emma vardy, bbc news.

emma vardy, the picture in northern ireland tonight? well, look, the stormont executive held a emergency meeting tonight because the situation here has been escalating rapidly, and the executive issued a statement this evening. we are already in the second week of a six week lockdown, but they say there will be an extended period of online learning at schools, so lots of people here who were due to return to the classroom next week, well, they will not now be in future. political leaders said that was reg retta ble political leaders said that was regrettable but that is the situation they are faced with. also discussion today around the issue of compliance, lots of concern that people were not following the rules over the christmas period, and we know the psni had to shut down around 100 house parties injust a week, and we heard from the deputy first minister, michelle o'neill, calling for people to take a renewed sense of seriousness to the rules, asking people to approach this in the same way as they did back in march, when this was a

emma vardy: this is the first time julie bennett has seen her father in four weeks. you can't touch my hand. he doesn't understand why she can't come in. heartbreaking, heartbreaking. it was lovely to see him, lovely to see him. staff at this care home in belfast have been coping with a number of suspected and confirmed cases of coronavirus. all 82 residents are being kept in isolation but it's not easy. many have dementia. he is looking for us and saying why is his family not coming to see him, but i know the staff here are so good to him and i know he is being well cared for. they are afraid to go to work themselves because they probably have vulnerable people at home and young children. the first cases of the virus were detected early here. magdalene mitchell, a resident, passed away in hospital. staff are trying to prevent infection as best as they can, but residents need hand on care and to the virus can spread rapidly. are you worried about your own safety? it is hot and tiring, but behind the masks, still smiles. inside, residents need them. i love you. the sm

here's our ireland correspondent, emma vardy. overnight, the way we get food into northern ireland from great britain has hugely changed, and shoppers are noticing. i thought i would give everyone a quick update on local supermarkets in northern ireland. i spent an hour today driving round, looking for somewhere just to get fruit and veg. so i've just done a quick shop in my local supermarket. some very noticeable gaps, particularly in the frozen food section. hardly any frozen vegetables, but i did manage to grab some frozen peas. also in the refrigerated aisles where the juice normally is, really, really sparse there as well. today, supermarkets said the initial delays with bringing goods over the irish sea are being resolved, but more red tape is on the horizon. new health certificates will be needed for food products arriving at ports like belfast from april, and now major supermarkets, including asda, sainsbury�*s and tesco�*s, have warned the government there could be more disruption in the coming months, saying increas

emma vardy, bbc news. a year ago who'd have imagined people would be spending so much time working from home and online? video conference calls have given us all an insight into other people's homes. for a company that sells books in somerset it has provided a very unexpected boost, and that's not from people wanting to read their books asjon kay explains. whoever you are, whatever you are saying, when you are working from home your shelves are being judged. what do your books say about you? this company in somerset normally sells second—hand books for tv and movie sets, but lockdown has brought new clients who want to impress on video calls. engineers, teachers, ceos, celebrities, all the way up to the major players in government. share any names with us? i cannot mention any names! they have had customers asking for classics, to appear well read, guidebooks, to look well travelled. some just want colours to match their walls. you can display your new—found love of green issues or subtly tell the boss

emma vardy in belfast, thank you. let's speak to our political correspondent, iain watson. it isa it is a new era, but we are yet to feel the full effects. certainly, those who campaign for brexit will see today as the day that effectively marks the uk's independence from the eu, the gaining of the uk's sovereignty. the question is that four and a half yea rs question is that four and a half years after a referendum which convulsed conventional politics, which saw two general elections, we are intoa which saw two general elections, we are into a third prime minister, can we really say that brexit is done? i'm afraid the answer is, not quite, actually. this new trade deal says very little about financial services, so very little about financial services, so access very little about financial services, so access to eu markets still has to be settled. we are free to choose to diverged further from eu review rules, but there could be further trade barriers and political arguments. if you live in scotland, you certainly haven't heard the last brexit. at the scottish elections, t

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. the french chef and restaurateur albert roux, who was credited with starting a culinary revolution in the uk with his brother michel, has died at the age of 85. the roux brothers opened le gavroche in london in 1967, the first british restaurant to gain three michelin stars. michel died last year at the age of 78. and finally, to a success story for one company which has found a way to adapt and survive during this pandemic. not only that — they have managed to do it by helping some of the people who are most vulnerable to this disease, as david sillito reports. bicycle bell. it's a bit like being on a bobsleigh. it is a bit breezy but as a form of transport, it is having its moment. it's great. you just feel very free. i have had treatment continuing through lockdown and it is the safest way, for me. it is the only way i have travelled since march. but nine months ago, this firm was on the edge of bankruptcy. all the offices and shops it serviced had suddenly gone into lockdown. ca

