democrats in the us house of representatives have delivered to the senate an article of impeachment against donald trump, starting the process of putting him on trial. it accuses him of inciting insurrection when his supporters stormed congress earlier this month. the trial will begin in earnest on february nine. president biden says he hopes to raise his target for vaccinations during his first 100 days in office to 150 million. he claims the us could be on the way towards herd immunity from the coronavirus by the summer. for a second night running, police in the netherlands have clashed with protesters defying a 9pm curfew introduced to battle the virus. dutch police described the violence as the worst unrest in four decades. the prime minister, mark rutte, described the protesters�* actions as criminal.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. israel is leading the world in the roll—out of the covid—19 vaccine. more than a million israelis have had their second dose. the prime minister claims the vast majority of adults will have been immunised by mid—march, allowing the country to ease restrictions. my guest is health minister yuli edelstein. is israel really the poster child for responsible, ethical coronavirus management?

yuli edelstein injerusalem, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to have you on the show. and let us start with the very good news. israel does appear to lead the world with the speed of the roll—out of the covid—i9 vaccination programme. explain to me exactly where you are today and how you're doing it. well, first of all, we have good numbers. we have about 27, 28% of our population already vaccinated. we are talking mostly about people at risk. we define them as 60+ and we have about 80% already vaccinated. we, as you just mentioned already, viewi million israeli citizens — out of 9+ million in this country — as fully vaccinated, meaning two doses plus one week, and i sincerely hope that it will help us with the difficult struggle

against the coronavirus. the answer to this poster child comparison, i guess, is negative. we are facing the same difficulties, we are in the middle of a lockdown right now, we have surging numbers, so we still have a very long way to go. we are very proud of our vaccination campaign and still worried about the high numbers of newly infected and seriously ill. yeah, we'll get to the reality of how the infection rate is affecting israel in just a moment, but let's stick is it true that you paid pfizer—biontech, the people behind your vaccine, is it true you paid them well over the odds to procure as much vaccine as early as you did?

the honest answer is, i don't have a clue. i never had a chance to have a glance of other agreements with different countries. we negotiated, we paid what we paid. and having said that, if one day, i will find out we paid probably more than, say, britain or european union, i will say that it's quite logical for pfizer. i won't call them thieves because of that, god forbid, or moderna for that matter. they are looking, i guess, in an agreement with a demand for several million vaccines in a different way than an agreement with hundreds of millions of vaccines, so... yeah. ..it�*s quite logical to suggest... yes, a tactful answer, but i would suggest to you that people who know how procurement has worked around the world say that you did pay a very high price for your vaccines. but not only that, it seems that israel agreed to hand over to pfizer an extraordinary amount of health care data pertaining to the vaccine and how it is affecting our population. do you think israelis

are entirely happy to know that their health data is being handed over to a private corporation? handing over private medical information about your citizens is a crime. and no one in israel ever even thought about doing anything of the kind. we are sharing the results of our really incredible vaccination campaign with the world at large, with pfizer, with anyone who wants to know. i don't think that there is anything secret about it. i do have to say that we have very good medical data, in terms of statistics, and as long as it's not private information, as long as it's something that can teach other countries, teach humanity, basically, about the results of the vaccination, i think it's our obligation to share it with anyone in the world. data, of course, is of

paramount importance here, and there has been some confusion as israel has released early studies and analysis of what has happened as you rolled out the vaccination programme. in the early days, the indications seems to be that the level of extra protection offered to those people who receive the first dose was at around 30—a0% improved protection against a controlled group that hadn't had the vaccination. now, that's good, but it's not that good. and the whole world is trying to figure out how effective the first dose is before you get the second dose, so what is the very latest information coming from your health care officials in the field? it's still not scientific, it's still not clinical research. we are looking at every case. yes, there are many people who develop antibodies after the first shot. we can't estimate exactly, in terms of percentage, what it means, but we decided, in practical terms, to strictly follow pfizer instructions to give the second shot after three weeks.

