Time will tell. One of those aiming to take part has seen up close the strain caused by coronavirus. Jo works at an nhs hospital in lewisham and has felt the benefits of running regularly. During what has been a really difficult time for so many people, how important is it to have a goal in the future to aim for that involves being physically active . I think having these milestones are really, really important, because it does give you something to look forward to and train for. My colleagues in the run club are from all over the nhs and some of the most front line workers you will meet. We talk regularly about the importance of keeping active for our mental and physical health. The London Marathon is the uks largest annual fundraising event. During the pandemic, Many Charities have had to focus on their funding. Macmillan Cancer Support estimates it will lose £175 million over three years, but there has been more than just a financial impact. So, weve seen a huge demand in people coming forward and asking for support as well as a huge decline in income. Its been a really, really tough year for us and events like the virgin London Marathon are going to be hugely important for us to rebuild. As many People Struggle through another lockdown, organisers hope the London Marathon can be a beacon of hope and its celebratory atmosphere will return, bigger and better than ever. Laura scott, bbc news. Time for a look at the weather. Heres ben rich. The reign of the last few days is now relenting, but of course, there is an awful lot of water to get through. Still some Severe Weather warnings in force across england and wales. Check the latest on the bbc weather website. Wales. Check the latest on the bbc weatherwebsite. No wales. Check the latest on the bbc weather website. No wonder, when you look at how much rain we have had. This was the radar picture of the last few days. Parts of wales and Northern England have seen in excess of 150 million metres of rain, over a months worth injust of 150 million metres of rain, over a months worth in just a few days. Now is that pivots away, it brings in some cold air and we have seen some snow, particularly across parts of scotland. Still some snow to come here through the rest of today, not only of a higher ground, but even at relatively low levels in scotland. There is likely to be rain along the immediate coastline, staying windy here as well. Further south, the winds ease for the rest of the day. There will be some dry weather and a chilly end to the afternoon. Some rain is going to get into the far south east corner, making for a 599y south east corner, making for a soggy evening across parts of kent and sussex. That were then clear. We will see clear spells through the night. Still some wintry showers in the west and snow continuing in northern scotland, so that will bring the rain of the risk of some ice, with temperatures getting down to freezing or a bit below. Tomorrow, the area of low pressure that was storm christoph is still sitting to the north east of the british isles. That driving northerly wind will bring showers to spots exposed to that wind. Still showers across northern scotland, wintry showers across parts of Northern Ireland and one or two for wales and the south west of england. Further east, largely dry with spells of sunshine, but its going to be a chilly feeling day. Into the weekend, it doesnt start off too badly. Saturday may have some mist and fog patches around first thing. A bit of rain grazing close to the south coast. 0therwise, a bit of rain grazing close to the south coast. Otherwise, its mainly fine with sunshine. Any showers you do see could for us snow even to low levels, because it is going to be quite a cold day. And with that cold air in place, through saturday night, we have to keep a close eye on this weather system pushing in from the west. A bit of understanding about the timing and positioning of this system, but this
could bring snow even to low levels of england for sunday. We will have to keep an eye on that. But at least the rain is now beginning to relent. Thats all from the bbc news at one, so its goodbye from me , and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc� s news teams where you are. Good afternoon, its1. 30pm and heres your latest sports news. England have made one change for the second and final test against sri lanka, which starts early tomorrow morning. James anderson replaces stuart broad, who is being rested. England captainjoe root expects a stronger challenge from sri lanka. The tourists won the first test, but, after a woeful start, sri lanka steadily improved throughout the match. We know sri lanka as well are very
