higher worry about but if it is the higher and, then we will have to certainly think about what extra measures we need to take to protect the public and i want to be clear that we will react fast, react as soon as we can see clear and unambiguous data about this and we will do whatever it takes to protect the people of this country. fin takes to protect the people of this count . , l, , m takes to protect the people of this count . , l, , country. on the questions you asked me, iwill country. on the questions you asked me, i will pick— country. on the questions you asked me. i will pick up — country. on the questions you asked me, i will pick up on _ country. on the questions you asked me, i will pick up on the _ country. on the questions you asked me, i will pick up on the four - country. on the questions you asked me, i will pick up on the four tests l me, i will pick up on the four tests additionally and about the tasks and compare than we were this time last week, virtually everything is the same situation. there is one important difference in us what i want to concentrate on but to go through them, vaccine implement programme remains successful. vaccines reducing hospitalisation and death is very clear evidence and nothing is changed there. infection rates not causing nhs pressure is very clear. and on the variance of concern, excluding the 6.72, really no change and most are relatively flat. they are not going away as a

threat and we but they are staying relatively stable. in terms of the 6.72 variant, one thing also remains the same which is our current assessment of the vaccine likelihood being effective remaining what it was which we think it will probably protect against severe disease and hospitalisation. we are not so confident about the degree to which it protects against mild disease and transmission and that is because we don't have the data. the thing which has changed is the very clear view it now that everyone is looked at it that this is more transmissible than the b 117 and we expect over time this variant will overtake and come to dominate in the uk in the way that beat woman seven took over and indeed other variants have taken over prior to that. —— beat ii7. indeed other variants have taken over prior to that. —— beat 117. as a prime minister say, there are some things we want to look for and the

most important is it is a bit more traversable or a lot more, that would imply we have a really transmissible search but if it is a bit more we could imply we have more of a race between the vaccination programme and the virus. but we are broadly in the same territory so that's a really critical questions which we do not yet have the answer. and the other thing we do not know is in practice what the impact on the vaccination programme. discussed your second question to me about people over a5. we don't yet have a big enough number i think to be confident about this. it could be that it confident about this. it could be thatitis confident about this. it could be that it is initially circulating in younger ages because that is what has always happened previously. people mix more in initial circulation at younger ages and that it moves up the age range. maybe just a delay because of that or maybe it's a delay because of the vaccine actually providing a fire break. reducing tradition of the

ages to those most wonderful. the second clearly is by far the most preferable. that we do not and cannot say with confidence at this point and that is the reason we need to look very carefully at this new variant and see how much faster it is growing than the old area and look at this issue about vaccines in practice. look at this issue about vaccines in ractice. . «a look at this issue about vaccines in ractice. . , . practice. thanks very much. sam lister of the _ practice. thanks very much. sam lister of the express. _ silence. and to professor chris whitty, — silence. and to professor chris whitty, given the indian variant is spreading — whitty, given the indian variant is spreading mainly among young and unvaccinated people, should those people _ unvaccinated people, should those people in_ unvaccinated people, should those people in those groups avoid taking advantage of the new freedoms being introduced on monday such as going

to the _ introduced on monday such as going to the pub? introduced on monday such as going to the ub? �* ., ., ., , to the pub? sam, i'm afraid i really cannot speculate _ to the pub? sam, i'm afraid i really cannot speculate about _ to the pub? sam, i'm afraid i really cannot speculate about that - to the pub? sam, i'm afraid i really cannot speculate about that and . to the pub? sam, i'm afraid i really| cannot speculate about that and too much detail at this stage because as you have heard earlier on, there are just some things we still don't know about this new variant. we just need about this new variant. we just need a bit more time for so in a couple of weeks, we will know much, much more than we do now. but i want to say that i know this has been a kind of one of those prep services where everybody hears something disappointing slightly and it worrying in the sense that there is a new variant that is significant concern for us, does pose the real risk of disruption to our plans and i have got to be clear with you about that. but it is also possible, sam, that we could still be on the right track, we could still beat set fair and with the big difference between this discovery of this new

