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announcer: and now, "bbc world news". >> new code ine u.k. have reached a daily high. the u.s. cuts in half the isolation time for people without symptoms to five days. china says asteroids have been put on a collision course with satellites placed by elon musk.

we begin in the u.k. where the government has defended its decision to hold off on new coronavirus restrictions before the new year. it says it will monitor the situation csely. data shows there have been record numbers of cases across the u.k.. france has also seen record highs in cases. the country has announced new restrictions. there have been demonstrations in eastern germany against new restrictions. >> a vaccination center in london.

staff hearsay there is no shortage of demands. >> zero mitigations in place. i don't want to get sick. i don't want to pass it onto my loved ones. >> it's important because i am a recently retired senior head of education. i preach it to my staff. >> unlike the rest of the u.k. which has increased restrictions, the government in england is relying on vaccinations to get the country through the latest wave. >> we watch very carefully all of the data. we have had some good news that it seems to be milder in severity. we watch the hospitalizations and the number of people in hospitals all the time. >> the data the government are monitoring in particular hospitalizations which are increasing but are still far

from the peaks of reviews waves. in london which is been worst hit by omicron, the number of patients in icu beds in hospitals like this are still well below threshold. >> despite the latest figures showing record infections in the u.k. related to christmas, some scientists say the spread of the virus in england seems to be slowing. >> cases are still rising. there were suggestions that we might be -- on the other hand cases are not increasing as rapidly as they were a week or so ago. we can be fairly certain that we -- they are doubling every couple days. >> the virus in wales is growing exponentially mirroring what happened over the last few weeks in england. >>ur rates are quite stable.

it is now leading toward the 100,000 mark. what we published today is just before christmas. we still have to watch and see what christmas and new year mixing is going to produce. >> back in england, the decision not to add further restrictions has been described -- >> it's not just about new year's eve. it's pretty than that. the start of recovery, we believe we have created safe environments for people to come out socialized. we think it's the best scenario given that if we had closed, we would have seen more house parties. >> there are concerns about the wider impact of omicron.

while more people are coming into hospital with covid but not because of covid, the staff are getting infected. >> as soon as you get omicron circulating amongst the community, of course it will be circulating among the staff. we are having to redeploy staff to fill the gaps left in staff. >> it will assess whether more strict since are needed in january. >> earlier our correspondent came into the studio and told me there is a different approach being used to impose restrictions within different nations of the u.k.. >> there is confidence within westminster at the moment that they can ride this out and hopefully get through the worst of the peak of cases from the

omicron variant bout the need to impose anymore restrictions than they already have. it is a cautious confidence and they are saying we are keeping our eye on the data and will not hesitate to act if we need to, but it is in stark contrast to other governments around the u.k. who are taking a more cautious approach. they are acting and advance of a rise in hospitals -- hospital cases to avoid the worst of it. it will be motivated by a desire to keep inks motivated as much as possible, to keep the economy going and schools. to protect the public health as best they can with what is been put in place. there is a political rally at

play, that horse johnson is under pressure from his own party. people are ideologically opposed to the vaccines, they don't believe they are necessary given the high number of cases, the early data is suggesting also that omicron is less severe than other variants of the virus. they said that is vindication for their argument that more restriions are not the way to go. >> france has reported a new record high number of cases. nearly 180,000 people were infected in 24 hours. it comes as the french government announces it will announce tighter restrictions. the third of january, working remotely will become compulsory for those who can't.

