for the james webb space telescope — as it starts to unfold its tennis—court sized sunshield. a woman who gave key evidence in the trial of ghislaine maxwell — has spoken publicly today — saying she hopes the guilty verdict will bring some solace to other survivors. annie farmer — the only witness to use her real name during testimony — said the case demonstrated that no one was above the law. maxwell was found guilty yesterday — by a jury in new york — of grooming underage girls — to be abused by her friend jeffrey epstein. her lawyers say they will appeal against the verdict. this report by our correspondent, aleem maqbool, contains some flashing images. good morning america. guilty. good morning — guilty, i a long awaited verdict... the downfall of the british formersocialite, now a convicted sex trafficker, has been headline news here. and one of the four women brave enough to testify to put her behind bars, who was abused as a teenager, has been giving her reaction. i wasn't sure this day would ever come. and ijust feel so grateful that the jury believed us and sent a strong message that perpetrators of sexual abuse and exploitation will be held accountable, no matter how much power and privilege they have. mr maxwell, could we have a statement in behalf of the family, please? there's been no sense of contrition as yet from the siblings of ghislaine maxwell, or regrets for the victims she played a part in sexually abusing. they released a statement saying, "we believe firmly in our sister's innocence, we are very disappointed with the verdict." one of maxwell's lawyers, who questioned the motives of the women who came forward to testify, said this wasn't the end. obviously we are very disappointed with the verdict. we have already started working on the appeal and we are confident she will be vindicated. but legal experts appear to agree ghislaine maxwell's chances of clearing the high legal bar to win an appeal are slim. her crimes were carried out during her long association with the disgraced financier jeffrey epstein, who died in prison. but they mingled with the rich and influential, including, famously, prince andrew. their powerful connections left many of their accusers wondering if they'd ever be held accountable. it's been such a long, hard journey to get here. so, yesterday's decision, i think, will take a little while to sink in. i'm pleased that she will never be able again, ever, to hurt anybody else. and, for that, ifeel very pleased. all the while she'd been living her lavish lifestyle, she'd been hiding dark secrets. but finally that's all caught up with ghislaine maxwell. and a short time ago, aleem gave us this update from new york well, you heard there from just two of the people who accused jeffrey epstein and his long—time girlfriend, maxwell, one of them testified in court about their relief and how they hoped that it would mean that others came forward who were victims of sexual abuse more broadly. that's what we have been hearing across the us from lawyers, advocates for those who have suffered sexual abuse, that in a country where it is notoriously difficult to get the conviction sometimes for sexual abuse, that they do hope, because this is such a high—profile case that dated and in convictions, that it would help others to come forward. —— cases that did aid and in convictions. us presidentjoe biden has told russia's president vladimir putin that the us and its allies will respond decisively, if russia further invades ukraine. the two leaders spoke on the phone for 50 minutes, amid concerns about the build up of russian troops at the ukrainian border. it was their second call in just over three weeks. a kremlin spokesperson said putin made it clear that if the west imposed large—scale sanctions, it would be a �*colossal mistake�*. the spokeperson added that it is still not yet clear what compromise between the two countries looks like. let's speak now to ivo daalder, former us ambassador to nato, who is now president of the chicago council. thank you very much for coming on the programme. my thank you very much for coming on the programme-— thank you very much for coming on | the programme._ what thank you very much for coming on - the programme._ what do the programme. my pleasure. what do ou think the programme. my pleasure. what do you think president _ the programme. my pleasure. what do you think president biden _ the programme. my pleasure. what do you think president biden would - the programme. my pleasure. what do you think president biden would have i you think president biden would have been saying on this phone call. what do you think is key matches is our? i would assume that the key messages are two, one, if you do anything militarily, continue to engage in escalation and even invade further into ukraine, there is going to be serious consequences, sanctions that will be agreed to by the european union, by the uk, by the us that are far in access of what was imposed in 2014 when putin first invaded ukraine. secondly, it will mean a significant plus up of military and other assistance to the ukrainian so they can defend themselves. thirdly, it will mean an expansion of the capacity of nato to defend its territory further in the