this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm maryam moshiri. india's vast vaccine roll—out is under way. we meet the hospital cleaner who's the first person in the country to be vaccinated. a government scheme to provide financial support to england's airports will begin within days, following the closure of all air corridors. angela merkel�*s party chooses armin laschet as leader, putting him in a strong position to succeed her as german chancellor. president yoweri museveni of uganda says thursday's election was the most fraud—free in the country's history — a claim disputed by the opposition. and a team of climbers from nepal conquer one of the last remaining

challenges in mountaineering. hello, welcome to the programme. one of the world's biggest coronavirus vaccination campaigns has begun in india. prime minister narendra modi has said such an ambitious project has never been attempted before. the huge inoculation programme aims to reach 300 million people by august. healthcare staff and front line workers will be among the first to receive the doses. since the pandemic began india has confirmed over ten million cases — that's the second highest number in the world. rajini vaidyanathan reports from delhi. in a nation of well over a billion people, 34—year—old hospital cleaner manish kumar

became the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine. translation: the fear in my mind has gone. i everyone should get the vaccine, as this is how we save oui’ country. the country's prime minister, narendra modi, used a virtual address to kick off what he described as the world's largest immunisation programme. front line and health care workers take priority in the initial roll—out. at this hospital in delhi, they were given the red carpet, and red roses. dr puneet jaitley, who has treated countless covid patients, also got the vaccine today. how are you feeling now you've had the vaccine? i'm feeling absolutely safe, absolutely fit and absolutely fine. verijyous, very ecstatic. this is one of around 3,000 vaccination centres which have been set up across india. here and elsewhere, they're hoping to vaccinate around 100 people a day — so if you do the maths, that means that india's aiming

to vaccinate more than 300,000 people every day. but as the day drew to a close, the government said it had only reached two thirds of that target. known as the pharmacy of the world, india's the global leader in vaccine manufacturing. the oxford astrazeneca jab, produced in the city of pune, is one of two being rolled out. the second, covaxin, developed by an indian company, bharat biotech, is yet to pass its phase three trials — which means even though officials say it's safe, we still don't know how effective it is. there's been widespread concern its approval was rushed. junior doctors at a delhi hospital told me they won't be taking it yet. the phase three efficacy data is not out yet for this vaccine, which is being administered here. as doctors, we believe in science, so at this moment, we will not be going for this vaccine.

we don't want to be the guinea pigs. persuading people to take the vaccine is just one challenge in a nation hit hard by covid—i9. here, they're burning a coronavirus effigy to celebrate the start of the vaccine drive. it's been a dark year for this vibrant nation. today, indians are hoping they've turned a corner. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, delhi. dr swapneil parikh is a clinical researcher from the kasturba hospital of infectious diseases in mumbai. he told us more about covaxin, which india developed domestically. the vaccine is a whole vaccine inactivated vaccine and it has been employed in a restricted emergency authorisation in the clinical trial mode, so it will be deployed only for front line workers and medical workers right now. the government has described it as a back—up vaccine. i am not sure if it

is accurate, but that is what they say. and the hope is that by the time the general public come to take it, the data from the phase three trial will be out, both efficacy and safety, and health care workers and front line workers will have taken it. there was a bit of teething issues with the technology platforms and vaccine administration, but over 190,000 people were inoculated. the target set by the government is 300 million people in the first six months, that is 600 million doses. 100 million per month, so we need to be a lot faster but it is not a bad start. we have tremendous experience with immunisations in india. we need to make sure that the programme for children does not suffer when we are rolling out the covid—19 vaccines. i think it can be done but to contextualise the government say they plan

to start with 3,000—5,000 vaccine sites and each of those will do about 100 doses per day. that is about half a million per day and we need to do about 3.5 million a day to get to the target. i hope they can scale up very quickly. the government says a scheme to provide financial support to airports in england will open this month. a body representing airports has warned that there was only so long its members could "run on fumes" following the announcement that quarantine restrictions would apply to everyone entering the uk. here's our business correspondent katy austin. we're being told to stay home now, but last summer, travel corridor helped holidays happen. now, the system that removes the requirement to quarantine when arriving from a list of places is about to be suspended. geoff is working in bahrain. hi, geoff. hello, how are you? he's due to fly to britain when his contract ends

