lawyers for virginia giuffre: prince andrew's former equerry to give evidence in their case against him. greenline. and meet mrbeast. ten billion views on youtube for his stunts last year, and nearly £40 million in the bank. and coming up in sport on the bbc news channel, a missed opportunity for brighton, but where they made to pay by crystal palace in the premier league tonight? good evening. downing street has apologised to the queen, after it emerged two parties were held at number ten the night before the duke of edinburgh's funeral last april. a spokesman for borisjohnson said it's deeply regrettable that the gatherings took place at a time of national mourning. covid rules had meant indoor mixing was banned, but reports suggest there was drinking and dancing at the parties, until the early hours. the prime minister didn't attend either of them, but the latest disclosures have amplified calls for him to resign. with the very latest, here's our political correspondent ben wright. it was a moment of national mourning, flags flying at half—mast in honour of prince philip, the duke of edinburgh. but inside number 10, on the evening of the 16th of april last year, two parties took place. there was drink and music at a time covid restrictions on indoor mixing in england were in place... ..restrictions the queen followed at the funeral of her husband the following day. when i heard about this, i was, of course, very, very concerned. and i understand that people across the country are angry about what has happened. earlier this week, the prime minister did apologise for mistakes that have been made. according to the daily telegraph, downing street staff were sent to a nearby shop with a suitcase to buy more booze. number 10 has not denied any of this. boris johnson himself was not there. itjoins the list of events being investigated by sue gray, a senior civil servant. as well as the two parties on the same night in april last year, back in december 2020, we know of several gatherings — both in downing street and government departments — including one on the 18th of december, about which the prime minister said this. i have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no covid rules were broken. the list goes on, with events in november 2020 being looked at. there was a gathering in the number 10 garden on 15 may 2020 and a bring—your—own—bottle event on the 20th, which borisjohnson has apologised for attending. today's chastened apology to the queen is the latest twist in a saga that has engulfed number 10. as new revelations have dripped out, downing street has appealed for patience, saying all the facts will be known when sue gray publishes her report. but many tory mps are livid about the prime minister's handling of all of this and the apparent culture inside number 10. even a government minister has said things must change. it's not acceptable behaviour. he's apologised, and quite right too, and he needs to change his behaviour going forward. and we all, i think, agree that. a handful of backbench conservatives have written letters to the parliamentary party, asking for a confidence vote in boris johnson. sutton coldfield is a true blue seat in the west midlands. but last night, the officers of its conservative association voted unanimously to withdraw its support from mrjohnson. the constituency�*s mp is a former cabinet minister. are you asking for his resignation? i'm not. i'm not normally a letter writer, but i'm waiting to see what sue gray reports. it is of immense concern, and i'm very conscious that in the local community, in royal sutton coldfield, people are aghast at what's been going on. here and across the country, tory mps will be sounding out their local parties and voters. i think it's disgusting. they're like a rudderless ship, really. i think it's a vendetta - that the media have got. 0pposition parties are now calling on the prime minister to quit. the prime minister allowed this to happen in number 10, not once, not twice, but on multiple occasions. the culture was, it's one rule for everybody else and one rule for us. for a prime minister under intense pressure, much hangs on an inquiry that could lay bare whether those responsible for setting lockdown rules repeatedly broke them. and another apology tonight, ben, this time over a gathering for the former head of the covid task force. yes, that's right, sue gray's ever expanding investigation has prompted one former civil servant to get ahead of the report. katejosephs, who ran the government's covid task force, said she was truly sorry for having a leaving drinks in the cabinet office in december 2024 people who were already at work that day. we've heard a lot of regret all week from government ministers too and as you heard my report, now a minister has come out to say boris johnson needs to change his behaviour. forthe johnson needs to change his behaviour. for the prime minister, this is treacherous territory. 0ne conservative mp told me today that his colleagues were going back to their constituencies this weekend to face a wall of fury from their voters. another, that today's revelations were toxic and potentially fatal. there are more allegations in the daily mirror tonight about drinks parties at number ten on a friday evening. a downing street spokesman said there is an ongoing investigation into the nature of all gatherings. i think though at the moment most conservative mps are remaining quietly loyal to borisjohnson, waiting to see the conclusions of sue gray's report before making theirjudgment and the prime minister certainly hopes it could yet dig him out of trouble. {lila minister certainly hopes it could yet dig him out of trouble. 