hello, i'm ros atkins with outside source. omicron continues to surge throughout europe. france sees a record of more than 330,000 cases single day. there's a national state of emergency in kazakhstan. across the country, protestors have taken to the streets, they've stormed government buildings and the international airport. we'll look at the backlash to novak djokovic getting an exemption to compete — not fully vaccinated — in the australian open. he arrived at melbourne airport a few hours ago but might not meet the conditions of his visa to enter the country. we are waiting his presentation and what evidence he provides to support that. if that evidence is insufficient, then he won't be

treated than anyone else and he'll be on the next plane home. we begin in europe, where governments are struggling to contain the 0micron variant. france has just recorded 335,000 new cases — a new daily record for the continent. the french parliament is debating legislation that would replace france's health pass with a vaccine pass, that would be required for entry into restaurants, bars and all public transport within the country. a negative test or recent recovery from covid will no longer suffice. austria will be the first eu country to introduce mandatory vaccinations starting in february. those who refuse to be vaccinated will be subject to fines. and the government of italy, which reported 189,000 covid infections today, also a new national record, is meeting to discuss making vaccines mandatory for all workers and the over—50s. 0ur correspondent mark lowen reports from rome. the youngest to be armed

in the endless battle against covid. five—year—old eduardo gets his first jab as italy steps up vaccinations for children. maybe too small to grasp at the pandemic has change their world. but, say parents, they, too, must fight it. why did you want to vaccinate your son? because i love him. his father and i really love him and want him and all his little friends to go back to a normal life. so, this is the least we can do. respect science and respect our children. "it was ok," says eduardo. "did it hurt?", i ask. "just a little bit." they do their best here to soften the experience, with certificates of bravery, a rite of passage for the pandemic generation. you can see the smile on their face when they ask to you,

"now i can see my friend?" you can say yes, you can play with them and everything, because now the vaccine for covid—19 is so important for everything. when italy became the first country in the west to fall to the virus in 2020, it was the first in the world to impose a nationwide lockdown. but today, despite record cases, its streets are once again busy as it, like much of europe, tightens vaccine rules instead to some resistance. in france, heated debate in parliament over mandatory vaccination for restaurants and trains were suspended amid opposition protests over an interview with president macron. he told a newspaper he aims to bar the unvaccinated from social activities, using the slang wor 0n the streets of paris, mixed views

on the colourful language. i think that's a bit out of place for a president to say. the message is that he wants to improve things, but his form of words wasn't great. at the vaccine centre, they're ramping up shots before schools resume next week, hoping to stem the 0micron surge. among the messages, "my biggest dream is that covid ends." sometimes children just put it best. mark lowen, bbc news, rome. here in the uk, prime minister borisjohnson has confirmed with mps that he plans to stick to plan b coronavirus measures in england for at least another three weeks. he said people should carry on working from home, wearing face coverings on public transport and in indoor public spaces and taking a test before going to high risk venues or meeting the elderly or vulnerable. the prime minister also confirmed that from 4am on friday, passengers travelling to england will no longer be required to take a pre—departure covid test, and the requirement to self—isolate on arrival until receipt of a negative pcr test will be dropped. he also said this. but thanks to the sheer size of the 0micron wave,

we still need to take steps to ensure our testing capacity reaches those who need it most. we will be suspending the need to do a pcr to confirm the result of a positive lateral flow test. from next tuesday, if you test positive, you should just record that result and begin self—isolation. the latest figures show the uk has reported just under 200,000 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 2a hours. the latest figures from the office of national statistics also suggest that 3.7 million people in the uk had covid last week. it's the highest number since the 0ns started compiling the figures nearly 18 months ago. let's hear from the bbc�*s head of statistics, robert cuffe. highest in england, around one in 15 people _ highest in england, around one in 15 people. around one in 20,125 highest in england, around one in 15 people. around one in 20, 125 in the other nations. and rising rapidly in the other— other nations. and rising rapidly in the other countries as well. it's not news. but the scale is fairly startling.

