he accidentally killed a crew member on set. a warning that dog owners are pretending their lockdown pets are strays, in order to get rid of them. and the coastal town that's received a £41 million donation from the woman behind fisherman's friend cough sweets. a leading teaching union is calling on the government to introduce tougher covid measures in england's schools and speed up the vaccination of children, amid rising infections. the association of school and college leaders says the first half of the autumn term has left some schools "on their knees", as staff tried to prevent the virus spreading among pupils and teachers. pepe di'lasio is the association's president. it's fair to say this has been the hardest half term that i have ever faced as a teacher and in my years as a leader, it's the most challenging. we have had a very long eight weeks that started back in august when we were doing mass testing and ended yesterday with us vaccinating another 200—300 students in the school and during that time we have seen an increase in the number of students absent from school and the highest infection rate of 12—15—year—olds and more staff off suffering with covid and long covid symptoms, so it has been tough to get through what is now our first half term and we look forward to a winter ahead where we are not really quite sure what is ahead. we just hope the vaccination is a way forward for our young people and our schools. i've been speaking to steve chalke — the leader of oasis community learning, which runs more than 50 schools across the uk. this has been the toughest half term. the problem has been that all of the issues to do with the last 18 months, there is a part of society that tries to put that behind us as though we have emerged from this. i live in london and if you get on the underground, the vast number of people do not wear masks even though you are told to wear masks. so i think people are trying to return to normal but what is happening in our schools but all of those last 18 months at the trauma that has built up in the lives of children, they have not reached the learning stages they would have otherwise, many of them have emotional and social health problems, mental health issues, plus running the school and exams being back, and ofsted inspections, this is huge pressure on top of caring for children. what our staff are crying out for is for ministers to turn the rhetoric of education being central, of young people being sent to and children being central, into policies that keep schools open and keep them safe. and vaccinations and wearing face masks would be two of those. keeping schools open and safe is a tricky balancing act, isn't it? what do you think needs to be done to make sure that can be done more safely? we have schools across the country and in some locations our children all wear masks, secondary schoolchildren, and that is because the local authorities in those areas haven't said it is mandatory. where there is a choice, people don't do it, hence my thing about the underground, in london you go onto any tube station and there is lots of signs saying, it is compulsory to wear a mask but everyone knows it is not compulsory and so most people don't. that is why the government needs to take a lead and they need to speed up the roll—out of the vaccinations for 12—15 —year—olds and they need to take early action to prevent what the headlines say would be the doomsday scenario that christmas is obliterated again. notjust christmas, but the winter, and if schools have to shut, that adds to the mental health long—term issues of children which are already considerable. steve chalke, there. a prominent adviser to the government on covid—19 has said he is "very fearful" there will be another "lockdown a prominent adviser to the government on covid—19 has said he is "very fearful" there will be another "lockdown christmas" this year. professor peter openshaw, a member of the new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group known as nervtag, warned the public they shouldn't wait for ministers to act. well, i am very fearful that we are going to have another lockdown christmas if we don't act soon. we know that with public health measures, the time to act is immediately. there is no point in delaying. if you do delay, then you need to take even more stringent action later. you know, the immediacy of response is absolutely vital if you are going to get things under control. we all really, really want a wonderfulfamily christmas where we can all get back together. if that is what we want, we need to get these measures in place now in order to get transmission rates right down so we can actually get together and see one another over christmas. take matters into your own hands. don't wait necessarily for government policy. i am very, very reluctant now to go into crowded spaces because i know that roughly one in 60 people in a crowded space are going to have the virus. and if you can, cycle to work, don't go on public transport and just, you know, i think do everything possible in your control to try to reduce transmission. don't wait for the government to change policy. the sooner we all act, the sooner we can get this transmission rate down and the greater the prospect of having a christmas with our families. the chancellor's promising to spend nearly £7 billion improving transport in england's city regions outside london, as one of the spending pledges unveiled ahead of this week's budget. rishi sunak, says the "transport revolution" will bring public services in those areas in line with the capital. labour says the government lacks a coherent plan to transform regional economies and tackle the climate crisis. here's our political correspondent helen catt. waiting for the train to arrive. it takes longer in the north of england and the midlands than in london, says the chancellor, and he sees no reason why that should be the case, so he'll confirm next week that england's city regions will get 5.7 billion for them to spend on improving transport. it'll fund projects like a cycle superhighway in west bradford and new battery packs for merseyrail trains in the liverpool region. greater manchester will get just over £1 billion to start its plans to improve connections. some of it will go on new tram carriages for its metrolink services. it's absolutely going in the right direction... 