this is bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm ben brown. our top stories — a legal document which prince andrew's lawyer believes could stop a civil case against him in the us has been made made public. the duke of york has consistenly denied sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17. lawyers on both sides of the atlantic will be scrutinising the document to see what impact, if any, it has on the case. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, rules out further covid measures in england for now despite the ongoing rise in omicron infections.

the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, rules out further covid measures in england for now despite the ongoing rise in omicron infections. the pressure on our nhs, on our hospitals is going to be considerable in the course of the next couple of weeks and maybe more, because there's no question omicron continues to surge through the country. more than 28,300 people crossed the english channel to the uk on board small boats in 2021, triple the number for 2020. firefighters in south africa are back at the houses of parliament in cape town, where a blaze that devastated the building on sunday has restarted. and we report on a hot import in pakistan, where some young people are embracing korean pop culture. hello, and welcome. a legal document which prince andrew's lawyer believes could stop a civil case against him in the us has been made public.

the duke of york, who isn't named in the document, has consistenly denied sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17. the document, which has been unsealed, is a settlement agreement between jeffrey epstein and virginia giuffre, also known as virginia roberts. it dismisses the case for damages brought by ms giuffre in return for the sum of $500,000. there was no admission of liability from epstein. it also adds that the document is a general release by virginia giuffre for any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant from all legal actions, including lawsuits both state and federal. the agreement was overseen by the laws of florida, where it was agreed. it was signed by ms giuffre, who gave her address as being in new south wales in australia. here's more from our legal

correspondent dominic casciani. so, this is a 12—page document signed in november 2009, which seems a whole world away, but you have to bear in mind the allegations virginia giuffre makes againstjeffrey epstein and people around him date back 20 years. now, this is part of her case where she was suing him in a court in florida. is her saying she been lured into a world of sexual abuse and it in a court in florida. this was epstein. it's her saying she been lured into a world of sexual abuse and it also been abused by people around epstein and his closest confidantes. he had been accused of abusing by politicians and royalty who were not named in the document. she was paid about $500,000, about £371,000 by today's rates. in the document, the crucial bits says she releases and forever

and forever discharges, in legal language, and any person or entity who could have been a defendant in the action she was bringing in florida, and in doing so that she agrees not to bring any damages claim against anyone from the beginning of time effectively up until the day of that settlement. now the reason why this is important is because the prince's lawyers are going to go into court tomorrow in new york and say the plain language in this document makes clear that even though we say her allegations against the duke of york are baseless, she can't even try to bring them because she has effectively signed away her rights to sue anyone, so this is a really important document in this case. but the document really concerns allegations around what happened in florida. and geography is quite important here, isn't it? it could be. this is the interesting thing about it because virginia giuffre�*s team seem incredibly confident

that this document is going to be effectively irrelevant to their case and they have already said at legal remarks for this release that when this document becomes public as it has done today, it will be seen to be outside the four corners of her case against prince andrew. it does not cover her claims against him, and in particular she is alleging that she was abused by the duke of york in new york, in london and in the caribbean and nothing to do with florida, which is kind of the core of this case, and i think that's going to get argued about tomorrow. also on top of that, the duke's lawyers are bringing all sorts of motions tomorrow in new york to have it thrown out. they say for technical reasons she cannot bring that case since actually does not live in the us any more and they are saying effectively the whole thing will be stopped now but she is again saying whatever this document says,

we are happy for it to be unsealed because we say it is not actually stopping our case against the prince. it will be argued about tomorrow in new york as you say will we get a decision by the judge in this case on the impact of this unsealed document in particular? difficult to say, but i think you will hear from the judge tomorrow afternoon about what he says should be the timetable going forward. he has already set quite a tight timetable in terms of what he expects the duke of york and virginia giuffre to do in terms of releasing evidence. now that is interestingly a right side row going on there as well because recall the newsnight interview where prince andrew said two really interesting things, that he couldn't have met this woman in a nightclub in london because she recalled him sweating and he said he didn't sweat because of a medical condition,

