that shed light on human evolution — has died aged 77. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the south african authorities say that a massive fire inside the parliament building in cape town has completely destroyed the national assembly. police have arrested a forty—nine year old suspect, and charged him with theft and arson. the building was empty for the new year holidays and there've been no casualties. president cyril ramaphosa, who earlier visited the scene, described the fire as devastating. our correspondent nomsa maseko has more from capetown. an historic building on fire. plumes of smoke engulfing south africa's parliament. within hours, the fire tore through the complex and completely destroyed the main debating chamber. sirens. more than 60 fire fighters battling to extinguish the blaze. the damage is significant and there are fears that some parts of the structure which was built in the late 1800s could collapse. the entire parliamentary complex is severely damaged, waterlogged and smoke damaged. so there is going to be damage extensively. the roof above the old assembly chamber, the old assembly hall, is completely gone. many high—profile south african politicians including president cyril ramaphosa were in cape town for the funeral of archbishop desmond tutu, which took place at st george's cathedral, a block away from the parliament precinct. this is devastating news. it is a terrible and devastating event. particularly after we gave the arch what i would call the best sendoff yesterday. the minister responsible for government infrastructure said fire fighters managed to contain the blaze from spreading further. this is a very sad day for our democracy because parliament is the home of our democracy and parliament is also a strategic, a key point. the building was empty for the new year holidays and no casualties were reported. this is the second fire in south africa's parliament in less than ten months. the first was caused by an electrical fault. this time around, a suspect has been arrested and faces charges of arson, housebreaking, and theft. he is expected to appear in court on tuesday. nomsa maseko, bbc news. the sudanese prime minister, abdalla hamdok is resigning, less than two months after being reinstated as part of an political agreement with the military. he has called for a new round table process, to come to a new agreement for sudan's political transition to democracy. it comes after another day of mass protests against the military�*s involvement in the country's politics. in the city of omdurman, two people were shot dead during the demonstrations when soldiers used live rounds. in the capital, khartoum, tens of thousands of protestors confronted security forces at the presidential palace, who fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades. emmanuel igunza has this report. a new year, but the same defiant message. these protesters want an end to military involvement in politics in sudan, and forfull civilian government to take over power. from early morning, heavily armed security forces cutting off the capital khartoum. roads and bridges leading into the presidential palace were sealed off, but, undeterred, the protesters marched on, but only so far. they were quickly dispersed by security forces. translation: revenge is something generally associated _ with any military coup. this will only push the sudanese youth to continue their path to achieving all their demands. just last week, six protesters were shot dead by police. hundreds of others were injured, some critically. this has further angered the protesters. translation: | think _ the international community does not have the final say. the street has the final say, and the international community can move according to what the street wants. this protest began last october after the military announced a coup against the sudanese government of prime minister abdalla hamdok. despite reinstating him back a month later, the military leaders have faced growing demands to leave power. meanwhile, us secretary of state anthony blinken has condemned the use of political force against protesters and one ——warned that the us was ready to take punitive actions against those who blocked sue dann�*s return to civilian and democratic government. the country has witnessed three years are pretty since the downfall of former president and strongman, alba share. the government says they won't tolerate protest but out on the streets demonstrators do not relent, and uncertain times for a country on the brink of total collapse. turning now to the coronavirus pandemic — where the omicron strain continues to cause a huge number of infections around the world. although the variant appears to be less likely to leave people needing hospital treatment — the sheer scale of cases is starting to place more pressures on health systems. here's america's top infectious disease expert, antony fauci, on the recent spike in cases in the us. and the virus does seem to have a lower intrinsic pathogenicity to it, we hoping that's the case, but having said that, george, i want to say one thing. we've got to be careful about that, because even if you have a less of a percentage of severity, when you have multi—, multi—, multifold more people getting infected, the net amount is that you are still going to get a lot of people that are going to be needing hospitalisation. let's take a look at the latest data on confirmed new infections from some of the worst—affected countries, all are lower than in previous days, but that could be a factor of the new year public holiday. italy has announced 61,406 new cases on sunday. that's down from more than 140,000 a day earlier. in france, there were 58,1132 new infections — much lower than the figure of over 200—thousand which was reported in each of the last four days. the uk only has figures from england and wales — there were 137 thousand 583 new infections recorded, in the latest 24—hour period — again much lower than over the past week. the uk government is bracing itself for as many as one in four of public sector employees being off work because of covid. it has responded to the rise in infections by re—introducing masks and face coverings in secondary schools in england — bringing it in line with the rest of the uk. with the details, here's sanchia berg. in scotland, pupils have been wearing masks as they learn with the windows open for the last few months. the picture is similar now in northern ireland and wales. next week, english secondary students will follow suit as the government tries to reduce the spread of covid