in a fortnight, but hasn't yet sorted accommodation. the rule change now means he'll have to provide authorities with an address to self—isolate at. it means that we do need to secure a place to stay before we leave here. the main concern is that with the situation, with the new regulations, if you like, that are in place, it's that we will see some flight cancellations. the halt to travel corridors is the latest restriction to be introduced. it means that from monday, people arriving into the uk from anywhere must quarantine for ten days. or they can take a covid test on the fifth day, pay for it, and if it's negative, they can leave quarantine early. the rules do apply to eurostar and sea ports, as well, but not to some jobs, like hauliers, and not to people travelling within the uk and ireland. also from monday, the requirement kicks in to show a negative covid test within 72 hours

of departing to come to the uk. there have been fresh calls for urgent, targeted additional support for the aviation and aerospace sectors, which have suffered badly already. the aviation minister accepted it was a difficult time for them, but said support had been available. the most important thing for all of the travel industry is that we're able to get people out and about, travelling again safely as soon as possible, and it's what we're doing with the vaccine, a massive roll—out of over 3.2 millionjabs. that's what offers the real prospect of better times for the aviation industry and the whole of the travel industry. labour said the government should have acted earlier. groups representing the travel industry accept the need for rules to tighten, but are asking where things go from here. we're saying to the government that they need to look at all the measures that they've got in place for travel at the moment, and all of those restrictions and to actually come up with a plan to move forward so that when restrictions start to lift, that there is

a clear plan in place. for many travel and holiday companies, the light at the end of the tunnel is still looking distant. katy austin, bbc news. germany's christian democrats have announced the winner of the race to lead angela merkel�*s party, the cdu. he's armin laschet, widely seen as the heir to mrs merkel�*s centrist brand of politics. and he's now in pole position to replace angela merkel as chancellor when she stands down later this year. so what do we know about him? mr laschet is currently the premier of north rhine—westphalia — germany's most populous state. he's seen as a political centrist who'll continue mrs merkel�*s consensual brand of politics. that extends to immigration where he's taken a liberal approach to the issue. in particular, he supported mrs merkel when she was under pressure for welcoming syrian refugees in 2015. mr laschet speaks fluent french and his wife is of belgian heritage.

the new cdu leader cultivates an everyman image, highlighting that his father worked down a mine. well, in a speech, mr laschet told delegates he wanted a strong european germany as a leader in the world. translation: the germany | | envision is a european germany — leading the world by excellence, example, and humanity. i'm saying it loud and clear. we will not let right—wing terrorists and troublemakers destroy our country. well, our berlin correspondent jenny hill explained that despite his victory, it's far from certain that armin laschet will succeed angela merkel as german chancellor. he is certainly in the running. is he guaranteed to go forward as the party's candidate for chancellor? certainly not. it is probably worth me pointing out that actually he has notjust replaced angela merkel as party leader. she stood aside from that role

a couple of years ago now in what at the time was seen as mrs merkel trying to affect an orderly transition of power. at the time, a woman was elected to the party leadership and, at the time, and it was thought that she might also stand a chance of becoming the next german chancellor. it wasn't to be the case, she resigned after a series of gaffes and was not as popular amongst some party members as the party itself would have liked. so what we have seen today is a change of leadership at the top of the christian democrats, but they are not going to decide until the spring who will finally lead them into battle, if you like, when it comes to the general election. there are another couple of politicians looking on from the sidelines. the corona pandemic has changed everything, the party conference was online today, but it's also shifted the fortunes of various fortunes. —— of various politicians. so the current health minister has been seen as having handled

the pandemic really rather well so far, and he actually supported mr laschet in the race for the leadership, but he is widely acknowledged to be looking around for support. he has ambitions to be chancellor, and then there is the bavarian prime minister. if you look at opinion polls here at the moment, he is a clear favourite amongst the public to be the next german chancellor. all of this is eight—and—a—half months away and a lot can in that time, but at the moment armin laschet has the headlines, but there is certainly a question mark over whether he will finally be the question who will actually be sitting as chancellor in nine months�* time or so. uganda's election commission has declared the veteran leader, yoweri museveni, to be winner of thursday's presidential election, taking 59% of the vote. museveni described the election as the most fraud—free vote in the country's history. the much younger main opposition candidate, bobi wine, who got 35%, decried the poll as a sham,

saying that soldiers are preventing him from leaving his home. catherine byaruhanga reports from kampala. much of downtown kampala was deserted. but some of the president's supporters made it out onto the streets to celebrate his victory. they insist the final result reflects the will of the people. 0ur our future 0urfuture is our future is secured. our country has got to be protected. the economy has got to develop. it has to continue because peace is back again in uganda. it is now another five years in office for yoweri museveni. by the time this term is done, he will have been in powerfor a0 years. helped along by changes to the constitution which could allow him to be president for life.

