with covid in england is being cut to five full days from next week. covid restrictions are to be eased in wales as the data suggests the peak of the omicron wave here has already passed. pro—democracy demonstrators in sudan protesting against a military coup and facing a crackdown by security forces. it's not a yoghurt that can be taken out of the fridge and put back in multiple times. and the king of analogy gives up his throne. jonathan van—tam, famous for his pithy phrases during the pandemic, steps down from his official role. and coming up on the sport on the bbc news channel, all to play for at anfield as arsenal take on liverpool in the first leg of their delayed carabao cup semifinal. good evening. buckingham palace has announced that prince andrew is returning his royal and military titles to the queen, and will no longer be referred to as his royal highness in any official capacity. it comes after a court ruling in the us yesterday which left the prince facing a civil case later this year against virginia giuffre, who says she was sexually assaulted by him two decades ago when she was a teenager. he has consistently denied the allegations. prince andrew retired from public duties in november 2019 after an interview about the claims with the bbc�*s newsnight, and will now have to defend the court case as a private citizen. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. it was a day to take stock. for andrew, seen leaving his home near windsor castle this morning, to ponder the situation in which he now finds himself. a situation in which, for him, none of the options is a good one. the days of this, of standing proudly on the balcony of buckingham palace, in military uniform, alongside his family, are over. his family and particularly his elder brother charles and his nephew, william, had to put aside family feeling. the priority now was the family's protection from severe reputational damage. just after five o'clock, buckingham palace issued a short statement regarding the duke of york. with the queen's approval and agreement, the duke of york's military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen. the duke of york will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen. at the same time, the palace let it be known that andrew would no longer be known as his royal highness. so, what does it all mean? as his royal highness. it means we will never see andrew like this again, riding as honorary colonel of the grenadier guards at trooping the colour. he has stepped down by mutual agreement, we are told, from that position and from roles in nearly a dozen other regiments. he is also giving up roles in the royal navy and the raf. in military circles, there was considerable relief. the mp, tobias ellwood, is a former army officer. the royal family has an intimate relationship with the regiments, going back in history, many of them are honorary colonels and so forth and it is important that the problems that prince andrew has incurred are not bled over into the regiments that he was representing. from sources close to andrew, we were told that he would fight on. the duke will continue to defend himself against these claims, they said. the claims began more than ten years ago now, with the publication of this photograph of andrew with the then 17—year—old virginia roberts and this photograph of him with the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. in his newsnight interview, andrew said he rued the day he became involved with epstein. and that is the bit that, as it were, i kick myself for, on a daily basis, because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and i let the side down. simple as that. two years on from that interview, andrew, duke of york, second son of the queen, ninth in line to the british throne stands alone. nicholas witchell, bbc news. well, our correspondent helena wilkinson is in windsor for us this evening. he cuts a very isolated figure now? yes, he does. windsor is where prince andrew lives. his home is around three miles away from the castle here in windsor great park and he is rarely seen out and about here. sometimes in the park, but that's about it, and since that interview with newsnight in 2019, since he stepped back from public duties, he has led a very isolated life here. he shares his home with his former wife here, sarah ferguson, and perhaps he is going to be turning to her in this moment but going forward we are not going to see prince andrew out and about again as a working member of the royalfamily and that again as a working member of the royal family and that decision clearly designed to separate prince andrew's court case from the royal family's public duties. he will now focus on the case. the queen, who should be celebrating this year her 70 years on the throne, the palace will be very much hoping that this decision about prince andrew will lift what was to be a very dark cloud over those celebrations. and as for prince andrew, going forward, he is going to be leaving leading an even more isolated life here in windsor. . ., ~ , ., windsor. helena, thank you. nick witchell joins _ windsor. helena, thank you. nick witchell joins me. _ windsor. helena, thank you. nick witchell joins me. an _ windsor. helena, thank you. nick i witchelljoins me. an unprecedented situation for the royal family? witchelljoins me. an unprecedented