0k, ben wriuht, yet dig him out of trouble. 0k, ben wright. thank _ yet dig him out of trouble. 0k, ben wright, thank you, _ yet dig him out of trouble. 0k, ben wright, thank you, live _ yet dig him out of trouble. 0k, ben wright, thank you, live at - wright, thank you, live at westminster. novak djokovic�*s lawyers will appeal to a federal court in australia within the hour, to try to overturn a government decision to cancel his visa for a second time over covid rules. if they fail, the world number one, who isn't vaccinated, could be deported. 0ur correspondent, shaimaa khalil, has the latest from melbourne. this is 9 news... live from sydney... just moments ago, the immigration minister has cancelled novak djokovic�*s visa... it's a story that's made headlines here in australia and around the world. for days, novak djokovic has been on the court training and the government has announced its decision. the tennis star's visa has been cancelled again and, for the second time, he faces deportation from australia. in his statement, the country's immigration minister alex hawke said... "today, i exercised my power to cancel the visa held by mr novak djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so." the prime minister, scott morrison, said the sacrifices australians made throughout the pandemic should be protected. mr morrison's government has faced heavy criticism for allowing the unvaccinated player into australia in the first place, while the country struggled with a spike in covid—i9 case numbers. i think it was a mess—up that they did but now i think they corrected it. it's unfortunate that novak won't be playing, you know, the tournament, it's a pretty big loss. yeah, i think if everyone else has to follow the rules, why can't he? and, obviously, he thought he was above it all. andy murray says the controversy has been bad for the sport. itjust seems like it's dragged on for quite a long time now and, yeah, not great for the tennis, not great for the australian open, not great for novak. his former coach, the multiple grand slam winner boris becker, said this story has become about more than just sport. he's only a tennis player, we're alljust sportsmen, we're not politicians. if we are used in a political way, then we don't have a chance. the world number one is still fighting to defend his title here. whether or not he'll be able to play, the australian open will take place under the shadow of a controversy that has gone way beyond tennis. well, i am outside novak djokovic�*s loya's office, where he is expected soon. he was interviewed by immigration officials earlier and he expected to be accompanied by border force officers as well. this is essentially him being detained. he will be allowed for macro hours here for a court hearing. this is a federal court, a higher court, with a differentjudge. 0nce federal court, a higher court, with a differentjudge. once again the government has decided they want to deport novak djokovic. 0nce government has decided they want to deport novak djokovic. once again it's up to eightjudge whether or not he stays or goes. you will then be accompanied to an immigration detention hotel, possibly the one that he had stayed in before, but now this australian open, two days away, has turned from a sporting highlight to a point of contention politically and diplomatically. shaimaa khalil, live in melbourne, thank you. official figures show covid infections climbed to a record high in the uk in the first week of january, with an estimated 4.3 million cases. london was the only part of the country to see a fall in infections during that period. the welsh government has announced plans to end covid restrictions over the next two weeks, but has warned against complacency. here's our health editor, hugh pym. with restrictions in wales to be eased, six nations rugby fixtures with fans can go ahead in cardiff. there'll be no limit on spectators at outside events from january the 21st and, a week later, nightclubs reopen, as long as covid cases are falling. over the course of this week, we have seen some early positive signs of improvement and they suggest that the measures we have taken are working and they give us hope that we may be turning a corner. the latest move by the welsh government follows a similar easing by scottish ministers, with more confidence about the weeks ahead, though virus infections remain high. the latest survey by the office for national statistics suggests that 4.3 million people in the uk had the virus last week, up 15% on the previous week, though that rate of increase was slower than during the week before. in england, it was one in 15 who had the virus. in scotland, wales and northern ireland, one in 20 people. there is a renewed push on booster jabs, with take up much slower since the new year — including here in nottingham and across the east midlands, where the message sometimes hasn't been heard. a part of me questions whether it's actually effective and how many are we going to have to have after that? i really want to get it done. because of everything that you see in the news, really. health officials in the region say the booster roll—out may have slowed, but vaccine centres are busy. we are still continuing to see hundreds of people coming in each week for their first dose, so we have to recognise that people are on a slightly differentjourney. at this gp practice in kent, though, the waiting area for vaccinations, including boosters, is sometimes empty. 