pope francis uses his visit to cyprus to liken the fate of people fleeing war and poverty to slavery and torture. hello, and welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we begin in the us state of michigan where, in a rare move, prosecutors have charged the parents of an alleged school shooter with involuntary manslaughter. this was the scene at oxford high school on tuesday. four people were killed and seven injured in the shooting. ethan crumbley was charged as an adult with one count of terrorism causing death and four counts of first—degree murder. authorities have now issued a fugitive warrant forjames and jennifer crumbley. but in a joint statement to the bbc, the family's lawyers said the crumbleys "are not fleeing from law enforcement" and had left town on the night of the shooting "for their own safety." here's the oakland county prosecutor announcing the charges a little earlier. it's imperative we prevent this from happening again. no other parent or community should have to live through this nightmare. i have shared previously, and i will reiterate today, that gun ownership is a right and with that right comes great responsibility. based on the information and evidence i have received, today i'm announcing charges against the shooter's parents, jennifer and james crumbley. the charges are as follows — james crumbley is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. jennifer crumbley is also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. earlier, i spoke to vinoo varghese. he is a wall street criminal defence attorney and former prosecutor. i asked him how unusual these kind of charges against the parents are. well, i've been practising for 22 years, i was a prosecutor for six years, a criminal defence attorney for the last 16. i have not seen a case like this where prosecutors have charged parents for the actions of their children. as you know from that side of the pond, there are school shootings here, they've become commonplace, it seems, to us, but you haven't seen any parents charged. so what this is, though, for the prosecutors is a perfect set of facts. you have the kid trying to buy ammunition, getting caught, the mother telling him not to get caught. you have the situation where they see the drawing the day of — hours — just hours before he shoots, him not being taken out of school. and earlier in the week, the parents bragging about buying this gun for this minor, so you have a lot of facts here for the prosecutor to work with, and i'm actually impressed by both the speed and the simplicity of the charges against them, saying they exhibited gross negligence in supervising their minor. from the other perspective, this is a case for gun rights advocates and they will come hot and heavy. i imagine the defence will be funded by the nra and other groups advocating for this. crosstalk their theory is a simple one. their theory is, "how could i be held responsible "for somebody else�*s actions? "i didn't pull the trigger." so this will be an interesting legal fight. vinoo, you talk about gun rights there — what are the implications in terms of gun control? because, as you say, this is probably going to spark a wider debate, right? absolutely. i mean, right now the united states�* supreme court is deciding whether people can have — carry guns in new york city, right, in my backyard, and whether they can conceal weapons, and that's going to be a big case and have a lot of implications. this is different, though. this isn't about the right to own a gun or whether you can carry it, it's about whether the parents exercised due caution in preventing this from happening. look, the school is also on the hook here. at that appointment, where the parents refused to take the kid, the school should have kicked this kid out, should have checked his bag — there was no reason for them not to have done that, especially when the parents were not cooperating, so the school is going to face tremendous lawsuits. they're not going to be charged criminally, as the prosecutor said in the press conference, but they will face severe and a number of civil lawsuits from this. and where do we go from here? because obviously, you know, a warrant has been put out for the parents�* arrest, right? yeah, i mean, it's an interesting situation. the lawyer said they are not fleeing, that they're going to turn themselves in for the arraignment, that they tried to — they only left because of — they feared for their own safety. we'll see what happens in the next couple of days if they turn themselves in because this is going to be a fight that will be played out for a long time — assuming that they actually sit — stand to face trial. vinoo varghese there. to the coronavirus pandemic now. the chief scientist of the world health organization says the new omicron variant could become dominant around the world. the number of countries detecting the coronavirus variant is increasing every day. but the who also says it's too soon to know if omicron causes a more serious illness, and people shouldn't panic. the surge in south africa, where the variant was first identified, has accelerated further. there were more than 16,000 new cases announced on friday, up from 11,500 the day