welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: a group of republican senators say they will support president trump and refuse to accept the official result of the us presidential election. in india, tens of thousands of health workers take part in a one—day mass immunisation rehearsal. meanwhile, in the uk, as coronavirus cases surge — teaching unions in england demand a two—week closure of schools. and in northern france — after clashes, arrests and fears of a riot — police shut down an illegal rave, 36 hours after it started.

hello and welcome to the programme. 11 us senators say they'll refuse to certinyoe biden‘s victory in the presidential election unless there's an investigation into alleged voter fraud. courts in several us states have thrown out a series of challenges to the result. meanwhile, campaigning has intensified in georgia ahead of tuesday's special senate election. paul hawkins reports. the electoral votes have been cast, legal challenges have failed, the inauguration stage is being built, and yet, with 17 days to go untiljoe biden becomes president, some are still challenging the result. on wednesday, the upper house of the congress, the senate controlled by republicans, will officially certify the election results. but almost a dozen republican senators, led by ted cruz, say they intend

to reject electors from states faced with allegations of election fraud. mitch mcconnell has urged them not to. today i want to congratulate president—electjoe biden. they also argue the certification is ceremonial. there is virtually no chance that the challenge by ted cruz and co will make any difference. but the fact they're going through with it despite the warnings shows how divided the republican party is over loyalty to president trump and loyalty to the party. instead, all republican hopes will be on keeping control of the senate. at the moment, they got 50 seats, a majority of two over the democrats‘ 48 seats, but two republican senators in georgia are facing an election on tuesday. david perdue, a big trump supporter, is against democratjohn ossoff. after four years of hatred and racism and division and bigotry, georgia is going to make a statement about love and decency and compassion and unity. democrat raphael warnock,

meanwhile, will hope to take the seat of republican kelly loeffler. are you ready to show america that georgia is a red state? the polling suggests both races are very tight indeed. should the democrats take both seats in georgia, then the senate will be tied at 50 seats each, with vice president—elect kamala harris getting the deciding vote. but if the republicans take one of the seats in georgia, they keep control of the senate, and that would make life more difficult for president—electjoe biden. but it would also give him the opportunity to showcase his self—declared skills as a negotiator, a ao—year veteran of the senate, who thinks he can bridge america's fiercely partisan divide. paul hawkins, bbc news. well, earlier i spoke to republican strategist jon seaton and asked him what's going on with this latest move by some us senators, well, look, i think what's going to happen is that on 6 january the electoral college results will be certified, once and for all, and on 20 januaryjoe biden will be inaugurated as the president of the united states and i think that everything else going on right now — there's a little bit

of political theatre and a little bit of political gamesmanship, but at the end of the day it will not have any real impact on who becomes president of the united states on 20 january. so you say political gamesmanship there. what's the motivation behind the senators throwing their support for donald trump? well, i learned a long time ago not to request or try to speculate on someone‘s motivation, but i do think it's unquestionable, we're talking about it right now, it has gotten them a little bit of media, if you will, a little bit of publicity, i am sure has helped their campaign coffers and brought more people into their campaigns. you will note a number of people who signed the letter are considering a run for president in 202a. and others may wish to potentially avoid a primary.

so, it really could run the gamut of the why, but like i said, i don't anticipate it having any real material outcome. the election was decided in november and the electors have cast their votes and 6 january will still be a formality, albeit with a little bit more gamesmanship, like i said, than maybe past years. what about the long—term impact here, are you worried about that gentle day—in, day—out undermining of the democratic process? you know, ithink it's a fair question. i do worry somewhat about norms being changed or challenged or, in some cases, broken. i think that's one thing that, love him or hate him, president trump absolutely prided himself on, and it will be interesting to see how the country responds, whether there will be a course correction or things are moving in that direction. i think one thing we can see is a number ofjudges who, as you mentioned, throughout

the court cases that were brought were trump appointees, were republican judges. and so the system, it did work, and it continues to work, and i expect that most americans have, i think, moved on, they have accepted the results and expect, as most of us do, that the election is over and joe biden will be president on 20 january. does this also show the power and and influence donald trump remains within the republican party, despite the fact he is out of the office with just a few more days to go, his influence on the party and hold certain elements of the party is still there? there is no question that donald trump remains the loudest voice in the room, if you will. he is still the titular head of the republican party. again, once he's out of office, it remains to be seen how long that endures, but right now i think you are absolutely right and i think the party is very much tied to him

and his brand and interested, like a lot of people, to see if that continues to endure once he does leave the white house in a few weeks. and just while i have you here, before i let you go, can we have a quick look at georgia, that crucial senate race there, two senate seats. does this play into it at all? i think at this point a lot of the — as i say, the cake may be baked, the republicans have a very, very strong ground game in georgia. i expect it to be close. but i do think that, ultimately, both incumbent republican senators are going to be re—elected and, you know, we will find out in a couple of days. my expectation is the vast majority of voters are casting their ballot based on who they want to see represent them in the united states senate. and i think republicans and democrats are quite motivated, but what we are seeing and hearing about on the ground and are seeing in terms of the most recent