and secondly, on the night in question he had been at a pita express in woking with his daughters. her team have said proof both of those things. prove you were there in woking in prove if you don't sweat or did not sweat at the time. he is objecting to those disclosure requests saying they are breaches of privacy and he does not hold information in relation to the express. a lot of things being argued about here and that will carry on even if thejudge reserves is judgment on this document so i think a lot of argument about disclosure and a lot of arguments about this and i think it's going to come in to some sort of very fine arguments about us lot which is a bit beyond me, to be honest. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, says there is no reason for further coronavirus measures in england despite the surge of coronavirus cases caused by the omicron variant. the government insists it's

determined to keep schools open. speaking at a vaccination centre, mrjohnson said current measures — including mask—wearing in secondary schools, working from home where possible and covid passes for some venues — are enough for now. 157,758 new coronavirus cases were recorded in england and scotland in the past 2a hours. 20,217 of those were in scotland, a record daily figure. data for wales and northern ireland won't come until after the new year holiday. in france, children aged six and over are required to wear facemasks on public transport, shops and in other venues. in the netherlands, the government has announced that schools will reopen next week despite cases remaining high. and in india, vaccinations have opened to 15—18—year—olds, but the country has recorded its steepest weekly surge in infections, almost tripling with 130,000 new cases registered. let's start, though, in the uk and our political correspondent chris mason. happy new year, thank you very much for all you're doing. the prime minister in aylesbury in buckinghamshire this morning at a vaccination centre, as secondary schools in england are told to do what's already been happening in wales, northern ireland and scotland. pupils wearing masks in class. there's an increasing body of scientific support for the idea that facemasks can contain transmission. we don't want to keep them on, i don't like the idea of having facemasks in the classroom any more than anybody else does. we won't keep them on a day more than is necessary.

this is what the start of term looked like in secondary schools in england in september, and it'll look pretty similar in the next few days, too, as pupils are tested at school before heading to lessons. this head teacher in solihull in the west midlands is a senior figure in the naht teachers�* union. it's going to be challenging. we are yet again going to slightly an unknown of knowing what the impact is, not only on students but i think, more importantly, on staffing and the ability to deliver the education that we want to deliver. i think i'd echo what everyone else has said. we want schools open, we want students in, but we are going into a little bit of the unknown. we have our staff to test, and we will be carrying out testing with students tomorrow, as the first day back. labour claimed the government hasn't done enough to make schools in england as safe as possible. 7000 air purifiers across hundreds of thousands of classrooms - in england just isn't good enough. they clearly recognise _ there is the need to take action, but for so many schools and so many l head teachers, the answer has justl been open windows and keep

children in coats learning. - well, you know, we're in the middle of winter here, it'sjanuary. - i don't think it's - an adequate solution. meanwhile, nhs leaders are warning that they're seeing increasing numbers of staff not able to work because of covid, just as they're dealing with what has been a big increase in people being sent to hospital with it. but there is some evidence from those running hospitals in london that things might be improving. so, when i was talking to london chief execs last week, what they were saying is they were seeing some very concerning daily increases of the numbers of people coming into hospital. 9%, 15%, 9% on the 27th, 28th and 29th of december — but interestingly, in the last two days, those numbers have dropped, the increases, to 1% and 2%. but remember, there is a time lag between people being infected and some ending up in hospital, and the government does expect a big increase in people being admitted in the coming weeks. chris mason, bbc news.

a critical incident has been declared at hospitals in lincolnshire in the east midlands of england because of covid—related staff shortages. our correspondent danny savage has the latest from lincoln. that critical incident was declared here across the lincolnshire hospitals trust on saturday night. so, that includes this big hospital here in lincoln, one in boston, one in grantham as well. and it meant that they felt they didn't have enough staff to safely cover all bases as it were. they've given an update today saying that all essential services are fine and if you need to come to hospital, you should come to hospital. but itjust underlines the fact that staffing levels are very stretched. and as numbers of covid cases go up in society, when all the medics and doctors and nurses, they live in society, too, and their cases are going up, too, so you've got more and more of them absent from work because they've got covid or they're