there has been an internet shutdown since the eve of the elections, but the electoral commission says it has been able to overcome the connectivity issues and collect results from across the country. i think this may turn out to be the most cheating—free election since 1962. some observers question how that is possible. my gardeners came and informed me we were surrounded... - bobi wine, the main opposition candidate, is alleging widespread irregularities and rejects the result. he's yet to provide evidence for his claims. bobi wine has not left his home since voting day. soldiers and police are stationed around his property. they say, to ensure his safety.

so long as they are in power, they are using guns. when you walk around kampala, every corner, there are guns. guns — are we in a war? whom are we fighting with? with this result, bobi wine still finds himself in a relatively strong position. his national unity platform is expected to be the biggest opposition party in parliament. a good result considering that it was only formed a few months ago. he will play a key role in ugandan politics in the coming years. for now, the opposition leader says he will challenge the results. he has yet to announce how he will do that. catherine byaruhanga, bbc news, kampala. a team of ten nepalese climbers have reached the summit of the world's second—highest mountain, the k2 in pakistan. and they've broken a world record by achieving the climb in the depths of winter.

a spokesperson for the team said they all stepped onto the summit together, while singing the nepalese national anthem. lead mountaineer nimsdai purja says they set out to make the impossible possible and are honoured to be sharing this moment. but while it is historic — there is tragedy too. the k2 is a dangerous mountain, and just moments after the summit was achieved, 49—year—old catalan mountaineer sergi mingote, who was also attempting the climb, fell to his death. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines... a sanitation worker becomes the first person in india to receive a covid vaccine, as the country begins to vaccinate more than 1.3 billion people. a government scheme to provide financial support to england's airports will begin within days, following the closure of all air corridors. it's been a source of tension between britain and spain for centuries — but the border which separates gibraltar from the spanish

mainland could be taken down this year as part of a post—brexit agreement. the deal, which will allow the free movement of people, is prompting questions about the long—term future of the british territory. 0ur europe correspondent gavin lee reports. entering the rock of gibraltar, 15,000 workers from spain crossed the border every day, show their papers, and had to work. the fence, as they call it, is all they have ever known. after more than a century, it's set to come down. it's better for our people. the border town of la linea is one of the poorest parts of spain. a third of people are unemployed. gibraltar relies on workers from here for catering, nursing, and cleaning. for them, the deal is a cause for celebration. the uk and spain have agreed that the border will go, possibly within six months, but it first has to be made into a formal treaty with the eu, and the single road that links both

territories will be widened so people and cars can travel freely, and gibraltar will be linked to europe's passport—free travel area, known as schengen. some infrastructure will remain and a few guards will stay on standby. instead, new arrivals will only be checked if they enter by sea, here at the port, and by air. it will mean for the first time there'll be gibraltar guards, then eu border guards, known as frontex, checking passports one after the other. the decisions as to who enters gibraltar will only ever be made by a gibraltar guard and we will have primacy of control. these are two borders, ultimate control of our borders in our hands and control of the schengen border is in the control of the schengen authorities. we are absolutely 100% clear that we will never seed one grain of sand of gibraltar, one breath of our air, one drop of our sea. spain's europe minister describes the checks

a different way. both of them, i would say, are equivalent. instead of sovereignty, i would call it co—responsibility, because by this agreement, uk is allowing gibraltar to participate in certain policies and programmes of the european union to which the uk as such is not participating. this has been possible because spain, as an eu member state, wishes it to happen. both sides recognise this as an experiment not without its risk. the hope, though, is that with the border gone, trust between the historically fractious neighbours can begin to grow. gavin lee, bbc news, gibraltar. let's look at some of the day's other news. the number of coronavirus deaths in france has surpassed 70,000. britain and italy are the only european countries with a higher number of deaths. all of france is now under a 6pm curfew. but the authorities say their vaccination

programme is gathering pace, reaching 400,000 people. the nigeria military has denied that a jihadist group linked to the islamic state had captured a military base in borno state after an attack on friday night. a spokesman for the military said that soldiers had withdrawn from the base and laid an ambush against the militants. britain, france, and germany have expressed deep concern that iran is preparing to produce uranium metal, which can be used in the making of a nuclear bomb. the three european countries said there was no credible civilian use for uranium metal. and they said that its production had potentially grave military implications. for months, young protesters in thailand have been challenging a government backed by the formidable power of the armed forces and the monarchy. for the first time a mass movement is openly calling for reform of the monarchy. 0ne rap group have played a big part in shattering taboos. here's their story.

