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 by late spring, we think that with vaccine supply continuing to come on stream, we will have been ever done back able to offer all vulnerable people in the country this covid vaccination which perhaps provides the biggest hope for the year ahead. over 100 republicans in the us house of representatives join forces with democrats to reject president trump's veto

of a key defence bill. and we look ahead to technology in 2021 — with foldable phones, robots, 56 technology and more accessible self—driving cars in store. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. 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 are going to 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 difficult january. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. dave lee—allan is the headteacher at stowmarket high school, in eastern england and the chair of the suffolk association of secondary headteachers. do you welcome this proposal for military support? it's been there since the start to be honest. good morning. it was announced when the government first released this just as we were breaking up that there would be military support so in that sense it's not such a great surprise but i would echojeff barton ‘s point that 1500 military personnel doing webinars is not what we're looking for. what is it you're looking for. what is it you're looking for, volunteers? absolutely. i've said for quite a while, if we could have mobile units on our

grounds being manned by the forces, without supporting them, we would welcome that. we want children in school and we want to help with the testing regime by the government's current plans don't seem realistic. is that because of the time pressure because we are days away? exactly. it's the time pressure and scale of the task that we are being asked to do. many schools don't have the space, then a very specific requirements set by the government as to the space that is needed and many, as to the space that is needed and any as to the space that is needed and many, many schools are saying, we just don't have that space. then you've got the issue of the personnel, a school of about 1000 stu d e nts personnel, a school of about 1000 students needing 13 members of staff to deal with the actual testing. we've got to make sure that these people are trained, that they are appropriate, that they know what they are doing, that they've had all they are doing, that they've had all the necessary checks etc and in a

sense we've been given a day at the start of term to get disorganised. how much time you need? —— start of term to get disorganised. how much time you need? -- to get this organised. if it was the army coming on in mobile units we don't need as much time. we can do that responding quickly with all sorts of environments during this pandemic so if it was what the government have set out, i think we would probably need about two weeks to really get that up and running. what happens if this doesn't work as the government proposes it will? this is part of the problem, we don't really know and this is part of what teachers have been calling out for, trust in school leaders. we just want some clarity. everything is up in the air and the government does not have a great track record of being consistent on these things. thank

you very much, good of you tojoin us. let's speak to the opposition labour pa rty‘s education spokeswoman, kate green. are you pleased to hear that the government is promising the support from the military? as we've just heard, this was already known before christmas and yet it's notjust a case of bringing in the military to offer advice, not actually to run the tests as i understand it but to advise schools and colleges and there are a whole load of things that schools will need to put in place to make this testing programme work effectively, all of which they have been asked to do over the christmas holidays and after a ten week teachers and school staff have been working flat out i needed a break so i think there are real concerns about the logistics of getting this programme in place next week. many areas are under pressure.

the health service and schools as you pointed out, but the government will say, we are offering you the logistical help of the military. that has to be a positive step. it's of course positive to have the advice and experience of the military support schools, but as we just heard, what school actually need our bodies, they need space, they need time to get information to pa rents they need time to get information to parents and pupils and to put the training in place to make sure that asi training in place to make sure that as i understand it pupils are to test themselves, that they are shown how to do that properly, so there is an awful lot to put in place and thatis an awful lot to put in place and that is why teachers like the head teacher we've just heard from, teaching unions, support staff unions and professional organisations are all saying that i this programme just before the start of the christmas holidays and expecting it to be up and running right at the start of the very next term really isn't feasible. at a time when we are worried about this new variant of the virus spreading

much more quickly among young people, i think it's really important that everyone is confident that this programme will work effectively and that we are absolutely clear about what level of risk this new variant of the virus forces, and that's why we have been demanding that the government published the scientific advice it received. in the round, you will know better than i that pupils, pa rents know better than i that pupils, parents and the majority of teachers do want to get back to some sort of normality next week. like teachers, like pupils, like the government, i am desperate to see children and young people safely back in school. it's the right place for their learning, is the right place for their social and emotional well—being and it's important for safeguarding the most vulnerable children, but we must have assurances that schools can support those children safely and

effectively and if it is the case that children can't all be in school next week or through the coming term, what is the support that's in place for them to learn at home effectively? the governmentla ptop programme has been going since before the summer holidays and we know many children still don't have the digital resources they need to learn at home so the government has been letting down schools, letting down parents, letting down pupils for a very long time now and it's ha rd for a very long time now and it's hard working teachers and school staff who are having to pick up the pieces. 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 non—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 very 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. 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 have been 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. on monday mr trump's grip on his party appeared to be loosening. for the first time during his

