birthday in this part of italy. the renowned kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter richard leakey has died at the age of 77. his discoveries were crucial in shedding light on the emergence of modern man. richard leakey also took a stand on the front line of the fight against ivory poachers in kenya. the bbc�*s tim allman looks back at his life and career. richard leakey helped tell the story of where we came from, but he was also concerned about where we are going. he made his name in the study of human evolution. his discoveries, including the famous turkana boy skeleton, helped transform our understanding of the origins of humanity. i think africa is beginning to recognise that our heritage is real. i think we're beginning to realise that blue—eyed guys like you, and scandinavians and people from all over the world, are actually a part of the african diaspora. that's powerful. as was his commitment to conservation. in 1989 he was appointed head of kenya's national wildlife agency. his war against poaching symbolised by the public burning of tons of stolen ivory. richard leakey was born in nairobi in 1944, the son of two famous anthropologists. he suffered throughout his life from ill health, battling against cancer and needing a kidney transplant. he lost both his legs in a plane crash and he always suspected foul play, his fight against corruption creating many enemies. but those setbacks never got in the way of his love of scientific discovery and his love of africa. he was described as a visionary whose great contributions to human origins and wildlife conservation will never be forgotten. we will have some recollections and tributes a little later in the bulletin. some developing news: the embattled chinese property developer evergrande has halted the trading of its shares. it's been struggling to raise cash to pay its debts. the suspension of the shares occurred at nine in the morning on monday, hong kong time — that's 0100gmt, without any reason being given. the company previously suspended trading of its shares back in october. it owes more than $300 billion in liabilities and is scrambling to raise cash by selling assets and shares to repay suppliers and creditors. we will keep you updated with this story as it develops. the sudanese prime minister, abdalla hamdok, has announced his resignation six weeks after he was reinstated in a controversial deal with the military. he had been ousted the previous october in a coup, provoking waves of protest. in a televised address on sunday, he said a new roundtable process was needed to reignite sudan's transition to democratic civilian rule. here he is announcing his resignation a little earlier. translation: i have tried my best to stop the country - from sliding towards disaster. sudan is crossing now a dangerous turning point that threatens its whole survival. i have decided to give back the responsibility and announce my resignation as prime minister, to give a chance to another man or woman of this noble country to continue leading our dear nation and help it pass through what's left of the transition period to a civilian democratic country. mr hamdok was speaking after two people were shot dead during demonstrations in the city of omdurman. in the capital, khartoum, security forces fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades at tens of thousands of protesters outside the presidential palace. emmanuel igunza reports. a new year, but the same defiant message. these protesters want an end to military involvement in politics in sudan and for full civilian government to take over power. from early morning, heavily armed security forces cordoned 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 i 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 civilian—led 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 lethal force against protesters and warned that the us was ready to take punitive actions against those who blocked sudan's return to civilian and democratic government. the country has witnessed three years of protests since the downfall of former president and strongman omar al—bashir. the army says it won't tolerate protests, but out on the streets, demonstrators vow not relent. uncertain times for a country on the brink of total collapse. emmanual igunza, bbc news. 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. america's top infectious disease expert, anthony fauci, has warned there is a danger of a surge of hospitalisations later this month. william schaffner is an infectious diseases expert at vanderbilt university school of medicine. thank you very much indeed for your time, william. thank you very much indeed for yourtime, william. let me thank you very much indeed for your time, william. let me ask your time, william. let me ask you that point first of all. would you concur with anthony fauci that hospitals are going to run into trouble again? david, they are already beginning to run into trouble in parts of the united states. here in my own community, cases requiring hospitalisations have begun to rise. not stretched as other parts many people have travelled and had gatherings during this holiday season. that was an opportunity for this virus to be transmitted, and i think as a consequence we will have many more cases — mild, but nonetheless impacting our outpatient services, our clinics and our emergency rooms. but in addition there will be people who are hospitalised. we still have many, many unvaccinated persons, and they are at greatest risk of requiring hospitalisation.