year antoine du pont found artur bonnevalfor the bonus point winning fourth try. disappointment for bath who were outplayed by leinster at the aviva stadium. jamison gibson park went over twice in a seven—try thrashing that earned the four time champions a bonus point. bath scored two tries and gabe hamer webb's late consolation meant they avoided their biggest ever defeat in european compettion 45 20 the final score. european competition. 16—20 the final score. coole cody took the headlines at cheltenham as he won the racing post gold cup. the 12—1 shot ridden by adam wedge held his nerve to hold off zanza and midnight shadow to finish two lengths clear. the victory is a moment to remember for coole cody who had led at the paddy power gold cup last month but fell at the second last fence. and four time world championjohn higgins continued his recent superioirty over ronnie o'sullivan beating him 6—1 at the scottish open. higgins barely allowed o'sullivan at the table in a one sided semi final and continued his dominance over the six time world champion, the wizard of wishaw has now beaten the rocket in five

of their six meetings this year. having lost three finals in 2021 higgins will be looking to make it fourth time lucky when he faces either anthony mcgill or luca brecel in the final on sunday. that's all from sportsday. a reminder of the build—up to the season—ending finale at abu dhabi in the formula 1. can't wait for that. between verstappen and lewis hamilton, on the bbc sport website. now on bbc news, ros atkins examines the ethical arguments surrounding vaccine mandates. this week, borisjohnson turned to the issue of compulsory covid vaccinations. i don't believe we can keep going indefinitely with non pharmaceutical

interventions. i mean, restrictions on people's way of life. and i think we're going to need to have a national conversation about the way forward. the prime minister wants this national conversation because he knows this pandemic isn't over. covid daily infection rates in europe are going up. infection rates in the us are also going up. and when we look at deaths and hospitalizations, there's a pattern. we're seeing, still, a pandemic of the unvaccinated here with more than 1,000 deaths a day in the us, almost entirely of unvaccinated individuals. that's the us. it's the same in germany. it's very difficult to to get staff motivated to treat patients. now, on this fourth wave, we are still seeing so many patients that are not vaccinated now. and this is the point we've reached with vaccination. the percentage of the overall population fully vaccinated in these richer nations

is between 60 and 70%. compare that with africa, where fewer than 8% of people are double jabbed and these vaccination rates are a problem three times over. first, even in the richest countries, health care systems are still exposed. listen to angela merkel as she stepped down as germany's chancellor. in some parts of the country, you can only describe it as dramatic — overfilled intensive care. severely ill people who have to be flown across germany to get the care they need. the second issue is that if the developing world is under vaccinated, covid has a better chance of mutating. you know, every person who's not immune to this virus is essentially a viral factory and a viral factory is a variant factory. so we just have to get the world immunized. the third factor is the new variant omicron. certain features of omicron,

including its global spread and a large number of mutations, suggest it could have a major impact on the course of the pandemic. and when faced with this, there's a further problem because governments have been asking people to get vaccinated for months and it's not been enough. austria's former chancellor admits as much. and we have done ten months of campaigning, of trying - to persuade people. i but still we have a certain share, | nearly one third of the population, which is hesitant. the question now is what to do about that. and in austria's case, it's decided to make covid jabs mandatory from february. it's a big move. it's the first european country to do so. and here's the justification. we want to break out of this vicious circle of virus waves _ and discussions about - lockdowns and the only way the only exit ticket - we have is the vaccine. and if that's austria, the european union is also explicit about its thinking. it is understandable and appropriate

to lead this discussion. how we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the european union. this needs discussion now. individual eu countries will make their own decisions on this. austria already has. in neighboring germany, the new chancellor, olaf schulz, has signalled he wants to make vaccines mandatory. and already in germany, you can only go into restaurants, cinemas, leisure facilities and many shops. leisure facilities and many shops if you've had the jab or a recently recovered, or are recently recovered, or there's italy, which now requires proof of vaccination in a range of places, including public transport. then there's new york city, which has vaccine requirements for children as young as five and for workers in the public and private sectors. and this is the justification from the city's mayor. we cannot have shutdowns here in new york city. we've got to keep moving forward. and the answer as always is to use the things that work. vaccination works and vaccine mandates work.

but if they work, as the mayor says, why do some people oppose vaccine mandates? well, first of all, there's the debate around individual liberty. we are a free country. i think everybody is entitled to their own opinion. i think ourfreedom is being suppressed, but this connection i think ourfreedom is being suppressed. but this connection between mandates and a loss of freedom is rejected by some. stig abell is a presenter on times radio. he argues not being vaccinated during a pandemic is an act of selfishness, hiding behind the facade of individual liberty. we've heard similar arguments from presidentjoe biden as he's made the case for vaccine mandates. it's not about freedom or personal choice. it's about protecting yourself and those around you. but not everyone is buying this. biden�*s push for a nationwide vaccine mandate for private business is being challenged in the courts.

