this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. in the uk pressure grows to shut more schools. this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. in the uk pressure grows to shut more schools. unions are demanding an immediate two week closure of all primaries and secondaries in england — as coronavirus cases surge. india begins a nation—wide mock drill to test its preparedness for mass immunisation against covid—i9. president trump and the election —

now 11 republican senators say they will support him and object to the official results. french police shut down an illegal rave that had been under way since new year's eve — with more than two and a half thousand partygoers. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. pressure is growing on the government in the uk to keep all schools in england closed for two weeks after the christmas break amid a surge in coronavirus cases. teaching unions say it is unsafe for their members and want all teaching moved online. some unions are advising teachers not to return to school on monday as planned. it comes as the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine has started to arrive in uk hospitals, with the first doses due to be given on monday. elsewhere, india has begun testing its plans for a huge

vaccination programme. a full—scale rehearsal is now under way, involving tens of thousands of health workers and volunteers across the country israel has given vaccinations against coronavirus to more thani million people, the highest rate in the world, as global immunisation efforts step up. globally, there are now more than 84 million cases and more than 1,830,000 deaths, according to data from johns hopkins university which tracks the global impact of the virus. first, the latest on schools in england from our education correspondent dan johnson. children and teachers were amongst those invited for tests at charlton's football ground today. one way to help keep the virus out of schools — but will it be enough? some think things are out of control and they want schools to stay closed. teaching unions say staff are at risk. we know that members of our union got sick, some of them died over the christmas

period, so there is the concern for our members. there's also the concern for parents and grandparents and we don't think it's safe. we think there should be a period of closure to get those cases down. london's primary school children will all stay off after a u—turn ended the patchwork of partial closures. so harrison's got a fortnight at home. we're not going back to school and we're going to have to do home—learning. what do you think about that? not very good because i want to see my friends. and mum and dad have the challenge of finding childcare. it all seems very last minute, really. it's all very confusing. they keep chopping and changing, which makes it very hard to plan. teachers are also being tested in liverpool, tier 3, where schools are due to open. although scientists advised closures could help reduce the spread of the virus, officials say there's no evidence schools themselves aren't safe. i don't feel they should close because i feeljust as safe

in school as i would do anywhere. ifeel the children have missed a lot of education as it is. the new strain has come out and what we're seeing happening in london, it was happening with us. you know, we had the extra testing brought in earlier on. london didn't, now they are closing. i think we should all be just doing the same. i don't feel like they should stay closed. 0ur r rate is a lot lower, isn't it, and the school i work at, the head teacher there, she's amazing and she's put everything in place to protect staff, parents and children. there is now a legal challenge to see the government's basis for reopening primary schools on monday. in wales and northern ireland, the return was already delayed a week. in scotland, it's two weeks. there is a lot for the government to consider here — the new strains, the rising transmission rates, the pressure on the nhs, and the demographics in different communities. it has always said keeping children off school would be a last resort, but there is growing pressure to extend these closures beyond london and parts of the south—east, and teachers

are calling for decisions to be made quickly but clearly. a phased return is planned for england's secondary schools, starting a week on monday, with the hope that mass testing will limit disruption and minimise online learning. despite the downsides of that, it's already a reality for many children, and possibly beyond the next two weeks. dan johnson, bbc news, in southeast london. brighton and hove council is advising primary schools in its area to switch to remote learning next week. the council says it is now awaiting a response from the department for education to its decision but will advise primary headteachers in the meantime to move to remote learning for all pupils except vulnerable children and those of critical workers. let's speak to the green leader of brighton and hove council, phelim mac cafferty. thank you very much forjoining us. you are at odds with government

advice currently forget part of the country. how much of a concern is that for you? as a council we want oui’ that for you? as a council we want our schools to be fully open. that is the first thing i want to say, but we need to keep children, school staff and the wider community as safe as possible, and what is worrying myself and the officials here is that we have had a sharp increase in cases, we will be approaching 500 per 100,000 people in the next few days, and that is following the pattern of the places that have already been told that the premier schools should remain closed. brighton and hove is nearly 500, the london borough of westminster is 520. today i have written to gavin williamson with my grave concerns regarding primary schools opening. we have advised our primary schools to move to remote