situation for the royalfamily? it situation for the royal family? it is, the royal family hasn't faced a situation such as this in modern time, with a senior member of the family, the second son of the monarch, facing allegation of sexual assault in a court, an allegation of course which he denies but the royal family have acted very quickly because the reputational risk is very considerable and very real. i think we can detect the hands of charles and william in all of this. it would be very odd if the queen was not consulting them, was not taking their counsel, particularly in the absence now of the duke of edinburgh. they will be concerned, i'm sure, for andrew at a human level, but they are very much more concerned for the reputation of the institution, as helena was staying there. andrew's position regarding there. andrew's position regarding the regiments was plainly untenable. he has agreed, we are told he has agreed, not to use the styling of h r h any more and he will fight this case, he says he will fight it as a private citizen. for andrew this must be devastating. the last bits of superstructure, of framework around him for the past a0 years, have been taken away, have been stripped away, but his family are trying to protect the monarchy from any further as it were collateral contamination from this case. thank ou ve contamination from this case. thank you very much. _ contamination from this case. thank you very much, nick _ contamination from this case. thank you very much, nick witchell, - contamination from this case. thank you very much, nick witchell, our i you very much, nick witchell, our royal correspondent. m15 has issued a rare alert about a named individual, warning mps of a woman who's been working as an agent for the chinese state and trying to influence british politicians. the security service said that christine lee was engaged in political interference on behalf of the chinese communist party. the home secretary priti patel said it was "deeply concerning", but that the uk had measures in place to identify such activities. here's our security correspondent, gordon corera. a figure at the heart of westminster, with access to politicians from all parties, even a prime minister. but today lawyer christine lee is accused of working secretly on behalf of the chinese state. in a highly unusual move, m15 today issued this alert to parliamentarians. they were warned that miss lee had been working with an arm of the chinese communist party to covertly interfere in uk politics through establishing links with established and aspiring parliamentarians. the fact that this alert has become public today in the way in which it has, is really a very strong illustration of how our intelligence and security agencies have been working together to really spot and identify this type of activity, activity that could potentially do harm to our country and harm to our democracy. there was no one here today at christine lee's london office and she has not yet responded to the claims. the allegation is that she was funnelling money to politicians, claiming it came from within the uk, when in fact it came from china, all in order to secure influence for the chinese communist party. former labour frontbencher barry gardiner received more than £a00,000 from her over five years. in a statement today, he said he had been liasing with m15 and he stopped receiving funding for parliamentary researchers in 2020, although miss lee's son was working in mr gardiner�*s office until he resigned today. this is really serious. we won't play this down, we are not running scare stories, i am genuinely concerned and shocked that this has been allowed to happen. we need to understand why, we need to do something about it, but also we have to recognise that the chinese government poses a clear and present danger to us and stop messing around. today's alert came after what i'm told is a lengthy and serious investigation by m15 here, but christine lee is not being prosecuted. this isn't about spying on the traditional sense of stealing secrets, it's about influence and the judgment was that the best way of disrupting her alleged activities was by issuing this very unusual warning. inside british intelligence, concerns about chinese influence have been growing in recent years. today is a sign that those fears could go right to the heart of westminster and we are told to expect more of these warnings in the future. gordon corera, bbc news. the metropolitan police say they'll wait for the result of a civil service enquiry into parties held at downing street and that government departments during covid lockdowns before deciding whether to investigate. borisjohnson apologised yesterday for attending a drinks party in the downing street garden in may 2020, during the first lockdown, saying he thought it was work—related. he remains under pressure from his party, with some senior conservatives saying he should resign. here's our correspondent, alex forsyth. there's no easy way to clean the current situation and since first thing no sign of the prime minister. a planned public visit was cancelled because one of his family has covid. while he hunkered down here, others spoke up for him after yesterday's apology. he was ashen faced, he was upset, he was truly genuinely heartfelt sorry for the upset and the rage that people are feeling. he