i think the viewers can see that. we can see the gradual increases are things of the past, and it's the omicron wave. a year ago, we were talking about the number of people being killed by coronavirus, the number of extra intensive care beds that hospitals were trying to put up. in orderto keep in order to keep up with the wave of people _ in order to keep up with the wave of people getting seriously, seriously sick. we're not seeing that at this point. the number of people in hospital is not going up at the same rate. data has shown that omicron is milder than other covid variants, and because of how quickly it's spreading, its expected to become the dominant strain in most countries. many see this as the beginning of the end of the pandemic. dr catherine smallwood is europe's covid—i9 incident manager for the world health organization. we asked her about this. it's far too early- to say that right now. we're at a very delicate moment, especially coming out _ of the christmas period. we've seen 5 million, - over 5 million cases in europe

in the past week alone. that almost dwarves the numbers i of covid cases previously seen. i the impact on older age groups isn't fully understood. - there are a lot of unknowns, a lot of delta circulating - still, so it's not a changej in the pandemicjust yet. we still need to wait a few months. hopefully we will see that change in due course, - but it's not happening right now. we need to keep a very close eye on how it continues to evolve, . how omicron will continue to evolve, but also other. variants that may appear. we don't know what they'll be in terms of characteristics. . we hope we will be lucky and, if it does continue to mutate, i that it will mutate into less severe variants, but that's not a given. i let's talk about kazakhstan. its government has declared a state

of emergency after a major escalation in the protests, which have now spread across the country. in the commercial capital, almaty, protestors stormed the airport and seized government buildings. this was the crowd storming the mayor's office earlier in the day. they also got into the president's residence and lit fires inside. the protests began after a sudden rise in the price of liquid gas, which is used to power vehicles in kazakhstan. but they quickly developed into much bigger, anti—government protests. the kazakh president has threatened a tough response. translation: attention is drawn to the high level of organisation l of these destructive people. this is evidence of an elaborate plan. prepared by financially motivated plotters. as head of state and, from today, the president of the security council, i intend to act as tough as possible. this is the question of the safety of our citizens who make numerous requests to me to protect the lives and the lives of their families. the situation has developed

very quickly since the protests began on the 1st january in the west of kazakhstan. here's our central asia correspondent, rayhan demetrie. the internet is down in almaty, but some users have managed to connect using vpn. i've seen some live footage which showed the main administrative building in the city of almaty being set ablaze. it also sounded like there was gunfire used, but that is not confirmed. it'sjustjudging by social media pictures. similar pictures are emerging from other parts of the country. protesters attempted to storm the main government building, and the police responded with the water cannons. that is in quite freezing temperatures. also, there was some footage on social media which showed some of the military being taken hostage by the protesters, so it's all turning quite violent.

kazhakstan is in central asia. it shares a border with russia and with china, and it's a vast country — about the size of western europe. 19 million people live there. kazakhstan was ruled for almost a0 years by this man, nursultan nazarbayev. he stood down in 2019, passing the reins to kassym—jomart tokayev, his hand—picked successor, although former president nazarbayev is believed to still hold considerable influence behind the scenes. diana kudaibergenova is a sociologist who studies post—soviet countries at the university of cambridge. i have been speaking to her about whether we should categorise these protests as a— yes, so these are happening all over kazakhstan. it is unprecedented because we had a number of different protests. it never was so widespread. but it's not coherent. it's not as cohesive.

it's not a single force, so there are different forces that are part of this protest. there are rioters, politicalforces, social movements that are forming in kazakhstan after nazarbayev resigned. there are informal labour unions. especially in the west, in the oil—rich region it broke out. and there are definitely spontaneous informal forces, so the protests are no means cohesive or well organised. different forces are at play, but there is a level of community organisation, especially in the western part of kazakhstan because they have this legacy of protesting. they have informal networks and they know how to behave in this situation. it was mentioning that kazakhstan

borders russia and china. i wonder what those countries are making about what's happening. there is definitely tension ongoing. it's definitely an issue of geopolitical stability. china sent messages, saying that it is resolved peacefully. —— they hope it is. just recently, one of the news that came out was that president tokayev asked for help in order to maintain the protest. so far, the response from russia has been to not intervene. but we will see if the results of the scenario unfolding. i know it's difficult to talk about this as one coherent group, but can we say they have a particular goal? do we know what their ideal outcome would be? definitely. the protesters, basically the prices for gas was the trigger for the wider social unrest

