a major revolt by teaching unions over government plans to reopen primary schools in england on monday. they say fears over the spread of the new variant of coronavirus means online learning is "the only sensible and credible option". we don't think it's safe. we think there should be a period of closure to get those cases down, to make sure that they've fallen well below where they were before christmas. hospitals receive stocks of the second coronavirus vaccine approved for use in the uk. french police finally shut down an illegal new year's eve rave, as 2,500 people gather, breaking coronavirus rules. and at the old firm derby, remembering the 66 fans who died at ibrox 50 years ago.

good evening. the government is coming under intense pressure, to scrap plans to reopen primary schools in england on monday due to fears over the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus. the uk's largest teaching union says it's members shouldn't go back to work, and headteachers are taking legal action, to force the government to explain why it thinks it's safe to reopen primaries outside london and parts of the south east. the department for education says "schools will implement appropriate safety measures, to help mitigate the risk of transmission." here's 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. our 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. but in some parts of the country, council leaders are now calling for their schools to stay shut. we have

had a sharp increase in cases, we will be approaching 500 per 100,000 people in the next few days and that's following the pattern of places that have been told primary schools should remain closed. 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 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 south—east london. 0ur political correspondent chris mason is here. we've had reversals of policy in the pandemic on education before. are we likely to see another u—turn in this regard? presidents suggest that is entirely possible and there are two factors tonight which point to the fa ct factors tonight which point to the fact that the government is not entirely in control of what happens next. firstly local authorities making their own minds up, so we saw the decision taken in brighton. birmingham city council say they will support head teachers who decide to move learning to remote, being done remotely for the next couple of weeks. firstly local authorities. secondly, teaching unions, they are meeting this weekend, the national education union, the biggest of them all, saying, may be the solution here is what has to happen is teachers simply had to say we shouldn't go

m, simply had to say we shouldn't go in, it's not safe to be working in a conventional classroom setting. so put those two together and even if the government is saying, look at oui’ the government is saying, look at our default position is schools should open, well that actually happen? will there hand eventually be forced? the reality is there are no easy decisions here and i think we are in for a bumpy few weeks as far as schools opening and then closing and then potentially reopening is concerned. the latest official figures 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 a45 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 711,570.

hospitals have begun receiving stocks of the second coronavirus vaccine to be approved for use in the uk. the oxford vaccine is being rolled out on monday. the body which advises the government on immunisation has been defending the decision to delay giving people their second dose of the pfizer vaccine, so that many more people can receive an initial jab. here's our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson. some of the first deliveries of the 0xford—astrazeneca vaccine arriving at the princess royal hospital in sussex. nhs staff are preparing to receive the new coronavirus vaccine — the second to be approved for use in the uk — ahead of a nationwide roll—out on monday when the first injections will be given. what this does is it allows us to focus on the most vulnerable people and make sure they are protected from this disease. ultimately that will keep people well and reduce the pressure on the health service over

the next few months. the oxford vaccine joins the pfizer one, which was approved for use in early december. almost1 million people have received the first injection and expected a booster three weeks later. that has been extended to 12 weeks. the government's vaccination advisers say delaying the booster is the right approach. we are in a dire situation in this country at the moment. the virus is rapidly spreading and the more vaccine that we can get into these priority groups that we have identified, the more deaths and hospitalisations that we will prevent. but some patients who've already had theirfirst dose are concerned about the changes and that they could be more at risk from the disease than they'd expected. i can manage that, but a lot of elderly people will not be in a position to manage it, and they will worry a lot about it. and, again, i don't think they have thought this through. so, how much protection does one