learning. for the majority of pupils from monday. and we are doing that because we want to protect school staff, children and the wider community. and we have all seen what has happened over the christmas break. we are also concerned about the nhs as well. we will talk about the nhs as well. we will talk about the pat curtis of doing that at short notice any second, but first, repeatedly public health officials in this country have said that primary schools are not areas where they see large transmission rates. why are you so concerned? it would seem an undue why are you so concerned? it would seem an undue concern why are you so concerned? it would seem an undue concern given that these are not places where transmission is at its worst. that would have been the case before the new variant. the variant is growing quickly among children and young people, and there was a scientific study from imperial college on the few weeks ago that demonstrated this a bsently few weeks ago that demonstrated this

absently perfectly. however, not the only people. the government's own scientific advice in this age group just before christmas, and in august was four schools to close. sage is so was four schools to close. sage is so concerned and in the minutes of their meeting on the 22nd of december that they state they cannot be sure that measures like the lockdown in march and april will be enough to get the infection rate below one. we are not doing this out ona limb. below one. we are not doing this out on a limb. we are being discharged by scientific advice. how practical is it, with so little notice, for pa rents is it, with so little notice, for parents who are expecting the children to go back to school, and for people who don't necessarily have access to the technology they need for their children to learn remotely? there will be some children who are left behind, even more than those who are not coming into class but are able to learn remotely. as you are careful to

include in your introduction, all schools will remain open to the most vulnerable children in the city, and of course, children of key workers as well. butjuve is a really important point. we understand how difficult this is for many of the families in the city. we have made a decision today after days of talking with her head teachers and with members of the teaching unions, and listening to concerns of many pa rents, listening to concerns of many parents, carers and people in the city. we have done this without doing some of the crucial listening, and we will carry on listening in the days and weeks ahead. i would also like to emphasise that this is for a two—week period because we need to understand what is going on at that two—week period. that will hopefully allow gavin williamson to be clear with us, because one of the crucial missing ingredients in this discussion is what on earth the department for education and gavin

williamson is doing. we know that head teachers feel overwhelmed, we know that the staff are tired and worried. i don't think it is fair to add more to their plate. i don't think it is fair to add more pressure on to the vulnerable nhs at the moment because we have seen just in the last few days, those long queues of ambulances. we have seen and heard on many bbc programmes just how worried so many of the people who work in critical care and the nhs are about the current situation. thank you very much for your time. the latest official figures here in the uk show there were 57,725 new coronavirus infections, recorded in the latest 24—hour period. the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week, is now 48,849. there were 445 deaths reported, that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test, but today's figures don't include scotland.

it means that on average in the past week, 584 deaths were announced every day, taking the total across the uk, to 74,570. we arejust we are just hearing that a shadow cabinet minister is now in hospital with covid. this isjill stevens who is 54 and the shadow culture secretary. her team have treated tonight, thank you for all of your good wishes. we will give an update when we can. —— tweeted. with the second highest number of coronavirus infections in the world, india has begun testing its plans for a huge vaccination programme. a full—scale rehearsal is now under way — involving tens of thousands of health workers and volunteers. 0ur south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan has more. volunteers waiting for their turn in a massive rehearsal for the immunisation drive. it will be almost real, except that those standing here will not get the dose.