0k. ..but it needs to be consistent year—on—year. i mean, one lump of cash does not make a london—style transport system. it's going to take a decade. £3 billion has previously been committed to improve bus services. rishi sunak will announce that 1.2 billion of that will we used to make fares simpler and cheaper and buses more frequent in some places. i think that it's not so much of a north—south divide, but there are many areas across the whole country that feel left behind and need levelling up. so, areas that have very infrequent bus services, no service in the evenings and the weekends. and these glaring gaps in current provision that need to be addressed. and from buses to babies, the chancellor will also announce a £500 million package to support children and parents. it will include £100 million of mental health support for new mums and dads and those still expecting. there'll be £200 million for the supporting families programme, which helps the most vulnerable. and 82 million to fund family hubs, described as "one—stop shops for advice and guidance". they're similar in some ways to the sure start centres set up under tony blair. hundreds of those have closed since 2010. your viewers will make up their own mind. - is this just a revamp| of an existing policy, and why did they allow sure start centres to wither on the vine? i i can only assume it's- the same approach to allow early—years providers, - at this particular point in time, to go by the wayside. labour says the new plan is a sticking plaster, which rings hollow, but the government says the hubs will be an upgrade on sure start and will help children of all ages and their parents. helen catt, bbc news. vicky nevin from the nspcc welcomed the investment — but said much greater funding was needed for health visitors. it's a very important announcement, an acknowledgement that parents and babies need more support, especially regarding perinatal health. we need to make sure all parents can access these family hubs. so it is important that on wednesday the government also invests in core services, services like health visiting which can reach out to families and make sure that every family has a fair start. we are calling for much greater investment in health visiting and we want to see 33,000 more health visitors. what sort of a difference can health visiting make to those early years? it is very important that every family receives at least five visits that they are entitled to so that parents can spot any concerns and they can build a trusted relationship with the families so they are able to open up about perinatal mental health or any concerns about their child's development and for that to happen you need a consistent health visitor that can build the relationship. but at the moment there has been a cut to public health funding which means we have seen health visiting numbers decline by 30% since 2015 so to make sure that parents are aware of the support that is available to them, to make sure they are being signposted to these family hubs, we need to make sure those core services are funded, as well. how much more do we need? there have been cuts to the services and now it is trying to regain the ground. how far does this go and how much further is needed? to employ another 3000 health visitors would be £500 million in itself so we do need some additional funding on top of this package although we do welcome the fact the package is focusing on mental health because it is so important that parents can provide a nurturing care for their babies so they can grow up healthy and happy themselves. we really appreciate that, but it is about outreach, as well and making sure that health visitors are there to build those trusted relationships. those health visitors can be based in family hubs so when a family comes along and looks for support, it is trusted expert advice, and it is about having the workforce for the hubs as well. thanks forjoining us. saudi arabia — the world's biggest oil exporter — has said it's aiming to cut its carbon emissions to net zero by 2060. crown prince mohammed bin salman said his country would tackle climate change while ensuring oil markets remained stable, so the process would take time. well, the crown prince made the pledge ahead of the climate summit cop26 — which starts in a week's time in glasgow. and the environmental activist greta thunberg has also been speaking ahead of the summit — she has called for honesty from the world leaders about where they are failing to stop climate change. one of the messages that we have is — be honest about where you are, how you have been failing, how you are still failing us, and how they spend their time. instead of trying to find solutions, real solutions, that would actually lead somewhere, that would lead to a substantial change, fundamental change, they seem to spend their time trying to come up with loopholes to find excuses for them. the headlines on bbc news... a leading teaching union calls for tougher action against covid in england's schools, saying staff are "on their knees". a fresh push for people to get their boosterjabs. it comes amid fears over rising coronavirus cases in england. the chancellor's promising to spend nearly £7 billion improving transport in england's city regions outside london, as one of the spending pledges unveiled ahead of next week's budget. sport and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. let's start with football. and it was demolition job at stamford bridge — the stadium still intact... the pride of bottom side norwich perhaps in pieces this afternoon. they were on the receiving end of a 7—0 chelsea thrashing. joe lynskey was watching the action. between chelsea and norwich city, 20 premier league places and several hundred million pounds, and on paper the home side would have it easy, and on the pitch they were extraordinary. mason mount started the thrashing. before today he had not scored in 25 games, and like him, callum hudson—0doi came through the youth ranks, and this clinical start had been made in chelsea. the blues scored a third before half—time and for norwich their top—flight dream is a miserable reality. they have two points and no victories while chelsea now were going clear at the top. now it was a case of