east, including with us troops. that's message number one. message number two is, there is another way. de—escalate, find a way to remove your troops that you have put on the border and let's engage in diplomacy. there is a first round of diplomacy. there is a first round of diplomacy between the two countries scheduled forjanuary ten, then a nato council meeting two days later. at a meeting of security cooperation in europe with all european countries, and having a serious discussion about the future of european security is something that the biden administration and our allies in europe are more than willing to do. not at the point of a gun. willing to do. not at the point of a nun. ~ . willing to do. not at the point of a . un, ~ ., ., ., willing to do. not at the point of a nun. ~ . ., ., , gun. we are not on the court, but let's take — gun. we are not on the court, but let's take it _ gun. we are not on the court, but let's take it as _ gun. we are not on the court, but let's take it as that's _ gun. we are not on the court, but let's take it as that's what - let's take it as that's what happened, that kind of deterrent message in diplomacy message, what do you think vladimir putin's response would be?- do you think vladimir putin's response would be? do you think vladimir putin's resonse would be? ~ , , , , response would be? well, my sense is that he would — response would be? well, my sense is that he would have _ response would be? well, my sense is that he would have said _ response would be? well, my sense is that he would have said i'm _ response would be? well, my sense is that he would have said i'm all - response would be? well, my sense is that he would have said i'm all in - that he would have said i'm all in favour of diplomacy, but we need results immediately, and here is my demands, which is i want legal guarantees that nato does not expand further, certainly not to ukraine, and legal demands that in many ways, nato and europe turned the clock back to back to 1997 before any other country became members of nato, remove all military capabilities from those countries that have joint —— joined nato, capabilities from those countries that havejoint —— joined nato, 27 countries, 14 countries have done so since that time. then we are all fine. i don't want to have long negotiations, i want to have you come to the table saying, yes, yes is the work he is looking for, and until he gets that word, he will presumably maintain his military capability, and that is where the standoff is. it is between on the one hand to it and trying to force a resolution on a set of issues that he has put forward for a long time now and europe, which is that he wants to control the future of ukraine, the future of belarus, the feature of the caucuses and not the countries that are independent and trying to become free and sovereign and democratic and join the west. he wants to determine that rather than these countries come in the question is what price is he willing to pay to get there. is what price is he willing to pay to get there-— is what price is he willing to pay to netthere. ., , , . to get there. fascinating stuff. we haven't got — to get there. fascinating stuff. we haven't got time _ to get there. fascinating stuff. we haven't got time to _ to get there. fascinating stuff. we haven't got time to go _ to get there. fascinating stuff. we haven't got time to go into - to get there. fascinating stuff. we haven't got time to go into exactlyj haven't got time to go into exactly what that price would be, but really clear to talk about what exactly the two sides could potentially be discussing in that phone call. thank you very much, lending your expertise, thank you. my you very much, lending your expertise, thank you. to covid now and south africa — where the omicron variant was first identified last month — says all indicators suggest it has passed the peak of the fourth wave of infections on a national level. the government is lifting with immediate effect the curfew it imposed to combat the new variant. it's also easing other restrictions. the authorities said there had been an almost 30 percent drop in the number of new cases during the week ending on the twenty— fifth of december. on the twenty— 25th of december. here in the uk, the number of daily new cases of covid—19 has reached a new high. the latest figures show that there were 189,213 new positive cases recorded in the last 24 hours — although it's not clear exactly how much the figures have been affected by reporting delays over the christmas period. france reported 206,243 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the last 24—hours, above the 200,000 mark for the second day running. and in the united states there were 519,818 positive covid cases up from 429,000 on wednesday. 