♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: the rules of business are being reinvented with a more flexible workforce. by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. man: people who know, know bdo. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.

and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". ♪ ros: hello. i'm ros atkins. welcome to "outside source." people with covid and england may no longer have to self-isolate by the end of this month. current ws as anyone who test positive may have to isolate for the next five days, but here is the prime minister. pm johnson: it is my exultation we can end, including the rule to self-isolate, if you test positive, a full month early. ros: christmas celebrations on downing street during covid restrictions. police say they have questioned

50 people. the man accused of being involved in the paris attacks in 2015 has been questioned in his trial. and wearing a hijab one day, a shock for students. >> india is a unified country, where everyone is pleased to practice their religions -- free to practice their religions. they are following their culture, and i am following mine. ♪ ros: we begin with two important stories in the u.k. first of all, england is due to end all of its legal covid-19 restrictions that would come nearly two years after they were first imposed. this is the prime minister speaking in parliament. pm johnson: provided the encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions,

including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive, a full motherly. -- full month early. ros: under the current rules, they must se-isolate for at least five days. now, the guidance come if the government is satisfied with that data at that point. here is the opposition labour party. >> we would want to see what the scientific advice is on this. obviously i heard what the prime minister said today. we know he has motivations that have nothing to do with the science but all to do with protecting his political position. ros: while the infection rates remain high come on wednesday, 70,000 people tested positive for covid, and 276 people died. there are currently 14,000 people in hospital with the virus. peter is a member of the group that advises the british government on new and emergt tech with the virus.

this is his reaction. peter: it is clear tt the rates are still very high, particularly in some sectors of the community, particularly in children, the people who look after children, their parents and teachers, and although most people do have anti-bodies now, the vast majority of people have antibodies, either because they have been vaccinated or infected, that is not me say they are not completely resistant to infections and can't transmit it to those who have not been infected. so i would absolutely redouble our advice that everyone should make sure they are fully vaccinated at this stage. ros: during the peak of the omicron variant in january, the u.k. recorded 270 thousand cases a day. while cases have since dropped dramatically, the number of people dying from the virus on average remains around the same level.

peter has furtherdvice. peter: i would say it is encouraging to see the number of people testing positive declining, but in the number of people testing is declining as well. the reduction in the people admitted to hospital is encouraging, too, but i'm concerned about 300 deaths a day, and every single person admitted to hospital as a person tragedy for somebody. ros: the question is whether england is reaching the point where covid can be treated like other respiratory illnesses. here is bbc health correspondent nick colonel. nick: combined with the high levels of vaccination, this imnity that has been builtp, i think it is now nearly 98% of people, adults test positive for antibodies, so the system knows

the virus, knows how to fight it, and that is a big part of the reason why we are seeing milder illness. now it is clear, protection against infection goes away, so we are going to see this virus circulating, you know, forever, but what we are not seeing is it causing a significant amount of illness, even with this winter, like i said earlier, we have not seen more people die across the wle of the population than we would in any other winter. so it shows that in terms of protection, herd immunity against serious illness, we have got really good protection. we are going to see this infection spread. ros: while prime minister boris johnson was announcing those changes to covid restrictions, "the daily mirror" posted this picture, showing him on downing street december 15, 2020, during covid restrictions. as you can see, one was wearing tinsel, another a santa hat.

this plays into the stories about downing street, covid parties. police are saying that, which we already knew about, may have breached covid restrictions. police say detectives investigating allegations of breaches of covid-19 regulations on downing street, we will begin contacting people believed to be involved to get their accounts. the officers will be sending questionnaires to more than 50 people. while the bbc's daniel damascus is in westminster coming here are his thoughts. daniel: in the middle of the prime minister's questions, boom, that picture landed, and immediately the labour party stood up and questioned. that picture is the second with my party we already know about, but the questions being put to prime minister were, well, that party did not meet the threshold

it seems for investigation by police, but should it be investigated? you might be able to see there was an open bottle of wh looks like sparkly wind of some rt. the prime minister saying, no, that this cod be looked at, by thend of the day, we have the police say they are now reconsidering. so it is dragging this all back to the whole party scandal, and as they are attempting to move on, finding attention back on this issue. >> i wasbout to ask you there, damien, because the prime minister and his colleagues deciding to move on, being pulled back to some degree, inevitably, by the fact that police say they are talking to 50 people or more. damien: we know that police are going to comb through all the evidence and contact those who they wanted to question. and we know that one of the questions they have for people is if they consider that there might have been a breach of the,

is to go to people and say well, what is your explanation for what has happened here for your perhaps present acts on events. ros: those are some of the developments, considering the parties in downing street. let's turn back to the issue of covid restrictions and how they may be scrapped by the end of the month in england, because england isot alone in this. last week, denmark became the first country in the eu to lift nearly all of its virus restrictions. norway soon followed, and today, sweden joined them. there will be no limits on indoor crowds. here is one reaction in stockholm. i am so happy. finally, the day has come. we can go anywhere and not think about anything, so we hope no backlash. people should be careful. ros: those are some thoughts in

