good afternoon. people over the age of 70 who haven't yet had a covid jab are being urged to come forward, in a final push by ministers. the aim is to offer a jab to 15 million people in the most vulnerable categories by monday. it comes as the health secretary, matt hancock, said he hoped that covid—19 would become, by the end of this year, an illness the country could live with, "like flu". here's our political correspondent, nick eardley.

after a year in which optimism has beenin after a year in which optimism has been in short supply, a dose of hope. the vaccine roll—out continues here in epsom and across the uk this morning. ministers are confident that by the end of the weekend, those most at risk from covid, 15 million people, will have been offered the first jab million people, will have been offered the firstjab of million people, will have been offered the first jab of the vaccine. offered the first “ab of the vaccine. ~ ., ., ., ., vaccine. we are on target to meet the old vaccine. we are on target to meet the gold by — vaccine. we are on target to meet the gold by monday, _ vaccine. we are on target to meet the gold by monday, of _ vaccine. we are on target to meet the gold by monday, of offering i vaccine. we are on target to meet. the gold by monday, of offering the vaccine to everybody in group 1—4 and then by may offering the vaccine to everybody in groups 1—9. we have a high degree of confidence in the supply we have to reach those goals but the exact speed of the supply is the limiting factor on how quickly we can vaccinate right across the uk. ~ ., . . ., , uk. with the vaccine and better treatment _ uk. with the vaccine and better treatment for _ uk. with the vaccine and better treatment for those _ uk. with the vaccine and better treatment for those who - uk. with the vaccine and better treatment for those who do - uk. with the vaccine and better treatment for those who do fall| uk. with the vaccine and better. treatment for those who do fall ill, the health secretary has said covid

could become like flu, still there but manageable. but some experts advising the government warn that may take time. i’m advising the government warn that may take time-— may take time. i'm not sure that covid settles _ may take time. i'm not sure that covid settles down _ may take time. i'm not sure that covid settles down to _ may take time. i'm not sure that covid settles down to look - may take time. i'm not sure that covid settles down to look like . may take time. i'm not sure that | covid settles down to look like flu quite _ covid settles down to look like flu quite so _ covid settles down to look like flu quite so quickly. i think there is quite _ quite so quickly. i think there is quite a — quite so quickly. i think there is quite a long way to go between now and next _ quite a long way to go between now and next winter. so i think, in some ways, _ and next winter. so i think, in some ways, it's _ and next winter. so i think, in some ways, it's not — and next winter. so i think, in some ways, it's not the right time to make — ways, it's not the right time to make that _ ways, it's not the right time to make that decision. we need to see how low— make that decision. we need to see how low we — make that decision. we need to see how low we can get the prevalence of covid, _ how low we can get the prevalence of covid, the _ how low we can get the prevalence of covid, the prevalence of the virus in the _ covid, the prevalence of the virus in the community as we exit this summeh — in the community as we exit this summer. ., ., , , ~ summer. how to get streets like these moving — summer. how to get streets like these moving again... _ summer. how to get streets like these moving again... the - summer. how to get streets like| these moving again... the prime minister will set out his plan for england later this month. it is likely to be a gradual process, starting with schools, before opening other parts of society. some of boris johnson's opening other parts of society. some of borisjohnson�*s mps hope that the vaccine can make shut downs a thing of the past. it vaccine can make shut downs a thing of the ast. �* , vaccine can make shut downs a thing of the past-— of the past. if it's the same level as flu, of the past. if it's the same level as flu. we _ of the past. if it's the same level as flu, we don't _ of the past. if it's the same level as flu, we don't think _ of the past. if it's the same level as flu, we don't think for - of the past. if it's the same level as flu, we don't think for a - of the past. if it's the same levell as flu, we don't think for a second of locking down the country over flu. there will come a point where

there will be a death rate from covid but it's at a normal level and then we have to cope with it. obviously, we still try and prevent it but we accept it, i think we have to experts, though, warn the health service is still under real pressure and are urging ministers to be cautious. $5 and are urging ministers to be cautious. �* , , ,, cautious. as the political pressure to reo en cautious. as the political pressure to reopen increases, _ cautious. as the political pressure to reopen increases, the - cautious. as the political pressure i to reopen increases, the government has a lot to weigh up. nick eardley is here. that i suppose is the million dollar question for so many people, isn't it, what impact will this have on how soon and in what form the lockdown can be eased? that is exactly what — lockdown can be eased? that is exactly what the _ lockdown can be eased? that is exactly what the government i lockdown can be eased? that is i exactly what the government will lockdown can be eased? that is - exactly what the government will be looking out over the next few days. we know that the prime minister wants to analyse some of the data on how the vaccine roll—out is going, how the vaccine roll—out is going, how the vaccine roll—out is going, how the lockdown is impacting the amount of people in hospital, the

