this is bbc news 7 these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world: a mass covid vaccine rollout for 12—15—year—olds could still go ahead in the uk, despite a decision by the government's scientific advisors not to support it. this decision or this advice is not clear—cut, there is equipoise here, and i think it's quite reasonable for the government to seek further advice. us secretary of state, antony blinken, is scheduled to travel to qatar and germany for talks on the afghanistan crisis. gps in the uk are forced to delay flu jabs because of a shortage of hgv drivers, which has disrupted supplies.

i think it could be a real issue for patients and for general practice, and that is, of course, if general practice is in trouble then patients are in trouble. and wheelchair racer hannah cockroft wins her seventh paralympic title in the t34 800 metres. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. the uk's four chief medical officers are expected to decide within days whether to recommend vaccinating healthy children against coronavirus. yesterday the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, which advises the uk government, decided against recommending the jabs for 12—15—year—olds,

saying the health benefits were marginal. it's believed the government think there's a strong case for going ahead. here's our health correspondent, catherine burns. america has been doing it since may. more than 10 million 12—15—year—olds there have had a covid vaccine. other countries are, too, including canada, brazil, france, the netherlands, italy — but not the uk. regulators approved vaccines as safe and effective for this age group in the summer, but thejoint committee on vaccination and immunisation�*s job is to decide if it's necessary. its answer — not for every iz—is—year—old. for the healthy children, the risk—benefit balance is really very uncertain and very tight. normally what we do when we recommend vaccination for children is we see a very clear benefit that clearly outweighs any possible risk. and in the absence of that clear blue water, if you like,

between those two, we prefer to advise that healthy children should not for the moment be immunised. covid doesn't tend to make children very sick, so the benefits of vaccinating them have to be weighed up against the risks — like myocarditis, inflammation of the heart. it is a very rare complication from pfizer and moderna vaccines, and affects young people more. they tend to recover quickly, but thejcvi wants to know more about the longer term effects. but some of the 3 million iz—is—year—olds across the uk will be invited for a vaccine. 150,000 were already eligible because they have conditions including down�*s syndrome or immune problems. same, too, for another iia,000 teenagers because they live with someone who is immunosuppressed. and now that has been extended to another 200,000 children with a wider range of conditions like heart problems, epilepsy or poorly controlled asthma.

so as schools go back, teenagers who are most likely to be severely affected by coronavirus will be able to get a vaccine. the experts have made this call purely on the health of children, not other factors like missing time in education. the next step, the chief medical officers in england, scotland, wales and northern ireland have been asked to weigh up those other factors, which means this decision could change one way or another in the next week or so. catherine burns, bbc news. the deputy chair of thejoint committee on vaccination and immunisation — professor anthony harnden — said he would understand if the government did decide to go ahead with immunising healthy i2—is—year—olds, against the jcvi's recommendation. i think it's really important to realise that the decisions we have made have been bold and the government have listened to them and accepted them, and actually we have been correct right the way through. but the previous decisions have

all been fairly clear—cut to us. this decision, or this advice, is not clear—cut — there is equipoise here. i think it's reasonable for the government to seek further advice about other aspects, which the committee, it's got a lot expertise on, but one thing it hasn't got expertise on is educational issues. and i think it's quite reasonable that the government, given this equipoise that we have, go ahead and have a look at it from an educational point of view. so i don't feel uncomfortable about this. i think we have done our job, we have looked at the data, we have not resisted, you know, we have resisted a lot of pressure in terms of people making pronouncements, but we have actually coldly looked at the data, it's in front of us, we will publish it, and the health benefits for vaccinating well 12—15—year—olds, from a health perspective, for them

themselves, is marginal. let's speak to our political correspondent, helen catt. helen, from what we saw professor anthony harnden stay there and what we heard from katherine's reported earlier, anyone looking, an outside observer might think, actually this doesn't look like it might go the way of the recommendation by the van way of the recommendation by the jcvi? ~ way of the recommendation by the jcvi? . ., ,., . way of the recommendation by the jcvn ., . ., jcvi? well, a source at the department _ jcvi? well, a source at the department of _ jcvi? well, a source at the department of health - jcvi? well, a source at the department of health and | jcvi? well, a source at the - department of health and social care was clear that the option for vaccinating teenagers is still on the table and as you heard there the point of getting the four chief medical officers to look at this is for them to be able to look at some of those other factors beyond that very narrow health view for children, so they are going away and doing that and we are expecting that to come back in the next couple of days and what we are expecting as they will reach a joint conclusion so the advice will be consistent across all four nations of the uk, so you wouldn't end up with