europe. similar moves are hapning i the u.s., where some states are scrapping mask mandates. here is the governor in new york state. governor hochul: we have a mask and backs requirement for businesses. -- vax requirement for businesses. it was an emergency measure put in place two months ago. at this time, we say it is the right time to lift this mandate for indoor businesses and lik counties, cities, and businesses to make their own decisions on what they want to do with respect to masks or the vaccination requirement. ros: saying in the u.s., dr. anthony fauci has told "the financial times" the full-blown pandemic phases nearly over, meaning "decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than mandated," however, the "ft" reports of how she would not report the assertion that the virus is becoming -- fauci would

not report the assertion that the virus is becoming endemic. moving on from the virus being a pandemic to endemic, that is when infection rates are static, meaning they are neither going up nor the particularly going down. john, the chief data reported for the "financial times," gives us his analysis. john: the key thing is what we mean by endemic and what it means as a society. we have got the asstion that anthony fauci was alluding to, which is that it is static levels of infection, because immunity levels are so high, the number of susceptible people are small, so by that definition, i think you will probably say we are not at indemnity yet -- endemic yet. the other exclamation, this could harken back something you correspondent nick tiggle

was saying earlier, even tugh case rates mtill go slightly upward slightly down, the number of people getting severely ill, there's much less room for movement in those numbers, because so many people have strong levels of antibodies now. the exact point depends on what definition we are using, but this virus becoming something that is very widespread, very large numbers of people have now been exposed, to it either in the world, as it were, or as a result of vaccination, the result is the immunity of the population is very high. we are certainly very close to that point. ros: finally, john, would you respect, when over surgeons go toward the end of february, as the government -- restrictions go toward the end of february, as the government is planning, will he be similar to other restrictions we have seen in recent months? john: i think it will be what we have seen before now, which is

there will be some shift but a gradual shift. there is a tendency to think that these policy changes are likened to opening or closing a door, everything is shut down, then suddenly everything is open up again. that is really not what we see at any point in the data, because people are making their own decisions all the time. there will be people after the restrictions go who will continue to be cautious. and there are other people who have already thrown caution to the wind before the change. on the balance of things, it will probably mean there is a slight increase in transmission but i do not think we will expect an overnight surge, a moderate change and a slow change will happen. ♪ ros: let's turn to france. the main suspect in the trial of the 2015 paris attacks has denied killing or injuring anyone. salah abdeslam denied the

attack. this group of islamists carried out a series of bomb attacks in paris, one on a consul home, further attacks on six restaurants and bars. he has told the court, i did not kill anyone, i did not hurt anyone, i did not cause even a scrah. for more on what he said, here is our peers correspondent. >> one of the key questions in the trial, what was abdeslam planning? he was the 10th attacker. he came down with the nine other attackers. he was projected to be one of them. he had a suicide vest, and if

you recall that night, it is believed, he was supposed to bring himself back in town. he did not. he left the jacket behind and stick himself back to belgium. the question is, was that because there is a problem with the jacket, or because he had a change of heart? today is the first time without seeing exclusively, he implied he had a change of heart. a lot of what he said today, talking at length about his role, not the tail of the attack, but the background of the attack, he said he should not be judged in the same way as the attackers, because he had not hurt anyone. he had not heard a single person, he had nothot a gun, he had not set himself up as a bomb, and therefore, it was wrong in principle to judge him the same way. imagine, he said come in the future, if a bomber like me came

and was going to blow himself up and then had second thoughts at the last minute, what incentive would he have to step back if he knew he was going to get the same length in prison, life in prison, as if he had actually killed people? there was a kind of a plea for leniency. remembering the moment and saying, should i have turned back? so a very strong hint there that he did turn back, had a change of heart, for whatever reason, and he is using this today as a kind of plea for the court. of course whether they will take it and respond to that is a very different questi. ros: stay with me here on "outside source," because in a few minutes, we will return to canada, as we have done a week. prime minister trudeau says is unacceptable, this protest by truckers, to the economy. ♪

now the international court of justice has ruled that uganda must pay reparations to the democratic republic of congo for his role in the conflict that dates back to 1998. here is more from anna hl olligan. anna: killing of 10,000 15,000 civilians, rape, the deployment of child soldiers, destruction of property, including the burning down of entire religious, and the pillaging of natural resources, including gold, diamonds, tungsten, and timber. as an occupying force at the time, the judges say uganda had eight duty of ca, a responsibility to vent these acts, the violation of international law, and in failing to do so, the country must now compensate the drc to the tune of $325 million u.s. ♪

ros: hello. i am rose atkins with "outside source." our lead story is that worse johnson hnnounced a requirement for people with covid in england to self isole, may be lifted by the end of the month. let's turn to canada now, because for nearly two weeks, hundreds of truckers have brought its capital, ottawa, to a standstill, objecting to covid restrictions. also a blockade of u.s.-canada border at its busiest crossing. they are calling themselves the freedom convoy. this is the scene on the u.s. side of the border. trucks started protesting at the ambassador bridge. this is a vital trade route that links detroit in the u.s. to canada. >> it will have a potential impact, larger than what we are seeing right now.