variant now and seeing the spike that we are seeing in bolton, the difference of that phenomena now is an last christmas is that of course we have the vaccines and we are in a very different world now. but as chris says, we need to be absolutely clear about transmissibility, about clear about tra nsmissibility, about the clear about transmissibility, about the effects of the vaccines on this new variant and we will know a lot more in a couple of weeks. you go of the i. . what effect will the decision to prioritise — . what effect will the decision to prioritise second doses of the vaccine — prioritise second doses of the vaccine have on the roll—out over all? _ vaccine have on the roll—out over all? does— vaccine have on the roll—out over all? does this mean younger people will have _ all? does this mean younger people will have to wait longer for their first dose — will have to wait longer for their first dose and they would have previously expected or if the government finally going to dip into

its stockpile of more than 10 million — its stockpile of more than 10 million doses that have been delivered to the uk but not yet administered and perhaps speed up the overall pace of the roll—out to match _ the overall pace of the roll—out to match whales, which as you know is quite _ match whales, which as you know is quite far_ match whales, which as you know is quite far ahead of england, scotland and northern ireland and how many people _ and northern ireland and how many people it _ and northern ireland and how many people it has reached with at least one dose? — people it has reached with at least one dose? | people it has reached with at least one dose? .., people it has reached with at least one dose? .. . ., , people it has reached with at least one dose? . ., , .,~ people it has reached with at least onedose? . ., , ., one dose? i can certainly take that. the prioritisation _ one dose? i can certainly take that. the prioritisation of— one dose? i can certainly take that. the prioritisation of the _ one dose? i can certainly take that. the prioritisation of the second - the prioritisation of the second doses will not, we think, delay the situation of the people who are younger ages. there are a number of reasons for that but one of the key onceis reasons for that but one of the key once is the advice is except when the rates go up very high and we are not at that stage at this point in time, their primary recognition is people under the age of a0 —— a0 will be vaccinated and in most cases with one of the messenger rna vaccines, whereas the re—vaccination programme is largely at this point

with eight z vaccines. the dish expectation is it should not lead to significant delays as we don't have that trade—off which has been the issue elsewhere. it is, though, to reassure people, we are very clear that we still want to maintain a log or slightly gap in terms of vaccination at eight weeks rather than the shorter periods of some countries and is because we do think there are some advantages to that. doing this relatively steadily was the advice from jcvi in a given some advice that today. the advice from jcvi in a given some advice that today.— advice that today. thank you very much. alastair _ advice that today. thank you very much. alastair from _ advice that today. thank you very much. alastair from reuters. - advice that today. thank you very much. alastair from reuters. do | advice that today. thank you very i much. alastair from reuters. do you think ou much. alastair from reuters. do you think you might _ much. alastair from reuters. do you think you might look _ much. alastair from reuters. do you think you might look back _ much. alastair from reuters. do you think you might look back on - much. alastair from reuters. do you think you might look back on the - think you might look back on the decision— think you might look back on the decision to — think you might look back on the decision to ease restrictions on the whole _ decision to ease restrictions on the whole of— decision to ease restrictions on the whole of england this monday as a bil whole of england this monday as a big mistake was? and with international travel restarted, should — international travel restarted, should brits realistically expect to -et should brits realistically expect to get a _ should brits realistically expect to get a summer holiday given the risk of importing new variant as happened with this _ of importing new variant as happened with this one? thanks.—

with this one? thanks. thanks very much, alastair. _ with this one? thanks. thanks very much, alastair. we _ with this one? thanks. thanks very much, alastair. we are _ with this one? thanks. thanks very much, alastair. we are in - with this one? thanks. thanks very much, alastair. we are in a - much, alastair. we are in a different position from much of the past year, ia, 16 months or so because simply we are able to see so much so early. and thanks to the testing that we are doing, thanks to the genomic sequencing, we are able to spot stuff really very fast what we are trying to say at this press conference is that we do see a real risk of disruption in the new variant. we think that on balance it's right to proceed with the current plans given the very low numbers, given the fact that hospitalisations are not rising. but obviously we remain very, very alive to any change in the data and we will react accordingly. i think the same spirit of caution should be

