at the australian open, with dan evans through and heather watson out, and attention now turning to andy murray and emma radacanu, both due on court soon. good morning. it isa it is a cold enough cold and frosty starter. a few showers. for most it will be dry with lengthy sunny spells. details later in the programme. good morning. it s thursday, the 20th of january. our main story. secondary school pupils in england will no longer need to wear face coverings in classrooms from today, as the government s plan b measures are phased out. advice to work from home has also ended, and from next thursday, mandatory face masks in public places and covid passports will both be axed. simonjones has the details. face to face learning, but it will now be without the masks. from today, face coverings in the classroom in england can t come off, though unions are warning that coronavirus remains a challenge, with large numbers of staff and pupils absent. but the government is keen for us
government is investing in now and we are taking the tough decisions necessary. statutory sick pay is worth £3 a week less in real terms compared to at the start of the pandemic and millions of workers are being forced to choose between isolating or putting food on the table. in germany, 100% of workers salaries are covered by sick pay, whereas in the uk it is a pitiful 19%. so, i asked the prime minister if he thought earning £250,000 from his second job was chickenfeed, how on earth does he expect working people to survive on £96 a week when they get sick? and if he agrees that many lives and livelihoods could be saved by increasing sick pay, will he commit here and now to raising it to the level of the real living wage? mr speaker, i thank the honourable gentleman, of course, as he knows one of the first things we did when covid struck was to make sure that statutory sick pay was payable from day one, so it is up to 75% more generous if you need to self isolate. and th
a man has appeared in court faced with four charges of murder. a damning report from the cqc england s worst performing mental health trust has been told it must improve. and, england s men s cricket has a new captain all rounder ben stokes will be test captain, succeeding joe root. coming up in the sports later in the hour on the bbc news channel: we will look ahead to another night of european football. west ham and rangers are both facing german teams in the europa league semifinals. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one o clock. well, for the last few hours, the united nations secretary general has been seeing for himself the horrors inflicted on towns near here by russian troops irpin, borodyanka and bucha places where the russians are accused of war crimes. antonio guterres visited a mass grave and seemed shocked by what he saw and heard. the war here in ukraine is evil, he said an absurdity in the 20 first century. meanwhile the russian leader vla