this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. our top stories... a growing row over schools in england — some councils urge the government to abandon plans for reopening primaries. but the government insists school closures are a "last resort" to curb infections. absolutely where possible we should keep our schools open. we are damaging our young child ren‘s life chances. we know millions of children during the last handed hardly any learning at all. liverpool's council leaders have added to calls for the uk government to impose a new national lockdown — saying it's needed to prevent a catastrophe. india's medicines regulator gives the go ahead for two coronavirus vaccines — as it starts one of the world's biggest vaccination programmes. the oxford jab will be

used alongside a locally developed vaccine. and israel leads the world with the highest rate of vaccinations — nearly one in 12 israelis gets a covid jab. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. some councils and teaching unions in england are continuing to pile pressure on the government, calling for primary schools to be kept closed to the majority of pupils after the christmas holidays. teaching unions have told primary school staff it is unsafe to return to work because of rising coronavirus cases. but the head of england's schools watchdog has warned that closures should be kept to an absolute minimum. writing in the sunday telegraph newspaper, ofsted's chief inspector

amanda spielman says children's lives "can'tjust be put on hold" during the pandemic. our political correspondent, chris mason, has more. this is brighton, where primary schools were due to reopen this week after the christmas holidays. but now the local authority is advising that they shouldn't, and has asked the education secretary to intervene too. we've written to gavin williamson to ask him to close our primary schools in line with the decision that he's made in london and other areas, but what we've also done is written to schools directly ourselves, and asked them to, or advised them, that we think the right decision is for them to move to remote learning on monday, and only be open for children of key workers and our most vulnerable children as well. and this is birmingham, where the city council has said it will support any primary school head teachers who decide to shift to learning from home — and this morning, local leaders

in liverpool are calling for another national lockdown. they argue the current tier system in england isn't working. we feel that to curb this virus, particularly with the new strain, it's really important that we tackle it head on, that we're proactive rather than reactive, when things get really bad, and a lockdown would help to resolve that. the government's default position is that schools in england should remain open wherever possible. but with some local authorities saying that schools should close and the biggest teaching union telling its members that it's not safe for them to go to work, what happens next isn't entirely in ministers‘ hands. how many more councils could suggest schools close for most pupils? how many teachers will turn up in classrooms? union leaders are in touch with one another this weekend, co—ordinating their actions. the department for education says it will only move to remote schooling as a last resort.

the pandemic robbed us of many things in 2020, not least certainty. it's going to do the same thing again for many parents and pupils — for the first few months of this year at least. chris mason, bbc news. the conservative mp robert halfon chairs the education select committee. he says school closures must be kept to a minimum, given how detrimental they are to children's development. absolutely where possible, we should keep our schools open. we are damaging our young children's life chances. we know that during the last lockdown, millions of children did hardly any learning at all. whatever remote learning goes on, it is patchy, in parts, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children or disadvantaged children still do not have proper computers at home, nothing as a substitute for being at school.

charlotte clarke lives in east sussex and is a parent of two primary school children. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. what is happening with your children? are they going back to school? as far as i am aware, they are going back to school tomorrow. we have not had an announcement from the education authority or our headmistress from the primary school. i am headmistress from the primary school. iam hopeful they headmistress from the primary school. i am hopeful they will be going back in the morning. a lot of schools, a lot of calls for schools to be closed because of the serious rise in infection rates but would you think if your school closed ain? you think if your school closed again? i don't think it is the answer. i think children are being considered last in this whole argument. firstly i think that we are going from crisis to crisis in that case this isn't a feasible way forward every time there is a rise

in the virus rates. we cannot go from school closure to a school closure. i believe primary school is the safest place for my children to be during the school day and turn time. earlier on in this crisis, the schools did close was about was the impact on your family then? schools did close was about was the impact on your family themm schools did close was about was the impact on your family then? it was a really difficult time, i will be honest. i struggled really difficult time, i will be honest. istruggled mentally, emotionally, i worked from home and have done since the first lockdown was announced, have done since the first lockdown was announced , my have done since the first lockdown was announced, my employees are incredibly supportive of white me working from home and the fact i am a mum. but as i said to some of your colleagues, i felt like i a mum. but as i said to some of your colleagues, ifelt like i need to split myself in three and be a mum, solicitor and a teacher. and it did affect the relationship i had with my children because home is their safe place, it is where they can be who they want to be and not have to worry too much about school learning