before. scientists there say the omicron variant appears to spread more than twice as fast as delta, which has so far been as delta, which has so far been a most contagious variant. however, they want that —— they warn that this is a preliminary figure and there is a lot of uncertainty in research. germany announced new restrictions for the unvaccinated on thursday. ireland has announced limits on the size of attendances at indoor events for its entire population, and a restriction of no more than four households socialising in a private home. as more cases emerge, so does the data about the effectiveness of the treatments. here's the world health organization's chief scientist with what we know so far. it's possible that the omicron variant is able to overcome and cause infections, even in previously vaccinated people — we are seeing that now with a lot of previously vaccinated people who are the first to be reported with omicron. however, the fact that they are not getting sick — and again, we have to waitand see — but if they develop only mild illness, that means that the vaccines are still providing protection. here in the uk, the decision to offerjust the pfizer or moderna vaccines as a covid booster appears to have paid off after trials showed that they give the best overall response. seven different jabs were tested. researchers also said there were good signs that the vaccines still protect against the omicron variant. our medical editor fergus walsh reports. amid the gloom over omicron and its potential threat, some encouraging news. it was back in the summer that nearly 3,000 uk volunteers got one of seven different covid vaccines as a booster shot three months after their second dose. thank you very much indeed, everybody. for those boosted with pfizer after two doses of astrazeneca, their antibody levels were 25 times higher than a control group after one month. when pfizer was given after two pfizer shots, antibody levels rose eightfold, but from a much higher initial level. moderna and other combinations also worked well. the study didn't look at omicron. it has mutations in the spike protein, which may make antibodies less able to bind onto it and prevent infection, but the bigger the antibody army, the better. t cells, another part of the immune system, were also significantly boosted. these can spot and destroy infected cells. the study showed boosters worked well against beta and delta variants, so it's likely they will also protect from serious disease with omicron. all of the vaccines actually showed a good t cell response. for the antibodies, moderna and pfizer were very high. we're very hopeful that the vaccines will provide a broad protection against multiple variants, although we can't say for certain at this moment whether they're going to work very well against omicron or not. in south africa, the first real—world evidence has shown omicron may evade some of our immunity — scientists have found a surge in the number of people being reinfected with covid. but we still don't know whether omicron causes more serious illness, and what ability it may have to spread in the uk, where so much of the population is double or triple jabbed. fergus walsh, bbc news. scientists in britain have used gene—editing technology to create female—only and male—only litters of mice. they say their technique could eventually be applied to chickens to ensure that only egg—producing females are hatched. our science correspondent pallab ghosh reports. half of these chicks are useless to the farming industry because they're male and don't lay eggs so they have to be killed. that problem could be solved thanks to a breakthrough that enables scientists to reprogramme animals to produce only females. some 6 to 7 billion male layer chicks are killed every year shortly after birth at a point when they have a nervous system and are capable of suffering. we would like to be able to move to a system where those same eggs are laid, but instead, never hatch. scientists at the francis crick institute in london have found that the system was successful in mice and they think it'll work on chickens. the researchers here have found a way of deactivating a gene involved with embryo development. the system can be programmed to stop either male orfemale embryos from developing using a technique called gene editing. the sex of a mammal is determined by its chromosomes. females have a pair of xs, males have an x and a y. the process involves inserting half the gene—editing molecule into the father's y chromosome, and the other half into the mother's dna. after mating, male xy embryos containing both halves of the gene—editing molecule will not develop, but female embryos will grow normally. gene editing can be used to make other genetic changes. these piglets are resistant to a lung disease that often devastates herds. the government is considering whether to allow the use of the technology by the farming industry. pallab ghosh, bbc news. tens of millions of people are facing severe food shortages across a huge area of east africa as the region faces the worst drought for many years. crops are failing and animals on which many communities depend are dying of thirst. there's been three years of poor