isolating because of it. and this is just one of what we think is about six nhs trusts in england to have declared a critical incident over the last week. and we heard the prime minister say that he admits the nhs is under a lot of pressure at the moment. and what we have to see over the next few weeks whether or not the nhs is just going to struggle on by declaring these critical incidents here and there over the next ten days and two weeks and just about coping or whether there'll be more serious consequences, and that will be unknown. interesting to note of course, just mentioned in chris's report about the levels maybe dropping off a bit in london. you have to remember that outside of london, cases are growing rapidly. the wave of cases you saw in london hasn't been seen quite yet been seen in other places outside the capital. they've yet to see their peak. and this is one example of that here in lincolnshire. we are going to see more of these, i think, these critical incidences cropping up at nhs

is across the country. it is a bit hard to gauge. if you go into the hospital here as it is a bank holiday it is pretty quiet. we will see what it is like tomorrow when we have a normal working day. we will see what will happen with services and what the patient experience is. french mps have been debating draught legislation that would require people to be vaccinated against covid—19 in order to enter public spaces such as bars, restaurants and long—distance public transport. known as the "vaccine pass", the bill is aimed at getting france's remaining 5 million unvaccinated people over the age of 12 to accept a dose. for more on the level of vaccine hestitancy in france, i've been speaking to our paris correspondent hugh schofield.

one has to be slightly cautious to say that they've always been vaccine—sceptic. certainly at the beginning, that was the popular belief, maybe even myth, that they would all turn into insurrectionaries and not knuckle under. but they did. it didn't take that much to make them do it. it took pressure from on top, and six months ago, macron, in the first phase of this, instituted the health pass, as it was called, which was a way of encouraging people to get vaccinated. it was the requirement to have a document on your phone or whatever which said you'd been vaccinated or had had a negative test recently in order to get access to all these things in public life. there was no huge uprising, people accepted it, and now he's pushing a little bit further, as you say. the result of that was a huge uptake in vaccination, and now, six months on, he wants to mop up the rest. there is this recalcitrant 5 million

or so over 12 who are not taking it, that's about 5% of the population, and by turning the health pass into a vaccination pass — in other words, making it compulsory now to be vaccinated to get into these services, you're no longer going to be able to get in with just a negative test — that is going to put the pressure on. of course, the pressure is already on because the evidence is mounting more and more and more on those who are hesitant that, by being hesitant, they're exposing themselves to greater dangers and dangers which the rest of the population is not. so, he's pushing at a much more open or flexible door now, i would say, but there are in the country people who, as in other countries, arejust viscerally opposed to vaccination. and i guess there are some who will never change, but he thinks there are some who will change. let's look at some of the day's other news. the five permanent members of the un

security council have issued a rare joint statement pledging to prevent the spread of atomic weapons and ensure a nuclear war is never fought. the five — china, france, russia, the uk and the us — will be part of a major review of a key nuclear treaty later this year. brazil's president, jair bolsanaro, has been admitted to hospital for the treatment of an abdominal problem. the 66—year—old tweeted that he felt ill on sunday. he's been hospitalised several times since he was stabbed in 2018 during his presidential campaign. nearly 3000 passengers and crew have disembarked from a cruise ship docked in lisbon after their trip was cut short by a covid outbreak. the aidanova, operated by a german company, was en route to the island of madeira for new year's eve celebrations when it was forced to dock in the portugese capital after 52 crew tested positive. more than 28,300 people crossed the english channel to the uk aboard

small boats in 2021. that's triple the number for 2020, according to figures compiled by the bbc. the last 12 months have also seen smugglers packing more and more people aboard larger and larger dinghies, sometimes with deadly consequences. a home office minister said the government is "reforming" its approach to asylum through its new plan for immigration. well, we can speak now to rob mcneil, who's the deputy director from the migration observatory at the university of oxford. are you surprised at all by these figures, this growing level of people coming across the channel? irate people coming across the channel? we are people coming across the channel? - are not surprised at all. this is very much a continuation of what we have seen over the past year and very much in keeping with the data that has been released in the past. the numbers are high but they are

