and we'll be finding out why so many people live to 100 in this part of southern 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 evolution of modern man. richard leakey also took a stand in 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 tonnes 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 a close friend giving a tribute later in the programme as well. stay with us for that. some developing news now: the chinese property giant evergrande has suspended trade in its shares as investors await news on its restructuring plan. a statement to the hong kong stock exchange did not give a reason for the move, but the company has more than $300 billion of debts. last week evergrande dialled back plans to repay investors in its wealth management products. let's get more on this from mariko oi in singapore. thank you forjoining us. what we know about this decision? well, david, as you said, the company didn't say why its shares are being suspended. and i have to say, for many months now it's been incredibly difficult to know what's happening with evergrande. but if you speak to experts who have been watching china closely, this is exactly how beijing wants to handle its debt crisis. because remember, it was the chinese communist party which change the rules as to how much money those developers could borrow, and it is pretty obvious that they knew that evergrande and other developers would be in trouble, but they wanted to send a clear message that what they considered reckless expansion of the sector could not continue, and they didn't want to bail out evergrande or its billionaire founder, for that matter, because it would go against the common prosperity slogan that president xi has repeatedly talked about to fairly distribute the wealth across the country. at the same time, beijing wants to avoid this becoming china's lima moment, which would affect the rest of the economy and beyond. so as opaque as it seems to the rest of us, evergrande continues to be restructured rather quietly, slowly, with the supervision of the chinese authorities, and we will probably hear bits and pieces, but we won't have this massive news headline, if you like. know, and as you say, if we don't know the direct reason, we have to be a bit careful about what one might speculate. the point, though, mariko, surely is also this. it is the biggest of the second—biggest developer in china. it is absolutely huge. there are a vast number of individuals and businesses and building companies who have an awful lot invested in its success, so if it were to go under, it would be difficult to avoid the sort of tremors across the economy, wouldn't it?— wouldn't it? exactly, and that is why beijing _ wouldn't it? exactly, and that is why beijing wants - wouldn't it? exactly, and that is why beijing wants to - wouldn't it? exactly, and that is why beijing wants to make | is why beijing wants to make sure that it doesn'tjust collapse. it's been very clear that their priority is the ordinary citizens who may have bought property units from achara to, for example. so the company and authorities have repeatedly said that they will finish those units so that those who invested in the company's property will get the money back. when it comes to offshore investors, overseas investors, they are probably less of a priority for them because defaulting on some of its debts wouldn't exactly create a financial uproar, if you like. so one analyst that i've spoken to has actually described this as beijing being a surgeon, making sure that what needs to be saved and what can actually be let go, so that the company's huge debt, as you said, $300 billion worth of it, could be controlled in a controlled manner. thank you very much _ controlled manner. thank you very much indeed. _ controlled manner. thank you very much indeed. the - controlled manner. thank you very much indeed. the latest| controlled manner. thank you i very much indeed. the latest in what is really now an ongoing saga for evergrande. 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. 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 0mdurman. 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. the 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. these protests 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 to relent. uncertain times for a country on the brink of total collapse. emmanuel 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 diseases expert, dr anthony fauci, has warned there is a danger of a surge in hospitalisations later this month. well, earlier i spoke to dr peter hotez, who is co—director of the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital. i asked whether he shared chief medical advisor anthony fauci's prediction that hospitalisations could become a serious problem in the us. well, they actually already are a problem. we're seeing about a 50%—60% increase in hospitalisations in new york city and washington, dc, which is really the first component of this omicron wave here in the united states. now, it's less than what one might expect given the number of cases, but it's still substantial, and what we have here with omicron is a 1—2 punch. you have this rise in hospitalisations, which are still substantial, but at the same time a lot of the healthcare workforce is getting knocked out now. not very sick, but sick enough to be at home with breakthrough covid infection. and we've seen for the last two years in the us mortality rises even further when there's a surge on the emergency rooms, and they get overwhelmed, or our intensive care units. so that's the danger really of omicron, is just the sheer numbers and simultaneously knocking out a component of the healthcare workforce. and in a way one of the huge frustrations, isn't it — that you might be a healthcare worker who feels frankly just a bit off—colour, and under other circumstances you would not think twice about it. but you have no choice — you can't go into work. that's right, and we have the added problem, of course — other aspects are being disrupted. so the transportation hub, of course, lots and lots of airline cancellations because ground crew is out or air traffic controllers are out. but also essential services — emergency personnel are also out of the workforce now, and we do not have all the tools we should have, we do not have the paxlovid it's at least not in sufficient quantities — and two of the three monoclonal antibodies that we