— greatest risk of requiring hospitalisation. right, but if we look at _ hospitalisation. right, but if we look at it _ hospitalisation. right, but if we look at it in _ hospitalisation. right, but if we look at it in a _ hospitalisation. right, but if we look at it in a slightly - we look at it in a slightly bigger picture, my understanding is still there are not many examples of fatalities. and so we are in a world where people are— some people are getting a pretty bad time of things, but they are recovering. now, that all ultimately— isn't that, in the bigger picture, something to the good?— bigger picture, something to theuood? ., , , , , the good? undoubtedly, yes. you're exactly _ the good? undoubtedly, yes. you're exactly david. - you're exactly david. fatalities are a lagging indicator, so i am a little bit cautious that they won't rise also, but nonetheless, so far so good. omicron appears to be being transmitted throughout this country, both in the large cities and also in smaller communities. and as i say, at the moment, its major impact is a strain on the healthcare system, and no—one wants to be sick enough to be hospitalised, but nonetheless, fatalities — they are not as bad as they were with delta.— were with delta. right, so we're looking _ were with delta. right, so we're looking at _ were with delta. right, so we're looking at a - were with delta. right, so we're looking at a picture| we're looking at a picture where it very worrying for, particularly, as you say, from your point of view, for health workers as well. they get covid and that exacerbates the problems within hospitals and clinics. but are we heading, do you think, to a world where the impact of the coronavirus is lessened in terms of its sheer strength, and for that reason we are that much closer to getting back to a normal way of living? getting back to a normal way of livin: ? ~ getting back to a normal way of livinu? ~ . v getting back to a normal way of livinu? . fl. ., , living? well, that's certainly ho e, living? well, that's certainly hepe. and — living? well, that's certainly hepe. and we _ living? well, that's certainly hope, and we can _ living? well, that's certainly hope, and we can hope - living? well, that's certainly hope, and we can hope for. living? well, that's certainly l hope, and we can hope for the best but we have to prepare for something less well, less good. so we are continuing to promote vaccination. we don't want the virus itself, the omicron virus, to create all that immunity, because in its wake comes illness, of course. and as we have just said, hospitalisations. but it is possible that perhaps, here in the united states, by the end of january into february, the united states, by the end ofjanuary into february, this virus will have spread so widely and we will have vaccinated so many people that we may actually get ahead of the virus if — it is a large if — there is no other new variant of concern that appears. we have been there before, twice, and each time a new variant has appeared on the scene. so my optimism is cautious. the concern — optimism is cautious. the concern is _ optimism is cautious. the concern is always - optimism is cautious. the concern is always there, i optimism is cautious. the concern is always there, isn't it? thank you very much indeed. here, the uk government is bracing itself for as many as one in four public sector employees to be off work because of covid in the coming weeks. sanchia berg reports. in scotland, pupils have been wearing masks as they learn with the windows open for the last few months. the picture 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 26 january, when it will be reviewed, because we recognise that it is not something that many children would 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 yea rs. so what difference will it make to transmission in the classroom? masks work in several ways. first of all, they cut the virus if you are infected and don't know it. they protect you from getting virus if you're not infected and you don't know that you're talking to someone who's infected. but also the masks, if you wear them, stop you from picking your nose, scratching, picking your lip and self—innoculating that way. so the masks have several benefits, and also if you're wearing a mask, actually people tend to be more careful. but being more careful can come at a price for education. it is helpful for some parts and it is not helpful because when you are asked a question and the teacher doesn't understand what you're saying, you going to have to repeat and repeat until the point where you have to take the mask off and repeat it, and then they'll understand. but it's helpful because the covid is spreading a lot, and it's 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. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: it's their best kept secret. just why do so many southern italians live to over 100? the japanese people are in the mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects, when it was announced he was dead. good grief. after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. around the world, people have been paying tribute to the iconic rock star david bowie, who sold 140 million albums in a career that spanned half a century. his family announced overnight that he died of cancer at the age of 69. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rival. this is bbc news, our top story this hour: the renowned kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter, richard leakey, has died at the age of 77. let's stay with that story now. i've been speaking to professor lawrence martin of stony brook university. he's director of the turkana basin institute, which he helped richard leakey to create — they were close friends. yes, it's a very sad day. not completely unexpected news but a tragic loss for human kind because richard was, as you said, a visionary. his advocacy for the environment and his role in raising scientific awareness about the african origins of humankind were quite an extraordinary contribution. he was also the most wonderful, loyal friend that you could ever hope to meet. i think it would be fair to say that many people got to know him in his campaigning mode, if you like, and he was very forthright, very confident of where he came from, what he stood for. you knew him for a0 plus years. was he always like that? when i first met richard i was just beginning my career as a graduate student. he was already a world—famous scientist and only ten years older than me, he'd been on the cover of time magazine and was the director of the natoinal museums of kenya and had made some fairly monumental discoveries and human origins. and richard was somebody who never doubted his ability to communicate his ideas to other scientists and the public. he would have extraordinary confidence in his scientific mind and his intellect and he was just, he was never nervous. i don't think he ever experienced fear or anxiety ofany kind. he could stand up in front of a crowd in an american football stadium and give a talk to 50,000 people without notes. i never saw him use notes, i never saw him prepare a talk. he was always, his stories were clear, his examples were precise. he just seemed to have a different level of communication ability. he really is a one off. i mean, he was a school dropout and coming from parents who were both palaeontologists that must have been a bit of a shock for them but he seemed to know what has what his route in life was going to be? he did. he always used to say, he was a high school dropout and when he was first hired as a professor in stony brook university he teased the president that she couldn't really be hiring a high school dropout but we always felt that really he had a tutorial education with his parents, world—leading anthropologists and world leading archaeologists, leading geologists and other environmental scientist so richard from the age of three or four was really subjected to the kind of tutorial education that some students still get to enjoy at oxford and cambridge, so i think that by the time he was 16 or 17 he'd had a world class education, it was just done by doing a science rather than by learning about science. lawrence, can i ask you, this is a very difficult question, maybe not a fair one, what was his greatest contribution, do you think in terms of his achievements? because they cover so many fields. yeah, i don't think you can say there's one. i think his service as the first director of the national museums of kenya that became a world class research institution. his role in building the kenyan wildlife service into the world—class anti—poaching force. has advocacy for the environment as evidenced by his 1994 book. has role in promoting human evolution in many ways in the bbc series the making of mankind. and his role in creating the turkana basin institute designed to open up access for scientists from any disciplines from all over the world to this remote under served and challenging but very scientifically fascinating fascinating era. police in south africa say they've arrested a suspect after a massive fire destroyed the national assembly building in cape town. the man is suspected of house breaking, theft and arson. our correspondent nomsa maseko has more from cape town. 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. singing. 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's 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. let's get some of the day's other news. thousands of people have fled their homes in malaysia after seven states were hit by severe flooding. they've been taken to evacuation centres. over the last few weeks, the country has suffered unusually high levels of rainfall — leading to the deaths of 50 people. further heavy rain and high tides are forecast for the next few days. the tunisian ennahda party says its detained vice president, noureddine bhiri, has been transferred to a hospital in a serious condition. there's been no independent confirmation. mr bhiri is said to have been arrested outside his house on friday, and taken to an unknown location. with bird flu outbreaks currently being contained across europe, one strain has made it to israel and decimated a large group of migratory cranes, prompting a cull of other captive birds in the region. stephanie prentice has this report. it wasn't meant to be their final resting place but these birds migrated final resting place but these birds migrated to final resting place but these birds migrated to africa final resting place but these birds migrated to africa make it out of israel's hulu valley after a strain of bird flu took hold of the group. translation: there was no _ hold of the group. translation: there was no other _ hold of the group. translation: there was no other event - hold of the group. translation: there was no other event of - there was no other event of this magnitude in israel. in october they already identified the bird flu in europe and on their way to africa, about 50,000 cranes stopped here to rest and they