this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. labour says there is a "strong case" for offering all 12—15—year—olds covid vaccinations, to prevent "further disruption" to their learning. the government's scientific advisers are not supporting 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. the head of pakistan's intelligence agency arrives in kabul, as taliban leaders continue to meet representatives from foreign governments. 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. labour says it believes there's a strong case to vaccinate healthy children against covid, to prevent any further disruption to their education. ministers have asked the uk's four chief medical officers to consider the broader implications, after the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation

recommended against the measure for all 12—15—year—olds. 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 iz—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. professor anthony harnden there. let's speak to our political correspondent, helen catt. what have labour said this morning? labour have said they do believe there is a strong case for vaccination to avoid further disruption to children's learning and of course that is one of the factors that will be looked at by the four chief medical officers in the four chief medical officers in the coming days when they put together their recommendation. but labour says there needs to be more done as well in terms of increasing ventilation in schools and the government needs to act quickly because we are now in the new autumn term and there needs to be a clear national directions. what they are saying is the four governments, once the chief medical officers come back with their recommendation, need to make a decision quickly after that. i have been speaking to a whitehall source this morning who says it is

very unlikely in the ministers would override any recommendation they do receive from the four chief medical officers and we are expecting that will come within days and also it will come within days and also it will be consistent across the uk. it will be consistent across the uk. it is that if it is unlikely they will go against that decision, what happens if there is this weight of pressure from all sides, from labour and other medical experts and parents, who do feel very concerned about the fact that this age group isn't going to be vaccinated universally? it isn't going to be vaccinated universally?— isn't going to be vaccinated universall ? , . universally? it will depend what that recommendation _ universally? it will depend what that recommendation is, - universally? it will depend what i that recommendation is, whether universally? it will depend what - that recommendation is, whether the chief medical officers will say, it is fine to go ahead without roll—out. if they come back and say, no, we agree with thejcvi and we are not going to do this, then that becomes potentially tricky oh for the government, it would put us out of line with a lot of other countries who are going ahead with vaccinating children and would put us in a hugely difficult position, either way. us in a hugely difficult position, either way-— in the netherlands, it was decided that vaccinations would be given to 12—17—year—olds at the end

ofjune, and the roll—out has already started. let's speak to ernst kuipers, chief executive officer of the erasmus mc university medical centre in rotterdam and head of the netherlands' acute care network. cani can ijust can i just ask you first what is your reaction to the fact that this is not being recommended in the uk? well, the exact same discussion at the same arguments that we just heard, they were also obviously part of the discussion in the netherlands and i think it is rightfully so, i think it is a discussion you should very carefully considered. here in the netherlands we have our national health council, who... fought about all these arguments and the pros and cons and injune they recommended to our minister of health to actually start to the vaccination programme and the minister followed that advice. ~ ., . , ., ., advice. won the concerns of the main concerns cited _ advice. won the concerns of the main

concerns cited over _ advice. won the concerns of the main concerns cited over here _ advice. won the concerns of the main concerns cited over here is _ advice. won the concerns of the main concerns cited over here is the - advice. won the concerns of the main concerns cited over here is the risk i concerns cited over here is the risk of myocarditis among young people. that is what is behind the hesitation in the decision not to recommend. what was the thinking behind overcoming that concern in the netherlands? 50 behind overcoming that concern in the netherlands?— the netherlands? so first... the vaccine that _ the netherlands? so first... the vaccine that has _ the netherlands? so first... the vaccine that has been _ the netherlands? so first... the - vaccine that has been recommended and that has been given here in the netherlands is a vaccination programme for 12—18 —year—olds, which started in the first week of july. uptake is very high at the consideration was one, it is important first of all to look at this benefit for the children themselves. and then obviously the vaccines have been linked in rare cases, one in 10,000, one on 100,000, with incidences like myocarditis, but we should realise that the same associations have been made with covid itself, so... what may be associated with the vaccine is also associated with the virus

itself, that is one important thing. and the same pertains to rare instances of systemic inflammation with children. now, the other important issue and the first discussion was that this risk benefit may, even for the children themselves, actually be positive and then on top of that we have the discussion of what does it do in terms of the spread of the infection and pandemic throughout a population? children, of course, they have a very significant interaction and thus obviously are the highest numbers of new infections and they bring that home. they bring it to their teachers, their and grandparents and that makes the spread bigger, so to reasons, one for protection of the children themselves and is the second to have the effect of bringing the pandemic over. what second to have the effect of bringing the pandemic over. what do ou make bringing the pandemic over. what do you make of — bringing the pandemic over. what do you make of the _ bringing the pandemic over. what do you make of the fact _ bringing the pandemic over. what do you make of the fact that _ bringing the pandemic over. what do you make of the fact that if - bringing the pandemic over. what do you make of the fact that if the - you make of the fact that if the government follows this recommendation and this age group isn't universally vaccinated, what

do you think might be the impact on the way that the uk contains the spread of covid in the coming school term and winter?— term and winter? yes. well... as already mentioned, _ term and winter? yes. well... as already mentioned, this - term and winter? yes. well... as already mentioned, this is - term and winter? yes. well... as already mentioned, this is a - already mentioned, this is a significant group. in the netherlands this is the same as in the uk, this makes up about 7% of their population. it is also a group with a lot of interaction, a group where it is difficult to maintain all measures like social distancing, etc. and we have seen earlier on also for instance a year ago last yearin also for instance a year ago last year in the summer that they are a group which often gets the disease first. a year ago, after the summer of 2020, we saw in the netherlands, like with you, a very rapid rise in infections and it started in this young age group to be followed in the weeks thereafter by their parents, grandparents and so on. so... even including the 12—18 years old, we are now approaching 85%

