tens of thousands of people in the north of england are preparing to spend a sixth night without electricity after storm arwen left infrastructure badly damaged. energy networks say at present there are around 30,000 households still without power. 15,500 of those are in the north east of england, 7,000 in the north west, and 7,500 in different regions of scotland. power has now been restored to almost every home in wales as our correspondent fiona trott reports. another day and another problem. if we can move all this here. engineers from across england trying to restore power in northumberland. we ve been without power since about, oh, seven o clock on friday night, and we ve coped, but boy am i glad to see these people, and apparently they re from bedford as well. in neighbouring county durham, a visit from the energy minister, greg hands. but when you ve been without energy for six days the frustration starts to show. the government has said we will stand behind as
with a warning millions will struggle to afford to heat their homes. a judgement is expected this morning in the appeal by associated newspapers in its ongoing privacy dispute with meghan markle, the duchess of sussex. an emotional alec baldwin outlines the events that led to the death of cinematographer, halyna hutchins, on a movie set. the trigger wasn t pulled i didn t pull the trigger. so you never pulled the trigger? no, no, no, no, no, no. i would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them never. we enter the art installation of a traditional irish pub which has won this year s turner prize. good morning. the uk has ordered millions of additional covid vaccines to future proof the coronavirus booster programme, as fears grow over the spread of the omicron variant around the world. an additional 114 million doses of covid 19 vaccines have been secured by the uk government. the health secretary sajid javid said he wanted to ensure britain had what it n
south africa has recorded a big increase in coronavirus infections which have doubled across the country since monday. health officials fear the newly discovered 0micron variant may be fuelling the surge. total case numbers have risen sharply from a weekly average of 300 a day a fortnight ago to 3,500 each day. and in the past 2a hours, 8,500 covid infections have been registered. 0fficials there say 0micron is rapidly becoming the dominant variant . the first case of 0micron has been detected in united states and president biden is preparing to announce stricter testing rules for travellers. in the uk an additional 114 million doses of covid 19 vaccines have been secured. the health secretary, sajid javid, said he wanted to ensure britain had what it needed for the long term. and the chief executive of pfizer, albert bourla, said 5 11 year olds should getjabbed too and he believes that annual vaccinations will be required to maintain a high level of protection. more on th
also on the programme. reforming the social care system in england more details emerge of the £1.7 billion to be raised by a new levy. in england, scotland and northern ireland, university staff go on strike over pay and pensions students say their education is being damaged again. efforts continue to restore power to the tens of thousands of people in parts of england, scotland and wales who have spent a fifth night without electricity after storm arwen. and why the welsh government says there are too many second homes in wales, and that action is needed. and coming up on the bbc news channel: johanna konta announces her retirement from tennis but tells the bbc she plans to remain in the sport in some capacity. welcome to bbc news at six, which comes from cardiff today from the new headquarters of bbc wales. mark drakeford the first minister of wales has been in talks this afternoon with the cabinet minister michael gove and the first ministers of scotland and north
the act or bala says he did not pull the trigger of the gun. the women s tennis association suspends all tournaments in china amid concern for peng shuai, the chinese tennis player who accused a top official of sexual assault. the government outlines more details of its ten year plan to reform the social care system in england, including £300 million investment to help people live longer independently. tens of thousands of people face a sixth night without power following outages in scotland and the north of england caused by storm arwen. array collective! array collective is the winner of this year s turner prize. borisjohnson has not denied reports that christmas parties were held in downing street last year, but he insisted that no covid rules were broken. at prime minister s questions, the labour leader, sir keir starmer, accused mrjohnson of hypocrisy for ignoring the rules that he d imposed on everyone else. the bbc has spoken to a source who attended a downing street