we have very good response. people are turning out for the second shot and, from what we understand, as opposed to some cases of the disease after the first shot, we are not experiencing any cases of the disease after the second shot, which is wonderful news. right, but, see, people around the world will be listening to your words very carefully, because israel is further along with its vaccination programme than any other country on earth and it really does matter what you are finding about the first and then the second vaccination and the impacts they have in terms of protection, because the uk government, for example, has taken a decision that because it wants to get as many people the first dose of vaccine as quickly as possible, it's taken the decision to delay the administration of the second dose for up to 12 weeks. are you suggesting that your experts, your scientists, are saying that is a mistake, as you guys are strictly

sticking to the three—week gap between vaccination one and two? we had a number of debates, discussions in the ministry — the professionals in the ministry, the medical professionals — and there were different opinions about that. but in the end, the opinion that we have, as i've said, to stick to the instructions given by pfizer prevailed and we are administering the second shot. the statistics is approximately as follows. about 70% turn out for the second shot on day 21. by day 25 after the first shot, we have about 94% of people who appear to get the second shot. we are very much satisfied with this kind of attitude. let's get to the reality of what all this means for israelis, then. as you've indicated, your infection rates are still pretty high. i mean, between 6—10,000

israelis every day are still contracting coronavirus — this in a population where more than 10% have had two doses in more than 25% have had their first dose of the vaccine. now, this suggests to me that the vaccination programme, until it has rolled out and reached almost your entire population, isn't really going to be a magic bullet which allows your society to return to normal. would you agree? well, first of all, we have to keep in our minds a very simple fact. we are not vaccinating anyone under the age of 16. in israel, we are talking about 27—28% of our population who are under 16, and thus they can't get the vaccine. so, right now, we totally understand that the doses that we've given out, administered, are not enough to create any kind... i don't want to use still the term "herd immunity", but to protect us as a society, as a country from spreading

the virus, so my dream, actually, is to see a different graph. we always had the graph of newly infected, closely followed by the graph of severely ill. the moment we'll see that severe cases will go down, we will be able to say we managed to protect those most vulnerable, as we said, population with chronic diseases or those over 60. then, we'll be able to behave differently, though i do have to say that it takes huge numbers of people vaccinated before you can really kind of go back to normal. right, well, that is precisely my point, minister, because your prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has been making all sorts of promises to the israeli people — mindful, i think, that he's got an election coming up in march. he has promised the israeli nation that life will be pretty much returning to normal

by the time of that election in mid to second half of march. given the figures you've given me, given the number of people under 16 you have in your population and given the need to reach something like 80% immunisation rate before you can really ease up, i don't see how netanyahu can keep his promise. well, i think the prime minister now understands the disease very well, he definitely understands that it can't be life the way we used to know it before covid—19. but having said that, we are thinking of creating some kind of green environment in certain places. you take, for example, something we all miss so much is theatre shows. you can allow entrance to a theatre to people who are either vaccinated or,

unfortunately, already had coronavirus or with a negative pcr test, and thus you create an environment where you are able to have a theatre performance — for that matter, a sports event in the future, all kinds of different events, conferences. you just try to keep it green. so, yes, vaccination brings good news. interesting. all of that sophisticated management of people who are immune, people who are not immune, that would require a huge amount of trust in the competence of government. i wonder, given the track record of your government over the last few months, whether israelis really have that level of confidence. i'm thinking about the way you've completely mismanaged, for example, international travel and the open access through ben gurion airport. people in israel are appalled that you allowed people to travel freely from new york, for example, back in march when the pandemic was ravaging new york. that was terrible mismanagement. and it falls at your door and your prime minister's.

well, as i said, honestly, in the beginning, we are facing the same challenges as any other country. yes, we made our own mistakes, too. i won't use the word to mismanage. no one ever encouraged people to travel. but, yes, when there were opportunities, when israel was green and some other countries were green, we allowed tourism. very soon, we realised that corona is still with us and attacks in all these places, so it was a short period of time. right now, the borders of israel are closed the way they were in march. we were actually one of the first countries in the world to close our borders, something unheard of those days. now i understand many countries are using this policy. so, yes, mistakes sometimes are being made. we are dealing with something new. i do have to say that, after the vaccination campaign, there is much more trust in the health ministry and the government and the israeli medical system. yeah, but there's still mixed messages. i mean, just to take

one specific one — the government yesterday said it was going to close ben gurion, effectively, to incoming travellers, and pretty much outgoing travellers too, till the end of january, and then your own deputy announced that wouldn't be anything like enough, and the ban on air travel would have to last much longer, for many weeks longer. so what is it? in the government protocol of yesterday, the health ministry, including the health minister, say loud and clear that it wouldn't be enough and there is a clear promise from other ministers to prolong it. the explanation for such a short period of ban on travel was that we have to learn what issues rise with this ban, to take care of them and then come and prolong the decision. i think it's quite clear for everyone that the variants, the mutations we are so scared of these days, like any other country, won't disappear in six or seven days from now. so, unfortunately, this ban on travel will have to be longer. another question of mismanagement. why on earth have you allowed