new cases and deaths as well and he will in the week beginning the 22nd give us more of an idea about what's coming out of lockdown in england will look like. we know that the first thing the government wants to do is open schools, perhaps as soon as the 8th of march. there is talk that the next months, potentially april, you start opening outdoor hospitality. though the word from downing street is no decisions have been made yet, it is premature to expect anything to happen definitively. but in the next couple of weeks, we will get a much better idea of what coming out of lockdown is going to look like and be under no illusions, borisjohnson is under a lot of pressure from his own party to try and make it fairly swift and make it the last time this happens. thank you very much. heathrow airport has expressed concern over the implementation of hotel quarantine plans that are due to come into effect on monday. anyone arriving in england from 33 high—risk countries will be required to quarantine for ten days.

but the uk's busiest airport says �*significant gaps�* remain in the government's plan and it is yet to receive the necessary reassurances. the us senate is expected to vote later on whether to convict donald trump following his second impeachment trial. lawyers representing the former president have described the charge of inciting insurrection, ahead of the riot last month at the us capitol, as a "monstrous lie". a conviction remains unlikely — it would require the support of 17 republican senators to reach the necessary two—thirds majority. it's normally a time when restaurants are booked up with couples dining out to celebrate valentine's day. with lockdown measures still in place and cashflows under pressure, an increasing number of venues have adapted to create restaurant—quality home delivery meal kits instead. our business correspondent

katy austin has more. vicky and chris plan to recreate the restaurant experience at home this weekend. we're getting a posh takeaway from a local restaurant. so, we're having beef wellington, macarons. not cheap, but, you know, we're not spending any money on anything else, really. deprived of their normal sit in trade around february 14th, many restaurants have now created special kits for people to finish off at home. so, everything's ready—made and then it's reheating, finish it off and plating it. andreas runs michelin starred venues in the midlands. it's helping keeping our businesses afloat more than anything, and that's what it is. cash flow is a real thing at the moment. he's even planning on carrying on the service in future. when the restaurant's closed and i looked at — the only people doing business were supermarkets, i felt a bit like a dinosaur. you know, i'd become extinct. we needed to react to a possible...

you know, it's like having a shop online. and if you thought of valentine's was just for couples, ruth's local cafe is doing her a three course treat for one. would i go to a restaurant on valentine's day on my own? no, probably not. this meal kit at home from a restaurantjust perfect to be able to still treat yourself and still feel a bit special. the hospitality trade body says valentine's normally provides a £500 million boost. takeaway and delivery has been important throughout the pandemic but it doesn't come anywhere near replacing the sales that you get in the sites. after their most challenging year ever, restaurants are relieved customers are showing some love to their attempts to diversify. vicky and chris can't wait for their big evening in. i might even put a dress on and some make—up on, which i haven't done for a long time! katy austin, bbc news. with all the sport now, here's chetan pathak

the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. we start with cricket and an entertaining opening day of the second test in chennai. there were six wickets for england, but also a batting masterclass from rohit sharma which leaves india on top, asjoe wilson reports. look who is back. welcome spectators. a condition of attendance was to maintain social distance. well, look who is back for england, olly stone. lbw and a fast bowler had quick success. jack leach was still spinning. the jar are gone. stand by, england also selected moeen ali. bowling to virat kohli. what, me, out forzero? selected moeen ali. bowling to virat kohli. what, me, out for zero? yes, kohli. what, me, out forzero? yes, captain, it did kohli. what, me, out for zero? yes, captain, it did happen. kohli. what, me, out forzero? yes, captain, it did happen. rohit kohli. what, me, out for zero? yes, captain, it did happen. rohit sharma was moving. reviving india's innings and then dominating the day. if you

bat first and score big in conditions like these you can control the match. rohit sharma 100 control the match. rohitsharma100 and england to 200. this is exactly what they had come to see. from england's point of view, becoming one of those days. when rohit sharma reached 161 and reached the field, he could not believe it. now england's frustrations. here the bowl comes up and touches the blood. on replay, the tv amp i did not look at despite the review. he was soon dismissed unmistakably, fortunately. but india of 300—6, so watch out. joe wilson, bbc news. we look forward to tomorrow. highlights of the australian open tennis follow this bulletin on bbc one, but we'll show you the result of one match that's just finished. cameron norrie — the final british player left in the tournament, is out. he's lost in straight sets to rafael nadal