rainfall in northern kenya, much of somalia and southern ethiopia. it's feared the drought will continue long into next year, putting millions of lives at risk. the bbc�*s senior africa correspondent anne soy reports from northern kenya. the devastating impact of drought. this is wajir in northern kenya. they've not had enough rain here for three consecutive seasons. water pans have long dried up. there are dead animals everywhere. even at ahmed ibrahim's home. he's 66 and tells me he's never witnessed anything like this. translation: the drought has been going on - for the last nine months. i had 150 heads of cattle, but now left with about 30, which are very weak. i also had 400 goats. i'm only left with these few that you can see. a few times every day, neighbours helped to lift the remaining livestock so they can stretch their already weak muscles. tough decisions he has to make to balance between feeding his family and his livestock. translation: the remaining livestock will continue dying l but the biggest issue is what will people eat? people who have lost everything, what will they eat? that's sadir�*s biggest worry too. the 47—year—old mother—of—six is only left with these goats. livestock are a hard—earned source of livelihood and wealth — losing them leaves them poorer and hungry. translation: i believe god provides, but at this rate, i we're at risk of dying because of starvation. this is the sabuli wildlife conservancy, one of many in northern kenya, and the effects of drought here are all too clear. and that is a very unusual sight — a dead giraffe inside a wildlife conservancy and yet we are told that at least 11 of those have been found within months. and it is notjust giraffes that are affected. it is all wildlife. there's no pasture, there's no water for them. more frequent droughts suggest climate change is already taking its toll in the region. the impact on people is devastating — loss of livelihood and a direct threat to survival. anne soy, bbc news, wajir. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the royal shakespeare company leads the tributes to sir antony sher who's died of cancer at the age of 72. it's quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster are the poor people living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory. i am feeling so helpless that the childrens are dying in front of me and i can't do anything. charles manson is the mystical leader of the hippie cult suspected of killing sharon tate and at least six other people in los angeles. at 11:00 this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. it took the drills just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle. then philippe cozette, a minerfrom calais, was shaking hands and exchanging flags with robert fagg, his opposite number from dover. this is bbc news. our top story: in a rare move, us prosecutors have filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the parents of a teenager accused of shooting dead four students at his school in michigan. talks in vienna aimed at reviving the international nuclear deal with iran have faltered with european diplomats expressing disappointment and concern. they say tehran has "backtracked on diplomatic progress made". iran's top negotiator suggests that his counterparts should come up with their own proposals. talks are due to continue next week. the us secretary of state antony blinken says iran has some very important decisions to make in the days ahead. the window is very, very tight because what is not acceptable and what we will not allow to happen is for iran to try to drag out this process while continuing to move forward in building up its programme. so we've said all along that if the path to a return to compliance with the agreement turns out to be a dead end, we will pursue other options. antony blinken speaking earlier. trita parsi is executive vice president of the quincy institute for responsible statecraft and an expert on us—iranian relations. he says relations between us and iran still look tense despite the new administration of us president biden. the outcome that we saw from vienna is exactly the one that all sides expected — that after five months of a pause, when the new iranian team comes into the negotiations, they are going to take stronger, more forward—leaning positions and the united states and europe are going to reject those, so this is exactly what we expected to happen. the good news is that they have decided to reconvene and to reconvene soon, and it's in the next round that iran data, we will really see whether the appetite for compromise is sufficient on both sides or not. the us and iran are so often coming in topics from completely different angles and so often at loggerheads. is there not a chance that this could be a wasted opportunity for the us to rebuild relations, obviously after the trump administration? certainly. i mean, i think the opportunity that was lost is truly one in which the trump administration withdrew from the deal because, at that point, all sides were living up to the agreement, the iranians were adhering to all of the elements of the agreement, and if it had continued to be successful, there would have been an opportunity to be able