this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. the military will provide remote support to schools and colleges in england with coronavirus testing, as they begin to re—open next week. nhs england says health workers are back in the eye of the storm as the number of coronavirus cases exceeds the peak that was seen in april, but its chief executive said the vaccine is bringing hope for the future. by late spring, we think that, with vaccine supply continuing to come on stream, we will be able to offer all vulnerable people across this country this covid vaccination. and that perhaps provides the biggest chink of hope for the year ahead. us president—electjoe biden says his transition team is not getting co—operation from the trump administation on crucial matters like national security.

the bangladeshi navy has begun transferring 1,800 more rohingyas to a low—lying island in the bay of bengal — but rights groups say some of the refugees are being forced to move. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis around the globe. military personnel are to provide remote support to schools and colleges with coronavirus testing programmes, as they reopen in england from next week. 1,500 armed forces staff will form local response teams, providing telephone and online advice on setting up testing facilities. it comes as the chief of the national health service

in england warns health workers are back in the eye of the storm as coronavirus cases rise at the end of the toughest year. around the world, russia's coronavirus death toll was revised to 186,000, more than three times higher than it had previously reported, making it the country with the third—largest number of fatalities. spain is to set up a registry of people who refuse to be vaccinated against coronavirus and share it with other european union nations. and australia says it could deport backpackers who flout covid rules, after hundreds were seen partying at a sydney beach on christmas day. more on those stories later, but we start the situation with schools in england. kathryn stanczyszyn reports. as spring term starts next week, secondary schools should look different, with full coronavirus testing facilities on site. but setting them up is a big task. so big, in fact, that some education leaders have said it's simply not possible in such a short space of time. now the ministry of defence has

announced it's stepping in to help with that effort. in total, 1,500 armed forces personnel are being made available to support schools and colleges. they will form local response teams, providing advice on the testing process and the set—up of testing sites. it'll be mostly done remotely by phone or online meetings. but teams will also be on standby to provide help in person if needed. the majority of the tests will be carried out by the pupils themselves. we know that those tests will help more young people from being disrupted. it's a really good idea. but we're educationalists, we can support the government. it's good we're going to have some members of the army, but for 3,500 secondary schools, 1,500 troops doing webinars probably isn't the government response that we were looking for. these fresh resources are part of the government's plan to get children back in the classroom through a staggered start post—christmas, giving schools time to get prepared. it says physical attendance has to be a priority. but teaching unions and some virus

experts have called for a rethink amid rising coronavirus cases, saying all pupils should stay at home to help prevent an even more difficultjanuary. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. anita ellis is the headteacher at royal wootton bassett academy in wiltshire in south—west england. then news the military might be there to help, does that change things dramatically? i'm afraid not. to hear that we have 1500 members of the armed forces effectively giving us the armed forces effectively giving us online support is not really, as jeff said earlier this morning, not really what we were looking for. what schools actually need our bodies on the ground to help deliver this testing. schools have stepped up this testing. schools have stepped up right the way from march, delivering online learning, we are very used to being adaptable and we

wa nt very used to being adaptable and we want this to work. but we don't know where we will get volunteers from and we don't know proby can get the vetting done in time. so really what we need is online on the ground support. do you need the start of term to be postponed? that would be very helpful. i will return on the 11th of january to a very helpful. i will return on the 11th ofjanuary to a significant amount of very speedy planning. we all know that speedy planning can sometimes go wrong. we will have your 11 and year 13 in on that day, so your 11 and year 13 in on that day, so ensuring we your 11 and year 13 in on that day, so ensuring we are your 11 and year 13 in on that day, so ensuring we are all following those covid rules again, making sure they're those covid rules again, making sure they‘ re safe. those covid rules again, making sure they're safe. the biggest concern for me, as it was through turn two, are my staff. making sure they are safe is my absolute priority. when you heard the mod was suggesting the possibility of students swabbing themselves, what was your reaction? this is my honest response. a year 11 student will be nervous about