0ur health correspondent jim reed has been looking at the latest statistics and gave us this analysis. we've seen what's happened in south africa, where this wave of omicron now appears to be receding without a huge increase in hospitalisations and deaths. the question is, is that same pattern going to be repeated elsewhere in the uk and europe, for example, where you have a much more elderly, vulnerable population then you've got in south africa. so that's why these figures are important. today, we saw another big increase in donations in england for covid. —— today, we saw another big increase in admissions in england for covid. so it's gone up to just over 2000 people being admitted to hospital, that's up 90% in a week. now, that's still well below the levels we saw in the last wave of the virus, so injanuary this year, we were seeing roughly three and half thousand, now we are seeing 2000, and we have also got figures for the overall number in hospital with coal that, so that's roughly 11,000 — 11,400, again, a big increase from the week earlier, about seven and half thousand a week ago, but again, that's still well below the 34,000 we saw injanuary, so there is some signs at the moment that given the huge increase in cases that we've seen, hospitalisations are going up, but they are not going up quite as fast as you might expect, given the rising cases, and there is a lot we don't know about hospitalisations, in particular, the people going into hospital, how sick do they get? some quite encouraging news about the number of people on ventilators, the most severely sick, that has increased in london recently, but it hasn't been going up by numbers that you would expect, based on previous waves. there's some indication that people are going into hospital, maybe for a shorter period of time, two or three days, they may need some oxygen, but they are not quite as severely ill as you might expect, and that again is reflected in the south african data, what we have seen in other countries. there are still problems across the uk with the availability of lateral flow and pcr tests. health officials say millions more tests will be made available by new year's eve. so—called �*nightingale surge hubs' are to be set up at hospitals across england — in preparation for a bigger wave of 0micron admissions. 0ur health correspondent, sophie hutchinson, reports. the start of building work on the next wave of nightingale hubs. this one is at st george's hospital in south—west london. the government says it's a contingency measure, in case of a surge in covid patients. but there's concern about who will staff them. we would prefer that the government take steps to avoid needing to use that extra surge capacity, purely because there just aren't the number of staff needed to safely provide the care for any patients that are requiring care, and that is where the priority needs to be, to ensure we've got staff to safely care for people that need care. eight nightingale units will be set up in hospital grounds to care for around 100 covid patients each, and hospital admissions are now rising sharply in the uk, almost doubling in england in the past week. and that follows several weeks of soaring infections, reaching record highs. but many people are still finding it hard to get tested. we thought we would come to the local pharmacy to see if they've got any lateral flow tests. but you don't need to go in to see that they're out of stock. so let's try this one. staff suggested that we go down the road to another pharmacy. well, i got lucky. the pharmacist here does have a box of tests. he says, in fact, he gets a delivery every day. but as soon as people find out he has got them, they can run out in half an hour, just because of the sheer size of the demand for them. eve burke, a teacher in berkshire, has covid along with her husband and two children. she's hoping to get back to work next tuesday, but can't find a ny lateral flow tests. i've been trying since yesterday, going on to the government website and refreshing hourly to get lfts sent to our home, because we can't go to a place to pick them up. i've been messaging friends, asking if anybody has any spare that they can drop off. but the issue is, everybody is in the same position. and if they do have some lfts at home, they are holding onto them themselves. we are now down to our final box of lateral flow tests. the government says 8 million lateral flow tests will be available by tomorrow. but mark burdon, who runs six pharmacies in north—east england, hasn't seen any extra supply. i tried ordering an additional supply this afternoon and that order was rejected. unfortunately, we're going to have to start to turn people away once the current supplies are exhausted. it's very frustrating when you've got people in front of you and you're unable to give them the tests that they're asking for. and lateral flow tests become even more important from tomorrow in northern ireland and wales. as in england, people with covid will be able to end self isolation earlier after seven days, rather than ten, if they can get the tests and get two negative results. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. away from the pandemic, european countries will face new legal efforts next year, to try to make sure that global leaders stick to the promises they made at the cop26 climate summit in glasgow. the deal struck — which includes further reducing carbon emissions and using less coal — is not currently legally binding. 