to expand onto other issues, other areas of dispute in which tensions between those two countries, but also between iran and neighbouring countries in the region, could be reduced. that opportunity was lost, and now, unfortunately, i think the path that the biden administration chose which is to negotiate its return, rather thanjust returning to an executive order, increasingly looks as if it may have been the wrong path to go forward. you're saying "the wrong path" there — just how different is the current us administration to trump's one? and what have we seen so far that really suggests that maybe they'll take a different path to what trump was doing? well, i mean, first of all, i think the biden administration, i think, had a genuine intent to go back into the agreement. i still think that they do, so in that sense, obviously, they are fundamentally different from trump. but if you're sitting in tehran, if you're an ordinary iranian, you're not seeing any difference because the maximum pressure strategy of the trump administration, all of those sanctions that he reimposed and then added on to those, they're still in effect — biden has not lifted a single one of them, not even as a form of a goodwill gesture to show that he's different — so if you're sitting in tehran, unfortunately, you're not seeing that much of a difference. and in terms of iran, we often talk about a complicated system of governance in iran. just what kind of factions are at play here? are there different sort of factions in terms of the country and what they want to come out of this deal? there certainly are several different factions but what you have in iran right now is a situation in which — levers of power in iran in their own hands, so it is less of a divided government than it was jcpoa actually was being negotiated but this new government, nevertheless, seems to have a bit of a chip on its shoulder and it wants to prove that it can get a better deal, that it will bargain harder than the previous government and mindful of the fact that most of the people who are currently in the iranian negotiating team were not in the negotiating team before, they did not have this experience of negotiating with the united states, there is a lack of experience there that may very well end up to prove to be decisive in a negative way. let's get some of the day's other news. pakistan's prime minister has condemned what he called "a horrific vigilante attack" on a sri lankan man who was lynched after being accused of blasphemy. imran khan said the burning alive of priyantha kumara after he was beaten by an angry mob was a day of shame for pakistan. the us economy created far fewerjobs than expected in november. employers in the world's largest economy added just 210,000 jobs for the month — that's less than half the figure for october. the number of people in work is now 3.9 million below the peak of february 2020. pope francis has addressed thousands of roman catholic worshippers at a football stadium in the cypriot city of nicosia. it's the second day of the pope's trip to the divided island. his visit has focused heavily on the plight of migrants. our rome correspondent mark lowen reports. to the world's last divided capital came a preacher of unity. pope francis on the 35th trip of his papacy held mass in the cypriot capital split between its turkish and greek —— in the cypriot capital nicosia, split between its turkish and greek community for almost half a century. some 7,000 faithful came — mostly domestic workers from the philippines and the middle east among the tiny catholic minority here. and in a country where reconciliation between greek and turkish cypriots have stalled, an appeal for peace. translation: dear| brothers and sisters. in the presence of any personal darkness and the challenges faced by the church and society, we are called to renew our paternity. if we stay divided among each other and everyone only thinks about themselves or their group, if we don't come together, if we don't have dialogue, if we don't work together, we cannot properly healfrom blindness. francis becomes the second pope to visit the country, fractured since 1974 when turkey invaded the north, fearing that greece will attempt to annex the island. many here hope today's politicians will heed the homely. those are the messages we want to hear. and unfortunately, we don't hear them very often. i was honestly very excited because i — listening to stories and videos on the internet about the pope in the vatican city, but i never expected i would see him live in cyprus! beyond politics, migration is the pope's other focus on this trip, leading a service for those who fled to the island. cyprus is a key eu entry point for migrants and refugees and the greek south accuses the turkish north of sending them across the divide. 