the indian government wants to ensure a glitch—free coronavirus immunisation programme. this mammoth exercise is essential as the country wants to inoculate 300 million people by the middle of this year. so, if you have any health conditions, you will not be given the vaccine. so, a full verification if you are healthy and fit, you'll be sent for the vaccination. after vaccination, you will be sent to the observation room. in the observation room, minimum 30 minutes you'll have to wait, to see if you'll have any complications or anything. an expert panel has recommended two vaccines, one by astrazeneca—0xford university and the second one jointly developed by an indian company and a state—run research body. both involve two doses, and the authorities want to keep enough vaccines at their disposal before the real exercise. but, both are cost—effective and locally manufactured. still, some are doubtful about the efficacy of the vaccines. translation: i'm not

that comfortable taking the vaccine, but i get it — this could offer is the cure, but it's not yet confirmed. elsewhere, they're using the vaccine and there are still unsolved problems, so i think if people are getting better after they quarantine by staying at home, it's still the best option. the government says the aim of the trial immunisation drive is also to remove misconceptions about the vaccine. it wants the country to get back to normal so that the economy can be revived. for that to happen, it is aware that it needs to conduct a successful vaccination programme. saturday's exercise will play a crucial role in achieving that goal. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, delhi. new figures suggest israel has given vaccinations against coronavirus to more than1 million people, the highest rate in the world. according to a global tracking website affiliated with oxford university —

israel has a rate of 11.55 vaccination doses per 100 people, followed by bahrain at 3.49 and the uk at 1.47. in the us — 11 republican senators say they will raise objections this week to president—electjoe biden‘s victory, during a congressional review of the electoral college result. it won't be enough to alter the outcome. but it could force other republicans to take a side over mr trump's claims of fraud. lebo diseko has more. well, it's led by senator ted cruz, and it's a group of senators and senators—elect, so they're not all senators, and what they're talking about is basically, ceremonially — this is usually a ceremonial event where the senate and the house of representatives accept the results of the electoral college vote. you'll remember in december, that was when the electoral college was decided, so they'll accept those results next week. now, if a senator and a member

of the house of representatives raise an objection, then they can force a debate on that and a vote. basically, each objection would need, in both houses, for the vote to go to reject it, so it's very unlikely that this would go through because it would mean that the lower house, the lower chamber, which is the house of representatives, would need to vote to invalidate joe biden‘s win, which, as you can imagine, is unlikely to happen. i think that, whilst this is very unlikely to go through, what it does is it really indicates the splits within the republican party. the leader of the senate, the republicans in the senate, mitch mcconnell, and the number two republican in the senate, had last week urged senators, republican senators, not to do this because it's not going to succeed and it really could be quite damaging, and the fact that they've gone ahead and done it anyway is really indicative of, kind of, the schisms

within the party at the moment. norwegian police say a third body has been found in one of the houses sucked into a landslip near oslo on wednesday. the discovery came within hours of finding the second body. seven people remain missing, including children. police had earlier said there was a chance of finding survivors. sport and for a full roundup, from the bbc sport centre, here's jon watson. hgppy happy new year. and to you. the tottenham managerjose mourinho said his side showed the attacking intent he wanted as spurs overcame a difficult run to climb up to third in the table with just manchester united and liverpool — who are level on points — ahead of them. they beat leeds 3—0, and are nowjust four points behind the league leaders. harry kane had already scored from the penalty spot, when he put son heung—min through to make it 2—0 before half time. son with his 100th goalfor the club.

toby alderweireld then made it three early in the second half the run of results lately was not good. we didn't play against fulham of course. you look to the table and you don't realise that you have won match less and you are not very happy with what you see. these three points, even with one match in hand, puts us in a position where we are happier to look at the screen, and of course, important points. bottom club sheffield united are still without a premier league win this season. they lost 2—0 at crystal palace, who themselves were five premier league games without a win, goals from jeffrey schlupp and an excellent individual effort from ebere eze secured them the points, to leave sheffield united deep in relegation trouble. elsewhere... brighton and wolves drew 3—3 in a cracking game on the south coast. brighton went ahead early but they were 3—1 down at the break.

romain saiss heading in the first of wolves three goals. but the home side were much better in the second half... an equaliser from the brighton captain lewis dunk enough to share the points. finally, arsenal are playing west brom with mikel arteta looking for his third win in a row after a poor run of form. they're leading 2—0, kieran tierney and bukayo saka with the goals for the gunners. --3-0. tottenham's former manager mauricio pochettino has been confirmed as the new boss of french champions paris saint germain. pochettino left spurs just over a year ago — and there's been plenty of speculation on where the argentinian would move, with a umber of top clubs having coveted his services. he made 70 appearances for psg as a player, and has signed a contract with the club untiljune 2022. as leads go, rangers are well placed to pip rivals celtic to the premiership title in scotland