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. the british tennis player francesca jones, who's making impressive progress in world rankings, is through to her first major international tournament after winning a qualifying

our correspondent emma vardy has this report. i'm just praying this is all going to be over very soon. it's hard enough having cancer without having to have cancer in the middle of a plague. throughout the pandemic, claire has been having treatment in scotland for breast cancer. sometimes having to isolate in the bedroom at home, keeping away from her children to protect herself from the virus. after months of chemotherapy, claire finished treatment and had just one more operation to go. i'm not going to die. but as the january surge in coronavirus cases came claire was told her potentially life—saving surgery had to be put on hold. you feel desperate because there's lots of casualties falling by the wayside and i worry all the time about the children, you know, will they have a mum next year? claire, to us, is our world. nhs scotland says it is now using private hospitals to help get the most urgent patients seen. mcmillan cancer care estimates that more than half a million patients in the uk have had cancer treatment or care

emma, thank you so much, emma vardy with the latest on the position in northern ireland. less tha n the position in northern ireland. less than 20 minutes to go to the appointed hour when the prime minister, borisjohnson, appointed hour when the prime minister, boris johnson, will address people, primarily in england in terms of the measures that he is going to mention. he is at downing street and will be talking there in just under a couple of minutes' time. any minute or so remaining, i will bring vicki young back in. she is still outside number ten there. just a brief thought at this point, vicki, about the point i raised with hugh pearman, they work from lots of experts that this action is just too slow, it has been too cumbersome. what is the view inside number ten? well, they have always seen this very much as a balance. when you think back to the beginning of the pandemic, they thought about trying to protect lives and the nhs was absolutely paramount, and it has remained so, but the government would say and ministers would say that they have to balance that with t

emma vardy, bbc news. the trail—blazing hollywood actress cicely tyson has died aged 96. with a career spanning seven decades she made her breakthrough in the 1972 film sounder, for which she was nominated for both a golden globe and an oscar. our arts editor will gompertz looks back at her life. you got your lowlife job... you got your lowlife job. .. cicely you got your lowlife “ob. .. cicely t son in you got your lowlife “ob. .. cicely tyson in 1972 h you got your lowlife “ob. .. cicely tyson in 1972 as _ you got your lowlife job. .. cicely tyson in 1972 as rebecca - you got your lowlife job. .. cicely| tyson in 1972 as rebecca morgan you got your lowlife job. .. cicely i tyson in 1972 as rebecca morgan in sounder, a film for she was nominated for an oscar. its sounder, a film for she was nominated for an oscar. its unique and it has rightfully _ nominated for an oscar. its unique and it has rightfully set _ nominated for an oscar. its unique and it has rightfully set a - nominated for an oscar. its unique and it has rightfully set a new - and it has rightfully s

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. officials in indonesia say they've located the black box flight recorders from the boeing 737 airliner that crashed yesterday. 62 passengers and crew were on board the jet, which disappeared from radar screens over the sea, four minutes after taking off from the capitaljakarta. there appears to be no hope of finding survivors. democrats in the us house of representatives say they will start impeachment proceedings against president trump this week — after accusing him of inciting his supporters to storm the capitol building. that followed an effort by mr trump to overturn november's election result, which repeatedly in the courts. we'll get more from our washington correspondent on that in a moment, but first, sophie long reports from arizona — where many of the president's backers have downplayed wednesday's violence and continue to believe the polls were rigged. dear lord, we ask that you watch over our president... they come to pray for their president. donald j trump. and dema

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. officials in indonesia say they've located the black box flight recorders from the boeing 737 airliner that crashed yesterday. 62 passengers and crew were onboard thejet, which disappeared from radar screens over the sea, four minutes after taking off from the capital, jakarta. our south east asia correspondent jonathan head reports. better weather allowed a small flotilla of ships to make progress in the search for flight sji82 in the sea north of the capital, jakarta. the boeing 737 crashed just four minutes into its journey. the location was quickly identified, allowing teams of divers to locate wreckage on the sea floor and, they believe, signals from the flight recorders. translation: there are two signals coming from the black boxes. these can be continuously monitored so we can mark their coordinates. hopefully we can retrieve them soon and identify the cause of the crash. throughout the day, they brought back debris clearly identifiable as from the missing plane, confirming th