at this point in time and that blurred the lines. both my children suffered quite greatly mentally and emotionally, my youngest had only just started primary school and she stopped sleeping, stopped eating, she lost weight, emotionally the impact on was quite huge step i would not welcome closures. i think the children are being considered last in all of this argument. so your message to the teaching unions and the local councils and government is to keep the school is open? absolutely. it is the best place for children to be and this is the only tip of the iceberg, we are going to have issues with children emotionally and with their mental health going forward and as one of the government ministers that we just interviewed has said, there are some disadvantaged children that do not have the facilities at home to learn and therefore there was already a massive disparity and gap. we need our children to be in school so they can have that structure and

routine and learn effectively and stop disrupting their education. but to talk to you for —— good to talk to talk to you for —— good to talk to you. the shadow culture secretaryjo stevens is being treated in hospital for covid—i9. a statement about the 54—year—old labour mp was released on her twitterfeed last night where her team thanked people for their good wishes. sir keir starmer has described her as a "dearfriend and colleague" and wished her well. the nhs is preparing to roll out the new oxford astrazeneca vaccine tomorrow at a small number of hospitals around the uk, as the health service begins ramping up the biggest immunisation programme in its history. pressure is mounting to protect millions more vulnerable people amid concerns a new variant of coronavirus is spreading out of control. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports. some of the first precious doses of a life—saving vaccine. the princess royal hospital

in west sussex is one of a small number of hospitals that will begin inoculating people with the oxford vaccine tomorrow, before the roll—out is extended to more than 700 sites later in the week. we're really pleased to be one of the early sort of areas that will be giving the vaccine because we know it will protect people, protect our stuff, and it's the thing that will help us manage this pandemic. unlikely pfizer jab, the oxford vaccine can be stored in a fridge, making it much easier to distribute to gp surgeries, vaccination centres, and care homes. the elderly are most at risk from the virus. that's why the focus is to vaccinate most care home residents and staff by the end of the month. margaret keenan became the first person in the world to receive the pfizer vaccine outside of clinical trials nearly a month ago. applause since then, nearly one million people have had their first dose. now, armed with the oxford vaccine, the race is on to protect 30 million

of the most vulnerable, including nhs front line workers, many of whom now worn out having battled the virus for nearly a year only to see it threatening to overwhelm the health service once again. i know it's going to be worse. that's the only thing we know. i know that we're massively stretched at the moment. our nursing numbers are diluted. the staff are exhausted on intensive care and we've got a long way more to go before we hit the peak. for now there's still no let up in sight. yesterday saw another record high, with more than 57,000 new covid cases recorded. the nhs is bracing itself for even greater pressure in the weeks ahead. vaccines, though, bring hope this virus can be defeated. katharine da costa, bbc news. india's drugs regulator has given final emergency—use approval for two coronavirus vaccines, one developed by astrazeneca and oxford university, and the other by local company bharat biotech.

the approval will kick off one of the world's biggest vaccination drives in coming days in the country of 1.3 billion people. the country's drug regulator said both vaccines were safe and provided a robust immune response. after adequate examination, the cdsco has decided to accept the recommendations of the expert committee and accordingly, vaccines of serum and bharat biotech are being approved for restricted use in emergency situation and permission is being granted to cadila healthcare for conduct of the phase iii clinical trial in india. joining me now from delhi is our south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan. thank you for being with us. this is a monumentaljob to vaccinate so many people in one of the biggest countries in the world. absolutely.