the humanitarian crisis in afghanistan deepens. families are having to take drastic measures to survive. hundre of thousands of children are having to work, now more parents are having to send their kids out to work because they don't have jobs themselves. a journalist sent us this report from kabul. >> wherever you go in the city, you see children working. picking through rubbish. even when billions were pouring into the country, many children had to provide for their families. now the number is growing. >> [speaking non-english language] [cghing] correspondent: it is 8:00 a.m., and this eight-year-old is getting ready for work. he and his young cousins only

started polishing shoes the last few months. >> [speaking non-english language] correspondent: his father spends his day waiting for work as a laborer on the corner of the road. in the past, hhad just enough to get by. >> i come here every day. it is the same for everyone here. >> i don't feel good that my child is working, but the situation is bad. we have no choice but to send him to work. correspondent: he and his cousins walk the streets, sticking together in case other boys start fighting with them. business is slow. >> [speaking non-english language] correspondent: with no

customers, the boys take a break at a playground in the center of kabul. they still have big dreams for the future. what do you want to do when you are older? >> doctor. correspondent: when school starts again, will you go back to school or just carry on working? >> [speaking non-english language] correspondent: the boys walked past the city's kebab vendors, as well as civil servants demanding unpaid salaries and huge queues outside banks. have you had lunch today? >> no. correspondent: why? >> [speaking non-english language] correspondent: so what will you do now? >> [speaking non-english language] correspondent: eventually, they buy a single piece of bread to share between them.

>> [speaking non-english language] correspondent: soon after, they find a customer, too. >> [speaking non-english language] >> most who are coming to my shop just want to shine shoes. 50 people like that come here every day. correspondent: the money he makes will help feed his family today, but food prices are rising and the rent is overdue. are you happy that you are helping your family? >> [speaking non-english language] correspondent: bbc news, kabul. >> the u.s. health authorities have cut in half isolation time for those testing positive for covid but haven't shown symptoms.

the isolation time goes from 10 days to five days. the cdc insists this is being guided by science. what is the evidence they are citing to justify the change? >> the cdc says people are at their most infectious a couple of days before the exhibit symptoms and for three days after they start to exhibit symptoms. that's why they say it is right to advise people who test positive that they only need to isolate for five days as long as on the fifth day, they are not exhibiting any symptoms or if their fever has gone and the other symptoms are resolving. they say for those who were unvaccinated who feel they have come into contact with someone who is tested positive, they also only need to isolate for five day after which they just

have to be careful and should try to test themselves. for those who are vaccinated and have had the booster as well, if they have come into contact with someone who is tested positive, the don't have to isolate at all. again, they have been advised to wear masks and test five days after that point. this is recognition that we have seen a huge surge in new cases, but of a variant that may be more infectious but appears to be less severe. it has come with pressure from companies, airlines, also the health care industry who are sitting that if we see a bigger rise in cases, we need to find a way to function as a society and have all these people isolating. there are some that say you

reduce the isolation quarantine times, it's going to lead to a greater spread of the virus. also there has been criticism of the government because there are those who say it's telling people to live or freely, isolate less. the biden administration is not providing the tools to do that more easily because of free at home testing has never been subsidized by the government up until this point. they have now said they're going to send free test people's homes , but that will only start in january. >> let's get some of the days other news. at least 20 people have died in severe flooding in brazil. heavy rain his forced 60,000 people to leave their homes. the state governor has described it as the worst disaster in its history.

investigation is underway after a private jet crashed in a neighborhood and san diego, california. they have a helmet people died who they were printed one home was damaged and several others lost power. in operation is underway on an island after it was declared the end of the iraq -- eruption of the volcano. in russia, the supreme court has banned a human rights organization. it is accused of violating a law which requires groups to register as foreign agents. it comes in a year when the kremlin has cracked down oats -- on its critics. >> more and more, it feels as if russia is turn the clock.

quidate the judge says. she orders one of russia's oldest civil rights groups to shut down. the ngo was found to have broken russia's foreign agents law. disgraceful decision the reaction from the gallery. >> it's one hunter percent political thing. substance of the political decision is just one more step from authoritarian regime. >> for more than 30 years, memorial has been shining a light on one of the darkest chapters of russian history. what became known as the great terror. it is been painstakingly cataloguing the victims of joseph stalin's repressions. up to 20 million soviet citizens are believed to have been sent to the gulags to the prison

camps. hundreds of thousands were executed. memoal was set up to keep their memory alive. the founding was a symbol of the soviet union opening up to the crimes of joseph stalin. shutting down is a symbol also. of how and russia today, the past is being reshaped, rewritten and how civil society is under attack. >> vladimir putin has been using history try to foster patriotism. he focuses on the glories of russia's past like the victory in world war ii. through this annual readinof names of the victims of political repression, memorial has tried to remind russians of their tragic past.