presidency, republicans in the us house of representatives joined forces with democrats. they rejected mr trump's veto of a key defence bill. debra alfaone from cbs news explains why republicans defied their president. well, simon, he didn't want to have this bill go through and it all comes down to a couple of things. 0ne comes down to a couple of things. one is comes down to a couple of things. 0ne isa comes down to a couple of things. one is a section 230 of the communications and decency act, a law passed in the us in 1996 and what it does is it shields a social media companies from liability for what people are posting. think about facebook, twitter, and twitter is how president trump gets his message across to most people. what they are doing is when the president posts about elections and talks about widespread voterfraud about elections and talks about widespread voter fraud and makes those claims without evidence, twitter is flagging those and so this is a big huge sticking point for the president. he does not want this to pass and does not want this

to continue and so he wants that repealed and so he wants that to be in this bill, but this bill does not have that in it. in fact, the bill isa have that in it. in fact, the bill is a $740 billion and it passed with bipartisan support. it has funding forjobs, military bases, weapon and you fracture, it affects every congressional district, every area in the us, so this is a big deal and they really want to get this through. congress is not going to be the only congress to have never gotten this through by the end of the year so right now, the house has talked about overwriting the president's vito and now it's going to be up to the senate to do so. if they will do that remains in question. if they will do that remains in question. the london stock exchange has opened for the first day of trading since the brexit trade deal was announced on christmas eve — it's sparked a rally in uk stocks

with the ftse 100 surging. we are joined by our business presenter ben bland. normal we talk about a feel—good factor in the market around christmas. this year we are talking about a brexit deal bonanza and you may remember the deal covering trade between the uk and eu after the end of the year, it was agreed late in the day on christmas eve, markets have been shut since then so today, tuesday, we see how they are reacting for the first time since that deal was announced. the ftse 100 is up more than 2%. a lot of uk firms that do business abroad are listed on there so there is optimism that the deal will help keep trade flowing more than if there will be no deal. it features more firms that trade domestically within the uk so it seems like a barometer of confidence in the uk economy. ben butters is ceo of eurochambres,

which represents 20 million small and medium businesses across europe. is it, ben? overall i would say yes. there is a feeling of relief. i wouldn't say there is a relation but out wouldn't say there is a relation but our businesses are telling us that they are pleased to have some clarity. not complete clarity yet because there are still some aspects which need to be determined in the future and will only become apparent once businesses start trading after the 1st of january once businesses start trading after the 1st ofjanuary and even after that, but nonetheless there is general relief that we have the building blocks in place for future economic relations. from your point of view, what are the big unknowns that could cause problems? nontariff barriers will create problems. it's not an unknown. it's very clear from the terms of the deal that there will be a lot of nontariff barriers

and it's an inevitability when a country leaves the single market that there will be a lot of additional barriers in the shape of customs declarations, paperwork, checks on products, potentially professional qualification requirements as well. individually they probably don't mean much, particularly to large businesses on stock markets, but for small businesses, the cumulative burden of having to comply with these new rules will be burdensome and we don't yet know precisely how that will work in practice so that's the big unknown, how these rules will be delivered, implemented and governed in reality. there's been a lot of focus on trading goods, services in particular, financial services are hugely important to the uk economy and a lot of business goes forwards and a lot of business goes forwards and backwards between the uk and eu. what are you looking for on that front when we get past the end of the year? the financial services

sector, the uk has an important role to play in financial services so we wa nt to play in financial services so we want there to be a streamlined, effective approach. we want there to be access to finance for our business community. clearly that has beena business community. clearly that has been a big issue over the last few months as companies have struggled, notjust with months as companies have struggled, not just with investment months as companies have struggled, notjust with investment but even with working capital so we need equity to be available to businesses. anything that this deal can do to ensure that companies can access the debt and equity financing that they need to get through this crisis and help with the recovery would be very important to us. of course, that leads to jobs and a more vibrant economy, important for that reason. then, thank you very much. thank you.

six people who traveled to india from the uk have tested positive for the new variant of coronavirus first identified in britain. the indian government says they are now in isolation and their close contacts are being screened. the mutated virus has also been identified in neighbouring pakistan in tests conducted on three people who had arrived from britain. from this week, people aged over 60 in russia will be offered the sputnik v vaccine — named after the soviet—era satellite. 700,000 doses have so far been released for domestic use. 68—year—old president putin is eligible for the vaccine, but hasn't yet had it. yesterday, 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. australia says it could deport british backpackers who flout covid rules, after hundreds were seen 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". sydney is battling a new outbreak after months of no local cases. ajudge in the united states has denied bail to ghislaine maxwell, saying she might be a flight risk. the british socialite is accused of helping the convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein groom young girls. she has beenjailed since her arrest injuly, and had proposed a $28 million bail package — which included electronic monitoring. as the curtain falls on 2020, the stage is set for another year of technological innovation and growth. foldable phones, robots, 5g technology, and more accessible self—driving cars are just some of what's in store for tech world as we look ahead to 2021. kate bevan is the computing editor at the consumer magazine which? shejoins me now. sg 5g seems to be the headline story.