vaccination, and yet we expect with the remaining 15% not being protected because they are not vaccinated or have not had the disease, that we still can expect during the fall are significant numbers of patients and significant numbers of patients and significant numbers of patients and significant numbers of new patients at our icu, etc. , , , ., ~ numbers of new patients at our icu, etc. , , , ., ,, _, numbers of new patients at our icu, etc. , , , ., ,, i. ., etc. ernst kuipers, thank you for our etc. ernst kuipers, thank you for your time _ etc. ernst kuipers, thank you for your time and — etc. ernst kuipers, thank you for your time and explaining - etc. ernst kuipers, thank you for your time and explaining how. etc. ernst kuipers, thank you for| your time and explaining how the roll—out is going on in the netherlands there. 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. 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. 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. although we must stress 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. as we've been hearing, the head of pakistan's intelligence agency, faiz hameed, has arrived in kabul — to tell us more about the significance of his visit, we can speak to the bbc�*s farhatjaved, who is in islamabad. what is the significance of this? the fact that the head of pakistan's intelligence agency has gone to kabul, what does it say about how they hope to shape a relationship with the taliban going forward? yes.

with the taliban going forward? yes, it is a very important _ with the taliban going forward? yes it is a very important meeting, especially happening at a time today when a few hours ago there was a meeting between pakistan's army chief and the british foreign secretary on a two—day visit and there was another meeting in qatar where a senior pakistan official met with senior taliban officials there, including military officials, so it is a significant meeting and said that there is some sort of conflict within the taliban about the formation of a new government and there is information, although unconfirmed, that a d6 isi who is there is going to facilitate a new formation, the formation of this new government. we have also spoken with some of the officials within the agency and they say this is a one day trip where a director general of intelligence agency will be meeting with the ambassador of pakistan and some taliban officials. we are not

sure if he is going to meet with the most senior leadership of the taliban, but he has said he is going to meet with taliban representatives and he has also set is meeting is basically about discussing requests from different countries and international organisations about repatriation or the travel of their citizens through pakistan, so this is the official stance. they said that he is also going to discuss with the taliban some issues about afghan citizens who are crossing borders and a daily basis and to have a check on that, so this is what the people from the agency are telling us, but there are reports that this is the first ever official meeting with any other pakistani official after the fall of the afghan government, and there are people saying that he is going to facilitate and resolve conflicts

within the taliban about the formation of new government. but. within the taliban about the formation of new government. but, of course, formation of new government. but, of course. even — formation of new government. but, of course, even though _ formation of new government. but, of course, even though pakistan - formation of new government. but, of course, even though pakistan has - course, even though pakistan has denied that it is supporting taliban fighters, you know, pakistan has openly said that it has influence over the taliban, some form of influence, so, you know, obviously on the world stage, this looks, doesn't it, like they are supporting the regime?— the regime? yes, and in fact 'ust esterda the regime? yes, and in fact 'ust yesterday when i the regime? yes, and in fact 'ust yesterday when pakistan's h the regime? yes, and in factjustl yesterday when pakistan's foreign minister was holding a press conference with the british foreign secretary he said, while answering a question, that pakistan cannot d—link itself from its neighbour and the taliban is a reality which actually he was trying to say that pakistan is going to have some open contacts with the taliban. i think it is an open secret pakistan has... been a facilitator in these

negotiations between the taliban and... but we were actually looking at the pakistan is going to announce recognition of the government back in the 1990s, but this time it seems there is a delay and now people are saying... inaudible inaudible _ pakistan is going to have the negotiations. — pakistan is going to have the negotiations, especially - pakistan is going to have the negotiations, especially we - pakistan is going to have the| negotiations, especially we have been... there is also a link with a request from the taliban we have seenin request from the taliban we have seen in the past few days, asking for financial aid as well, and we have seen the same offered from china, but people say he is there to talk about the mechanisms, not only citizens of the country, to get them from afghanistan, but also to talk about establishing some form of government so they could get financial aid, government so they could get financialaid, but government so they could get financial aid, but yes, you are right. there are people here in pakistan who are asking this question but is this the first step

towards setting up a new regime in afghanistan or not?— afghanistan or not? thank you, farhat javed. _ afghanistan or not? thank you, farhat javed. we _ afghanistan or not? thank you, farhat javed. we just _ afghanistan or not? thank you, farhat javed. we just about - afghanistan or not? thank you, | farhat javed. we just about kept afghanistan or not? thank you, - farhat javed. we just about kept the line there, thank you for your time. 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 ourflu 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.

could have a knock—on impact on other general practice services. i think it could be a real issue for patients and general practice, and, of course, if general practice is in trouble then patients are in trouble, because it's notjust a question of delaying it, it's all the cancellations of the many, many clinics, the many appointments which have already been booked in. and we know that 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 have 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. now, just 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 this 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 the 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 if 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, being 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 couple of weeks and you haven't heard, just before you're due to go in do check with your practice beforehand. hopefully you will have been contacted by then, but if your appointment is cancelled please don't keep ringing the practice to ask them when you can come in. we will let you know, but we've been told by seqirus that we cannot start booking

new appointments until about a week before the vaccines arrive, which means there will be a real flurry at the general practice end to try to get patients in then. 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. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. 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 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 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 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, sojust14 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 clearer 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 parts of 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, i think, so a largely dry day, i think, in 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 later in the week. bye— bye.

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