If you live in England, you'll find out later whether your area will be moved to a different tier of Covid restrictions. While rising infection rates have just pushed London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire into tier three - the top level of curbs - Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham says there is a "clear case" for his area to move down to tier two. Even so, he says he'll understand any choice to "err on the side of caution". Some 61% of England's population is subject to the toughest restrictions. And one representative of NHS trusts says ministers must "urgently consider" tightening rules in other areas, with hospitals just outside London alarmed at the rise in admissions, and concerns services further north could be placed "under significant pressure" by moving down a tier prematurely.
It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to keep celebrations "short" and "small" during a five-day relaxation of rules from next Wednesday. While three households may form a "Christmas bubble", mixing indoors and staying overnight, a joint statement by the UK, Welsh and Scottish governments "strongly recommended" people spend Christmas with their own household. And, in Wales, the law will change to limit bubbles to two households. In Northern Ireland, First Minister Arlene Foster said the public must take "every precaution".

Reports in the US suggest prosecutors are to push for the extradition of a man to stand trial over the Lockerbie bombing. Abu Agila Mohammad Masud - said to have been a bomb maker for former dictator Muammar Gaddafi - is currently being held in Libya, says the Wall Street Journal. This has not been confirmed by Libyan authorities. The 1988 terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103, from London to New York, killed 259 people on board and a further 11 people on the ground in the Scottish town. Libyan national Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted over the bombing, was jailed in 2001 but maintained his innocence until his death in 2012.

There have long been concerns about the side-effects of lockdown. And BBC analysis shows millions of people missed potentially life-saving scans between April and September, with at least 4.4 million fewer performed than in the same period of 2019. With one in seven people now waiting more than three months for a scan, as the NHS tries to clear the backlog, Cancer Research UK's Jody Moffat warns: "Those patients could be diagnosed with a more aggressive, later-stage cancer." NHS England says some services are back at last year's levels. But Toni Cunnington, who is undergoing aggressive chemotherapy for a stage-four lymphoma after having her original MRI cancelled in March, says: "I feel like my life isn't worth as much as a Covid patient."

One word - "little" - is variously underlined, italicised and coloured in on front pages, as the Express, Telegraph and Metro quote the prime minister warning people to have a "merry little Christmas" this year. Boris Johnson was himself quoting a Christmas song in urging caution during a five-day relaxation of coronavirus rules, in what the Daily Mail describes as "the fright before Xmas". The Sun reckons the updated guidance is "crackers" and could lead to "cold turkey", saying families were urged to celebrate outside "if granny is joining". However, the Daily Mirror calls the PM a "coward" for not reversing the five-day relaxation, with UK cases rising again. "He won't change the law and wants you to take blame for killer third wave," the paper says. Read the review.

Find out about Laura Lake, who took up photography with a borrowed camera and zoom lens during lockdown and ended up being nominated for a national award. Our video contains stunning shots of birds and adorable seals. And indie singer Phoebe Bridgers tells us about the making of her Grammy-nominated album, Punisher, along with anecdotes about learning to drive a tractor and the time she stalked James Blake.

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