had in hospitalformulas no longer working against omicron. so for those very unique reasons, even though in principle this should not be as severe as other variants, overall, the big picture is it is just as severe because of all the social disruptions and the impact on our health system. that's an interesting point you make. over here in england, the government is talking about "prepare yourself for one in four public sector workers to be out of action," for example. you're probably going to get a similar sort of figure wherever you are. and as you say, the potential knock—on for an economy and a society is still huge. that's right, and of course, it's happening when everyone is exhausted and totally fed up with this pandemic here in the united states, as is the situation in the uk. and we have this little thing coming up called january 6th, which is going to add additional instability so this could be a very difficult couple of weeks here in this country. stay with us on bbc news. just why do so many southern italians live to over 100? we italians live to over 100? give a bit of an insight into we give a bit of an insight into an age—old secret. 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 rivals. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: 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 in new york. he is 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 very unwelcome news. it's 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, when 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, around only ten years older than me, he'd been on the cover of time magazine and was the director of the national museums of kenya and had made some truly monumental discoveries in human origins. and richard was somebody who never doubted his ability to communicate his ideas to other scientists and to the public. he would have extraordinary confidence in his scientific mind and his intellect, and he wasjust, 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, but he was always, his stories were clear, his examples were precise. he just seemed to have a different level of communication ability than is common in people. i mean, yeah, 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 his route in life was going to be then? he did. and he always used to say, well, he was a high school dropout and when he was first hired as a professor at 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 — worlds—leading anthropologists, worlds—leading archaeologists — most of his parents' friends were leading geologists and other environmental scientists, 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 what you think his — i mean, 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 a world—class anti—poaching fighting force. has advocacy for the environment as evidenced most clearly by coining the phrase "the sixth extinction" in his 1994 book. has role in promoting human evolution, most notably, in many ways, through the bbc making of mankind series from he 1980s. and finally, his role in creating the turkana basin institute, designed to open up access for scientists from many disciplines and from all over the world to this remote, under served and very challenging but scientifically fascinating era. professor lawrence martin on richard leakey, his friend, who has died at age 77. a man has been charged in connection with a major fire at south africa's houses of parliament. the blaze totally destroyed part of the complex in cape town. nomsa maseko reports. 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. nomsa maseko, bbc news, cape town. 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. twitter has permanently suspended the account of the republican us congresswoman marjorie taylor green. the platform said she had repeatedly violated twitter�*s policy on misinformation about covid—19. the hard—right representative's account had earlier been under temporary suspension, and some of her tweets had been marked as misleading. thousands of migratory cranes have died at a nature reserve in northern israel, as the country tries to contain a serious avian flu outbreak. hundreds of thousands of chickens have had to be culled to stop the disease spreading amongst captive birds. stephanie prentice reports. it wasn't meant to be their final resting place but these birds migrating to africa didn't make it out of israel's hula valley after a strain of bird flu took hold of the group. translation: there was no other event of this _ magnitude in israel. the cranes come from the north, from russia. 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. those carefully disposing of the bodies estimate they've cleared away around 5,000 so far, declaring this nature reserve off—limits in case of human transmission. prime minister naftali bennett says he's 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. and fears about that spread have led to preventative cullings, with hundreds of thousands of chickens killed so far, enough to prompt warnings of egg shortages. overall, the outbreak is being called the worst blow to wildlife in the country's history, but there is some good news. experts say they expected more than 25,000 cranes to have died and so the lower levels may 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 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 is 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 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 nona i hear in their voices that they are proud of me. maybe the key to a long life is just that. and if you can't live there, try a holiday. it might make a difference. you can get more and all the top stories on our website. hello there. 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 the 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've got one more day of mild weather with temperatures in double figures. but instead of a 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�*s 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's going to 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 are going to 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 the 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, there 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 eastwards 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. the sheer scale of cases is starting to place more pressures on health systems. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.