in schools. around half of children over 12 have been double—jabbed, not enough to keep the virus out. the face coverings is very much a short—term measure, simply to the 26th of january, when it will be reviewed because we recognise it is not something many children will want to wear. it recognises the priority of ensuring face—to—face education is made available, that's our number one priority. some are worried that this could affect children's learning, which has been so disrupted for the last two years. so what difference will it make to transmission in the classroom? masks work in several ways. first of all, they trap the virus, if you are infected and don't know it. they protect you from incoming virus if you are not infected and don't know that you're talking to someone who is infected. but also, the masks, if you wear them, stop you from picking your nose, scratching and picking your lip and self—inoculating that way. so the masks have several benefits and also if you are wearing a mask, it is actually, people tend to be more careful. but being more careful can come at a price for education. it's helpful for some parts and it's not helpful because when you're asked a question and the teacher doesn't understand what you're saying, they're going to have to tell you to repeat and repeat, until the point where you have to take your mask off and repeat it, and then they'll understand. but it's helpful because the covid is spreading a lot and affecting a lot of people in the uk. nobody wants another lockdown, where even with support from schools children fall behind with their lessons, become vulnerable, isolated, even put at risk. but across england, head teachers are looking at contingency plans. they will only know next week whether to put them into effect when they can see how many staff and pupils are absent with omicron. sanchia berg, bbc news. natalie perera is ceo at think tank the education policy institute — i asked her whether she welcomed the wearing of face coverings for secondary school pupils. i think it's right that the government is now taking this step to prioritise keeping schools open. and it is important as far as possible we can do everything to keep schools open. for three reasons, firstly, because we know that over the course of the pandemic there's been considerable learning loss amongst pupils. particularly those in secondary and particularly those in secondary and particularly those from disadvantaged families. we also know that keeping schools open is important for young peoples well—being which is fallen over the course of the pandemic. also to keep those vulnerable peoples who are otherwise at risk of slipping through the net if they are not able to go to school and have daily contact with their teachers. and face coverings are one mitigation that the government is taking to reduce the risk of transmission. and ideally to reduce people and teacher absence from school. and that's important because we saw those absence rates increased quite significantly in december as the new variant began to take hold.— significantly in december as the new variant began to take hold. yeah, we don't know how _ variant began to take hold. yeah, we don't know how much _ variant began to take hold. yeah, we don't know how much the _ variant began to take hold. yeah, we don't know how much the christmas | don't know how much the christmas holidays will have acted as a fire break given how transmissible omicron is. obviously most schools if they were getting their pupils in on the first couple of days of term to do lateral flow tests in school we will hopefully be able to establish who is negative and who is positive and therefore try to curb cases rising right from the outset. how concerned are you, especially for those peoples in exam years, years 11 and 13 about the possible impact on their futures? incredibly concerned- — impact on their futures? incredibly concerned. the _ impact on their futures? incredibly concerned. the government - impact on their futures? incredibly concerned. the government is - impact on their futures? incredibly concerned. the government is still planning to go ahead with exams for era leavens and yet their genes at the moment. we think that's the right decision with some adjustments being made. but if we do end up with a situation where there are increasingly high rates of people absence are indeed full of school closures then they may need to review that decision. i think what's really important is the government also looks again at its overall education recovery package. they've so far made available just under £5 billion for education recovery. which is not insignificant but it's very short of what we think is required which is closer to 13 and a half billion in order to get education back on track. [30 half billion in order to get education back on track. do you think it will _ education back on track. do you think it will be _ education back on track. do you think it will be potentially - think it will be potentially difficult for some schools in some instances to manage this, to manage the task of making sure that their pupils to wear a mask? obviously a secondary school age the majority of these children will be able to fully understand why mask wearing is being asked of them. what do you think it nonetheless may be difficult for some schools do matter is this? i think it will be difficult. it's another measure that schools are having to now introduce alongside making sure pupils are tested and staff are testing frequently and managing both people and staff absences. what we've seen over the course of the pandemic is that schools and school leaders have been incredibly resilient and have adopted really well to everything that has been thrown at them. the introduction of face coverings in the classrooms in england, it's not ideal but if it means that schools can for the most part stay open and we can avoid more school closures andindeed we can avoid more school closures and indeed a return to online learning that i think that's a measure that worth being implemented.— measure that worth being implemented. measure that worth being imlemented. �* , ., , , implemented. and will you see this measure as — implemented. and will you see this measure as a _ implemented. and will you see this measure as a lesser— implemented. and will you see this measure as a lesser evil, _ implemented. and will you see this measure as a lesser evil, if - implemented. and will you see this measure as a lesser evil, if i can i measure as a lesser evil, if i can call it that, then the possibility of lost learning covered lost opportunities to socialise and see their friends, opportunities to socialise and see theirfriends, etc? opportunities to socialise and see their friends, etc?