teenagers being vaccinated in one part, but not another. they will then give that advice to ministers and it will be up to ministers whether to pursue vaccination. we know ministers are keen for vaccines to go ahead if the scientific advice says that they should, but it is now a case of waiting on that advice. while ministers will be making the decision, speaking to a government source earlier they tell me it would be very unlikely the ministers will override or overrule what the chief medical officers will advise. but we have been hearing _ medical officers will advise. but we have been hearing from _ medical officers will advise. but we have been hearing from voices - medical officers will advise. but we i have been hearing from voices among labour, for example, who are concerned about the decision going the jcvi way?— the jcvi way? yes, and it is all to do with that _ the jcvi way? yes, and it is all to do with that issue _ the jcvi way? yes, and it is all to do with that issue around - the jcvi way? yes, and it is all to i do with that issue around education and those wider factors, particularly education, so and those widerfactors, particularly education, so a uk government source suggested there is a strong case for vaccination and labour have also suggested there is a strong case for vaccination to avoid further disruption to children's learning, although they do say the government should be

doing more to increase ventilation in schools as well, so that is the counter argument here, but it is not just about that very narrow health focus, it is about the wider impact on children and that is what is being examined in the next few days. absolutely, and we will hear that decision in the next few days. helen catt, thank you. paul hunter is professor of medicine at university of east anglia. he says the issue of whether to vaccinate children is unlikely to be easily resolved. i think thejcvi is quite right. the benefits to the child individually in terms of their health is marginal and is still commonly balances very and is still the balance is very tight and i think they are still absolutely right to make the recommendation that they did based on the criteria that they used. and don't forget, you know, jcvi has been criticised a lot in the past, particularly over their decision to recommend increasing the gaps and ultimately that was absolutely the correct decision. but there are wider issues. the...

the balance, really, is whether you give a medical intervention like a vaccination to a child for more wider social benefits or whether you say, well, you know, if i am going to give an injection to a child i have to be sure that that is actually going to benefit that individual child's health and i think that is the ethical issue here, how much can you weigh other non—health criteria against this decision? and that is, i suspect that is not going to be easily resolved amongst the different opinions around this. the head of pakistan's intelligence agency, faiz hameed, has arrived in the afghan capital, kabul, as taliban leaders continue to meet representatives from foreign governments. pakistan has consistently denied allegations that it covertly supported the taliban during the last two decades of conflict. the taliban are set to announce a new government within days,

but the european union and britain have said they won't be recognising it. meanwhile us secretary of state, antony blinken, is scheduled to travel to qatar and germany for talks on the afghanistan crisis. both countries are key transit points for the evacuation of afghans from kabul. antony blinken has been speaking about the situation in the country in the past few hours. he said any new government should be as broadly based as possible. first, as we've said and as countries around the world have said, there is an expectation that any government that emerges now will have some real inclusivity, and that it will have non—talibs in it who are representative of different communities and different interests in afghanistan. so we will see what in fact emerges. antony blinken speaking there. it comes as the taliban say they're making advances in their efforts

to oust the last remaining armed opposition in the panjshir valley, just a few hours from kabul. the group has posted this footage of its fighters, claiming that they're on high ground on the outskirts of panjshir. it shows captured humvee military vehicles flying the taliban flag — although it's not clear precisely when it was filmed. anti—taliban resistance leaders have strongly denied that they're losing control of the territory in fighting. panjshir is a mountainous region — famous for holding out against the soviet army in the 1980s, and the taliban in the 1990s. thousands of anti—taliban fighters are thought to have gathered there. the former afghan vice president, amrullah saleh, is in the panjshir valley. he claims he's the true caretaker president, and says reports that he's fled the country are baseless. i am in the panjshir valley. the reports concerning my escape from afghanistan are totally baseless. i am here.