they are talking about inoculating 300 million people in what is described as one of the biggest immunisation drives in the world, it will not happen in a very short span of time, it will take several months. in fact amassed an eight or nine months to achieve the target. it is, is a big relief are the medical community and health care workers and because india is among the first developing countries to approve these vaccines and beauty make vaccines and they want to have enough stock of doses so they can start this programme. first is the oxford university astrazeneca vaccine and the second one is the bharat biotech which is an indian made vaccine, the first indian vaccine for the coronavirus to be recommended and after the approval, it became very clear because this one is very cost effective and it can be styled in a different way and it suits india and most importantly

the astrazeneca vaccine is being made locally in india in the western pa rt made locally in india in the western part of india by an institute so this is easily available for india. there are questions over the second one, bharat biotech, there have been opposition politicians questioning about whether enough trials were conducted, what is the efficacy of this particular vaccine. we still don't know about that but the drug regulator was categorical in saying we will not approve anything without considering safety. and what does the roll—out of the vaccines begin and who is the priority, which population groups get it first? the government held a mass drill and india isa government held a mass drill and india is a huge country, if they wa nt to india is a huge country, if they want to distribute and supply these vaccines, they need to have a system in place. and the government has already promised in the coming week, they should be able to start this

vaccination drive. first they need to sign contracts with the two companies to source the doses and they have to do distributed to different parts of the country. indian authorities are also looking at what is happening in britain because after the first dose, there seems to be a shortage... struggling to find a way to give the second dose. and here, both vaccines, astrazeneca and the bharat biotech, they involve two megadoses, so the government wants to keep the stock before they start rolling out, but this has been eagerly anticipated and there are people who are questioning how far these vaccines may be effective, there may be people saying we do not want to vaccine, but overall what the people wa nt to vaccine, but overall what the people want to know, is an in assurance from the government and health experts these vaccines are really, really effective so people can take it and the economy can be revived. good to talk to you. thank you very

much. —— good to talk to you. it's emerged that israel has given vaccinations against coronavirus to more thani million people — the highest rate in the world. it's achieved a rate of 11.55 doses per 100 people, followed by bahrain at 3.119 and the uk at 1.47, according to a tracking website affiliated with oxford university. our middle east correspondent, tom bateman has more it has been a success story for the israeli government, both in terms of the procurement of the vaccine from pfizer biontech, but also in terms of its delivery. and on that front, there are some natural elements that make it easierfor israel. it is a geographically small country with a small population — around 8 to 9 million people. it is also very practised in mass vaccinations and that has allowed it to get the vials out quickly and at those extra cold temperatures.

israel has a universal health care system where people by law have to be registered with a medical insurer, so it has a really good database of people in it and has found that has been the way it has been able to contact people really quickly and get the jabs going in that way. and as you say, israel says the millionth dose, the first does of the jab, delivered on friday. but in terms of the procurement, i mean, israel has paid its way here. the israeli media reports that israel has paid up to three times the amount that some other countries have paid to pfizer for those jabs. the israeli government won't confirm that, but ministers have said that smaller countries do have to pay a higher price and obviously i think the calculation will be that it is a price worth paying in terms of protecting lives and trying to free up israel's economy. and the prime minister benjamin netanyahu has said that could happen as early as february or at least well into the spring. well, the 5 million or so palestinians in the occupied west bank and gaza strip have been having, of late, a very tough

time with the pandemic. we have seen rates surge and lockdowns in both territories because of that. the palestinians, particularly in gaza, had an extremely fragile and ill—resourced health care system, so there have been throughout these concerns aboutjust how well it would be able to respond. and in terms of the vaccinations, well, the palestinian authority had said that it was trying to procure a vaccine, firstly the russian vaccine, although it appears that is now off the table. its health minister said last week that he expects the vaccines could start to become available in the next couple of weeks, although that doesn't really seem to quite tally with what international aid organisations are saying. the world health organization, for one, says it could be many months before vaccines are available. the palestinian health minister has not mentioned which companies they were talking to. and there have been around 15 or so human rights and aid

organisations who have called on israel, as the occupying power, to do more to make sure that vaccines are available for palestinians under its control. at least ten coalminers have been murdered in an attack by militants in the western pakistani province of balochistan. both jihadist groups and separatist rebels have been active in the area. prime minister imran khan has condemned what he termed an "inhumane act of terrorism" and promised those responsible would be apprehended. britain is more unequal than previously thought, according to a new report from a leading think tank. the uk's main set of data on wealth misses almost £800 billion worth of assets held by the wealthiest 1% of households, according to the resolution foundation. joining me now is jack leslie, economist at the resolution foundation — a think tank focusing on people on lower incomes.