surge of republican votes in terms of the early vote, i expect a narrow but a victory for both republican incumbents. jon seaton there. let's get some of the day's other news. suspected islamist militants in niger have attacked two villages near the border with mali, killing at least 56 people. more than 20 others were injured in the tillaberi region, which has been under a state of emergency since 2017. a fourth body has now been found by rescuers at the site of a massive landslip in norway. emergency teams are still searching for six people, who've been missing since the hillside collapsed in the village of ask, 25 kilometres north of oslo on wednesday. freezing conditions are hindering the operation. the chinese foreign minister, wang yi, has claimed the coronavirus pandemic began in multiple parts of the world — notjust in china. he said this theory was backed up by increasing amounts of research. the world health organization has said the first cases were detected in the chinese city of wuhan.

israel has vaccinated more than a million people against coronavirus — the highest rate in the world. the authorities are delivering jabs to about 150,000 people a day, with priority given to the over—60s, health workers and people who are clinically vulnerable. next, india has been rehearsing how it plans to vaccinate 300 million people against covid—i9 by the middle of this year. on saturday, tens of thousands of health workers and volunteers took part in a one—day rehearsal for mass immunisation. a second coronavirus vaccine has now been recommended for emergency use in india. unlike the astrazeneca jab, it's being made by a localfirm. anbarasan ethirajan reports from delhi. 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 over there, to see if you have any complications or anything. an expert panel has recommended two vaccines, one by astrazeneca—oxford 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. hospitals in the uk have begun receiving stocks of the oxford — astrazeneca vaccine that's to be rolled out on monday. more than 500,000 doses will be available for rollout. the body which advises the british 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. now, there's growing pressure on the uk government to keep all schools in england closed for the next two weeks, to help slow the spread of coronavirus. teaching unions say moving lessons online is "the only sensible and credible option." 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. 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. but in some parts of the country council leaders are now calling for their schools to stay shot. we've had a sharp increase in the cases. we'll be approaching at 500 per 1,000 people in the next few days. and that's following the pattern of the places that have already been told the 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's 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. this is bbc news. our main stories: a group of republican senators say they will support president trump and refuse to accept the official result of the us presidential election. in india, tens of thousands of health workers and volunteers take part in a one day mass immunisation rehearsal. an appeals court in the us has lifted a stay of execution on the only woman awaiting the death sentence at a federal level. lisa montgomery could be executed beforejoe biden takes office as president,

although further legal challenges are expected. she was found guilty of killing a pregnant woman in 2004, and stealing her unborn baby to pass off as her own. cassandra stubbs is director of the american civil liberties union capital punishment project. she told me how the death penalty system works. the us is an outlier in that it still has the death penalty and it's really kind of arbitrarily applied in this country. it's applied in some states, half the states don't actively use the death penalty in america, but half the states have it, and within those states, that's where most of the death sentences are, there are about 2,500 people on death row who were sentenced in a state. in addition to the state system, there is a federal death penalty where the federal government seeks a death sentence and there are about 50 federal death row prisoners, so it's a much smaller portion of the people in the united states who face execution. and what we're talking now

is the federal, the national level cases, and what has been happening over recent years with federal cases and what has changed now? the federal government has carried out very, very few executions ever, historically. there have been no executions at all in the last 17 years until this year. and the trump administration made the decision to go forward with executions even though we are in the middle of a pandemic and even though public health officials really warned that what we would see, in fact, and sadly, tragically has happened, that by carrying out federal executions, restarting federal executions, that there would be outbreaks of covid—19 at the prison where these federal executions occur. the federal prisoners are mostly all held in a men's prison in indiana, in terre haute, indiana,

and beginning injuly of this year the federal government has carried out ten executions in 2020. that was a remarkable pace that really putjust incredible and terrible pressure on the courts and all of the players who were involved. i see. and the case we highlighted here is lisa montgomery. do you believe there is a chance that could be avoided? absolutely. lisa montgomery has a very, very powerful clemency case, that she is asking the president to commute her sentence and not carry out her execution. lisa montgomery has an unbelievably tragic personal history. she was gang raped and, really, sold by her mother to pay for rent as a young child. she faced incredibly tragic trauma and sexual abuse and as a result she's had lifelong mental illness. these are not facts that anyone disputes, so there has been a number of people around

the country who have risen up and really around the world who are calling on president trump to commute her life sentence. i just want to get your thoughts very quickly — what difference it will make whenjoe biden takes over? well, we are expecting an enormous difference, a seachange. president—elect biden ran on a platform of being opposed to the death penalty and promised to work against the federal death penalty, to end the federal death penalty once and for all, so we do not expect president biden to carry out executions during a pandemic. we don't expect him to carry out executions at all and we think that he will work to end this abomination. iran is marking the anniversary of the assassination of military commander qasem soleimani. his death, in a us missile strike in iraq, reverberated across the world, leading to a major escalation in tensions between iran and the united states. supporters have paid tribute at his grave and banners carrying his image have been erected

on tehran‘s streets. soleimani was seen as the architect of iran's spreading influence in the middle east. bahman kalbasi is from the bbc persian service — he explained what happened, a year ago. american drones killed qasem soleimani as he arrived in baghdad, the capital of iraq. and even though we've had a0 years of enmity between the two countries this was a first, killing the top officials of either government by the other and especially since this official was a military figure, as well as a political figure inside iran, given how much the iranian state broadcasters had given rise to his portfolio and some thought he might have political ambitions in his future as well. so it was one that obviously started a new round of escalation.