good, especially at this ground, have a very good record, very proud record, and will be wanting to come back harder at us so we will play some smart cricket again. Tomorrow, starting tomorrow, for the majority of, if not all of the game. We cannot be happy with what we have achieved so far on this trip, in these conditions, we have got to look to go one further and getting better. And were very of doing that. A good first round for rory mciroly in golf� s European Tour in abu dhabi. The northern irishman is top of the leaderboard on 8 under. Englands Tyrell Hatton is a shot behind him after eagles on the 10th and 18th. As weve been hearing on the one oclock news, organisers of the London Marathon are aiming to get a record of 50,000 runners to compete in october this year, plus another 50,000 runners to take part virtually. Its hoped the record will make up for the disappointment of 2020, when the race had to be cancelled for amateurs because of coronavirus, meaning Many Charities lost out financially. 0rganisers say the 50,000 virtual runners can run on a course of their own choice. And that the event has
a responsibility to adapt. The London Marathon has to do what is right for society. Its far bigger thanjust for the runners. Bigger than just for the runners. This is bigger thanjust for the runners. This is about the National Health service, charities, communities, it is about bringing people together. So we have learned an awful lot, we have got so many new different plans. And we are incredibly positive that we will be able to have 50,000 people running the London Marathon in person, in 2021. Time will tell. Jurgen klopp says its tight at the top of the premier league but they are ready for the challenge as they take on burnley later this evening. The defending champions are six points behind leaders manchester united, although liverpool have a game in hand. They change all the time and thats
because its so close. We know that in a few weeks, and yes, that makes it. Slightly different. Title race or race in general this year. And we have to be ready, 100 and thats what we constantly try to do. I know that in this business, only results count. There have been complaints from some of the 72 tennis players having to quarantine ahead of the australian open, but some have decided to make the best of the situation and entertain themselves during the 14 days of isolation. Heres what french player, Edouard Roger vasselin has come up with. A Chain Reaction obstacle course. With10 days of quarantine remaining, he made use of a pillow, tennis bag, bananas, racquets and tennis ball cans, among other hotel room objects in a short video he posted on social media. Thats all the sport for now. You can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. Very good afternoon. You are watching bbc news. Very good afternoon. You are watching bbc news. Lets start from heafina watching bbc news. Lets start from hearing from watching bbc news. Lets start from hearing from scotlands watching bbc news. Lets start from hearing from scotlands deputy watching bbc news. Lets start from hearing from scotlands deputy first ministerjohn swinney. He has said he believes coronavirus restrictions are helping to stabilise case numbers in scotland. He pointed to the latest r number which estimates how many people one individual with the virus will infect. Mr swinney said scotlands r number was possibly around i and had probably fallen within the last week. He also said he would ideally give two weeks notice ahead of schools re opening. 2,001; people are now in hospital with the virus. 161 are in intensive care, which is 5 more
than yesterdays figure. He also said a further 89 deaths with coronavirus have been registered in the last 2a hours, bringing the total by that measurement to 5468. I have three points that i want to briefly update you on. The first is that the Scottish Government will publish, later on today, the latest estimate for the r number in scotland. That will show that the r number may now be around i, and has probably fallen during the last week. That assessment provides some further evidence that our measures are, at the very least, helping to stabilise case numbers. However, as the numbers i havejust read out demonstrate, they remain concerningly high. The second point i want to raise is about support for childminders, who are such a vital and valued part of our childcare sector. Many childminders have been affected by the pandemic and by the restrictions placed upon them, and some have expressed
concern about the future sustainability of their businesses. The Scottish Government is today publishing a series of actions that will support the childminding sector in the future, and we are also making more immediate help available. We have set aside up to £1 million to support childminders who have been financially affected by the pandemic. We are currently working with the Scottish Childminding Association to finalise details of the support scheme, so further information how to apply will be published soon. However, the scheme will enable childminders to apply for grants of up to £1,000 each. Childminders play a hugely important role, and the work they do is, i know, valued and appreciated by families across the country. This new fund will provide them with some of the support they need in order to continue to carry out that role. Thats something that will be increasingly important as we emerge from lockdown, and as more parents return to work. The final issue i want to cover relates to testing. Walk in test centres are a valuable