0ur clinics really have been a lot less busy. we've also had problems where patients aren't turning up when they've been invited. he said getting the under—305 to come forward for boosters hasn't always been easy. that age group were vaccinated later, so their boosters come later. quite a lot of them have had covid and you can't vaccinate someone within four weeks of having covid, but we still think there's quite a lot of young people out there who are eligible who we are very keen to boost. medical experts say more babies are going to hospital during this latest covid wave, but they're not very sick with the virus, which they say is reassuring, and covid poses a very low risk to children. hugh pym, bbc news. the government's latest daily coronavirus figures show that for the first time since just before christmas, there were less than 100,000 new infections in the latest 24—hour period. that means there were just over 127,000 new cases on average per day, in the last week. just over 19,500 people are in hospital with covid, and there were another 270 deaths reported of people who died within 28 days of a positive test. on average in the past week, there were 267 deaths per day. 0verall, more than 151,000 people have now died. 0n vaccinations, 90.5% of those eligible have had a first dose, with 83.2% having two jabs. on average in the last week over 160,000 people have had a booster injection, which means 62.9% of the population aged 12 or over have now had three jabs. lawyers for virginia giuffre, who's accused the duke of york of sexual abuse, are calling for two people based in the uk to give evidence in her civil case, including his former equerry. prince andrew denies all the allegations. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal is in washington. what more can you tell us? in the last hour or— what more can you tell us? in the last hour or so, _ what more can you tell us? in the last hour or so, virginia _ what more can you tell us? in the last hour or so, virginia giuffre's i last hour or so, virginia giuffre's lawyers here in america have submitted two letters making a formal request to a british court to help secure evidence from what they are calling two witnesses. shukri walker, the team claims walker saw prince andrew at a club in 2001 with a young girl. virginia giuffre claims that is around the time prince andrew abused her in london. the second letter is a request for major rob 0lney, prince andrew's former assistant and giuffre's lawyers believe he may have information relating to the relationship between prince andrew and the dead sex offenderjeffrey epstein. prince andrew's lawyers have always said this is a marathon, not a sprint put more pressure on prince andrew this evening. thank ou, prince andrew this evening. thank you. nomia _ prince andrew this evening. thank you. nomia iqbal— prince andrew this evening. thank you, nomia iqbal in _ prince andrew this evening. thank you, nomia iqbal in washington. | business leaders are urging the government to lift the work—from—home guidance in england, amid falling rates of covid infections. the advice was announced just before christmas, to help combat the spread of the 0micron variant. the health secretary, sajid javid, has already said the country is leading the world in how to live with covid. here's our business editor, simonjack. it's a question office workers, their employers and politicians are asking, because it's one with big personal and economic consequences. it's one google is asking itself. its answer? to spend £730 million buying a building it currently rents and expand its office capacity by 50%. why would a technology giant do that? monday to friday, 9—5 looks like a thing of the past, but google — like many others — expect most of its workforce back in the office for most of the week. for the vast majority of roles, it will be three days. we've surveyed our employees, we've talked to them about what they value, what they want, and collaboration keeps coming back. the opportunity to be in a room with their colleagues and collaborating and working on exciting problems is something they really value. do you think the employees are in the situation where they're calling the shots at the moment? where does the balance of power lie? so i think... this is still an experiment. we talk about the last two years being an experiment, but i think the next two will be an experiment of equal measure, where we try and figure out, "what does hybrid and flexible actually mean?" and i think it'll be a lot of trial and error over the next two years. you can have all the technology in the world, but even a company like google thinks that the office remains important. it might be used differently — more collaborative spaces like this, less chained—to—the—desk — but the physical place of work still has value. however, after the