hello and welcome. concern is growing worldwide over the rapid spread of omicron variant of coronavirus. france, italy, and the united kingdom are amongst the countries to have recorded their highest ever numbers of infections. south africa, where the variant was first identified last month, has also reported a record number of daily infections. in europe, a vaccination drive for children under 12 has begun. while the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has once again been urging people to take up their offer of a boosterjab. damian grammaticas reports now on how britain is trying to respond. it s a programme that s ramping up. vaccination after vaccination. hearfrom soldiers in a cathedral. queues of people outside. orfrom a gp visiting an elderly patient at home. every rooster given matters, because the omicron variant is surging. == matters, because the omicron variant is surging. variant is surging. booster. it aives variant is surging. booster. it gives you vari
inquestjury has found. two separate sources have told the bbc that the prime minister s director of communications jack doyle offered his resignation to borisjohnson because of his attendance at the christmas party was revealed. but borisjohnson would not christmas party was revealed. but boris johnson would not accept christmas party was revealed. but borisjohnson would not accept it. coming up and have now s time, we will discuss exactly that story and the prospect of borisjohnson surviving as prime minister with the foreign correspondence based in london, giving an outsider s view of that and this week in ukraine. that is coming up at 7:30pm. stay with us on bbc news. hello, if you ve justjoined hello, if you vejustjoined us, a warm welcome to bbc news. it is a busy hour coming up. let me begin with the government warning tonight of a deeply concerning situation, as new data confirms omicron in the uk is growing rapidly in all parts of the country, and ministers have been
to talking business weekly with me aaron heslehurst. let s go and to talking business weekly with me aaron heslehurst. let s go and take a look at what was on show. the show. the saudis are splashing out on sport. golf, football and boxing a role being pumped with cash but what does this middle eastern moneymen for the business of sport? qatar, bahrain and the uae of also bending the sporting establishment, but is it s about the speech, profit or trying to take the focus away from human rights concerns. upending the sporting establishment. i will discuss all of this with these two. there they are. leading expert on the links between sport and politics and top your spot investor he thinks there s millions to be made for a plane for profit. also on the show, i m going to catch up also on the show, i m going to catch up with the man he puts the big deals together for boxes such as anthonyjoshua and jesus rodriguez and asking how saudi arabia s vast oil wealth in shaping the p
we do have so far. the male presenter who is accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs has been suspended. the bbc says it became aware of a complaint in may. mr davie s email adds that the bbc investigations team have been looking into this since it was raised and have been actively following up . according to the bbc statement, new allegations of a different nature were put to the corporation on thursday. the bbc says it is in touch with external authorities which are understood to be the police over the matter, in addition to its own enquiries. and the director general says the bbc is in contact with the family referenced in media reports. helena wilkinson has more. the bbc has this afternoon confirmed one of its presenters, accused of paying a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos, has been suspended. it s understood the bbc has also been in touch with the police. these developments follow further serious allegatio