part of our wider testing programme, since they help to increase the accessibility of testing, especially for people who do not have access to a car. I am therefore pleased that three new walk in test centres open this week. A walk in centre opened in paisley at Bridge Street car park on tuesday, and sites open in dunfermline and glenrothes later on today. All three sites are in, or near, the centre of each of these towns. Each of the new centres will be able to carry out up to 300 tests a day, and they increase the total number of walk in centres in scotland to 28. Together with the other strands of scotlands testing programme, therefore, they will help to increase the accessibility and the effectiveness of testing. We are working with nhs National Service scotland, local authorities and Health Boards to establish more local testing centres in the weeks to come. Testing is a very important way of keeping the virus under control. We have also, in the last week, tightened travel restrictions, and we are, of course, accelerating the vaccination programme. However, at the moment, while case numbers remain so high, our lockdown restrictions continue to be vital. They are the single most important way in which we can reduce case numbers and ease some of the pressure on our health and social care services. John swinney at the daily coronavirus briefing. The foreign secretary, dominic raab, has called on wealthier countries to support Global Access to covid i9 vaccines. Speaking in kenya at the start of a visit to eastern africa, mr raab said britain had provided £500 million to aid the distribution of inoculations across the world. Of course every country wants to vaccinate their own people, but we all have a shared interest in making sure that we are all safeguarded from this appalling virus. Thats why were collaborating on a bilateral level,
astrazeneca 0xford, with the trials youre having here in kenya. Thats also why the uk is one of the leading funders of gavi and covax, which of course is the leading International Body and organisation for making sure that we get the virus, a billion doses, to the countries that need it most, and that group that will benefit from covax includes kenya. A full lockdown and 24 hour curfew is in place in lebanon, in a bid to slow a surge in coronavirus cases. Its a small country, but its seen one of the worst outbreaks in the arab world. Carine torbey has sent this report from beirut. 0ne year old hamad fell sick. For three days, his family tried to get him to an intensive care unit, but all were occupied by coronavirus patients. Translation what really hurts me is how hamads parents
were sitting next to their boy, helplessly, as he died. Hamad will now find the care he needed, and that is in heaven. Hospitals in lebanon are overwhelmed, and operating on full capacity. Many have had to reject patients. The staggering increase in the number of coronavirus cases is bringing the whole Health System to its knees. With their beds filling up, many hospitals in the country are forced to improvise. Until a few days ago, this was a hospitals cafeteria. Now its been converted into a makeshift ward. In other hospitals, Emergency Rooms have been turned to receive patients and almost everywhere, several wards have been shut, in order to redirect all resources towards the overstretched covid teams. Translation as infection soared, medical teams were phoning sick with covid as well. And because of the worsening economic situation, many doctors and nurses had to leave lebanon, in order to make ends meet. The pandemic has hit lebanon as its been going through the worst financial and economic crisis of its history. This is a country where the local currency has lost more than 70 of its value in a year, and where more than half the population lives in poverty. Now, lebanon has entered its third and most strict lockdown. Previous lockdowns have forced businesses to close. Its an economic disaster, on top of all the pandemic misery. But the authorities here say that as painful as it is, the measures are necessary. Lebanon is still hoping to receive the first batch of Covid Vaccine next month, but achieving protection against the virus will take a whole year. Time that lebanon can hardly afford. The Health Response is part of the response to this pandemic, but you have other sectors which should be involved which, unfortunately, the leaders. Of the country failed to do so. Lebanon cannot probably wait for a year. We have to rely on people complying with recommendations, which seems to be very difficult. Until immunisation is achieved, posts like this are still expected to fill social media pages. Lebanon is a country of multiple chronic crises, now this pandemic might be sending it gasping for air. Carine torbey, bbc news, beirut. The education secretary Gavin Williamson has outlined the governments plans for changes to education and training for over 16s in england. The governments skills forjobs white paper will give employers a bigger role in designing courses and to improve access to flexible student finance
