the bank of england puts up interest rates for the first time in three years to 0.25%. five children are killed in australia after a bouncy castle was blown away in the wind. three more are critically ill in hospital. the rose effect more people are signing up to learn british sign language after seeing the star on strictly. and england struggle on the first day of the second ashes test in australia. coming up on the bbc news channel, mercedes drop their plans to appeal the outcome of the abu dhabi grand prix, after the controversial ending to the season cost lewis hamilton a record eighth title. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the uk s chief medical adviser has warned that the previous maximum daily number of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus could be exceeded. that was 4,500 seen injanuary. speaking to mp5, professor chris whitty said that the present wave of the omicron variant was likely to peak quite fast but that it could go down more q
we ll be answering your questions on how to manage covid risks over the christmas period. you can get in touch with us using the #bbcyourquestions, or email at yourquestions@bbc.co.uk. uk tourists are to be banned from france from saturday, only french citizens or britons who live there will be allowed to enter the country. but this time hauliers are exempt. the bank of england increases interest rates for the first time in more than three years, from 0.1% to 0.25%. good luck, rose. and there has been an increase in the number of people signing up to learn sign language since the deaf actress rose ayling ellis appeared on this year s series of strictly come dancing. the uk s chief medical adviser has warned that the previous daily record for the number of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus could be exceeded. that was 4,500 seen injanuary. speaking to mps, professor chris whitty said that the present wave of the omicron variant was likely to peak quite quickly, but
of the remaining hostages in gaza. an official says significant progress has been made in talks with negotiators from the us, egypt and qatar. the outline is reportedly going to be presented to the war cabinet later today. the news comes as israel s bombardment of gaza has continued through the night into saturday, with more than 100 people killed. the un is also warning of the growing risk of famine the un agency for palestinian refugees has just confirmed to the bbc it s paused aid deliveries to northern gaza. israel says it will go ahead with its offensive on the densely crowded southern gaza city of rafah unless a truce deal is reached. it says hamas is in the city. israel s forces have already destroyed parts of the city with air raids, but it is threatening a ground invasion despite international opposition. israel s allies, including the us, have spoken out against an invasion of rafah. on friday, the us also criticised israel s reported plan to expand settlements in
i want to take you back to keefe, in ukraine, the capital, where people are out on the streets. you can see lots of people with ukrainian flags. they are there, of course, marking the second anniversary of russia s full scale invasion. there you can see thousands of people are out, gathered around that stage. as i said, many, many ukrainian flags, you will remember, in the early days of the war. lots people wearing the ukrainian flag colours of blue and yellow. there you can see them out in force in keith to mark the second anniversary of russia s full scale invasion earlier. earlier president zelensky issued that rallying cry to all ukrainians. he said we met hostile landing with fire, but two years later we welcome our friends and partners here, talking about the western leaders who have been in kyiv. we went on to say we have become 730 days closer to victory. he told ukrainians to keep fighting, you are sure to win. to quote him, he said you can burn the plane but you can