in the third round — no shame in that. nadal is the second seed in melbourne, and plays italy's fabio fognini next. the six nations continues today, england host italy at twickenham at 2:15, whilst scotland play wales at murrayfield. scotland are on a really good run of form, and beat wales just over three months ago in the final game of last year's delayed championship. they also had that historic win over england last weekend, but head coach gregor townsend is taking nothing for granted. while it was a great victory and we know what it meant to our country, it is not going to count for much if we don't back it up, if we don't go out and grab this opportunity now to get a second when in the championship. the players have been excellent this week at training. we have to make sure we build on that and keep the progress we have made going for another week. and you can watch scotland against wales in the six nations live from murrayfield on bbc one

from 4pm this afternoon. there are four games in the premier league today. one of them is already under way, with the champions liverpool playing leicester at the king power stadium. jurgen klopp's side have lost their last two matches, but they could replace leicester in third with a win. approaching half—time, it remains goalless. liverpool have had the better of the match so far. sir ben ainslie's british sailing team has been in action in the prada cup overnight. this is the competition to decide who goes up against new zealand in the america's cup later this year. ainslie's ineos team uk are up against the italian luna rossa team, and they've now lost the first two races. still time, though, there are 11 more races to go. and great britain's oliver davies has just missed out on a medal at the ski cross world championships in sweden. he finished fourth in the men's final in idre fjall. remember, charlotte bankes became britain's first ever snowboarding world champion earlier in the week, daviesjust missing out onjoining her. there's more on the bbc

sport website and app, including all the build—up to all today's action in the six nations. that's all the sport for now. back to you. thank you very much. that's it, the next news on bbc one is at 7:10, bye for now. hello. our weather is set to turn milder into next week but

hello. you're watching the bbc news channel with me, sean leigh. it's now 13:13. the united nations�* human rights council has passed a resolution deploring the military coup in myanmar, and calling

for the immediate release of aung san suu kyi and others who've been detained. hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in protests in cities across the country. mark lobel reports. the stand—off between protesters and police is deepening. rubber bullets fired on the streets in the south—east of the country. casualties amongst those standing firm against the coup. others taken away. it is not what the military hoped for from their february 1st takeover. could their authority now fade into thin air? translation: we need to maintain this dignity. | due to unscrupulous persons' incitement, some civil service personnel have failed to perform their duties at present. but the defiant chant here is, don't go to work, struggle to be free. translation: we are united and growing. i we lawyers and civil servants must work together to get rid

of authoritarianism. we must act within the law, but not obey the unlawful government. translation: i call on the us and other governments - of the world to act strongly using diplomatic means. i that call is being heard. the human rights council wants aung san suu kyi's elected government restored, access for aid and human rights monitors and... immediately release all individuals arbitrarily detained. they should have prompt access to legal representation and medical support and specious criminal charges should be dropped. the military has just released thousands of prisoners. but opponents fear they could bolster the junta's efforts in a repeat of what happened during a bloody time 33 years ago. wailing. back in 1988 the military escalated and conducted a brutal crackdown, killed thousands of protesters

in the streets of rangoon and elsewhere. 2007 also. but we're also concerned about night—time arrests of government and dissidents. chanting. yet that memory is not discouraging this mighty show of defiance on the waters, and at the roots of resistance that seems to be heading for more confrontation. mark lobel, bbc news. let's return to the united states, where senators are expected to vote later in the second impeachment trial of donald trump. lawyers representing the former president have accused democrats of using the proceedings to settle political scores, saying the charge of "incitement of insurrection" was a "monstrous lie". dr thomas gift is an associate professor in political science at university college london and earlier gave his thoughts on the way donald trump's defense team presented their argument... to me, there's almost nothing

suspenseful about this impeachment trial and a not guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion. everything that we've seen so far, including from the republican defence, serious observers of american politics were predicting from a mile away. as evidence, republicans used only about three or four hours of their allocated time defending trump and at least some legal experts have suggested that's three or four more hours than they needed. the argument is that a better strategy would have been not to put a defence on at all and just to say that the house managers did not meet their burden to convict. regardless of the merits of the case, the outcome

is subordinate is the politics of the moment and everything really vows to politics here. there is a question of whether a few republican senators might rebel against trump and vote guilty, but it won't be anywhere near the 17 also required to convict. what about, if i could put it this way, the court of public opinion in the united states? data shows that the great majority of americans prefer the don't want be convicted and barred from holding future federal office but the numbers are divided very starkly along partisan lines and that reflects the same mass level polarisation that characterise the entirety of trump's turn. about 84% of rank and file republicans want trump's impeachment to end, that says a lot. i think most americans are viewing this on one of two ways. they are either disgusted with the impunity culture that surrounds trump and they are horrified that a sequence of events like we saw onjanuary 6th at the us capitol could end without any real accountability at the top