gets it. on the airwaves there was a chorus of loyalty. there is no question in my mind borisjohnson was acting in good faith. with hindsight he regrets going out into the garden. he has apologised very, very clearly. j the cabinet have shown their support, including the chancellor, though from him it was quieter. mr speaker, i want to apologise. for many, yesterday's apologyjust didn't cut it. the mood among tories is dim. some critics are keeping their counsel for now, waiting perhaps to hear from their constituencies. stamford in lincolnshire is rock—solid tory turf. long—standing members of the conservative association were as one. if he wants to be remembered as a good prime minister then i think he has to consider, is it the time now to resign. i think it would be better if he just resigned, rather than waiting for a vote of confidence. i think he would get a lot more respect. a lot of the long serving membersl in the association have very vocally said that it's time for him to go. scotland's tory leader has already said the same. his call for borisjohnson to resign caused something of a party row. jacob rees—mogg, as anyone, is entitled to their opinions. i don't happen to agree with them. jacob rees—mogg had called him a lightweight and questioned his loyalty, and now he's suggested lockdown rules might have been too tough at the time of the downing street gathering — asking today... whether all those regulations were proportionate or whether it was too hard on people...whether it was too hard on people. labour wasn't impressed. here, frustration at the government is farfrom fading. whether public or private, there is real anger across the conservative party at borisjohnson, but many mps are waiting for the findings of the official investigation before passing finaljudgement. even when that's published in the next week or so, it's likely it will be the political mood that follows that ultimately determines the prime minister's fate. there's a lot riding on sue gray, the civil servant leading the cabinet office enquiry. even the met police said today, they'd wait for her findings before deciding if there's anything to investigate. labour says the prime minister needs to act. he knowingly misled, lied to parliament, which in itself is a resignation offence under the ministerial code, but we're also calling for him to resign because of the damage that he's done to public trust and public confidence in health measures at a crucial time. for now, borisjohnson is in downing street, but make no mistake, this matter is far from closed. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. the isolation period for people testing positive for covid in england is being cut to five days from seven days. the health secretary announced that from monday people who have tested positive can leave isolation at the start of the sixth day as long as they test negative on days five and six. it is hoped it will ease pressure on employers. here is our health correspondence sophie hutchison. this restaurant in manchester, one of six in a group employing around 500 people. today, senior managers were raising a glass to government plans to lower the number of days for self isolation. from a business perspective, it will give people confidence to come out again. we have seen that in the last few months and we really need to take the shackles off and get things moving. we have made the decision to reduce the minimum self isolation period to five full days in england. from monday, people can test twice before they go, leaving isolation at the start of day six. and some scientists agree, it is the right balance of risks. the negative impacts of the isolation on our services, on our schools and jobs is probably not worth the additional benefits. and i think the five—day rule at the moment is probably the right thing. so how long does it take to stop being infectious after getting covid? estimates suggest that at 1a days, the original isolation period, just 1% of people remain infectious. at seven days, that figure increases to 16%. and at 5 days, the new minimum isolation period from next week, that figure increases again to around a third of people who are still infectious. that's why people will be required to have two negative lateral flow results before being released from self isolation. the first test can be taken on day five, but some are urging caution. if you do test negative and you are going to come out of isolation on day six, you should still be cautious, particularly about interacting with vulnerable people. you still should be concerned that you might be infectious. the rules bring england into line with scotland, but self isolation is still seven days long in wales and northern ireland. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. let's look now at the government's latest coronavirus figures. show there were 109,133 new infections in the latest 2a hour period. so 138,268 new cases on average per day in the last week. 19,721 people are in hospital with covid. another 335 deaths were reported, that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive test. on average in the past week, there were 261 deaths per day. on vaccinations, just over 36 million people have had a boosterjab. that's more than 62.7% of those aged 12 and over. in france, where more than 300,000 new covid infections have again been recorded, the government is reopening its borders to uk travellers tomorrow. before christmas, france imposed a ban on most people entering the country from the uk to try to slow the spread of omicron. but from tomorrow all vaccinated travellers willjust have to show a negative pcr or lateral flow test taken 2a hours before departure. the welsh government is to start easing covid restrictions after a fall in case numbers. ministers are expected to set out a two week plan to lift the measures which came into place on boxing day, closing nightclubs and limiting numbers in pubs and restaurants. our wales correspondent hywel griffith joins us from the senedd. this is quite a shift in message from the welsh government. absolutely. it is less than a week since mark drakeford was talking about wales being in the grip of an omicron storm. it seems that there has been quite a sudden shift in outlook to something far more optimistic driven by the data which suggests actually that the peak of the wave here in wales may have passed at the beginning of january. tomorrow we expect him to set out that plan to start easing restrictions that were imposed back on boxing day. they could start as soon as this weekend with the end of the limit for outdoor activity, so park runs for example could operate in wales with more than 50 runners and later crowds could return to sports stadiums for football and rugby matches. the rule of six could be scrapped in bars and restaurants and eventually nightclubs could open once again here in wales. all caveats and with the fact that if there is a spike in cases, we could go back up the alert system and the other caveat is that the data has changed and the number of people who have to take pcr test in wales has changed, but if that is the message from mark drakeford tomorrow, it will be welcomed by most people here in wales. . ~ will be welcomed by most people here in wales. ., ~ , ., the number of people on a hospital waiting list in england has hit another record high. figures for the end of november show six million people were waiting for routine surgery. and in december nearly 13,000 patients had to wait more than 12 hours in a&e for a bed to become available — another record. our health editor hugh pym reports. birmingham. the pandemic has cast a long shadow here. the spread of covid may be slowing, but as in many communities, it could take years to clear the backlog of cancelled operations. ollie, who works in a car dealership, needs surgery, but he has not even been put on the waiting list yet. ollie has crohn�*s disease, which causes inflammation of the digestive system. he needed a bowel operation and now has a stoma and waste bag. he is still waiting to have that reversed. it is life—changing, obviously, there are obviously restrictions i have got, there is the self awareness, there is mental issues, you are always thinking if people are looking at you, do you look different? there is a lot of aspects and i would obviously like to draw a line under it, have that procedure done and move on with my life, really. to give an idea of the scale of the waiting lists, birmingham has a population ofjust over1 million. close to six times that number are now waiting for planned surgery or procedures in england. clearing the backlog is one thing, but here in the west midlands and elsewhere, hospital staff are struggling with daily emergencies and colleagues getting ill. this man is a doctor working locum shifts in a&e departments in the area. it has been very stressful in a&e. there were days last week when i was receiving messages, asking if i could come into workjust for a few hours. the concern that i have is how unpredictable it is with nhs staff going off sick and not knowing, from one day to the next, if there will be enough staff in the hospital, on the floor, able to look after the patients that are there. it is a challenging time for hospitals across the uk. i spoke to an a&e nurse in wales who wished to remain anonymous. we have got elderly- patients in cupboards, on trolleys, for hours on end. there are cupboards that do not fit bedsl and this is what we are dealing with. l it is a logistical nightmare. it is unsafe and it isjust not what we all signed up for. l while not under the same pressure, most hospitals like this one in warrington are very busy, with normal winter demands, as well as covid adding to the strain. nhs england says that staff dealt with a record number of life—threatening ambulance call—outs last month and services like cancer care were still prioritised. with changing seasons, the pressure may ease, but the nhs faces a difficult future, workforce shortages and rising waiting lists, issues which will feature prominently in the political landscape. hugh pym, bbc news, birmingham. security forces in sudan have today fired tear gas at thousands of pro—democracy protesters marching on the presidential palace in the capital, khartoum. the country has been gripped by demonstrations since the military seized power in october last year, with protesters given fresh impetus by the resignation of the civilian prime minister abdalla hamdok earlier this month. the military have responded with violence towards those on the streets. medical organisations estimate that since protests began, dozens have been killed and hundreds wounded. our deputy africa editor anne soy has more. a