not surprisingly so considering what we already knew. and i think what we do know about this is this is something which is really kind of ballooning after both the period of real lockdown in 2020, even though numbers went up in 2020 compared to 2019, and also after a lot of much tougher enforcement measures were put in place in the port of calais, the traditional route people used it to access the uk. so these arrivals come of this is an ongoing trend and i don't think it's looking likely to change very quickly.— i don't think it's looking likely to change very quickly. small boats we call them, but _ change very quickly. small boats we call them, but they _ change very quickly. small boats we call them, but they do _ change very quickly. small boats we call them, but they do seem - change very quickly. small boats we call them, but they do seem to - change very quickly. small boats we call them, but they do seem to be l call them, but they do seem to be getting bigger and bigger, these dinghies, and sometimes with fatal consequences as we saw quite recently, a mass drowning. and this is a political bone of contention as well between the british government and the french government and the british don't think the french are

really doing enough to stop this wave of dinghies coming across. the challenae wave of dinghies coming across. tue: challenge we wave of dinghies coming across. tte: challenge we have here is this has been an ongoing problem for more than 20 years now. in various different ways. the small boats is a relatively new part of this equation, but a regular arrivals from the north of france into the uk is coming which is been going on for a very long time. and i think a key thing that we have here is evidence that even though the government has spent really substantial sums of money and put an enormous amount of work into securing various different routes to some people coming in the backs of lorries or what have you, we see it is very difficult to enforce your way out of these irregular arrivals. basically the more that you do to try and stop people coming one way, the more you create or push people towards progressively more and more risky ways of doing things, which creates a demand for smugglers as well. what

a demand for smugglers as well. what is the magnet — a demand for smugglers as well. what is the magnet that _ a demand for smugglers as well. what is the magnet that the uk is offering these people, and a sense? why are they drawn so much to britain because they are already in europe, in france, but they want to risk their lives and the lives of their loved ones to cross the channel in the small boats to get to the uk? i channel in the small boats to get to the uk? 4' channel in the small boats to get to the uk? ~ , , channel in the small boats to get to the uk? 4' , , ., ., the uk? i think this is a sort of, misunderstanding _ the uk? i think this is a sort of, misunderstanding of _ the uk? i think this is a sort of, misunderstanding of the - the uk? i think this is a sort of, i misunderstanding of the situation. the uk it receives considerably fewer asylum—seekers than most other european countries. and it is just one of many that received people who turn up. very few of the people are going to actually arrive in france in the first place from their original country of origin. most will have travelled through greece or italy or somewhere like that in order to get into northern france in the first place. and what we have in northern france is simply that small group of people who for one reason or another do want to come to the

uk. that's often related to things like the fact that they have family members here or they speak the language and think their opportunities are going to be better in the kit and it might be elsewhere. but there is one thing i wanted to quickly raise here which i think is really important issues at the beginning of this report that these are data compiled by bbc. and these are data compiled by bbc. and the press association and various otherjournalistic the press association and various other journalistic organisations compile these numbers and i think it's very important people ask the question of why these numbers are not being provided by the government, which they should be. this is an issue of extreme national importance and it does not matter whether or not you believe that migration should be more heavily controlled or there should be more relaxed measures in place to allow people to get into the uk to claim asylum but the one thing i think everybody can agree on is that what we need here is realistic, honest data about how many irregular arrivals are happening in the uk.

interesting point, yes. thank you very much, deputy director of the migrant observatory at oxford university, thank you for being with us. firefighters in south africa say a blaze that devastated the houses of parliament in cape town on sunday has restarted after previously reporting that the flames had been brought under control. the bbc�*s southern africa correspondent nomsa maseko reports. 2a hours after a blaze tore through south africa's parliament, firefighters are still putting out hotspots. the damage is said to be extensive. the roof of the national assembly, which is the main debating chamber, collapsed and the room was gutted. a team of experts is combing through the scene. we can confirm that one of the biggest losses that the people of south africa have suffered in this fire is the complete burning down of the national assembly chamber,

a set of crucial plenary settings of the national assembly and joint sittings of the two houses, the national assembly and the national council of provinces. historical and venerable artefacts survived the fire. before today, they could not gain access to the fire scene. the temperature inside of the building is still 100 celsius, down from what it was yesterday, at over 400 celsius. but what they've done in the meantime is to use a drone that they are putting inside the building to assist the structure of the building. a suspect who was arrested yesterday is due to appear in court tomorrow. the south african government has said if it is found that his actions were deliberate, then the fire he allegedly started will be seen as a direct