or they are just looking at this proceeding and saying, you know, why are we doing this? they are asking why this trial is even happening if everyone knows how it is going to end. what about the intervention we had from the former governor and indeed former un ambassador appointed by mr trump, nikki haley, on friday, who effectively said that we had been lied to and quite a lot of republican politicians had been lying to the party's supporters and voters about the stolen election, anarrative that donald trump promoted. i mean, in a sense, she's taking a bit of a risk, isn't she, breaking from the ranks in this way? or is she, kind of, laying down a marker for her own career? well, nikki haley does have presidential aspirations and she strikes me as fairly opportunistic in terms of where she is going. i think, you know, she intends to tack in whatever direction the political wind is blowing so maybe this is a harbinger of more republican speaking out publicly against trump. for her, it's a political calculation, but that doesn't mean

it's the right political calculation. clearly, the republican party is undergoing extreme political battles at the moment about its future direction, but i'm still somewhat sceptical that we will see a sharp pivot away from trump at least in the short term. trump can lead acquittal in the senate trial to embolden his core base, and while four years as a lifetime in politics and trump may or may not decide to run again in 2024, what trump represents in the form of trumpism isn't going away, and i think until donald trump is unseated, he is still the de facto leader within the republican party and he is going to command considerable deference for most politicians. more than 50,000 homes and businesses in glasgow were left without water this morning — after a main supply pipe burst in the west side of the city. nearby roads were flooded, with water turning to ice in places, due to sub—zero temperatures. scottish water apologised to customers and said supplies were gradually being restored. seven leading british scientists are warning that the pandemic will be prolonged and might take

years to bring under control if the vaccines aren't made available to poorer countries. writing in the lancet, they say that billions of people might not get inoculated this year, which could allow the virus to mutate further, and become resistant to vaccines. the experts say production needs to be ramped up worldwide and vaccines have to be priced affordably. earlier, i spoke to the lead author from the london school of economics and political science, dr olivier wouters, who explained their concerns. if we don't treat this as a global problem and if the virus is allowed to continue to rage in some parts of the world, we might see continued... you know, the risk of new mutations emerging is still there, and so even if we end up vaccinating the entire population in the uk, us, other richer countries, these new viruses, variants might

undermine the efficacy of existing vaccines, and that could pose problems for us here in the uk. we saw a relatively small but rather significant spat between the european commission and at least one of the drug companies a couple of weeks ago. it led to some unfortunate political decisions but quickly rowed back from a lot of tension, but that kind of problem of vaccine nationalism, if one wants to put it like that, which, i think, is what the who secretary general has referred to it as, it's not going to go away, this year, is it? particularly if vaccines are still, ultimately, produced by a relatively small number of companies, who may be making their information accessible and available to medical experts and sauces, but don't necessarily have the production capacity to match it? exactly. i think that the key bottleneck at this point in time is production, supply.

if we had enough doses to go around we would be less concerned about which countries are at the front of the queue, which ones are securing enough doses. again, if we had enough doses, we wouldn't find ourselves in this bind, and this recent spat between the european union, the european commission and a drug—maker, vaccine—maker, you know, it shows how important it is to work to expand production capacity. there are parts of the world where, at the moment, at least, thankfully, it has not hit hard. it's clearly hit hard in particular countries. one thinks of sub—saharan africa, where i saw a statistic recently saying, what, 3% of infections for a part of the world represents 14% of the population? the impression given by your article in the lancet is that you're worried that this kind of benefit may disappear because the virus itself may be given time to evolve further? exactly. so, i mean, it's not to say that, you know, a country that might have lower rates of community transmission than the uk, than other countries at the moment, they might find themselves in a different situation in a few

weeks, in a few months�* time, so we don�*t want to wait for the problem to arrive. it�*s important to remember that there are poor countries without access to adequate amounts of vaccine were the virus is raging as well, so we have both of these concerns to think about. that is a doctor from the health policy department at the lse talking to me a little earlier. the efficacy of the oxford/astrazeneca vaccine in children is set to be tested in a new clinical trial. researchers will use 300 volunteers to assess whether the jab will produce a strong immune response in children aged between six and 17. scientists say there have been trials done before for teenagers, but not ones for children of this age. the great white shark has drawn tourists to south africa for decades, but numbers spotted off the coast of cape town have fallen drastically in recent times. our africa correspondent andrew harding has been investigating the reason for their disappearance.

