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. over 100 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, 56 technology, and more accessible self—driving cars are just some

of what's in store for tech world as we look ahead to 2021. now on bbc news: in the 1990s vienna placed female architects at the heart of a big revamp of their city. now barcelona is trying to replicate this, via their mayor, architects and organisations. cities are supposed to be built for all of us, but they aren't built by all of us — because most cities, if not all of them, are designed and built by men. but what would a city look like if it was built by women? in 2019, we came to barcelona to meet a group of influential feminist leaders to hear their plans to redesign the city. but a year ago, we never could have imagined just how much

the world would change. so we've come back to barcelona to find out how a city that was trying to work better for women has weathered the biggest crisis of our lifetime. barcelona is a city that has a long history of reinventing itself with brave and adventurous urban design.

over 6,000 years, generation after generation of men have put their mark on this city. but when we came here in 2019, it was in the midst of a feminist takeover. but when we came here in 2019, it was in the midst of a feminist takeover. in 2015, the city had elected its first female mayor, ada colau. and it wasn'tjust the mayor. barcelona's feminist revolution involves everyone from writers to urban planners, architects and economists, and all those who make up the fabric of this evolving city.

playgrounds were being reimagined, streets were being named for women, public transport was changing so women didn't have to walk alone at night. and the city was saying no to sleaze. but then the pandemic hit. and just like so many other places, barcelona is reeling. so how are these feminist ideals withstanding a pandemic? and did it teach us anything about how the legacy of this virus will impact women? someone who could explain this better than most... masqaretes. ..is judit vall castello.

as a health economist and a mum, she's had a very busy few months. my husband is an essential worker, so i was alone at home. and working full—time? and working full—time, so, yeah, we had difficult situations and working full—time? and working full—time, so, yeah, we had difficult situations where i posted some postits in the door in the dining room — "it's forbidden to enter now!" brilliant. did it work? no major incidents. judit‘s been studying the economic impact of the pandemic, particularly on women, and she's found something interesting. so, basically, the previous crisis that we had in 2008, it affected very much certain sectors that we know have a higher incidence of men working there. the situation is completely different now because the biggest sectors that have been affected are the service sectors.

and we know that in those sectors, there's a higher proportion of women working there. so this is a pretty short—term effect. so in the short—term, it's very clear and we can already see the stats for several countries. the situation might be different in the long—term. why is that? well, there are mainly two reasons. the first one is that some of the firms have been forced to flexibilise the employment situation, to make employment more flexible, to allow working from home, and in the long—term, this is going to beneficialfor women. then the second thing is that women working in the health care service, women working in the cleaning service, these women had to keep working during the lockdown situation, and so their partners, the fathers, had to stay at home, and so this has been proven to change the gender roles for the children at home. do you have an idea of how many

families this is affecting, how many families are changing their gender roles as a result of this pandemic? in 10% of the families, the fathers were in charge of the children during the lockdown situation. 0k. and some fathers who weren't before, so this is a new pattern emerging? exactly. for lots of people, it's been a difficult year. for some, it's been life—changing. we met conchi braojos in 2019 because she had been working with the feminist collective to find a solution to the problem of getting to work. she's a cleaner in a hospital and she had to walk alone in the middle of the night because of the lack of bus connections.

none of us could have imagined the year that was in store for her, as the hospital she worked in became one of those at the centre of the pandemic.

and after all of this, conchi still has to walk to work in the middle of the night.

during the peak of the lockdown, she also found she was ferrying things like phone chargers to and from the hospital, because spain had one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. people were only allowed to leave their homes if they absolutely had to. children had to stay inside for months. that rule came from central government, and it's something that mayor ada colau said she disagreed with from the start.

when we met the first time, colau spoke about her vision of feminist politics, that it was built around consensus. and that was important, because her left—wing party didn't win a clear majority in the last election and she's in power with a party on the right.

before she became a politician, ada colau was an activist, fighting against evictions, but she has been criticised for failing to stop a rise in evictions in the last few months.

there's a project that mayor ada colau was keen for us to visit, aimed directly at women. this pilot project aims

to help 1,200 children, and that will help women, because, despite all the progress made in recent years, the pandemic showed us that women still do the overwhelming bulk of childcare. in families where the two partners were staying at home, were teleworking from home, and had children's responsibilities, women were interrupted 50% more of the time than men. and also they were dedicating... in these two—parent families, they were dedicating four more hours per day to the caring of the children than their husbands. and there's a simple reason why women here could be affected more than most. barcelona is a city that relies on tourism, and tourism is a part of the economy that, more than a lot of others, employs a majority of women.