this process. we deliver hpv vaccinations to your groups. were used to vaccination programmes in schools and used to organising that with the health service. we will have an 11—year—old student who is nervous about the process, potentially could get it wrong, and the real concern for us in schools is that they get it wrong and it produces a negative response. if they are a carrier of covid and are asymptomatic, they are back in the year group asymptomatic, they are back in the yeargroup and asymptomatic, they are back in the year group and potentially spreading that around not only the students, but theirfamilies that around not only the students, but their families and my staff. that's the biggest concern, the a ccu ra cy that's the biggest concern, the a ccu ra cy of that's the biggest concern, the accuracy of these tests, the ability of young people in particular to do these tests under very difficult circumstances. most people it seems wa nt circumstances. most people it seems want children back at school, teachers, parents, probably yourself, what is the biggest problem at the moment? it's ensuring the safety of all. i think also it's

the safety of all. i think also it's the confidence in the system. as i say, school leaders, teachers, were very used to being able to adapt very used to being able to adapt very quickly. my staff are very adept at turning out whatever they need to turn out on monday morning, remote learning or sitting in front of stu d e nts remote learning or sitting in front of students and physically teaching. they are adapted doing that. what we can't deal with at the moment is the sureness. this ad hoc way in which we are kind of been held on to advice for the future and future plans. the biggest concern is about keeping everyone safe. i ellis, good to talk to you. thank you for your time. —— anita ellis. let's speak now to the chair of the education select committee, robert halfon. i think the head teacher and all other head teachers and support staff are everything they're doing. you are right, it's not easy to roll

this out and it has been announced very quickly, just before christmas. but the rapid testing hopefully will make a huge difference to students and teachers because they will get tested on a regular basis. what i would like to see is the government to make teachers and support staff a priority for vaccination as well because that means that teachers will feel safe, they won't need to be sent home if there are covered related reasons. we just heard from a head teacher saying the volunteers that would be required to do that just are not there and that isn't the time to get them vetted and in place? it varies because different schools will be able to do it in different ways. i do agree with the head teacher that schools will need volunteers on the ground, boots on the ground. i hope very much the government extend the military

contribution to actually turning up at schools perhaps with mobile units, helping schools vaccinate and also test the children. 1500 military staff is what is being offered. how will that work? well, i've onlyjust heard the announcement today, so i don't have the full details of that. there were reports that senior figures in government met yesterday to finalise these plans. do you know what else has been arranged ? these plans. do you know what else has been arranged? i'm not a member of the government so i don't. what i have been pushing for is for volunteers and teachers to be made a priority for vaccination because i think that will help hugely and we need to see a sufficient roll—out of this new testing regime. what about something that anita ellis was talking about, the naturalfear that many students will have about a stranger doing what is a fairly

unpleasant stranger doing what is a fairly u npleasa nt test stranger doing what is a fairly unpleasant test at the best of times being carried out? it's very difficult to see how that's going to work in practice. i'm sure the teachers and support staff in the school will help and guide the students. there is a lot of guidance on the department for education website as to how these tests will work. if they are guided through, i think students will actually welcome for the most part that they can be tested and know whether or not they have these awful virus. we are a week away from schools supposedly reopening, the offer of 1500 military staff which you say you have just heard about, a lot of people are going to ask why it took so people are going to ask why it took so long for this to be put forward asa so long for this to be put forward as a possible solution to this? ideally this would be announced earlier thanjust before ideally this would be announced earlier than just before christmas, i accept that. the government are firefighting covid from day to day. the testing regime is much better,

it's up and running now, so i suspect there may be logistical reasons for why the announcement was made just before christmas. but the important thing is it is going to happen. it won't be easy. we are in a national emergency, but this will make a huge difference to teachers and children, hopefully meaning schools will remain open. robert halfon, good of you tojoin us. thanks for your time. hospitals in england are now treating more coronavirus patients than at any other point in the pandemic, as numbers surpass the peak that was seen in april. the head of nhs england, sir simon stevens, has said that health service workers are back in the eye of the storm as officials warn the number of covid patients in hospital in england will soon rise further, reflecting the current spike in infections caused by a new variant of the virus. keith doyle reports. health services across the uk are being stretched as they deal with increasing numbers of patients with covid. in london, accident and emergency departments are reporting intense pressure.