— 19 points their advantage now following victory over their glasgow rivals in the old firm derby on saturday. a nir bitton red card and a callum mcgregor own goal in the second half inflicting a potentially decisive blow to celtic‘s hopes of clinching an unprecedented 10 titles in a row with that 19 point gap heading into the second half of the campaign. steven gerrard's premiership leaders, yet to lose a league game this season in a formidable position much tighter in spain, where real madrid trail the league leaders atletico by two points. they could move above them with victory over celta vigo in their first match of 2021. they're currently leading 2—0, lucas and marco asensio with the goals. in a season affected by the coronavirus pandemic, many bundesliga clubs have just had a week off in the shortest winter break in the league's history. bayern are top of the table but don't play until sunday. bayer leverkusen missed the chance to leapfrog them as they lost 2—1 to eintracht frankfurt on saturday. rb leipzig can go top shortly if they beat stuttgart.

and they're currently leading 1—0, dani 0lmo scoring for leipzig. former india captain sourav ganguly is in a stable condition after suffering a cardiac arrest on saturday. the president of the board of control for cricket in india, who is 48, is said to be responding well to treatment. ganguly played 113 tests and 311 one—day internationals for india, ca ptaining his country in the longest format 49 times between 2000 and 2005. that's all the sport for now. we'll have more for you on the bbc news channel later on. thank you very much. french police have shut down an illegal rave which had been going on since new year's eve in defiance of a coronavirus curfew. two and a half thousand people, some from the uk and spain, descended on a disused warehouse in the village of lieuron in brittany. 0ur paris correspondent hugh schofield reports. while the rest of france spent new year's eve under a nightly curfew, 2500 people danced for two nights

and a day in abandoned warehouses in a village south of rennes. they'd come from places all over france and, indeed, abroad. the possibility that they might be putting themselves and others at risk from covid, they said, was exaggerated. translation: everything's reopened. the shops have reopened because they wanted to make money over christmas, but that must have caused big gatherings of people everywhere, so is it any worse here than on the paris metro? i don't think so. police decided not to intervene because they feared a riot. instead, they surrounded the premises, but when, 36 hours after the party started, the revellers began to leave, they booked them for breaches of covid rules. translation: the situation deteriorated very quickly. i had three officers injured, so i personally took the decision to disengage, at the risk of making the situation worse, to try and contain the area.

elsewhere in france, the covid news is nothing to celebrate, with daily cases now at around 20,000 and the vaccination programme barely under way, the nightly curfew has been brought forward from eight to six o'clock in 15 departments of the east of the country. president macron has warned that the coming months will remain difficult. with restaurants shut across the country, only a lucky few on the riviera have been able to eat out — in monaco — but now even that pleasure has been taken away. from tonight, only residents of the principality can book a table. hugh schofield, bbc news, in central france. it's taken 36 years. but finally, wham's festive hit, last christmas, has made it to the uk's coveted number one slot. # last christmas i gave you my heart # last christmas i gave you my heart # the very next day... #.

despite its enduring popularity, the song was held off the top spot in 1984, by band aid's do they know it's christmas. radio dj richard blade explained what wham's belated success means to him. only he doesn't, we are not going to do that. we heard from him. georgie rogers is a broadcaster and bbc radio 6 musicjournalist. we would much rather hear your views on it. i remember when it was released in 1984, iam on it. i remember when it was released in 1984, i am ashamed to say, but it has bounced up and down through the charts quite a few times. it has re-entered the chart is around six times since its release back in 1984, and at the time it didn't get number one because it was a double a—side single with everything she wants. at the time it came out, once christmas was done, that was the track. it missed out then. there was a fan