biggest experiment in working in history, it's clear that, having tasted working from home, no matter how fancy the office is, some people don't want to come back. i've learned this new flexible way of working... jenny was so reluctant to go back, she resigned from her bristol—based office job this afternoon to be self—employed from home. i'm done with the office, i'm done with commuting. working from home, working more flexibly works for me and my family, and i have no plans to go back into the office and work in the way that we used to any more. fewer people in offices means less trade for the businesses that rely on them. economists say the government shouldn't forget what makes the uk economy tick. 0njanuary 26th, when the government comes to review the work—from—home guidance, we hope that they think very much about the uk being a service—led economy and how important it is for people to be able to meet clients face—to—face, for our cafes in city centres, for our gyms, the whole ecosystem that we see in our city centres to be able to thrive. google is betting big the office is here to stay. how busy they will be is yet to be seen. simon jack, bbc news. the economy saw stronger than expected growth in november, according to the latest figures. early christmas shopping, before the rapid spread of the 0micron variant, helped gdp grow by 0.9 per cent. however there are warnings that rising prices and expectations of higher interest rates may hold back growth in the coming months. vigils have been held across the island of ireland, in memory of murdered teacher, ashling murphy. the 23—year—old was attacked on the banks of the grand canal in county 0ffaly on wednesday. events took place at dozens of locations and the taoiseach, micheal martin, says ireland is united in solidarity and revulsion at the killing. the authorities in kazakhstan say recent violence on the streets, which is said to have claimed dozens of lives, was "an organised attack" on the state. they've blamed the unrest on "armed extremists" who they say were trained abroad. however, there's growing evidence that a power struggle within kazakhstan's ruling elites may have fuelled the violence. 0ur correspondent, steve rosenberg, reports from the country's biggest city, almaty. in a country the size of western europe, there is one question people are struggling to answer. why? why was kazakhstan rocked by violence? the worst unrest here since the fall of communism. outside the morgue in almaty, they are queueing to collect bodies. dozens of people are thought to have been killed in the clashes. gusina's brother renat was missing for a week. she now knows he is dead. "so many innocent people suffered because of someone," gusina says. "those who made us cry should be punished. "why did they do it?" in other words, why did peaceful protests over fuel prices suddenly turn violent? the authorities claim the protests were hijacked by terrorists, including foreign—trained militants, but they've presented little evidence of that. the president of kazakhstan says constitutional order has now been restored. the threat to his country's security averted, but the memory of what happened here, well, that won't be erased quickly and questions remain about who was behind the violence. galim ageleulov says he saw a suspicious group joining the protesters. translation: some aggressive guys i turned up with sticks and clubs. i they were on every street corner and they were directing everyone to the main square. it was building up to something. there are indications that fuelling the violence on the streets was a power struggle between president tokayev, galym ageleulov says he saw a suspicious group ——was a power struggle between president tokayev, here on the right and groups loyal to his predecessor, nursultan nazarbayev. translation: these gangs were mostly linked to the nazarbayev clan, _ including people in the security service, which, it is said, committed state treason by sending these bandits out on the rampage. there are victims on all sides here. these bandits out on the rampage. in kazakhstan, they are calling these "the black days". perhaps until that question "why" is fully answered, these will remain uncertain times. steve rosenberg, bbc news, almaty. an influential group of mps says professional cricket should lose some public funding unless it can demonstrate progress in eradicating "deep—seated racism". the culture, media and sport committee made the recommendation following testimony by the former yorkshire player, azeem rafiq, who described english cricket as "institutionally racist". the england and wales cricket board currently receives more than £2 million a year of public money. our sports editor, dan roan, has the details. england enjoyed some encouragement in hobart earlier, as the final test of what's been a chastening series got under way. but back home, the game's in danger of losing more than just the ashes. a damning parliamentary report has concluded there is deep—seated and endemic racism in the sport, with a warning it could prove costly. i'd like to see public money withheld from cricket if the measures that the ecb come up with, in terms of trying to ensure that racism — the scourge of racism — is removed from the game. if they fail to reach those targets, then there should be a stopping of public money to the