we have had several meetings regarding the situation. no doubt, the situation is difficult. we have been under invasion of the taliban, their al-qaeda allies, terrorist groups from the region and beyond, as usual backed by the pakistanis. we have held the ground. we have resisted. the resistance is not going to surrender, it's not going to bow to terrorism and it's going to continue. there are difficulties, but i have not fled, i have not escaped. so, i want to assure you through this video that everything said to this moment, that i have been injured or i have fled, are baseless fake news. it's emerged in new zealand that the person behind a terror attack in auckland on friday had been in the country for almost a decade — and had been convicted of several offences linked to extremism. the attacker, who cannot yet be named for legal reasons, was killed by police less than a minute after he grabbed a knife in a supermarket.

new zealand's prime ministerjacinda ardern says his interest in extremism only became apparent five years ago. in 2016, he came to the attention of the police after he expressed sympathy on facebook for recent terrorist attacks, violent war—related videos and comments advocating violent extremism. he was spoken to by the police twice — once in april of 2016 and then again in may. this activity online continued and in may of 2017, he was arrested at auckland international airport. police believed at that time he was heading to syria. seven people were attacked in the supermarket in auckland, three of whom were critically wounded. eyewitnesses have been giving their accounts of how events unfolded. hejust went... "allahu akbar" and started stabbing. there were these two white ladies in front of me and

he just started stabbing and he went "allahu akbar" and ijust realised afterthat, "oh, my god, i've got to run." a lot of people run up to me and said, just run, just run. there is a guy that it stabbing everyone. and then i walked up to the next aisle and i saw a lady lying on the _ floor and then i saw the guy with the knife. here's our correspondent in sydney, phil mercer, with more what we now know about the perpetrator. we know that after he was arrested by officers at auckland airport in may of 2017, he spent three years in custody after prohibited fundamentalist material was found at his home, there were also weapons offences and assaults on prison staff. and this man was released from prison injuly this year. the authorities had tried everything, they say, to try to keep him behind bars, but they exhausted every legal avenue and as far as new zealand's counterterrorism laws,

as they currently stand, this man wasn't able to be kept in prison and that's why for more than 50 days he was under 24—hour police surveillance and was being very closely monitored when he launched his attack in that supermarket in auckland on friday afternoon. some gp surgeries in england and wales have begun cancelling appointments for the winter flu jab, after delays to the delivery of doses of the vaccine. a shortage of lorry drivers is believed to be behind the problem. doctors have warned it will have a serious impact on workloads and patients. 0ur correspondent, helena wilkinson, has this report. this year's flu campaign is set to be the largest in history. more than 35 million people in the uk will be offered the jab on the nhs. news of a delay to some flu vaccine deliveries is causing concern and cancellations. seqirus, which supplies vaccines

to gp practices and pharmacies in england and wales, have told their customers supply would be disrupted due to unforeseen road freight challenges. it is believed to be because of a shortage of lorry drivers. the company warned of a delay of up to two weeks. it's advising gps not to book patients in until they have confirmation of delivery. a two—week delay has a massive impact on our flu vaccine programme because the clinics are already set up, many surgeries already have a lot of vulnerable patients booked in, we like to get going early on in september, ready for the winter. so this is really, really worrying. doctors are already dealing with a chronic shortage of blood test tubes. supply chain issues have been blamed for that. the british medical association said delays to flu vaccine deliveries

caused a huge increase in staff's already unsustainable workloads, adding that it created unneeded anxiety for patients. helena wilkinson, bbc news. dr sarahjarvis explained how the delays to flu jabs could have a knock—on impact on other general practice services. i think it could be a real issue for patients and general practice, patients are in trouble, because it's notjust a question of delaying it, it's all the cancellations of many, many clinics, patients already have a challenge getting through to reception. those receptionists are now going to be tied up, phoning other patients to cancel their appointments. we also think that as we just heard,

not only is it likely that flu will be a higher risk this year, that we will have more cases, but also they are likely to start sooner because that's what we have seen from other viruses that children have got. on that note in terms of the delay to deliveries, do you think there is more that could have been done to pre—empt and prevent this? or is it something that was just simply unforeseeable? unfortunately in general practice, we spend our lives waiting and planning and not often being quite certain when the vaccines are going to come in until the last moment. it has been a challenge for the world health organization to decide which vaccines, which strains of flu to put in the vaccine this year because they normally go on what was circulating last year, but the companies that make the vaccines have got up to speed, they have had them ready for delivery. i am very, very sad to see that now an hgv driver problem, which, of course, is nothing to do with the production of vaccines, is what has resulted in this. but i do really worry that