and republicans are among the most vocal critics. this is the governor of alabama tweeting, i'll call the biden vaccine mandate nonsense what it is. and that is an un—american, outrageous overreach, overreach of government, suppression of freedom. these are two criticisms here in the uk. health secretary sajid javid has other concerns, too. i think it's unethical. and also i think that at a practical level, having some kind of universal mandate for vaccination doesn't work. there's another issue as well that forcing people to do something may deepen their resolve not to do it. this is the academic stephen riikka. this is the academic stephen richer. for people who do have doubts, for people who are suspicious about vaccines, then introducing more draconian measures does make them more resistant. we're seeing resistance to stricter covid rules. these are protesters in austria earlier this month. there have also been protests in germany, the netherlands and several other countries, too. and this isn'tjust about a mistrust of government. it's also about a mistrust

in health care, something that could be exacerbated by vaccine mandates. there are potential downsides, of course, in terms of decreasing trust in the medical system, decreasing trust in doctors in general, which could have negative consequences in the future. eroding trust in doctors is a possible risk if vaccines are mandated. and another argument against doing this is that covid isn't the only cause of pressure on health care systems. in an article in the guardian newspaper, professorjulian savulescu is quoted saying... though some would say covid vaccines are being used precisely to avoid health care collapse. and while we consider all of these arguments, it's worth remembering compulsory vaccines didn't arrive with this pandemic. back in the 19th century, vaccine mandates were used widely in europe

to tackle smallpox. right now, many health care workers are told they have to get the flu vaccine. vaccine mandates have saved many lives and the greek prime minister hopes this approach can work for covid. here he is announcing compulsory vaccines for the over 605. i have no doubt that this political decision will save human lives because vaccination becomes more thanjust compulsory. it saves lives. it's necessary for health. it's necessary for the whole society. there is a scientific consensus that higher covid vaccination rates are desirable, but there's no consensus about whether to compel people to get vaccinated is a good idea. and the world health organisation in europe has this warning. mandates around vaccination are an absolute _ last resort and only applicable when all other feasible options to improve vaccination uptakel have been exhausted. evidently, some countries believe

they've reached that point, and the polling suggests the public in some western countries may be onside. take germany. a survey published by the news weekly der spiegel last month found 72% of germans in favour of compulsory vaccines, 20% were against. but even if governments mandate vaccines, even if the public is persuaded, even if the court battles are overcome, this can only be part of the equation for the us and europe, because once again, we need to play that famous phrase from dr tedros. none of us are safe until all of us are safe. and this is where the issue gets even more complicated because those in the west criticizing people who won't get the jab are also benefiting from governments who prioritize them, getting three jabs over some in the world getting any. so, yes, the number of unvaccinated people is a majorfactor in the threat this pandemic poses. but mandating vaccines alone won't address that.

there will need to be a fairer distribution of vaccines too. hello. plenty of cloud streaming across the uk at the moment. further rain to come into the evening but some very mild air getting pulled up from the south, courtesy of this area of low pressure. her temperature is above average for this time of year going through the evening and overnight. quite wet for england and wales into the evening with skies clearing. some isolated showers for scotland and northern ireland. the temperature is holding up ireland. the temperature is holding up above freezing aside from the sheltered glens of scotland. lows in the north six or 7 degrees and very mild to the south of this band of rain. overnight lows of 11 or 12 because we are pulling up some warm

airfrom because we are pulling up some warm air from south of the atlantic. almost right the uk, a bit like a warm blanket through the course of sunday and we do so as this whether front comes up from the south. early rain for north wales, the midlands and through the afternoon for northern england and northern ireland. later in the day we see that rain in southern scotland but temperatures to the south up to 15 degrees in a couple of spots. quite a lot of cloud around but a few brighter spells. sunday night into monday, looks like it could be very windy to the north—west of the uk as we see the centre of this area of low pressure pushing through. gales for the northern and western isles. we will see the low pulling away through monday but it stays breezy here and fairly frequent showers. could be wintry on the highest ground. coolerairsinks in could be wintry on the highest ground. cooler air sinks in to northern ireland, scotland and northern england so temperatures back down closer to average. the

mild air to back down closer to average. the mild airto the back down closer to average. the mild air to the south with highs of 13. rain for england and wales through monday but that pulls away on tuesday. wet and windy to the finals of the uk through the early part of the week but from wednesday onwards it is all about this area of high pressure building from the south end as it does so, it locks out anything colder. through the week ahead, focus is on things being mild with no sign of significant frost and as the high bills, the weather becomes very settled but it could be quite grey.

this is bbc news. the headlines at seven: unless the government puts further restrictions in place, the uk faces a substantial wave of omicron infections next month that might overwhelm the nhs that's the stark warning from scientists. another 633 omicron cases are recorded in the last 2a hours, the uk's biggest dailyjump in omicron infections so far. at least 70 people have been killed as a series of devastating tornadoes strike the central usa. this has been the most devastating tornado event in our state's history and for those that have seen it, what it's done here in graves county and elsewhere, it is indescribable. britain warns russia it will face severe consequences if it invades

if it invades ukraine.