but colleges say theyll need much more funding to deliver the plan. Here is mr williamson giving details of the white paper a short while ago. Madame deputy speaker, this house needs no reminding that this country stands at a critical point in its history. We have some enormous challenges ahead. There is an urgent need to rebuild an economy injured by the covid i9 pandemic. We have already outlined in unprecedented support package to offerjobs and retraining to those who have lost theirs due to covid i9. But beyond covid i9, we must also forge a new identity as an independent trading nation. Both of these challenges have exposed our need for a strong and flourishing Technical Education
sector, to fire up the jobs of the future. This white paper is our blueprint for that future. It is going to play a pivotal role in creating jobs and rebuilding our economy, through the lifetime skills guarantee, we will help people train and retrain it any stage of their lives. Our new flexible Digital Skills book camps training will give people the Technical Skills that they need for greatjobs, 312 16 week courses. These boot camps will be expanded into other sectors such as engineering. From this april, tens of thousands of adults will be able to benefit from almost 400 free courses which will be the first phase in the lifetime skills guarantee. These fully funded courses which range from engineering to health care and conservation, will be available to adults without
a full four qualification at a level or above to help them gain skills which are in demand and which will open up exciting newjob opportunities for them. Open up exciting newjob opportunities forthem. In open up exciting newjob opportunities for them. In april, we will also kick start the expansion of higher Technical Education as we work towards making it is easy to get a loan for unapproved higher Technical Qualification as it is for a full length degree. We will also introduce pilots to increase more flexible and modular provisions so courses are more accessible and more convenient. Lifelong loan entitlement will be up and running from 2025, and will build on the changes we are bringing in through this white paper. Learners will be able to fit study around work, family and personal commitments. And
retrain as their circumstances or the economy changes. This white paper is going to put employers firmly at the centre of our local schools system. Working in partnership with colleges and key local stakeholders, to shape Technical Skills provision, so that it better supports the local economy. It is going to introduce german style local skills improvement plans, which will be led by business organisations, such as local chambers of commerce. These will identify their skills and area needs and spell out what needs to change to make more training, more responsive to employers needs. In turn, ourfurther education responsive to employers needs. In turn, our further education colleges well shape the courses they offer to meet these skill needs and we will
make Strategic Development funding available to help them do this. We will start the ball rolling with a small number of trailblazers areas this year and will pilot a Strategic Development fund of £65 million in 2021 2022, to help Development Fund of £65 million in 2021 2022, to help providers reshape provision to meet local employerss needs. Putting the employerss needs. Putting the employer voice at the heart of skills provision, we ensure that Technical Education and training gives people the skills they need to get greatjobs in sectors of the economy needs, and boost this countrys productivity. We will back this through a £i. 5 countrys productivity. We will back this through a £1. 5 billion worth capitalfunding, to upgrade our further education colleges and today, have announced the next phase of the capital transformation fund. And last week, we made the next wave of Capital Funding available making £135 available for those delivering by september 2022. As far as long term plans are concerned, we are going to move to a more coherent, simplerfunding model that coherent, simpler funding model that were coherent, simplerfunding model that were going to design together with the sector. And we will be consulting on this later the spring. This will make sure that there is far more focused approach to funding thatis far more focused approach to funding that is currently the case. The consultation will be guided by the principles of high value, greater flexibility for providers, and enhanced accountability. They will see providers taking greater responsibility for the results that they provide. One more story to bring you before the weather. A british man who was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer two years ago has completed the first stage of a bicycle ride that he is hoping will take him all the way to china. Luke grenfell shaw set off from bristol on a tandem injanuary. Our correspondentjonah fisher caught up with him as he made it to ukraine. I am cycling with the knowledge that my cancer could come back at any time. In 2018, Luke Grenfell Shaw was told he had an advanced form of cancer that very few people survive. The primary tumour that was beneath my Left Shoulder blade, which was the size of an aubergine, it was enormous, that had spread to my lungs. The 24 year old underwent chemotherapy and then surgery, keeping his spirits up by running and riding long distances and dreaming of adventure. The day that i was diagnosed, i realised that if i could only do one more thing with my life,