game. very simple. mps praised the courage of former player azeem rafiq, whose harrowing testimony last year on the racist abuse he suffered at yorkshire sparked a flood of further allegations at other counties. i'm really encouraged by how seriously the committee has taken the issue of racism, which clearly cricket as a game has ignored for a very long time. i fully agree with them that everyone's been aware of this, so it's just sad that the game has looked the other way for such a long time. with the threat of an independent regulator also hanging over the ecb, it said it welcomed the report, adding in a statement... as has yorkshire, after losing sponsors and lucrative international hosting rights over the scandal. but after an overhaul of staffing and proposed governance reforms, it insists that it's a very different club to the one that was embroiled in crisis last year and is hopeful that, come the summer, it will be allowed to host england here at headingley. we've had incredible change. i've literally taken the club and turned it upside—down and given it a good shake. no stone left unturned, actually. but these are still early days, as the game tries to confront discrimination and attempts to build a more inclusive future under mounting pressure. dan roan, bbc news, headingley. a 24—year—old american topped the list of the ten highest paid youtube stars of last year. jimmy donaldson, known as mrbeast, earned nearly £40 million, more than double the top earner in 2020. the list, compiled by the business magazine forbes, also includes two children under the age of 11. our reporter steffan powell has that story. every single set from squid game in real life... this might be the first time you've ever heard the name jimmy donaldson. on youtube, though, he's kind of a big deal. his highly produced elaborate stunts, like playing hide and seek in a sports stadium, or recreating netflix' show squid game, have earned him the top spot. lewis hamilton. ——his income isjust above that of f1 champion lewis hamilton. while traditional media struggled during the pandemic, with tv production suspended and film releases delayed, youtube boomed. the top—ten highest paid creators on the platform earned a combined £219 million in 2021 — that's an increase of 40%. youtubers like jake paul haven't made the listjust because of their popularity. they've been the ones to cash in most effectively with brand partnerships, sponsorships and merchandise. despite this success, though, it's not all rosy, according to some. it was surprising to see how many white men were on the list. youtube is a really global environment, we know that it's hugely popular around the world and it seemed like we didn't see anybody outside of the english—speaking world there, and i think that is something that youtube really needs to work on in the future, to make sure that people outside of these countries are compensated fairly for their work. there's still space for ten—year—old toy reviewer ryan kaji. the number one from 2019 and 2020 has, though, slipped to seventh place on the list, having earned a paltry £20 million. steffan powell, bbc news. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. good evening. it's been another dry, settled day across much of the uk. we have had some lingering mist and fog as well, and that's going to be reforming through the course of tonight. in fact, we've already seen some of that fog forming across parts of the midlands, into the welsh marches, lincolnshire, east anglia as well. these are the areas seeing the most dense and widespread fog, but elsewhere the odd misty and murky patch as well. and temperatures for most of us a few degrees either side of freezing as we head on into saturday morning. so some pockets of frost around, a fairly chilly start to the day, some sunshine around and, increasingly, some of this low cloud will tend to break up through the course of the day. most places, again, looking dry. just a few splashes of rain for the western isles and perhaps the far north of mainland scotland as well. temperatures on saturday only around five degrees close to the east coast, but turning a bit milder in the southwest — 11 celsius the top temperature in plymouth on saturday. and then no great change into sunday, but we could see a few splashes of rain moving south on a weakening cold front. but most places once again dry, temperatures in double figures in the south. bye— bye. this is bbc news, the headlines. novak djokovic is to be detained on saturday after the australian government cancelled his visa for a second time. the tennis star will appeal the decision over the weekend in the hopes of avoiding deportation so he can defend his title in the australian open. the british prime minister's office has apologised to queen elizabeth, over two rule—breaking late—night parties that happened in downing streetjust before her husband's funeral. at the time britain was in a period of national mourning and also under covid restrictions. lawyers for virginia giuffre call on prince andrew's former equerry or assistant — to give evidence in their case against him. prince andrew denies all the allegations. the us and ukraine have accused russia of preparing to carry out false sabotage operations to create a pretext for an invasion of ukraine. the kremlin said the reports were unfounded.