in scotland, doctors say there's a danger that services will be overwhelmed. in wales, the situation in hospitals is described as incredibly challenging. and in northern ireland, the health minister said the next few days is a crucial period. the stark messages show the impact the covid virus is having. the hospitals are extremely busy. we've seen a massive rise in people coming in with covid over the past week. and this is on top of the increase of no—covid cases that we normally see at this time of year. and then, just like the first wave, we're also suffering with staff shortages. staff are getting covid again. i think the situation is untenable. if change doesn't happen, i think we are close to becoming, you know, overwhelmed. in england, the number of people being treated for the virus in hospital is over 20,000, higher than the previous peak of around 19,000 in april, although more testing is being done now than it was then. over 41,000 new cases were reported yesterday, a record, with 357 deaths.

nhs providers said some trusts were reporting up to three times the number of covid patients than at the peak of the first wave. the pressure is having a real effect. in many hospitals, the rising number of covid patients means staff are being redeployed and more routine operations and procedures are being postponed. this sadly, it's inevitable that as the infections rise, the admissions rise, that, actually, we see disruption to other services. we are desperate, our members are desperate, to keep that disruption as low as possible, but unfortunately some of our elective and planned services will be disrupted, both in hospitals and in other settings as well. acknowledging the work that health workers are doing, the head of the nhs in england has given a message to staff who he said have had a very tough year. by late spring, we think that, with vaccine supply continuing

to come on stream, we will be able to offer all vulnerable people across this country this covid vaccination. and that perhaps provides the biggest chink of hope for the year ahead. tomorrow, the tier levels in england will be reviewed. across the uk, health ministers have pleaded with people to stay home for new year's, sticking to the restrictions in place. the challenges for the health services over the next days and weeks are immense. keith doyle, bbc news. president—electjoe biden says his team is still not getting the co—operation it needs from the outgoing trump administration. he says many national security agencies have been damaged, and "hollowed out" during donald trump's time in office an allegation rejected by the white house. we are just three weeks away from the inauguration of the next us president, joe biden. and it appears president trump's grip on his party is starting to loosen. republicans in the us house of representatives have joined democrats to reject the president's veto of a defence bill. the senate will vote

on the measure later and could — with a two—thirds majority — override mr trump's use of the veto for the first time during his presidency. debra alfarone from cbs news is in washington with more on this story. why did president trump want to veto the defence bill? well, simon, ididn‘t well, simon, i didn't want to have this bill go through and it all comes down to a couple of things. something that shields social media companies for liability over what people are posting. when the president talks about elections and widespread voterfraud president talks about elections and widespread voter fraud and makes

claims without evidence, twitter is flagging those. this is a sticking point for the president and he doesn't want this to pass —— a want this to continue, so he wants that repeal. so he wants that to be in this bill. but this bill does not haveitin this bill. but this bill does not have it in it. in fact, the bill is $740 billion and it passed with bipartisan support. it has funding forjobs, military bases, weapon manufacturers, it affects nearly every congressional district, every area in the us. this is a big deal. congress doesn't want to be the only congress doesn't want to be the only congress to have not gotten through by the end of the year. the has talked about overriding the president's vito and now it's going to be up to the senate to do so. will they do that? that remains the question. the interesting thing about this is what it says about the outgoing president's state of play

with his own party, what's going on? i think what's happening now as people are trying to figure out what's going on. we have three weeks 01’ so what's going on. we have three weeks or so left. at this point, republicans are between a rock and a ha rd republicans are between a rock and a hard place. what is going to happen? what are they going to do? break with the president or continue? if you think about the time that the election it happened and then of course the president was not conceding the election and little by little, as time went on, you were wondering whether senate republicans would do anything and back the president on this, and mitch mcconnell did. he stuck with the president and said he supported legal efforts to have this figured out, the selection. but at a certain point, he even said, joe biden is oui’ point, he even said, joe biden is our president—elect and i think it was at that point that things started to change. at this point, we