shot of the vaccine give you? well, government scientists say 2—3 weeks after getting the first pfizer vaccine, around 90% of people were protected from falling ill from covid—19. as for the oxford vaccine, that figure was around 73% after three weeks. so, in the short—term, protection seems to be high. pfizer says, however, that its vaccine has not been tested for an extended second dose. and for gps who'd been rolling out the vaccine programme, the change in guidance has come at a challenging time. our most vulnerable patients who've had the vaccination often only have a landline and actually need to be phoned. so it is very time consuming to let people know. and it takes time to explain to people, and people are understandably disappointed. the government is determined the priority must be to get the first dose out to as many people as quickly as possible, in order

somehow to try to get a handle on the surging numbers of infections. that is the priority, vaccinate as many people as possible, how well are we doing? in the past four weeks we have managed to vaccinate around a million people. the government's scientific advisers estimate we need to vaccinate around 30 million people and those are the over 50s, people and those are the over 50s, people with compromised immune systems, nhs workers and care home staff. at the moment the vast majority of those people who are meant to be prioritised are still unprotected and at a time of surging infection rates. what is needed is a programme that can vaccinate millions of people every week, that would require unprecedented numbers of health care workers and a large

supply of the vaccine. the health secretary, matt hancock, has promised that in the months ahead there will be a rapid escalation of there will be a rapid escalation of the numbers of people being vaccinated, the great hope is that this oxford vaccine will make a real difference. it doesn't need to be stored at those extremely cold temperatures that defy —— pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at. but it's understood that of the 5 million doses we have in the uk, only half a million have been bottled up into files and are ready to use, so you can bottled up into files and are ready to use, so you can see bottled up into files and are ready to use, so you can see there are still some serious challenges ahead. french police have finally managed to shut down an illegal new year's eve rave that broke coronavirus regulations. the gathering of at least 2,500 people, some from the uk and spain, took place at a disused warehouse in the village of luron, in brittany. 0ur correspondent hugh schofield reports. while the rest of france spent new year's eve

under a nightly curfew, 2,500 people danced for two nights and a day in abandoned warehouses in a village south of rien. 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, and 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 not good, 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. now, with all the day's sport, here'sjohn watson at the bbc sport centre. good evening. a busy day in the premier league and scottish premiership — match of the day and sportscene follow the news, if you want to avoid the results. we start in scotland where celtic and rangers met in the old firm derby on what was the 50th

anniversary of the ibrox disaster. both teams laid wreaths before kick off, in memory of the 66 supporters who lost their lives in a crush on a stairway inside the stadium at a match between the two clubs on this day back in 1971, in what was an emotional second old firm derby of the season. rangers won the match 1—0 to extend their lead at the top to 19 points over the champions whose hopes of securing that unprecedented tenth league title in a row are fading fast. third—placed aberdeen drew as hibs who are fourth lost a third league game in a row. tottenham are up to third in the premier league. it comes as a third match in england's top flight this week was postponed due to coronavirus outbreaks. harry kane and son heung min both on the score sheet in a 3—0 win over leeds, the two linking up brilliantly once again, to leave them four points off league leaders liverpool and manchester united. their north london rivals arsenal won a third game in a row beating west brom 4—0. crystal palace also won, as brighton and wolves

played out a 3—3 draw. fulham's match with burnley tomorrow is off due to the ongoing outbreak in the squad. champions exeter slipped to their first league defeat of the season losing 3a points to five, while gloucester are bottom of rugby union's premiership, a match marred by a brawl in the final minute. ben croucher reports. with the dawn to 2021, a refreshing twist to a familiar tale where last year exeter barged past all before them, including wasps. you typically had to look really hard for weaknesses in their game. keep looking and wasps found one. james gaskell was hidden at the bottom of that bundle but even in plain sight, the reigning champions still couldn't stop him. a job well done with three more tries following to inflict exeter‘s first defeat of the season on them, but not enough to knock them from top spot. at the other end, gloucester‘s hopes of climbing off the bottom looked promising for 77 minutes. in the 78th, sale'sjosh beaumont, back after 1a months