emma vardy in belfast. yet another new vaccine has been shown to be effective in major trials in just 2a hours. the latest is the janssen vaccine. it's 66% effective overall and only needs a single dose. and crucially, it's 85% effective against severe disease. on thursday, novavax announced its uk trials had shown its vaccine to be 89% effective, and crucially, that vaccine protects against the new more contagious uk variant. when those vaccines are approved, they'lljoin a number of other vaccines that have been authorised for emergency use or given full backing in different parts of the world. so let's take a look at some of the vaccines already in use. the pfizer—biontech vaccine has been cleared for use in 32 nations, more than any other, with a reported efficacy of 95%. the moderna vaccine is reported to have an overall efficacy of 9a.i% and has been cleared for use in 11 countries. the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine has a the overall efficacy was 70%, ranging from 62—90% depending on the schedule of

vardy is in belfast. emma, online shoppers are already facing fewer choices in northern ireland, aren't they? they are and that is because since our separation from the eu northern ireland is under a new set of arrangements which are different from the rest of the uk so whereas in the past you could have ordered goods of the irish sea which arrived here at belfast port and i'm pretty much travelled straight on to customers now there are new processes needed for companies getting goods over the irish sea. to phase in these changes and make them a bit easier there was a grace period as you say for the first few months of this year willem nel customs declaration is needed if you ordered parcels or did online shopping but that changes in april so amazon has been looking at the things it sells and will remove some products for sale and that way it will not have to take on the added red tape. some products are a bit more hassle than others to bring over the irish sea committing is likely to be affected by thing

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. you're watching bbc news. a 28—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder, after two men died at a property in east london. police were called to an address in ilford, to reports of a disturbance. two men were found seriously injured inside the property, and both died at the scene. our correspondent lisa hampele sent this report. the house here has been cordoned off, as you can see, and forensic teams have been here since early this morning. it was at about 4:30am this morning that police and paramedics were called. they were called because of a disturbance and when they got here they found two men had been seriously injured and they died here at the scene. we were told that police and paramedics tried to do all they could, but the men were pronounced dead here. they also arrested a 28—year—old woman. she had been injured and she was tasered as she was being arrested and she is now being treated in hospital. now, i have spoken to neighbours here and one of them in particular told me that h

in a moment, we'll be hearing from emma vardy in belfast and hywel griffith in cardiff, but first here's our scotland correspondent, james cook. scotland's lockdown is actually quite similar to england's, but there are a few key differencers. for example, there is no limit here on individual or household outdoor exercise, and under 12s are allowed to play together outdoors. schools are shut here for most pupils but, so too are nurseries, although both will be open for the children of key workers and for vulnerable pupils. places of worship are closed in scotland, a decision that's been described by the country's catholic bishops as arbitrary and unfair. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, says she accepts it is distressing, but she insists it is necessary, and ms sturgeon has been giving an update on the number of people in hospital with covid—19. she says that has risen sharply over the past week and she warns without this lockdown, the nhs could be overwhelmed within weeks. here in wales people have been required to stay at home for the last two weeks and the lockdown ha

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. do stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we'll hear from president trump's supporters in arizona still clinging onto the belief that he won the election. the bombastic establishment outsider donald trump has defied the pollsters to take the keys to the oval office. i feel great about the election results. i voted for him because i genuinely believe that he cares about the country. it's keeping the candidate's name always in the public eye that counts. success or failure depends not only on public display but on the local campaign headquarters and the heavy, routine work of their women volunteers. berliners from both east and west linked hands and danced around their liberated territory. and with nobody to stop them, it wasn't long before the first attempts were made to destroy the structure itself. yasser arafat, who dominated the palestinian cause for so long, has died. the palestinian authority has declared a state of mourning. after 17 years of discussions, the result was increased with an outburst ofjoy. w

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. four boats carrying 57 migrants were brought to dover today. the home office says the french authorities stopped another four boats with 38 people on board from reaching uk waters. more migrants have reached the uk already this month than in the whole of january 2020. the minister for immigration says legal changes will be made to enable asylum cases to be treated as inadmissible if claimants have travelled through a safe country. a 28—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder, after two men died at a property in east london. police were called to an address in ilford, to reports of a disturbance. two men were found seriously injured inside the property, and both died at the scene. our correspondent lisa hampele sent this update from the scene. the house here has been cordoned off, as you can see, and forensic teams have been here since early this morning. it was at about 4:30am this morning that police and paramedics were called. they were called because of a disturbance and when they got here they found two men had been seri