haven't heard from mitch mcconnell who has another thing on his plate because he has to now vote or see if there is going to be a vote about there is going to be a vote about the stimulus checks going out to americans. the president suddenly wa nted americans. the president suddenly wanted to have $2000 eligible per person, so wanted to have $2000 eligible per person, so now wanted to have $2000 eligible per person, so now he has that in front of him as well. today will be a big day where we see whether people break with him or stick with him. debra alfarone, thanks very much. the bangladeshi navy says it's begun to move a second group of rohingya refugees to a remote low—lying island in the south of the country. seven ships are moving about 1800 people to their new home on the island of bhasan char. bangladesh says the move is voluntary, however rights groups dispute this and argue that the island is unsuitable to house the refugees. authorities eventually plan to relocate about 100,000 people to the island. ealier we spoke to the bbc‘s

anbarasan ethirajan from dhaka. he gave us more details on the island. this bhasan char island is about 60 kilometres off the coast of south—eastern bangladesh, from the port city of chittagong. it's a very remote island on the indian ocean. it emerged from the silt accumulated over the years from the himalayas about 20 years ago. it's about 40 kilometres wide. the bangladeshi government says that it has set up a lot of housing units and hospitals and schools, and the facilities there are much better. but accessibility is an issue there because you need to have special boats to reach this island. for example, it may take even four or five hours to reach these islands. one of the main reasons being cited by the bangladeshi authorities

is that the current camps in the cox's bazar district which borders mayanmar, they are overcrowded. nearly a million refugees are living there in very cramped conditions and there are issues of law and order, human trafficking, and they want to move some of them to these islands so that they can reduce conditions and bring the situation under control. the bangladesh authorities are also not very hopeful that myanmar will take them anytime from the bangladeshi perspective, we are a democratic country. we have taken these nearly1 million refugees from neighbouring mayanmar. they fled violence there. a lot of reports indicate that there was organised violence. at the international community has moved away from the rohingya issue to other issues, like in syria, iraq and other places. and the talks with mayanmar are not progressing very well. so we are under extreme pressure because we have to take care of these people, and also we have to maintain law and order. but they don't have many other islands to move these people. 0n the other hand, the un and aid agencies, what they are saying is you cannot move these refugees against their will because many of them will be cut off

from the relatives and friends who are already living in the cox's bazar camps. and also the un and other humanitarian aid groups have not been allowed to go onto the island to carry out a risk assessment because aid groups are saying that it is prone to flooding and cyclones. so there are two different stories here. but bangladesh says we have no other choice apart from moving these people to this island. global airline passenger traffic was down an estimated 67% this year — that's according to a report which shows the effects of the pandemic on the aviation sector. jeremy bowen is the ceo of cirium — the global aviation data firm which carried out that survey. that is a huge figure. we all know the aviation industry has been hit very hard, the aviation industry has been hit very ha rd, clearly. the aviation industry has been hit very hard, clearly. it's been a catastrophe for the airline industry. we have seen 21 years worth of consistent passenger growth

wiped out in the matter of a few months. we are now back to levels last seen in 1999. 50% of flights, but a third of passengers. we have some graphs. firstly, commercial aircraft. that perhaps is the most dramatic, is it? we see that 3096 of the world's airline passenger fleet is actually in storage and that a colossal amount of storage on the ground laying idle and not being used. what airlines are doing is you will see some of those aircraft never fly will see some of those aircraft neverfly again. will see some of those aircraft never fly again. they require maintenance and are less fuel—efficient, so will not come back into service again. the aircraft that are being used are the ones that are more fuel—efficient and they drive greater profitability

