welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... protests spread across india and beyond against a ban on the muslim headscarf and some colleges and one southern state. two years of covid restrictions are set to end in england and rules are eased on parts of europe and the us. canadian police threatened to arrest lorry drivers who shut down central ottawa as anger at mandatory vaccines spreads. and scientists in britain make a major new advance in the quest to generate energy from nuclearfusion.

live from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to newsday. we start in india, where authorities are braced for more protests amid a row over wearing the islamic headscarf in college. the controversy began when hijab wearing students were denied entry to the schools. all high schools and colleges in the state have been shut down for three days. protests have now spread to other cities in india, including two of the country's largest cities. the pakistani government deployed the band and some in the indian ambassador to formally the anger against some colleges in karnataka state refusing to allow students to wear

the hijab has spread to other parts of india. hundreds took part in the rallies in the cities of kolkata, chennai and hyderabad. the controversy has rocked karnataka, where high schools and colleges have been shut for three days. muslim women say wearing the hijab is part of their faith and their right. imposing dress code should be compatible with the fundamental rights. the fundamental rights state in article 19—1 the right to speech expression, and we have the religious freedom, which gives us the right to practise, profess and propagate religion. all chanting. the hijab issue has taken a communal twist. here, hindu students arrive at school with saffron hats and shawls — this colour seen as a hindu symbol. they oppose their student colleagues for wearing the islamic headscarves. a place of learning has now become a battleground for the two communities. the hindu nationalist

bjp government insists that they are only trying to implement uniform rules. karnataka is following a uniform dress code in the schools, and it is a discipline in the education interest in every student to follow the discipline. they can have them if they want in the schools. the global education activist malala yousafzai says... critics say minority muslims in india are already feeling marginalised and discriminated against in the hindu—dominated india. but the government denies the allegations. for now, the uneasy standoff over the hijab continues. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news. rules requiring people in angleton with covid to self—isolate could be lifted within weeks of —— and england.

borisjohnson is hoping to remove or distractions a month earlier in plans. restrictions have also been lifted in parts of europe and the us, and more on that in a minute, but here's our health editor, hugh pym. it's another big step in the journey from life in the pandemic to something like normality — the final restrictions in england, including the ending of the legal requirement to isolate after a positive test, ending perhaps as soon as february the 21st. are you going off to save your leadership, prime minister? l the prime minister headed to the commons to make the announcement, with an eye perhaps to cheering up his backbench mps, pulling forward to the ending of restrictions which had been planned for march. provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions — including the legal requirement to isolate if you test positive — a full month early. later, labour

gave their reaction. the fact we had no notice this was coming, no sense it was coming, suggests some throwaway remarks at the start of prime minister's questions were more about digging the prime minister out of a political hole than dealing with the serious challenge facing the country. in manchester, where daily case rates have been coming down, people we spoke to seemed positive about the ending of covid restrictions. if you're going to get it, you're going to get it, it's that simple. everybody is at a stage where we know the risk and we have to get on with the rest of our lives. i love that we have - lots of our freedom back and i want to enjoy it, but i think it's still- important to be cautious. the office for national statistics survey suggests that 3.3 million people in the uk had the virus last week, up a bit on the previous week. case rates varied around the uk, wales was the only nation to see a decrease. but hospital admissions have been falling, with the omicron

variant proving less severe than first anticipated, and the continued take—up of boosterjabs. i don't think this is a scientific decision, though. i think it's clear the rates are still very, very high, particularly in some sectors of the community, particularly children and people who look after children, parents and teachers. another scientist said the decision was, on balance, reasonable, though he had concerns about the vulnerable, like rachel, who's not happy about the news, and says she's much more likely to stay indoors. she had a kidney transplant and her immune system is compromised. she's worried about picking up the virus from her family. i know they will carry on to protect themselves and they'll do tests if they can get them, but you don't know who they're mixing with and stood next to in supermarkets. the paranoia i had is starting to come again, because who can i trust? while england heads towards life without

restrictions, scotland, wales and northern ireland are moving at different speeds. they'll publish their own plans in due course on life with covid. hugh pym, bbc news. england isn't alone in easing restrictions. denmark became the first eu countries to lift almost all restrictions last week, with norway following. sweden has also joined them. vaccine passes will no longer be required for indoor events and limits on indoor crowds will be scrapped. here's the reaction in stockholm. i am so happy. finally, the day has come. i feel freedom. we can go anywhere and not think about anything. so, we hope it's still going to work ok, and no backlash. people should be more careful. the virus is still here. and get vaccinated.