brought the disease. , . . , disease. they carefully disoosing _ disease. they carefully disposing of _ disease. they carefully disposing of the - disease. they carefully disposing of the body l disease. they carefully - disposing of the body estimate they have cleared around 5000 so far, declaring his nature reserve off—limits in case of human transmission. prime minister naftali bennett says he is working on a more robust plan after local media reported that children may have touched the dead birds and contributed to the spread of the flu. fears about that spread have led to preventative colourings with hundreds of thousands of chickens killed so far, enough to prompt warnings of egg shortages. overall the cull has been called the worst blow to wildlife in the country's history, but there is some good news. experts say they expected more than 20,000 cranes to have died are the lower levels might indicate that containment plans are working. stephanie prentice, bbc news. what is the secret to a longer life? it's an age—old question — and one region in southern italy is being studied by experts for its unusually high percentage of citizens who live past 100. sara monetta has more. hidden in the hills of southern italy lies one of the countries best best kept secret — that of long life. this region that combines mountains and sea, where 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 lives past 100. scientists from the university of san diego have been studying the area for years. but if you ask antonio who's 98 the answer is simple. translation: the peace here is incomparable. - 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. maria carmella just 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 nonna i hear in their voices that they are proud of me. maybe the key to a long life is just that. sara monetta, bbc news. well it seems to work wherever it is in southern italy. maybe you should go therefore your holiday. go to our website for more news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ bbcdavideades. hello. after the record temperatures at new year's eve and new year's day the week ahead is going to feel very different. it is turning colder. nothing exceptionally cold — just the sort of weather we should be getting really at this time of year. and the first signs of that colder air arrives in northern scotland by the morning, follows a band of wet weather that will continue to move its way southwards. ahead of that for much of the uk it is a mild start. and for england and wales there'll be some sunshine, and a few blustery showers too. that band of wet weather moves southwards across scotland, a little sleet and snow in the hills, it turns wetter across northern ireland, some rain arrives into the far north of england. and to the north of that with the northerly wind the air is getting colder. but across most of england and wales we got one more day of mild weather with temperatures in double figures. but instead of the southerly winds that brought those high temperatures over the new year, it's a northerly wind that's going to come pushing down across the whole of the country and drag that colder air southward as well. with the clearer skies developing overnight we're going to have a frost i think, in scotland. in northern parts of england, perhaps northern ireland on tuesday morning. and because the air is getting colder those showers in northern scotland are turning more to snow even to low levels as well. but it's over the higher level routes that there will be some blizzards and drifting with gales or severe gales. we've still got the last of the milder and damp weather to clear away early on tuesday. then we're all in the colder air, cold northerly wind, a few wintry showers coming into some of the western parts of the uk. and of course it will feel much colder. and those temperatures 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 i think on wednesday. those cold winds will tend to ease down, those wintry showers will move away, most places will turn dry and quite sunny. it's still on the chilly side although these temperatures are near normal really for this time of year. and it will get cold very quickly during wednesday evening, wednesday night. ahead of the next weather system that's 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 for a while, particularly in the hills in scotland. then that band of wet weather continues to work its way eastward through the day. it'll be followed by some sunshine and showers. some strong and gusty winds around as well, could make double figures in the south. but no signs of anything any warmer across northern parts of the uk. this is bbc news. the headlines: the renowned kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter richard leakey has died at the age of 77. his discoveries were crucial in shedding light on the emergence of modern man. richard leakey also took a stand on the front line of the fight against ivory poachers in kenya. thousands have protested against the military regime in sudan. the prime minister resigned, urging coup leaders to return to democracy. it comes after another day of mass demonstrations against the military�*s involvement in the country's politics. two people were shot dead during the protests when soldiers used live rounds. america's top covid expert, anthony fauci, is warning there is a danger of a surge in the number of people needing hospital treatment. the omicron strain continues to cause a huge number of infections around the world. now on bbc news, dateline london.