what $300 million worth of goods travel over that bridge every single day between canada and the u.s. equal values going down either direction. the objective of these protesters, and i use that term loosely, is to disrupt as much of that as possible. ros: federal covid-19 vaccine mandates are key concerns for the protesters, but the demonstrations have also morphed into broader anger against prime minister trudeau's government. this is one journalist in ottawa saying, they say they are not going anywhere until the government lifts all vaccine mandates and covid restrictions. there is no sign of the government doing that. >> it is interesting to think about the fact that the convoy and the blockade, which was supposed to be five truckers, e now actually negatively impacting truckers in their work, their work to deliver groceries to the store, to

deliver merchandise and products to our manufacturers. ros: well, protesters have called for a meeting with all federal fiscal leaders except prime minister justin trudeau. . they say they want to find a solution but without the leader of the country present. here is an assessment of how justin trudeau have handled this. >> there were a lot of folks who were calling him cowardly and demanding that he come out and meet. he's also, i can tell you, getting some criticism from inside his own caucus of how he has chosen to handle the protest, not so much refusing to meet with protesters but for some of the language that he has chosen to use. they fear it is more rotten lysing -- radicalizing, and that canadians will be sympathetic to voice their anger over ongoing, often serious restrictions in canada, especially places like ontario, where there are still very much mask restriions in

restaurants that just reopened. . the are provincial decisions in canad. they have not been made by the federal government. but there is a feeling inside by some that the prime minister should put out more than olive branch. others are worried about the extremist actions of the protested do not think they should engagin all. at this point, it seems like neitr side, whether the prime minister protesters, are interested in meeting with each other, and that poses an interesting problem for what is fundamentally a political question. ♪ ros: "outside source," we tur to india, because protests are expanding on a ban of his jobs on girls in school -- had jobs -- jhijabs on girls in schools. authorities have closed all schools and colleges for three days. this video went viral tuesday, and one with some student defying the band, arriving to school in a hijab, with a crowd

taunting her. the student was escorted safely inside, and she gave a press conference the following day. >> india is a unified country, where everyone is free to practice their religion. they are following their culture, and i am following mine. they should allow us to follow our culture and output obstacles. ros: this all happening in the south of india, in area whe muslims are the minority. they make up 12% of the population in question, that has a majority hindi population your students from that hindi majority have started wearing headscarves, too. the saffron scar's are a symbol of their religion. here is one of them. >> we asked them not to wear their her job when they attend. if they knew what we told them, yet today, they come wearing their hijab. we are not allowed inside the

college now, that is not fair. ros: refusing to let gls go to school in their hijabs is horrifying. identification exists, and they must start the -- stop the marginalization of women. here is the state's minister of education. >> we are allowing hijabs to be followed everywhere except the school. -- which every student will want to be and will have to follow. ros: the culture of headscarves for women in islam is often chrysostom on the grounds of feminism or equal rights, but in this case in india, more liberal voices are supporting the muslim girls. >> if you ask me, as a feminist, and my comfortable with any religious practice that is specific to women and not

cement, i would say i am not -- not to men, i would say i am not. should there be a space for everyone to practice their religion? absolutely. forgetting more girls in school, that is where i draw that line. nobody among those believes that girls should be denied an education on the basis. it is absolutely shocking and appalling that it happened. ros: our salvation editor -- south asian editor has more. >> going on for the past few weeks, the school authorities have been asking them to remove the hijab, so they can attend classes. but the government argued that it is uniform rules and all these women students all of a sudden started wearing the hijab, and that is where the

problem started. but you have to look at it from a broader context of why this is happening, why this is triggering so much anger and anxiety among the minority muslim community. but muslims, 14% of the population, but what is happening in the last few years, especially the way the government has a broken set of laws, for example, and some have been eating cattle, the hindu consider cattle sacred, some have been attacked, and they are looked at with suspicion. it puts a strain on the muslim community and they are worried about whether there is something more to the rules that the government wants to enforce. ros: i have seen claims that were right-wing groups in india have involved themselves in this, trying to inflame nationalist sentiment. is there any basis for those claims?

>> there has been aumber of rate groups, the muslim and christian community leaders. extremist groups and vigilante groups, they have been behind some of these actions against e minority communities, for example, a number of attacks happened during the christmas time among the christian community, you know, prayer ha lts, or disturbed, churches attacked by alleged hindu radicals, and they think these groups are behind this, for example, even in the school incident, many people on social media talking about outsiders even infiltrating the hindu students in thes schools, like distributing shawls and saffron-colored hats, so they can go -- they launched a protest against women, with a head job. so this was -- with a hijab. so this was done by outsiders. ros: you can find more for me and the "outside source" team on bbc, on the bbc website, bbc.com

/news, and you can find audio on the bbc sounds app. that will do it for this edition. see you t narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs. ♪ da-da-da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: the rules of business are being reinvented with a more flexible workforce. by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. man: people who know, know bdo. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.