iran responding, shooting missiles towards an american military base which didn't have any casualties but, nevertheless, was their way to say they will not take this quietly. the unfortunate and very tragic downing of the ukrainian plane leaving tehran right in the middle of that skirmish killed 176 innocent lives, that was also the consequences of those days. it was a very important date and the tensions between tehran and washington. i want to dig down a little bit more into that because it was so significant at the time. what are the feelings there in iran? even many who do not support the government and do not fall for their version of the story that qasem soleimani was simply out there defending iran's

interest, killing him was the beginning of really worrying about the possibility of an open war between washington and iran, the united states and iran, so many who are not sympathetic to this regime nevertheless saw this as a moment to countries could finally enter a confrontation that could be extremely deadly and dangerous for the entire region. that worry has not subsided, even now a year later, especially given the build—up of a us military presence in the persian gulf, b—52s flying through the region and iranian hardliners talking about taking revenge. so this anniversary was seen as one of these flashpoints that could potentially bring about another confrontation between iran and the us especially in the very last days of the trump administration.

the veteran american talk show host, larry king, is being treated for covid—19, according to multiple media reports. us sources say it's emerged the 87—year—old has been at cedars sinai medical center in los angeles for more than a week. the presenter has had a number of major health issues over the years. an illegal warehouse rave that began on new year's eve in france has been shut down by police after clashes. 2,500 people, some from the uk and spain, attended the event at a disused building in the village of lieuron in brittany. here's our paris correspondent, hugh schofield. 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 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 offices 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. catalan police have also broken up a new year's rave at a warehouse near barcelona — it had been going on for more than a0 hours. about 300 people were at the event. local coronavirus restrictions allow no more than 10 people to gather together. catalan regional police said the organisers were arrested and all equipment confiscated. back with the headlines in a couple of minutes. plenty more on the website or download bbc news app.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. lewis vaughan jones and lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news, bye—bye. hello. it's been a cold, wintry start to 2021 and that theme is set to continue, at least for the next week or so. this was the picture on saturday afternoon in wakefield, quite a lot of lying snow around for many parts of northern england, parts of scotland, into wales, western england, the midlands as well. over the next few days, it's going to stay cold with further wintry showers at times, certainly we're all going to be seeing some ice or some frost around. a cold start to your sunday morning in the next few days, it's going to stay cold with further wintry showers at times, certainly we're all going to see some ice or some frost around. a cold start to your sunday morning with subzero temperatures for many areas as low as —5 or —6 across parts

of western scotland first thing. now, after that cold frosty start, the weather is looking generally settled with high pressure in charge of our weather, but we will have the breeze coming in from a northeasterly direction as it blows over the north sea, it will bring in some showers and some showers will be across parts of scotland northeast england as well, one or two further south into wales and the midlands. mainly sleet and snow confined to higher ground, largely rain at low levels and in the southeast of england and east anglia, some heavy rain showers here and also for the channel islands as well likely to see some rain on it through the day. and while temperatures reach around four or six degrees, it will feel colder with the wind chill so the breeze making it feel closer to freezing during sunday afternoon for many of us. heading into monday and high pressure still with us sitting to the north of the uk, we've still got that north easterly breeze into monday as well. so, many places looking dry with some sunshine, but there will be some wintry showers and parts of southern scotland and northern england, perhaps one or two for northern ireland and wales and the southeast of england once again could see some rain showers. it could turn to sleet and snow over the high ground with any of the heavier bursts.

temperatures only about four to six degrees but feeling closer to freezing once again when you add on the effect of that wind chill on monday. a very similar day into tuesday as well. we've still got a northeasterly breeze with us, some rain showers for the southeast of england and flurries elsewhere, but a lot of dry weather on the cards in the sunshine, still feeling cold with temperatures around three to five degrees on their warmest on tuesday and looking ahead to the remainder of the coming week, it stays cold, temperature still below freezing, some sunshine and things looking like they are turning more unsettled later in the week. bye bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: at least 11 republican senators say they willjoin president trump in refusing to accept the official results of the us presidential election that named joe biden the winner by eight million votes. the group have repeated unproven allegations of fraud in november's poll. in india, health workers and volunteers have taken part in a nationwide rehearsal to test its preparedness for mass immunisation against covid—19 as a second vaccine is recommended for emergency use. india's government hopes to vaccinate at least 300 million people by the middle of 2021. the government is coming under intense pressure from teaching unions who want to keep schools in england closed for the first two weeks of the new term. the profession‘s calling for the delay because of the rapid spread of the new coronavirus variant.