0ur europe correspondent nick beake has more. i'm sofia. i'm 16 years old. i'm andre. i'm 13 years old and we are suing 33 countries. it's pretty scary. yeah. _ it's not a joke. 0ne family's effort for the global good. brother and sister andre and sofia felt compelled to do something after devastating fires hit northern portugal four years ago. we actually saw people, like, suffering and dying on tv, and not that far away from us. in all, 66 people perished. scientists say climate change will bring more of these violent episodes. the young portuguese activists hope judges will rule that their right to life is being threatened by the 33 countries they're suing. even if we don't win i think we set an example to other people that they can follow, so it's like a snowball effect that gets bigger and bigger. dutch climate campaigner eefke van de wouw agrees a new direction�*s needed. she's hiked through the netherlands during the pandemic trying to drum up support, and argues the best path is now a legal one. because we feel now a lot of doors are shutting, we're taking it to the court. because first, in the climate strikes, we yelled, "what do we want? climate justice! when do we want it? now!" that's the main thing we say, and now we're actually courageous enough to take it to the courts and hope that this door will stay open and actually accelerate the climate action that we need. just this summer more than 200 people were killed in devastating floods in europe, most in germany. nearly six months on, communities are struggling to rebuild, including here in western belgium. as more lives are lost and more livelihoods ruined by extreme weather episodes, it feels like the momentum is shifting. shifting toward solutions that force politicians to act rather than waiting for them to deliver their promises. and there's a renewed effort to place their actions or inaction on the environment among the most serious crimes imaginable. international lawyer philippe sands argues that a crime of ecocide — causing grave damage the environment — should be introduced. the person within government who takes that decision — it could be a prime minister, it could be a foreign secretary, it could be a president — could be individually responsible for the crime of ecocide. it works as a disincentive. the idea that you might spend time in prison, the idea that you might have to go through an individual criminal trial, that tends to concentrate the mind. there's likely to be powerful political opposition to that plan, but young campaigners feel something must change to ensure environmental promises are finally honoured. we are basically giving them a second chance to do the things that they said they will do. to keep their promises. yeah _ this...| want them to think that this is like a second chance. not a threat, not an attack — an opportunity. nick beake, bbc news. a swiss biologist who emigrated to brazil is pioneering a new way of agriculture in brazil's semi—arid regions — that increases, rather then decreases, biodiversity and wildlife. bbc brasil�*sjoao fellet reports. when this man moved here in the 1980s, the land was dry and barren. but now rivers and wildlife have returned to this corner of northeast brazil. it's down to a new method of farming combining food production with reforestation. he because it syntropic agriculture, a type of agroforestry. an agra—forest system like this mirrors the local ecosystem where it's implemented. instead of having just cocoa trees, which of the main species everywhere, you have trees producing fruit on the top and the bottom. his methods are now being used across brazil, including in the country's driest regions. this man began farming here three years ago. now by carefully selecting different types of plants, water is effectively planted on the land. nelson produces money and food throughout the year. both climate change and deforestation have threatened brazil's biodiversity while at the same time, population growth is increasing demand for food. farmers like thse believe both challenges can be solved together. joao fellet, bbc news, brazil. the james webb space telescope — launched on christmas day — is starting to unfold its sunshield — in a complex process involving hundreds of moving parts. all of them have to trigger at the right time and in the right order for the telescope to work. 0ur science editor rebecca morelle has the story. and lift off! the moment of launch for an astronomy mission like no other, as the james webb space telescope blasted off. then the rocket casing opened up, and the telescope was released into the darkness of space, with a million—mile journey ahead. but, as it travels, it has a fiendishly difficult task to do — unfolding. it's so big, we didn't have any rocket that's big enough to launch it, you know, fully deployed. so, we had to build this telescope to be folded up, to fit inside the rocket. this is really, really difficult engineering. but, you know, nasa has never shied away from doing hard things and so i have full confidence that it's going to work. unfurling the sun shield is the most difficult part of this process. it's enormous — the size of a tennis court. first, its two halves are lowered into position. then, the booms are deployed. the operation involves 400 pulleys, 400 metres of cabling and more than 100 release mechanisms that have to fire at exactly the right time. finally, the