how many more to cheer, mason mount would make sure the score would be remembered. first with a penalty and then a tap in. it made it 7—0, chelsea's biggest victory in nine years, and a day that showed the mountain between the bottom of the top. we are into the second half in the 3pm kick offs in the premier league. not going well for leeds at the moment. mick mccarthy has left cardiff city by mutual agreement — after the side's 8th defeat in a row this afternoon — they lost 2—0 to middlesboro in the championship. this afternoon — they lost 2—0 today's loss proving the final blow for mccarthy. martin payero with boro's second here. the former republic of ireland boss has only been in charge since january. and came into the match on their worst run since the 1930s. the loss leaves the bluebirds one place above the relegation zone. it's going to be an historic day at wembley, with england's women playing a competitive match there for the first time, kick off is at quarter past five. northern ireland are the visitors — and both sides have yet to drop a point in qualifying so far. it's obviously maybe something we thought would happen a bit more frequently following on from the germany game, so for it to finally come around and for it to be the first competitive fixture i think is a milestone for us. so, hopefully the performance will match the occasion. although it's massive, it is wembley, it is england, we have a job in hand and we want to get the three points and make this campaign bigger than the last. i think that is what it has come to now. we want to have that feeling again of winning and being in the campaign right to the very end. england are making really light work of the west indies batting line up in dubai. they've been bowled out forjust 55 in the t20 world cup. earlier australia beat south africa by five wickets in the opening match of the super 12 round of the tournament. neither of the sides has won this competition and south africa didn't get off to the best of starts when quinton de kock dismissed himself in bizarre fashion forjust seven runs. aiden markram top scored with a0 as south africa set australia a target of 119. it ended up being a tight contest with marcus stoinis clinching the victory with just two balls to spare. england's men leading 24—10 against france — in the final stages of their match. but the women's team have already thrashed the french. they won 40—4, in the sun in perpignan. super league woman of steel jodie cunningham scored the pick of england's seven tries. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. the actor alec baldwin was told a gun was safe moments before he fatally shot a crew member on the set of his new film. that's according to new documents filed as part of the on—going police investigation into the killing in new mexico. 0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. emergency phone call: accidentally i shot on a movie set by a prop gun. i we need help immediately. that call to the emergency services, the first public indication of the tragic events that had unfolded in the foothills of northern new mexico. police arrived to find halyna hutchins — an up—and—coming cinematographer — dead, and the film's director, joel souza, badly hurt. their injuries inflicted by the film's star, alec baldwin who — according to court documents — was handed a gun he was told was safe to use, but which was in fact loaded with a live round. in a statement, alec baldwin said he was cooperating with the police investigation. this is not the first tragedy of its kind. nearly 30 years ago, on the set of the film the crow, brandon lee — the son of martial arts expert bruce lee — died after being shot by a gun firing blanks. safety standards have been tightened on film sets since then, but on the family twitter account, brandon's sister, shannon, posted the message, "no—one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set, period." unconfirmed reports suggest that several crew members walked off the set in new mexico only hours before halyna hutchins died, in protest at working conditions and concerns about safety. as detectives comb the set for clues, the key question facing them is, how did a live round end up in a gun fired by alec baldwin? david willis, bbc news, los angeles. the us military says it has killed a senior al-qaeda leader in a drone strike in north—west syria. a us central command spokesman said that abdul hamid al—matar had been successfully targeted using a reaper drone. police believe a four—year—old girl who disappeared almost a week ago in the australian outback was abducted from her tent. a reward of a million australian dollars — which is more than half a million pounds — has been offered for information on her disappearance. the bbc�*s sydney correspondent phil mercer explained the details surrounding this case. i think this reward, this huge 1 million australian dollar reward, is pretty unusual to be offered so early in an investigation. it is an indication, i think, as to how worried the authorities are about cleo smith. she was last seen on a family camping trip about 550 miles to the north of perth just over a week ago and the authorities are of the belief that she was taken sometime during the night. a brief timeline — the family arrived at this campsite north of perth. the young girl went to bed at about eight o'clock in the evening. at 1:30 in the morning she woke up for some water. at 6:00am — so a few hours later — she was gone. and what leads the authorities to believe she was snatched during the night is that the zip had been opened, apparently to a height well beyond that of a four—year—old girl. this is a massive search. the search near the campsite has now been wound down, it is now a broader criminal investigation, not only spanning the state of western australia, which is about ten times the size of the united kingdom, but this is a nationwide hunt for four—year—old cleo smith. and the authorities in western australia say that her suspected abduction strikes right at the heart of the community. but they do have grave fears for her safety. it's been estimated that uk households bought more than 3 million pets during lockdowns — but some dog owners are now abandoning their pets as normal life resumes. rescue charities say their shelters are being filled, and owners are