50 migrants will soon be relocated from cyprus to italy in a papal gesture of welcome. rapproachment was theme, too, of the pope's meeting with the orthodox archbishop aiming to bridge a schism between the two churches that lasted almost 1,000 years. the path of friendship one that pope francis hopes all on this scarred island may eventually take. mark lowen, bbc news. the actor sir antony sher has died aged 72. sir antony, who had cancer, was widely regarded as one of the country's finest contemporary classical actors with a long association with the royal shakespeare company. david sillito looks back at his life. deformed, unfinished, sent before my time into this breathing world, scarce half made up. antony sher�*s richard iii, a scuttling, spidery malevolence. it went beyond mere good reviews to become the portrayal against which all others are measured. when they are gone, then i must count my gains. your hair's nice. howard kirk in the history man, the defining �*70s campus radical. perhaps we should just add his name, say... i think my biggest problem is being young and beautiful. it is my biggest problem, because i have never been young and beautiful. arnold, the drag queen in torch song trilogy, another olivier award—winning role. oh, i've been beautiful. antony sher was also an accomplished writer and painter, but this career had begun with rejection from rada. they sent a letter saying, "we strongly recommend that you think about another career" — which, you know, at that time was, you know, really puts you on the line. gay, jewish, south african — growing, up he felt very —— growing up, he felt very much the outsider. he liked the idea of disguise and his home became the shakespearean stage. many of his greatest roles directed by the man who would become his husband, greg doran. sir antony sher, who has died at the age of 72. looking back at his career was david cilento. but isjust about all from me right now. —— sillito. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @sipusey. thank you so much for watching and do stay tuned right here on bbc news. hello. we have a rather cold and windy weekend to come and there'll be some wet weather at times, especially on saturday — some showers or some showery rain and hill snow. drier for many on sunday. throughout the weekend, though, a chilly wind to contend with. what's going on? low pressure close to scotland as saturday begins will run south through the north sea as the weekend goes on. around it, showers or some longer spells of rain and hill snow, especially on saturday, and it's also dragging in another push of chilly air from the north—west. and it's not what those without power or working to restore power after storm arwen want to hear but it is going to be a rather cold weekend ahead with temperatures starting like this for saturday morning. just a few spots close to freezing, just a hint of frost here and there. there'll be early rain across eastern england clearing away to sunny spells, but then this curl of rain and hill snow through scotland, northern ireland, pushing into more of northern england, wales and the midlands as we go on through the day. north—west scotland starting to brighten up in the afternoon — just a few showers. the far south of wales and much of southern england, a lot of the day is going to be dry. it's blustery wherever you are — these are average speeds. some stronger gusts around particularly western coasts — 40—115 mph or so, so a risk of gales here — so it will feel colder than these temperatures might suggest, which are already down compared with what we had on friday. saturday evening and night, it's central and eastern parts of england with outbreaks of rain. some snow to the higher parts of the pennines and peak district. a few showers in the west but some clear spells, too, and where you have the clear spells, a greater chance of a frost going into sunday morning, especially in the countryside. and on sunday, well, the low pressure's here. for many, it's far enough away to allow a drier day but close to that across especially eastern parts of england, there'll be some outbreaks of rain around. they may just fringe into eastern scotland at times and also push a little further west towards the midlands. much of scotland, northern ireland, wales and the western side of england, bar the odd shower, will stay mainly dry. there'll still be a very brisk north—northwesterly breeze to contend with, so it will feel colder than these temperatures might suggest. and temperatures don't change much in the week ahead and especially during the first half of the week, it looks like we're going to have to contend with more wet and, at times, very windy weather. this is bbc news, the headlines: prosecutors in michigan have charged the parents of a teenager, accused of murdering four students at his high school. james and jennifer crumbley have also been charged with manslaughter. their son ethan carried out the mass shooting, with a semi—automatic pistol bought by his father. the first data on the omicron variant of covid suggests vaccines are less effective at stopping it spreading. scientists in south africa, have reported a huge surge in the number of people being reinfected. it's the first real—world evidence indicating the new variant may evade immune defences. a team of british scientists have used gene editing technology to create female—only and male—only litters of mice. the technique could prevent the destruction of hundreds of thousands of unwanted mammals used in research, and millions of male chickens culled because they don't lay eggs. now on bbc news, tom brada explores the record spike