material is pulled taut, and the five layers of the sun shield, each as thin as a human hair, separate. the whole process has been rehearsed again and again on earth, but doing this in space will be nail—biting. it's made of floppy material and it has to be held onto by a series of pins, which release one by one, pull it out, make it tight, release another bit, pull it out again, until slowly, over days, you pull out this tennis court sized object. so, for many people working on the project, that's where the real nerves are. the sun shield protects the telescope from the heat and light of the sun. the difference between the hot and cold sides is huge — 300 degrees celsius. the telescope needs to operate in the coldest and darkest conditions to see the most distant stars. for the first time, we'll be able to see all the way back to the time when these very first galaxies formed. and that will allow us to actually get images of them, verify that they are the very first galaxies, and then we can study how galaxies have evolved over the history of the universe. the images that eventually come back from james webb will be even more spectacular than these, taken by hubble. but there's still work to do. the sun shield will take several days to open, and that's just the start of this complex unfolding process. with so much at stake, it's a tense time for the team. rebecca morelle, bbc news. fingers crossed that goes smoothly. we will keep you up—to—date with all things going on in outer space as well as on earth. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones hello there. it's been very mild today, like yesterday. temperatures reached 16 degrees, this time around cambridge, helped by a bit of sunshine. we stay in this very mild airfor the next few days into the new year. it'll be accompanied by some blustery winds, mind you. the winds are coming from a long way south, all the way from the azores and madeira, bringing that mild air up to the uk, bringing in a lot of moisture in the form of cloud, and there's still some rain around as well. we've got some wet weather into this evening across northern england and northern ireland. 0vernight, that pushes up into central, southern scotland, and we'll see a band of rain sweeping eastwards across other parts of england and wales. that'll be helped along by some blustery winds, which will keep it mild. temperatures not falling very much for most of us, except in northern scotland, where the winds are lighter, we've got clearer skies and it's a bit chillier here. that rain in east anglia and the south east soon scoots away. for many parts of the uk, it will turn drier and brighter, perhaps with some sunshine. but we've still got the cloudy zone across central, southern scotland, some outbreaks of rain. the rain should become light and patchy into the afternoon. still going to be mild in the central belt, 13 degrees here. 16, possibly even 17 degrees in east anglia and the south east of england. now, the previous warmest new year's eve was in 2011, where temperatures reached 14.8 degrees in wales, so we're possibly going to beat that figure. it stays very mild into the evening if you are going to be seeing in the new year. this is the sort of weather we're expecting — some patchy rain for northern and western parts of the uk accompanied by a strong southerly wind, but that, of course, is keeping the mild air going. it will be a windy day for new year's day. we've got a band of rain to sneak its way eastwards. it'll be followed by brighter weather, some sunshine, but also some showers, heavy ones for western scotland and northern ireland. still very mild for new year's day, temperatures widely14—16 degrees. after saturday, after new year's day, the weather starts to change a bit because that really mild air is getting pushed away from the uk, and instead, our wind direction is more of a west to south—westerly wind. it will still be mild, butjust not as mild. and we've got some wetter weather developing on sunday as well, particularly across southern and western parts of the uk. showers or longer spells of rain. that rain could turn quite heavy as well. temperatures will be a few degrees lower on sunday, but it's still mild, though, for this time of the year. this is bbc news. the headlines — woman who gave evidence against ghislaine maxwell in trial has spoken publicly saying she hopes the verdict will give solace to some of the survivors. maxwell procured the girls for the financier and convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. she faces the rest of her life behind bars. lawyers for some of the women abused by epstein have welcomed the conviction. the south african government says the country has passed the peak of its latest covid wave, driven by the 0micron variant. elsewhere, the us and europe continue to experience very high levels of new infections. president biden has spoken on the phone with russia's vladimir putin for the second time this month. the white house said mr biden urged russia to de—escalate tensions over the concentration of thousands of russian troops on the border with ukraine, but made it clear that the united states and its allies would respond decisively if russia further invades ukraine.