you are saying we are in the uk, a more unequal country economically than we previously thought? yes, our analysis was looking at the official figures that we have for how much wealth the uk households hold, those official figures put a wealth the uk households hold, those officialfigures put a {14.6 trillion, a huge amount of money faster but we had delayed it was dig into the survey data and we combined it with other bits of information like the sunday times rich list and we have been able to combine those bits of data and found their race this £800 billion, almost 5% of the, relative to the household wealth, not in the official data and is held exclusively by the people that are in the top 1%, so that is households, families where the

average adult in the household holds at least £2 million. these are like private business assets, other financial assets like stocks and shares that are not being reported in the official measures and they really do change how we understand the inequality of wealth across the uk. so in the officialfigures, around 18% of total wealth was held by these richest 1% of family and now even we take into account the extra wealth we find in our research, that rises to almost a quarter, 23%, and that has a big big impact on our understanding of inequality in the uk. and that inequality in the uk. and that inequality is a trend in your view? is the uk becoming a more unequal country as time goes by?” is the uk becoming a more unequal country as time goes by? i think this is an important question and so if we look at a really long time

period back to the 1900s, much of the story of the 20th century was declining wealth inequality but that stopped around the end of the 1970s and since then it has been gradually rising, the relative gaps between the richest and poorest. but a bigger story in terms of wealth inequality is the kind of pounds and pence gap we are seeing between the richest and poorest families and that has really gone up over the last ten, 20, 30 years and it is probably now about double those gaps between the richest and poorest families, about double what it was about 30 years ago. that has a big impact on how people feel and how people interact with the economy, so if you look at ten years ago, a typicalfamily earning if you look at ten years ago, a typical family earning the typical average earnings, if they saved all of that money, ignoring all their expenses, they just of that money, ignoring all their expenses, theyjust saved all that money, it would take them about 60 yea rs money, it would take them about 60 years to get to the top into the

richest 10% of families. now in the latest data, just ten years later, that number is now over 9090 times. we are seeing a really big changes in wealth inequality —— 90 times. there are many economists that would argue wealth is not a bad thing, that it creates more wealth. argue wealth is not a bad thing, that it creates more wealthlj argue wealth is not a bad thing, that it creates more wealth. i think that it creates more wealth. i think thatis that it creates more wealth. i think that is absolutely true, we should be happy that the people have wealth, but it is distribution that matters, but if we see the rich pull away and we're not seeing wealth increase for poorer families, that has an impact on living standards. i think this has really shown what impact that wealth can have on living standards. lots of people have lost their job living standards. lots of people have lost theirjob or gone on to furlough or lost income for sub if you have wealth and money in your savings to fall back on, that can really help you whether the shocks

that happen and a fairer distribution of wealth would mean more families would be in a position, better position right now and will be able to get through the current crisis in better shape. it is an important question, notjust the size of the overall pie but how much each family has of it. good to talk to you, jack leslie from resolution foundation. during last year's lockdowns many of us developed new passions, or found ourselves revisiting old ones, and for eight—year—old amari from south lanarkshire that meant celebrating her love of poetry. amy irons has been back to catch up with her, as she looks ahead to what 2021 might bring. i'll tell yous aw something to yous fae wee me. i've been telt to stay in and i'm no longerfree. but when the lockdown is lifted and staying in isnae a must i'll tell you something, petal you'll no' see me for dust.