so, that's europe. some of the moves in the us, where some states are scrapping mask mandates, including new york, after it's all a steep decline in covid cases. here is the governor. it was an emergency temporary measure put in place literally two months ago, and at this time, we say that it's the right decision to lift this mandate for indoor businesses and let counties, cities and businesses make their own decisions on what they want to do with respect to masks or the vaccination requirement. the philippines will reopen its borders to fully not sedated travellers from thursday. becoming the latest southeast asian country to do so —— fully vaccinated. visitors will no longer quarantine, but are required to provide a negative pcr tests within 48 hours. countries around the world are

looking forward to deal with covid as it shifts from pandemic to becoming an ever present disease, like the flu or malaria, called intimates. john murdoch is the chief data replay router for the financial times. —— reporter. the key thing, really, here is what we mean by endemic and what does that really mean for us as a society. so, you've got the definition that it's about static level of infection because immunity levels are so high that the number of susceptible people is a small, and therefore, you don't see these huge rates we've been seeing. by that definition, i think we would probably say we're at an endemicjust yet. the other definition, the sheer number of people who now have some degree of immunity to the virus means that even though case rates may still go slightly up, slightly down over the next few

months, the number of people getting severely ill, there's much less room for movement in those numbers because so many people have strong levels of antibodies. so, i think the exact point depends on the exact definition, but if we're talking about the virus becoming something that is very widespread, very large numbers of people now exposed to it, either in the wild or through vaccination, and the result of that being immunity levels of the population are very high — we're certainly very close to that point. police detectives in the uk investigating lockdown parties investigating lockdown parties in downing street are sending out questionnaires for that 50 people are believed to have taken part. they said it would review the assessment that this did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation after the daily mirror newspaper in britain published a photo showing the prime minister alongside an official. he was

wearing tinsel and what appeared to be an open bottle of wine. , , ~ of wine. this is the met police's _ of wine. this is the met police's special - of wine. this is the met police's special inquiry l of wine. this is the met - police's special inquiry team who say they have i've invite more than 50 individuals who took part in those parties —— that they've identified. they are each going to be sent a letter with the legal questionnaire being told they have to answer truthfully and within seven days. and they are investigating number 12 parties —— remember 12 parties. investigating number 12 parties -- remember12 parties. damian grammaticas. _ -- remember12 parties. damian grammaticas. in _ -- remember12 parties. damian grammaticas. in other _ -- remember12 parties. damian grammaticas. in other stories, l grammaticas. in other stories, canadian police have warned truck drivers they'll be arrested if they continue their blockade of the capital, ottawa. hundreds of trucks are lighting the streets as drivers protest for a second week. demonstrations in canadian border towns have shut down parts of the us canada border. for the third consecutive day, truckers furious at vaccine mandates have blocked the busiest land border

crossing in north america. the economic impact could be serious. 25% of all trade between canada in the united states happens here — or it did, until angry truckers decided to intervene. in canada, rage seems to have spread as fast as omicron. which seems strange, in a country where politics used to be a pretty civilised process. now, police in the nation's capital are calling for reinforcements as they work out how to dismantle an occupation. hampering their efforts — reports that a quarter of trucks have children living in them. for now, the tactic is to slowly starve the convoy of cash and fuel. if one of the aims of this week's long protest is to eliminate vaccine mandates for truckers crossing the border, well, that hasn't happened yet. but as covid—i9 cases begin to reseed here,

as it is across north america, some of the restrictions that protesters here despise are disappearing anyway. the western province of alberta is ending vaccination requirements to dine indoors and mask mandates for schools. other canadian provinces have indicated they will follow suit in the coming weeks. canada's attempts to control one global threat, covid, seems to have stirred another — and angry populism that rejects government control. and, as the threat of covid starts to wane, the question for political leaders is, how much of that anger will remain? samira hussein, bbc news, ottawa. you're watching newsday on the bbc. tilson home. the not so modern man, the discoveries that shows homo sapiens may have arrived in europe a lot earlier than we thought.

there's mr mandela, mr nelson mandela, a free man taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah khamenei, has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, ba by doc duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, - shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud - farm's central block. shergar was driven away. in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning — elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith.

