants are thought to have murdered over 5,000 yazidis. of those taken captive, almost 3,000 are still considered missing. for amsha and her colleagues, the dangerous work of making their land safe continues. despite the progress that mag and other de—mining agencies have made in clearing the land, the work will continue for years to come. sinjar remains volatile, with various armed groups spread across the region, often at odds with each other and with the civilian population. but despite this, the numbers of those returning are slowly increasing. and new signs of life are emerging every day. hello there. the big weather story for the rest of this week, and of course that means the rest of this year, is all about exceptionally high temperatures. this chart shows the temperature compared with the average. as these deep red colours spread northwards across the chart, that shows that temperatures will be significantly higher than we'd expect them to be at this time of year. daytime highs of 16—17 degrees, some very mild nights. there will be some rain at times as well, and during tuesday, it's this area of low pressure responsible for bringing some wet weather. and on the southern flank of that low, also some quite windy weather. so, as our area of low pressure slides eastwards, we will see outbreaks of rain through the morning across parts of england and wales. a lot of mist and murk and low cloud around as well. should brighten up from the west. northern ireland and scotland certainly turning brighter by the afternoon. once any early fog has lifted, there should be quite a lot of sunshine around. relatively light winds in the north, but down towards the south, particularly for western and southern coasts, we're likely to see gusts of 40—50, maybe 55 mph. and still quite a split in temperatures for the time being. 5—6 degrees in northern scotland, 12—13 in southern england. then as we head through tuesday night into the early part of wednesday, a drier, quieter interlude before another band of rain swings its way in from the west. a little bit chilly again across northern parts of scotland, very mild down towards wales and the south west of england. and for wednesday, that band of rain associated with the frontal system will continue to journey its way north—eastwards, so we will see some wet weather for a time on wednesday. clearing many areas quite quickly. that rain lingering, though, for a good part of the afternoon in northern scotland. behind it, there will be some spells of sunshine, some areas of cloud, too. but some increasingly mild conditions, 15—16 degrees in the south, 13 there for belfast, ten in glasgow. the milder air is journeying northwards. it will continue to do so on thursday. quite a cloudy day for many, some mist and murk, some rain especially in the west. best chance of any sunshine in eastern parts, but highs of 16 or maybe 17 degrees. but even northern scotland will be up into double digits by this stage. another quite windy day in prospect. for friday, new year's eve, a lot of cloud around, some rain, especially in the west. best of any sunshine in the east, and still milder than it should be for the end of december. highs of 11—16 degrees. welcome to bbc news, i'm david eades. our top stories. america's leading health body halves the isolation period for patients with asymptomatic covid from ten days to five. france gets tougher on covid restrictions — working from home becomes compulsory, as infection rates exceed 100,000 a day. the political stand—off in somalia escalates, as the president and the prime minister engage in a power struggle, after delayed elections. the captain and first officer of a freighter that caused an environmental disaster in mauritius are sentenced to 20 months in prison. and cape town's city hall is bathed in purple light to honour archbishop desmond tutu, as south africa holds a week of mourning and commemoration.

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