people are going to die. and if we have more people ending up in hospital this year, we always on an average year, have about 11,000 people dying of flu, but many more ending up in hospital, if we end up with higher numbers of people in hospital this year and more people in hospital because of covid surges, as it will inevitably do as winter comes along, that could lead to more unsustainable pressures on the nhs and people's operations, routine operations, will be cancelled. so frankly, it's a bit of a disaster. given that worrying picture you paint of what might be ahead, what can be done at this stage to try to minimise the damage? the first thing i would say is if you have got a flu vaccine booked already, please don't contact your practice because the receptionists and office staff are all fully tied up trying to contact everybody. please wait to be seen.

but if you have a vaccine appointment coming up in the next of weeks and you haven't heard, do check with your practice beforehand, hopefully you will have been contacted by them. but if your appointment is cancel, please don't keep bringing the practice to ask when they will come in. we will let you know but we've been told by seqirus that we cannot start the practice to ask when they will come in. booking the appointments until about a week before to get patients in. the women's tennis star naomi 0saka says she is going to take an indefinite break from the sport — after being knocked out of the us open. her defeat at the hands of leylah fernandez, an unseeded teenager, brought an end to her attempt to retain the title. speaking after the match, ms 0saka said, "i feel like i'm kind of at this point

where i'm trying to figure out what i want to do. honestly i don't know when i'm going to play my next tennis match, i think i'm going to take a break from playing for a while."(pres she was also asked her in post—match news conference about an incident during her defeat when she threw her racquet across the court after losing a point. i'm not really sure why. i feel like i'm not really sure why. i feel like i was pretty... i was telling myself to be calm, but i feel like there was a boiling point. normally i like challenges, but recently i feel very anxious when things don't go my way and ifeel like i can feel that. i'm not really sure why it happens the way it happens now. but yeah, basically... you can kind of see that i was like a little kid. president biden has visited the us state of louisiana to see the destruction caused by hurricane ida. more than 60 people have died across eight states since it made landfall on sunday — many were killed when torrential rainfall caused flash flooding. 0ur correspondent, nada tawfik, has more. one week and a storm that brought america to its knees. look at that tornado!

from new orleans to new york, it was a dramatic beating. record rainfall, life—threatening floods, destructive winds and tornadoes usually only seen in the midwest tore through communities with no mercy. in some places it was unprecedented, and sparked fear about the ferocity and frequency of future weather. oh, my god! the river is flooding! part of this newjersey town was abandoned after the nearby river crested and left cars and homes under 10 feet of water. four people died and about 600 were left homeless. gloria jett lost everything, but was lucky to escape with her life. she can't swim and had to be rescued by neighbours as the water rose inside her home. i started pounding. for somebody to come and help me so i won't die. i felt like i was dying. down these streets, peoples' belongings and memories are laid out for garbage pick—up.

the roldan family lost three cars and everything in their basement. but already the insurance company has told them they will not cover much of the damage. it's the first time that it happened, but if we stay in the house, what if it happens again? like, does it really pay to stay in this area any more? president biden has approved an emergency declaration for new york and newjersey. today, he traveled to meet victims in louisiana, where ida first made landfall as a category 4 hurricane. after surveying the damage, he highlighted the threat from climate change. folks, how eider is another reminder that we need to prepare for more her gains. more hurricanes are going to come and they are going to be ferocious. i have been working closely with the members of both parties on my build back better plan and we will modernise our roads, our

water system, our sewers and drainage systems, power grids and transmission lines. the cost to life, property and infrastructure has been staggering. still, climate change remains a divisive political issue. and so, over the years, america has ignored warnings and some would say this is the result. nada tawfik, bbc news, newjersey. a nature reserve in south africa has come up with a creative way to count big cats, as part of conservation efforts. lions are classified as a vulnerable species — under threat from habitat loss and poaching. courtney bembridge reports. the sound of an injured animal reverberates through the bush and the smell of a fresh carcass fills the smell of a fresh carcass fills the air. but this is no ordinary meal. this is how you conduct a lion census. we meal. this is how you conduct a lion census. ~ ., ., ., , meal. this is how you conduct a lion census. ., ., ., ,, census. we have to do this process to count predators _ census. we have to do this process to count predators because - census. we have to do this process to count predators because they i to count predators because they don't... it is difficult to count them from a helicopter in an aerial census. they hide in the trees and

