glacier causes flash flooding in northern india. over 100 people are missing, feared dead. final preparations are made for the australian open as tennis players gear up for one of the world s biggest sporting events amid the pandemic. heavy snow could bring significant disruption to the south east of england in the coming hours with weather warnings issued by the met office for large parts of britain. hello, and welcome to bbc news. if you are watching in the uk or around the world, do stay with us for the latest analysis from what is happening here and around the globe. astrazeneca, which makes the oxford coronavirus vaccine, says a small study suggests it offers only limited protection against mild disease caused by a covid variant that emerged in south africa. the company said it had yet to establish how effective the jab is in preventing severe disease caused by the strain. tim allman reports. day after day, jab afterjab. the battle between virus and vaccine is waged. mor
right around the corner for us. though the worst days of this dark winter are still very much right now and ahead of us, as the u.s. continues to shatter record after record every single day when it comes to new coronavirus infections, deaths and hospitalizations all across this country. today, though, there s tangible help. the news forms the back drop of the juxtaposition to two polar opposite positions. from the lameduck donald trump and his successor president-elect joe biden. on the trump side, fumbling already over the rollout and availability of the vaccine. a report in today s new york times says trump s administration passed on the chance to lock in more vaccine supplied for the united states when they had the chance to do that this summer before the vaccine was proven effect oivef which now raises questions allowed the united states to take its place in first in line, a blow to the president to put the united states at the front of the line. this afternoon he issu
trade agreement resume the uk and eu agree to go the extra mile for a breakthrough. i must apologise for my friend s misbehaviour. the doyen of espionage writing tributes to spy turned author john le carre, who s died at the age of 89. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. london and essex an area covering more than nine million people looks likely to be moved into tier 3 of covid restrictions. health ministers and officials are understood to be deeply concerned about the sharp rise in virus cases across the capital. undertier3, bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must stay closed, except for delivery and takeaway, and people can t mix indoors, in private gardens or in most outdoor venues, except with their household or bubble. it comes as the mayor of london sadiq khan, is calling for secondary schools and fe colleges to close early if there s no mass testing available ahead of christmas. andy moore reports. mobile testing units have been sent to the parts of lon
leonid volkov in lithuania, welcome to hardtalk. we need to begin, i think, by establishing what kind of contact you have with alexei navalny right now. do you have any means of contacting him? now the only way to contact him is that his lawyers, not even the relatives, but the lawyers are allowed to visit him two or three times a week and they don t enjoy privacy during those visits. so it s like supervised contact, but still, we manage at least to pass some basic information about, like, what s going on. but to tell that alexei is now orchestrating the protests from his cell is a little bit too much. he actually isn t able to do it. but his political structure, the structure he has built that i m now managing, is capable of, at least for some time, of keeping pace, of running forward, along with the directions we discussed with him when he left berlin for moscow a week ago. what kind of condition is he in? because i m mindful that he recovered from a near death experience w
welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. russian opposition leader alexei navalny is the most resilient opponent vladimir putin has everfaced. navalny survived attempted assassination by novichok, returned to russia and is now orchestrating anti putin protests from his prison cell. my guest is navalny s chief of staff leonid volkov. the opposition movement has supporters willing to take to the streets in hundreds of russian towns and cities, but do they have a strategy capable of forcing putin from power? leonid volkov in lithuania, welcome to hardtalk. we need to begin, i think, by establishing what kind of contact you have with alexei navalny right now. do you have any means of contacting him? now the only way to contact him is that his lawyers, not even the relatives, but the lawyers are allowed to visit him two, three times a week and they don t enjoy privacy during those visits. so it s like supervised contact. but still, we manage, at least, to pass some basic informati