this is newsday on the bbc. our headlines — protests spread across india and beyond against across india and beyond against a ban on the muslim headscarf in some colleges in one southern state. two years of covid restrictions are set to end in england. rules are also eased in parts of europe in the united states. the uk lab has smashed the record for generating energy from a nuclearfusion generating energy from a nuclear fusion reactor and. generating energy from a nuclearfusion reactor and. the nuclear fusion reactor and. the breakthrough nuclearfusion reactor and. the breakthrough —— breakthrough represents energy source at the stars. it holds out the prospect of a virtually

unlimited source of low carbon power. justin rowlatt has been to the resource centre, where the reaction took place. two, one, zero. this is the record—breaking reaction. it is more than 150 million degrees celsius — ten times hotter than the heart of the sun. and it happened here, the world's most powerful fusion plant, jet fusion, in oxfordshire. it is, says the team here, a landmark for this technology. these results are really significant because what we have managed to demonstrate insidejet is we can create a mini sun, the right kind of mini sun, hold it there for a sustained period and get really good performance levels, which is a major step forward in terms of our quest to get to fusion power plants. most nuclear reactors use fission. that's when big, unstable atoms like uranium are split in two. the reaction releases lots of energy and radiation. fusion is different. it involves forcing two atoms

of hydrogen together, fusing them to create one atom of helium. once again, you get lots of energy and this time, just a tiny bit of short—lived radiation. creating mini stars inside reactors like this is one of the greatest technological challenges humanity has ever faced. get it right, and it holds out the potential for producing almost unlimited supplies of energy pretty much forever. that's because the hydrogen fuel fusion uses is so readily available. the key part of this reaction only lasts for five seconds and only generated enough power for 60 kettles, but it is an important proof that scientists are on the right track. there is still lots of work to do, and athina kappatou is one of a new generation of physicists who plan to do it at a scaled—up version of the uk reactor being built here in the south of france.

do you think you'll see commercialfusion in your lifetime? yes, i am confident — i want to believe in it. so, answer me this, why is it taking so long? it is hard, it is really hard, very complex, but it's worth it and we just have to do it for the future. fusion energy is carbon—free, but it is not going to be ready in time to get us out of the climate crisis. that shouldn't stop this research, say supporters. the enormous promise fusion holds means we have got to keep working on it. justin rowlatt, bbc news, oxfordshire. fascinating story there. let's turn to the ongoing beijing winter olympics, which have been touted by chinese officials as the greenest games ever. they say they prioritise protecting native species and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. but critics point out that this is the first

winter games to rely entirely on artificial snow. some events are even being held in the middle of a nature river reserve. just how green are these games? i'm joined by the professor of geography at the university of roseanne in switzerland. he's been studying the said sitting ability of major events such as the olympics for more than a decade. great to have you on the programme. let's start with the claims that these are the greenest games ever, how true is that?— true is that? you should take those claims _ true is that? you should take those claims very _ true is that? you should take those claims very carefully. l true is that? you should take l those claims very carefully. we did a study last year were compared the olympic games, both winter and summer, over the last 30 years, and we found that this sustainability has been declining, although there's more and more talk about sustainability. the rhetoric on the one hand and the reality don't go together.

professor, in terms of the offsetting measures, china has said it's going to plant some 60 million trees to try and mitigate some of the effects from hosting these olympics. is that an effective strategy in your view?— your view? no. carbon neutrality _ your view? no. carbon neutrality has - your view? no. carbon neutrality has now - your view? no. carbon - neutrality has now become a big label. you always need to look behind what this carbon neutral claim actually means. this means that there have been i million metric tonnes of carbon emissions, which is very significant. put that into context. the vancouver olympics in 2010 had about one eighth of that. this is multiplied by eight. what they're trying to do is offset, which is the third best solution, to avoid carbon emissions in the first place. offsetting the trees has

two major problems. one is that a tree takes time to grow, and to store all the carbon that is emitted. we don't have the time to let the three years until it stores carbon. the other thing is in orderfor the carbon stores carbon. the other thing is in order for the carbon to restore the tree, the tree needs to stand for 150 years, and that something you cannot guarantee. and that something you cannot guarantee-— guarantee. how concerned are ou guarantee. how concerned are you about — guarantee. how concerned are you about the _ guarantee. how concerned are you about the impact - guarantee. how concerned are you about the impact that - you about the impact that climate change is having on these sorts of olympics? is it too far a stretch to say that perhaps we won't have these sorts of games again because of the impact from weather events on these menus?— on these menus? that's the ironic scene. _ on these menus? that's the ironic scene. with _ on these menus? that's the ironic scene. with every - on these menus? that's the i ironic scene. with every winter olympics, they are undermining the basic weather conditions which is snow. the olympics

contribute to making their hosting much more difficult. there has been a recent study that shows for the past host cities, only half could host the winter olympics again in about 30 years. so, the main thing to review is, where will they take place in the future? climate change is reducing the number of cities that can host them, and they are growing in size, so you need ever bigger cities to host them. so, it is a possible scenario that perhaps 2030, we will not see any games at all. there simply isn't a place to host them. professor martin, thank you so much forjoining us on newsday with your thoughts on this story. in other stories, a discovery in a cave in france shows that modern man arrived in europe some 12,000 years earlier than previously thought. in a paper published

