nearly 100,000 homes across the uk remain without power this afternoon after gale force winds created by storm arwen. properties in parts of scotland, wales and northern england are affected. power companies say they hope to restore supplies to the majority of homes later today. european ministers minus the uk home secretary priti patel crossing the channel. and coming up ros atkins and guests discuss the big that s in the media show at 3.30. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the health secretary sajid javid says the government could not have acted more swiftly in its response the the new 0mnicron coronavirus variant. he s called on people to come forward for booster vaccinations and is urgently considering widening the booster programme. two people who tested positive for the new variant remain in isolation as our health correspondent anna collinson reports. the borders have already been breached by 0micron with two cases of the heavily mutated covid variant
acquisition of nuclear weapons. deadlock in belfast after sinn fein win the most seats at stormont but the democratic unionists refuse to govern with them. the head of one of the uk s biggest energy companies calls on the government to give millions of households £1,000 each towards their energy bills. and the amateur fossil hunter who found a rare shark tooth up to 26 million years old and he s only six. and coming up on the bbc news channel: three in a row for chelsea in the women s super league. we hearfrom their manager emma hayes, after their final day title winning drama. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the labour leader sir keir starmer says he will quit if he is fined by durham police for breaking covid rules last year during lockdown. he s been under pressure after the police announced they would be investigating an event at which he drank beer and had a curry with party workers at an mp s office. in a statement this afternoon sir keir insisted re
and the countdown to the commonwealth games, which begin in birmingham in 100 days. it looks like we can fit a lot of people on here so i am sure the atmosphere is going to be amazing and i think we are just looking forward to a good summer of sport. coming up on the bbc news channel. manchester united confirm cristiano ronaldo will not feature in tonight s premier league clash at anfield, following the death of his baby son. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. moscow claims to have struck more than 1,000 targets overnight in what ukraine says is the launch of a large scale offensive in its eastern donbas region. the move marks a new phase in the conflict. ukraine says russia is continuing to move military equipment into the area from russian territory. in his nightly televised address, president volodymyr zelensky pledged to defend the whole of his country. 0ur correspondent danjohnson has more from the western city of lviv. russian firepower on display. in th
they would be watching and monitoring economic reports to decide whether another rate hike was warranted. or if they were done. hot on those heels, data released on thursday she owed the us economy grew at the 2.4% central bank policymakers would pull off what economists would pull off an immaculate tightening. while the fed may have been raising rates more quickly than ever, and of having done so without putting the economy into a recession. later today, british banking giant natwest is due to deliver its latest earnings. but it comes at a time as the bank battles a scandal. this is following a row over the closure of the account of brexit supporter nigel farage. mr farage has alleged his account was closed because of his political views. peter flavel head of natwest s private banking arm coutts is the latest to quit the firm, following in the footsteps of its former chief executive, dame alison rose. the bbc s chief economics correspondent dharshini david was speaking