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a shrine on the riverjordan regarded by christians as the site wherejesus was baptised has hosted a religious procession for the first time since it was closed over 50 years ago. the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief! after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow despite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. around the world, people have been paying tribute to the iconic rock star david bowie who sold 140 million albums in a career that spanned half a century. his family announced overnight that he had died of cancer at the age of 69. the

in a moment, we'll be hearing from emma vardy in belfast and hywel griffith in cardiff, but first here's our scotland correspondent, james cook. scotland's lockdown is actually quite similar to england's, but there are a few key differences. for example, there is no limit here on individual or household outdoor exercise, and under—12s are allowed to play together outdoors. schools are shut here for most pupils, but so too are nurseries, although both will be open for the children of key workers and for vulnerable pupils. places of worship are closed in scotland — a decision that's been described by the country's catholic bishops as arbitrary and unfair. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, says she accepts it is distressing, but she insists it is necessary. and ms sturgeon has been giving an update on the number of people in hospital with covid—19. she says that's risen sharply over the past week, and she warns that without this lockdown, the nhs could be overwhelmed within weeks. here in wales, people have been required to stay at home for the last two weeks, and the l

in a moment, we'll speak to our ireland correspondent emma vardy, but first our wales correspondent hywel griffiths joins us from the senedd, hywel, an announcement is due imminently from the welsh government. the welsh government has confirmed that there will be a phased return to learning by january vat. we were told last week that to close schools would be a last resort, but it seems thatis would be a last resort, but it seems that is the point we have reached. wales is in a national lockdown and has been for the last two weeks, since the 20th of december. people have been told to stay at home. you remember back then wales had the worst coronavirus case rate within the uk. moving into the new year, the uk. moving into the new year, the situation has improved, but the pressure is now being felt on the front line and welsh hospitals are treating more covid patients than at any other time. emma, ministers are meeting tonight to discuss further restrictions there. they are. northern ireland has seen cases rising dramatically since christmas, but we are already in the second week of a six w

emma vardy is in belfast. tell us more? well, i don't think it was any great _ tell us more? well, i don't think it was any great surprise _ tell us more? well, i don't think it was any great surprise that - tell us more? well, i don't think it| was any great surprise that schools were not going to be able to reopen just after february half—turn as planned, because although case numbers here have been falling and the r number has been coming down, because of the big spike after christmas, pressure on hospitals is very high and intensive care numbers reach their highest ever levels and ministers had told the public to expect hospital inpatient levels to remain very high for a number of weeks. in light of all that and the fact that the more transmissible variant is becoming more common in northern ireland, they had to take the decision to keep schools closed for a bit longer. the decision to keep schools closed fora bit longer. it the decision to keep schools closed for a bit longer. it will all be reviewed coming forward and a big factor in any decision will be the vaccine r

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. the british tennis player francesca jones, who's making impressive progress in world rankings, is through to her first major international tournament after winning a qualifying round for the australian open. the 20—year—old, who has a rare genetic condition that means she was born with three fingers and a thumb on each hand, won injust one hour and one minute. joe wilson reports. one camera on court in dubai captured the moment, but what does this mean to francesca jones? well, just look and listen. she yells. 6—0, 6—1, she's qualified for australia, for a grand slam. next match will be the big time. there has been a lot of hard work and sometimes i think that might show on the court. i can be really emotional and, you know, i put everything i can into the ball, and that's as a consequence of the decisions i've made so far and the commitments i've made so far, i guess. tennis began in yorkshire, but the family relocated to spain by the time fran was ten. the rare syndrome she

our correspondent emma vardy has more from belfast. when it comes to the actual supply of vaccines on the ground for northern ireland, this really is unlikely to affect that at all. this is all political and about a point of principle. because all the way through the brexit negotiations, the eu had this very firm stance that there could be no border on the island of ireland and that goods must be able to flow freely between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. and therefore, the uk had to sign up to this deal which allows that to happen. and, you know, a lot of unionists in northern ireland were very against that. it means a new irish sea border and lots of checks and controls on goods coming from great britain to northern ireland that never existed. but now, by the eu making this move, it almost seems like that point of principle has kind of vanished when it comes to vaccines. and that's what particularly the democratic unionists here are very, very critical of. cos in principle it means, look, you can import vaccines from th

