minister orders his officials to hold checks on goods coming to northern ireland from the rest of the uk. russian troops on ukraine s border now the united states is sending 3,000 troops to eastern europe to protect nato allies if war erupts. and the new patron of rugby union and rugby league the duchess of cambridge takes over from prince harry. and coming up on the bbc news channel: the women s team split from raith rovers and protest at the signing of david goodwillie. the former scotland striker was found by a civil court to have raped a woman. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the government has set out how it intends to fulfil its flagship manifesto promise of closing the gap between richer and poorer areas in the uk over the next eight years. the wide ranging plans laid out by the levelling up secretary, michael gove, include improving education and skills with a particular focus on raising standards in 55 areas across england. a promise by 2030 to nar
pippa crerar and daily mail columnist sarah vine. hello and welcome. at the 2019 election, borisjohnson captured a slew of northern constituencies in england with the promise to level up the country. the government said it would rebalance the economy, share the prosperity of london, to address long standing underinvestment in the regions. and now we have the policy, a bill published today by the levelling up secretary michael gove which, finally, spells out how they aim to achieve it. this white paper lays out a long term economic and plan to make opportunity more equal. it shifts power and opportunity towards the north end midlands, scotland, wales and northern ireland. it guarantees increase investment in overlooked and undervalued communities. in research and development, in education and skills, and transport and broadband, in urban parks and decent homes, and grassroots ports and local culture and in fighting crime and tackling anti social behavior. it gives local comm
approaches, the duchess of cambridge starts her new role as the patron of england s rugby football union and league. coming up in the sport on the bbc news channel, celtic and rangers go head to head in the old firm derby at celtic park. can the home side sealed the win to take them top? good evening. ofgem, the energy regulator, is set to announce the biggest ever rise in energy bills, with ministers understood to be preparing measures to ease the pressure on households. the announcement is due tomorrow. every six months, ofgem reviews the maximum price that suppliers in england, wales and scotland can charge customers on a standard tariff. around 15 million households saw their bills go up by 12% when the last update happened in october. the new cap takes effect in april and industry predictions suggest gas prices could rise by as much as 50%, taking the average annual bill to roughly £2,000. there is a separate energy market in northern ireland, where prices have also ris
safe passage or protection and were fleeing to areas with little water or sanitation. more than a million palestinians had taken refuge there after it was designated a safe zone early on in the conflict. the us has warned israel not to launch an all out offensive there for fear of huge civilian casualties, but israel insists it s necessary to route out hamas. this development comes as israel s military says it s recovered the body of another hostage inside gaza. the body is of ron binyamin who the military says was killed in the october the 7th attack on israel by hamas. his body has now been returned to israel to be buried. this is the fourth body found in 2a hours. this is the scene live in tel aviv, where the relatieves where the relatives of the hostages are among those protesting against benjamin netanyahu s government and demanding new elections. they are asking for more government action to release their loved ones. and in a further development israeli war cabinet mi