and response to injustice, the type of corruption and economic crisis that many different classes have experienced in kazakhstan. this is not something that was not expected. kaza khsta n kazakhstan has been experiencing protestants 2010, 2011. 2014, there was another big protest, 2016 was the land protest. the claims are not so much just about the gas. they are about political reform. protesters are demanding the change of the regime. they are demanding political reform. electing local governors, which are appointed by the president himself, demanding the change

of the parliament and the government, and they want to see people that are not coming from the regime directly. they want to see new politicians who they can trust. the us justice the usjustice department has been giving update on the prosecutions it is pursued since the riots at the s january. the us attorney general merrick garland vowed to hold all of those involved responsible. in the aftermath of— those involved responsible. in the aftermath of the _ those involved responsible. in the aftermath of the attack, _ those involved responsible. in the aftermath of the attack, the - those involved responsible. in the l aftermath of the attack, the justice aftermath of the attack, thejustice department began its work on what has become one of the largest, most complex and most resource intensive investigations in our history. only a small number of perpetrators were arrested in the tumble of january 6 itself. every day since, we have worked to identify, investigate and apprehend offenders from across the country. gary o'donoghue is in washington.

lots of people have looked at that statement and said, you're looking at the people who went into the building, but no luck yet more powerful that may have been involved in inciting that? —— you are not looking at which ella and they will be pretty satisfied with looking at which ella and they will be pretty satisfied— looking at which ella and they will be pretty satisfied with the speech. althou . h be pretty satisfied with the speech. although the _ be pretty satisfied with the speech. although the attorney _ be pretty satisfied with the speech. although the attorney general- be pretty satisfied with the speech. although the attorney general did l although the attorney general did come close to that question. he thought about holding all of those accountable at whatever level, whether they were president —— present or not on the capital on that day, responsible. not naming names, not going into any detail, exploring that in any way, there is a hint there that they're prepared to go down route, but a very reef hint in a 30 minute speech, which was actually much more than just january 6, a speech about the wider problems with american democracy, including a substantial section on voting rights legislation and voting rights difficulties that democrats

say are being assaulted around the country, and that links into some efforts that are currently going on in congress to get new voting rights legislation through, which will set “p legislation through, which will set up another clash with the republicans there, of course. share up another clash with the republicans there, of course. are we auoin to republicans there, of course. are we going to hear — republicans there, of course. are we going to hear from _ republicans there, of course. are we going to hear from donald _ republicans there, of course. are we | going to hear from donald trump and going to hearfrom donald trump and his supporters tomorrow, with their perspective on what happened a year ago? perspective on what happened a year auo? , perspective on what happened a year am? , ., perspective on what happened a year auo? , ., ., perspective on what happened a year auo? , . ., , perspective on what happened a year auo? , ., ., , ., ago? yes, and no. in reverse order. donald trump _ ago? yes, and no. in reverse order. donald trump was _ ago? yes, and no. in reverse order. donald trump was due _ ago? yes, and no. in reverse order. donald trump was due to _ ago? yes, and no. in reverse order. donald trump was due to do - ago? yes, and no. in reverse order. donald trump was due to do a - ago? yes, and no. in reverse order. | donald trump was due to do a press conference and he is not doing that any more. he has gone home without delivering that for some not clear entirely what he blames the general sixth committee in congress for he blames the january 6 committee incognito doing that. they will be those who support donald trump who will be doing that, people like marjorie taylor greene, who was banned from social media recently, involved in some podcasts and the like that and there will be some demonstrations, so those voices will

be out there. i think they would be kept a long way from the capital, and certainly at the moment, the authorities are saying there are no credible threats for any violence down at the capital onjanuary 6 tomorrow, and everyone will have theirfingers tomorrow, and everyone will have their fingers crossed hoping that continues to be the case. {lilia their fingers crossed hoping that continues to be the case. 0k, gary, thank ou continues to be the case. 0k, gary, thank you very much _ continues to be the case. 0k, gary, thank you very much indeed, - continues to be the case. 0k, gary, thank you very much indeed, gary l thank you very much indeed, gary is in washington. tomorrow, at 9pm, a special programme on the gender six attack. tristian fraser will be looking at that —— january 6... we will be looking at the backlash to novak djokovic not getting an exemption...

