and, yeah, we realised it was a gigantic millipede in the middle of this rock. time for a look at the weather. here s matt taylor. farfrom a tropical far from a tropical climate today, really wintry. it is the winter solstice, the days start to draw out a bit more fun today. but we saw temperatures well below freezing across the highlands and they will not write a great deal more through the rest of today. some sunshine across the highlands at the moment, some through wales and increasingly to southern parts of england and the channel islands. more over you will see most sunshine developed through the afternoon, but the vast majority know the story, it is cloudy and will stay cloudy and will stay rather chilly with some spots not getting above freezing and dropping quickly below as you head into the evening and overnight. overnight we expect more clouds breaks to develop, some lingering cloud. the temperatures from developing too much but a more widespread frost across scotla
the stewards on the night ruled the incident to be accidental. however, todayjudge karen walden smith ruled that, on the balance of probabilities, gibbons actions during the race were undertaken in reckless disregard for the safety of mr tylicki . there s more details of all those stories on the bbc sport website. we will have more for you later on. this is bbc news, the headlines: the omicron variant is making up nearly three quarters of new covid cases in the us. president biden will outline his response later including 500 million free tests and military help on standby. the uk chancellor announces a £1 billion grant for the hospitality sector in england as it struggles with a collapse in bookings because of a rise in covid cases. the high court in london has ordered the ruler of dubai to pay more than $700 million in a divorce settlement to his ex wife princess haya ofjordan. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk, with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk from manchest
now on bbc news. at a key point in the pandemic, the government signed a £107 million deal to buy ppe from a northern ireland sweet company. lyndsey telford investigates what happened next. it might not look like much, but last year, this box was worth an awful lot of money. during the global scramble for ppe in the early stages of the pandemic, the cost of protective gear shot up astronomically. this box is part of a ppe deal worth over £100 million. this involved a northern irish sweet company. people were dying. it was almostjust buy as much as you can. it may not be worth its weight in gold any more, but today this box gives us a window into the pandemonium that surrounded ppe purchasing last year, because it arrived in the uk at such great expense, health officials could not even agree what these items were or how they could be used in hospitals. government thought it was buying a rolls royce but it was getting a ford fiesta. perhaps that is why a box from the very sam
war. israeli prime minister vows mighty vengeance for a saturday s unprecedented attack by hamas as israel strikes targets in gaza last night into today. [sound of artillery] palestinian health authorities say the more than 300 people have been killed and retaliatory strikes, including 20 children. in israel, more than 350 people are thought to have died after hamas militants attacked yesterday, with women and children among dozens of people taken hostage. israeli ambassador to the uk confirms to sky news that at least one british national is missing near gaza following an attack on a music festival. residents take cover and tel aviv as a barrage of hamas rockets fall in the city. we ll have the latest live from this region as israeli troops are seeing gathering on the border near gaza. good morning then from jerusalem. israeli soldiers are still engaging hamas fighters inside israel today. the country s military has also launched retaliatory strikes into gaza. it follows t
Temperatures lifting by the morning, but cloud, outbreaks of rain spreading in which will eventually push into parts of western central scotland, isle of man, western parts of wales for the day. furhter east, you ll stay dry, but after the morning sunshine and frost, the cloud amounts will increase, sunshine turns hazy, but it stays cold compared to the 8 10 celsius we ll see across western areas. and it s that milder air which will win out, pushing its way northwards, butjust grinds to a halt in northern scotland and fizzles. could be some snow for a time across the higher ground here. and then the next weather front pushes in for thursday. so for thursday, outbreaks of rain, maybe a little bit more across the south this time, but not a huge amount. it dries up, brightens up here across wales, northern ireland through the day, but stays pretty wet across parts of scotland. then it will be rain rather than snow for most. but notice the temperatures 6 in lerwick, 13 in the south. now