— opportunities to socialise and see their friends, etc? yes, absolutely. hoefull their friends, etc? yes, absolutely. h0pefully this— their friends, etc? yes, absolutely. hopefully this will _ their friends, etc? yes, absolutely. hopefully this will be _ their friends, etc? yes, absolutely. hopefully this will be a _ their friends, etc? yes, absolutely. hopefully this will be a fixed - their friends, etc? yes, absolutely. hopefully this will be a fixed term i hopefully this will be a fixed term measure and won't be required for the longer term. if it can keep schools open, can keep young people learning, particularly in those important exam years that is likely to be worth it. the omicron variant has contributed to air crew sickness which as forced the cancellation of more than four thousand flights worldwide. the tracking website flightaware.com says that more than half of the grounded flights were headed to or from the united states. lori aratani is a reporter focusing on transport issues for the washington post. i asked her which us airports have been affected the most. right now we have storms in the midwest so our hubs are in chicago and denver are hit hard. and it landed which is one of the busiest airports in the world has also been hit. airlines are doing their best to try and get crew position but there have been short staffed and rushing to hire since letting a lot of people go during the pandemic and a lot of early retirements. they are offering a lot of incentives for people to take on overtime shifts but the problem is, if folks are infected with the virus and can't work they simply can't work regardless of how much money you offered them. a lot of airlines jetblue for example in alaskan airline which was hit earlier in the week when they have had snow in seattle last sunday have encouraged people, they've got their flight schedules, they've encourage people who don't absolutely have to travel to put off travelling. to try to free up seats for those who are trying to get back home. the south korean military says it has carried out a search operation after a man crossed the border into north korea. the circumstances of the apparent defection are unclear, but a military source said the unnamed man crossed from the demilitarised zone into the north on saturday evening. the office of south korea'sjoint chiefs of staff said it could not confirm whether the person was still alive. soo kim is a policy analyst at the think tank rand and a former cia analyst. she explains what could be the motivations behind this unusual incident. i think the instinctual response she would have is what was the intention of the person who is crossing, nor from north to south but the other way around? one speculation i think is that it could be as the old fashion way of doing things north korean spy perhaps going back into north korea on new year's day. the other possibility i think is the south korean citizen so they say, perhaps by accident. i don't think that's also a possibility because the gmc is know to be one of the most fortified border in the world. were talking about over 2 million landmines, watchtowers and of course the south korean military manning the south korean military manning the place 20 a7. so for this vast area of 2.5 miles to be unattended or i guess, not unattended but do not actually have been able to detect either technology or through shared manpower is notjust implausible but i think there's something else behind it. it could be a question about perhaps inadequate training or maybe that soldiers were lax in terms of what they should've been doing during this critical time. they've had three hours basically to detect and to preempt this person from crossing. on all three occasions they didn't do anything about this. there's a question about whether this is a matter of technology or this is a matter of technology or this is a matter of manpower. lebanon is starting the year in a state of paralysis. its cabinet hasn't met for two months, the currency continues to lose value and the investigation into 2020's port blast in beirut has stalled, amid deep political divisions. elections are due this year but arguments over the date have led to fears they won't happen at all. our middle east correspondent anna foster reports. gunfire. for lebanon, the last year has been a fight for survival. a battle for a dwindling supply of medicines, for electricity, as the country descended into darkness, and even for the most basic goods like food and fuel. in october, seven people died in violent clashes that took a generation back to the civil war. the hours of fighting here that day were sparked by rows about the investigation into 2020's devastating beirut port explosion. influential political figures have fought hard against giving evidence and that means the investigation has been suspended again and again. for survivors and bereaved families, there is still no closure. hiam's son ahmed was one of more than 200 people who died. lebanon spent more than a year without a government. the one it finally got, back in september, has achieved little. the currency has lost more than 90% of its value and thousands of families are living in poverty. in the next few months, there should be elections but political parties can't agree on the date and there are fears they won't happen at all. what we feel and what we sense is that the political class is a big opponent of these elections because this might change the ruling parties and this might bring in a new blood to the parliament which mightjeopardise the power of these political parties. the international community has made it clear that it won't help lebanon until the country helps itself. based on the last year, the prospects for the next one look bleak. anna foster, bbc news, beirut. kenya's president uhuru kenyatta has led the tributes to the world—renowned conservationist richard leakey, who has died, at the age of 77. dr leakey was also celebrated for his paleontology work — including research into early humans. here he is speaking about the dangers he faced because of his conservation work in kenya, tackling the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn, during an appearance on the bbc hardtalk programme, with stephen sackur, in 2015. you've talked yourself about the degree to which, you know, thanks to some of the things you said, particularly about the wildlife issue in kenya, you've had people out to kill you. well, if