so many ultra—0rthodox communities in your country to flout the rules day after day, month after month? even now, when you're in lockdown, you've got influential religious leaders like the chief rabbi of the lithuanian ultra—0rthodox community chaim kanievsky saying that kids will still go to school, that it would be absolutely wrong and sacrilegious to close religious schools and, frankly, your government doesn't appear to be willing or able to enforce the rules on many ultra—0rthodox communities. well, i am sorry to say... ..sorry to correct you, but the truth is quite the opposite. the rabbi you are talking about called on his followers to close the schools down because of the coronavirus and called on all the ultra—0rthodox population to go and get the vaccine. i don't think that's the message... which was a very important message. i don't think that's the message that he has

delivered on several occasions to his own people. and to be honest with you, you only have to read the israeli press to see eyewitnesses saying that in many ultra—0rthodox communities today, there are still people going to synagogue, gathering in large groups, gathering in large groups for social interactions in a way that completely abuses the rules. and we see that in many of these communities, infection rates are still rising. what are you going to do about it? we are closely following what happens in every part of the country. unfortunately, you could see, if you follow the israeli press during the last several days, there were even... i'm not proud to say that, but there were even violent clashes between the police forces and some — i stress some — in the ultra—0rthodox community. by the same token, unfortunately, we had violations of the rules in different areas where the secular population lives,

in the arab sector, each one with his or her own approach, and i always say that if we really want to get rid one day of the coronavirus, we'd better look not at the others, we have to look in the mirror. minister, international law says that you in israel, as the military occupiers of millions of palestinian people in the west bank and, in effect, still in gaza, though your armed forces are not on the ground in gaza, you have a legal obligation under the geneva conventions to ensure that they get protected from coronavirus, with the vaccine. just as it becomes available in israel, it should be made available to those palestinians living under your occupation as well. why do you flout that international law? well, we can go into long and interesting discussions, stephen, about using the word "occupation" in this sense, but i have to say now... we can't really. not under international law, we can't, because it is quite

clear that you still occupy, with your military, the west bank. it's quite clear. it's very nice to talk to an expert because i heard you hesitating about the gaza strip. and i think to myself each time, "what else can we do "not to be called occupants in gaza "when there is not a singlejew there since...2005." that really isn't the point. that really isn't the point, given that you control all access in and out. you control the land, the sea, the air access into gaza, so, in effect, you're still the occupiers there too. and i come back to this point — you might obfuscate, but it is quite clear under international law, and a recent report from the un office for human rights absolutely emphasises this, you have an obligation, an obligation under law, to deliver the vaccine to palestinians under occupation.

you are utterly failing to deliver on your obligation. it's israel's vested interest to make sure that there is no surge in numbers among the palestinians, that they start rolling the vaccination campaign. i am very happy to learn that they managed to secure some agreements with different companies. i know they are getting something from the russians, from astrazeneca, probably from moderna, and i'm very glad about it. they have their own health ministry, and i'm sure that they will act accordingly. i do have to say that... i'm asking you about... i'm asking you about your legal and moral imperative. i'm not asking you whether the palestinians can eventually, over the next six months, get access to limited supplies from russia. i'm asking you whether you're prepared to meet your obligation, an obligation that 200 rabbis for human rights have recognised in a joint statement, an obligation which a leading rabbi in the uk, in the reform movement, laura janner—klausner, says, "is so fundamental it goes to the core

"of who we are asjews." this is a moral as well as legal question. and are you prepared now to say to me israel will meet that obligation? first of all, i'm a little bit lost because on one hand you suggest that i shouldn't listen to certain rabbis that call on their constituency not to follow the instruction. 0n the other hand... the instructions. 0n the other hand, you suggested i listen to the rabbis and do something that i guess i can't do... the difference, minister, is that one rabbi is advising you to follow the law and the other rabbi is telling you to flout the law. i'm asking you whether you're interested in following the advice of the rabbi who says you must meet your international obligation. i read the letter of the rabbis. they're not talking about the law. they're talking about moral obligation.