applied to people who are thinking of travelling abroad. there is a very limited list, as you know, and we will certainly be making sure that people going or travelling abroad will be subject to all the tests and constraints that people would expect to prevent the virus being reimported. that's what it is as a tiny list of countries and i don't expect it will be adding to it very rapidly. indeed we will be maintaining very, very tough border regime for the foreseeable future. i imagine. it isjust regime for the foreseeable future. i imagine. it is just too early, regime for the foreseeable future. i imagine. it isjust too early, i'm afraid, to talk about exactly what the summer will be like. we have seen this new variant arrive. we have been watching it for a while. we are now seeing the risk that it's more transmissible than bii7. with

the take account of that. we have to alert people and we have to give guidance and advice to people in areas where it's been surging. even if the numbers are currently low. and as i have said everybody, we will know more in a couple of weeks. we will know a lot more in a couple of weeks we will keep everybody updated as fast as we can. this does not mean that it's impossible that we will be able to go ahead with step four. i don't think that's the case at all. but it does mean there is now the risk of disruption and delay. in the late to the ambition and we have to be utterly realistic about that. and as i want to stress again, we take nothing off the table as a means of controlling this virus and this very and we will do whatever it takes to keep you all say. thank you very much, everybody. thank you.

the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has warned that israel's biggest offensive against hamas in gaza in years is not over yet. palestinians in northern gaza have been fleeing the israeli bombardment. rockets were fired by militants towards israel from the territory for a fifth day. at least 122 people in gaza have been killed, and nine have died in israel since fighting began on monday. let's go now tojerusalem and to our middle east editor, jeremy bowen.

thanks very much. from here, there really has to be a moment for diplomacy. they are trying to talk, not getting very far. they need to find a form of words that both sides will accept for a ceasefire arrangement that they like, that they can walk away with with some kind of honour intact, because in the last few years, some have said this conflict has simply now been managed, and i think the events of the last few weeks have shown that that analysis was completely wrong. so, diplomacy needed, a ceasefire, and if they don't get it, the only way is down. it is ugly and angry on the streets and towns shared byjews and arabs police broke down the door

of a family. they deny accusations that their sons were attacking jews. the police say they are —— their officers behaved correctly. the father, the imam of a mosque, and his two sons were arrested for attacking police officers. the woman said they are scared not of what mys but of racist police. a local rabbi visited, she said, to apologise. in gaza, a building housing the hamas bank was hit. families went back to check what was left after a big israeli operation to destroy a tunnel complex. this man's home was gone. he said there was no warning when the explosions began. both his father's feet were blown off, his aunt lost an eye. around 2 million

people live in gaza, half of them are children. foreign land on the west bank, it was a day of protests and more palestinians were killed. in the occupied territories and in israel, events this week have exposed once again the mutual hatred and fear that are the essence of this conflict. injordan, the country next door, security forces kept protesters back from the frontier. palestinians make up more than half thejordanian population, mostly refugees from past wars not permitted to return by israel. history never dies in this conflict. people do. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. the time is 6:17. our top story this evening: the prime minister says the new engine variant of coronavirus could

make it more difficult to move to the final stage of relaxing restrictions injune. and still to come. the meteorite that landed outside a family home in gloucestershire, about to go on public display at the natural history museum. coming up in sportsday on the bbc news channel: chelsea in the hunt for a quadruple. can they add the women's champions league this weekend to their wsl title when they take on barcelona in sweden? lockdown has had a huge impact on children's lives — not least, on the amount of sport and physical activity they've been doing. children and young people should be active for about an hour a day, but fewer than half managed that in the past year. every primary school in england receives thouands of pounds of money which is ring—fenced specifically for pe, but the bbc has learned that the money isn't always being used for that. here's our sports correspondent, natalie pirks.