scotland's rules are being brought into line with the rest of the uk. the first minister nicola sturgeon explain the changes to the rules popular they will be an option to and isolation as popular they will be an option to and isolation— popular they will be an option to and isolation as long as you firstly have no fever— and isolation as long as you firstly have no fever and _ and isolation as long as you firstly have no fever and secondly - and isolation as long as you firstly have no fever and secondly record two lateral flow tests, one no earlier than day six and another 24 hours after that. the second change applies to close contacts of positive cases and this includes household contacts either under the age of 18 years, four months or who are older than that and fully vaccinated. let me be clear, by fully vaccinated, we need first, second and booster, or third, doses." in these categories, the requirement for self isolation and and be replaced by requirement to take a lateral flow test every day for seven days.

this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story: france has recorded its highest ever daily number of cases of coronavirus — with more than 330,000 postive tests. the tennis men's world number one novak djokovic has arrived in melbourne, looking to defend his australian open title. but he's met a backlash over a waiver he's been given by tournament organisers, allowing him to compete despite not being fully vaccinated. and he is yet to clear through passport security hours after landing. we're going to spend the next few minutes, looking at how the story has developed. novak djokovic is the reigning champion at the australian open. on tuesday, he tweeted this picture from the airport tarmac and told us... but australia's prime minister had a warning. we await his presentation.

and what evidence he provides to support that. if that evidence is insufficient, then he won't be treated any different than anyone else, and he'll be on the next plane home. djokovic's special dispensation is under close scrutiny. tennis australia had explained the decision. anyone coming into australia or onto the grounds would have to be vaccinated or would have to have a medical exemption. and the bbc�*s tennis correspondent russell fuller explains how you get one. these medical exemptions are not given away lightly first of all, has to be approved by the australian technical advisory group on immunisation and then a second panel, made up of medical experts, has to also give the green light. here's the criteria. a person can get an exemption if they suffer from an inflamed cardiac illness or an acute major medical condition. if a "serious mental health condition" means the vaccine process could put them at risk,

if they had a serious adverse reaction to a first vaccine dose. there's one more too. one possibility that it thatitis that it is everyone is he has recently tested positive for covid. if you tested positive for covid. if you tested positive for covid, that enables you to defer your vaccination to enter australia without having the vaccination proof document and to enter. we don't know which of those apply to djokivic. and there's scepticism from some players. i think if it was me that wasn't vaccinated, i would i think if it was me that wasn't vaccinated, iwould not i think if it was me that wasn't vaccinated, i would not be getting the exemption. there's scepticism in the press too. the herald sun in melbourne's headline is "novax, no worries". and inside, the former australian tennis star sam groth says the exemption "spits in the face of all australians". he's not the only one who's upset. he shouldn't be allowed to come. it's a choice not to be vaccinated, which is fine, and i think the government here has made the choice that you should be vaccinated.

the context is that melbourne has experienced more days of lockdown than any other major city in the world. but faced with all of this criticism, tennis australia is insisting the process was fair. that panel was designed, made of independent doctors, to assessed blind applicants— in other words, they did not know who the applicant was. there is no reason to suggest the process was manipulated for djokovic's benefit. but it's geting attention, as you'll hear from these australian players. apparently it is independent panel. you must've 50 criteria somehow. i think you must've 50 criteria somehow. think it is you must've 50 criteria somehow. i think it is very interesting —— he must _ think it is very interesting —— he must have — think it is very interesting —— he must have 50 _ think it is very interesting —— he must have 50. that _ think it is very interesting —— he must have 50. that is _ think it is very interesting —— he must have 50. that is all- think it is very interesting —— he must have 50. that is all i am l think it is very interesting —— he - must have 50. that is all i am going to saw _ it is interesting, not least because everyone knows what djokovic thinks about vaccines. we could start with this facebook live in april 2020. he said he was "personally opposed to vaccination". injune 2020 — when most sport was cancelled — djokovic hosted a tennis event in serbia and croatia with fans. instead of social distancing, there were parties, a basketball game and tennis. djokovic, his wife and several players all got covid. then in august, he told

the new york times his... his language has been clear. fast—forward to decemberjust gone, and djokovic was named in serbia's team for atp cup in sydney but pulled out at the last minute. the team coaches said... now that decision has come. we're told 26 unvaccinated players and staff applied for exemptions. and djokovic's was one of a "handful" that were granted. and the victoria state government says this. the process is the process, nobody has had special treatment. the process is incredibly robust, it is identified, and we are where we are. that was where we were. but then we had this from the national government... victoria state's sports minister added...