on a hillside overlooking false bay, shark spotters are keeping a close watch on the waves. after all, this coastline near cape town has long been home to hundreds, if not thousands, of the world�*s most famous predators. until now. south africa�*s great white sharks — the stuff of nightmares and of nature documentaries — have gone mysteriously missing. wherever you go, if you put your feet into the water, you expect to encounter a white shark. but that�*s not the case no more. i don�*t even remember the last i�*ve seen a shark. none at all? none at all. no white sharks in false bay. it�*s two years now since they vanished, and the economic impact has been devastating. the great white tourism industry has collapsed. unfortunately, we're suffering a lot. it is very, very difficult times. for the whole town. the whole town, yes. the whole industry. yes.

it is really, really sad. we miss these sharks a lot. but why did they disappear? this amateur footage shows the arrival of two suspects — a pair of orcas, killer whales. could they have scared off all of those great whites? for us, the arrival of these orcas and then the reduction _ in shark activity does - all seem to be correlated. it appears that the orcasi arrive and the sharks just are aware they are no longer the apex predator anymore. | but here�*s another theory — local fishermen have been catching smaller sharks to export to fish and chip shops in australia. those sharks formed part of the great white�*s diet. this quite simply meant that the bulk of their food was no longer available in false bay, so logic tells you if yourfood is not available here, you go look elsewhere, and that is what a lot of us believe is what�*s actually happened. but other shark detectives see a more complicated crime scene.

doctor sara andreotti used to study the great whites here. now she�*s using a harpoon to scrape dna from smaller species. now we have to collect this very carefully. her view is that the great white population has been shrinking unnoticed for many years because of climate change, pollution, overfishing — a range of human activities. it is not for usjust frustrating, it's the feeling that that happened under our watch, you know? we saw the sharks, we saw the numbers were not great and the work we did wasn't enough to get them the environment, better protected in a way, or maybe it was just too late.

her conclusion is that the great whites didn�*t move elsewhere, they simply died out, their turf taken over by these copper sharks. plenty of beautiful sharks down here, but no great whites, none at all, and so many theories about why they may have disappeared, but the real fear is that they may have gone for good. perhaps, but nothing in this great white mystery is certain — except the knowledge that we humans are, as usual, prime suspects. andrew harding, bbc news, south africa. appropriately enough, we�*re going to take a look at the weather but i do not think there are any sharks in it. sarah is at the map. hello. our cold, wintry spell of weather will gradually be easing as we head through the weekend and into next week too, but only very slowly, that

milder air moving across the uk. it�*s also going to be a windy picture through the course of the weekend as well. still some problems with snow and ice through today for many of us. heavy snow initially for northern ireland and that will push through parts of wales, north—west england, western scotland as well. eastern scotland and much of eastern england staying dry but really cold. temperatures may be a degree above freezing on the thermometer, but when you add on the wind—chill it�*s going to feel around about —6, —7 degrees for many of us. so a really blustery picture as we head through the course of tonight, too, strong winds as we move into sunday morning. a bit more patchy snow for northern england and for scotland too and with temperatures still below freezing first thing tomorrow there could well be some icy stretches. there�*ll be further outbreaks of rain that are then going to fall on sub—zero surfaces, so ice through the day, particularly for northern england and scotland. strong, gusty winds and temperatures starting to pick up from the west. bye— bye.

hello, this is bbc news the headlines — the uk government launches a final push to vaccinate the most vulnerable, as it closes in on its target of 15 millionjabs. if you are in one of those groups, i would _ if you are in one of those groups, i would say— if you are in one of those groups, i would say please _ if you are in one of those groups, i would say please come _ if you are in one of those groups, i would say please come forward - if you are in one of those groups, i would say please come forward if i if you are in one of those groups, i. would say please come forward if you have hot— would say please come forward if you have not already— would say please come forward if you have not already got _ would say please come forward if you have not already got an _ would say please come forward if you have not already got an appointment| have not already got an appointment to be iabbed, — have not already got an appointment to be jabbed, because _ have not already got an appointment to be jabbed, because the _ have not already got an appointment to be jabbed, because the more - to be jabbed, because the more people — to be jabbed, because the more people who _ to be jabbed, because the more people who get _ to be jabbed, because the more people who get this _ to be jabbed, because the more people who get this jab, - to be jabbed, because the more people who get this jab, the - to be jabbed, because the morel people who get thisjab, the safe everybody — people who get thisjab, the safe everybody is _ meanwhile, leading british scientists warn vaccines must be made available to poorer countries

in order to bring the pandemic under control.