march to the seat of power. disrupted yet again violently. but sudan's pro—democracy demonstrators remain resolute, even in the face of death. this man lost his 17—year—old brother in protests, which erupted to oppose the military coup last october. like many protesters, he blames military generals for the violence on the ground. translation: commander of the uniformed forces and any violence against the protesters is on his hands. i against the protesters is on his hands. . .. , against the protesters is on his hands. ., .. , ., ~ , hands. i accuse him of killing my brother. translation: we will not stop rallying — translation: we will not stop rallying and if anyone is killed, five others will rally and even if we all — five others will rally and even if we all get — five others will rally and even if we all get killed, the revolution will continue. the protesters want the military to leave power. they were expected to hand over to the civilian leaders they had shared power with in an accord that was meant to lead sudan to full democracy. instead, they ousted the civilians. after intense international pressure, the generals reinstated the prime minister. but the people felt left out. they rejected the deal. the prime minister eventually resigned early this month, throwing the country deeper into crisis. the un has launched a fresh bid for negotiations, but the protesters do not trust the men in uniform. translation: we do not mind going through talks, because there is no solution without discussion, but not with those generals. it is solution without discussion, but not with those generals.— with those generals. it is not ossible with those generals. it is not possible or _ with those generals. it is not possible or fruitful, - with those generals. it is not possible or fruitful, it - with those generals. it is not possible or fruitful, it is - possible or fruitful, it is political _ possible or fruitful, it is political suicide. - it is a revolution, they say. they won once when the long serving president omar al bashir was toppled. now they want his lieutenants gone from politics. and they vow not to stop until civilians take full charge of the country. professor sirjonathan van—tam is leaving his role as england's deputy chief medical officer. jvt, as he became known, was thanked by borisjohnson for his "extraordinary contribution to our country". throughout the pandemic, he became famous for his way with words, and particularly his analogies. follow the guidance, don't tear the pants out of it. i think the mum test is very important here. this is a complex product with a very fragile culture and it's not a yoghurt. strikers who score the wonder goals are the ones who make the headlines. actually the hard yards are done by the defenders and by the defensive midfielders, tracking back, tracking back. it's a bit like being 3—0 up in a game and thinking, well, we can't possibly lose this now, but how many times have you seen the other side take it a—3? do not wreck this now. we might go down to ten players, and if that happens or if that's a risk that it's going to happen, then we need everyone on the pitch to up their game in the meantime. i have not been asked to do strictly. i've been a bit of a discovator in my past, but probably at the same embarrassing level as most blokes of my age! jv team for whom the final whistle has blown. that is it from us. now form us, it's time for the news where you are. good night. another lovely day across much of the country particularly england and wales with the mist and fog and plenty of winter sunshine. a bit more cloud for scotland and northern ireland. to be much the same for the next few days thanks to an area of high dominating and subtle changes taking place across the north overnight. figure cloud not bricks of rain pushing and but for england and wales, turned cold and frosty mist and fog reform quite extensively and in some places. and quite a lot of hard frost in places, particularly across the side of the country. further north. on friday, we have the weather front across the north of scotland bringing outbreaks of rain here, but for central and southern scotland, parts of northern ireland and most of the sunshine across england and wales will be another court frosty start here without mist and fog. some of the lingering on and it's going to be cold and grey and otherwise, we have the sunshine with temperatures around four to 9 degrees for most of us. see you later. prince entered this is bbc news, the headlines. buckingham palace says prince andrew has returned his military honours and royal patronages. and, he will no longer use the title his royal highness. it follows the news yesterday that the duke will face a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse — which he denies. a former syrian colonel — has been found guilty of the torture of thousands of people — at a prison in damascus during syria's civil war. british ministers have rallied around borisjohnson with varying degrees of support as he faces calls to quit for attending a drinks party during the first lockdown in 2020. and novak djokovic has been included in the draw for the australian open tennis tournament, even though it's still not clear if he'll be in the country to play. australia's immigration minister is still considering whether to deport djokovic because of covid rules.