friday happy hour looks a little different at academy at st james'. children laugh four years ago, this school — in the top 10% of deprived areas in bradford — was in special measures... you push it, guys! cheering ..but since staff focused more on pe, things have changed. 0ur attainment�*s gone up from 27% to 6a%, combining two years. we believe that investing in pupils, in terms of their social and emotional well—being, is paramount to make sure these children continue to learn. for us, it makes absolute sense. they've used annual ring—fenced government cash well, but one in three children leaves primary school with obesity. it seems good pe experience is a lottery. in 2013, david cameron launched the pe and school sports premium to build on the legacy of the london olympics. every primary school in england

is given a minimum of £16,000 a year, and they must declare on their website what they spend the money on. but eight years on, and more than £1.9 billion spent, just what is the impact? where it works, it's having a massive impact. where it isn't working is where money is not used in pe, sport or physical activity, where it's swept into a grey hole, and that's a big issue because it's the young people who've missed out. the bbc has seen several documents showing the department for education has been warned in recent years that the premium is sometimes abused. i've spoken to a number of pe professionals for this piece and, time and time again, i've heard there's zero accountability or evidence of sustainability for the premium. now, i've heard of schools who simply copied and pasted their website reports because they know there would be no scrutiny, and of schools who'd spent the ring—fenced cash on things like ipads or minibuses, instead of pe.

schools minister nick gibb told us: "supporting children and young people's physical health and well—being is a priority for this government, which is why we launched our ambitious school sport and activity action plan. schools must publish their pe and sport premium plans online and are held to account by 0fsted on the extra—curricular activities they offer pupils." the pandemic has hit schools hard, but pe is being sidelined in some areas when, arguably, it's needed more. we need to stop this conversation that disconnects health from academic performance. if we focus on bringing children into schools, to sit them down, to catch them up on maths and english, we are going to increase the inequality gap. some schools are getting it right but, for too many, pe is a puzzle yet to be solved. natalie pirks, bbc news, bradford. portugal has given the green light for british tourists to visit the country from monday.

the country was added to the uk's green list last week, but portugal didn't confirm it was reversing its ban on non—essential travel until today. caroline daviesjoins me now. good news for holidaymakers. yes, not least the ones who were due to fly on monday. there are 20 plus flights meant to be leaving the uk to go to portugal. it has been quite nerve—racking for the travel industry, they are quite relieved. after the green list was announced last friday, we heard nothing from the portuguese government about whether or not they would lift their ban on nonessential travel to allow british tourists in and then yesterday when the cabinet minister was asked about it, she said she had no more information to give. but today, we have been told british tourists will be allowed into portugal, theyjust need to have had a negative pcr test take a maximum of 72 hours before they travel —— taken. huge relief to the industry, they only have 12 countries and

territories on the green list and several like australia and new zealand are not accepting british tourists, so portugal really is a big destination for them. of course, the big question now is the concern about what this means for the summer, we have not even restarted nonessential international travel yet and we are already left with this uncertainty. the industry will be hoping this is teething problems and not a sign of things to come. caroline, thank you. let's take a look at some of today's other news. the business interests of the owner of liberty steel, sanjeev gupta, are being investigated by the serious fraud office. the inquiry is into suspected money laundering and fraud, which mr gupta denies. the inquiry will include the firm's financing arrangements with the now—collapsed finance company greensill capital. amazon is to create more than 10,000 newjobs in the uk, taking its total workforce here to 55,000 by the end of the year. it's building new warehouses in tyne and wear, south yorkshire,

leicestershire, wiltshire and kent. the bbc�*s religion editor, martin bashir, is stepping down from his role following major heart surgery last year. the 58—year—old journalist is best known for his high—profile interviews with michaeljackson and princess diana, but has come under scrutiny over allegations that mocked—up bank statements had been used to secure an interview with the princess. the bbc is to conduct an internal inquiry into the claim. prince harry has spoken publicly again about his life as a member of the royal family, saying he wants to "break the cycle" of "pain and suffering" he experienced while growing up, to spare his own children. the prince was speaking in a podcast, in which he compared his life as a royal to being in a zoo. buckingham palace and clarence house declined to comment. 0ur royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, has more. they did their best to walk in step for the duke of edinburgh's funeral, but this is a family which has been shaken and hurt by recent comments