in thejournal science advances , researchers describe fossilised remains of homo sapiens. alongside those of neanderthals. whose disappearance remains a hotly debated issue. pallab ghosh has the story. sifting through ancient remains, archaeologists have been scrabbling in the french summer heat, looking for clues to our own history. and they've discovered that the very first modern humans to have arrived in western europe came thousands of years earlier than previously thought. we are now able to demonstrate that homo sapiens arrived 12,000 years before expected, and this population were then replaced after that by other neanderthal populations, and this rewrites literally all of our books on history. neanderthals had been living in europe for hundreds of thousands of years. the current theory is that homo sapiens arrived from africa

around 42,000 years ago, and shortly after that the neanderthals went extinct. but now, it appears that some of our species arrived 54,000 years ago — that's thousands of years earlier — and it means both homo sapiens and neanderthals may have lived on the same continent for much, much longer than previously thought before modern humans eventually gained the upper hand. scientists have been studying fossils for more than 100 years to find out why neanderthals went extinct and we survived. until now, the view was that we came along and quickly overwhelmed them. but the new evidence suggests that the two species lived in europe for thousands of years, suggesting the relationship wasn't that brutal and there were more complex reasons for why the neanderthals died out. well, the neanderthal�*s got these typical neanderthal features — a longer, lower brain case, big brow ridge over the eyes. the interaction of the two

species, published in the journal science advances, are an important part of our own history. it wasn't an overnight takeover by modern humans. so, in some cases, neanderthals had the advantage. at other times, modern humans had the advantage. so, it was more finely balanced. was there a single thing that our species had that meant that the neanderthals didn't survive? we don't know the answer, but i think it's organisational, probably more than anything, that we were networking better, our social groups were larger, we were storing knowledge better and we built on that knowledge more effectively than the neanderthals were doing. the discovery that the two species could have coexisted for thousands of years means that scientists will have to develop new theories for why neanderthals died out and our kind survived. pallab ghosh, bbc news. that's all the time we have for you for this hour of newsday.

thank you so much forjoining me. do stay with bbc news. hello. a colder day for all of us on thursday, but across the northern half of the country, quite a wild day to come — all due to this amazing swirl of cloud we saw to the south of iceland on wednesday. it's an area of low pressure which, as we start thursday morning, will have moved in across the western half of scotland in particular. to the south, we still have a weather front set to clear that will be sweeping away the last dregs of the milder air. to the north of it, a chilly start risk of ice in places, a few wintry showers — but as i said, a particularly wild start to the day in parts of scotland 60—70 mph gusts across the western isles and those northwestern coast, big seas as well, and blizzards on the mountains. we'll see wintry showers across northern england, northern ireland, and parts of wales, but sunshine in between those and a blustery wind. strongest of the winds in scotland transfer eastwards through the day. winds always lighter further south and, once you've got rid

of the morning cloud and patchy rain, it should be a bright and sunny day. the winds, though, will be a key feature — strongest through the afternoon in eastern scotland with gales. and it's here and across northeast england where it will feel substantially colder than the thermometers would suggest, made to feel well below freezing as we go through the afternoon. so, a cold end to the day, rain, sleet, snow showers and strong winds clipping eastern parts of england for a time during thursday night, then skies clear, winds fall light. coldest night of the week, coldest commute of the week as we go into friday morning — temperatures could be as low as —10 through some scottish glens, a widespread frost and some ice to watch out for. but a lovely, crisp day to come for many on friday — a few wintry showers in the west, building amounts of cloud as well, but most staying dry with sunny spells, the best of which in the east. temperatures actually a degree or so lower than normal for the time of year. but after a cold start to friday night, if you go into the weekend, it'll turn milder — and with it, some wet and windy weather. on saturday, especially in the west, outbreaks of rain coming and going all day long,

more persistent through the afternoon in parts of northern and western england and wales. some parts of north east scotland may get away largely dry, staying largely dry to east anglia and the southeast, but even here we will see rain and strong winds sweep through as we go through into saturday night. and then for sunday, we just have to watch the potential development of this area of low pressure. a bit of uncertainty attached, keep watching the forecast, but it could bring some more persistent rain later in the day and strong winds around the english channel. further north, though, something a bit brighter sunshine and showers, but feeling a little bit chillier. that's how it's looking, see you soon.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main stories for you at the top of the hour, as newsday continues — straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. vladimir putin regards nato, the us, and its western allies as hostile actors, posing a threat to russia's security, and the russian president is adept at exploiting weakness in his adversaries. so he surely welcomes discord over the ukraine crisis in western capitals. my guest is us congressman michael mccaul, an influential

republican voice on foreign affairs, with the us facing