it is difficult.— it is difficult. census takers have to crisscross _ it is difficult. census takers have to crisscross the _ it is difficult. census takers have to crisscross the sprawling - it is difficult. census takers have | to crisscross the sprawling nature reserve to try to capture all of the big cats. 20 years ago there were very few here, but last year more than 150 were counted.— than 150 were counted. lions do incredibly well _ than 150 were counted. lions do incredibly well in _ than 150 were counted. lions do incredibly well in his _ than 150 were counted. lions do incredibly well in his area, - than 150 were counted. lions do | incredibly well in his area, mainly because there is a large enough space for them to operate. the rest of africa habitat loss is the biggest threat to lyons, all over the continent.— biggest threat to lyons, all over the continent. this reserve as part ofthe the continent. this reserve as part of the even _ the continent. this reserve as part of the even bigger _ the continent. this reserve as part of the even bigger ecosystem - of the even bigger ecosystem covering more than 2 million hectares, including the kruger national park, and extending all the way to mozambique. conservationists say huge habitats like this are key to the big cat survival. courtney bembridge, bbc news. paralympics gb have picked up three more gold medals on day 11 of the games in tokyo. hannah cockroft won in the t34 800m — it's her seventh paralympic title.

she broke her own paralympic record in the process and was within a whisker of breaking the world record. you're watching bbc news. hello. if you have been holding out for a bit of sunshine and some warmer weather, particularly in the areas that have been quite cool and cloudy recently, you'll probably be pleased to hear that we have got some sunnier and some warmer weather on the cards over the next few days. for today, it is looking mostly dry and there will be spells of sunshine for some of us. still some cloud lingering, particularly for the northern and eastern parts of the uk. high pressure still in charge of our weather, but that's clearing off towards the east, allowing south—easterly winds to move in. there is going to be a weather front pushing into the north—west of the uk tomorrow, so that will bring a bit of rain to parts of western scotland and northern ireland afternoon. and northern ireland tomorrow afternoon. but, for the rest of today, then, looks a little bit like this, and sunshine for parts of southern england, wales, northern ireland also seeing sunny spells. also some brightness

coming through around the moray firth into cumbria, for instance, as well. less windy than in recent days, particularly for the likes of east anglia and the south—east too, but still a breeze coming in off the north sea across parts of north—east england and eastern scotland, sojust11i degrees or so for aberdeen, perhaps the odd spot of drizzle here, but 23 in cardiff in the sunshine. quite a bit of sunshine into the evening hours as well, and then overnight things remaining largely dry. the odd spot of drizzle once again continuing across north—east england and eastern scotland, too, so quite cloudy here. even though we've got clear the skies further south it won't be a cold night because there's milder air moving in, so temperatures first thing tomorrow between about 11—15 degrees. so, through sunday, then, not a bad day. most places seeing a good deal of sunshine, perhaps a little bit more stubborn cloud for a time across southern england and east anglia, too. there will be some rain arriving across northern ireland and western scotland later on in the afternoon, but before it gets there, a warmer day to come for the likes of aberdeen towards newcastle — 20 degrees or so here and 25 likely for southern england and wales. so, that warming trend continues into the new working week, too.

heading on into monday, we start the day with this weak weather front. it could just bring a few showers to central parts of the uk, but they'll tend to fizzle out quite quickly, ithink, so a largely dry day, i think. for most areas. light winds on monday, some blue sky and some sunshine and you'll certainly notice those higher temperatures, especially in the south, up to about 26 or 27 degrees for south—east england, round about 20 or 21 for scotland and northern ireland. so, a warm few days to start the new working week and then things turn more unsettled late in the week. bye— bye.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines...

a mass covid vaccine roll—out for 12 — 15 year olds could still go ahead in the uk despite a decision by the government's scientific advisors not to support it. us secretary of state, antony blinken, is scheduled to travel to qatar and germany for talks on the afghanistan crisis. gps in the uk are forced to delay flu jabs because of a shortage of hgv drivers which has disrupted supplies. and wheelchair racer hannah cockroft wins her seventh paralympic title in the tm 800 metres. now on bbc news...dateline london.

hello and welcome to the programme which brings together some