that's exactly what i'm saying. without any legal obligation, from the very first moment, we were helping the palestinians. mind you, it's not easy. they're not talking to us. they're not establishing contact. it all the time goes through third parties, something i can't understand. minister, that's not true. that's not true. the world health organization reported that the palestinians reached out to your department in early january to get vaccinations for their health workers. they asked for thousands. apparently, 100 doses of vaccine were eventually delivered on humanitarian grounds. 100. again, as a moral person, do you think that's satisfactory? there was not one case when the palestinian health minister or someone from the health ministry contacted my office. not one case since i've been minister of health. and i do have to say that, having said all that, we are helping in every way we can with medical equipment, with protocols, with medicine, and with some limited number of the vaccines to their medical staff that are working directly with corona patients. as i've said many times on many occasions, it's our interest to make sure that they are vaccinated. i definitely don't think that

i can take the vaccines the palestinian authority, but having said that, i'm optimistic. we're talking about the speed of the vaccination campaign in israel. i hope that very soon we'll be able to talk to them once they talk to us and to offer our help on that issue too. just a final thought about the wider political context. the winds of change have blown through washington. joe biden is now the president. he brings a different attitude to israel, palestine, the mideast conflict from that scene with donald trump, who i think, it's fair to say, offered his unwavering support to the netanyahu government. now, we've had democratic congressmen likejoaquin castro say that israel's government has a clear responsibility under international law, notjust to israel's citizens, but palestinians in the occupied territories when it comes to delivering

the vaccine. another one, another democrat, congressmanjamaal bowman, said, "the cruelty of what is happening in terms of vaccine rollout is another reminder of why the occupation must end." so the question to you is, given the new atmosphere in washington, the new administration, a real commitment to the two state solution, reaching out to the palestinians and israelis on that basis, do you think it's time israel began to change its tone, change its attitude, and maybe you could start with the vaccines? well, i do have to say that i managed to run this whole corona crisis, including the vaccination, without letting politics get in my way. i would suggest to everyone to try to do the same and not to mix their sometimes strange political views with what's going on in our mutual combat against the coronavirus. now, joe biden has

a very good... ..what they call in america, a very good record in israel. he is a good friend of israel. he has been around for many years. i, personally, in my previous capacity as the speaker of the israeli parliament, the knesset, hosted him in my office. he definitely knows israel very well. and i am absolutely sure that we'll continue our cooperation. yes, sometimes even between friends, among friends, there could be different opinions on different issues. i'm absolutely positive certain voices in the democratic party notwithstanding, that the relations between israel and the new american administration will be very good and strong. minister edelstein, i thank you very much indeed forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you.

hello. a cold, frosty start to tuesday morning means the risk for some ice on untreated surfaces. bear that in mind if you are making an essentialjourney. through the day, we'll see rain pushing from the west. and as that wet weather runs into some cold air, snow is likely to develop, especially over high ground in the north of the uk. this frontal system pushing in from the west will bring the wet and wintry weather, cold air ahead of our weather front. behind this frontal system, though, is much milder air starting to make inroads. ice to start off, then, just about anywhere, but especially through the midlands, into wales and northern ireland, where rain will be falling on cold surfaces, and a little bit of sleet and snow to start off across parts of central scotland. through the day, our main band of wet weather will continue to push its way eastwards. briefly, we could see a little

bit of snow mixing in over high ground in north wales, in the peak district, but more especially across the pennines, where we could see 5cm of snow accumulating on the highest ground, through the southern uplands of scotland and into the grampians, where some places could well see 10cm of snow before the day is done. more likely mixing with some rain and sleet at low levels, butjust 3 degrees in glasgow. holding onto some brightness in northeast scotland, just 3 there in aberdeen. conversely, 10 degrees in plymouth, into the milder air pumping in behind our frontal system. and the front will tend to die out a little bit through tuesday night into wednesday morning. still some patchy rain, sleet and snow across scotland. quite a chilly night in prospect here, although not as cold as the last few, and very, very mild indeed down towards the southwest. wednesday is looking like a drier day for many. it'll be quite cloudy, misty and murky, and we'll see some showers of rain moving through northern ireland, england and wales at times. the further north and east you are across scotland, it should be dry with some spells of sunshine. three or four degrees here, 10—11 across parts of wales and southwest england. and as we go through wednesday

night, we'll do it all again, another frontal system pushing in from the southwest. again, that'll run into the relatively cold air, giving the potential for some snow, especially over higher ground in northern england and southern scotland. ahead of that frontal system, still some pretty cold air in place, so temperatures maybe 3—4 degrees across parts down towards the south, though, highs of 12—13.

hello, you are with bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. making history on capitol hill. for the second time, democrats deliver to the senate an impeachment charge against donald trump, triggering the process for putting him on trial. uk travellers returning home based ten days quarantine and a hotel. curfew clashes in the netherlands. protesters battle police as they push back against the latest covid restrictions. five days that shaped the covid—19 outbreak, how the virus spread across china before were hand was locked down. and, the bone collector

is piecing together what could