campaign in 2017 to get it to number one a year afterjudge michael's death —— george michael. and now it has broken erected for the single that has taken the wrong time to get to number one. —— eight record. that has taken the wrong time to get to number one. —— eight recordm is going to carry on in the future. it isa is going to carry on in the future. it is a perennial song we're used to hearing generation after generation. tell us how it was written and where. it was written on the debris of that year in his bedroom, he was watching the football, had an inspiration, ran upstairs and wrote the hit then run down and played it to his band mate. in the memoir and you originally wrote, he said that george had come back down as if he had discovered gold and played it to him, and he knew instantly it was

going to be a hit. it was at the height of their fame. it is a classic. christmas is not the same about that track. you hear it all over the radio, every christmas comes back around. it has such a timeless quality to it. this time it will have been streamed, no doubt, rather than being bought on a seven inch vinyl, which is how you would have bought it in 1984. streams rather than official charts came into place in 2018. i think it has been streamed 9.2 million times in the last week which is quite a decent figure, isn't it? that is remarkable. they would never have believed it back in 1984 when it was first released. thank you very much for talking to us. just to let you know, you heard georgie say that last christmas now has the record

for the longest time taken for a single to reach number one. the previous record was tony christie's is this the way to amarillo, which took 34 years to get there. you're watching bbc news. it looks as if the cold weather is with us for a few days yet, which means that the showers, when they come along, are falling as snow. mostly over the hills, but at lower levels as well. and ice becomes more of an issue, of course, after dark and when the surfaces are below freezing. and they could well be quite damp the surfaces where we have seen the frequent showers today — across northern and eastern scotland, northern england, wales, the midlands, southern and western parts of england, too. but we'll start to pick up some showers elsewhere, as well, because temperatures have barely risen 3 or 4 degrees above freezing by day. obviously, overnight they will plunge below freezing quite quickly once again. and the showers just keep coming onto those surfaces, and so damp surfaces with temperatures below freezing means ice is a real risk.

and it'll be another harsh frost under the clearer skies across north—western areas overnight. the frost a little less harsh further south, but nevertheless still a frost, still a cold start as we move into sunday. slight difference is that high pressure builds towards the north on sunday, so we pick up more of a north—easterly as opposed to the more northerly wind we've had today so there will be a difference in the distribution of the showers. one or two may actually get across to western scotland, some getting across the higher ground in northern england, and more potentially for east anglia and the south—east — of rain and sleet mostly but some snow certainly possible over the hills because it is another cold day after a cold start. with more of a wind, quite a bracing wind starting to pick up through sunday and monday. so although temperatures will reach 3—5 degrees above freezing, it will feel colder, particularly in the south, with those winds. further north and west, more sunshine under that area of high pressure, but equally a hard frost, some patchy fog.

as i say, that set—up stays with us through monday and tuesday. that strong east, north—easterly wind with us. in fact, something a little more prolonged, potentially, rain and sleet—wise across southern and eastern areas, the channel islands as well on monday. again, with the intensity, it could bring the snow down to relatively low levels. there'll be a scattering of snow showers or wintry showers elsewhere coming in off the north sea. so, the better, drier, brighter weather will be further north and west, but it is going to feel cold even in that sunshine and notably so with that brisk wind in eastern and southern areas. but perhaps something a little bit more unsettled wednesday and thursday. that's one we're watching. as ever, the warnings are on the website.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... in the uk, pressure grows to shut more schools. unions are demanding an immediate two week closure of all primaries and secondaries in england as coronavirus cases surge. this isn't about head teachers wanting to close schools. this is about head teachers wanting to open schools but in order to do

that we need to have risk assessments that ensure that there is safe practice across our settings. india begins a nation—wide mock drill to test its preparedness for mass immunisation against covid—19. president trump and the election — now 11 republican senators say they will support him and object to the official results. french police shut down an illegal rave that had been under way since new year's eve with more than 2,500 partygoers. now on bbc news, robert chelsea was hit by a drunk driver, sustaining third—degree burns on over half of his body. in 2019, he became the first african—american recipient of a full—face transplant. this is i am robert. just an average person in the world is rear—ended by a drunk driver. and i said, ok, well, mr chelsea, we need to leave