5g has been big news this year, starting to roll out to consumers and the masts being attacked but we'll see a lot of it next year as well because it's notjust 5g on your phone, which doesn't make a lot of difference to your daily usage, it's more what it's going to mean for infrastructure, for smart things, smart cities. it provides much faster connections and bandwidth and all of that can be used by smart cars talking to each other and sharing data about traffic, for example. that will be a big topic but also the infrastructure that goes with it with her huawei being discussed. what about mobile phones? we've seen attem pts what about mobile phones? we've seen atte m pts to what about mobile phones? we've seen attempts to change the standard black slab we are fond of. you and i will be old enough to remember when mobile phones are started, you could flip them and twist them open. i

think we'll see more things like that coming through. microsoft surface which is a foldable device will be launched in the uk early next year and we have seen samsung's foldables and huawei has launched one as well so i think we will see more playing with that format because being a mobile phone maker is really hard. the margins are minuscule and people can't really differentiate between them and they are all much the same so that's what they are trying to do there. i'm old enough to remember when there were no phones at all, it was lovely! let's talk about android devices. how are they going to change. there has been a move and we are concerned about this, to extend the life of android phones. ispent about this, to extend the life of android phones. i spent a lot of this year banging on about the fact that you only get three years of updates from a android phone which is terrible from security and consumer and environmental point of view but there is a move coming down

the track from google to extend that to four years so that would be very good news indeed. lets look at something that affects everything, battery. there has been very little change until now to how they work but we are going to see a revolution, are we? i don't about a revolution, are we? i don't about a revolution, we've reached the boundaries of where we can go with battery technology at the moment. engineers have been working to tweak capacity, manage battery output with software, a lot of devices have smart battery software where they arejust smart battery software where they are just battery use according to how you use your phone, but because we won small devices, whether it's a la ptop we won small devices, whether it's a laptop or mobile phone the bike, batteries can only take us so far so thatis batteries can only take us so far so that is interesting science around but i don't think we will see too much of that rolled out next year, that's a couple of years away yet if not more. fascinating stuff. kate,

thank you very much. kate, thank you very much. now here's something not for the faint—hearted — look away now if you don't like snakes. a spa in cairo has introduced a massage using live snakes. masseurs start as normal by rubbing oil on their clients‘ backs, followed by the use of a combination of pythons or 28 other non—venomous snake species. the massage is claimed to relieve muscle pain and improve people's self—confidence by increasing blood circulation and releasing endorphins. a p pa re ntly apparently it can also make you run very fast! straight out of the massage parlour! that's it for the moment. we'll be back shortly but you've been watching bbc news.

good morning. many of us woke up to quite a wintry scene outside. we've had frost, ice and snow around and there is more of that wintry mix through the course of today and fog the next few days. to summarise, expect further ice and snow at times. it could bring disruption to travel. slippery conditions underfoot as well. it's a mix of rain, sleet and snow but we are all in this cold air so the blue colours are with us and the wind coming from are with us and the wind coming from a northerly direction so it will feel chilly through today. we got this area of rain, sleet and snow moving out of northern england through the midlands into south wales, central southern england seeing that 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 but some sunshine, temperature is only about four to six celsius for most of us. this evening and overnight, the winds fall a little bit lighter and most of the showers ease away so under the clear skies it will be a chilly night with temperatures either side of freezing by a few degrees. colder in some rural, sheltered spots. wednesday starts with frost, ice and snow around. there will be a good deal of sunshine. further snow showers were packing across the northern half of scotland and then attention turns to this area of rain and sleet increasingly turning to snow as it moves across the higher ground of the southwest of england into south wales as well. eastern england is bright and dry but temperatures only about three to six celsius. wednesday evening to thursday, this area of rain moves along the south coast eastwards, covering some sleet and some snow over london as we move through to the early hours of thursday so

thursday starts with low pressure towards the south—east. that slowly clears away but it could leave a legacy of sleet and snow for parts of east anglia and the southeast into thursday. further north, still some snow showers packing and across parts of scotland. perhaps northern ireland seeing sleet and snow and also into northern england, if you snow showers as well. i cold today with temperatures of two to six celsius on thursday. here's how it looks for the next five days, pretty chilly wherever you are and a few sleet and snow showers. also watch out for icy stretches underfoot. bye— bye.

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. 0ver100 republicans in the us house of representatives join forces with democrats to reject president trump's veto of a key defence bill. it's the first time in the president's time in office that republicans have united with their rivals. as the curtain falls on 2020, the stage is set for another year of technological innovation and growth. foldable phones, robots, 5g technology, and more accessible