pretending their dogs are strays in order to get rid of them more easily. sarah rosserfrom the hope rescue centre in wales says staff have been dealing with many "fake strays". the fake stray phenomenon is not a new thing but we have never seen it at the levels that sadly we are experiencing at the moment. sometimes we might have owners who are on the waiting list, waiting for a space and then we see that dog turned up at the centre as a stray and we also are getting in a number of dogs who are then turning out to have been on sale on gumtree a few days prior, and then they have not been able to sell them and then have brought them into us, pretending they are a stray. how do you go about tackling the issue? is it a case of getting the message out so you can get enough people adopting these former pets? i think so. the biggest message we want to get across to people is that we do understand that there may be genuine reasons why you need to rehome your dog but if you are struggling with behaviour, for example, try to engage with a behaviourist and wait for there to be a rescue space. ring around, get on their waiting lists. when you abandon a dog in this way it puts so much pressure on the system and it also means that we have no history on the animal. so we are starting from scratch with their assessments and with their veterinary treatment rather than having some history which would really benefit that dog going into a new home. is there a concern that centres willjust get full and there will be nowhere for them to go? it is a concern for us at the moment because we are definitely in a crisis. we have never had as many dogs coming through our doors, people asking for help, so we are spending a lot of time trying to utilise our resources in the best way possible, engaging with more foster homes and working hard on some of the dogs we have got coming into us with quite complex needs. some "soothing" news now... a small coastal community has been left £41 million in the will of one of its locals. doreen lofthouse was part of the fishermen's friend cough sweet empire and left the money to a charity dedicated to revitalising fleetwood, a lancashire town where fisherman's friend's operations are based and where she grew up. fleetwood town council's vice chairman mary stirzaker told us about doreen lofthouse. she was the mother of fleetwood, an incredible woman. she has donated so much to the town during her life. improving things for fleetwood and its visitors. it has been incredible and i don't know what fleetwood would have done without her, to be honest. she has invested in the promenade and in the pavilion, she has given an eros statue on the roundabout, pointing people towards the town. her business has employed a lot of fleetwood people throughout their lives and i just hope this continues. this money will mean her legacy, people will never forget doreen lofthouse. she was our mother. she looked after the town and she never forgot her roots. she came from shop girl to global enterprise leader. she just put fleetwood on the map and this money, hopefully, will mean her legacy will continue. a species of giant owl that had become something of a holy grail for birdwatchers, has been spotted in the wild for the first time in a 150 years. there hadn't been any sightings of the "shelley's eagle 0wl" since the 1870s — that was until this week, when scientists from imperial college london interrupted one during its daytime nap in a forest in ghana. the pair only saw the bird for about ten seconds — just enough time to get this photograph. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. turning wet across more of western scotland. quite a wet evening and night to come in northern ireland and for the rest of the uk plenty of cloud even though you may not see much in the rain from it, but for western scotland, some areas will see some travel disruption. windy with the rain. for northern ireland, the rain pushing in to wales and the western side of england, a mild night to come. tomorrow, outbreaks of rain slipping south—east through wales and england, becoming increasingly patchy and showery, parts of east anglia and the south—east. for scotland and northern ireland a much brighter day, may be some showers, occasionally thundery, and still quite windy out there. average speeds, some gusts around 30—a0 mph, but still a mild day and temperatures may end up a bit higher tomorrow, up to around 16. goodbye. hello, this is bbc news with luxmy gopal. the headlines... teachers call for tougher action against covid in england's schools, saying staff are "on their knees". a senior government adviser on covid warns the uk could face another lockdown at christmas and tells people they shouldn't wait for ministers to take action do everything possible in your control to reduce transmission, don't wait for the government to change policy. the sooner we all act, the sooner we can get the transmission rate down and the greater the prospect of having a christmas with our families. the chancellor's promising to spend nearly £7 billion improving transport in england's city regions outside london, as one of the spending pledges unveiled ahead of next week's budget. ministers promise half a billion pounds to support families in the budget, but the labour party calls it a ”smokescreen”. court documents show alec baldwin was told that a prop gun was safe, in the moments before he accidentally killed a crew member on set. a warning that dog owners are pretending their lockdown pets are strays, in order to get rid of them. now on bbc news, it's time for the media show, with katie razzall. hello. heat pumps, decarbonisation, the paris agreement, net zero. less than two weeks to go until cop26, we have been deluged with jargon. how much do you understand about climate change? do you know what cop stands for? conference of the parties if you don't. we are asking what role the media has in educating us about climate change. maybe you feel hectored rather than informed or feel the media is not going far enough if we now face an existential crisis — should journalists dispense with objectivity and become activists? let me introduce our panel. daniela chiarett is environment reporter at brazil's biggest financial newspaper, valor economico. natasha clark is the environment correspondent for the sun.