you pick on criminals in england, you don't think they are looking for ways to get even with you? come on, this is normal human behaviour. if a strong guy comes up and fingers you, and you lose your, not only your career but your source of money, of course you're going to be unpopular. but you're not unpopular because you are white, you are unpopular because you pulled the plug on their scheme. it would happen here just as easily, and i haven't been picked on because i'm white, i've been picked on as an individual who said, "enough�*s enough, stop stealing the resources "of our country". people looking at you who don't know your incredible life story won't know... i mean, obviously you've had lots of health issues but they won't know, for example, that you lost both your legs in a plane crash in 1993. your light aircraft, the engine just cut out. you've always said that you believe that plane was sabotaged, but do you have proof of that? i have no proof that it wasn't and i have no proof that it was and i've always said what happened happened and we need to move forward. i still have reasonable grounds for thinking that it was interfered with. could i take anyone to court? do i want to follow it up? most certainly not. but do you, in your own mind, think you know who was responsible? yes, i think i know and you'll remember, after that, i went on to run the government for president moi and i talked to security services, intelligence services. yes, i've got a pretty good idea, but the point is we've got to move forward, stephen, we can't move backwards and, remember, the legs could have lost me, and they didn't. the conservationist richard leakey, who has died at the age of 77. if a healthier lifestyle is among your new year's resolutions, this next story is for you. this region in southern italy is being studied by experts for its unusually high percentage of citizens who live past 100. what's their secret, you may ask? sara monetta has more. hidden in the hills of southern italy lies one of the countries best kept secret that of long life. this region that combines mountain nc will life seems stuck in a less chaotic simpler past. people here live on average ten years longer than other italians and about one resident in ten this past 100. scientists from the university of san diego have been studying the area for years. but if you ask antonio is 98 the answer is simple. translation: the peace here is incomparable - for the people say hi, they know each other, they talk to each other. healthy food, pristine environment, lack of pollution are all believed to play a role. but also family. shejust turned 100, she says she never spends a day without her grandchildren. translation: | love all my - grandchildren and they love me. they cherish me. every time they call me nona i hearing the voices that they are proud of me. maybe the key to a long life is just that. you're watching bbc news. after the record new year's eve and new year's day the weekend is good feel very different. it is turning colder. nothing exceptionally cold just the sort of whether we should be getting really at this time of year. the first time of this colder air arise in year. the first time of this colder airarise in north year. the first time of this colder air arise in north scotland by the morning follows a band of wet weather that will continue to move its way southwards. i the head of that for much of the uk it is a mild start. and for england and wales though be some sunshine, few blustery showers. that weather move south across scotland, a little sleet and snow and hills, turns weather across northern iran, some rain arrives to the bar of north england was up to the north of that with the northerly when the air is getting colder. across most of england and wales we got more days with temperatures in double figures with temperatures in double figures with them instead of the southerly winds that brought those high temperatures of the new year's is a northerly when that's going to come pushing down across the whole of the country and drag a colder air southward as well. with the clearest quys southward as well. with the clearest guys developing overnight will have a frost in scotland, i think. northern part of it would perhaps on an island on tuesday morning. because the air is getting colder though showers in northern scotland are turning more to snow into low levels as well. it's over the higher levels as well. it's over the higher level roots that they will be blizzards are drifting and gales are severe gales with the last of the milder and damp weather to clear away early on tuesday. then we are all in the colder air, cold northerly wind wintry showers coming into some of the western parts of the uk. of course it will feel much colder. those temperatures that can be quite a shock to the system when you consider how mild it has been of late. we start with a little more frost more widely on wednesday. those cold winds will tend to ease down, those wintry showers will move away, most places will turn dry and quite sunny. still on the chilly side although these temperatures are near normal for this side although these temperatures are near normalfor this time side although these temperatures are near normal for this time of year. it will get cold very quickly during wednesday evening, wednesday night. head of the next weather system that sweeping in from the atlantic. that will bring with it some stronger winds as it's moving into colder air, could be a bit of snow particularly in the hills in scotland. the band of what weather continues to work its way eastward through the day. it will be followed by some sunshine and showers was a strong and gusty winds around as well, could make double figures in the south. no signs of anything warmer across northern parts of the uk. hello. this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment — first the headlines. secondary school pupils in england are being asked to wear face masks in classrooms to reduce the spread of omicron. warnings of a worst case scenario of quarter of staff in the public sector being off work because of covid. government minsiters say there's nothing in the current covid government ministers say there's nothing in the current covid data to suggest more restrictions are required in england. fire engulfs the parliament building in south africa after its sprinkler system failed. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are tony grew who's a parliamentaryjournalist and journalist and broadcaster caroline frost. tomorrow's front pages. according to the guardian — the government has told head