hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: more than 70 cases of the south african variant of covid are identified in the uk amid concerns the vaccine may be less effective against it. ministers say numbers are being closely monitored. we have an enhanced contact tracing to do everything we possibly can to stop them from spreading. the number of covid 19 cases in the united states passes 25 million with the death toll soaring to nearly 418,000. israel announces it will ban incoming flights from monday evening until the end ofjanuary in order to try and contain the spread of coronavirus. celebrations in china as 11 gold miners who d been trapped underground for two weeks are rescued. some enjoy the wintry conditions as snow and ice sweep across the uk but severe weather warnings are in place for many areas. now on bbc news it s time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday i m gavin ramjaun. here s what s coming up on this evening s show. it s proving to be a thr
more than half of them will pretend to be a christmas parcel delivery. i ll look at how you can spot the real ones, from the fakes. on a dramatic night of league cup football, liverpool stage a late fight back against leicester, to eventually reach the semi finals in a penalty shoot out. good morning. it isa it is a cloudy start to the day. some rain around, they heaviest of what is coming in from the west. but for most of us it will be unseasonably mild. details coming later. good morning. it s thursday, the 23rd of december. our main story. the omicron variant may cause milder illness than delta, according to two early studies, with patients less likely to need hospital treatment. scientists say the research is good news to a degree , but a big wave of infections in unvaccinated people could yet overwhelm the health service. the government says it is continuing to monitor coronavirus data. here s our health correspondent, katharine da costa. early data from south africa, a
is all from things warm up a little later. that is all from the things warm up a little later. that is all from the bbc things warm up a little later. that is all from the bbc news at six. goodbye from me and we nowjoin the bbc news teams where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday i m hugh ferris. i box ecstasy as rangers planned for seville and the europa league final. and the europa league final. serial winners both. but with just a point between the top two, who will be crowned wsl champions this weekend? and ben s blistering century to mark his appointment as england test captain sealed with a six six six six six. hello and welcome to sportsday, i m hugh ferris. it s sportsday, i m hugh ferris. almost exclusively dor the it s almost exclusively domestic. the chance to win only the second european trophy in the clubs history. they ll face frankfurt later this month in seville after another famous later this month in seville after anotherfamous night ati at i box
was saying, it is extraordinary that the issue of reunification and what brexit has done to support for parties like sinn feinjust brexit has done to support for parties like sinn fein just has brexit has done to support for parties like sinn feinjust has not had mainland coverage and i think a lot of people will be taken some surprise by this and are already the leaders of sinn fein tonight are saying they want a referendum in the next five years on reunification. and i think a lot of people will be startled but of course this was always one of the big issues with brexit. and i did not believe 90% of project fear but interesting thing about project fear during the campaign was it barely talked about northern ireland or reunification. except when tony blair injohn major went and did thatjoint conference. exactly right and nobody listen to them. they were shouting from the rooftops and this is the first possible step towards it. the interesting thing is of course the dup were
takes the showers away from the south west, but we have still got this quite chilly and gusty wind from the east. it feels particularly chilly with the cloud and we have more of that today in wales. temperatures here not quite as high as they were yesterday. but there one strongest in eastern england and wales, to northern ireland, perhaps into the south west of scotland for a while, otherwise a good deal of sunshine. temperatures stuck at around 12 to 15. it will feel chilly along north sea coasts. the cloud moves away from wales and the south west and northern ireland over night and later there could be a few bits of cloud into the pennines and the welsh hills, but it will be dry and clear and the winds will drop. temperatures will fall away quite a bit and it will be a chilly start to thursday morning and there might be frost in highland and grampian. a lot of sunshine tomorrow, a lovely day for many parts of the country. the only real change will be across east anglia and