attack on the state. nomsa maseko, bbc news, cape town. let's just take you to cape town live now and show you the pictures of the flames, and difficult to see because night has fallen there, but the flames still burning and as we were just hearing, the flames still burning and as we werejust hearing, more the flames still burning and as we were just hearing, more than 2a hours after that fire started, it's still going and it restarted after the authorities had said that it had been brought under control. so, there are still desperate efforts released by the fire services in cape town to put that fire out and save what is left of the parliament buildings there, the historic parliament buildings in cape town. after months of negotiations, david bowie's estate has sold the singer's entire catalogue of songs to the warner music group. the amount has not

been disclosed, but is reported to be upwards of $250 million. david bowie, who had hits spanning six decades including heroes and let's dance died injanuary 2016. the announcement comes as his fans prepare to celebrate what would have been his 75th birthday onjanuary the 10th. an israeli wildlife photographer has captured a remarkable momentary image of a flock of birds forming the shape of a spoon with a heap of sugar. albert keshet took the images when he went on an early morning excursion to a spot in the northernjordan valley to photograph wild plants and birds. it's known as a murmuration, where thousands of starlings fly and swoop in clusters. the images caught the attention of famed israeli spoon bender uri geller, who has framed them

in his museum. you are watching bbc news. hello there. colder weather has arrived in scotland. we've seen some snow across northern areas today, but that colder air is pushing its way southwards. now, a real turnaround in fortunes when you think about saturday's temperatures and how they were up at around 15 or 16 degrees, including in the highlands of scotland. well, tomorrow's temperatures more typically around 4 or 5 celsius. it is going to feel a lot colder. now, the colder air is going to be arriving on these northerly winds, and those winds push the cold air right the way into the south. however, this is our cold front. and ahead of it, overnight, we'll stilljust be about into the milder air across the far south of england and wales, so temperatures, cardiff and london, about 6, 7 degrees. otherwise, further north, frost pretty widespread and there's a risk of icy stretches in scotland, where we'll continue to see frequent snow showers with some significant accumulations building up. could be some localised disruption.

and for orkney, some very strong winds towards the middle part of the day. gusts could reach 70, maybe 80 mph. now, there will be some very heavy snow across the higher scottish mountains. the next couple of days could bring 15 cm or so. and there will be frequent showers coming on the irish sea coasts, so northern ireland, the northwest of both england and wales, northwest midlands seeing showers, and there'll also be plenty of showers coming down the north sea coasts. however, into wednesday, the winds change direction a little bit and should keep most of the showers away from the east coast. there will be lots of sunshine, cold and frosty, still snow showers affecting scotland and still that line of showers affecting northern ireland, the northwest of england and wales, the northwest midlands too. still chilly, temperatures at best around 5 or 6 degrees for many. now, into thursday's forecast. into that cold air moves these weather fronts. now, it's going to be quite an awkward kind of day for forecasting exactly how much snow there might be, because between these fronts, there's actually a zone of slightly less cold air — cold, mild, cold.

so what will probably happen is that we'll probably start off with some snow falling on the leading edge of this system. and the snow might stick around for a while, actually, across east scotland to the east of the pennines as well. could be some disruption. but as that less cold air moves in, the snow should become confined to high ground, particularly scotland and the pennines. nevertheless, there could be a few issues. eventually, though, many of us at lower elevations will see rain, temperatures around 6 or 7.

hello again. you're watching bbc news with me, then brown. the headlines: a legal document which prince andrew's lawyer believes will stop a civil case against him in the us has been made public. the duke of york has consistenly denied sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17. the uk prime minister says there is no reason forfurther measures in england despite a surge of cases due to the omicron variant. india has begun vaccinating 15 to 18—year—olds, as the country records its sharpest—ever weekly rise in infections. cases almost tripled in the week to sunday, with 130,000 new infections registered. a fire that devastated the houses of parliament in cape town on sunday has reignited. firefighters are back at the scene, trying to put out the blaze which is now burning through the roof.