then i want to cycle around the world. Home behind, adventure ahead. A year ago, the cancer in remission, luke set off from bristol, hoping to reach china. Smooth roads. Its pretty nice. Thats cold in front of me is germany. Behind me is the netherlands. I think its fair to say that this tent is no longer particularly waterproof. Then the coronavirus pandemic struck, closing borders and blocking lukes way east. I have no idea what were going to do. With each passing minute, heading back to the uk just seems like a more sensible option. And thats what he did. But five months later, luke was back on the road again. We have no wheel. So weve got a bit of a problem right now. That is serbia right there. Were just crossing the danube right now. Luke caught and recovered from the coronavirus in romania. And as he made his way across ukraine, i asked him the big question why . If you can take good care of your body, if you can look after yourself, it doesnt give you any guarantees, but it puts you in a better position and, i guess, mentally, you also know that you are doing the things that you can do to improve your situation, even when theres so much uncertainty and theres so much that you cant control. Hows your russian doing . After a two week slog across ukraine completed his europeanjourney, luke called his mum back home. I have felt for you with those icy cold headwinds on your own with that tandem and the trailer and all the weight of it. Yeah, a massive achievement. Im so proud of you, really, really an inspiration that you have just had the grit to keep going against so many odds. Missing you so far, lukes epic journey has raised £43,000 for cancer related charities. All being well, he will ride across asia before arriving in china in about a years time. Jonah fisher, bbc news, eastern ukraine. Now its time for a look at the weather. Hello. The heavy rain from storm christoph has been easing during today, but there is enough a lot of water still to work through. The river catchments, a number of severe flood warnings enforced. Check the latest on the bbc weather website. Over the last few days, the rain has been relentless across parts of Northern England and wales, no wonder those flooding problems, with over 150 millimetres of rain falling in some spots, more than a months in just a few days. Now with colder air from the north we have snow showers in places, more persistent wintry weather across parts of scotland. That will continue across northern scotland through the day, it will be rain close to the coast. Quite windy as well. Scattered wintry showers elsewhere and persistent rain grazing into southern and south eastern parts. Quite a chilly end to the day, and through this evening that rain will work across the far south east. We keep further rain, sleet and snow across the north of scotland. A few wintry showers in the west giving rise to icy conditions. Temperatures dipping close to freezing or below. Friday, the area of low pressure that brought the Stormy Weather over the last couple of days will be sitting close to the north east so still bringing northerly flow of winds feeding further snow showers across northern scotland. We could see another few centimetres of snow here. Some spells of sunshine on a chilly day. 4 8 degrees. Saturday looks like a mainly dry day with spells of sunshine. Could be fog patches first thing. Rain close to the south coast and wintry showers. Where you see showers could bring some snow even to quite low levels. Again, a cold day. Temperatures 2 6. With that in place during saturday night this is one to watch. A frontal system pushing in from the west, uncertainty about timing and position but that could give snow across parts of of england and wales, even to quite low levels. We will keep you up to date with that. Brighter elsewhere on what will be a cold feeling day. This is bbc news, imjane hill. The headlines at 2pm 179 flood warnings are still in place across england and wales because of storm christoph. Eight literally looks like a water bed, because the water is going straight under it, and the problem is, they couldnt come and get us, it would be safer in our home. But as i have had not been able to turn off the electricity, gas, everything. 65 new Covid Vaccination centres have come into operation across england. A mosque and a cinema are among the venues being used. It comes as a new Study Suggests Coronavirus Infection rates may have risen in england since the start of the lockdown. The nhs in england has bought hundreds of thousands of oxygen monitors which people with coronavirus
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