let's get more on this with our correspondent in belfast, emma vardy. emma, what are they basing this statement on?— emma, what are they basing this statement on? ~ , ., , ., statement on? well, they had planned to reo en statement on? well, they had planned to reapenjust— statement on? well, they had planned to reopen just after— statement on? well, they had planned to reopen just after the _ statement on? well, they had planned to reopen just after the february - to reopenjust after the february half term. as you say, that was pushed back to monday, march the 8th. they are basing it on, although we are seeing new cases of the virus coming down, the pressures on hospitals remain really high, thanks to that big spike just after christmas, and the effect of that is being seen in hospitals now. ministers here reminded people that actually, we have seen the highest ever numbers of patients in intensive care this week. so although things are looking better in the community, with the r eight coming down, the numbers of patients in hospital will remain

in a moment we'll be hearing from emma vardy in belfast and hywel griffith in cardiff, but first here's our scotland correspondent james cook. scotland's lockdown is actually quite similar to england's, but there are a few key differences. for example, there is no limit here on individual or household outdoor exercise, and under 12s are allowed to play together outdoors. schools are shut here for most pupils but, so too are nurseries, although both will be open for the children of key workers and for vulnerable pupils. places of worship are closed in scotland, a decision that's been described by the country's catholic bishops as arbitrary and unfair. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, says she accepts it is distressing, but she insists it is necessary, and ms sturgeon has been giving an update on the number of people in hospital with covid—19. she says that has risen sharply over the past week and she warns without this lockdown, the nhs could be overwhelmed within weeks. here in wales people have been required to stay at home for the last two weeks and the lockdown has

earlier i spoke to our correspondent in belfast, emma vardy. they had planned to reopen just after the february half term. as you say, that was then pushed back to monday, the 8th of march. what they are basing it on is that although we are basing it on is that although we are seeing new cases of the virus coming down, the pressures on hospitals remain really high. we saw that click spike in cases just after christmas. the effect of that is being seen in hospitals now, and ministers he reminded people that we have actually seen the highest ever numbers of patients in intensive care this week. so although things are looking better in the community with the r eight coming down, the number of patients in hospital will remain high for a number of weeks to come, so i think it was inevitable they would push back the reopening date for schools. another factor playing into this is also that the new variants of the virus, the more transmissible variant that is increasingly common here in northern ireland, so that was something that played a part in thei

let�*s talk to our correspondent in belfast emma vardy. the route is not going to escalate somewhat. the route is not going to escalate somewhat-— the route is not going to escalate somewhat. , �* , ., somewhat. yes. let's get one thing strai . ht, somewhat. yes. let's get one thing straight. to — somewhat. yes. let's get one thing straight, to come _ somewhat. yes. let's get one thing straight, to come to _ somewhat. yes. let's get one thing straight, to come to the _ somewhat. yes. let's get one thing straight, to come to the supply - somewhat. yes. let's get one thing straight, to come to the supply of. straight, to come to the supply of vaccines on the ground for northern ireland, this is really unlikely to affect at all. actually fight is escalating. this is all about principle. all the way to the bridge and negotiations, the eu had this very firm stance that they could be no border on the island and the goods must be able to flow freely between northern ireland and the republic of ireland and therefore the uk had to sign up to

let's get some more detailfrom our ireland correspondent, emma vardy. a lot of attention on the issue of when schools can reopen. give us the picture in northern ireland. it had been planned _ picture in northern ireland. it had been planned here _ picture in northern ireland. it had been planned here for _ picture in northern ireland. it had been planned here forjust - picture in northern ireland. it had been planned here forjust after. picture in northern ireland. it iéc been planned here forjust after the federally half term, but that has been pushed back to monday the 8th of march in line with boris johnson's announcement. that decision was made reluctantly, according to the education minister, but i think to most people felt pretty inevitable because although have seen new case numbers coming down, the hospital inpatient numbers remain very high. we remained by the deputy first minister here yesterday, this week the number of patients in intensive care in northern ireland reach their highest ever numbers, even though we will keep seeing the new ca

our ireland correspondent emma vardy has the latest from belfast. well, look, i don't think it was any great surprise that schools weren't going to be able to reopen just after the february half—term as planned because although we have seen case numbers here falling, the r—number coming down, because of that big spike in cases after christmas the pressure on hospitals really does remain very high here. and we heard this week that the numbers in intensive care reached their highest ever levels, and ministers told the public to expect hospital inpatients numbers to remain a very high for a number of weeks yet to come. so, in light of all that, and the fact that the more transmissible variant of the virus is becoming more common in northern ireland, they had to take this decision to keep schools closed for a bit longer. but it is all going to be kept under review going forward, and a big factor in any future decision about lifting restrictions, of course, is going to be the vaccine roll—out. and the aim here in northern ireland is to have everybo