after being stabbed in separate incidents in london. 30 teenagers have been killed in the capital this year the highest figure since 2008. you can carry knives in london. this is what happens when knives are carried. cannot. we all want to tackle knife crime. relieved and grateful the victims of ghislaine maxwell have been speaking after she was convicted of grooming girls to be abused byjeffery epstein her family say they can t accept the verdict. joe biden has again told president vladimir putin that the us and its allies will respond decisively if russia does not de escalate tensions on his country s border with ukraine. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. new figures show staff absences caused by covid at nhs acute trusts in england rose by more than 40% in the week to boxing day. hospitals in northampton, sheffield and rotherham have temporarily suspended visiting due to the high number of 0micron cases. an average of more than 25,000 health workers were off
new year celebrations. as 0micron spreads rapidly across the us president biden prepares to ramp up the response. our other main headline more bodies are found as rescuers reach islands in the phillipines, cut off by last week s typhoon. we ll hear from a filmmaker who was on one of the worst hit islands when the typhoon hit. and a huge fossilfind, a monster millipede, eight feet long, 50 kilos and the size of a car discovered by chance in the uk. hello, and welcome. as countries around the world grapple with the rising tide of coronavirus cases fuelled by the new 0micron variant governments everywhere are walking a narrow line between protecting public health and keeping their economies open. here in the uk, borisjohnson s government will not rule out further, tighter restrictions for england. the chancellor rishi sunak has announced a one billion pound support fund for the hospitality industry, as it struggles with a collapse in bookings sparked by the rise in c
businesses who need it in my immediate to make sure that that money gets to those businesses as quickly as possible. the omicron wave has prompted france to shut its borders to most british travellers from saturday halting christmas holidays and other news, the bank of england raises interest rates for the first time in more than three years amid warnings of inflation could hit 6% by april. and more people are signing up to learn sign language since the actress appeared on strictly come dancing who is deaf. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the number of new covid infections across the uk hasjumped again to a new record more than 88 thousand cases in the past 2a hours 10 thousand more than yesterday. as the omicron wave accelerates, the uk s chief medical adviser, professor chris whitty, told mps that he expects the peak to come incredibly fast but subside more quickly than previous variants because of the boosterjabs. more than 745,000 people had th