so that was amari six months ago, really summing up a lot of our feelings in 2020. now i've come back to see how she's getting on. hi, amy! how are you doing? i'm good, how are you? i'm good. i'd ask you to come in but because of the coronvarius, nobody‘s allowed in each other‘s houses. i know! i'll get my mum to open the window. just wait a wee minute. 0k! so i've not seen you in over six months. tell me, what's it been like? i'd say it's been the absolutely worst! and why‘s it been the worst? because we can't step out the house. i've missed family, missed going out places with my family. missed my friends, missed my world. you miss your world? cos the world's different, isn't it? yeah. and what do you think 2021 is going to be like? you said 2020's been the worst. it'll be better

and then everything would be back to normal. the vaccine's coming in easter, i think. because i heard it was coming on easter and then they have, theyjust need to get some more for everybody to get some. well, that was 2020 and i don't think it was great. i'll tell yous i did plenty — just as well i'm only eight! tell me something, sunshine, just what's that all about. one minute it was fine, then i'm telt no' to go oot! my ma just kept us sane, we don't want people sick. so just keep doing what you're doing and it'll be back to normal quick. so i'm getting my bike to ready to head out without fear cos once the vaccine's ready, well, 2021's going to be my year! china is celebrating a successful year of breeding pandas — and they've released some new footage of the animals

at play. 44 giant pandas were bred in captivity in china in 2020 — bringing the country's total panda population to 633. hello there. yesterday, we had some fresh snowfall across parts of east scotland, northern england in particular. this was one of our weather watcher pictures from yesterday showing the scene. think this is a country park near romiley in the stockport area. now, today, the air is a tiny bit less cold. you won't be able to feel the difference, but it does make a difference to the showers. many of today's showers will be falling more as rain with just a little bit of sleet mixed in. there will be some snow around too, but it is mostly going to be on fairly high elevations above, say, 300 or 400 metres elevation for the most part, across the grampians, the southern uplands, the pennines and the high ground in wales as well. so, as i say, for most of us, when these showers come through, it's more likely that you see rain. those showers are

going to be extensive, then, for eastern scotland, coming right away across england and to wales too. best of the sunshine today, northern ireland, northern and western areas of scotland. but it stays cold wherever you are and feeling cold, particularly where we have these brisk onshore winds. now, overnight, we're going to start to grab some colder airfrom scandinavia. so those showers are going to tend to switch a little bit more to a wintry mix. so a little bit more snow mixed in with them over high ground, maybe a little bit getting down to the lower levels, frosty with a risk of icy stretches. and, again, temperatures probably getting down to about minus eight in the highlands of scotland. monday sees the same area of high pressure continuing to steer in these brisk and cold north—easterly winds. now, the air‘s a little bit colder through monday, so, again, you're more likely to see a bit more of a mixture of rain, some sleet and some snow in the showers. but there'll be some showers streams as well. this line looks to be particularly persistent in kent, so it looks like it'll be quite wet for some here. and there'll be another line

of persistent showers going in across parts of yorkshire where over the high ground, the eastern side of the pennines, very locally, we could see some fairly significant falls of snow. and with that shower line lasting through monday night and into tuesday. again, there is a risk of some snow and some ice here. aside from those shower streams, though, there will be some dry and bright weather with some sunshine. but again, certainly a frosty start with a risk of icy stretches. and it stays cold throughout, temperatures three to five celsius on tuesday. in fact, for the rest of the week, there'll be little change in the temperatures. it is going to stay on the cold side with showers initially to start the week. but as we go through thursday and friday, we may well see an area of rain and snow begin to spread in from the north—west.

this is bbc world news, the headlines: a growing row over schools in england — some councils urge the government to abandon plans for reopening primaries. but the government insists school closures are a "last resort" to curb infections. liverpool's council leaders have added to calls for the uk government to impose a new national lockdown — saying it's needed to prevent a catastrophe. india's medicines regulator gives the go ahead for two coronavirus vaccines — as it starts one of the world's biggest vaccination programmes. the oxford jab will be used alongside a locally developed vaccine. and israel leads the world with the highest rate of vaccinations — one in eight israelis gets a covid jab.