by harry and his wife. and now, there are more. harry's reflections from his california home on the theme of parenting and the pain and suffering handed down to him. there's no blame. yeah. i don't think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly, when it comes to parenting, if i've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, i'm going to make sure that i break that cycle so i don't pass it on, basically. there's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. we, as parents, we should be doing the most we can to try and say, "you know what, that happened to me, i'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to you." however bewildered they may find such unburdening, harry's family isn't showing it. prince charles was in south wales. sir, do you agree with prince harry about the suffering _ and pain in the family? nice try, but to no avail. but it's the questions implicit in harry's latest musings

which will trouble the family. they've accepted that he needed to get away from royal life for the sake of his mental health. what they didn't expect was for him to go public on such private matters. here he is on his father's upbringing. this is where he went to school. this is what happened. i know this bit about his life. i also know that's connected to his parents. yeah. so, that means that he's treating me the way that he was treated. exactly. which means — how can i change that for my own kids? and, well, here i am. harry says he feels a little more free in his new life in california. his family may wonder how many more reflections he and his wife will feel obliged to share. nicholas witchell, bbc news. now, it looks like a small piece of half—burnt coal, but the meteorite that landed in gloucestershire in february holds within it chemistry that existed at the formation of our solar system billions of years ago, and it's going on display at the natural history museum, in london, from next week. 0ur science correspondent,

rebecca morelle, reports. blazing across the night sky at 50,000 kilometres an hour, the dramatic arrival of the uk space rock, and some of it ended up here, burnt into the wilcock family's driveway in winchcombe, gloucestershire. now, though, the family has a chance to see some of the meteorite again. one piece is on show alongside the natural history museum's most prized minerals. it's mind blowing! it's in the natural history museum in london! erm, i can't describe it. can't describe it. and now, we've got lots of people who'll be able to come and see it, so it'sjust wonderful. why did it land on our drive, you know? - it could have landed a few metres away and landed in the hedge - and we would never have seen it. these two meteorites, in conjunction, allow us to look inside a planet... the fragments of the winchcombe meteorite are exceptionally rare. they're from something called a carbonaceous chondrite. winchcombe is very special because it is one of the most pristine materials that we have

available on earth to study. and the thing that's really good about this particular case is that we saw it fall, and so we can use that fireball to kind of track back the trajectory, work out where in the solar system it came from. this space rock could shed light on our very beginnings. it can be traced back to the asteroid belt — which sits between mars and jupiter — and it's like a a.6 billion—year—old time capsule because it contains some of the oldest material in our solar system. the winchcombe meteorite could also tell us about the origins of life on earth. the rock contains water and organic molecules, which are biological building blocks. one idea is that an ancient impact delivered these essential ingredients, kick—starting life on our planet. pieces of the meteorite are being sent to scientists all around the world. x—ray studies here will reveal exactly what it's made of. it's a really important tool for understanding how we ended up with an earth like we have,

but it's also about preserving that material for the next ten, 20, 100 years when, you know, there's another generation of researchers who've got new scientific questions, or they've got better analytical techniques than we have. it was a flash of luck that brought this space rock down in the uk, giving us a chance to study a relic from the birth of the solar system. rebecca morelle, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's tomasz schafernaker. a little closer to home, we have been promising showers and that is exactly what you will get over the weekend. today has been a bit quieter thankfully, although a bit cloudy and murky. this low pressure is heading our way and it will move in during this evening and it will be influencing our weather on tuesday as well so it will take quite some time. this is the rainfall accumulation map, this is how much rainfall we expect over the weekend and the darker blue indicates where we will get more rainfall so this is where the downpours really will be quite

heavy. this evening, the weather front moves across the uk so i think already very early in the morning, it will be thoroughly wet across many south—western parts of the uk. dry weather still at this stage in scotland and the east of the country, but this weather front very quickly moves towards the north and then behind it, we will see that really unstable atmosphere with big shower clouds forming in mind. it will be a day of widespread showers which are going to be very difficult to predict. now, by their nature, showers are not necessarily unpredictable, butjust very erratic so we can forecast where they will occur, but they will change from hour to hour so if you are checking your app and it changes a lot in showery weather, that is what it is supposed to do, constantly updating and giving you the latest information. you can see those showers across the uk. not a distinct and coherent band of rain, but pockets of downpours. this weather will continue into sunday

and you can see temperatures,