a year ago, this was a very different city. this square would have been full of people. and now... from a city that used to be overwhelmed with tourists... ..the streets in some parts of town are now eerily quiet. this is a place that entertained up to 8.9 million tourists a year. and it was an invisible army of women who kept the hospitality industry going — cleaners. vania rana came to barcelona from peru 28 years ago. now she's at the centre of a collective of women who advocate on behalf of cleaners. and when we first met her,

she was campaigning to have cleaners treated more fairly. but now their industry has been decimated. the collective of women just try to support each other where they can.

it might be years before tourists can come back to enjoy barcelona like they did before the coronavirus stopped us in our tracks. but the city still vibrates with the rhythms of ordinary life. and some people see the pandemic as an opportunity for change. how are you, fine? yeah, good. very strange, this situation.

so strange! yes. what a year. that's ba rcelona's councillor of urbanism, janet sanz, when we first met janet, we watched one of barcelona's oldest traditions — the castellers — something that seems almost impossible now. this year, the atmosphere is a little less festive. but the pandemic‘s not stopping janet sanz and her plans to transform this city. to reclaim the streets from cars.

the project is called the superille, or superblock. in almost every city, cars take up more space than any other road user. the idea of the superblocks is to reclaim the streets for pedestrians, for cyclists or even just for hanging out. the plan takes nine blocks and forms one big superblock, which are closed off from through traffic. 0nly cars that need access are allowed in, and the speed limit is reduced to 10 km/h. parked cars go underground. so instead of busyjunctions, you have parks, picnic benches and play areas.

do you think there'll be a resistance? scaling up means creating 21 more of these squares and turning the streets between them into green hubs, filled with plants and trees.

like most of europe, the city's dealing with a second wave of the virus, and bars and restaurants are closed. the superille is busier than ever, but not everyone is thrilled about that. building a consensus to change a city is hard work, so barcelona has brought people on board who are studying the city from a deeply feminist perspective.

the last time we came here, we met blanca at her studio in the city. then, her collective, punt 6, were doing deep research into how men and women use the city differently. now they're working with the town hall on a very specific project — making the bicycle network work betterfor women. there's been a huge increase in the number of people using bicycles since the pandemic, especially women, but there's also been a few issues.

this is a city that was hit hard by the pandemic, and its long—term legacy is onlyjust beginning. like no other recession, it seems women are bearing the brunt of this one. but a city that's trying to work better for women could teach us how we can all weather this crisis...

..to build up cities that work better for everyone. good morning. many of us woke up to a wintry scene outside. more of the wintry mix through the course of today and for the next few days. to summarise the next couple of days, expect further ice and snow at times. it could bring some disruption to travel, slippery conditions underfoot as well. so it is a mix of rain, sleet and snow but we are all in this cold air. the blue colours,

the cold air mass with us and the winds coming from a northerly direction. wherever you are, it will feel chilly today. we have this area of rain, sleet and snow moving out of northern england through the midlands, into south west, central and southern england seeing some of that later. for snow showers for the north of scotland, some rain, sleet and snow for northern ireland, one or two showers across eastern parts of england. some sunshine, temperature is only about 4—6 for most of us. through this evening and overnight the wind is falling lighter, most of the showers tending to ease. under clear skies it will be quite a chilly night, temperatures generally either side of freezing. cold and mist in some rural areas. wednesday starts with frost, some ice, some snow.

there will be a good deal of sunshine. further snow showers and across the northern half of scotland and in particular our attention turns to this area of rain and sleet increasingly turning to snow as it moves across the higher ground of the south—west of england into south wales. eastern england bright and dry, temperatures only about three to 6 degrees. into thursday, this area of rain moves along the south coast, eastward, could bring sleet and snow for the likes of london. thursday morning starts with low pressure towards the south—east. that slowly clears but it could leave a legacy of sleet and snow for parts of east anglia and the south—east. further north, still some snow showers pand across parts of scotland, perhaps northern ireland seeing sleet and snow and also into northern england, some snow showers. cold today for all temperature about two to 6 degrees for most of on thursday. here's how it looks for the next five days.

pretty chilly. if you sleet and snow showers, watch out for icy stretches underfoot. goodbye.

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. but pressure to delay the start of term is growing. 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 have been able to offer all vulnerable people in the country this covid vaccination which perhaps provides the biggest chink of hope for the year ahead. over 100 republicans in the us house of representatives join forces