for the airlines. those are the ones they will be using. and which reasons are “— they will be using. and which reasons are —— regions are we looking at in terms of recovery, who is best placed to cope with this?- the moment, international travel is down around the world. asia—pacific is boosted quite significantly with domestic travel. domestic travel in china is the highest it has ever been, record—breaking levels. a lot of the chinese population would travel internationally, and that's not happened. they are now travelling domestically for leisure, so that's up. in the report we produced, you see that nine out of the top ten busiest routes in 2020 we re the top ten busiest routes in 2020 were all in asia—pacific. vietnam, china, south korea. these are countries where domestic travel is leading the way. so what is the industry do to try to recover and get back to pre—pandemic levels? well, i think they are in it for the

long haul. a lot of airlines are burning through cash reserves and not making money at present. it is forecast that the industry will start to turn positive at the end of next year. in the meantime, it's a case of hunkering down, trying to cut whatever costs they can, encourage passengers to get onto aircraft, we talk in the report that aircraft, we talk in the report that a lot of airlines have pivoted to cargo quite successfully. they have taken out seats from aircraft to get some cash coming in to see them through the next six or eight months before it is forecast that passengers will start to come back. in the last few weeks... the boeing 747 max has been under the radar, hasn't it? it is a welcome boost for boeing, having come out of a very

tough year. it is a fuel—efficient aircraft and has been through rigorous checks. a lot of airlines are welcoming that. jeremy bowen, good to talk to you, thank you very much. markets have responded positively to the post—brexit trade deal as the london stock exchange opened for its first day of trading since christmas eve. shares on the ftse 100 are up more than 2% in early trading this morning, rising to levels not seen since the beginning of march. stocks are also up across the eurozone. the post—brexit trade agreement is expected to be approved by uk mps in parliament tomorrow. the 27 eu ambassador unanimously approved the provisional application of the agreement yesterday. partying at a sydney beach on christmas day. videos of the gathering, widely shared on social media, showed hordes of young people at bronte beach in breach of regulations.

the event has sparked anger among locals, with health officials calling it "absolutely appalling". good morning. many of us woke up to a wintry scene outside. there is more of the wintry mix through the course of today and mix through the course of today and for the next few days. to summarise, we expect further ice and snow at times which could bring some disruption to travel, some slippery conditions underfoot as well. it is a mix of rain, sleet and snow but we are all under this cold air. the wind coming in from a northerly direction. feeling chilly through the day. this area of rain, sleet and snow moving out of northern england, through the midlands and into south wales, central and southern england seen some of that

later on this afternoon, further snow showers for the north of scotland, some rain, sleet and snow for northern ireland and one or two showers across eastern parts of england as well. some sunshine, temperatures about 4—6 for most of us. this evening and overnight, the winds fall light and most of the showers tending to ease away, so under those clear skies it will be chilly with temperatures generally either side of freezing by a couple of degrees. colder than this for some sheltered rural spots. snow showers packing over the north half of scotla nd showers packing over the north half of scotland in particular and then our attention is drawn to this area of rain, sleet and snow as it moves across the higher ground to the south—west of england and into south wales as well. on wednesday evening and overnight into thursday, this area of rain moves along the south coast, eastwards. that could bring

some sleet and snow for the likes of london as we move through to the early hours of thursday. thursday morning starts with low pressure towards the south—east. that could leave a legacy of sleet and snow for parts of east anglia and the south—east into thursday. further north, still some snow showers packing in across parts of scotland, perhaps northern ireland seeing some sleet and snow and also into northern england. a cold day for many of us. here's how it looks for the next five days. pretty chilly wherever you are and a few sleet snow showers. also watch out for some icy stretches underfoot. goodbye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the military is set to provide remote support to schools and colleges in england with coronavirus testing. it comes after cabinet minister michael gove said the government's plan for a staggered return to secondary schools can go ahead. nhs england says health workers are "back in the eye of the storm" as the number of coronavirus cases exceeds the peak that was seen in april — but its chief executive said the vaccine is bringing hope for the future. us president—electjoe biden says his transition team is not getting co—operation from the trump administation on crucial matters like national security — but a pentagon spokesman said it had been "completely tra nsparent". the bangladeshi navy has begun transferring 1800 more rohingyas to a low—lying island in the bay of bengal — but rights groups raised concerns about the new location's vulnerability to storms, and say some of the refugees are being forced to move.