now, it is being silenced. >> i've been speaking to a senior lecturer. she explained the significance of memorial. >> we've been seeing ever since vladimir putin returned in 2012, a real steady increase of pressure on human rights organizations, civil society, independent media, any entities that can hold state to account and its actions more transparent. this is the most recent and egregious of those steps over the last several years. >> the for agents provision, zoomable he it is quite effective. >> works on several levels. on one level, it is effective at

labeling an organization as somehow connected to foreign money, foreign organizations, foreign ideas. it also works at a more mundane bureaucratic level because of the onerous requirements it makes of organizations and individuals in terms of the forms they have to fill in, the reporting they have to do. a small administrative error can land them in court with the judgment we have seen. >> what is in the history? why has it been so important in russia? >> it was the first of the independent civil society organizations that was created during gorbachev. it was founded in 1987 by a number of dissidents including a ve well-known nuclear physicist and also a campaigner for human rights. it has worked steadily throughout that time not only to uncover the crimes of the past

particularly of stalin, but also to document contemporary human rights abuses and this is probably one of the key reasons why it has been targeted so strongly. >> the history is interesting. a case is being prosecuted on alleged child abuse charges. why does it matter to president putin customer? he had nothing to do with it. >> it matters because monomer put -- vladimir putin has tied a lot of his -- to construct the glories of the past. it includes making the country a great economic power a

military power. this legacy is very important for vladimir putin and he shes that heart. there was an amendment to the constitution last summer not challenging the state's view of history. he has made it very personal campaign. >> china has issued a complaint about elon musk. of his activities in space. beijing says there have been too narrowly avoided collisions. china has raised the issue with the space agency but have not yet been independently verified. i spoke to someone about the near misses. >> under the treaty, anything

that a private company does in space is the responsibility of the u.n. member states that licensed it to go up in the first place. there is a governmental role. is the u.s. regulating what spacex is doing? the problem here is that these satellites are being moved around actively watch more so than most. the chinese couldn't figure out in advance whether to dodge or not. box how crowded is it getting in the atmosphere? >> is bursting at the seams. earth orbit is not infinitely huge. it's like we used to think about the oceans, throw everything in their and will never fill up. that's wrong.

because everything is traveling at 17,000 miles per hour in all directions, you know the saying about how far you should be from the car in front of you. there are almost 5000 working satellites. we are tracking 20,000 pieces of nk. there's little pieces we can't even see on the radar. it's a mess up their. >> to be fair to the chinese, the european space agency has expressed some concerns about elon musk's activities a few weeks ago about how this should be properly regulated. >> i don't think we need to necessarily focus on spacex, because there's a bunch of other countries and companies putting up large constellation of satellites. he is the first to go all out. we need to solve this in an international way as a general problem of space crowding. that we're just in a new

commercial space age where space is getting much more active, more crowd, and there are more players. >> that's an interesting point. at the time the treaty came out in the mid 60's, it was the cold war so it was all about rules to prevent one side from colonizing and controlling. now, it's a different environment where there are so many more players. >> the assumption in the early space regulations was the or satellite is either u.s. government or surgery government -- soviet government. it's a different world now. the frequency of close passes is getting more frequent. i should mention that the international space station has had to dodge chinese space junk several times over the past few years. it's not all on one side. >> that's it from bbc news.

thanks for y narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs. ♪ da-da-da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: new covid guidance. as rising omicron cases keep many at home, we explain the new c.d.c. recommendations around shorter isolation times. then, crackdown in russia. the government bans the most prominent human rights group, as the world marks 30 years since the dissolution of the soviet union. and, rising costs. how the roller coaster price of lumber might have predicted inflation and could signal where the economy goes from here. >> no one has ever seen $700. that was pretty astonishing. but then it went to $800, $900, and $1,000. >> nawaz: all that and more, on night's pbs newshour.