out, put paid to that. from ten points down, it was quite the comeback and a frustrating finish for gloucester. billy twelvetrees took it out on the water carrier, achieving very little bar a yellow card and some running repairs to the advertising hoardings, merely leaving gloucester starting the new year rock bottom. ben croucher, bbc news. and in the pro 1a, ulster extended their unbeaten run with victory over provincial rivals munster. meanwhile, edinburgh capitalised on some poor handling from glasgow to secure their third league win this season, 10 points to 7 it finished at murrayfield. there's more on the bbc sport website including the latest from the world darts championship semi—finals at alexandra palace in london. it will be gerwyn price against gary anderson or dave chisnall in tomorrow's final. that is all for now. that's it. a quick reminder that the prime minister will be

on the andrew marr show tomorrow morning, that's at 9 o'clock. but from me and the rest of the team, have a very good night. this is bbc news with clive myrie. more now on the increased pressure on the government to keep schools across england closed for at least two weeks amid a surge in coronavirus cases. a number of teaching unions have supported a call for to move students to remote learning when teaching restarts on monday. the national union of head teachers have begun preliminary steps in legal proceedings against the department for education, asking them to publish the scientific evidence behind the decision to allow some schools to reopen on monday. i've been speaking to its president, ruth davies about why her union are taking this action. first and foremost, can we make it clear that our ambition

is to keep schools open. our ambition is for continuity of learning and for education. clearly children are best suited in school and that is where their well—being as well as their educational will progress better but those settings need to be safe ones and so this action that we have initiated against the government has not been one we have taken lightly but it has been an important move forward, as far as we're concerned, towards securing a better and safer plan in the absence of, quite frankly, a lack of any strategy from government in recent months. you're basically saying you don't believe the government or you don't trust the government. we are saying that the government seems to be functioning at the moment with one reactive plan upon reactive plan. there is no strategy, they are not listening to the professionals, they are not listening to the experts, they are merely responding or reacting day by day to whenever the next set of problems emerge. children and their families and our communities deserve better than this and we're saying to them that we need to know the evidence that they are working

from, we need to have sight of the detail that they say they are using to inform their decisions and we are asking them to let us help them make a better plan going forward. is the action based on the fact that there is a variant out there that is much more virulent than the previous iteration, as it were, of covid—19? certainly that features in on oui’ concerns. as you can imagine, we are moving back into a school setting next week for many of our members in schools and communities, and our school leaders have responsibility for the health and safety of everybody who comes onto their sites. they and their governing bodies take this responsibility very, very seriously and, so, yes, the new variant does add a significant layer of additional unknowns into the risk assessments which already needed updating in the light of the developments at the end of last term. and if you come back from this legal challenge with the politicians making it clear that they've based their decision on sound

science, you will back the government then, from now on? we have always said that we will support the government when we are absolutely clear and assured they are following the science. we need help and support to run and open settings that are safe with a mass testing programme for instance. it could possibly be a game changer. but schools simply don't have the capacity to run these programmes themselves. a do—it—yourself approach is not the way forward and we need the government to come up with a clear plan for how this programme can be ruled out. if our children and our students are to return to school in a secure and safe and sustainable way for the rest of this academic year. you say that a lot of this has been based on the new variant of covid—19 that is out there and seems to be spreading much more vigorously. the education secretary gavin williamson has made it clear that all schools in london and parts of the south—east will close. and this new variant

is more prevalent in london and the south—east. so they are basing their decisions on sound science, aren't they? well, there seems to be variance in their own decision—making. if you recall, it wasn't too many weeks ago that the government were threatening to take legal action. we were supporting local authorities at the time who were asking for the ability to, the option to close their schools in order to stem the flow and the rise of what has now emerged as a new variant and at that time the government responded by threatening with legal action. a few weeks later they have completely reversed that position and seem to be saying the opposite. what we are asking for the government to do is to come out and provide us with the information and the evidence that we require so that we can be assured that they are indeed following the science and notjust the latest headline. but you say your ambition is for schools to remain open and for there to be continuity of learning. the government has said it is ok at the moment for schools,