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the duke of cambridge has praised those involved in the uk's coronavirus vaccine roll—out in a video call with nhs staff and volunteers — describing the effort as a monumental moment. here's andy moore. hello, your royal highness. good morning, everybody. prince william spoke to a number of medics from different parts of what he called the world leading nhs, all involved in the rolled out of the vaccine. i want to say huge congratulations to everyone involved in the vaccination programme because it looks tremendous, it really does, and i know what a massive difference it's going to make to everyone. and the vaccine was making a massive difference to around a thousand over 80s who were treated to organ music as they got theirjabs at salisbury cathedral. these pensioners were keen to come forward but the prince was told that wasn't the same for everyone. we do have vaccine hesitancy in some groups, your royal highness.

it's really important to really get into communities. the prince said that he was very glad that the queen and duke of edinburgh had been inoculated at windsor castle earlier this month. my grandparents have had the vaccine and i'm very proud of them for doing that so it's really important that everyone gets the vaccine when they're told to. that message seems to be getting through, with confirmation today that more than 3.5 million people in the uk have now been vaccinated. andy moore, bbc news. nasa has ground tested four huge engines from its new mega—rocket at the stennis space center in mississippi. it's a crucial part of the artemis programme, which aims to send us astronauts back to the moon by 202a. during the eight minute test the engines consumed more than 2.5 million litres of fuel. although the us government is funding the programme, it faces stiff competition from private sector projects such as elon musk�*s spacex. you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @bbcmaryam. thank you so much for your company, bye—bye for now. hello. the snow that some of us had to start saturday mainly turned back to rain before clearing away, and i think rain will be a bigger concern than snow for most of us through the coming week. but not just yet. sunday actually a decent—looking day, dry for many with some spells of sunshine. 0n the earlier satellite picture, you can see this stripe of cloud brought the snow initially, replaced by rain. that then cleared away to leave a mix of sunshine and showers during saturday, the airturning a little bit milder. it is quite a cold start to sunday morning, not as cold as some mornings lately, but there could still be a little bit of ice around and, through the day, plenty of sunshine, particularly across england and wales, the odd shower through north west england and north wales. a bit more cloud, i think, for northern ireland and especially scotland,

where showers will merge into longer spells of rain through the day, perhaps with some snow over higher ground, say, above 500 metres. quite windy in the north, lighter winds further south and temperatures pretty much exactly where we'd expect them to be at this time of year, between 6—9 celsius. now, during sunday night, we will see further showers or longer spells of rain and mountain snow across parts of scotland, a few showers into other western fringes. further south and east, it should be largely dry with some clear spells and temperatures generally getting quite close to freezing, but it's another one of those nights where it's not quite as cold as it has been lately. and then into monday, we will see some further showery rain at times across scotland, western fringes of northwest england, northern ireland, and then rain will become a bit more widespread across the west later in the day, whereas eastern areas should stay predominantly dry. but that rain in the west is going to become more extensive as we head deeper into the week. various areas of low pressure, various frontal systems pushing across the british isles.

uncertainty about the detail, but it does look pretty wet for some of us. these are the rainfall accumulations we are expecting across five days. and where you see the very white colours here, showing up over high ground — north west england, wales, even, parts of dartmoor there — that's where we could see in excess of 100 mm of rain. the ground is very wet at the moment, so with spells of heavy rain in the forecast through the week ahead, there is the risk of flooding. it is going to turn very mild for a time, particularly down towards the south, but signs are it'll get a bit colder again towards the end of the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: india has started its vast vaccine programme. it says 300 million people will have had the jab by the middle of the year. two vaccines are being used, one of which was developed in the country and given emergency approval for use. india has recorded the second—highest number of covid—19 infections in the world. germany's governing christian democrats have opted for a new leader who'll maintain angela merkel�*s centrist approach. the election of armin laschet, the premier of north—rhine westphalia, puts him in a good position to succeed mrs merkel as chancellor. germany goes to the polls in september. ten climbers from nepal have completed one of the last remaining challenges in mountaineering, reaching the summit of the world's second—highest peak, k2, in winter. it's the last of the 1a tallest mountains to have been conquered during the winter months.

now on bbc news, for the first time, a mass movement is openly calling for reform of the monarchy in thailand —