but while djokovic was in the air from dubai to melbourne, not much was clear. it wasn't clear why had got an exemption. and hours after he had landed, he was still at the airport, waiting to if you was let in. what is clear is the strength of feeling industrially around covid rules and how they are enforced. —— the strength of feeling in australia. just a quicker minder of our top story. france has recorded its highest ever daily number of cases of coronavirus — with more than 330,000 postive tests. we are seeing this across europe at the moment. the netherlands and sweden have also registered their highest daily figures. several european governments moving towards mandatory covid vaccine passes in certain areas. in italy, the cabinet

is deciding whether to compel workers to be jabbed, and bear in mind in austria, we already know they're going to be mandatory vaccines from february. also, quicker minder, if you want to find further analysis from me and the outside source team, you can do that in a range of places on the bbc. you can find our videos each week on the bbc news website... you can also subscribe to audio versions of them through the bbc sounds app. if you go to the apt, download it, search my name and you easily find it. i will also tweet out clips of the programme, so follow me on twitter... that is it for today's programme. tomorrow, inevitably, we are going to be focused on washington, dc. tomorrow, it'll be a year since hundred and hundred people poured into the us capital voting in one of the shocking events to be witnessed in the city. we will have full reaction to the one year

anniversary and tomorrow's programme. pleasejoin me then. bye—bye. hello. sunshine has been in short supply of late, but wednesday certainly made up for it with widespread blue skies across the uk. there is a price to pay for those clear skies. overnight tonight, temperatures falling very sharply. it will stay chilly across the uk through the next couple days and nights. in fact, chilly enough we'll see a top up of this snow across the highlands through thursday as these weather fronts start to work their way in. ahead of that, through the course of the night, with light winds and clear skies, the temperatures will fall away very sharply. where we have lying snow in some of the sheltered scottish glens, we could see temperatures as low as —10 degrees.

even to the south of the uk, —6, —7. it will be milder by the end of the night for the likes of northern ireland, where the wind starts to pick up and the cloud arrives. and then this weather system runs into the cold air through thursday. for northern ireland, we're largley looking at rain, perhaps some snow briefly across the hills, but for scotland and northern england, not exclusively across the high ground but particularly for the high ground, there will be some heavy snowfall for a time. some briefly across north wales and the midlands. with strong winds, we could have blizzard conditions. also some heavy rain to the south as this front goes through. maybe even the odd flash of lightning or rumble of thunder. it is a cold afternoon even as things brighten behind the weather front. a few showers continuing to funnel in on a notable northwesterly wind. that stays with us overnight thursday into friday. because of the wind, it won't be quite so cold overnight thursday into friday. but we will still have a frosty start across

the northern half of the uk, a risk of ice first thing and snow showers again for northern and western scotland. some for northern ireland, the west of scotland, getting down into the midlands, at lower levels as well. rain for the far southwest. a lot of sunshine, yes, but a cold feel. temperatures in the mid range of single figures at best. quite a change come saturday as this weather system comes in. it's got a big pocket of milder air tucked inside it and it will lift the temperatures quite notably, up into double figures once again. but the start of the weekend will see a return of some widespread cloud and also some fairly heavy outbreaks of rain.

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france has just recorded 335,000 new covid cases — a new daily record for europe with other european countries also seeing records broken. french president emmauel macron has warned he intends to make life difficult for unvaccinated people in france. novak djokovic has landed in melbourne where he's set to defend his australian open title but a political row over his covid vaccine status could lead to him being sent home. the president of kazakhstan has sacked the government and declared a two—week state of emergency. it's after violent protests broke out when a cap on fuel prices was scrapped. protesters have seized the international airport. protesters have seized the international airport. and, on the eve of the anniversary of the riot at the us capitol in washington — thejustice department is giving an update into its criminal investigation, into those who took part in the attacks. those are the latest headlines from the bbc. now on bbc news it's time for click.