some primary schools to reopen. what would you say to parents, then, who are wondering, well, you know, they don't really know what is going on because you are saying one thing, the government is saying another. it is all very confusing for them and we know the impact, as you have indicated, of children not being at school, notjust in terms of their learning capacity but also psychologically. absolutely, and you're right. i think a lack of a strategy does lead to confusion and it leads to a loss of confidence. our parents, their children, theirfamilies, they need us to build their confidence, and in orderfor that to happen, we need to be assured that the government is using the latest information and is absolutely transparent about the information it is working from and notjust making it up as it goes along. quite frankly, our learners deserve better than they are currently getting. there isn't a head teacher in the country that wants to close their school. trust me, we take our responsibility very, very seriously. we take our responsibility to our

communities extremely seriously. 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 to ensure that there is safe practise across our settings. in order for us to ensure that we have those risk assessments, we desperately need access to the information that the government says it is drawing upon to make its own decisions. good evening, the wintry theme to oui’ good evening, the wintry theme to our weather is not going anywhere in a hurry. temperatures well below average for this time of year. we had more wintry precipitation around on saturday. this was the picture earlier on. several centimetres there. and a bit more snow for some places over the next few days. some iciness underfoot and a sharp frost, so iciness underfoot and a sharp frost, so they could be disruption to travel. journey time is ticking a little bit longer with the risk of snow and ice. some showers for

scotland, northern england, down towards wales and the south—west. wintry of a higher ground. temperatures falling down widely to freezing or a little bit below. could be as low as minus five across parts of scotland. cold, frosty and an icy start to sunday morning. we have got the pressure setting to the south, high pressure up to scandinavia and that combination is going to be drawing in the wind is from a north—easterly direction. quite a cold winter. on sunday that will bring showers to eastern scotland, north—east england, one or two further south into wales in the south—west but fewer than we have seen. south—west but fewer than we have seen. for parts of eastern england, east anglia, the south—east and the channel islands, the showers can be heavier for the channel islands, the showers can be heavierfor the times. i'm having a wintry flavour. it will feel closer to freezing when you add on wind—chill with the breeze coming in from the north—east over a cold north sea. we have high pressure

towards the north on monday. the could be more persistent showery rainfor could be more persistent showery rain for parts of east anglia, the south—east and the channel isles on monday. quite a bit of sunshine developing elsewhere. one at a wintry showers here or there. we have still got that biting north—east breeze so it will feel colder when you are exposed to that wind coming in from the north—east where you have got the cloud and showers in the south—east as well. heading into tuesday, a risk of some outbreaks of showery rain in the south—east, perhaps one or two wintry flurries further north but quite a bit of sunshine in the west. cold once again. around about 3—5. colder when you add on that wind coming from the north—east. it stays cold through the week ahead, potentially turning a bit more u nsettled potentially turning a bit more unsettled through the second half of the week. goodbye.

i've arrived in kazakhstan's biggest city. once, back when the country was still part of the ussr and long before that, it was the capital city. now, things have changed here. backin city. now, things have changed here. back in 1991, it was the last soviet republic to declare independence in ten days before collapse of the union. since then, it has been under the rule of the president who north to the purpose—built city. one thing

is clear, however, this country has undergone a tumultuous period. but through it all, nature has continued to play a vital role for the once nomadic people here and for travellers who visit. you start to get a sense of that at the green bazaar. there has been a market here since before soviet times. this is a fermented horse milk which has been around since nomadic times, and they say it is a cure for tuberculosis. 0h, say it is a cure for tuberculosis. oh, it'sa say it is a cure for tuberculosis. oh, it's a strong taste. the aftertaste is almost like you are smoking a cigar. i don't know why, but that is exactly what it tastes like. very sharp, very intense taste. it's the world ninth largest country but kazakhstan is also one of the most sparsely populated. it's

people were