i think that is the reasonable thing to do, and the right thing for the country to help it beat inflation. join it beat inflation. us at gatwick airport where the travel join us at gatwick airport where the travel plans of thousands of people are affected. arrests continue in afghanistan as protests persist against the new ban by the taliban on women and girls attending universities. police in pakistan say at least two people, including a police officer, have been killed in a suicide blast in the capital islamabad. china insists it has its current covid outbreak under control reporting fewer than four thousand new cases, and no deaths for the third day running. but forecasters warn the true number could be as much as one million, with five thousand deaths a day. and going green we meet the teenage entrepreneur who rents real christmas trees each year to save them from being thrown out after the festive period. a fierce arctic winter storm has triggered emergency alerts acro
after a drop off in donations as the cost of living crisis bites. and the british built space rover looking for work after its mission to mars was cancelled. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister has refused to rule out a real terms cut in benefits despite growing pressure to do so. liz truss faces a fresh battle with some conservative mps who want her to promise welfare payments will rise in line with inflation rather than earnings a lower percentage figure that would save the government billions of pounds. there s already a cabinet split on the issue. the leader of the commons penny morduant has openly demanded that benefits do go up in line with prices. this morning the prime minister told the bbc she would still like to see the rate of tax paid by the highest earners to be lower, despite ditching her plan to do just that only yesterday. iain watson reports from the conservative party conference. it s tin hat time for liz truss. she and her chancel
the king who is also receiving cancer treatment travelled with the queen in a carriage instead of riding on horseback, as he has done in the past. charlotte gallagher reports. the princess of wales, back in the public eye. riding in a carriage with her three children at the king s birthday parade. all eyes on her for her first appearance since her cancer diagnosis was announced. she was a huge draw for the crowds in central london today. this is a day full of tradition and spectacle, but it s also about family. the king and queen in their carriage. it s his first trooping the colour since his own cancer diagnosis, and he chose not to travel on horseback. the troops taking part have been rehearsing for months. every step, drumbeat and musical note has to be perfect. the irish guards are leading the event this year and their colour, or regimentalflag, has been on full display. their royal colonel, the princess of wales, looked on with her children as the king took the salut
for the 11th of january. the union said it was scrapping the action next week so that the public will be able to enjoy christmas without additional anxiety . 0ur health correspondentjim reed says the gmb union had been planning to strike across wales and most of england next wednesday. that s now been, essentially, scrapped and postponed, pushed back to the 11th of january as they said. the reason they gave was so the public would be able to enjoy christmas without anxiety, but we do know the nhs and ambulance services have been under tremendous pressure recently, and you imagine that might have gone into some of the thinking. holding a second day of ambulance strikes in the 11th is an interesting day to pick, as it is when another ambulance union, unison, is planning on striking, so it looks like coordinated action on that day. it s notjust ambulance strikes. we have just had an update from the nurses union, haven t we? this is the royal college of nursing.
and english channel. that is the scene in kent. we are expecting the prime minister to speak very soon and we will bring that to you live as soon as it begins. new figures show that nhs waiting times in england have reached record highs. a record 22,506 people had to wait more than 12 hours in a&e departments in england in march from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, figures from nhs england show. the figure is the highest for any calendar month in records going back to august 2010. the new data also shows the average time ambulances took to respond to emergency calls has increased. 0ur health correspondentjim reed had a look at the figures. this is for things like cataract operations, hip replacements, things that are booked in advance for things you go to the hospital for. at this is the highest number ever, 6.2 million people in england waiting for that treatment. 0ne